Topic: Hellsing

[Abnormal Freak]

It's been discussed plenty, so why not give it its own thread?

I just finished up the entire Hellsing Ultimate series, and this right here is the most perfect way to end it:

NSFW

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a Seras Victoria panty shot.

[Ratty]

I edited your post so no one will get in trouble for browsing the site at work, hope this doesn't annoy you.

But yeah I still haven't seen all of Hellsing Ultimate because Funi hasn't dubbed IX and X yet. But when I read the manga years ago I thought that was an appropriate and humorous touch to end with. Hellsing was always a tasteslessly over the top exploitation piece, that was the whole point. But even though Kouta Hirano was admittedly a giant perv (I've heard his last "author's notes" in the original serialization were about how much he wanted to get with a soap commercial lady and Sarah Palin.) he was surprisingly restrained with actual "fanservice". Unless you count Seras's bust ("Those are bigger than her head!" as one voice actress noted in a Hellsing Ultimate audio commentary) and outfit as automatic fanservice. Considering all the disturbing things you see leading up to it, saving the only pantyshot in the series for the last chapter and putting it in a place you can't miss it is a pretty good visual pun.

[Abnormal Freak]

Her outfit is some definite fanservice but even there it's underplayed. I actually don't remember that shot from the manga—actually, I'd forgotten much of how it even ends, so it was like seeing it all with new eyes (well, it was, 'cos it's animooted). I like the fact that the fanservice appeal is surprisingly low-key.

I'm all sub Nazi so I just looked up the last two episodes on YouTube. Who knows how long FUNimation will take with that? It'll be kind of a lonely final set with just two episodes and two The Dawn shorts.

Speakin'a which, I wonder if Dark Horse or someone will translate The Dawn. I've been waiting years to read that and I generally don't care to seek out fan translations primarily because I don't like reading comics on a computer screen.

I'm about to watch the Hellsing TV series for the third time. First time was probably ten years ago, last time was maybe seven or eight, so I'm curious to see how much I still like it. I never minded that it strayed so much from the manga (besides, it was my exposure to Hellsing), I loved the music and stories they came up with, and I doubt I'll be bothered by the cheapness of the animation* because I remember from the first viewing thinking it was pretty primitive. It'll be fun to see it right after having watched all of Ultimate.

*(What I mean is the animation on most of the show. The first episode is really well-made and strikingly stylish, but I remember the rest of it except for maybe the last episode being pretty limited, like they blew their wad on making the first episode, which almost feels like a pilot in that regard.)

[Mooning Freddy]

I watched the 13-episode first anime and enjoyed it, but I can't say I was not bothered by how gruesomely powerful Alucard is, and by the way Integra constantly used him as a Deus-ex-machina.

Oh no! We are getting our asses kicked by vampires! What are we gonna do?
I know! Let's call our all-powerful-invincible-vampire-overlord who would crush them without even breaking a sweat!   

[Abnormal Freak]

The manga and OVA are a bit more interesting in that regard because you learn of some of the limitations Alucard has, particularly toward the end.

But hey, he's

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motherfunkin' Dracula!

(is this really a spoiler I wonder?) so of course he has a dick-ton of power.

[VladCT]

The manga and OVA are a bit more interesting in that regard because you learn of some of the limitations Alucard has, particularly toward the end.

In the end that doesn't matter anyway, since he's probably reached ultra-broken

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by successfully neutralizing Schrödinger's soul's unawareness-induced nonexistence and possibly gaining his power to exist "everywhere and nowhere".

[Ratty]

Yeah I don't think it's really a spoiler to say that Alucard is Dracula, so of course he's ungodly powerful. This is better explored in the manga and OVA series, Alucard is the ultimate antagonist. And though we can't help but root for him he's by no means a "good guy".

For realz spoilers

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I think this was the reason Walter winds up being a traitor. He thinks Dracula is a greater evil than the Nazis. And as a young man he determined to finally defeat Dracula no matter how many decades, or how many lives, it took.

[The Puritan]

Question, since the Bram Stoker novel is part of the backstory: did Alucard let Van Helsing and friends win when they fought him? Or did they really take him down fair and square?

