Hellsing (TV series)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hellsing | |
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| ヘルシング (Herushingu) |
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| Genre | Horror Action Supernatural |
| TV anime : Hellsing | |
| Directed by | Japanese: Umanosuke Iida, Yasunori Urata American: Taliesin Jaffe |
| Studio |  GONZO Geneon |
| Network | Fuji Television
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| Original run | October 10, 2001 – January 16, 2002 October 4, 2003–December 27, 2003 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
Hellsing (ヘルシング Herushingu?) is an anime TV series produced by Studio GONZO[1], based on the manga of the same name by Kouta Hirano. The name is either a mistranslation or deliberate alternate spelling of Helsing, as in Abraham van Helsing from the Bram Stoker novel Dracula.
The 13-episode TV series was produced by Studio GONZO in 2001, with the story and characters quite different from the original manga. The TV series was broadcast on Fuji Television in Japan from October 10, 2001 to January 16, 2002 and in the US on Starz!'s Encore Action channel from October 4, 2003 to December 27, 2003. As of December, 2005, the TV series has been broadcast since August of the same year on Animax Latinoamerica; the Latin-American branch of the satellite TV network owned by Sony Corp. which offer programing consisting exclusively of Anime works. The first few episodes of the TV series were screened at the "The Future of the Toons" (anime) showcase at 2005 Future Film Festival in Italy (some of the other anime screened: FLCL, Wolf's Rain, and RahXephon).
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[edit] Plot
The basic concept of the series concerns a secret British government organization called Hellsing. This organization was formed several hundred years ago by either Abraham van Helsing or his descendants to fight vampires across Britain. As the first episode opens, a vampire is ravaging the English village of Cheddar. Integra Hellsing tells the police to stand down, as the first few squads have already been killed by the vampire and become ghouls (in Hellsing, ghouls are similar to zombies under a vampire's control). She sends in Hellsing's most powerful operative, Alucard. Alucard comes upon the vampire as he is about to murder the last survivor of the police forces, Seras Victoria. In order to kill the vampire he shoots through Seras, mortally wounding her, but before he does so offers her the choice of dying a human or becoming a vampire.
They mainly fight vampires who are artificially created using a chip that is implanted in a living person. It is called a Freak Chip, and the resulting vampires are called Freaks. One trait of the Freak Chip is a pattern in the circuitry that looks like a swastika.
To create these copies the makers of the Freak Chip need a real Vampire; Incognito.
This story mainly follows the battle of the Hellsing organization against the Freaks.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Main characters
Voiced by: Jouji Nakata (Japanese), Crispin Freeman (English)
- The main protagonist. Alucard is the most powerful warrior of the Hellsing organization. He is not only a vampire, but one of the most ancient ones. Alucard's original "life" dates back to the 1400's. Although his true identity is not explicitly stated, it implied that he is Dracula, as it is his name spelt backwards. [2]. In addition, in the last episode of the TV series Alucard’s face changes for a few seconds and he looks like Vlad Ţepeş (also known as Vlad the Impaler), a voivode of Wallachia who provided the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s novel. When he first meets Incognito, he says that it is fine that Incognito's name is a puzzle, as his own name is a riddle also.
Voiced by: Yoshiko Sakakibara (Japanese), Victoria Harwood (English)
- The strong and intelligent leader of the Hellsing organization, and Alucard's "Master". She inherited the Hellsing organization, at the age of 13, when her father died. Although she often seems strict and domineering, she is respected and admired, even among her sworn enemies. Apparently an expert pistol shot.
Voiced by: Fumiko Orikasa (Japanese), K.T. Gray (English)
- Seras was a member of the D11 special forces unit until being mortally wounded by Alucard, in his attempt to destroy a vampire masquerading as a priest. On the verge of death, and with a large hole through her chest, she chose to allow Alucard to turn her into a vampire. Serving beneath Alucard, she now works for the Hellsing organization.
- For a few weeks after joining the Hellsing organization, Seras avoided drinking blood, fearing the loss of her humanity (the first time she encountered her medical blood ration, she was almost overcome by bloodlust). However, when Alucard killed Kim, she finally acknowledged her vampiric powers and consumed blood.
Voiced by: Nachi Nozawa (Japanese), Steven Brand (English)
- A warrior priest or paladin who works for the Vatican Section XIII, Iscariot. Anderson is Iscariot's ultimate weapon in the fight against the undead. With regenerative capabilities and a variety of holy weapons (including his signature blessed bayonets, of which he has many) his mission is nothing less than the complete destruction of all the demons of Hell. As this includes many of Hellsing's subordinates, Anderson is one of Alucard's greatest foes.
- Incognito
Voiced by: Takumi Yamazaki (Japanese), Isaac Charles Singleton, Jr. (English)
- This masochistic vampire is from "the dark continent," a reference to Africa. Though physically androgynous, he is generally thought to be male. Extremely powerful, he combines dark magic with an enchanted ArmsCor 40 mm Grenade Launcher that fires dark, spherical curses at his opponents (as well as having a minigun as a backup). During the final plot arc of the series he summons a snake-like being referred to as Sett (presumably the Egyptian god of evil, and possibly a homage to the fictional Marvel Universe villain, though they do share some characteristics) and takes it into his body in order to use it's power to attack Alucard. Incognito has regenerative powers which seem to be related to the purple stripes and sigils covering his body. It has also been argued that, while Alucard may be inspired by, or is Count Dracula, Incognito may have been inspired by the vampire Count Orlok, from the 1922 silent movie Nosferatu. Incognito doesn't appear in the manga.
