This page is a work in progress. Therefore, it is not finished or is in need of updating and may undergo significant changes while this message remains in place.
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Hetalia: Axis Powers (ヘタリア Axis Powers, Hetaria Akushisu Pawāzu) is the name given to the first two seasons of the anime adaptation of Hidekaz Himaruya's manga, Hetalia. The adaptation was first announced on July 24, 2008, as was the fact that it would be animated by Studio DEEN[1]. The second season was announced on April 16, 2009[2]. Both seasons have a total of 26 episodes, which run for roughly four minutes each, five including credit sequences. A third season was announced on December 11, 2009 and was scheduled to premiere in March, 2010[3]. As of March 9, 2010, it was renamed to Hetalia: World Series.[4]
Both seasons are primarily adapted from the published version of the manga, specifically Hetalia: Axis Powers Volume 1 and Volume 2, rather than the original webcomic (though there are some episodes/scenes that adapted from the webcomic). As a result of this, some storylines were condensed due to certain things that were in the webcomic being removed for the published volumes. The anime adaptation also trimmed or completely left out stories from both the published and webcomic versions, and several storylines were also broken up across several episodes and/or sequenced out of order. Some episodes also contain scenes that are original to the anime and not adapted from any of Himaruya's material.
Creation and Development[]
Season 1[]
The creation of the first season was announced on July 24, 2008[1]. On September 30, 2008, it was announced that Bob Shirohata would direct the season, Masaaki Kannan would be the character designer, Takuya Hiramitsu would do the series composition, and Keiichi Matsuda would be the animation producer[5]. On December 10, a page to list the cast and crew was created on the Hetalia.com site, which would be updated as more were announced.
The season was originally planned to begin airing on January 24, 2009 at 1:56 AM on the Japanese television station Kids Station[6]. However, it was announced n January 16 that this would be cancelled due to "circumstances at the broadcasting station"[7] (see below for more information). This cancellation did not affect the online premieres, which happened as scheduled. The season did eventually get a television premiere on July 9, 2010 on Japan's BS11 station[8].
The first episode would go on to premiere for mobile phone streaming on animatemobile.net (Animate.TV's mobile phone service) on Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 1:00 pm JST, with further episodes being scheduled to be broadcast every Friday at 4:00 PM JST[9]. For broadband streaming, the first episode would premiere on the Animate.TV website on January 26, 2009 at 4:00 PM JST, with further episodes scheduled to be broadcast every Monday at 4:00 PM JST[9]. When each episode was released on mobile streaming, a summary and two preview screencaps for that episode were also revealed[10]. For both mobile and broadband streaming options, episodes were available to be watched for free on the aforementioned sites for a week[10]. It was also announced that the Mobile Animate and Animate TV sites both experienced connection failures on January 24 and January 26 respectively due to excessive numbers of people trying to view the sites to watch the season premiere[11][12]. The season concluded airing on July 17, 2009 (July 20 for broadband streaming) with Episode 26[10].
Season 2[]
It was announced on April 16, 2009 that the series had been renewed for another 26 episodes and would premiere in the summer of 2009[2].
(WIP)
This season began airing on Animate.TV's mobile phone service on July 24, 2009, and it was webcast three days later. The series concluded on March 5, 2010.
Licensing[]
Though Funimation Entertainment had reportedly passed on a license for the show in early 2009, the title "Hetalia: Axis Powers" later appeared on a poll of possible titles on their blog in May of that year[13]. Funimation then announced on January 8, 2010 that they had licensed the first two seasons of Hetalia from Media Factory, that the series would be released both in the original Japanese with subtitles and in an English dubbed version, and that it would be released on DVD in two parts beginning in late 2010[14].
It was announced on April 30, 2010 that the first four episodes of the first season would be streaming with English subtitles on the Funimation video portal, Hulu, and YouTube starting later that day[15]. It was also mentioned in the same post that the English dub would be using accents for the characters and casting announcements would be announced at a later date[15]. When the episodes began to stream, they were rated TV-MA by Funimation because Funimation rates each series as a whole and Hetalia has "some instances of profanity, crude humor and adult situations"[16].
(WIP)
Controversy[]
WIP The first season was originally slated to broadcast on Kids Station on January 24, 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 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 could also be seen in the first ending sequence, among the other characters on top of the world. But with the switch in ending themes, his character was immediately removed from the globe.
