Nah, I'm not into manga either, don't worry. I only have the Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories volumes, and only so I could have the story in my library, since I don't have a gameboy.

lol Don't worry about it. I don't have that many fics completed either, and only for about two fandoms myself.

And I'm glad you find the concept of APH interesting. If you like, here're some slideshows that I made that might help introduce you to the concept.

[link] More of a general, feel-good vid, meant to include as many characters as I could.

[link] A more historical vid, about the invasion of Poland in 1939 by Nazi Germany. The short little dude with bright green eyes and shoulder length straight blonde hair is Poland's personification. He'll be showing up a lot (and he's incidentally my 2nd favorite character).

Finally, I've been working on an ongoing project to make a theme vid for each APH nation with a song that really seemed to fit their personality and outlook on life. Here are the main characters of the series, the Axis powers, and if you like what you see, just ask me, and I'll link you more.
North Italy [link]
Germany [link]
Japan [link]

Hope you like, and do check out Pinapple's fic when you get the chance. It's not very long either, so it won't take more than a few minutes to read. *shot for shameless plugging*

(By the way... all your responses to my comments except for the first one have been just showing up as regular comments on this deviation. If I hadn't checked back here, you'd still be waiting for a response from me. Is there a problem with your response button or something? If so, you might want to look into getting that fixed. )

Oh, and I read the Crying Freeman mangas too, because it was the first anime I ever saw and it holds a dear place in my heart.

Dude… 18 tattoos? Does that not hurt?

And to answer your question, yes, “Axis Powers Hetalia” is an anime, based on the internet manga by Himaruya Hidakez. The basic jist of the series is taking the countries of the world, personifying them, and making them act out history and international relations in an allegorical format. The kicker? It’s a comedy. While the original can be laugh-til-you-cry funny, I don’t agree with all the stereotypical portrayals of some of the nations, and some of the jokes can make me uncomfortable. There’s also the fact that you can count on one hand (maybe two, if you try) the number of times it’s actually tried to be serious, and to treat the historical facts it’s covering with more dignity than it usually does.

HOWEVER, this does not at all change the fact that it is still a phenomenal teaching tool, and for a history buff like me, the basic concept for this is like manna from heaven. What would it really be like if beings like the personified nations really existed? What would they be like, and how would the passage of time and all the things they’ve been through over the years (like famine, economic crises, and civil wars) affect them? Add to which that every. Single. Character in this series is lovable in his or her own right, and you’ve got the makings for some major drama, or whatever else you want to try with this, because in history, there are no real bad guys or good guys, just people living their lives the best they can, and that is who the nations really are at the end of the day; people. People who may do horrible things at times, and make bad choices, true, but still fundamentally people, flawed and beautiful at the same time. It makes you see the human element of history so much clearer after you have a face to put to the events that happen, and it drives it home in a way that nothing else can, in my opinion.

So anyway, my friend, PwnedByPineapple, wrote a story combining this more serious take on APH and combined it with the Firefly universe. The fic is told from Mal’s point of view, so even if you’re not familiar with Hetalia, you can still follow the storyline without much trouble. She’s also in the process of writing a continuation fic to it (and I am so excited about this, you have no idea ). My role in this project is basically a combination of artist, occasional side fanfic author, motivator, idea generator, and OC creator, as she’s said that creating OCs takes more of her energy than she’d like, so I make most of them, although we jointly created the personification of the Alliance, and are working on the personifications for Miranda and Shadow (Mal’s home planet) at the moment. Everyone else though, i.e. the characters for Sihnon, Londinium, the Independent Faction, etc. are solely mine.

Enough talking your ear off about this, though. Here’s the cover art I drew for Pineapple’s fic, and there are links to her story and a trailer for the first season of APH in the artist’s comments if you’re interested. I highly recommend checking out the crossover fic, though. I’ve read a lot of fanfiction in my time, and that is bar none one of the best crossovers I’ve ever read. I’m totally serious.

Hope you enjoy, and if you’re not interested, well, I hope you still enjoyed my jawing somewhat anyway.

Thank you! I watched the series from the first episode all the way till the end, then saw the pre-screening of Serenity six months before the final movie came out. I saw Serenity five times in the theater and have a Serenity (the ship) tattoo. I hope you've seen the series now, X-I-L2048!