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How great is it to have two things you love in one place? Especially when those two things are vampires and manga! That is exactly what my latest discovery, Hellsing is-a manga about vampires and those that fight them. A tale that never gets too old to re-tell.
Kohta Hirano took a pretty usual idea and made it into something very different. From the very beginning, Hellsing is obviously offbeat, the collection of six stories plus bonus tale, captures the imagination instantly!
Volume 1 of the series follows the adventures of a secret British Protestant organization named Hellsing. Hellsing was created for the sole purpose of hunting Vampires and other such ghouls. The strong and dignified Integra Hellsing heads the organization. Hellsing's weapon is an ancient Vampire named Alucard who is armed with a specialized gun, a smart-ass attitude, and a sidekick. Alcuard's sidekick is an eager young police officer named Seras Victoria, or as he nicknamed her Police Girl, whom he converted into a vampire.
The first story in Hellsing explores Alucard's first meeting with Police Girl. The second story is a long flashback explaining how a young Integra first discovered Alucard. Stories 3 through 6 are an arc that explores Father Anderson-a vampire hunter working for the Roman Catholic Church in the Vatican's own secret organization-Section XIII Iscariot. Father Anderson is the only rival that even comes close to Alucard's strength.
Following this storyline was a bonus story featuring two agents of the Section XIII Iscariot, Heinkel and Yumie. Heinkel is your traditional vampire hunter, but Yumie, on the other hand, is a very different creature. Plagued by the presence of an alternate personality, Yumiko is a mild-mannered nun. But her alternate personality, Yumie, is a killing machine with no respect for rules or concerned with casualties.
What a history! In seven short stories, Kohta Hirano introduces two secret organizations in detail without boring or confusing the reader. To top that, he skillfully managed to create well-developed characters: Alucard is dark, ruthless, and at times quite the comedian. Police Girl struggles to maintain her humanity while coping with her new vampire lifestyle. Integra is a strong female character in a world that seems nearly devoid of just that, while Father Anderson and the rest of Section XIII Iscariot pursue a vow, not only to eliminate vampires and ghouls, but all other pagans as well.
For the introduction to a series, Hellsing: Volume 1 did a damn good job of pulling me into a new world! Obviously, Hirano means to pull no punches and that is exactly what his controversial style or storytelling and artistic flare succeeded at doing so well. I found myself asking questions about the past and motivations of the characters (the and that's the kind of trait that keeps people coming back to a manga for future volumes). While the crisp images featured in Hellsing were masterfully drawn and gruesomely violent making Hellsing the complete manga package-story and art to boot! In short, keep your eye on this series, it is definetly a classic!
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