Episodes[]
- Main article: List of Hetalia Episodes
Below is a list of the 26 episodes from each of these two seasons. Most of the episodes had no titles when broadcast, unless they were shown in a next episode preview with a title listed. Both seasons were primarily adapted from the published version of the manga. Season 1 mostly adapted from Hetalia: Axis Powers Volume 1, though there are also some episodes/scenes that adapted from the webcomic. Season 2 mostly adapted from Hetalia: Axis Powers Volume 2, though there are also some episodes/scenes that adapted from Hetalia: Axis Powers Volume 1 and the webcomic. Both seasons also contain a few anime-original scenes. Additionally, in both seasons multiple storylines were broken up across several episodes and/or sequenced out of order.
Individual episode pages contain a detailed plot summary, list the character appearances for each episode, and provide more details about what cast and crew members worked on which episodes.
Season 1[]
| No. in Series | No. in Season | Episode Title | Air Date (Mobile) | Air Date (Broadband) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 01 | "Episode 01" | Jan. 24, 2009 | Jan. 26, 2009 |
| A "World Meeting" is held to solve problems around the world through the cooperation of every country. At the meeting, the young and energetic America takes the lead. However, in response to America's overly unique proposal, the other attendees each share their own opinions, and the meeting descends into chaos. | ||||
| 02 | 02 | "Episode 02" | Jan. 30, 2009 | Feb. 02, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 03 | 03 | "Episode 03" | Feb. 06, 2009 | Feb. 09, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 04 | 04 | "Episode 04" | Feb. 13, 2009 | Feb. 16, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 05 | 05 | "Episode 05: Crying Out SOS in the Center of the World!" | Feb. 20, 2009 | Feb. 23, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 06 | 06 | "Episode 06" | Feb. 27, 2009 | Mar. 02, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 07 | 07 | "Episode 07" | Mar. 06, 2009 | Mar. 09, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 08 | 08 | "Episode 08" | Mar. 13, 2009 | Mar. 16, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 09 | 09 | "Episode 09" | Mar. 20, 2009 | Mar. 23, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 10 | 10 | "Episode 10" | Mar. 27, 2009 | Mar. 30, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 11 | 11 | "Episode 11" | Apr. 03, 2009 | Apr. 06, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 12 | 12 | "Episode 12" | Apr. 10, 2009 | Apr. 13, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 13 | 13 | "Episode 13" | Apr. 17, 2009 | Apr. 20, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 14 | 14 | "Episode 14" | Apr. 24, 2009 | Apr. 27, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 15 | 15 | "Episode 15" | May 01, 2009 | May 04, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 16 | 16 | "Episode 16" | May 08, 2009 | May 11, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 17 | 17 | "Episode 17: America's Cleaning of the Storage, Part 1" | May 15, 2009 | May 18, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 18 | 18 | "Episode 18" | May 22, 2009 | May 25, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 19 | 19 | "Episode 19" | May 29, 2009 | June 01, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 20 | 20 | "Episode 20: America's Cleaning of the Storage, Part 2" | June 05, 2009 | June 08, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 21 | 21 | "Episode 21" | June 12, 2009 | June 15, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 22 | 22 | "Episode 22" | June 19, 2009 | June 22, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 23 | 23 | "Episode 23" | June 26, 2009 | June 29, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 24 | 24 | "Episode 24" | July 03, 2009 | July 06, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 25 | 25 | "Episode 25" | July 10, 2009 | July 13, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 26 | 26 | "Episode 26" | July 17, 2009 | July 20, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
Season 2[]
| No. in Series | No. in Season | Episode Title | Air Date (Mobile) | Air Date (Broadband) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | 01 | "Episode 27" | July 24, 2009 | July 27, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 28 | 02 | "Episode 28: :) In The World" | July 31, 2009 | Aug. 03, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 29 | 03 | "Episode 29" | Aug. 07, 2009 | Aug. 10, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 30 | 04 | "Episode 30: The Ghost Culture of England and Japan" | Aug. 14, 2009 | Aug. 17, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 31 | 05 | "Episode 31: Academy Hetalia Christmas" | Aug. 21, 2009 | Aug. 24, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 32 | 06 | "Episode 32: With Grandpa Rome" | Aug. 28, 2009 | Aug. 31, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 33 | 07 | "Episode 33" | Sep. 04, 2009 | Sep. 07, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 34 | 08 | "Episode 34" | Sep. 11, 2009 | Sep. 14, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 35 | 09 | "Episode 35" | Sep. 18, 2009 | Sep. 21, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 36 | 10 | "Episode 36: Why Americans Love Spring" | Sep. 25, 2009 | Sep. 28, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 37 | 11 | "Episode 37" | Oct. 02, 2009 | Oct. 05, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 38 | 12 | "Episode 38" | Oct. 09, 2009 | Oct. 12, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 39 | 13 | "Episode 39: The Battle for America" | Oct. 16, 2009 | Oct. 19, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 40 | 14 | "Episode 40: The Battle for America, Part 2" | Oct. 23, 2009 | Oct. 26, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 41 | 15 | "Episode 41" | Oct. 30, 2009 | Nov. 02, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 42 | 16 | "Episode 42" | Nov. 06, 2009 | Nov. 09, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 43 | 17 | "Episode 43" | Nov. 13, 2009 | Nov. 16, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 44 | 18 | "Episode 44" | Nov. 20, 2009 | Nov. 23, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 45 | 19 | "Episode 45" | Nov. 27, 2009 | Nov. 30, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 46 | 20 | "Episode 46: Medieval England's Clothes and Hair" | Dec. 04, 2009 | Dec. 07, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 47 | 21 | "Episode 47" | Dec. 11, 2009 | Dec. 14, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 48 | 22 | "Episode 48" | Dec. 18, 2009 | Dec. 21, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 49 | 23 | "Episode 49" | Dec. 25, 2009 | Dec. 28, 2009 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 50 | 24 | "Episode 50" | Jan. 08, 2010 | Jan. 11, 2010 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 51 | 25 | "Episode 51" | Feb. 26, 2010 | Mar. 01, 2010 |
| [Summary] | ||||
| 52 | 26 | "Episode 52" | Mar. 05, 2010 | Mar. 08, 2010 |
| [Summary] | ||||
Characters[]
Below is a list of characters who appeared in one or both of the Hetalia: Axis Powers seasons.
Main[]
Supporting[]
- Ancient Rome
- Austria
- Belarus
- Belgium (non-speaking cameo)
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Cuba
- Egypt (grunting noises only)
- Estonia
- Finland
- Greece
- Holy Roman Empire
- Hungary
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Poland
- Prussia
- Sealand
- Italy Romano
- Korea (animation error in Episode 14; also appears in the ending credits as one of the chibis on the globe)
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Ukraine
((WIP BELOW))
Voice Cast[]
Unless otherwise specified, sources for the following are the DVDs and/or the after-episode credits for each episode. Individual episode pages provide more details about what cast members worked on which episodes.
Crew[]
Unless otherwise specified, sources for the following are the DVDs and/or the after-episode credits for each episode. Individual episode pages provide more details about what crew members worked on which episodes.
| Role | Crew Member | |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ||
| Original Creator of Hetalia | Hidekaz Himaruya | |
| Director, Storyboarding | Bob Shirohata | |
| Character Design, Chief Animation Director | Masaaki Kannan | |
| Series Composition, Sound Director | Takuya Hiramitsu | |
| Animation Producer | Keiichi Matsuda | |
| Planning | Takeshi Oikawa, Atsushi Iwazaki, Kimie Takahashi, Masaki Yasuda | |
| Art Director | Maho Takahashi | |
| Color Settings | Takeshi Mochida | |
| Photography Director | Akira Shimozaki | |
| Editing | Masahiro Matsumura | |
| Direction | Yoshinari Suzuki | |
| Ending 3D Animation | Shiitake Digital | |
| Theme Song Lyrics/Music | Saki | |
| Music Producer | Akira Yoshikawa | |
| Music Production | Frontier Works | |
| Music | Conisch | |
| Effects | Noriko Izumo | |
| Sound Production | DAX Production, Satoshi Hirata, Hiroshi Nishijima | |
| Producers | Moka Nomura, Kazuya Takahashi, Akihiko Okada | |
| Animation Production | Studio DEEN | |
| Produced By | Hetalia Project | |
| English Dub | ||
| ADR Director | Scott Sager | |
| Script Writer | Chuck Huber, Jamie Marchi | |
| Line Producer | Mike McFarland | |
| Brand Manager, Community Liaison | Charlene Ingram | |
| (WIP) | ||
DVD Releases[]
Partial Season[]
In its original Japanese release, the first season was collected into four DVD volumes that each contained a small chunk of episodes. These four volumes were available in both standard and limited-edition deluxe releases. Each limited-edition release contained a bonus CD with two alternate versions of Marukaite Chikyuu, as well as some additional special features.
