I'm putting this behind a cut due to anti-semitic and Nazi imagery and apologism for said anti-semitic imagery.

I am completely unfamiliar with the series myself, but in short, Axis Powers Hetalia is a webcomic/manga/anime series that depicts history in the form of personified countries. Here's The TVTropes page.

The fandom has been in the unfunny spotlight several times (see: a group of Hetalia cosplayers doing a Nazi salute at Anime Boston), and here's another mindblowing example.

I am not sure which character(s) these folks are cosplaying, but that's irrelevant in the face of the fact that they were photographed POINTING GUNS AT a depiction of a Star of David.

Let that sink in for a moment.

A Tumblr user named yumikarp, who has since deleted their entire Tumblr, has been quoted in reblogs defending said cosplayers:

This is called art.
I see nothing wrong in it, they are just living into their roles and doing what history has told. I have nothing against Jews, not at all, but I see nothing wrong in this because there is nothing wrong of it.
Sheesh, it’s like the over-religious people being all against that photographer woman who made pictures of Jesus being gay and having group sex. She didn’t do it without a meaning, and it wasn’t a racist meaning of any kind. It’s called art.
This is just the same.
These two people might actually be Jews themselves, who knows.
All they’re doing is making a scene of what history has told in the past.
The end.
Why take it so personal?
Why so serious?

One of the Cosplayers also tries to defend the photo as a "joke".

Hello, I’m Prussia in this photo.

This was just for a joke and very casual, because that place isn’t a church or anything related… just toilets’s park. LOL

The ORIGINAL pic is in Deviantart and mature CENSORED for obvious reasons. The other place is Photobucket, an album made for the ones that were in this photoshot. We didn’t want to offend anyone.

---

Impossible is nothing xDD Really I don’t care about what can people say about a photo that supposely we offense Jews, my mind is clear, since beginning that photo was just a joke, nothing serious and in a non-sacred place (oh well, maybe park’s toilets are sacred after a “bad meal” <33) Anyway <333 Relax yourself, if we have to be this point almost all hetalia’s fandom is historycally offensive. xDDD

Finally, and advertisment <333 ~ Use copyright in photos, because you’ll never expect who wants to fight or be a jerk <33

Because adding hearts and "XD" faces totally makes it better amirite?

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	harrylovesron 2011-07-03 02:59 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, and from what I've seen, one of the ~~edgy~~ things for teenagers in general- not just Hetalia fans- nowadays seems to be to talk about how they're interested in Hitler and wear swastikas and draw Nazi and Hitler-themed art. Having a Hetalia cosplay day sounds like a recipe for disaster. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	harrylovesron 2011-07-03 03:04 am UTC (link)
	I should add that "interested in Hitler" doesn't seem to be an academic/scholarly interest, either- it's something said purely to provoke a reaction and be ~~edgy and rebellious~~. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	iamnotyourmuse 2011-07-03 03:06 am UTC (link)
	That's what I said at the time. I pointed out the whole Anime Boston thing and she dismissed it as "only a few people" but what's to stop any of those few from showing up? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	harrylovesron 2011-07-03 03:10 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, I would personally fear something similar happening- I mean (general) you hate to assume that people will be assholes, but I think you made the right decision in refusing to be involved. All it takes is one or two bad apples to show up... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	iamnotyourmuse 2011-07-03 03:18 am UTC (link)
	Working in a public library is really good for teaching you to expect the worst. People always find new and exciting ways to make me shake my head, especially when it comes to our programs. Oh, the stories I could tell. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	harrylovesron 2011-07-03 03:39 am UTC (link)
	I work in one, too, so believe me, I know. g I mostly work behind-the-scenes, but my realtively-few dealings with the public are still enough to make me jaded and cynical. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	iamnotyourmuse 2011-07-03 03:44 am UTC (link)
	I love what I do 95% of the time. The other 5% is dealing with things most people don't believe could happen in a library. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	harrylovesron 2011-07-03 03:53 am UTC (link)
	That sums up my attitude quite nicely, yes. I feel lucky that I don't deal with the public directly much; some of the stories I've heard from people... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

iamnotyourmuse
2011-07-03 04:03 am UTC (link)

Shopping bag full of urine? Sex in the restoom? Toddlers abandoned so their parents can check facebook on another floor? Typical week.

In the last month my two favorites were the dude who was scraping dead skin off his feet onto one of our tables, then called me crazy when I told him he had to keep his shoes on and then the dude who came in wearing just a pair of shorts and flip-flops and claimed the laundromat had lost all his clothes.

We don't need Hetalia cosplayers on top of that.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

harrylovesron
2011-07-03 04:18 am UTC (link)

Yup, I never use the public restrooms at all if I can avoid it due to stuff like that- we have people who've tried to bathe in them before. I also avoid walking through the computer banks if I can help it at all because I got tired of people cussing me out because they couldn't be bothered to tear themselves away from Youtube/Facebook for 2 minutes and walk to the desk for help if they're having a problem. They'd just wave me over or yell for me if they saw me walking by.

