Thursday, July 8, 2010

Hetalia's Germany Revealed: Patrick Seitz.

Efficiently click here for a short vid and article.

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It's been a bad day for me but a good day for Hetalia: Axis Powers fans I think! Richard J. here to post incredible legible content about Patrick Seitz, the VA chosen to give Germany a chance.

Once again, I've watched little of Hetalia, so remember that my opinions are largely based on first impressions and my personal biases. Also from a little first hand experience as I have actually been overseas. Actually, I spent a while in Germany. (No, not like that! Get your heads out of the gutters!)

First, let's talk about the clip and the character. The accent choice for Germany is, thankfully, not the extreme stereotypical "where are your papers" sort of voice we've heard countless times in movies featuring Nazis. In fact, my God, they even hint at Germany's bitterness in this clip at being constantly reminded of that part of his life.

Unlike many portrayals of Germany in movies and TV, this series actually seems to want to recognize that Germany is not inherently EVIL. Quite the surprise considering Hollywood still loves to poke the nation in the eye with that one. Godwin's Law isn't actually written in stone but quite a few people forget that the nation which is today almost synonymous with a mustachioed corporal, has actually historically suffered quite a bit from wars. The aftermath of the last big one wasn't exactly good for them. I feel that Germany in Hetalia represents in part the will of the German people to strive to do what they can for their nation, even if they personally disagree with it.

Germany's a bit of woobie if you ask me.

Now about Patrick Seitz, I must say several things. First, I consider him to be one of the finest male English VAs around. If you doubt his talent, I command you to watch Koi Kaze. Second, I think he has the right voice for this role, a mix of strength and softness, giving him the ability to seem very stern yet capable of being very likable. The German people are actually rather nice. Third, I am increasingly happy to see people like Patrick Seitz working on Funimation dubs, as he has previously worked primarily in California. (You know, that state we hardly get any anime English dubs out of anymore but they used to produce some of the finest.)

We're lucky to have him as Germany. Patrick Seitz is multi-talented, having written numerous ADR scripts and adaptions as well. I really and honestly can praise him all day but I think I've posted enough.

The portrayal so far fits the nation well I think, feeling very accurate with the take charge attitude, the list of rules (Germans do as a society seem to like order) and of course the salute joke. That joke works so well. With an English dub, I can even follow what he's saying now in that scene!

I'm quite happy with this choice for VA and liked the accent very much.

What say you blog followers? Was that accent suitable to you? Do you like being ordered around by Germany? Interested in having a few beers with him? Post your post-able comments!

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Too manly.

Bye-ni!

4 comments:

  1. Ok wow I had a big problem trying to get my account thingy working. Apparently I never created it with my info and stuff. This is much easier now I don't have to type my name out anymore when I reply here! And my blog following is under yahoo while my google has it as anonymous. I'm leaving it just like that I kept getting 2 user's as Cliff under the blog following. It's staying like this for now! Got a huge headache screwing around with this for over an hr...

    Anyways yeah I love this voice for Germany. I forgot what he said to Italy at the end but I remembered him pointing and referring to him :).

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  2. Patrick Seitz is cool :0
    His voice for Germany works well!

    I really need to get around to getting Koi Kaze someday...

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  3. Trying this here, by Google thingy.

    Hmm interesting take. Dang, Hetali is starting to look interesting, and I don't know if that is a good thing or not. Oh well it is a dub :D

    His accent I think is good.

    @Excel I had the same thing. I couldn't delete my Yuu Anime account (following on this site). I got tired of typing wilhelminaanime, so I'm trying this too. But now I got the hang of it, and this works better then LJ I think.

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  4. @ ExcelGenerations: Sorry about your headache.

    @ bal-anime: Yes, you must buy Koi Kaze. Yes, you must watch it. Yes, you must. You must. Must. (Is the brainwashing working?)

    @ wilhelminaanime: Remember, if you can't get it right away, there's always the inevitable re-release or bargain sale! (Maybe even a giveaway to try. No promises on that one though!)

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