Episode 01

The first episode of the Hetalia: Axis Powers anime series debuted on January 24th, 2009 on Animate.TV in Japan. It was originally to air on Kids Station on the date, but due to South Korean protests, the television broadcast was cancelled.

Plot
The episode adapts the following strips from Volume 1 of the published manga: "Meeting Of The World", "Prologue", and "Chibitalia". Some details of the strips have been changed or excised in order to fit in the 5 minute length of the episode.

Meeting Of The World
America suggests that a giant robot be built to shield Earth from global warming, Japan agreeing with him much to the aggravation of Switzerland. England opposes America's idea, however, and France just opposes both of them. China attempts to break up the fight by offering them snacks, which they refuse. In the meantime, Russia is busy bothering Lithuania and his fellow Baltic states, only to wind up stopped by Poland, who threatens to make his capital Warsaw.

Germany finally puts an end to the fighting, ordering that each nation present their data and that they will have 8 minutes each to speak. North Italy offers to speak, only to yell out "PASTA!".

Prologue
The story of Ancient Rome is detailed. In the present day, Germany finds himself in a forest and preparing to deal with Rome's heir. He comes across a crate of tomatoes...

Chibitalia: Part 1
We begin the story of Chibitalia, Italy in his youth. After having spent time with his grandfather, Chibitalia returns to find that the other children have become bullies and that the Holy Roman Empire wants him to become one with him. Chibitalia runs off crying, with HRE chasing after him.

Meeting Of The World

 * North Italy


 * Germany


 * Japan


 * America


 * England/UK


 * France


 * Russia


 * China


 * Switzerland


 * Estonia


 * Spain


 * Poland

Non-speaking cameos:


 * Belgium


 * Greece


 * Lithuania


 * Belarus


 * Latvia


 * Sweden


 * Finland

Prologue

 * Ancient Rome


 * Germany

Chibitalia: Part 1

 * Ancient Rome (non-speaking cameo)


 * Chibitalia


 * France (non-speaking cameo)


 * Romano


 * Holy Roman Empire

Voice Cast

 * North Italy, Romano (child): Daisuke Namikawa


 * Germany: Hiroki Yasumoto


 * Japan: Hiroki Takahashi


 * America: Katsuyuki Konishi


 * England/UK: Noriaki Sugiyama


 * France: Masaya Onosaka


 * Russia: Yasuhiro Takato


 * China, Narrator (Chibitalia): Yuki Kaida


 * Switzerland: Romi Park


 * Spain: Go Inoue


 * Poland: Kazutada Tanaka


 * Estonia: Atsushi Kousaka


 * Chibitalia: Aki Kanada


 * Holy Roman Empire: Jun Konno

Meeting Of The World

 * In the manga version, Greece has a small speaking role, while in the episode we only see the shot of him sleeping.


 * South Korea and Austria are excluded from the sequence, although a character design of Austria in his "Meeting Of The World" outfit was shown in promotional images and turnarounds for the series. A character design of South Korea also existed, but was later removed from the official site after he was written out of the series.


 * Some further dialogue between characters is trimmed out for time constraints, most notably the part with England apologizing to Germany and Austria's entire role.
 * In the manga version, Italy's haircurl was shown to be in the shape of a heart when Germany called on him. This detail was not carried over to the animated adaptation.
 * This segment is notable for its reuse of animation when it comes to Germany's part: The close-up shot of his mouth, the panning shot of the room, and him slamming his hand down are three such scenes that are repeated.

Chibitalia

 * The first part of the Chibitalia strip, where France, Spain, and Holy Roman Empire bully Chibitalia for his art and land, is not included, as it was cut from the published version of the manga.


 * Ancient Rome in the original Chibitalia strip is depicted as an elderly man when he takes Chibitalia to live with him. In the anime adaptation, he appears as the younger warrior version that is shown in the prologue.

Links
Video of Episode 01 (Subbed)