Hy everyone!
I got a lot of reviews and comments on the latest article. I'm really happy that so many Hellsing fans have the same opinion about Seras as I do. I will do my best in the future as well.
I've got some requests about the next article.
One was about Hirano's prototype mangas and their role in the Hellsing world, the more mysterious characters like the Major and the Captain. I had a similar theme on my list, named the "Beauty of secrets in Hellsing" which was about these characters and their origins. So, I think it came handy that you requested this. I was had a little problem to decide the next Article's theme.
I also was asked to do a guide for the TV series too. Well… Actually I can use this here in this article since the TV series, Umanosuke Iida and Chiaki J. Konaka had very much to do with influence the fanbase with their own dirty imagination.
4, Fans and Fictions in Hellsing
what is fandom, what is canon
When I started this guide I warned everyone that I'm going to ignore the TV series. Simply, because Hirano had nothing to do with it. That thing is closer to a shitty made Hellsing fanfiction than Hirano's story. Why? Well the TV series was made so fast that halfway they run out of the material, means the manga wasn't made yet. And instead of waiting, they quickly put a story together by themselves. Problem was, that before the fight with Luke and Jan, we didn't knowed much about the personality of the characters, and the writer and the producer of the series didn't had the imagination that was necessary to create such well developed characters we can see in the manga later. I could compare the TV series Alucard to the OVA Alucard. But I won't. Simply because I refuse to call that thing Alucard, or any character by the name they try to make me belive they are… They disfigured characters influenced the fanbase of Hellsing in a bad way. Many fans still can't understand that there are MAJOR differences between the two show and their characters.
First off let's talk about relationships in the TV series and how the characters are in that show. Alucard is portrayed as an old fashion gentleman in that thing and not like the eternal dark creature he really is. To give my statement just a few confirmation, he is much softer and talkative. There is the scene where he turns Seras into vampire…. my god how many things are wrong with this thing, I don't know where to start. Alucard asked Seras if she wants to follow him, and Seras doesn't even tries to do anything to save herself from being shot. That is not Alucard, that is not Seras. Alucard do not care about human life as long they are not strong enough to fight their faith. That's the reason why he shot Seras without warning, and forced into a quick decision while she was scared, bleeding and close to die. So, we can understand later that she has problems with becoming a vampire and drinking blood. But in the TV series she calmly accepted it, she knew what was coming, and still she is whining all about it. Is the TV series Seras stupid, or didn't knew what a vampire is, and that it needs to drink blood!?... I'm… I'm not gonna bother… back to Alucard. My god, the TV series Alucard has been turned into a nice speaking pretty boy. He is too soft and too caring with Seras, mostly too formal with Integra, not to mention the creepy scenes where he suppose to tease Integra, but actually looks like he is giving her stupid dreams. Alucard is not like that! He fanatically respects Integra as his master. Of course he is teasing her, just to make the human know that he is still independent in some level, and that is also a reason why he turns Seras into vampire. And let's talk about the TV series Integra. My god, this is a BITCH, in the worst meaning. The first time they meet Anderson, Seras' commanding officer get's killed by him, and nearly Seras get's killed too. And after they get rid of the priest, she scolds Seras and says "we don't need a vampire who can't protect her own commander". That is not the way to inspirit your employees. I understand that they wanted to make her look tough. But all they do is make her look like a total jealous bitch. What is the real Integra like? She rushes through the corridor to embrace Seras and tells her to calm down. The real relationship between the two is like sisters, or at least very good friends. And no wonder, they are nearly at the same age, they are both tough and are virgins, so many things in common. But the TV series Integra detests the TV series Seras, and don't even bother try to get better knowing her. She just goes "Do not dare drink the blood of innocents!", sure like Seras Victoria would ever do something like that… That bitch is not the leader every true Hellsing fan loves. And what's the worst part? This whole relationship leads us to a…? That's right, a LOVE TRIANGLE between the two girls and Alucard... Most of the fans base their romance pairing theories on this series which is wrong. Not terrible, not incomprehensible, simply: wrong. I'm not gonna say more about this show that disfigures my favorite characters like that…
Now finally we can go back to the Hirano's work. I'm going to talk about many pairings, but please try to read the whole article instead of jumping over to the part what interests you. So, what is the most magnificent thing about the Hellsing? I think it's the mist. The fact that there is so many empty holes around the main story that makes the reader's mind tick! Some people say that mangas and comics are worse than books, since they are not moving the imagination of the reader. Hellsing is the perfect example that this is not true. Sure, a book moves our visual imagination but everything is written what's happening, but Hellsing makes us image sidestories, explenations, characters. And we mostly didn't even notice that since the main story is so fast and full of action that you didn't realize that you are in the middle of something you don't even know who these people are. Characters like Rip van Winkle, Zorin Blitz, Sir Islands, Enrico Maxwell are not fully developed characters. They beraly have screen time compared to Seras, Walter, Integra or Alucard. But since they all have some characteristics in their personality, behavior and dialogues, they don't even need to be on screen for a long time to make us feel like we already know them. They appear, they do something, they die. That is also describes the relationships in hellsing. Mostly they don't do anything, we can just assume that there will be something, or that there is something. There is only one actual pairing that happens in Hellsing and that is PipxSeras.
