Gifs Galore

Well, "galore" may be a bit of an overstatement. But, as of late, I've grown interested in making my own gifs. In the off chance that you don't know what a gif is, it's just an animated image that loops over and over again. Of course, the gifs I've made have been Hetalia-related, so here they are:

Keep the peace, Holy Rome!

Stop having fun, Prussia.

Sweden used Hug Attack! It's super effective!

Merry (Early) Christmas!

I recently watched the newest episode of Hetalia: Beautiful World, which is the third episode in a row to be based off of holidays (first was April Fool's, the second Halloween, and now Christmas). New episodes are apparently on hold until Golden Week ends in Japan (meaning no episode last Friday or this coming Friday). Alas, we shall survive!

Moving on, I shall now give my thoughts on the most recent episode. Finding Santa!

SPOILER WARNING.
The following section contains spoilers. You have been warned.

Let's begin with the first scene, where America, being the hero that he is, jumps through a kid's window dressed as Santa. The kid, whose name is apparently Bruce, asks for confirmation on Santa's job - if he really delivers what people want of any shape and kind right away. To which Santa America confirms, so long as it's from "anzoon.co.pj," a parody of Amazon ("amazon.co.jp"). My response to that? *facepalm* Oh, America. I personally have never ordered anything from Amazon, but know about the option to have Amazon gift wrap presents for you. You may as well just hand the person whatever it is without any gift wrap, if you ask me.

This is what happens when you ask America to be Santa Claus.

Cue the beautiful intro and the next screen, where Finland (our normal, adorable little Santa~) is talking to England about three missing Santas. As it stands, they won't be able to finish delivering presents! England proposes Finny should ask his neighbor for help (showing an image of scary-looking Santa Sweden), to which Finland responds "Are you trying to turn Christmas into a traumatic event?!" Oh, Finland. He and Sweden are my favorites out of the Nordics, despite Sweden giving off an intimidating aura. I picture him to be quite lovable on the inside. He just has trouble showing his emotions. He does a lot of nice things for Finland, but Finland is so jumpy and "fragile," to quote Finland directly. Anyway, on the topic of this episode, the image of Santa Sweden and Finland's response is my favorite part about this episode.

Moving on to the one, the only... Uh... Who are you again? Oh, right. Canada! It seems our often ignored Canadian friend can't help out with the Santa dilemma. While Canada is talking to England, Kumajiro muses over how he can help, being the "amazing polar bear" that he is. Surprisingly, he actually remembered Canada's name in his little aside. IMPOSSIBLE! The little polar bear runs over to Canada shouting "I'll do it! I'll do it!" to which Canada tells England that he "just received a Christmas present." D'aww. (Yes, that's my only response to this segment).

...Wait. Did Kumajiro really just say "Canada"?!

Back to the window breaker, America. This time he breaks through the window of our always cheerful Brit, England. While America is boasting that he could take the place of all three of the missing Santas, England shouts at the American about his broken window. Finland graciously thanks America, who starts to advertise for Amazon again before England steps in and pinches his cheeks. Some things never change, do they?

This is perfectly normal, England. It's America, after all.

Let's-a visit everyone's favorite micronation, Sealand! Sea-kun rants about how kawaii he is, claiming that every Santa in the world must want to deliver presents to him. He starts singing a cheerful tune about Santa as he goes to wake up "Sealand's one and only guard." His guard awakes and apologizes, as he forgot to get Sea-kun a present this year, and says that he'll order something later. To Sealand's dismay. Sealand calls his big brother, England, who is entirely confused on what he's being so worked up about. I certainly wasn't expecting Sealand to call England, of all people... err, countries. After all, he's the "British jerk of jerks" that Sealand broke away from. Finland's explanation on why Sealand was upset really made me lol: "Ahh... he might've taken a step towards adulthood..." Pfft, Finland, what'chu talkin' 'bout? You of all people should know that Santa is real! I'm just kidding, guys. I know Santa's not real.

Sea-kun desu yo!

Now for the one thing nobody wants. Christmas with France. ...OK, I'm sure there are a lot of France fangirls. I, personally, am not. Now before I get into a debate about France (both the character and actual France; let's just say it's a history class inside joke and leave it at that), let's discuss what's happening. France is staring out at the beautifully lit up streets of Paris, wine glass in hand, until he's interrupted by a phone call. Pissed, he picks up the phone yelling at the caller, until he discovers it's England and calls down. England tells France the situation (while Finland calms a sad Sealand in the background), asking the Frenchman if he's been getting rid of Santas. To which France responds angrily, saying that they don't do such things every year. I'm currently too distracted by the adorableness of Finland comforting Sealand to care about England and France. Actually, I'm not entirely sure what France and England are going on about (with the whole getting rid of Santa thing). Google isn't helping... The first result it gives me is something about France getting rid of homework. Because that's totally about Santa. *claps at Google* My best guess is something to do with the French Republic Calendar and the dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution of 1789 (although that may be stretching it).

