Hetalia: Axis Powers (anime)

Axis Powers Hetalia is the anime adapation of Hidekaz Himaruya's manga of the same title, which premiered on Animate.Tv on January 24th, 2009. Directed by Bob Shirohata, the series is scheduled to run for 26 episodes. It is animated by Studio Deen.

Most of the storyline takes place between the 2 World Wars, however there are segments taking place in earlier times and the modern day as well. The anime is adapted from the published version of the manga, rather than the original webcomic, so early events like the forming of the Axis Powers have been condensed, and some storylines have been left out completely.

Characters
These are the characters that have appeared, or are slated to appear in the anime:

Axis Powers

 * North Italy
 * Germany
 * Japan

Allied Forces

 * America
 * England/UK
 * France
 * China
 * Russia

Others

 * Spain
 * South Italy (Romano)
 * Hungary
 * Austria
 * Lithuania
 * Poland
 * Latvia
 * Estonia
 * Belarus
 * Switzerland
 * Liechtenstein
 * Finland
 * Sweden
 * Greece
 * Belgium
 * Sealand
 * Ancient Rome
 * Holy Roman Empire

Episodes
Note: Most of the episodes had no titles when broadcast, unless they were shown in a next episode preview with one (as the case with episode 5)

1.Episode 01

2.Episode 02

3.Episode 03

4.Episode 04

5.Episode 05: Shouting S.O.S At The Center Of The World!

6.Episode 06

7.Episode 07

8.Episode 08

Soundtrack
The anime series spawned eight image song CDs, each one for a member of the Axis Powers or Allied Forces. Each CD contains two songs and a mini-drama CD segment.

A full-length single version of the ending theme, Marukaite Chikyuu (The Rotating Earth) was released on March 25th, 2009.


 * Hetalia Character CD Vol.1: Italy: Released March 25th, 2009. Contains the mini-drama We Are The Italy Brothers! and the songs Let's Boil Hot Water and The Delicious Tomato Song by Daisuke Namikawa (as Italy Veneziano and Romano).


 * Hetalia Character CD Vol.2: Germany: Released April 22nd, 2009. Contains the mini-drama Axis Powers Jokes and two songs by Hiroki Yasumoto (as Germany).


 * Hetalia Character CD Vol.3: Japan: Released May 27th, 2009. Contains the mini-drama The Lonesome British-Japanese Alliance and two songs by Hiroki Takahashi (as Japan).


 * Hetalia Character CD Vol.4: UK: Released June 24th, 2009. Contains the mini-drama England Catches A Cold and two songs by Noriaki Sugiyama (as England/UK).


 * Hetalia Character CD Vol.5: France: Released July 29th, 2009. Contains a mini-drama and two songs by Masaya Onosaka (as France).


 * Hetalia Character CD Vol.6: America: Released August 26th, 2009. Contains a mini-drama and two songs by Katsuyuki Konishi (as America).


 * Hetalia Character CD Vol.7: Russia: Released September 30th, 2009. Contains a mini-drama and two songs by Yasuhiro Takato (as Russia).


 * Hetalia Character CD Vol.8: China: Released October 28th, 2009. Contains a mini-drama and two songs by Yuki Kaida (as China).

DVD Release
The series will be collected into four DVD volumes, which will be available in both standard and limited-edition deluxe releases. Each deluxe release contains a bonus CD with two alternate versions of Marukaite Chikyuu:


 * Volume 1: Released April 24th, 2009, collecting episodes 1-7. Bonus CD contains "Marukaite Chikyuu" (Germany version and re-arranged remix version) by Hiroki Yasumoto and Daisuke Namikawa.


 * Volume 2: Released May 22nd, 2009, collecting episodes 8-13. Bonus CD contains "Marukaite Chikyuu" (Japan and UK versions) by Hiroki Takahashi and Noriaki Sugiyama.


 * Volume 3: Released July 24th, 2009, collecting episodes 14-19. Bonus CD contains "Marukaite Chikyuu" (France and America versions) by Masaya Onosaka and Katsuyuki Konishi.


 * Volume 4: Released September 25th, 2009, collecting episodes 20-26. Bonus CD contains "Marukaite Chikyuu" (Russia and China versions) by Yasuhiro Takato and Yuki Kaida.

Controversy
The anime was originally slated to broadcast on Kids Station on January 24th, but the television airing was cancelled due to "various circumstances". It is believed that the South Korean protests of the series (and reported death threats to the TV station) played a part in the cancellation. The protests arose when an online petition was created to ban the series, due to complaints that the South Korean character was an offensive stereotype. The South Korean government proceeded to declare the series a "national crime", though Kids Station responded that there was no Korean character in the series.

A preliminary character design of South Korea, however, was shown in the early promotional images for the series, suggesting that at one point, he was slated to be included. South Korea can also be seen in the ending sequence, among the other characters on top of the world.