Why does it need to be in WWII?

Doesn't Himaruya realize how angry this will make people, and what a delicate subject it is? I mean, I can understand that it has a bunch of possibilities for a show like this, and that the entire world took part in it, but you could do the same thing with various "sketches" that take place in different parts of history, and that could also open possibilities for more characters that can't be shown due to them not fighting in the war.

The problem with anything about WWII, is that it's impossible to not anger/offend people if you take it lightly. And though I haven't lost any relatives and haven't been particularly hurt by the war, I have still seen parts of Hetalia that simply seem... Insensitive, and horrible. And dismissing it as a comedy that mustn't be taken seriously can, to some types of people, only make it worse.

As a matter of fact, the strips that don't take place during this time period are some of my favourites.

I have to agree with you on that. Me being German has made some parts of the manga kind of... not that appealing (Germany's outfit for one- I understand that it's there for historical reasons, but... just... no. Also some of the dub moments... that are really offensive.....). I definitely agree that there would've been better moments in time to put this.

Same here. WWII was a horrible period, and even up to this moment people are still hurt by it. And it doesn't help that Hetalia came into existence because Himaruya wanted to make fun of the losses made by Italy then... though from what I can see, Hetalia seems to have strayed from that point in history, strangely enough.

(And those two jokes from the dub concerning Germany weren't funny in the slightest. I mean, I still don't understand the reference with Germany asking if Romano brought another Jew during that one episode. FUNi, why must you rewrite the script and put in jokes that aren't even funny at all?)

Most of the strips would've worked in another time as well. What also bothers me is how Prussia is portrayed. Yes, I like him as a character (though his laugh annoys me), but the fact is, Prussia is no longer a country, and reading about the things that happened to the Prussians towards the end of the war were pretty horrible, and I really think Prussia shouldn't be such a 'claim to be awesome' character he's portrayed as. Something more serious for a dead nation please....

And his dub exclamation in the whole segment with Rome popping up at random was just as bad (if not worse).

Lalala wrote:

Most of the strips would've worked in another time as well. What also bothers me is how Prussia is portrayed. Yes, I like him as a character (though his laugh annoys me), but the fact is, Prussia is no longer a country, and reading about the things that happened to the Prussians towards the end of the war were pretty horrible, and I really think Prussia shouldn't be such a 'claim to be awesome' character he's portrayed as. Something more serious for a dead nation please....

And his dub exclamation in the whole segment with Rome popping up at random was just as bad (if not worse).

Yeah, I wish Prussia was taken more seriously too. I don't even get his need to proclaim himself as "awesome" though... was there a Prussian stereotype to that? Is there even such a thing?

Not that I know of. The stereotypes for Prussians are more based on the military and it's orderliness. In fact, we came upon a passage in German class one time where, instead of saying something was serious, the author wrote something along the lines of "in the Prussian way."
There isn't even a direct translation of the word 'awesome' to German (just words similar to it) meaning it makes even less sense.

... now Prussia makes a whole lot less sense.

This is my biggest problem with Hetalia. I actually like most of the parts that aren't set during World War II enough to consider myself a borderline fan, but I just can't approve of anything that makes light of such an awful real-life tragedy.

About Prussia, I assumed he did the "I'm awesome" thing as a dying country not wanting to acknowledge that he no longer has any power. But is there any good reason why he should be albino?

mystery123 wrote:

This is my biggest problem with Hetalia. I actually like most of the parts that aren't set during World War II enough to consider myself a borderline fan, but I just can't approve of anything that makes light of such an awful real-life tragedy.

About Prussia, I assumed he did the "I'm awesome" thing as a dying country not wanting to acknowledge that he no longer has any power. But is there any good reason why he should be albino?

thats is very true. BUT consider this: Not all of it takes place in ww2. Now granted that's a reason I really hate axis powers, world series doesn't. It takes place in other time sets.
So before jumping to conclusions you should look at the rest of the series

mystery123 wrote:

This is my biggest problem with Hetalia. I actually like most of the parts that aren't set during World War II enough to consider myself a borderline fan, but I just can't approve of anything that makes light of such an awful real-life tragedy.

About Prussia, I assumed he did the "I'm awesome" thing as a dying country not wanting to acknowledge that he no longer has any power. But is there any good reason why he should be albino?

thats is very true. BUT consider this: Not all of it takes place in ww2. Now granted that's a reason I really hate axis powers, world series doesn't. It takes place in other time sets.
So before jumping to conclusions you should look at the rest of the series

Actually, there are still more parts of World Series that are set in WW2, but you have to figure it out yourselves from the uniforms. Though that is true. The part about it having more time range.

Lalala wrote:

Actually, there are still more parts of World Series that are set in WW2, but you have to figure it out yourselves from the uniforms. Though that is true. The part about it having more time range.

I really like your signature. I am the same way.
I don't mind making friends on both sides unless they just start accusing me of nonsense.
That I also had forgotten. I prefer the other characters instead of Allies/Axis cause they aren't stereotyped.
Like Egypt

Hetalia DOES do one thing indeed. It actually makes people start caring more about history cause of how offnsive the show is.
So you learn more even if you dont watch the show, cause you're like "Hetalia is wrong about this." So it's good to have both haters AND lovers.

I mean I have a friend who hates it but the storylines that people write are very marveloous.
I don't watch the show often anymore unless it involves ANYONE besides axis an allies.
Im kinda sick of them.

Lalala wrote:

Actually, there are still more parts of World Series that are set in WW2, but you have to figure it out yourselves from the uniforms. Though that is true. The part about it having more time range.

