Forum - View topicNEWS: Korean Protests Call for Hetalia Anime's Cancellation
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_Earthwyrm_
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Okay, at some point it's going to have to be pointed out that no one in this entire thread has said that Korea should "get over it".
It seems a bit strange then that two seperate people arguing for the understandability of Korea's being upset have put the phrase in speech marks. Who are you quoting? 
Suggesting that it's better not to hold history against each other, and to recognise it as bygone, is a world apart from saying "get over it". |
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abunai
Old Regular
 Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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They are quoting that well-known pundit of the internet, John Q. Strawman. - abunai |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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Isn't he almost as well-known as the great Robert Un Logikel? |
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phelmion
Posts: 1 |
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Okay, for those who haven't read hetalia, this is a part of korea-kun's profile below:
Hobbies: studying abroad and watching dramas. (recently it's favorite is canada) Likes: internet and video games The point i want to make is Hetalia focuses more on the trivial stuff during wars (like the condom incident with America and Russia) and play with the stereotypes of each country. the author himself is japanese but has been studying in New York so i'm pretty sure he gets his sources from multi-cultural friends. As much as I think this protest thing is ridiculous, there's always going to be someone protesting on controversial works. (I'm just surprised that out of all people that could have protested, it was Korea instead of the Italian anime fans...I love both country characters regardless tho) |
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Wow.
Do individuals have the right to be offended? Sure. We all have our feelings, but to call for cancelling the show is extreme. All these people claiming there is justification to hold the actions of a govenment as a cause to protest a piece of fiction-- Again, your personal feelings are your own, but to say the maker of this manga & anime need to burn/be banned for actions that occurred prior to the births of most of the makers is again extreme. It's called free speech. Sadly, yes, IF someone wanted to make a story showing some of the stuff people have suggested (Germany beating up Israel, whatever), that person has the right just as you have the right to not buy it/watch it & to tell all your friends not to buy it/watch it, but I really, really, really hate this "Boycott the advertisers" or whatever. So the Americans treated the Indians badly (which I do remember being covered in my US History classes in the 1970's. Frankly, there's a lot to cover in most history classes so it may seem like glossing over, but it's simply squeezing a century or 12 of events into however-many-weeks we get in the average school year.) The Vikings stomped all over Europe. Rome trounced more than a few nations. "Pagan" writings were destroyed as heretical. Slavery is pretty much the norm in the Bible (someone seems to be someone's slave just about everywhere). African tribes captured other tribes & sold them to slavers. Native American tribes warred with one another & took slaves, etc. It's the way things have gone throughout history. Yeah, we do get over it because dwelling on it is pointless. No, we don't forget the ethnic cleansing attempts in Nazi Germany (which wasn't JUST aimed at Jews, kiddies), but it doesn't remain a raw nerve. Yes, most Americans I work with every day (& myself) have "gotten over" 9/11. Yes, we remember the events, but it's not really a "raw nerve" as it was. Horrendously enough, we are seeing the price for allowing it to have been such a big raw nerve that we apparently allowed the current (for a couple more days) administration way more power than they should have had. Was Japan wrong in WWII? Yes, but they were pursuing a plan many, many countries/leaders have over the centuries of expanding their borders/world conquest/whatever. Looking at the world today, it doesn't seem the attitude has gone away entirely considering all the strife & war going on. Ethnic Cleansing hasn't exactly vanished. However what I found spoke the loudest in Grave of the Fireflies was the people aren't always to blame for the actions off their government. The Japanese People as well as the German People were not all evil monsters needing to be punished forever & ever & ever. They were used by their own governments. They suffered in many cases. Even the American people were heavily manipulated by our government during WWII (& every war, hasn't it been?) Give up this or that product for the war effort. "It's for the boys!" Blank check powers to this or that agency in the name of Homeland Security. Hell, isn't "manipulate the people into voting for me" on the job description for most politicians? "Cover up damaging info, but try to get away with as much as I can" also on it? Yeah, we're probably stupid to vote for these guys & to give them that much power, but most of us are just living our lives day-to-day. I'm still feeling as though I were flattened by a semi-truck over everything the last few months. I ASSUMED the people I voted into office were competant & obviously they weren't (Of course, I tend to vote against the incumbent & the incumbants always seem to win, so I probably DIDN'T vote for most of them & no, I didn't vote for Bush either time) We apparently