One of my co-workers once came across a huge, smelly pile of shit on the floor in-between two shelves. Another time I smelled cat pee in one corner- not just a faint whiff, it actually smelt like a cat had come in and taken a piss there. Oh, and guys sexually harassing me is always lovely. [/sarcasm]

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	iamnotyourmuse 2011-07-03 04:26 am UTC (link)
	Oh yeah. I had a bizarre instance of a guy getting all up in my face about how we don't have enough men working in the library. He also seemed to be under the impression that we all make six figures. Isn't that adorable? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	harrylovesron 2011-07-03 04:28 am UTC (link)
	So very much! Obviously everyone who works there knows how to do everyone else's job, too! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	iamnotyourmuse 2011-07-03 04:31 am UTC (link)
	Clearly! Ah, library jobs. I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	platedlizard 2011-07-04 03:24 am UTC (link)
	Ah, ~~library~~customer service* jobs. I wouldn't do it if I didn't ~~love it~~need the money.* FTFY /Unipooper, I don't miss you //blood splattered all over the batheroom from people shooting up, I don't miss you either ///finding an entire paper bag of used needles, I definitely don't miss that ////Memories~~! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	full_metal_ox 2011-07-05 11:51 pm UTC (link)
	According to your user info, you live in Oregon; you guys had to deal with a Unipooper, too? (The one operating in the Dayton, Ohio area apparently disapproved of homosexuality, family planning, and the United Nations. He turned out to be the proprietor of a local religious bookstore.) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	platedlizard 2011-07-06 02:19 am UTC (link)
	I don't think my Unipooper was making any deep political statements beyond "I'ma gonna poop in the middle of the men's floor and then smear the walls," so I don't think mine is related to yours. Some people just like to poop, apparently. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	full_metal_ox 2011-07-06 03:01 am UTC (link)
	The Dayton Unipooper would leave his...critical commentary...in books on the offending subjects for unwary readers to find. Along with a note proclaiming himself to be the guardian of community decency. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	bigbigtruck 2011-07-06 05:32 pm UTC (link)
	So he was publicly humilated for this, right? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	full_metal_ox 2011-07-06 10:08 pm UTC (link)
	Happily, yes. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	full_metal_ox 2011-07-05 11:58 pm UTC (link)
	I once got to see a fistfight break out between two patrons, one of whom accused the other of stealing his TV set; two of the librarians--female, in response to Iamnotyourmuse's observation--managed to break it up and shoo the disputants outside to resolve their differences. Cushiest job ever, right? (Reply to this)(Parent)

	cmdr_zoom 2011-07-03 04:05 am UTC (link)
	"We've got another Red Flag, sir. A bad one." (Reply to this)(Parent)

keri
2011-07-03 03:14 am UTC (link)

I suspect it's only going to get worse - the fourth generation since WW2 (more or less) is about to enter their teens, and when something's as far back as your granparents' parents, it's ancient history and prime for twisting in new ways (not that the distance has stopped the Nazi fetishisers all these years). All they will have are second-hand stories.

I mean, why else is Steampunk with late-Victorian elements getting so big now? And in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, it was the turn of the 18th century with the Neo-Classical and Romantic stuff. (I think. My dates might be slightly off, but I remember thinking how interesting it was when I learned about the cycles of art and stuff that it seemed to be about 3-4 generations between when something was new and when it became quaint and fetishised - right when the only people who actually lived in the original period were almost gone.)

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harrylovesron
2011-07-03 03:22 am UTC (link)

Agreed, and it's a sad but true fact- the distance is what my generation, for example, felt with the first World War. WWII was a bit more "current" in that many of us know (or knew) older relatives and aquaintances who lived through the Holocaust or served in the U.S. Army during that time, etc. I suspect the same thing will begin to happen with Korea and Vietnam in a few decades.

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	full_metal_ox 2011-07-05 11:44 pm UTC (link)
	What I'd love to see is some of these tweeny Naziphiles greeted by a bunch of Dark 'n' Edgy cosplayers portraying the Inglourious Basterds. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

lied_ohne_worte
2011-07-06 05:11 am UTC (link)

I'd like them to try this nonsense in Germany - they would have a lot of fun with the police and the justice system, who really don't like people to do things like that. (That is assuming that they didn't manage to get themselves beaten up by radical antifascists before.)

That aside, as a German, I can't even express how offended I am by people "playing Germany" (or whatever they think they are doing, I wouldn't touch the canon material with a ten-foot pole after seeing the fans) by glorifying the exact same things that we are still struggling with. My parents were toddlers at the end of the war, and I'm still always nervous about disclosing my nationality online or on journeys abroad, because you never know what people will ask/assume/accuse you of.

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