I really like your signature. I am the same way.
I don't mind making friends on both sides unless they just start accusing me of nonsense.
That I also had forgotten. I prefer the other characters instead of Allies/Axis cause they aren't stereotyped.
Like Egypt

Hetalia DOES do one thing indeed. It actually makes people start caring more about history cause of how offnsive the show is.
So you learn more even if you dont watch the show, cause you're like "Hetalia is wrong about this." So it's good to have both haters AND lovers.

I mean I have a friend who hates it but the storylines that people write are very marveloous.
I don't watch the show often anymore unless it involves ANYONE besides axis an allies.
Im kinda sick of them.

I've heard fangirls wish the axis had won world war 2 because they're their favorite characters. I'm sorry, but that is NOT okay. Do they even realize what they're saying?

Lalala wrote:

I've heard fangirls wish the axis had won world war 2 because they're their favorite characters. I'm sorry, but that is NOT okay. Do they even realize what they're saying?

WHAT! And thi is why I stay away from them. I prefer OC's anyways
WTF!
They are as stupid as hell!

Lalala wrote:

I've heard fangirls wish the axis had won world war 2 because they're their favorite characters. I'm sorry, but that is NOT okay. Do they even realize what they're saying?

that is NOT okay in deed.I mean (I hope you guys mind, im a fangirl but im not obsessive...I keep hetalia to myself and I don't mind having friend who dislike it; just polease dont troll me) I take history VERY seriously (and also cause im a history buff)
I only watch the show for the europe (im a big europe freak)

I mean my favourite characters are greece and turkey but I don't want the ottomans to rule!
I hope y ou dont think of me as acrazy fangirl...i feel embarassed just to be one...
U.U

I dont mind having friends who dislike it, also because you know, they have valid points such as "history should be taken seriously" and thats what i like about this. you can discuss history regardless if you watch the show (i stopped watching; i prefer the webcomic anyway)
But I hate people who troll and they haven't even seen the show!

It's sad really. That these fans have nothing more important to do, than complaining and hating on people who don't like Hetalia.

ajshim wrote:

It's sad really. That these fans have nothing more important to do, than complaining and hating on people who don't like Hetalia.

I really wish they'd understand why they hate on them. But. I guess they have their reasons. There're always gonna be hate and love for everything. I just hope this doesn't lead to some unnecessary war. But. I gotta question: please tell me that Greece and japan don't have actual relations. Cause I'm tired of GiriPan. I hate it

ajshim wrote:

It's sad really. That these fans have nothing more important to do, than complaining and hating on people who don't like Hetalia.

Then again I mean I dot get sometimes why hatred hate the show and don't move on. I mean you can hate the show but if they hate the show so much why don't they just move on? I understand though the show IS offensive. That's why I stray off from the anime

I guess some people just want to continue hating it, cause perhaps they get a kick out of it.

ajshim wrote:

I guess some people just want to continue hating it, cause perhaps they get a kick out of it.

...
I dunno if YOU hate....do you? I mean not the anime but there is some really nice fan art
http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/478872/absurdres-axis_powers_hetalia-azuma_yuuhi-bandages

This is really REALLY good. I mean why cant the show be like this?
other than that they are kinda wasting time hating it. you can hate it but just move on. dont ever speak of hetalia.

Well, the hater thing applies to any fandom really. I don't mind people hating or disliking it. What I dislike is when people are closeminded. But this applies to both the fans and the people disliking it.

And it's true, there's some really amazing fanart out there that portrays historical events far more accurately than the actual series. Then there's fanart that's really just amazing to look at.

Lalala wrote:

Well, the hater thing applies to any fandom really. I don't mind people hating or disliking it. What I dislike is when people are closeminded. But this applies to both the fans and the people disliking it.

And it's true, there's some really amazing fanart out there that portrays historical events far more accurately than the actual series. Then there's fanart that's really just amazing to look at.

Ture that. The fan art is pretty sometimes too but I prefer the really beautiful angsty ones that tell history.
I mean durarara!! has haters. I think. Personally i dont understand that show but i like it ^^
But it has haters. Same goes for naruto (I am not big on that show anymore)
^^ Yeah...I wish the actual series were like that. I reall cant stand the innacuracy. WHERE IS NORTH AFRICA! anyways the only one there is....that's sad. I hope you guys arent getting annoyed with me. As much as I love the show it's really cringing that he could forget north africa...and india! why!

you should looke up barefoot gen. it's really sad. it's about a little boy during WWII when hiroshima and nagasaki were bombed. it's based on the guy's child hood during WWII. its a sad one...but its anime

Well, there are some anime/mangas that accurately portray history, without making it into a comedy (that's the part that bothers me with the WW2 strips). One of those is Grave of the Fireflies (I haven't seen the whole movie, but I've heard very good things about it, and read the summary a while back). It's not really the fact that it's anime or manga portraying these events that's really bad, it's just in a different style of drawing from a different country. It's the way the events are portrayed that really matters.

Lalala wrote:

Well, there are some anime/mangas that accurately portray history, without making it into a comedy (that's the part that bothers me with the WW2 strips). One of those is Grave of the Fireflies (I haven't seen the whole movie, but I've heard very good things about it, and read the summary a while back). It's not really the fact that it's anime or manga portraying these events that's really bad, it's just in a different style of drawing from a different country. It's the way the events are portrayed that really matters.

Yeahhhh! xD That too...but th way they portrayed the swedish polish wars and tannenburg was okay
The drawings are cute though ^T^ So it's just that.
But it's fun again to see countries. ^J^ And it's kinda different cause you know..it's countries.
but this part where he was like "he's only trying to get people into history. they dont have to watch it."
Is that bad...?





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