got the government we deserved with only half the voters turning out, but that means I should be hated if I travel outside the US? Germany's voters made similar mistakes, but still, I remember one of the Scorpions talking about how they were made to feel like scum because of what Hitler did & similarly saw comments by some of the older school of Japanese animators of how they felt responsible for their nations actions-how they couldn't really feel proud, so even if the Japanese Government glosses over as much history as I'm sure many other governments do, it's not like the people don't know (exceptions apply obviously in more restrictive governments). Yes, there will always be the extremist with rose-colored glasses (god, country, blah, blah,blah), but particularly in this day & age, most info is out there to be found. Basically it says people are pretty much alike all over. And hating people for actions they didn't commit is still wrong. But humor is humor. I'm sure a lot of people could hate us over South Park (Canadians, for one). And one of the uses of humor is to point out really stuff about people & their less than respectable attitudes/habits. Whoever said the French character liked everyone else--shouldn't he hate everyone else? There was even a poll last year that rated the French as the rudest tourists & I was watching a comedian the other night railing how he went to France & they hate everyone |
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abunai
Old Regular
Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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Yah, comedians are such reliable news sources. You can always trust them to tell you the truth, without distortion. 
- abunai |
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CCSYueh
Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Yep. I also mention that poll among hotel workers or some such about the French coming out the rudest tourists (although it explained it as they get way more days than the average American does so that somehow was supposed to excuse it). I was shocked Americans weren't considered the most rude (Of course the Japanese came out near or at the top). A line comes to mind-the French don't care what you say as long as you say it correctly? It seems there are more movies portraying this "The French think they're better than everyone" attitude so I just figured a comic strip dealing in stereotypes of a nation's personality would reflect it also. Look at the image of SoCal. I really haven't met all that many surfers, but the image of us as speaking surfer slang & smoking pot seems pretty prevelent. Most Californians are well aware that the way most of the US thinks of California is about what most of the world thinks of the US. (Basically either starry-eyed/want our gifts, or wish we'd fall into the Pacific) |
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Aikoh
Posts: 96 Location: United States |
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I think that too many things have been either taken out-of-context or worded badly in this argument whenever it crops up. I believe that what most of the fans have been trying to say from the beginning is not to "get over" the war, but to "get over" something as trivial as Hetalia, and while it's fine to be offended and to dislike it, these reactions are rather extreme, as CSSYueh said earlier. |
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Curmulus
Posts: 2 |
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So basically, from my point of view, the whole incident is like this: A guy in Japan makes a comedy about WWII, adds Korea just as an interest. Korean people are angry by how they are depicted and starts a protest in fear of 'wrong' images of them posted all over the world.
I've personally seen that petition which over 10,000 people signed. I was simply dumbfounded. I did a lot of research before writing this. I'll try to be on everyone's side(which is quite hard). Korean's point of view: -Hetalia is disgrading our nation. And they're airing it on the kid's channel. It's not good for education. My opinion: Well, it is true that many Japanese kids watch TV at night. One good example is that an anime called Kanokon once ranked first between Japanese elementary school children. But that channel happens to air other programns that aims at adults. Anyhow, all the major broadcasting stations refused to air, so not many kids will watch it I guess. And how many kids do you think will get serious about that 5-minute anime? Many people in this world thinks of Korea like that already anyways. -Japan's animation is talked highly in this world. Hetalia will create misconceptions about Korea in foreign people's heads. My opinion: Anyone who's old enough to understand this series doesn't take this thing seriously. Most people would laugh by how characters act, not by how countries act. And they criticize other countries as well. You guys are giving bad impressions to foreign people by doing all this protesting. Japanese people didn't even know this anime existed until you guys fired up. -What Korean guy is wearing is not Hanbok. It's mixture of man's and woman's. My opinion: You could just take that as 'Korea has no gender'. No one cares too much about what these characters are wearing, aren't they? And things can change in terms of characterizations. You just think that it's a problem because it's Japaneses who did it. You guys didn't bomb Gravity when they changed hanboks, did you? -Dokdo is not Japan's. That scene where Korea gropes over Japan's breasts should be removed. My opinion: Who on the earth said that breasts of Japan was Dokdo/Takeshima? It could be about other issues. -Korea claims everything