History YMMV / Asterix

* OlderThanTheyThink: It is often believed in France that Creator/RogerCarel was the first to voice Asterix, in 1967's ''WesternAnimation/AsterixTheGaul''. That's technically not true -- Guy Piérauld (the most iconic French voice of WesternAnimation/BugsBunny himself) was the first, in a 1960 radio drama. Carel remains the most iconic French voice of Asterix.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: The second live-action film ''Asterix and Obelix Meet Cleopatra'', though still has mixed reception among critics and fans of the comic, is usually seen as better, funnier and closer to the comic than ''Asterix and Obelix Take on Caesar''.

* AcceptableTargets: Asterix encounters people of many different nationalities, their idiosyncracies all good-naturedly spoofed. Except in ''Recap/AsterixAndTheGoths'', in which the Goths are depicted as even more villainous than the Romans, not a single one of them possessing any redeeming qualities. Throwing their entire nation into centuries of civil war so they can't invade others is seen as a heroic act. [[note]]Throwing the Goths into war with each other can also be seen as a "funny" explanation as for why Germany wasn't a united country until 1871: they had been too busy fighting each other and creating several tiny principalities.[[/note]] This is somewhat understandable though, when you remember that the Goths are early Germans and the comic was written not too long after World War II (and Goscinny was Jewish, he lost family members in UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust). Later appearances by Goths (for example in ''Asterix the Legionary'') rectified this.

** ''Recap/AsterixInCorsica'' was ridiculously successful upon its release in France, and for a while it was the best-selling title in the entire history of the series (a title that has since been taken by ''Recap/AsterixAtTheOlympicGames'' worldwide, although ''Asterix in Corsica'' is still the most successful in the French language). In other countries, it was definitely one of the less well-received comics, since most non-French readers don't know enough about Corsica to fully understand the jokes.
** ''Recap/AsterixAndTheBanquet'' took some time to be translated into English despite being one of the earliest stories in the series (and featuring the origin of Dogmatix), as the publishers felt that non-Francophones would not be able to get all the French regional jokes.
** In Japan, the only things translated to Japanese are the first three books and the live-action films, partly due to how difficult is to translate its trademark's humor to Japanese.[[note]]According with voice actor Creator/NobutoshiCanna, who dubbed Emperor Commodus in the Japanese dub of ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', much of the history from the European ancient era pre-Medieval times, like the one from the Roman Empire, is quite alien for the Japanese to follow, in the same way classical Asian history could be considered exotic for western eyes. Coupled with the fact the protagonist are Gauls, whose historical deeds aren't very-well known outside western Europe, much less outside western countries, and the fact one of the authors, Albert Uderzo, wasn't very fond on Japanese media, this probably caused to prevent further translations to that country.[[/note]]

* WidgetSeries: While the series is popular worldwide, some moments are still too definitively French in culture to make sense outside of the country.

* AmericansHateTingle
** ''Recap/AsterixInCorsica'' was ridiculously successful upon its release in France, and for a while it was the best-selling title in the entire history of the series (a title that has since been taken by ''Recap/AsterixAtTheOlympicGames'' worldwide, although ''Asterix in Corsica'' is still the most successful in the French language). In other countries, it wasn't exactly ''hated'' per se, but it was definitely one of the less well-received comics, since most non-French readers don't know enough about Corsica to fully understand the jokes.
** Also the reason why ''Recap/AsterixAndTheBanquet'' took some time to be translated into English despite being one of the earliest stories in the series (and featuring the origin of Dogmatix), as the publishers felt that non-Francophones would not be able to get all the French regional jokes.
** This is played straight in Japan: So far, the only things translated to Japanese are the first three books and the live-action films, partly due to how difficult is to translate its trademark's humor to Japanese.[[note]]According with voice actor Creator/NobutoshiCanna, who dubbed Emperor Commodus in the Japanese dub of ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', much of the history from the European ancient era pre-Medieval times, like the one from the Roman Empire, is quite alien for the Japanese to follow, in the same way classical Asian history could be considered exotic for western eyes. Coupled with the fact the protagonist are Gauls, whose historical deeds aren't very-well known outside western Europe, much less outside western countries, and the fact one of the authors, Albert Uderzo, wasn't very fond on Japanese media, this probably caused to prevent further translations to that country.[[/note]]

** The albums Albert Uderzo wrote alone after the death of René Goscinny are often considered inferior. ''Asterix and the Great Divide'', ''Asterix and the Black Gold'' and ''Asterix and Son'' are generally seen as decent, but after that the quality of the books went gradually downhill, and hit rock-bottom with ''Asterix and the Falling Sky''.