[edit] Secondary characters
Voiced by: Motomu Kiyokawa (Japanese), Ralph Lister (English)
- Walter is a 69 year old retired member of the Hellsing organization. Though now serving as Integra Hellsing's butler, he still has proved the capacity to live up to his nickname "The Angel of Death" with deadly razor sharp wires. He has a close friendship with both Integra and Alucard.
Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka (Japanese), JB Blanc (English)
- Enrico Maxwell is the overzealous religious leader of the Iscariot Organization (Vatican Section XIII).
- Luke and Jan Valentine
Luke Valentine Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Patrick Seitz (English)
Jan Valentine Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai (Japanese), Josh Phillips (English)
- These two vampires (FREAKs in the TV series; FREAKs were humans turned into vampires with the aid of a chip) have much influence in the underworld. Their exact origins are unknown. Jan acts, looks and sounds like a member of the lower classes and uses strong profanity while Luke seems much more cultured and restrained. With an army of ghouls, they stormed Hellsing HQ. Their ghouls were armed with rifles, body armor, and shields. Jan uses a pair of heavily modified, suppressed P90s, while Luke uses a pair of sawed-off M1 Garand rifles. Jan faced off against Walter and Seras, while Luke descended into the basement to do battle with Alucard. Luke claims to be as powerful a vampire as Alucard, and their fight seems to be fairly even, until Alucard uses the gravity of the situation as an excuse to release (part of) the enchantments that bind him, letting him use a greater amount of power. Alucard overwhelms Luke and easily kills him, while Jan is shot full of mercury incendiary shells by Integra Hellsing. Integra then asks him to tell her who his masters were; Jan refuses and ignites himself on fire, taking his secret with him to the grave.
- '(Note: Jan's name is pronounced /yahn/, as the 'j' makes a 'y' sound in German.)'
[edit] Other characters
- Helena
Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu (Japanese), Akure Wall (English)
- A young-looking vampire that spends her time reading and listening to "Solveigs Song" by Grieg. She appears to live alone in a dark old house. Despite her young appearance, she is quite old and becomes something of a role-model for Seras. Helena is eaten by Incognito, though she continues to live for a short time afterward, even after being beheaded.
- Kim
Voiced by: Pam Susslin
- A news reporter saved in Episode 2 from vampires, she tries to prove afterwards that vampires exist to the general public. One such feat was watching a snuff film being recorded in which a vampire would attack a man who clearly had no idea what is going on. When Alucard ends the recording and Integra arrives Kim states that as a reporter she has an obligation to tell the world, showing no guilt because she wasn't the one who made the arrangements. Owing to the nature of what she has done, Integra states that her crime is beyond human law, and authorizes Alucard to drink her (Kim's) blood.
- Enrico Stivaletti
Voiced by: Hisato Masuyama
- A foreign exchange college student who appears in Episode 3. He is actually the first artificial vampire shown implanted with the 'freak chip' as he attempts to turn another student Mick, with whom he was heavily implied to have been in a romantic relationship, into a vampire for the sake of "being together forever". After being apprehended and later placed in the morgue with the chip removed he is believed dead. This is later disproved when he comes back to "life" in search for Mick. Andersen was sent by the Iscariot Organization to destroy the foreign vampire but is rudely interrupted when Alucard is the one to kill him.
- Harry Anders
Voiced by: Takashi Taniguchi (Japanese), Arthur Russell (English)
- An MI-5 Agent who apparently cooperates with Kim and is involved in the Hellsing exposure affair. Anders investigates the 'freak chips' and questions Helena, taking Seras along with him for protection. He is killed during an explosion of his car possible carbomb, the circumstances of which are unexplained. It is to be noted that Anders had been acquainted with Seras' father.
- Bubbancy
Voiced by: Mika Doi (Japanese), Siobhan Flynn (English)
- A baobhan sith who infiltrated Hellsing HQ and tried to turn Integra into a ghoul. Apparently possessing great hypnotic powers, she got in without suspicion by mentally convincing everyone (except Alucard and Seras) that she was Integra's sister "Laura". In what is widely considered the most risqué scene in the series, she paralyzes, partially undresses, and bites Integra on her breast. Integra realizes then that she has no sister, and that the girl must have tricked her. She then stabs Integra in the stomach with a knife to begin drinking her blood, but is then dispatched by Alucard, who'd been delayed in an encounter with Incognito.
- The text of the English dub is somewhat confusing, probably due to nonrecognition of the term "baobhan sith" (especially when rendered by a Japanese speaker). The original script is clearer: Bubbancy took the name Laura from the novel Carmilla (which, like Dracula, may be close to the truth in the history of the Hellsing world), but Integra also addresses her as a baobhan sith. As her real name has never been given (she is referred to as "Laura" in the credits), fans often refer to her as Bubbancy, a phonetic approximation of "baobhan sith" (pronounced "baa'-van shee") as filtered through Japanese. It has also been argued that, like Alucard and Incognito, Bubbancy may have been inspired by another famous fictional vampire, Carmilla, who was particular towards seducing other women, and preyed upon a girl called Laura.
[edit] Theme music
Opening Theme
"Logos Naki World" ("A World Without Logos"), performed by Yasushi Ishii
Closing Theme
"Shine", performed by Mr. Big
