Hetalia Axis Powers: good sources for historical comparisons?

[Mithrandir]

Hey everyone,

I've been watching a bit of Hetalia Axis Powers on Netflix lately. I'm impressed with how the interactions of the various characters jive with at least some of the associated historical interactions of the countries they portray.

That got me wondering if anyone has seen an in depth discussion of when in history a particular interaction would have occurred. In other words, "Episode 4 shows how x and y interacted during the battle and subsequent treaty of x" or whatever.

Any ideas?

[Voltage]

I quite agree.
It gives me a lot of insight into what and when things happen.
I also concentrate a lot more when I find things funny - I.E., my Mom say's something about Canada being fought over by France and England.

I also like asking questions and looking into that time peroid because of somthing I saw on Hetalia X3:lol:

I don't have any real "Episode x and y" I have more "I think it was this episode when..."

When the Allies are spying on the Axis, it is China that attacked Japan first. Granted, he did not hit him over the head with a wok, but you get the picture.

Chibitalia is also extremley accurate.

-sighs-

that was not very much help, da?

[Atria35]

I, unfortunately, have not seen any in-depth discussions on them, but did read up on some of the history of when these things occured, and they do seem very accurate.

[ABlipinTime]

Whether it's accurate or not, I wouldn't take history lessons from anime. They aren't necessarily a credible source, ね?

[mechana2015]

Actually Hetalia can be shockingly accurate with it's portrayal of events (though acts may be represented using frying pans and the like). In general anime can be very close to history (Grave of the Fireflies for example). Credibility would all depend on the author, not the medium wouldn't it?

[goldenspines]

I make it a hobby of mine to look up the historical content and accuracy after mostly every "skit" in Hetalia, so I can vouch for at least a majority of the accuracy, both historical and cultural. Obviously, the fun of Hetalia is that it makes the most of its premise, personifying the countries as if they were humans. And to not make things too confusing, the personifications are of course stereotypes of "how that country is seen by the rest of the world". It still all works out though.

But, sadly, I have yet to see a good in depth discussion about the show and its historical and cultural content. I look forward to being involved in one, though. =D

[Mithrandir]

...I also concentrate a lot more when I find things funny....

This is the main reason I always work as much comedy into my lectures as possible. No mater what the material, humor helps people remember stuff.

Also, "Hi and welcome to CAA."

XD

[TopazRaven]

I'm really surprised you guys consider the things in Hetalia accurate. The first thing people who don't like the series tell me is, "OMGZ, you liek Hetalia? It's soooo inaccurate and stupid, you're dumb! Watch some real anime!!!!" xD Either that or they think it's a yaoi anime. Meanwhile I myself do tend to study up on a topic I've seen in the show if it interest me enough. For being an anime that's more of a comedy/parody then anything else I think it does a pretty good job history-wise though.

[Mithrandir]

As a wise man once said, "Our strongest opinions tend to be those about which we are least certain."

[ABlipinTime]

As a wise man once said, "Our strongest opinions tend to be those about which we are least certain."

Hahahaha! Reminds me of another quote: a preacher went up to make a talk. He had written on his notes: "Argument weak. Shout like the Duce!"


Yeah, you're right though: this isn't worth arguing about.

[Dabstract]

I'm really surprised you guys consider the things in Hetalia accurate. The first thing people who don't like the series tell me is, "OMGZ, you liek Hetalia? It's soooo inaccurate and stupid, you're dumb! Watch some real anime!!!!" xD Either that or they think it's a yaoi anime. Meanwhile I myself do tend to study up on a topic I've seen in the show if it interest me enough. For being an anime that's more of a comedy/parody then anything else I think it does a pretty good job history-wise though.

I used to watch Hetalia and I was a big fan of it for sometime. If you avoid a majority of the fanbase then you should be safe from yaoi. A lot of people call it boarderline shonen-ai but that's really only because some things in the anime that can be interpreted as 'soft yaoi'. It all depends on the persons P.O.V. For example, people would call it a yaoi anime because of France's bisexuality. If you disagree on his sexual orientation, sorry. But with him hitting on China and England all the time how can I not come to that conclusion?

As for it's historical accuracy, when I first started watching, I doubted it would teach me anything. But the more I studied, I would read about things that were mentioned in the anime. Is it a good source? Yes and no. The stereotypes can make it a tad offensive and I stopped watching it because to summarize things, it's really just a wildly inappropriate history book. But yeah, you can totally learn things from it, I won't deny that.