Axis Powers Hetalia (manga)

Axis Powers Hetalia (also referred to as Hetalia: Axis Powers) is a webmanga by Hidekaz Himaruya, that began June 19th, 2003, and continues to run on his website "Kitayume". It has been adapted into print form, several drama CDs, and an anime series.

The series involves anthropomorphic representations of the world's nations, with the main storyline taking place in WWI and WWII, though there are stories set in earlier and more modern eras. The series is named for the main character Italy, with "Hetalia" being a portmanteau of the words hetare (useless) and Italia.

Plot
During WWI, Germany, in search of the heir to the empire of Ancient Rome, finds Italy hiding in a crate and takes him as a captive. After living with him to the start of WWII, Italy takes it upon himself to become Germany's ally. The two are soon joined by Japan, though the three wind up having to deal with the arrival of the Allied Forces: America, England, France, China, and Russia.

Characters
Main article: List of Axis Powers Hetalia characters

The Hetalia series is notable for its large, colorful cast of characters. Each of the characters represents a nation, complete with the stereotypes attributed to it. The original webcomic initially focused on the nations of the Axis Powers vs. the Allied Forces, with the cast quickly expanding to include others.

Most of the earlier cast members have a "human name" in addition to their nation name, though they were never used in the actual series and were first given to the characters by Himaruya when a fan requested alternate names to refer to the characters by, out of curisosity as to what their "normal" names would be. It is rumored that this question was asked due to Japanese fans' worries of controversy over pairing the characters with their nation names, but the true motive remains a source of debate.

Despite never being used in canon (aside from select characters' names getting brief mentions in the April Fools' 2008 summary and America's name "Alfred" being mentioned in a throwaway line in one strip), the alternate human names stuck with the characters until early 2008, when Himaruya shut down his old blog and the list vanished with all the other posts. Characters created after 2007, later in that year, or that were not mentioned in the original name listing, do not have any sort of official human name to refer to them by and are only known by their nation names. It remains to be seen if Himaruya will ever do an updated version of the name list.

Himaruya also gave most of the characters "human ages", as a fan asked how old the characters were supposed to look, but this detail was mostly dropped as well. However, some later-personified nations (such as Iceland) do have an age listed for them in their character designs.

Original Web Version
Main article: List of Axis Powers Hetalia chapters (webcomic)

The entire series so far includes five chapters of the main storyline, a bonus story (Chibitalia), and several side stories and "comic diary" strips by Himaruya. The main storyline takes place in the eras of WWI and WWII, with the Chibitalia storyline and some of the side-stories focusing on eras outside of that time.

The "Lost" Strips
Main Article: Lost strips of Axis Powers Hetalia

There are also strips of the original webcomic that no longer exist on the main Kitayume site or any other place, outside of fans having saved the artwork while it was still up. However, a good deal of the artwork was not permanently deleted, but simply hidden in the site files.

One notable series of lost strips happen to be pages of a sequel to the fanservice-themed "Christmas Rampage 2007", which wound up salvaged and scanlated. In the sequel, a crossover with two other Himaruya-created series occurs as the nations continue to celebrate Christmas.

Other "lost" pieces of artwork include America cosplaying as England, concept art for the Gakuen Hetalia game, and France informing teenage Italy about the fate of the Holy Roman Empire.

Gakuen Hetalia
Main article: Gakuen Hetalia

An unfinished dating sim project by Himaruya, it takes place in an alternate universe where the cast members are all in their teens and attend the multicultural World Academy W. A short demo was released in February 2007, but it remains uncertain if the game will ever be finished or released.

The game featured the first appearance of Seychelles, as a new transfer student at the school. Italy, China, Japan, France, and England also appeared in the demo, while other characters appeared in concept images for the game (which were later removed from the site).

Published Manga
Main article: List of Hetalia: Axis Powers chapters (published manga)

A print version of the manga by Gentosha Comics was released in 2008, and has been collected into two volumes so far. The published version differs somewhat from the original online strips, with several events being retold or redrawn for better quality. New strips exclusive to the volumes were also included. Some scenes have also been cut or edited from the originals for content (ie: Holy Roman Empire kissing Chibitalia in the "Chibitalia" arc).