Now, I'm not a huge PipxSeras fan, but I must confess it's not so idiotic as some people try to introduce. Just to understand, let's explain what makes a love story, a good love story. In a good love story first we get to know the characters. We can see that both of them have their own personalities, we sloooooowly understand what they like or hate in each other, we follow through their adventures they go through together. And at the end they see the positive sides the other has. That is Pip's and Seras' case. They appear totally unknown for each other, and in the first second, Seras embarrasses Captain Bernadotte in the front of his whole crew, when Seras uses only a finger to make him fly over the room. Of course that creates the main tension between the two, as they endlessly mock each other during the training session when Bernadotte finds a way to repay for the embarrassment he had to endure earlier. As he finds out what kind of "civilized" girl Seras is, who always follows the rules and speaks so formal to everyone, he starts to sing perverted songs with his whole crew just to annoy her. Of course Hellsing is a horror and action based manga, and as that it shouldn't contain romance in the story. And thank god, Hirano never overdid that kind of scenes. Later we can see that there are things what they have in common. Both of them are strong characters with their ambitions. Pip became a mercenary just like his father, and Seras became a police officer just like her father, they both have respect towards their elders. So even if they have arguments and reasons why they should hate each other, they also realize the positive sites the other have, alongside with the reader. Even if first Pip appeared like a perverted soldier, who spent too many times on the battlefield and doesn't know how to behave, we can also see that he is a real trustworthy man whose loyalty reaches far further than his paycheck. He is afraid of death like every normal person, but even if his opponents are monsters, and he is cornered, he is not going to give up, he is going to die as a real warrior. Also Pip realizes that Seras is far more than he first thought. Besides whining about that he is perverted and showing off with her vampiric abilities she is a very brave girl, who is ready to face an army of monsters to save her comrades. In this twisted crisis situation where they were both about to die, something happens to them that can't be explained in words. Maybe the realization that they fight each other for so long, while they could have spent much more time together being happy instead of being a pain for each other. Fear, sadness, anger, sorrow, destroyed dream and hopes, all these strong emotions come together in this one very moment, when moves something in them. And I think that was the best kind of romantic relationship for a horror drama such as Hellsing. But now let's discuss what is a "bad love story".
A bad love story is when we put together two idiotic, "attractive" characters with no personality and we go around a whole book long how much they love each other. Rings a bell Stephenie Meyer?! I mentioned that there is a lot of mist on the relationships of Hellsing, which everyone uses to find their personal favorite and image how it would work. And that is totally okay, since that's the main reason fanfictions are there for. There is a lot of reasons why someone starts to write fanfics. Mostly to express ourselves with a character we are able to identify ourselves with. Of course there are some bad fanfics. I try to give you a few ideas how to avoid to write one.
-First off, choose the material wisely. If the chosen Anime's mythology doesn't approve your idea, you better choose an other Anime to base your fanfiction on. For example, those who want to see a vampire being pregnant, forgot Hellsing, Seras won't be a mother since Hellsing is based on Bram Stoker's novel and in that universe vampires are DEATH!
-Second, if you write a Hellsing fanfiction be faithful to the original characters, be faithful to Kouta Hirano the creator of this great story. Some fanfiction writers fall into the trap that they give not enough attention to the personalities of the characters, and make them behave someway the original character of the author wouldn't. Or worse, they totally replace the personality of the character with themselves, they write down what they would do instead what the character would do.
If you think you payed enough attention to the personalities of the characters and a lot of work to the plot, then you should care about the third part, character development. That is very important, especially when you want to make a romance fanfic. Don't just place 2 random characters into your story and try to make us belive they love each other. Show us a story, why! Especially when your characters are not in love in the original story, they don't have real romantical scenes in the original story, and even the creator considered their relationship otherwise… Such as… ANY love/romance pairings with Alucard.
