Of Japanese Animation and International Relations.

I was quite a "fact-and-trivia-addict" when I was kid. I've tried to learn (memorize?) all sorts of stuff from Greek mythology, to the then 151 Pokemon. When a category of facts piques my interest, I try to come up with a list of all things related to that category and start memorizing them. That was the time I started to get interested with world geography and Japanese anime.

As I grew older, I found out that animes are more than just cartoons intended for kids. They, more often than not, tell some pretty serious stories, that kids will most likely ignore (since they will be pretty busy looking at the colorful moving pictures).

One common theme that Japanese animators like to explore is international relations. An example is the Gundam series which, although set in a futuristic and sci-fi Earth and space, greatly deal with how our world's leaders make mistakes, which often lead to "misunderstandings" of global proportions. (I even recommended this series to a friend who teaches the subject). Other known titles which has recurring themes related to international relations include Naruto, Code Geass and Fushigi Yuugi.

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(In this picture, from top left clockwise: England, Russia, France, China, and America. Click Picture for Source)

One day, as I was searching for something to make me laugh, I came across "Hetalia: Axis Powers" (later in renamed as "Hetalia: World Powers"). The anime comically presents world history and current events through characters which personify the countries of the world. While it is basically a comedy, Hetalia (and double checking over the net) helped me discover pretty surprising facts, such as the existence of a self-proclaimed independent mircronation called "Sealand".

I recommend this title to anyone who wants to take a break and just laugh at how the world was and is. (I end this post with a link to a Hetalia episode about Russia and his sisters, Ukraine and Belarus)