1.) The episodes are 5 minutes, not 10.
2.) The beach scene was supposed to be a Big Lipped Alligator Moment, of sorts. It's only funny for those who like random stuff.
3.) There is no plot, because that's not the kind of show it is. It's more like a bunch of quick comedy sketches by bickering members of the Big Brother reality show.
4.) I only recall the "next episode" moment once. They never used it again.
Eh. We'll just say this review is a general impression.
Also: calling Hetalia a series of "comedy sketches" is a smack in the face to all comedy sketch groups. Even Smosh is funnier than this.
Hetalia is satire and there's more than 20 episodes.
The American Storage Cleaning is the most popular comic in the series so of course it's going to show previews multiple times to excite the audience. The director in the Hetalia Interview clearly states this. Also, it's the only serious episode in season 1.
And your review is not a general impression of the show as a whole. More of taking the negatives of the series and not listing the positives.
Say it in red! "People die when they are killed."
I'd have to say that as a male and a history geek, I am a proud Hetalia fan. Hell, I cosplay Russia!! But in any case, I have to say that on some points you're right. Stock Footage abuse is rampant, I mean, they play the same fight scene with China beating up the Axis with his wok how many times? I personally thought it'd be nice and awesome to have different countries get their time in the spotlight, but this is a low budget series and it shows.
Yes, there is no 'plot' persay, but I'd say you don't really need a plot when you have well developed, interesting characters. If you notice, very few countries are complete one note jokes, those that are are usually minor characters. Sure, Belarus's main trait is her obsession with her brother (actually true in real life, amusingly enough) but how often does she actually appear as a character? The main cast like Russia, Germany and Italy, and heck even character that appear fairly often like Austria, Hungary and Prussia get a lot of developments. Some times, it's just as nice to sit back and watch a bunch of people interact, even if that interaction goes nowhere.
Out of curiosity, how many epsisodes did you watch? Note that on youtube, Hetalia: Axis Powers becomes Hetalia: World Series after the 50 somethingth episode, so you'll have to change your search terms. If I recall, the best humor in that scene is not Rome appearing and doing his song (which as you pointed out, EVERYONE has seen) but the characters immediately afterwords all looking around going 'what the hell just happened?'
"If everything on Earth were rational, nothing would ever happen." ~Fyodor Dostoevsky
The episodes are not 10, but 5 minutes long.
There is no plot. That is true. No myth arcs to be found here, that's for sure.
It's not set in WWII, despite the name. I see this impression a lot, but it really isn't true except for a couple of strips. It's set...all over history, WWI, and modern times, almost entirely at random.
Just to point out something - I was under the impression that the multiple promos for America's Cleaning out the Storage bits were to replace all the footage that had South Korea running around. Originally, all those promos weren't there, but when the Korean people loudly objected to the personification of their country, Korea had to be taken out of the anime and the empty minutes that Korea had occupied originally were replaced with stock footage from America Cleans out the Storage. So, at least there, the stock footage argument is invalid.
Ok, I do have some problems with this. One, the episodes are 5 minutes long. Not ten. Two, yes, some jokes are overused but that (for me, at least; YMMV) makes it more funny. Three, it's not the type to have a plot. Complaining that Hetalia doesn't have a plot is like complaining Azumanga Daioh or Lucky Star doesn't have a plot; it's meant for comedy, and to show relations between countries. Also, a tip: there's plenty of fanfics out there that show the sort of Hetalia you're looking for, if you know where to look. Not to mention there ARE people out there that support het pairings. -osakachan12
I would like to put out that the series you are reviewing was originally a webcomic (and the webcomic features as a prominent part of the page to which this review is attached-count the external links. At the time of this writing, FAR more are to the webcomic or clips thereof than direct to youtube videos or screencaps.) that was so popular that it became an anime series. This ought to tell you something about the quality of the original source. If your main complaint is the stock footage, that F*cking Island, and the various other anime-related complaints, I'd sugges taking a look at the webcomic.