to be his. We never said that everything was ours. My opinion: I think they were merely exaggerating the 'Kimchi is ours! It's not Japan's!!' kind of stuff. Well, from my point of view, Korean people do say 'It's ours, dammit!' quite a lot, but they don't claim everything to be theirs. Still, I think it's one of the problems Koreans have. -Past grudges... how do you expect us to get over that? My opinion: Well, I understand what you mean, but you shouldn't get too sensitive towards Japan too. I know that you guys grew up listening to stuffs like 'your grandma and grandpa was treated like this and that back then' and such so you don't have very positive images towards Japan. But what is past is what is past. All the people who did horrible things back then are gone(well, most of them). You guys acting like that makes yourselves seem as if you were looking for fights with Japan. Japanese's and foreigner's point of view: (note: some of these are based on comments from 2chan) -Koreans always insult us(Japanese) anyways. You guys belittle us much more in your pieces. My opinion: I don't know too much about that myself, but in this case, Korean people shouldn't do it too. But when Korea publishes something, mostly only Korean people or people from nearby countries read it, meaning that it mostly ends up as joke among themselves. When Japan publishes something, people from all over the world read it. But I see the point. The series was going to be broadcasted in private channel which means it was just meant for 'joke among themselves'. I'm not saying that those Koreans who insult Japanese people are playing nice though. In fact, I think they should stop doing it. This applies to all the countries: it's not nice to make fun of other nations. -Who on the earth takes that piece of a comedy anime seriously anyways? My opinion: Some people do care. So is it okay to make fun of you right in your face, just for a joke? And yeah, normal people like you and me don't care, but as in terms of relationships between nations, this can't be taken as a joke. Of course, the mangaka might have not meant it, but this doesn't apply just to Korea. This sort of stuff indeed damages the images of nations. I mean, why we have 'libel and slander' in the list of crimes for? Telling jokes among yourselves is fine, but you shouldn't let the person you're making fun of know. And broadcasting means you're letting everyone, including the person in question, know. There's a difference. The moment you let the person know, it's not a joke. It's an insult. You might say that 'This anime wasn't even intended for Koreans anyways. This just exaggerates the fact that Koreans pirate our stuff.' That's a different matter to solve separately. Remember that Hetalia originally was a web comic and the info of this anime was put on the website. And quite large number of Korean people live in Japan, you know. -Korea didn't even appear much in original and they announced that Korea's not going to appear in animation. My opinion: There was Korea in the list of characters in the animation's official website, so I guess Koreans thought Korea was going to appear. And from what I hear, they cancelled appearance of Korea after people started protests. And Korea is a country with lots of historical relations to Japan than many other countries. Even if Korea doesn't appear much, I guess Japaneses are bound to take more attention among minor characters. -Other countries were 'insulted' more severely, yet they are quiet. My opinion: I think that's because many of them don't know that such thing exists. If they knew, I wonder how many of them will keep quiet... I know that this comic started as a small joke in first place. I don't think that mangaka expected this piece to get this far when he started it. And when it got animated, and people just judged the animation's contents from the original piece. I dunno, but maybe if the director said 'the Korea is not going to appear' then this whole incident wouldn't have happened. In fact, I think that if this hadn't been animated, then there would be no problems. I feel pity for the artist, you know. In conclusion, my point is: It was bit harsh for Korean people to protest like this, but I think it was wrong to make pieces like this into an anime and broadcast it. And some funny thing my Korean friend told me: Quite a large number of Korean 'netizens' are aged 9~17. And when a rumor comes up, it ends up being exaggerated and distorted beyond your imagination. That must explain the ridiculously large number '10,000'. Kids get influenced so easily, don't they? And in network, since there's no way of finding how old the poster is, everyone thinks that 'Most of people in Korea think like that'. Thank you for reading this far. As this is such a confusing issue, some parts of what I've said might be incorrect, and I would welcome corrections. And some other thing to add. In my opinion, Koreans are used to criticizing Japan because they've been doing so to free their country for decades in the last century. And quite large number of them claim that 'If Japan would apologize properly and stop distorting histories, I would love that country.' Well, what I want to tell them is 'Then stop belittling Japan first.' |
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tebalith
Posts: 134 |
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This is the most depressing attitude ever. |
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littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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Wow, this has to have been the most… interesting thread I’ve read on ANN in a long time. So interesting in fact you’ve gotten me to pop up to comment.
