Politics, especially in America, is divisive. We have to be grateful for satire for providing a channel for observing the sharp rhetoric and bile that arises from long-held grudges and biases between governments and political parties so that we can laugh it off with a shrug. There is no anime I can think of that is more conducive to this mindset than “Hetalia: Axis Powers” and its sequel, “Hetalia: World Series.”
Hetalia is an anime that satirizes world history, international politics and cultural stereotypes by personifying countries as people and showcasing them in different points in world history with an emphasis on the first and second World Wars. The episodes are a bite-sized length of five minutes apiece.
The premise of Hetalia lends itself to a lot of the stereotypes you would imagine these countries having. For instance, Italy is obsessed with wine, food, and chasing women, France is effeminate and flamboyant, Germany is strict and intense, Japan is reticent and taciturn, and America is an arrogant jerk. However, the jokes and quips are benign, inoffensive and divvied out to all countries equally in good taste.
Most western political satire that I’m familiar with is dry and sardonic in tone. Hetalia, by contrast, is not to be taken seriously. On the contrary, Hetalia is an unabashedly silly show that has its tongue planted firmly in its cheek without an ounce of shame. It’s frantic, zany, wild, crazy and utterly unpredictable.
Yet for all of its goofiness and slapstick, Hetalia is at the same time a very smart show. It isn’t particularly deep and has no subtlety whatsoever, but it’s funny in a clever, punchy in the sort of way that makes you tilt your head to the side and say, “lol, wtf?” It’s peppered with homoerotic subtext, wonderfully awkward moments, and clever jabs at the foibles of warring nations and their disputes over power, territory, resources, or just because they have nothing better to do.
I can’t help but shake the feeling that beneath the light-hearted exterior Hetalia is hiding a certain cynicism that derives itself from a realist outlook on international relations. It seems to suggest that states are self-serving by nature and will only cooperate with others if they can garner some sort of advantage for themselves. After all, it does seem to base a lot of its jokes on the rivalries between the humanized countries like Turkey versus Greece, France and Great Britain, China and Russia, etc.
Hetalia is not only fun, it is a pure joy to behold. It’s even more of a blast to watch with a friend or two, or maybe a history buff to guide you through the more obscure references. There is a lot to like in this show, even if one has no particular interest in either history or anime.