Otherwise, I'd like to echo Chris WWII's question of just how many episodes you watched. Quite a few of these complaints seem based off a very limited number of episodes, as others have pointed out. If you have watched other episodes, that you had no problem with, please acknowledge them, to be fair to the series; if you had complaints about them, and they contributed to your assessment of the series, please include them so we can better understand your motives and points, to facillitate civil discussion; and if you haven't seen them at all, I'd reccommend not writing a review based on a very select portion of the series.
I agree with most of the comics ahead and a word of advice if you want a plot look somewhere else. The very reason people love hetalia is that it's so random and as the few comments above me I agree watch some more episodes and then complain about the series.
Where to correct you first...?
Let's see... first, there's no opening, unless you count that 7 second preview. The ending is 36 seconds at the most. The episodes are 5 mins long. The joke with the island was about their reactions to it (Well, that and "China, I choose you!". Heh, Pokémon.). America's storage room cleaning was not only one of the most popular strips, it was also one of the rare dramatic ones. And showed why England and America act like they do towards eachother.
It's never really used stereotype jokes. It's more that they ARE stereotypes, and we're making fun of them.
The main appeal of the series (which i'm almost certain you didn't really watch)? Comedy. It's funny. The hoyay is just a bonus or hilarious for some, annoying or unnecessary for others.
It's set whenever it wants to be. Sometimes it's not really anywhere. But it's not just WWII.
And the preview thing was used once. These mistakes lead me to believe that you looked it up and read about it, and decided this from what you saw, instead of watching the series or reading the web comic. Or did that and watched one episode.
Well, that was probably wrong.
^ I actually watched about 20 episodes before quitting. Then I waited a few days before deciding to review it. So, like I said: "general impressions". I watched episodes one after the other which is why I might have thought they were 10 minutes long. Sorry.
And 40 seconds lost to a thirty second theme tune + intro animation in a 5 minute show is nearly 15% of running time. When I was watching episodes one after the other and saw that filler garbage over 10% of the time, my first impression was "tedious". Re-using footage bumped it up to "incredibly annoying"
Also: This series is as funny as leukemia.
PASTAAAAAAA!
No.
To be fair, it may be a bit trying to make an anime out of a mainly four-panel webcomic. Try sandwiching all the strips in more or less twenty or so minutes. It would end up worse.
Besides, Hetalia works as well, History: The Abridged Series (starring national personifications, with 31.2% more Ho Yay and moe) If it's main appeal is, indeed, the Ho Yay, then it would probably do better as an outright BL manga. Sadly, relations between nations and history doesn't work that way. And fans learn a lot from the series. A good deal of fans like the series because it's based on history (and occasionally poking fun at Himaruya for getting his facts wrong on some times), and how it's not all comedy, really (There are scoops of drama, a dollop of awesome, a pinch of heartwarming there, and a measure of good ol' fridge horror on the side); it's a genre buster for a reason. Het pairings and female characters are quite welcomed here, too (a bit surprising, due to the nature of the bishounen-dominated cast).
Ditto on 'reading the strips instead' part, if stock filler abuse is what you're complaining about (Personally speaking, being familiar with the original version of a work is better than exposing oneself first with re-renditions and remakes). Or maybe it's unfunny because of the harder-to-understand in-jokes WITH randomness mixed in.
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Meh
Inoffensively boring.
Episodes are 10ish minutes. 2 of those minutes will consist of the opening and closing theme songs, both of which are annoying.
I watched an episode where the countries were all bumming around on the beach, when suddenly Rome appears out of nowhere and takes the rest of the show to recite the "In hell, the English are cooks..." joke you've all doubtless been forwarded.
And that episode is a perfect summation of the series. Bland national stereotype "jokes" (sometimes just plain ol wackiness will suffice!) stretched out over 10 minutes in place of actual content.
There is no plot. Despite the fact that it is set in WWII.
The main appeal of the series is in the Ho Yay and the thrill of seeing countries personified, which wears off quickly; the countries have about as much personality as you can expect from a cast of 20-odd national stereotypes.
Main problem is abuse of stock footage. Absolute abuse. Count how many times America goes to clean out his shed or closet or whatever in the episodes preceding the closet-cleaning episode. You will be shocked and appalled by stock footage.
And why, why do you need to have "next episode on..." segments when your show is only 10 minutes long? There simply isn't enough content in Hetalia to make the jump from silly manga shorts to silly animated shorts.