Don't Just Build A City In The Conference Room.

[rionaleonhart]

My second year of university is officially over! None of the topics for which I had been preparing came up in the literature exam, hurrah, but I didn't cry or faint and I did actually manage to write things, which means that it went better than expected. (I was terrified about that exam.)

Entirely because of futuresoon, I found myself celebrating with the twenty available episodes of Hetalia: Axis Powers (Axis Powers: Hetalia? Oh, I'm just going to call it Hetalia). They are only five minutes each, and watching them has been one of the most confusing experiences of my life.

I think I may have enjoyed it.

Here are some notes:


- Personifications of countries are adorable. I feel like a slightly awful person for finding it all so cute. World War II is absolutely not supposed to be cute.

- It is educational! Sort of! I didn't know that the prime minister of France proposed a union with England in 1956, and, given the way in which it was portrayed in Hetalia, I'm not likely to forget it. Also, should I ever need to remember historical events in the future, I shall probably find it easier now that I have the option of imagining little anthropomorphic countries acting them out.

- Apparently, England has a flying green rabbit, which I don't quite understand. I have lived here all my life, and my encounters with flying green rabbits have been few. Also, his eyebrows are spectacular.

- Oh, my goodness, the flashback to England giving young America toys in the seventeenth episode is actually really cute. And sad!

- The eighteenth episode: ...did America seriously say 'I choose you, China!'? Is it too early to be considering Pokémon crossovers? (Is it ever too early to be considering Pokémon crossovers?)

- I appear to be 'shipping Germany with Northern Italy. This is not really something I ever expected to think.

- Germany is sort of hot.


(Here, if you are interested in experiencing the bewilderment for yourself, is the first five-minute episode. It is An Experience. (A warning: Hetalia is a very silly series involving anthropomorphised countries. It likes to draw on and absurdly exaggerate national stereotypes. Much of it, although it avoids the particularly unpleasant aspects, is set during World War II. As a result, it has the potential to be really quite offensive, and even if you're not offended you may feel vaguely as if you are doing something wrong by watching it.))

Comments

[futuresoon.livejournal.com]

And on the Supernatural kink meme there's two guys having sex with an eight-year-old. It's a kink meme. Don't expect the extreme stuff on it to be representative of the fandom, or definitely the canon, as a whole. The vast majority of Hetalia fic I've read has either not covered the sensitive issues of history or done so in a reasonable, intelligent manner. I won't claim that every single person in it is a shining example of non-squickiness--there are the occasional Russia/Lithuania things that make me a little uncomfortable--but by and large, no, the fandom is not offensive.

[dancesontrains.livejournal.com]

I agree that there's offensive stuff on on every kink meme- that's part of the deal. It just crosses a line for me when dealing with anthrophomorphized versions of countries + certain rl events.

[futuresoon.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's a valid opinion. Certainly it's understandable to be squicked by the show; I just don't like it when people think the fandom must be either idiots who don't see what they're doing or actively malicious. I mean, we have fic about countries arguing who has the best composers! It ain't all about war!

[rionaleonhart]

And on the Supernatural kink meme there's two guys having sex with an eight-year-old.

There is a part of me that wants, out of morbid curiosity, to ask who's involved, but I don't think that any part of me truly wants to hear the answer.

[futuresoon.livejournal.com]

A character who was only in one episode. I shan't tell you which one if you don't want to know.

[rionaleonhart]

Please tell me it's not Ben.

[futuresoon.livejournal.com]

Oh god no. It's a girl. Um. I'm not sure how that is better than Ben, actually.

[rionaleonhart]

I thought I'd be relieved, but somehow I'm not. Go on, then: tell me.

[futuresoon.livejournal.com]

The girl from Wishful Thinking. The one with the suicidal teddy bear. Yeah. I don't get it either.

[thorne-scratch.livejournal.com]

Sadly enough, I saw requests in the same vein with Ben.

That meme still gives me weird feelings; there was some great stuff, but halfway through, I had to just stop reading the whole thing. Because even just glimpsing some of the prompts gave me squicky heebie-jeebies that didn't subside for days on end. Which is of course my issue to deal with, and it's a kink meme, but still. Brrrrr.

Oh, and I got a crash course in Hetalia when I recently attended an anime con. It was sort of necessary after I watched Prussia get tackled by a fangirl. "No, she just really likes his flag!"

[rionaleonhart]

Because apparently I hate myself, I had to investigate some of these prompts. (On the whole, my stance is 'people can write what they want', but that doesn't mean I can't personally be disturbed by what they choose to write.)

I am really confused by the request for Dean to have sex with two 'virgin sluts'.