Hetalia World Series Season 3 Collection   Starring: Daisuke Namikawa, Hiroki Takahashi and Hiroki Yasumoto Manga Entertainment RRP: £17.99 MANG3128 Certificate: 12 Available 23 July 2012

For those who have not seem this off-the-wall anime show, Hetalia presents the various world powers in an anthropomorphic form, with each character purporting to hold the national characteristics of their own nation. Although this is obvious from the perspective of the Japanese, some of these are a tad on the racist side. All of this is played strictly for laughs, set against a framework of actual world history, mostly world war two, though you have to sometimes dig to discover which part of European history is being racked over.

Hetalia World Series: Season 3 Collection continues the lunacy with another twenty-four episodes. Each is around five minutes long which gives you about two hours of actual show. The show was directed by Bob Shirohata for Studio Deen.

New characters appear, including Prussia and Romano, although in the latter case it’s more of a reappearance. The stories, such as they are, cover anything from god telling Hungry to hit France with a Frying pan to England getting a cold.

Like the first two series the gags come quick and often so if you don’t like or get one, the next is only minutes away. The anamorphic picture is clear and bright and you get audio options for either English 5.1 Surround Sound or Japanese 2.0, with English subtitles. The English dub actors are as good as their Japanese counterparts, so whichever one you listen to will come down to personal choice. The 5.1 track is good, but adds little to the Japanese 2.0.

As is usual with Hetalia there are a generous amount of extras, including episode commentaries for episodes one, four and six.

The extras continue with The Hidden History Hidden Within Hetalia, which consists of text screens explaining the actual historical framework for the stories.

Hetalia Fan Event at the Tokyo International Anime Fair 2010 (37 min, 28 sec) is another of those panel presentations beloved of anime makers, which gets as bonkers as the show. There is another from an event in Tokushima, split into two parts (18 min, 26 sec), (16 min 02 sec), it is split into two parts as it was originally designed to be released on two different DVDs. In all three you get to meet the show's makers, hear them talk about the show and generally hang out with each other.

Another Fan Event (19 min, 48 sec) sees those involved in the show doing pretty much what they did in Tokyo and Tokushima, it looks like a hard life hanging out and having fun. The disc wraps with Outtakes (6 min, 33 sec), with the English dub actors mucking around; the English Trailer (1 min, 01 sec); and the textless opening and closing sequences.

The show is stupid, fun and occasionally insulting with its stereotypes, but overall, as a DVD, it’s a good package.

7

Charles Packer