A breakthrough in the history of fandom.
Literally.
Speaking from a giddy fangirl's viewpoint, Axis Powers Hetalia is something pretty much every Yaoi fangirl will love. TV-Tropes seems to heavily imply that all the gayness in this manga was actually intended. Sometimes I wonder if it really is intentional or all those jokes are just in there for the humour. I much prefer subtle messages rather than a blown out message, which is why I rarely go for canon couples in the media. There's no flexibility in that.
Anyway, I don't want to write this review of this webcomic from a giddy fangirl's viewpoint. That would be too biased and you could get that exact view from pretty much 90% of the APH fanbase. Though there is no guarantee that view won't be squeaking in a few times, I like to think of all these happy happy HAPPY messages the mangaka, Hidekaz Himaruya, is sending as a big fat bonus to spoil all the girls out there, and then some.
The obvious beauty of APH is the history. I think the most successful series that find the attention of people in the world are the ones that are educational, but actually make the person watching/reading/looking at it WANT to learn. Does a grown adult want to sit down in front of the TV and listen to some monotone voice say: "Then Julius Caesar got stabbed many times by his very own friends. Boohoohoo." -insert random ancient depictions of such here-? Perhaps some history majors and professors and those REALLY HARDCORE with History, but not the average person. I took a History course before finding out about this fandom, and I wish I found out earlier because History was the most boring class ever. It didn't help that it was my only morning class and was three and a half hours long, but still. There was PRUSSIA and the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE and FRANCE and ENGLAND and AUSTRIA. Seriously, if I knew that invasions were basically to SEIZE A NATION'S VITAL REGIONS, that class would not only NOT be boring, but quite entertaining in an extremely immature way.
But it's not just the immature stuff that would make history interesting. Sure, it'll play a big part especially if you're one of the many giddy fangirls, but the anthormorphization of countries is a brilliant idea. Not a UNIQUE one, but brilliant nonetheless. In every story there are characters, and if the story is strong, then the characters will probably be very attachable. Turning a country into a character makes it much more easier to understand a countries woes it had gone through before and today. There's many things I'm much more aware of, and I'm sure many other fans of APH are of the world than before because I can identify with the countries more. They are no longer an anonymous faceless mass of people now, so you can see the contempt this countries are in.
Example? My own country. Hard to believe yes, but I was not a very patriotic girl of the Chinese nation. After all, my parents fled the country to Canada, so it was hard to view the country as some great place that you originated in. Obviously it didn't help that schools think Asian history doesn't exist, and throw European and North American history in your face. That's understandable where the country comes from, the UK, but still you're left sitting there wondering about the East where the sun rises, and wondering whatever happened there. All you get are these dramas your parents watch on TV. One particular one I remember was about a loving couple, and the male had to go enlist on the Sino-Japanese War (don't ask me which one, I don't remember). Obviously the point of the story was the romance, and the distress felt when wondering if your loved one was okay and still alive, but there was the hint of history in it.
That was a long time ago though. I remember growing into teenagehood, and I was hit by that...Japanese phase. Some girls end up watching someone like Miley Cyrus on TV, start dressing like her and putting makeup and blowing five thousand dollars in the mall, but me? Well I went the nerdy way and watched lots of Animes. Actually that's a lie, I probably only watched like five in my life, but I really liked those five. I didn't go overboard like a friend of mine did though, but I was moderately there with the Japanese, causing me to grow a bias. I even remember once answering to my father, who asked me which country I liked better, China or Japan. I said Japan. I don't think he liked that very much.
Well, if he asked me today I would say China.
One little doodle-ish comic changed that, called "The Story of China and Teensy Japan" (something like that >_>). That incredibly congested summary of the relationship between the two countries eventually caused me to read up on a lot of history books in the library. I think the most mindblowing one I read was about the Rape of Nanking. (especially since there was a PHOTO album of that. I saw lots of dead mutilated bodies of Chinese people in that book. Would you like to see some pictures of that? I guarantee it'll hit you hard.) I continued reading other books of other countries as well. The relationship between WWII Germany, Russia, and Poland. Russia and the Baltic States. Russia and China. The ones that were interesting were relationships with Japan though, especially other Asians and Japan. The Japanese were by far the most cold, heartless soldiers of them all, and the other asians that suffered from them were by far the worst hit. Most people just think of the Holocaust and the Germans and Jews then, and they suffered greatly, yes, but damn, when I see those pictures of the Rape of Nanking. When I think of the term "Comfort Women"...well.
Perhaps I need to read more about the other countries before determining this and that, but still. Axis Powers Hetalia is deep. Not because of the actual comic canon, but because of the world canon. You can use your imagination to stretch how the events of history took place as you like, and realize how the countries suffered. If a country went into mass starvation...imagine a chibi England lying in the middle of the streets, half-naked, bones baring, and he is crying, but barely audible. He wants food, but can only speak a squeak. Other countries walking by do not help, they're busy with their own problems, but when you see that child lying there and you know his personality and his backstory...you know he does not deserve that. A being you can empathsize with is one who you know. Look at the commercials on TV that ask for your donation. You see a young child suffering, but while some part of you feels sorry, how many actually call in and donate? I don't think a great number do. Why? Because you do not know who that child is, and what he is like. I'm sure if it was a friend's child you'd donate, but this is just some kid in some country.
So in fiction, where you can know a character without needing to meet them yourselves, you can understand that pain, can feel it. If England was a child in real life on a TV commercial, crying for your help, I bet you would want to donate because you know what he's like. That's just it. That's the main attraction of this fandom. No country is portrayed as 'an evil hated character'. None whatsoever. They are all lovable in their own ways, so you can understand. Why is Russia so heartless? Well, take a long at all the comics, fanart, fanfics, videos of his history, and the bloodshed, everything, and you will suddenly forget that he was heartless in the first place.
And that's what I truly believe is the main ingredient of Hetalia. Not so much the Yaoi or pretty boys or History or what, but the fact that you can now symphasize with each character, each country. This sounds cheesy but that makes it kind of like a step towards the direction of World Peace. Now if only Korea had that same viewpoint. :P I'm not saying I hate Japan now or anything either, but my eye is no longer blind for that country. Now the first place I want to visit is not Japan, but China. Now I have even more patriotism for my own country too, Canada, but now I respect every other country more, EVEN AMERICA. Now I know what Latvia is and can locate it on a World Map, and now I understand the tension some countries have for others. That random country you never heard of walking out into the stadium in the Olympics? Well now I have heard of them, and maybe I'll even secretly cheer for them too.
I'm also going to cry now because Korea lost to Japan in the World Baseball Classic. DAMNIT JAPAN YOU WON LAST TIME. Let insecure unloved Korea win! *chompchompchomp* D<
