News

Funimation to Stream Hetalia: World Stars Anime

Funimation announced on Wednesday that it will exclusively stream the new anime of Hidekaz Himaruya's Hetalia World Stars manga for the spring 2021 anime season. The anime will begin streaming on on April 1 on Funimation in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, United Kingdom, and Ireland; on AnimeLab in Australia and New Zealand; and on Wakanim in France, Germany, Russia, and Scandinavian countries.

The anime will debut on the Anime Store, Nico Nico Video, GYAO!, dTV, FOD, and other streaming services in Japan on April 1 at midnight.

The cast includes:

• Daisuke Namikawa as Italy, Romano (South Italy)
• Hiroki Yasumoto as Germany
• Hiroki Takahashi as Japan
• Katsuyuki Konishi as America, Canada
• Noriaki Sugiyama as England
• Masaya Onosaka as France
• Yasuhiro Takato as Russia
• Yuki Kaida as China, Narrator
• Sumire Morohoshi as Czech Republic
• Yūsuke Kobayashi as Slovakia
• Yūichirō Umehara as Portugal
• Gō Inoue as Spain, Bulgaria
• Akira Sasanuma as Austria
• Atsushi Kousaka as Prussia, Greece, Estonia
• Megumi Takamoto as Seychelles
• Michiko Neya as Hungary
• Rie Kugimiya as Liechtenstein
• Kokoro Tanaka as Latvia
• Takahiro Mizushima as Finland
• Keikou Sakai as Sweden
• Keiichiro Asai as Australia

Hiroshi Watanabe, Kazuyuki Fudeyasu, and Mariko Oka all are back as director, series script supervisor, and character designer, respectively, with Studio DEEN returning for animation production.

Himaruya's Hetalia World Stars manga is the latest manga in the franchise. The manga launched in Shonen Jump+ on the same day the online manga service launched, but it went on hiatus in April 2018. The manga will resume in Shonen Jump+ on April 1. Shueisha has published four compiled book volumes for the manga. Himaruya launched a new manga about Japanese prime ministers in Shueisha's Jump SQ. on December 4.

Himaruya's original Hetalia - Axis Powers manga takes the archetypal characteristics of countries and regions throughout the world, and anthropomorphizes them as (mostly) bishōnen characters. Right Stuf released the manga in North America in collaboration with its former English-language publisher, Tokyopop, and its Japanese publisher Gentosha Comics.

Hetalia The World Twinkle, the sixth anime season inspired by Himaruya's manga, premiered in Japan in July 2015, and Funimation streamed the series as it aired. Funimation has released all the anime seasons and the Hetalia Axis Powers: Paint it, White! film in North America. The franchise has also inspired a series of stage musicals in Japan. The "final" musical ran in March 2018.

Anime News Network's Source: Funimation