Hellsing

In my last post, I mentioned "Haibane Renmei" as a good example for an anime turning Western culture upside down. Actually, I can now present an even better one: "Hellsing".

Set in a version of modern-day Britain that could only have been conceived by someone who has never actually been there, the series details a mysterious underground organisation's struggle to keep the evil monsters lurking in the island's dark corners at bay. Interestingly enough, the main weapon of the "Hellsing Agency" (which is, by the way, led by a certain "Lady Integral", who is, of course, supervised by the "Knights of the Round Table") is himself a creature of the night: an ancient vampire going by the name of "Alucard" [sic]. The first episode sees him fighting an undead vicar. During the showdown, Celes Victoria (another very British name), a young female police officer with rather large breasts, is fatally wounded and Alucard decides to turn her into one of his own kind. The rest of the series follows these two main protagonists and the rest of the agency in their efforts to destroy some artificial vampires created by high-tech implants and to keep the Vatican's paladins out of Britain.

I know this all probably sounds completely ridiculous and I can assure you: it is. But "Hellsing" is not about making sense. It's about really weird and scary people with huge guns having very long, slow fights over rock music accompaniment, interspersed with over-the-top dialogue ("In the name of God, to ones who have turned into the living dead without a will eternal night shall be granted. Amen."). It's about eroticism, stylish animation, postmodernist jokes (the first lines of the credits song are "Every time I look at you, you seem so alive") and excessive amounts of blood and saliva.

That the little meaningful plot and character development which "Hellsing" has to offer is entirely stolen from Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles" doesn't really matter. Because "Hellsing" has Alucard. Looking like a mixture of an 18th century aristocrat, a grisly monster and a scarecrow and having one of the deepest voices I have ever heard, the shamelessly evil and totally insane vampire is simply one of the coolest main characters ever created. Witnessing his grotesque and vicious demeanour is enough to make the whole series an enjoyable experience.