I’m not a fan of Hetalia, but I’ve read a couple strips here and there and found them pretty amusing. It’s great political satire for the anime fan. You know what it reminded me of? Model United Nations. For those unfamiliar with it, it’s where you get a bunch of college students (and highschool) and you go to these meets where you sit down at a table, and pretend to be the representative of a country and you go through various scenarios, debating, arguing, making alliances based on your knowledge of that country. A lot of the scenarios are history based, and you don’t always have to go with a modern government or country, and you don’t have to follow events as they happened in history. It’s a great way to understand how our world works politically. Hetalia = Model UN kids who room together. Hetalia is a fun joke for those who love history and politics. That’s all it is. It’s not out to make people really think about what has happened in the past. Political Satire is there so we can laugh at ourselves. If you don’t like political satire, that’s you. Me, I love it. I don’t miss a single episode of John Stewart’s Daily Show or Stephen Colbert’s Colbert Report. They’re wonderful shows that take something that is so serious and sometimes frightening and they make it so we can all laugh at it and see it in a different light. Hetalia isn’t a news parody, but it falls under the same humor category, and it has NEVER, as fans have stated over and over on this forum, made fun of war atrocities. And yes, it is EXACTLY the same sort of humor that Monty Python has taken, or Mel Brooks' History of the World: Part 1. Just because it’s made by someone who is a descendant from the losing side does not make it wrong. That kind of separatist attitude only encourages a hurtful mentality, even if it’s in good intent. Which is why several people in this thread going “Well NOW! When are the Jew’s coming in?!” make my stomach turn and have me rolling my eyes at the people who don’t even have a proper understanding to what they’re criticizing or, as some cases from what I’ve seen, crucifying it for NOT addressing the war atrocities. Hetalia is not the Japanese answer to Art Spiegelman’s Maus, nor is it glorifying Japan’s controversial history. It’s just a fun study of international relations and history, and how we typically view each other. It’s the sort of thing history teachers and political nerds would e-mail to each other for laughs. Some people are just looking way too far into what Hetalia represents, and just stirring crap up. Leave my political satire alone, and I’ll leave you to yours with Tropic Thunder and the like. Those of you who don’t like political satire… well all I have to say is tough. Go watch something like V for Vendetta to put it in simple terms for you and see if you can learn something from it. You should be happy you live in a country where you can laugh at politicians and leaders without fear for your life. If you don’t, I’m sorry, but happy you at least have internet access. As to the whole American history glossing over stuff (they do) that has nothing to do with the argument over Hetalia… I learned to accept history has different voices and viewpoints long ago, and no one side is innocent. There is no pure evil or pure good country, just countries looking out for their own, and the civilians who suffer for it. And anyone looking for an interesting read on WW2 Korea should check out So Far From the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins. Very interesting read, especially if all your teachers used to give you to read in school were accounts of the winning sides of war. Last edited by littlegreenwolf on Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:14 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Curmulus
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I'll make my point clearer: Many people in China, Japan think so. Thinking about it, the term 'world' is bit broad. |
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reanimator
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This is getting all political. Let's just sit back and see what happens next.
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cindyso
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Koreans can't get over with the thing easily. Koreans do have a right reason to angy about, and I can't understand why some are saying that they should 'get over with it' Oh, to say the truth, 10,000people did signed up for it. This isn't a exaggeration. I actually can give you some proofs. But it is written in Korea so...maybe you would have some problems understanding it. http://agora.media.daum.net/petition/view?id=65659 oh, I found out that about 16,097 people actually signed up for it |
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shini-chan
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what stupid idea i can belived this, this a very wrong how can cancel the anime hetalia only because corea, i want vote to favor hetalia, not because only country the anime is canceled i think this is very stupid, their mind is very closed aaaaaaaaaaa i want to see hetaliaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
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