[Abnormal Freak]

True defeat as far as I could tell. Only a man can kill a monster, Alucard kept saying. He also dons the clothes of one of the men (I believe it was van Helsing), likely out of respect.

I have a hard time seeing Alucard as completely evil. Like Coppola's movie, I believe there's meant to be some sympathy for him, while also recognizing that he's a wicked monster.

[Ratty]

Question, since the Bram Stoker novel is part of the backstory: did Alucard let Van Helsing and friends win when they fought him? Or did they really take him down fair and square?

While the basic premise is "Hey, what if Van Helsing had enslaved Dracula rather than killed him?" It seems to be implied though never stated that Alucard entered this state at least semi-voluntarily. Out of respect for the man who was able to take him on, and out of boredom from being his own master for centuries.

True defeat as far as I could tell. Only a man can kill a monster, Alucard kept saying. He also dons the clothes of one of the men (I believe it was van Helsing), likely out of respect.

Yes, but that could just mean he'll only allow himself to be defeated by a man. As he states at one point he believes himself to be weaker than humans in a meaningful sense, because he became a monster rather than face mortality.

I have a hard time seeing Alucard as completely evil. Like Coppola's movie, I believe there's meant to be some sympathy for him, while also recognizing that he's a wicked monster.

Yeah I meant to say to Freddy yesterday (before my connection went out) that the 13 episode tv show messed up the character dynamics a lot. Alucard was too subservient. In the manga/OVA he actually takes a distinctly perverse joy in goading Integra into ordering him to do violence. Integra herself is less an emotionless bitchy boss and more an increasingly willing dominatrix to Alucard and Seras. Alucard is in general more obviously, gleefully, evil. Though what (very) little nobility is left in him from his life as Vlad Tepes is utterly devoted to Integra. Also Seras is a sidekick to Alucard, rather than a love interest like in the TV show. And Seras's own unsettling backstory wasn't revealed/explored until long after the TV series was made.

[chainsawmidget]

Yeah I meant to say to Freddy yesterday (before my connection went out) that the 13 episode tv show messed up the character dynamics a lot. Alucard was too subservient. In the manga/OVA he actually takes a distinctly perverse joy in goading Integra into ordering him to do violence. Integra herself is less an emotionless bitchy boss and more an increasingly willing dominatrix to Alucard and Seras. Alucard is in general more obviously, gleefully, evil. Though what (very) little nobility is left in him from his life as Vlad Tepes is utterly devoted to Integra. Also Seras is a sidekick to Alucard, rather than a love interest like in the TV show. And Seras's own unsettling backstory wasn't revealed/explored until long after the TV series was made.

I didn't quite see it that way. 

Alucard followed orders, but the show seemed to suggest he had no choice there.  Still at the same time he seemed to constatly push things and goad her.  It was more of a tiger-by-the-tail situation.  She's got control of him for now.

I really didn't see any romance between Seras and Alucard either.  It seemed to be another game to him.  Alucard saw a nice sweet and mostly innocent girl with just a tiny spark of something inside her and he wanted to see what would happen if she pushed her into being a real monster. 

[Ratty]

I didn't quite see it that way. 

Alucard followed orders, but the show seemed to suggest he had no choice there.  Still at the same time he seemed to constatly push things and goad her.  It was more of a tiger-by-the-tail situation.  She's got control of him for now.

I really didn't see any romance between Seras and Alucard either.  It seemed to be another game to him.  Alucard saw a nice sweet and mostly innocent girl with just a tiny spark of something inside her and he wanted to see what would happen if she pushed her into being a real monster.

The TV show might have, but not in the manga and films. There are 2 or 3 times when Alucard gets on his knee to kneel before Integra without being prompted, including when all of his control art restriction levels have been removed and he could kill her easily. There's also the fact that

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he returns to her in the end, though it's very unlikely that he "has to" at that point.

It seems to me that he gets his jollies from arousing her violent passions. It's a romance really, a woman strong enough to tame the savage (Cthulhu-like) beast. A dominatrix and a very enthusiastic and active sub goading her on while they dance to the masochism tango.

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Iirc it's mentioned that she remains a virgin all the years Alucard is missing, suggesting that she might have been waiting for him to return and make her a vampire as well. The ending is kind of ambiguous in this regard, but still shows her as "wearing the pants" in the relationship.

