#e-v-shellder

[therealvinelle]

I’m almost afraid to ask, but what are your thoughts on Hellsing? Any heretical takes? Why do you prefer the first anime over the OVA?

It's one of those things that are so obvious to me I wouldn't even know how to explain it. The Hellsing anime is just better, plain and simple, the animation, the script, the plot, the OST, the voice acting, the characters, all of it.

I don't like a single thing in the Hellsing OVA, it's rare that I am purely negative towards a thing but that OVA had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Here, for art, script, and voice acting comparison: the Valentine fight scene in the anime, and in the OVA.

It's been years since I watched either of these, and I actively repressed memories of the OVA, so doing a more detailed comparison is tough. However, Seras Victoria's transformation is an example I think says it all.

The situation in both is this: Seras Victoria is a policewoman who gets captured by a vampire that uses her as a body shield. To kill the vampire, Alucard must shoot his bullet through her.

In the OVA, he asks her if she's a virgin. Then he shoots, and explains as she lays gurgling on the ground that he had no choice but hey, you could become a vampire if you wish. Clip

In the anime, he explains this to her, and then asks if she wishes to live on as a vampire. She says yes, and he fires his gun. Clip

To me there's just no comparing the two scenes (in more ways than script! Look at the art! It's so good in the anime! Then look at the generic horribleness in the OVA!). One affords her agency in that final moment, lets her calmly say "Yes." and the other... doesn't.

The anime goes on to focus on Seras Victoria's character development and how she adjusts to her new life, as well as her oddly sweet mentor/student relationship with Alucard. She's a person in the anime. The OVA makes her a part time tentacle monster with a terrible love interest, because the value they place in her is how badass she is. Her moment of glory.

Oh, and I can't stress enough my distaste for how the OVA treated everything like a boss fight. And added sexual abuse to Alucard's backstory for no goddamn reason besides edginess. And characters making speeches that would go on for over five fucking minutes, speeches that in most cases could have been reduced to a single line. "I love war", there, done. And oh, some of those speeches were entirely dedicated to how badass Alucard was, I couldn't find any examples on youtube but they never failed to cheapen him.

You have the Roman Catholic Church, which in the anime is a rival organization with the same priorities, and in the OVA becomes bad guys who side with the nazi robots because hullo, evil.

The final boss fight of both anime and OVA is in the anime poignant, nothing beats the moment Alucard looks like he's lost and he uses his last bit of energy to tell Seras to save herself, but she carries his head with her anyway. OVA final fight was just... bosses being thrown at Alucard and then dying in increasingly bizarre ways. Old butler Walter went dark side and deaged into a sexy bad boy! And dies in some way I can't recall but I'm pretty sure it involved Alucard genderbending and putting on a nurse costume! Anderson gave up his humanity to win but turned into a tree instead! The nazis were swallowed up by a sea of blood and gore, I think! And instead of being derpy hilarity, I'm bored to tears!

Look, I'm just going to keep going. I absolutely loathed the Hellsing OVA, the worst thing about it is that it completely drowned the Hellsing anime. The fandom is impossible to track down because all the content is OVA, and season 2 is never happening because people want the OVA and that's the worst thing in the world because season 1 ended on a cliffhanger.

Final thing I'll say before ending the post: notice the absence of Integra in this post. In the anime, she's a fantastic character, a woman made of steel that I can believe could tame Alucard. She's indomitable, a truly extraordinary woman. Enter the OVA, and she's so generic and forgettable badass that I can't remember a single one of her scenes.

Just, the Hellsing anime, chef's kiss, it was beautiful.

Hellsing OVA, boo hiss.

@thecarnivorousmuffinmeta, got anything to add?

[eyecicles]

🌻

My sister got me “Another Note” in German for Christmas and it’s at least three times funnier than the English version. I can’t explain why, but the way B sounds like in German is just brilliant

[misas-biggest-fan]

I love the music and art style/color scheme fit and how it fits with the glitz and glam LA tone that you mentioned in your other post. I’m almost mad that this isn’t an actual movie now lol

oh i wish it was a real movie too LOL i would write and direct ANY TIME @ shonenjump HIT ME UP ive got a PASSION FOR FILM AND DEATH NOTE, i’ll write, i’ll direct, im your guy!!!