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Vol.1
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Vol.2
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Vol.3
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Vol.4
The original Japanese release of second season was also collected into four DVD volumes with a small chunk of episodes. Like with the first season, these volumes were also were available in both standard and limited-edition deluxe releases, and each limited-edition contained a bonus CD with two alternate version of Marukaite Chikyuu, as well as some additional special features. There was also a "fan disc" released that contained the two compilation episodes, another unaired episode, and some other special features.
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Vol.5
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Vol.6
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Vol.7
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Vol.8
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Fan Disc
Full Season[]
The first full season releases of the seasons occurred with the Funimation DVD releases in 2010. Each set contained two discs, with the second disc containing extras such as audio commentaries from the English Dub cast.
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Season 01 (DVD)
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Season 02 (DVD)
In 2012, the full seasons got released in Japan as one box set each. Each box set contained four discs containing the four partial season volumes and their corresponding special features from the standard-edition releases.
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Special Price DVD-Box 1
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Special Price DVD-Box 2
Box sets for each season were also released in Hong Kong and Taiwan in 2010–2011.
- [[Hetalia
Joint Releases[]
- Hetalia: Axis Powers - The Complete Series
- Hetalia 10th Anniversary World Party Edition 1
- Contains seasons 1–4 and Paint it, White
Music[]
A full-length single version of the first ending theme, Marukaite Chikyuu (English title: The Rotating Earth) was released on March 25, 2009.
Eight image song CDs were released alongside the two seasons, one for each member of the main cast. Each CD contained two songs and a mini-drama.
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Character CD Vol. 1 - Italy
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Character CD Vol. 2 - Germany
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Character CD Vol. 3 - Japan
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Character CD Vol. 4 - UK
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Character CD Vol. 5 - France
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Character CD Vol. 6 - USA
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Character CD Vol. 7 - Russia
- Hetalia: Axis Powers Character CD Vol. 8 - China
An additional character song, entitled Ren・Ren・Renaissance♪, was released with a guide to the character songs.
A soundtrack CD containing 27 tracks that were used in the anime, as well as a cover of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town sung by Italy Veneziano, Germany, and Japan, was released in November, 2009.
Interval Drama CD[]
Shortly after the announcement of season 2, the character CDs for UK through China were pushed back, in part due to an "interval" character drama CD being announced for the series:
- Hetalia Drama CD Interval Vol.1: The CD Of The Awesome Me: Released August 26, 2009. Contains drama segments mostly focusing on Prussia and a song by Atsushi Kousaka (as Prussia).
- Hetalia Drama CD Interval Vol.2: Boss CD: Released July 7, 2010 but the date got pushed back and will be released sometime in 2010. Contains drama segments mostly focusing on Spain, and a song by Go Inoue (as Spain).
Related Materials[]
Storyboard Guides have been released in conjunction with the anime, detailing the storyboard sketches that were used in production:
- Hetalia Axis Powers: Storyboard Guide Vol.1 (Season 1, episodes 1-13)
- Hetalia Axis Powers: Storyboard Guide Vol.2 (Season 1, episodes 14-26)
- Hetalia Axis Powers: Storyboard Guide Vol.3 (Season 2, episodes 27-39)
- Hetalia Axis Powers: Storyboard Guide Vol.4 (Season 2, episodes 40-52)
The third is notable for also containing storyboards to scenes that were scripted but unused in the second season of the anime, including one involving Sweden that would have been in Episode 33.
A guide to the first season of the anime, Hetalia Fanbook: World Wide Walking, was also released. It would be later followed by another official guide to the anime, released in April 2010.
A Character CD Guide also exists for the series, detailing the production stories behind the making of the character songs of the Axis and Allies.
Sheep-Counting CDs[]
Another wave of CD-related merchandise hit in 2010, though unrelated to the character CDs and soundtracks. Manufactured by Honeybee, the Hetalia x Goodnight with Sheep Series is a series of CDs designed to help people fall asleep by having the voice actors for the characters count off the numbers of sheep.