Like I said in my first analysis about Alucard, he is not that kind of person who is interested in this. His only true love is fighting. He walked this world for a half millennium, had many servants and bribes and he had to live even after he lost everyone, so the only thing he actually wants is to finally die. Hirano already was asked about the relationship between him and Integra and he described it as Master-Servant, and commented that there can be somekind of a "sick love". Sick love is of course not love, but it's more than nothing, on that we can agree. This "Sick love" comes from the fanatical respect of Alucard and Integra's unconditional trust towards him. I can not assume anything more from Alucard. He wants to die, He wants to be killed by Anderson to the very last second where Anderson uses Helena's nail on himself. Love is described as the strongest emotional bond a human being can feel. BUT ALUCARD IS NOT HUMAN, HE IS A MONSTER. And that's the reason Alucard wouldn't mind to be defeated, since he doesn't had human bonds that would make him want to be alive. But even though there is no romance between Integra and Alucard, Hirano prefers this pairing more than the one with Seras. So it is canon? Hard to say.
But I know what most of you think right now. "What about Seras x Alucard? That is also canon!" Wrong, Seras x Alucard is not canon. But the only thing I don't like about it that every fan of it is so F**ING CONVINCED about it, that it is. It's not canon, THAT'S IT! I have no problems about it if you are writing fanfictions about these two. I had some arguments with Seras x Alucard fans, and I just don't see the reason why they have to do it. Even Hirano likes to draw Integra and Alucard together. And he gives a lot of hint in the manga about it, how deep the bond between these two is. One thing that Seras x Alucard fans uses as reasoning is the smile Alucard has on when he talks to Seras. I don't see the point, Alucard has that perverted smile every damn time he talks to somebody. He has it when he speaks to Integra, when he speaks to Walter, when he fights Anderson, damn he doesn't even needs to talk to have that smile on. They even go so far, they use mistakes of the OVA as proofs. I'm not kidding. There was that the OVA guys miscolored Seras' coffin and it's kinda looks like Alucard's. Of course the SxA fanatics are all like "OMG! Seras slept in Alucard's coffin! They must've had sex! That is a subliminal message! Seras is sooo lucky!" I just pointed out to it, that it's not perfectly Alucard's coffin, since the golden edge is missing, so it can be the miscolored coffin of Seras too. The reaction surprised me. "They wouldn't make such a mistake in the movie!" "The OVA is the perfection of the manga" "I have shitty understanding of vampire mythology, the sired vampire is always the lover of the one who sired it". After I stopped hitting my head to the desk, I decided to ignore them. But since this is suppose to be a honest analysis of Hellsing I take the adventage to answer now: Suuure! No mistakes, heh? Like when Alucard had Anderson's gloves in OVA 1. Or when he whore the Hellsing sigils in his dream when he wasn't even working to Hellsing. Or when he shot Luke with the Jackal in the head, while he does the same thing with the Casull in the manga. Or when in OVA 3 Seras hand has been put on the wrong layer and it was behind her lover arm. Suuure, no mistakes at all. And "Always the lover of the one who sired it!"? And suuure, Seline in Underworld movie was so onto Victor… she totally didn't called him "father" Seriously, please watch movies that support real vampire mythology. In the Bram Stoker novel, Dracula did had 3 servants, but there are not addressed like bribes. That is something fans assumed. Also they are assumed as possible daughters. Movies commonly use the bribe theory because that shows Dracula even more like a monster who collects beautiful young woman for his personal harem. Lucky Seras…
Other thing is that someone told me that the arguments they have are sighs of that Alucard is trying to form Seras into his desires to make her a good bride… erm? Are you the fan of Alucard and Seras or just Alucard? If a man tries to force his opinion on the girl that guy is just chauvinistic, egoistic, manipulative, d**khead. Do you really want to make a poor girl like Seras fall in love with a guy like that, who doesn't care about her opinion at all? I see a major case of Stockholm Syndrome... I guess the answer is NO. These fans keep telling me, that Alucard and Seras are in love, and they go so far, they don't even consider me as a fellow Hellsing fan if I don't share their viewpoint. Well EXCUSE me for having my own opinion! And the problem with these fans are, they can't tell actual reasons why this relationship would work. They can't come up with examples of what part of the manga make them think Alucard and Seras is romantical… Don't worry Integra and Alucard fans are sometimes same worse.
