User blog:Ceras SanMarina/Firefox, you disappoint me (+ MADs and stuff)

Would you believe that I was getting Episode 35's corrected article done last night, but then Firefox decided to freeze and then crash, thus wiping out all that work?

Yeah. Pretty annoying, isn't it? If I can't get to it this weekend, it'll have to be another late-in-the-game article (unless anyone else has enough free time for it, or something turns around like the last one). I've re-listened to the episode a few times, and I can't quite figure out which voice actor provided the policeman's brief line. I've tried checking 2ch's VA threads, since some of the Japanese fans are pretty good at voice identification (though Prussia's then-uncredited voice actor threw THEM all for a loop as well). But I haven't been able to find anything there.

I've been able to pick up on certain voices in the series on my own, when it comes to some of the earlier episodes. In some of them, it was pretty obvious that Michiko Neya was providing the female extra voices (like the desert woman and Jeanne D'Arc). Hiroki Yasumoto and Masaya Onosaka were also easy to pick out in certain spots, though there are a few extra characters that I still can't quite figure the voice actors out for.

I think if I ever get the time to rewatch certain episodes, I'll mark down trivia notes where the "Hetalia!" eyecatches for the Axis and Allies first appeared. I do remember it took Russia and China a while to get theirs (and they still have yet to get that much screentime in the anime, those damn recycled island segments don't count).

I've seen speculation that Hetalia will finally be licensed if the movie makes it big, but I doubt it. It's a pretty big "if" for a R1 licensing situation. FUNimation did have the opportunity to license it back when it came out, but they reportedly turned it down due to them finding "Hetalia" to be an offensive word ("useless Italy"), as well as its reputation for being a "yaoi" series. I wonder what must have went down in the meeting room when they were considering it.

Personally, I'd be more concerned about the backlash it would create. Hetalia is a controversial series as it is, what with the title and the setting for the main storyline. There's a lot more that could raise ire than just the BL ("yaoi" is a lot harder) subtextual stuff. And "Axis Powers" would be a lot more controversial than the "Hetalia" part, IMO. They could've easily dropped the first two words. Hetalia did appear on their poll for possible licenses, but it's been speculated that the person who made the poll probably just threw it in since it was popular. It was confirmed that they did it with "Sailor Moon", and a FUNi rep had to debunk and explain that they had no stake in the license whatsoever. Of course, now Sailor Moon seems to be on a comeback, so you never know. And maybe we'll see what that silly Hetalia poll situation is all about, if anything.

The thing is, it costs about 10k to dub one episode of an anime series, so I wonder if it would cost the same for a 5-minute episode of Hetalia. Whatever company licenses the series may also drop it if it doesn't sell as much as they expect it to, thus leaving it in licensing-limbo (which would be no fun at all). There is the strong possibility that it would be released sub-only too, which has been deemed more cost-effective.

Random Hetalia MADS

 * "Fight Ippatsu Juden Chan" ending, Hetalia style: All I know about this anime so far is that its ending sequence has become REALLY popular to parody for MADs, not just Hetalia ones. I think it's a cute video, and I love Bulgaria's random cameo in there towards the end.


 * Same ending, with Spain and little Romano: The same MAD artist has done a bunch of other cute videos with these two, but linking to them all here would be kind of silly.


 * Ending with Liechtenstein


 * "Mahoujin Guruguru" ending, Hetalia-style: Another cute one, though I'm unfamiliar with this series too.


 * "Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya-chan" opening, Hetalia-style


 * The "Hare Hare Yukai" dance: Wish I could find a higher-quality version (ew, blurry), but at least this one isn't out of synch. The omake at the end is nice too.


 * "Bouken Desho Desho?", School Hetalia version: It seems that there may be a "complete" version sometime, but it's looking great so far.


 * "Hare + Guu DX" opening, Hetalia-style: Heartcurl at the end!