Hellsing/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The Manga and OVA

  • Acceptable Targets: Catholics. It doesn't help that the only representation the Catholic Church has in Hellsing is Iscariot, which seems to be made up of a bunch of murderous lunatics and complete bastards. They even have a group of soldiers wearing Ku Klux Klan hoods when the Major invades London.
    • Those hoods are Truth in Television; traditionally they belong to Spanish Catholic clergy, and are used in this series to invoke the memory of the Spanish Inquisition, not the Klan.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: Rip Van Winkle. Her death is much more sympathetic than some of the other villains. She outright panics when Alucard gets approaches the ship she's on. See her Villainous Breakdown.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation:
    • Alucard.
    • The Major:
      • The end-of-volume omakes usually portray the Major as a die-hard Otaku. And Shine Heaven Now took that interpretation and ran away with it.
      • The Major may be a Death Seeker. He claims he wants to kick start another World War, starting with destroying London and then moving on to Paris, Rome and the rest of the world. However, he clearly has no idea how to deal with Alucard and sends many ranked underlings to their death against him. He knows he can't attack London as long as Alucard is there to stop him, but his grand plan for dealing with him is put him on a boat to buy a few hours. His only effective gamble to actually be rid of him is Schrodinger who he doesn't use until the very end. It doesn't kill him either. In other words, he fully expects they are all going to die, but he doesn't want to bum his troops down with that info. His true goal then is not to start a new war, but to go out in a blaze of glory, since he's Genre Savvy enough to see that either Hellsing, Iscariot, or Alucard with ultimately defeat them, especially since Mina Harker has run dry as a source.
      • Of course, according to his speech he just loves war. Even when he's losing. He makes it clear, talking about how WWII ended and saying he loved that too. Aside from it being over and him still being alive. As for Schrodinger, The Major used the entire WAR just to weaken Alucard enough that he needs to feed on a large scale. And then slip Schrodinger in among the bodies. And then... something happens and Alucard is gone. I guess the assumption is that Alucard wouldn't have fed on Schrodinger otherwise for some reason? Or it was too risky?
  • Ass Pull: Walter's betrayal may seem like one, there was no foreshadowing other than some Fridge Logic Sir Islands points out in a later chapter.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: Technically speaking, the Major achieved everything he wanted. He annihilated London, caused an incredibly destructive war (London's entire population of 8 million people was wiped out in one night, not to mention all the damage occuring around the rest of the world), Alucard is defeated through his ingenuity and he dies in battle against a worthy opponent. But considering that all he really wanted to do was kill Alucard, he still fails, since Alucard eventually comes back.
    • Subverted. He really only thinks he wins. London was rebuilt, and Integra mocked that he even thought this was a war (it was labeled a terrorist attack eventually and that's it). Unless you count Alucard as a bad guy who got his happy ending, keeping what it's told be destroyed in all his important battles. Twice.
  • Boring Invincible Hero: Alucard (as much as he can be called a "hero"). The result of almost every confrontation he has with, well, anyone is a foregone conclusion. Even the situations where he puts any actual, visible effort into slaughtering all his enemies are rare.
  • Cargo Ship: Alucard says: "GET AWAY FROM MY COFFIN!" Made even worse by the fact that the coffin is alive.
  • Complete Monster: The Major has no real goals. He only wants to create a never-ending war simply for fun, not caring who is winning or who is losing. He just wants people to die. He's responsible for millions of deaths during the attack on London and deliberately planned it to maximize civilian casualties.
  • Contemplate Our Navels
  • Crispin Freeman: If you know who he is, this role is why.
  • Creepy Awesome:
    • Alucard. Oh yes.
    • Most of the monsters in this series fall under this trope. Prepare to be creeped out and stare at the screen in awe, simultaneously.
  • Crosses the Line Twice/Narm Charm: Jan, just Jan. He's so over-the-top in the OVA that there's no other trope to describe his antics.
  • Crowning Moment of Funny:
    • Just Integra's meeting with Penwood and her interaction with his grandson in the epilogue.
    • Pip is a walking Crowning Moment of Funny.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: Oh, so many. Gradus Vita, Target Insight, A Thousand Tangs, Letzte Batallion, Magnolia, (sigh)... I need to breath...
  • Die for Our Ship: Alucard/Seras militant fans take the cake with their treatment of Integra and Pip. The latter's existence is largely ignored or assumed he truly died when he didn't.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Alucard, Walter, even Major.
  • Ending Fatigue
  • Ensemble Darkhorse:
    • Fans got very excited to see Pip in the OVA.
    • The Captain.
    • Rip Van Winkle.
    • Luke and Jan.
    • Young Walter has a good amount of fans. For several reasons. Being voiced by Romi Paku sure helps.
  • Epileptic Trees
  • Evil Is Sexy:
    • Alucard.
    • Full Draculina Seras(or Berserker Seras) suddenly seems a lot more, uh, looser than usual.
    • Walter's vampire form proves one thing: Walter was panties-meltingly hot as a young man. Oh my.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple:
  • Foe Yay
  • Fridge Logic: Alucard gains the memories of those he feeds on, so why doesn't him eating Luke Valentine blow Millennium's cover? He would know everything Luke did, and Luke mentions meeting the Major...
  • Holy Shit Quotient: Like a certain other Madhouse/Satelight production, your jaw will be on the fucking floor by the end of the first Hellsing Ultimate OVA. It gets even more awesome at episode 4. It gets Crazy Awesome at episode 7.
  • Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Alucard is shipped with EVERYONE. Integra borrows his black dress in Spanish and Japanese fanbases, producing ships such as Integra/Penwood and Integra/Islands Junior.
  • Les Yay
  • Like You Would Really Do It: Did ANYONE seriously think Hirano would kill his main trio of Alucard, Seras, or Integra? Only them? Pip wasn't a goner, he returned with improvements. Pretty much, every major character in the Hellsing organization except Walter, who was a traitor, survived.
  • Love to Hate: Jan.
  • Magnificent Bastard:
    • Alucard.
    • The Major is definitely regarded as one in the fandom. But possibly subverted, as at the end Integra made him sound as an agonizing man who "took 50 years" to be put out of misery.
  • Memetic Outfit: While all of Alucard's different outfits are extremely recognizable and popular in Cosplay, his usual one takes the cake.
  • Memetic Sex God: Alucard, no kiddin'. It alternates with his vampire-sex god title. Alucard pretty much achieved this status by the time we see him in his Bondagecardform. Also, if you bring up Rip Van Winkle, the subject will automatically go to her interesting "battle". Even Alucard's voice actor declared that he has never played a character with such a powerful sexuality.
  • Mind Game Ship: Alucardxanyone, really...but AlucardxIntegra and AlucardxSeras tend to be fan favorites.
    • AlucardxRip is nearly a canon one - what with him screwing around with her and then taking a looot of pleasure in massacering her.
  • Moe:
  • Mood Dissonance: The OVA will often segue very clumsily between the dramatic, gory story-lines, and the goofy chibi-style sequences that take place between events.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Chances are somebody in the series crossed it. Nazi vampire eating a baby? Alucard torturing Rip Van Winkle? Zorin mutilating Seras and killing her love interest? Maxwell ordering the deaths of innocent civilians? Take your pick.
  • Narm Charm:
    • In the second OVA, right after shooting Jan Valentine, Integra pulls the line: "We'll have no more of that. I'm pissed off". Hilarious, yet still awesome.
    • In the fourth OVA, one of Anderson's battle screams against Alucard sounds like he is screaming the word "hug". Then there's his Bible quote from the first OVA... Steven Brand fized that.
    • The Doktor has a lot of this.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Has its own page.
  • Nightmare Retardant: Sometimes the series is so over the top it's downright funny. Granted, most of the series' appeal for some people is the Narm Charm.
  • Ron the Death Eater: Iscariot members are over villainous in fanfiction. Mostly due to Shipping: Anderson sometimes is turned into a rapist to create Wangst for the Alucard pairing of choice (even in canon, Anderson was disgusted to the idea of even manhandling Integra against her will). Integra is also victim of this in the hands of Alucard/Seras shippers, when she's not assumed dead in the beginning (or married to someone else), she's made a Soap Opera villain. Pip is sometimes pictured as a Romantic False Lead.
  • Sexy Discretion Shot: The last page. When Alucard and Integra finally reunite and she bites her ring finger to let him suck her blood. There's a shot to the blood dripping, and his mouth opens, then the blood dripping until it fades into the moon and pans outside the Mansion.
  • Ship Mates: Some fans will pair off the entire cast like it's Noah's Ark.
  • Shocking Swerve: A couple things, namely Walter becoming a vampire and betraying Integra.
  • Showy Invincible Hero: It's true that Alucard is incredibly powerful. But at the same time he has a ton of style in abusing his powers.
  • Slash Fic: Most commonly with Integra/Seras, Alucard/Anderson and Alucard/Walter.
  • Special Effects Failure: While the actual animation is top-notch, some of the CGI used in the OVA is less than stellar. Some shots of the Millennium troopers and Alucard's army of familiars in OVA VIII look awful.
  • Tear Jerker: Believe it or not, there are a few. In the manga, Alucard pleading to Alexander Anderson not to use Helena's Nail and become a monster like himself, as well as Anderson's death scene and the conversation that takes place while it happens. And Pip's death scene.
    • Also when Seras' backstory is revealed, and Alucard disappears.
    • Despite the fact that Maxwell was a Jerkass in the finest degree, his death scene, in which he pleads for Anderson to help him, and then extends his hands to sky muttering "Jesus..." his nearly certain to make someone's throat lumpy.
  • Too Cool to Live:
    • Pip...sort of.
    • Anderson is killed right before the final showdown with The Major and The Captain.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: Rip Van Winkle in the manga. Schrodinger.
    • Zorin Blitz can be another.
      • And Heinkel
  • The Woobie: Seras
  • Woolseyism: Why does Jan have an American accent and Luke doesn't? Who cares, it's hilarious.
  • Xanatos Gambit: Depends on how you view the Major's motives. If you take him at face value, that all he really does want is some krieg, the Major wins whether or not Millennium and himself are killed off. He gets his glorious war and a shot at taking out Alucard. However, it can also be interpreted that the Major's war was just an elaborate plan to destroy Alucard, which was his true goal all along. Ultimately, after 30 years, his plan failed.


The Series

  • Broken Base: Some fans love the TV series, some think it sucks. Points in favor of the series are that it fleshes out Seras a lot more as a character and explores the method by which the artificial vamps are made. Points against it? Well, "Incognito" wasn't quite up to snuff compared to the manga-original villains.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: The TV series is well-known for its awesome soundtrack.
  • Dull Surprise: In the English dub of the anime, Integra sounds rather bored instead of furious upon discovering that the Valentine brothers had invaded Hellsing Manor.
  • Fan Nickname: Incognito has been called "Vagina Head" because of the piercing and red zero on his forehead.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks: Why some Hellsing fans dislike the TV series.
    • It goes both ways, since some fans who saw the TV series first prefer it to the manga and OVA.
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