- Hetalia x Goodnight with Sheep Vol. 1- Italy: Released August 27, 2010. Features Daisuke Namikawa (as Veneziano and Romano).
- Hetalia x Goodnight with Sheep Vol. 2- Germany & Prussia: Released August 27, 2010. Features Hiroki Yasumoto and Atsushi Kousaka (as Germany and Prussia).
- Hetalia x Goodnight with Sheep Vol. 3- Hungary, Austria, Holy Roman Empire, and Italy: Released August 27, 2010. Features Akira Sasanuma, Michiko Neya, Jun Konno, and Aki Kanada (as Austria, Hungary, Holy Roman Empire, and Chibitalia).
- Volume 4: Released September 24, 2010. Features Hiroki Takahashi and Yuki Kaida (as Japan and China).
- Volume 5: Released September 24, 2010. Features Yasuhiro Takato, Urara Takano, and Yuki Masuda (as Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine).
- Volume 6: Released September 24, 2010. Features Masaya Onosaka and Go Inoue (as France and Spain).
- Volume 7: Released October 29, 2010. Features Romi Park and Rie Kugimiya (as Switzerland and Liechtenstein).
- Volume 8: Released October 29, 2010. Features Katsuyuki Konishi and Noriaki Sugiyama (as America and England/UK)
Notes[]
- ↑ In the English Dub, Sweden's one line in Episode 14 was accidentally dubbed as America's instead, causing Sweden to have no lines in the dub of these two seasons.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Anime News Network. July 24, 2008. "Hetalia Axis Powers Web Manga Gets TV Anime". Link.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hetalia.com News Index. April 16, 2009. "アニメ第２期配信決定！ [The second season of the anime will be released!]". Link.
- ↑ Hetalia.com News Index. December 11, 2009. "アニメ「ヘタリア Axis Powers」第3期制作決定！！ [The third season of the anime "Hetalia Axis Powers" has been confirmed!]". Link.
- ↑ Hetalia.com News Index. March 09, 2010. "アニメ第3期「ヘタリア World Series」DVD発売決定！！ [The third season of the anime "Hetalia World Series" will be released on DVD!]". Link.
- ↑ Hetalia.com News Index. September 30, 2008. "アニメ「ヘタリア」スタッフ決定いたしました！！！ [The Staff for the anime "Hetalia" has been decided!!!]". Link.
- ↑ Hetalia.com News Index. November 20, 2008. "テレビアニメ放送日、放送局決定！！ [The TV anime broadcast date and station have been decided!!]". Link.
- ↑ Hetalia.com News Index. January 16, 2009. "『ヘタリア Axis Powers』キッズステーション放送中止のお知らせ [Notice of cancellation of "Hetalia Axis Powers" broadcast on Kids Station]". Link.
- ↑ Hetalia.com News Index. May 29, 2010. " アニメ「ヘタリア Axis Powers」ＴＶ初放送決定！ [The anime "Hetalia Axis Powers" will be broadcast on TV for the first time!]". Link.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Hetalia.com News Index. January 23, 2009. "アニメ配信情報、詳細決定！！ [Anime distribution information, details decided!!]". Link.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Hetalia.com Story Index. Link.
- ↑ Hetalia.com News Index. January 26, 2009. "携帯配信のアクセス過多による接続障害について [Regarding connection issues caused by excessive access to mobile streaming]". Link.
- ↑ Hetalia.com News Index. January 27, 2009. "アニメイトＴＶアクセス過多による接続障害について [Regarding connection issues due to excessive access to Animate TV]". Link.
- ↑ The Funimation Update Blog. May, 2009. "We need your input!". Archived from the original on May 22, 2010. Link.
- ↑ The Funimation Update Blog. January 08, 2010. "2010 Roll-out Riot: Day 5 of 5 – Axis Powers Hetalia & The Sacred Blacksmith". Archived from the original on April 16, 2010. Link.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 The Funimation Update Blog. April 30, 2010. "Anime Detour Recap and Hetalia Happiness!". Archived from the original on May 04, 2010. Link.
- ↑ Funimation Twitter. May 03, 2010. Link. Archived from the original on August 03, 2016. Link.