The first volume was released on March 17th, 2008, with the second volume being released on December 10th, 2008. While only one version of the first volume was released, the second came in both a standard and a deluxe edition. The deluxe edition came with a special booklet containing various sketches of the characters, including preliminary designs for them.

The published version of the manga uses a slightly different order for the title, instead referring to the series as Hetalia: Axis Powers (a change which carried over to the anime and some of the related merchandise). However, the Polish-language release of the manga by Studio JG retained the original APH order for the title. This version of the published manga was released on November 13th, 2009. The Polish translation is notable for changing Poland's birthdate from July 22nd (the date of foundation of the communist People's Republic Of Poland ) to November 11th (the date that Poland regained independence after WWI).

A third volume of Hetalia is slated for release in spring 2010.

Drama CDs
There have been six drama CDs released for the series so far:


 * Hetalia Drama CD: Prologue, released as a Comic Market 74 exclusive on August 15th, 2008.
 * Hetalia Drama CD: Volume 1, released on October 24th, 2008.
 * Hetalia Drama CD: Prologue 2, released as a Comic Market 75 exclusive on December 29th, 2008.
 * Hetalia Drama CD: Volume 2, released on June 3rd, 2009.
 * Hetalia Drama CD Interval Vol.1: The CD Of The Awesome Me, released as a Comic Market 76 exclusive on August 15th, 2009.
 * Hetalia Fantasia, released on August 27th, 2009 (s a special mail-order gift to subscribers of Comic Birz).

The first two CDs feature the Axis Powers, Austria, and the Allied Forces, with the absence of China, who wasn't cast at the time. Instead, Lithuania is included in the main cast. China however, did make his debut in Prologue 2 along with Hungary.

Volume 2 featured the cast for the Axis and Allies, as well as the drama CD debuts of more characters: Sweden,Finland, Sealand,Latvia, Estonia,Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.

Interval featured the drama CD debuts of Prussia and Seychelles, while Fantasia provided the speaking debut of Hong Kong, who had not yet had a role in the actual series at the time.

Axis Powers Hetalia: The CD
Main article: Axis Powers Hetalia: The CD

An earlier, independently-produced drama CD is known to have been in existence, though details on it remain somewhat sketchy. It is said to have been produced sometime in 2007, during the same time as Gakuen Hetalia, and was distributed in limited quantities the following year, by mail-order and at a doujinshi event in Osaka.

A select amount of characters made appearances on the CD, including:
 * North and South Italy
 * Germany
 * Japan
 * America
 * England
 * France
 * China
 * Russia
 * Austria
 * Hungary
 * Lithuania
 * Switzerland
 * Liechtenstein
 * Greece
 * Turkey
 * Sealand
 * Rome

The CD also marked the debut of two new characters: Cyprus and his younger brother The Turkish Republic Of Northern Cyprus. Germania is also mentioned for the first time in the CD, identified as "Germany's father". The seiyū for England and France, who did not reprise their roles in the commercial CD adaptations, had previously voiced the characters in Gakuen.

Anime
Main article: Hetalia: Axis Powers (anime)

An anime adaptation of Axis Powers Hetalia (using the Hetalia: Axis Powers title) was announced in July 2008, and premiered on January 24th, 2009 on Animate.TV. It was originally scheduled to air on Kids Station, but was pulled from the lineup due to "various circumstances". The first season ran 26 episodes.

On April 15th, 2009, it was announced that a second season of the Hetalia anime was in production, to be released in the summer. Season 2 also runs 26 episodes, and immediately began airing on Animate.TV following the completion of the previous season. A third season was announced on December 10th, 2009, and is set to premiere in March 2010.

On September 24th, 2009, a movie adaptation of the anime was announced on Gentosha Comics' site. It remains to be seen what the movie will cover, though it was stated that it would be an original story not based on any of the manga strips. It is scheduled to be 80 minutes long.