I first heard about Hetalia shortly after the anime came out. The idea of personified nations hadn’t intrigued me at all, and while the art was cute, I didn’t bother checking it out. It wasn’t until a month or so later that a friend sent me an episode at random and told me to ignore the main part, and skip straight to the series “mini-story,” Chibitalia.

The art in Chibitalia was even cuter than the actual storyline, but because I hadn’t seen the sixteen or so episodes previous, it made little sense to me and I felt a little scared.  It wasn’t until a week after that I finally sat down and forced myself to watch the first few episodes. Each one is only five minutes in length, and would count more of a webisode that anything else, as it is based on a web-comic, but there was so much thrown into five minutes, I was immediately turned away and I left it alone for another week.

Still, the series was incredibly popular, and I couldn’t figure out why so many people seemed to love it when you could barely understand what was going on, but I felt I had to give it another try. After all, watching something at three in the morning is much different than watching it at a more reasonable hour… and I’m very glad I did.  Once you get passed Hetalia’s somewhat fast-paced beginning, the series slows down and turns into something very enjoyable.

Each character has its own quirks, and fits their respective nation’s stereotypes in a way that’s comical, but not offensive (although, there will always be some people who take it the wrong way.) From America’s hamburger compulsion to Austria’s amazing skill with a piano, there is little not to like.  Almost every nation has a character, including those that aren’t around anymore like Holy Roman Empire and Prussia, and even little Sealand has a small boy running around. While they haven’t all been brought into the series yet, and most are still only in the comics, the anime has more than enough in it to keep viewers entertained.

Everyone in the series is lovable, and it’s very hard to hate any of the characters. For the most part, the series takes place during the World War Two timeline (as implied by the full title) but it will occasionally take the time to skip back in time to explain a certain character’s past or play homage to another point in history such as the Seven Weeks War or certain moment in time between two or three characters, and on a whole, it’s fairly historically accurate (GASP! Anime is finally making us learn!)  

While the series' humor is nothing short of perfect, and it’s very hard to keep from laughing, it has its serious moments as well. The writer adds the more dramatic moments in a way that doesn’t at all mess up the series unique flow… but it never stays that way for too long. It’ll turn right back around and have you laughing away and left wondering just how on earth one man wrote the entire story.  

I’d say the series is for just about all ages, but it’d make more sense to preteens or older. It’s a great way to learn the stuff your history teacher rambles about in the front of class, and once you see Hetalia, history class will never be boring again. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good chuckle, and the episodes are short enough that you can watch them while you sit down to enjoy a meal. They update every Monday (so you’ll always have something to look forward to) and subs are almost always released the day after.