I watched Hetalia because I wanted to see what the fuss was all about.

This anime is as frustrating as it is entertaining. For its blatantly simplified and comedic takes on historical events, it basically helped me pass History class much easier. There is this one video, 'hetalia out of context', and to this day it is one of the funniest videos I have ever seen. Also, for some reason or another, at some point I got obsessed with shipping Sweden and Finland, which was... interesting. I think it's a rule with the Hetalia characters that the more you spend time with them in fanon spaces, the more divorced they get from their fanon selves. This is true to how I view most, if not all of the cast; Finland in my head is much more reserved, France is not that big of a creep, China is elegant in a way that does not make him a gay caricature, Germany is more interested in the life he does not remember as HRE, etc etc etc.

Aufwiedersehen, Sweetheart and Gutters are the most gut-wrenching pieces of fanfiction I've ever read. Only a select few MCYT fanfics ever got close.

Hetalia lends itself to much critique, I can't say it's perfect. Far from it, actually. But, just like John and Karkat, I am a sucker for terrible media, so.