Tokyopop has acquired the right to publish Hidekaz Himaruya’s Hetalia: Axis Powers manga.   First published as a Webcomic, it has been collected into two tankoubon, the first volume of which sold over a million copies in Japan.  It has also spawned a video game, an animated movie due to debut in Japan on June 5th and a 56-episode anime series from Studio Deen that has been acquired for North American distribution by Funimation (see “Axis Powers Hetalia to Funimation”).

Hetalia is a broadly comic and politically incorrect manga snapshot of 20th Century history (WWI through WWII) where each country has been anthropomorphized into bishonen characters with stereotypical attitudes that have already created some controversy (the anime was removed from the airwaves in Korea).  The name of the series, Hetalia is a “portmanteau” that combines the Japanese word “hetare,” which means “useless” with Italia (Italy), making the title itself a disparaging slight on the weakest and most ineffective of the Axis Powers.

No country is spared from the satirical barbs in Hetalia.  Italy, the series’ title character, is afflicted with a singular euphoric love of pasta, while America struts around yelling “I’m a hero,” and munching on hamburgers.  The German character is seen as cold at first, but also as hard working and efficient, if a little too bureaucratic, while the personification of Japan is busy trying to adopt the culture of the other countries he meets.