The second half of the World Series run sadly keeps on with a lot of what made the first half problematic for me; the way it expands the cast and has little in the way of a cohesive story to it. Not that Axis Powers really had a story mind you, but it had a sort of overall theme where it dealt with the various big powers and what they got involved in with some nods towards other countries, past and present. With World Series, the core does get its time, but it focuses on moving about so many other countries at times with their bits of history thrown in that it just gets to be a bit much. There’s nothing to tie it together like the World War II theme does.
So when the series shifts back to the original main trio of characters, I do find myself smiling more. This set thankfully does open with Japan hanging out with Italy and Germany, there’s a lot to like. Japan ends up getting put through some intense training as Germany wants him in tip top shape and ends up not liking just about everything that Japan does when it comes to food and exercise. With Japan being fairly old and not even remembering how many birthday’s he’s separated, having his medical report come across wrong and being put into such a regimen is definitely fun to watch. Much as is watching Italy narrate a small story about cats who have nationalistic aspects to them, taking the whole Hetalia gag to another level.
Germany gets an interesting episode in addition to this as he’s got a problem after dealing with Japan in that he’s unable to have a beer in his presence now. His older brother can’t believe it, nor can anyone else, and they do their best to push it on him and get him to drink. I think this is the first time we’ve seen his older brother and he definitely is amusing in how he deals with his younger brother and the statements about how beer is simply the blood that runs through a good German’s veins. What makes the whole ordeal even worse, especially for Germany, is that Italy is the one that points out the foolishness of it all in how they’re approaching their diet and exercise changes. And that only reinforces what they’re doing since they can’t be seen backing down, especially from something that Italy has pointed out.
The focus on Germany is particularly strong early on and in other areas as we also see him dealing with Austria a bit as he’s still essentially freeloading at his place. Austria’s aloof style continue to be very amusing when played in contrast to Germany and his brash outwardness, especially as he starts to have an influence on Germany and you see him getting all serene and sophisticated. Having France show up in the midst of an argument they’re having puts them on the same side for a bit and it only serves to once again highlight a side of Austria that he doesn’t want seen, especially as it was England who sent him off there to spy. Austria can be so decidedly cute at times that it’s too much.
Hetalia hasn’t spent too much time with China in the first half so getting him for a bit is definitely fun, especially as it’s during the period of discovery for them as they’re getting all around the world. China’s explorations, on “unnecessarily huge vessels,” is amusing since they get around a lot and see a lot of sights. But they also bring back a lot of animals for the country to see and delight over, including a giraffe which seems to be a particular favorite. And understandably so since there’s really nothing else like it out there. It’s cute to see how China is about all of it and then to have that particular episode capped off with another Nekotalia piece where the relationship between Germany and Austria is simply too adorable. Germany is frustrated in just about every form it seems.
One of my favorite characters continues to be Sealand simply because of how it was created and the whole history of it, which this show got me to look at more. The character here is in a way far pushier and more annoying than most any other since he wants to be liked but hasn’t a clue how to really do it. He’s pretty out there with it and you can see how much he frustrates everyone else which explains why they ignore him. Italy is still my all time favorite though and these episodes have fun with him. Particularly when he ends up capturing England by accident and puts him in prison. There’s a whole raft of jokes in there about Italian prisons based on what we know of Italy and England certainly makes the most of it. Italy and his older brother are just far too much fun to watch as they cope with this situation.
The show doesn’t spend its time in any one area for too long, but there are some fun things happening in the past. There’s a lot of powers on the move in the fifteenth century period of Europe and the Ottomans in particular are lining up their plans since there’s a lot of players and potential plans to be laid out. Some of what gets dealt with at this time with power consolidations and the like are fun pieces such as seeing the arranged marriage between Poland and Lithuania, where we see Poland so completely against it since he doesn’t like other people and gets all panicky in their presence. It’s fun to watch the way he reacts while everyone tries to soothe him and urge him along. There’s even a decent little history lesson attach to it afterwards that shows where the two countries went and how the whole arrangement worked out.
There’s a really cute episode about the two that focuses on them telling stories about each others’ capitals and their history. Poland tells a tale about a scary dragon that used to reside there and caused all manner of problems until a prince went into the cavern to deal with it. It’s a serious story told with humor that works well since the two don’t mesh up. Lithuania’s story tells the tale of a time when the king went into the Sacred Forest and had a dream about a wolf wearing armor, which like the story with the dragon is done seriously and looks really neat as he tells it. Of course, Poland can’t be bothered to listen to anything anyone else has to say and he spends his time doing something with his body that should only be done in private.
The tales of the Allies continue to be the most charming for me, and seeing France wandering around a deserted island with a pretty bird flapping around him is entirely appropriate. It’s the kind of life that France leads even in the most dangerous of times where he’s beautiful and appealing. There’s something charming about him being cool about everything as he’s stranded on the island, only to discover that he’s not really alone because Italy is there as well. Italy continues to look up to everyone in an adoring way, even in the midst of a war between all of them.
The two have a pretty lengthy history so having them spend time together makes a certain sense even when taken into the larger context. What makes things even more amusing though is when they finally come across Germany who is being incessentally poked by America and England while various other characters look on from the bushes. Italy’s panic over everyone poking him is pretty darn amusing though, especially as Germany just stands there and stoically takes it. America and England are very cute as they go at it though, poke poke poke away.
Chris Beveridge
Chris has been writing about anime, manga, movies and comics for well on twenty years now. He began AnimeOnDVD.com back in 1998 and has covered nearly every anime release that’s come out in the US ever since.
He likes to write a lot, as you can see.
