Anime characters based on Afghanistan and neighbors
Porsupah, "You might recall the 'OS-tan' series of manga style characters depicting various operating systems. Here's a similar concept, portraying the various countries surrounding Afghanistan similarly cutely: meet Afuganisu-tan, Kyrgyz-tan, Pakisu-tan, Meriken, and more. Each strip offers a little adventure for the characters, whilst the accompanying text explains some more of the history of the region's countries, rulers, would-be conquerors, and myriad factions." Link (Thanks, Porsupah!)
the latest
latest episodes
It's Afghanistanimation!
Related: Hetaria (hetare = useless + Itaria = Italy). Same thing, but with male avatars of WW2-era countries. Yes, it is also very wrong.
Site seems to have been boinged into oblivion...
This is a great find! Personification of world history is a great way to learn and understand... emotionally. Countries are humans, too.
The sidetext helps preventing the bias though. The author has shown a lot of sympathy about Afghanistan and Pakistan. And note how all the Western characters are villians. :p
Oh, and the evil bin Laden kitteh.
The original site is down. While there are some mirrors out there, I'll upload it so others can read: Link
The "-tan" suffix is a degeneration of the "-chan" suffix. It's typically used by kids when they're just learning to speak, and so it's used for these kiddie anthropomorphizations to make the various countries 'cute'. It just so happens that each of the countries in the region end with "tan"; maybe this pun spurred the creation of the series.
ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-tan#Variations_on_chan
Thanks for the mirror, Kid. It's appreciated.
I don't get why most of them are turned into Japanese syllables but not Kyrgyz-tan. Shouldn't it be something like Kiritsugisu-tan?
@8:
Probably because the others are fairly recognizable when kana-ized, but Kirugisu-tan (or anything else) isn't.
You just now heard about this, Cory? According to Wikipedia, it's been around for over three years.
@4: I'm not sure Meriken is supposed to be a villain - looks more to me like just your typical "American" loudmouthed, excitable manga character. (Add panty shots and you get Kaere Kimura. :P) The al-Nyaida bit almost seems like something out of Ranma 1/2.
What's with people always "zinging" BB for being late with shit. They can't possibly be on top of every single obscure internet fad out there. To counter it I just wanted to say that I nearly always find out about cool stuff from BB first...I can count on one hand the number of times I've truly thought "BB, you're slipping..."
@10: It's more Azumanga Daioh, really :D
#6
Interesting, here's the wiki link to the entry on the suffix ~istan, meaning 'land'. I like the idea of the pun leading to the series too.
I do remember the OS-tans from awhile back, but had no idea about this other series of cartoons. Thanks for the link, Kid; when I went to the original site, it was still down.
Those of you whining about how old this is ought to keep in mind that a lot of people, like me, have other stuff to do than keep up with crap on the web. This cartoon was new to me and was a fun way to pass a little time. So get over yourselves, already.
What do the birthdays signify? Are they dates of independence?
Whoa, whoa. Wasn't trying to be derisive. Just mildly surprised there. It's just that for an Internet-based thing like this, well...three years is a while.
Guess this is one of the first times I'm ahead of BB on stuff like this. :P