This is less often shown with Integra/Seras but there is that scene where Integra makes Seras drink her blood in a very suggestive way.

[Abnormal Freak]

There is one line in the OVA where Alucard asks Integra if she feels that burning between her legs, lawl. Or something similar to that, in relation to all the bloodshed.

[Dracula9]

Yes, Vlad, Alucard presumably gained Schrodinger's powers.

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When he returns to Integra at the end of the series, he states that he's been killing off all the souls inside him, save for one. It's a safe bet that that final soul is that of Schrodinger (otherwise Alucard would probably not still "exist"), and with that being the case, he would most likely have gained his powers. As such, he would no longer need the millions of souls to be "immortal," he would only need Schrodinger's to ensure his immortality.

As for the discussion about his defeat as Abraham and crew's hands being genuine, and his "only a man can kill a monster" lines, it's explained fairly well in little perks of his in both manga and shows.

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Alucard views mankind as beautiful in both their ability to age (seen in many instances where he refers to old age and the act of aging as beautiful, such as when Walter betrays Hellsing and becomes young again; he tells him that his old, aged body was a thousand times more beautiful) and in their mortality by means of mindset. Like the Anne Rice vampires, Alucard is somewhat jealous of what differs himself from humanity, though presumably less so than, say, the Brat Prince. He refers to himself many times as a monster, the probable most noticeable of which is when he calls the Major (a man who was made a cyborg) a "man that looks like a monster" and himself a "monster that looks like a man." The point to all this? Alucard is one of those Faustian guys who realizes way after the fact what he had given up forever, and regrets it. That isn't to say he hates his current standing, as he DOES love to kill fuckers (England, bitches), but that he's a bit longing for the frail strength that humanity and mortality offer. Basically, an easier way of looking at it is; due to their mortality, humans oft have something important to fight for. Alucard, in his immortality, does not. As such, humanity's borrowed time is precious to him, and he hates it when it is taken for granted (MOST noticeably so when Anderson uses Helena's Nail to gain his own immortality, and Alucard quite clearly admonishes him for relinquishing his humanity just to be on-par with himself for their final battle.).

tl;dr Alucard loves and misses humanity. That's the long-and-short of it. Sorry for the text wall.

And yeah, Al's pretty open about the sexual nature of battle. Though, for him being what he is, it's a natural question for him to ask, since his sexual feelings and preferences mostly become beyond human comprehension(though there are exceptions like the Major and Anderson, and even they aren't quite at what his level would presumably be). It's a funny scene, though, for sure.

And chainsaw, I don't quite agree with you there. Sure, Al wasn't exactly romantic towards Seras, but I don't think he wanted to push her into what he was. Rather, I feel that (based on all the shit I explained in the spoiler tags) he admired her drive for life and Turned her partly due to that. They have a form of a master-pupil relationship going on, undoubtedly, but I never thought that Alucard had negative connotations in his motivation for taking her on as his fledgling. He's not JUST a killing machine. As for his relationship with Integra, that's explained in a similar manner. When he was first awakened by her blood, she stood her ground to him fairly well for being just a child. He serves her out of respect to her father, whom he also admired for being braver than his frail mortality would have suggested. It's not so much that he's FORCED to, since he could easily rip her apart and no one could possibly stop him, but that he CHOOSES to. Their head-butting, back-and-forth relationship is just a part of that, since Alucard always is playing some manner of game to test the willpower/strength/valor/etc. of humans.

Ratty put it much more briefly, if nobody wants to read all that:

Out of respect for the man who was able to take him on, and out of boredom from being his own master for centuries.

The simplest way to describe everything Alucard does is that he has a deep and genuine respect for humans who are able to stare death in the face and still stand strong. Whether they're afraid, or physically weak, or whatever doesn't really matter to him (though he does seem to give bonus points in some cases). All that really matters is the courage/strength of will to make that stand in spite of whatever obstacles are there.

Hey guys can you guess what D9's favorite anime/manga series is?

[Mooning Freddy]

Integra is one horribly frigid bitch in the anime. And it seemed to like Alucard is serving her only because he's bored and / or despises all other vampires.

Also, what kind of name is Seras for a girl anyway? I'd rather call her Victoria.