But Alucard and Integra on the other hand is a different pairing. Just to understand my point of view. If you are gone for 30 years who is the first person you visit? Your beloved one or your employer? Of course the woman you are interested in! And what Alucard did in the last chapter? He visited INTEGRA first. Not Seras. Integra. In the mean time, what kind of scenes do we have with Alucard and Seras. Alucard calls her an idiot, a coward and yell at her because she was telling him that killing humans is a bad thing. Some fans even consider that a romantical scene, imagen that? That scene is about that their opposite personalities collide. Seriously? Canon pairing? This? Alucard the cold blooded fight maniac who sat back while the whole Hellsing crew got slaughtered and turned into ghoul, and Seras who rushes to save the Wild Geese, the soldiers who harassed her with sexual jokes, are really suppose to love each other? A former police officer, whose parents got murdered, and refuses to drink the blood of her enemies, suppose to love the monster, who raped, killed and kidnapped innocent young girls just a 100 years ago? Don't misunderstand me. If you want to make this two being together, that's what fanfictions are there for! But their canon personalities do not allow it! It's not happening in the manga, and it's not canon! Show us a story how their personalities change and that is fine with me.
There was an interview about that with Hirano on Otakon 2006. The was a question about the correct relationship between Seras and Alucard. Hirano describes their relationship as complicated. They don't wanted to describe the relationship as Master and Servant because that's Integra and Alucard. It's more like comradery. "From Seras point of view Alucard is of course the master/teacher." ; "Certainly of course there the feeling of the love, but also it could be something more closer to the ties of the familyship." There he was asked about it if Alucard and Seras are like Father and Daughter bond, but he answered that "We can't distinguish how THEY feel about it, we can't just say it's a Father and Daughter, since many things mix together, it's very complicated" With this Hirano tried to express that his characters have their own personalities and own opinions. Maybe both of them look at the relationship different way and that's the reason we can not define what it is, since not even they know. But he do said, that on Seras point of view Alucard is more like a teacher. If the case would be different why didn't he gave us a straight answer like in the case of Integra and Alucard. Weird thing is that some SxA fanatics belive that even this interview makes SxA canon. Are these guys aware what "x" means? "x" is also accepted abbreviation of the word "kiss". That means when you put "x" between the name of two characters you assume that those to have a romantic type/love or at least sexual relationship. I listened to the interview like a dozen times, but all I can hear is "comradery", "familyship", "complicated". Seras is afraid of Alucard, despises him for his behaviour, and stealing her life. That's right, Alucard stole Seras' life, remember? He shot her in cold-blood and forced her to choose in a situation like that. We all know how strong Alucard is, you really believe that was the only way to "save" her? But also she feels some kind of respect towards him, since even if in a rude way, Alucard tries to teach her about the vampiric abilities she has now. Hirano talks about their relationship in general, not as a pairing. "x" doesn't replace the word "relationship". Just because Hirano talked about the relationship of them, it doesn't make it canon. Walter and Integra have a relationship. Walter is a butler and a stepfather character to Integra. Anderson and Alucard have the relationship of rivals and archenemies. And Seras and Alucard have the canon relationship of Teacher and Apprentice. Those aren't pairings, those are relationships. Learn the difference!
What is my final conclusion on pairing in Hellsing? Besides the relationship of Pip Bernadotte and Seras Victoria, there is no other actual canon romance type relationship happening in Hellsing. But that is not a problem. That's why you are here and write fanfictions. There are actually Seras x Alucard fanfictions I like, since they introduce the characters faithfully, they give good explanations, reasoning, and a good situation what causes them to actually learn more about each other. And the most important, they tell us a story about WHY they would love each other! Since the original characters are so opposite. These stories are very dark, shows how much pain Alucard has, and we see a story how Seras changes Alucard, saves him from darkness. That is what good Seras x Alucard fans do. Write good fanfictions that supports their imagination, and make other Hellsing fans a good reason to listen and enjoy that pairing as well. And bad Seras x Alucard fans are going around the web, try to convince everyone about it that Alucard x Seras is a canon relationship that happens in the manga, and there are references and hints about their "lover" relationship… Listen to this from a person who read the manga and watched the so many times that I know every dialogues from head. Besides Pip x Seras everything is made up by US (not the U.S., we = us). Alucard and Integra have no romantic relationship in the series, but It is understandable why people write fanfics like that, since the tension between the Master and the Servant is present. It's up to our imagination! And that is not a problem! My favorite pairing isn't canon either, and I have no problem with that! So everyone who thinks I overlooked something or that I'm wrong, or want to start a flame war against me because I don't believe that their shipped pairings are canon, it's okay if you want to comment your own opinion.
And remember, treat other people the way you want to be treated. I don't want people to show down their viewpoint on my throat. Also I don't want to do the same. Just respect my viewpoint, and as my gratitude, I'll respect yours as well.
Well, that's it for now. I'll be back with the next part of the Hellsing Ultimate Fanmade Guide as soon as possible! Next time:
5, Beauty of Secrets in Hellsing
The stories behind the scenes