* ParodyDisplacement: Asterix's popularity far outshone that of ''ComicBook/BarbeRouge'', and as a result more readers are more familiar with the parody than the original.

* WeirdAlEffect: The pirates are a parody of another French-Belgian comic book series, ''ComicBook/BarbeRouge'', with the same characters reused. This series has become quite obscure nowadays, even in France and Belgium, and owes recognition mainly due to ''Asterix''.

** This is played straight with the Japanese translations of the books, as only two of them were translated into Japanese and they stopped translating the rest afterwards, possibly due to how difficult is to translate French humor to Japanese.

* ViewerGenderConfusion: Flaturtha from ''Recap/TheMansionsOfTheGods'' can give of the impression of being female because all other characters whose names end in -a are female. (His name is actually based on the historical, and male, Numidian leader Jugurtha).

** And let it be known that the Portuguese, both European and Brazilian, version are also excellent!

** And let it be known that the Portuguese, both European and Brazilian, version is also excellent!

** In ''Recap/AsterixAndTheMagicCarpet'', the characters have arrows shot at them while flying over the city of Tyre, and nobody ever explains why.[[note]]Tyre, in French, is pronounced the same as "tire", meaning "shoot", i.e., shoot arrows.[[/note]] It's something of a BrickJoke from ''Recap/AsterixAndTheBlackGold'', in which Asterix and Obelix run into various tribes (Assyrians, Medes etc.) who invariably greet them with a hail of arrows before apologizing and explaining that they took them for members of another tribe.

** And let it be known that the European Portuguese version is also excellent!

** ''Recap/AsterixAndTheChariotRace'' features a masked chariot racer named "Coronavirus", who competes in a race across Italy. Roughly two years after its publication, the COVID-19 pandemic occured, with Italy being one of the first countries outside Asia to be affected (and one of the hardest hit by it), ''and'' Uderzo himself died during the pandemic (albeit from unrelated cause).

** ''[[VideoGame/AsterixAndTheGreatRescue Asterix and the Great Rescue]]'', as demonstrated by the WebVideo/JoueurDuGrenier. Not only are the levels filled with [[FakeDifficulty fake]] and [[SchizophrenicDifficulty schizophrenic]] difficulty, but the time limits are exceptionally strict, leaving almost no room for error. On Hard, it becomes borderline PlatformHell.

** ''Asterix and the Great Rescue'', as demonstrated by the WebVideo/JoueurDuGrenier. Not only are the levels filled with [[FakeDifficulty fake]] and [[SchizophrenicDifficulty schizophrenic]] difficulty, but the time limits are exceptionally strict, leaving almost no room for error. On Hard, it becomes borderline PlatformHell.

** A straight example in the animated ''Asterix and Cleopatra''with the singing bath scene which serves no real purpose (except maybe animated {{Fanservice}}).. "When you're eating well, you're well..." The Dutch version of this film even cut this entire sequence. And you know what? You don't miss it all, nor do you ever have the feeling a part of the story is missing.

** ''Asterix and the Great Rescue'', as demonstrated by the WebVideo/JoueurDuGrenier.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The 1992 arcade game has a very amazing soundtrack fitting the franchise' humorous tone. Notably "Wave", "Save Falbara", "Asterix in Gauls Village", and "Asterix Vs. Caesar".

* EsotericHappyEnding: The ending of ''Recap/AsterixAndSon'' turns into this when you realize that, assuming the history of the Asterix universe is the same as ours, [[spoiler:Brutus will get his revenge by eventually assassinating Julius Caesar, Cleopatra will commit suicide, and baby Caesarion will eventually be the final Pharaoh of Egypt, ultimately ending with Egypt being annexed by Rome and Caesarion (or Ptolemy XV as he will then be known) being executed on the orders of his other adoptive brother, Augustus Caesar]].

** A straight example in the animated ''Asterix and Cleopatra''. "When you're eating well, you're well..." The Dutch version of this film even cut this entire sequence. And you know what? You don't miss it all, nor do you ever have the feeling a part of the story is missing.

** The singing bath scene in the animated version of ''Cleopatra'' serves no real purpose (except maybe animated {{Fanservice}}).

** The series was interpreted by some as a promotion of nationalism by defending traditional French values and to encourage fighting off foreign invaders.
** On the other hand, the Gaul village resisting the Roman Empire can be interpreted as anti-imperialism.

** And let it be known that the Brazilian Portuguese version is also excellent!