User blog comment:WonderfulAsia/Hetalia English Dub Cast Updates/@comment-2178464-20100716154904

Aw man. I just think it's funny that a guy from Dragonball Z's voicing America. Everyone who I knew who listened to America thought he was voiced by Goku.. They weren't TOO far away. KAME.. KAMEEEEE.. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmburger ALSO I AM PEEING PANTS IN EXCITEMENT FOR ITALY. Well not ready but YOU GET IT. Ever since that leaked video where they cut out the PASTA~..

Also, to the America controversy, I happened to find a comment on the FUNimation blog who gave a really good point: "as a person who typically (9 out of 10 times) watches the sub, I can understand your objection to “ad lib”. I do argue though that what we’re seeing is not an “ad lib”. I think the dub script was intentionally rewritten with an American perspective, because the writers have an American cultural background for reference. Hetalia is a fascinating study of sociological view points. The original Hetalia is not an objective view of international interactions; rather it is a subjective example of how Japanese society understands historical events and cultural relationships. In my opinion, it would be worse for funimation to try and mimic this Japanese understanding of the world because it would result in a strange hybrid of Japanese stereotypes trying to be communicated through English.

Again, I typically do not support English alterations to an anime script. However, in the case of Hetalia I think of it as a chance to re-experience the series. It is essentially being recreated with an American view of international relations. What I find amazing is the fact that the themes and story of Hetalia are being preserved while still filtering it through another cultural lens."