The series' main presentation is as a comedic allegory of political and historic events as well as more general cultural comparisons.

Hetalia (ヘタリア) is a portmanteau combining hetare (ヘタレ, 'useless' or 'pathetic' in a cute or endearing way) and "Italia" (イタリア, Itaria, 'Italy').

There have also been historical figures depicted, such as (but not limited to) Maria Theresa, Roman emperors, Napoleon Bonaparte, Leonardo da Vinci and Jeanne d'Arc.

[5] Despite looking weak and helpless, Italy is viewed as being strong as a child, being able to defeat Turkey single-handedly during his golden days.

Young Italy, from a common segment on the show called Chibitalia, is voiced by Aki Kanada in Japanese and Brina Palencia in English.

Another aspect of his character is his relative inexperience with relationships, leading him to be very by-the-book as a result of the belief that things will go wrong if he does not follow instructions to the letter.

In the World War II sections of the anime and manga, America wears an American Army Air Force Officer uniform, and a vintage leather flight jacket.

He is often portrayed as loud, obnoxious, egotistical, immature, childlike and interfering with other characters' businesses with little regard for whom his actions affect.

He is a brave adventurer and natural explorer, wanting to try things no one has ever done before, and he usually spends his free time either trying new foods, being around friends, or making movies and has a fascination with superheroes which he aspires to be himself.

He has a prominent case of phasmophobia, which is ironic considering his friendly acquaintance with an alien named Tony, who lives in his house.

America is frequently seen clutching a hamburger or eating while speaking, yet he is self-conscious of his unhealthy habits and tries several yet ineffective diets to stay healthy.

In the English release of the anime, when asked why they opted to choose the name "Britain" over "England", Funimation explained that it was a request from the Japanese studio.

Britain is most antagonistic towards France, with whom he shares a long rivalry, and has strong mixed feelings towards America, whom he raised from a small child.

Taliesin did not reprise his role in the later season of "Hetalia World Stars" and the voice actor was changed to Steven Kelly.

France explains away his long history of military defeats as a joke from God, but he believes he is gifted with his "charms" and his supreme cooking skills.

He has wavy silver hair, purple eyes, a large nose, and wears a thick winter coat and a silk scarf.

Russia has a seemingly kind demeanor, but has suffered mental trauma following the strain of his bloody history, and as a result he has the innocence and cruelty of a child; sometimes he casts an aura of pure evil around him whenever such malicious thoughts enter his mind.

He becomes gloomy and depressed when either of them are on his mind, because Ukraine left him to try to make friends in the EU, and Belarus is obsessed with the idea of forcing him to marry her.

The original Hetalia: Axis Powers webcomic was reworked and expanded into six tankōbon and published by Gentosha Comics under the manga imprint Birz Extra.

[11] In January 2009, Anime News Network reported that the series would also begin serialization in Gentosha's seinen manga magazine Comic Birz starting in the April issue, but this was later announced to be a publishing error.

An original net anime (ONA) adaptation of the Hetalia: World Stars side story manga was announced in October 2020.

The main plot of the movie involves a vast majority of characters being transformed into grey-white faceless aliens called Pictonians.

[50] The English dubbed version made its premiere at the Anime Weekend Atlanta convention, taking place from September 30 to October 2, 2011.

[53] A musical called "Hetalia ~Singin' in the World~" based on the manga series ran from December 24–29 at the Zepp Blue Theater Roppongi.

The cast included Ryōki Nagae (Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Satomi Hakkenden) as Italy, Yūichirō Ōmi (D-BOYS) as Germany, Keisuke Ueda (Yowamushi Pedal) as Japan, Ryūko Isogai as America, Daisuke Hirose as England, Juri Aikawa as France, Yūki Yamaoki as Russia, Taishi Sugie as China and Takuya Kikuchi as Austria.

The "Hetalia ~Singin' in the World~" cast returned except for Yūichirō Ōmi, who was replaced by Yūsuke Ueda, and Takuya Kikuchi, whose role as Austria did not appear.

Kamen wrote that "[D]espite its risqué jokes and abundance of national stereotypes, Hetalia thankfully manages to stay on just the right side of casual comedy racism—maybe that's why we don't feel too bad laughing uproariously at the dub, particularly Japan's heavy 'Engrish' accent!

[64] The Hetalia fandom as well as the manga have spawned several controversies, and has received criticism from both fans and people unfamiliar with it, most notably due to the "moe" and stereotyping of countries.

Congresswoman Jeong Mi-Kyeong commented on the manga during a meeting of the Special Assembly Committee on Defensive Measures for the Liancourt Rocks.

There has also been an incident at Anime Boston 2010 relating to a group of Germany and Prussia cosplayers posing with a Nazi salute.