Axis Powers Hetalia: Language v Language

I recently watched the first season of the Axis Powers Hetalia anime; I was curious to see what it was about, since I'd heard a lot of hype about it on the internet (honestly, at this point, who hasn't?). I started with the Japanese version, since that happened to be what I had access to. The voices weren't bad, for me, and I admit, I found the series to be pretty good. The characters were amusing and references to history are always fun from a nerd-tastic point of view. It's not the super-greatest anime, admittedly, it is a bit silly and all, but it's fine for what it is. And the characters are nicely done, despite the simple costumes. XD I can see why people cosplay them so much. They're not that hard to do. There are only a handful of female characters, though, from what I have seen (watching the anime + looking up the wiki).

Anyway, I came away from the experience with an overall good impression of Hetalia. Not of the fangirlish sort, but of the 'oh, it's not so bad, kinda fun actually' sort.

Then I got to see the dub.

I'm not going to say the apparently popular standpoint of "I HATE IT". I don't -hate- it. It just...it's just rather...interesting. I don't like it. The show was silly and stuff to begin with, and the accents, while I get what they were going for, are kinda reeeeeeeeally potentially offensive and definitely uber-stereotypical. And Italy sounds like Mario (as in Super Mario Brothers). It's like, no. Italy looks nothing like a chubby plumber that jumps around bravely and saves princesses. Neither Italy, North nor South, works like that. Neither are like Luigi, really, either (or...maybe they are! DUNUNUNUNUUUUUUUUUU). It's just...the accents were annoying, to me. True, they made the show sillier, as supported by the dialogue as well, and there were some really funny moments that the accents lent to, and that the dialogue made. So it wasn't all bad.

The problem I had with it was that it totally eradicated any ability to take the show seriously. I know Hetalia's silly from the start, but this was like Excel Saga ridiculous plus ten. I don't know; it just didn't work for me. It had it's moments, but then it didn't.

Overall I definitely preferred the Japanese version.

(Now I'm trying to remember; the elder Italy said something completely random about smelling like garlic bread or something...I'm trying to remember the line. That was one of the funny bits thar.)