Unusually, a (popular) web comic has had an anime version announced, in what may be a first. Axis Powers ヘタリア / Axis Powers Hetalia is published on the author’s homepage (it should be said that the author, 日丸屋秀和 / Hidemaruya Hidekazu, does have experience as a professional mangaka), and is freely viewable, though a hardcopy manga version has also been published.
The comic is a comedic story of the WWII powers interacting, told through four panel strips, with the various characters each being anthropomorphised representations of their national characters.
I had a read, and it does seem quite amusing, though the art is rather scrappy and low resolution. The humour is at times insightful, though it is probably a bit less sharp than might be expected. Historically it also seems reasonably accurate.
It looks to be a very original premise for an anime, and I note with interest that no token female characters make an appearance, so it will be interesting to see how well this can be marketed; hopefully, it will be no great impediment to what could turn out to be a most original work.
I’m scratching my head trying to think of any other web comic anime… Is this a first?
The anime adaptation of Tonari no 801-chan was announced last week, I think, so Hetalia is not the first one :-)
Could be a new trend then, although probably not a long lived one considering the scarcity of quality long running web comics…
Well, the anime adaptation of Tonari no 801-chan was announced last week, I think, so this wouldn’t be the first.