I must admit, though, Paris is quite beautiful.

Back to what's going on. France offers to help, but is quickly turned down by England, claiming that France would just go on strike. France then proposes asking Hungary to be a "sexy Santa" this year, to which England says that she'd never come to France's place. England starts to say that he'll just have to do something when France interrupts with a horrified expression, picturing England as a "totally wasted and buck-naked Santa" or a murderous pirate. England starts to wonder what sort of image France has of him. France, you need a psychologist. For more reasons than one. *stops self before ranting about all of France's problems*

Seriously, France. Just what idea do you have of England?

Ahem. Next we have a section detailing France and England's Christmases over the years. "A long, long time ago," we see little England calling little France an idiot, to which France responds by saying that a real idiot is someone who calls someone an idiot. "A long time ago," we see a young England calling France names, France responding by saying that those insults were "out of fashion in France." Christmas "a bit ago" shows England and France fighting, the former attempting to force the latter to surrender, but France refuses just because it's England. The scene shifts back to the present, where England threatens France over the phone, who merely eggs him on. Oh, England and France. When they're not fighting, then you know something's wrong.

Just another day in the world of Hetalia.

And now we join the original trio of characters, the Axis Powers (Italy, Germany, and Japan). They are flying through the sky in a sleigh led by reindeer, Germany commenting that everything is going according to plan. Germany is always so detailed... Wait, that's Italy's line. Italy then asks what the other two put in their presents, as he obviously put pasta in his. Germany put in toy soldiers and stollens, while Japan put in games and a smaller boxes reminiscent of matryoshka dolls. A scene is shown of a kid opening these smaller boxes, which never seem to end. And then we get a lovely "Merry Christmas!" from the three members of Axis and five members of the Allies.

Mein Gott, who knew 5 minutes could turn into so much writing? Just goes to show you that it's not about quantity, it's about the quality.

Let the Posts Begin!

Ciao, readers~! Grazie for taking time out of your day to read this. It truly means a lot to me~!

I'm semi-new to this whole 'blogging' thing, so please excuse the mess. I've made websites, blogs, forums, and the like in the past, but I usually never got far with them for this reason or that.

So... Shall I begin by introducing what this blog is about? Ever since a certain friend of mine dragged me into the world of Hetalia, I've been quite addicted. I had heard about it before from a few of my other friends, but this particular friend happened to be talking to be on Skype. Thereby on a computer. Where I could use the magic powers of Google. The result: a Hetalia fan(girl) was born.

There may be a few of you out there going: "WTF is Hetalia?" Well, amico, let me enlighten you. Axis Powers Hetalia, Hetalia: Axis Powers, APH, or simply Hetalia began as a webcomic by Hidekaz Himaruya, sometimes affectionately called "Papa Hima" by fans. APH quickly became popular in Japan, making its way to print form (of which there are currently 3 volumes in English). The idea was so popular, Hetalia flourished into the anime most know it for. There are currently over 100 episodes, each roughly 5 minutes long, divided up into 3 series - Axis Powers, World Series, and Beautiful World. The latest series is currently ongoing, with no English dub episodes as of yet. (Click here to check the official website).

Well, now you're probably saying: "Gee, thanks for the history lesson--" (Me: *tries not to burst out laughing*) "--but what is Hetalia about?" APH personifies countries with their most well-known stereotypes and commences with historically-based shenanigans. As the name suggests, the first series primarily focused on World War II and the Axis Powers (as well as the Allied Powers), but there are no real limitations and trying to explain the story would probably give me a headache. Just know that personified countries based on stereotypes get into silly situations that are relatively accurate historically.

Phew... Well, with all of that out of the way, what will I be doing here, on this blog? Posting random Hetalia nonsense of course! From my thoughts on various episodes, to translations and transcriptions, to random  videos and stories I've wanted to make... Anything Hetalia! Who knows? I may include a bit of roleplay in these posts. Or, at the very least, in the comments. It's always entertaining to have Prussia shouting his awesomeness or America calling everyone dude or having Norway strangle Denmark with his own tie for being too loud.

For those who want to watch Hetalia, the first 4 episodes of the English dub are on YouTube (as well as tons of the Japanese episodes with English subs). Here's the first episode~

Hasta la pasta~!