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Hellsing...in the name of research
Sep. 19th, 2011 04:08 amI watched the anime a few years back, but never got around to reading the actual books. In the name of research I delved into them tonight, makes me want to re-watch the series now, but I can't for the life of me find a good copy.
The manga however is quite interesting, it follows very closely the old Bram Stoker, much closer than I do with The Ritzko Project, but I'm taking my own creative twist on them. I love that they can't cross water, I love that they use coffins, I love that Alucard talks about skills learned at Scholomance (he hasn't used the actual name of the school where Dracula learned them) and uses them, and I LOVE that they tie in the whole zombie apocalypse.
Very similarly as to what Gale does with necromancy and raising zombies as an army (planned book 3), Hellsing goes with the old stories that a vampire can only sire those who are pure and virgin, otherwise a "ghoul" is born, oh and there are armies of ghouls.
So back to the whole Dracula myth, something I came across in the book that gave me a twinge of awe was a Vlad the Impaler referrence. Most people are well aware that Vlad III Dracula is the closest historical figure to Dracula and a large influance on the character himself, a Prince that lived in Wallachia (modern-day Transylvania and Romania), he was most known for "impaling" his favorite method of torture. It is said that several times armies that came to seize power often turned back after being met at rivers and city limits by thousands of people impaled on large pikes of wood left to die and rot off.
Gruesome, right?
Best. Reference. Ever.
Sorry, but the scene is just kick ass in every way. Kouta Hirano (the author and artist) seems to capure exactly the scene I imagine when I think of Vlad, the pikes neatly surrounding the building like they were there for decoration...Vlad was a pretty messed up character with a long history of abuse, I imagine he had a personality like Hannibal Lector...without the whole eating thing...that kinda fits the Dracula aspect tho...
And as I'm really not that far into reading the series, I figure I'll have a lot more to say about it, this just caught me off guard and I loved it.
I wonder if they'll incorporate a form of a Drone? That was more of a Fright Night referrence though.
The manga however is quite interesting, it follows very closely the old Bram Stoker, much closer than I do with The Ritzko Project, but I'm taking my own creative twist on them. I love that they can't cross water, I love that they use coffins, I love that Alucard talks about skills learned at Scholomance (he hasn't used the actual name of the school where Dracula learned them) and uses them, and I LOVE that they tie in the whole zombie apocalypse.
Very similarly as to what Gale does with necromancy and raising zombies as an army (planned book 3), Hellsing goes with the old stories that a vampire can only sire those who are pure and virgin, otherwise a "ghoul" is born, oh and there are armies of ghouls.
So back to the whole Dracula myth, something I came across in the book that gave me a twinge of awe was a Vlad the Impaler referrence. Most people are well aware that Vlad III Dracula is the closest historical figure to Dracula and a large influance on the character himself, a Prince that lived in Wallachia (modern-day Transylvania and Romania), he was most known for "impaling" his favorite method of torture. It is said that several times armies that came to seize power often turned back after being met at rivers and city limits by thousands of people impaled on large pikes of wood left to die and rot off.
Gruesome, right?
Best. Reference. Ever.
Sorry, but the scene is just kick ass in every way. Kouta Hirano (the author and artist) seems to capure exactly the scene I imagine when I think of Vlad, the pikes neatly surrounding the building like they were there for decoration...Vlad was a pretty messed up character with a long history of abuse, I imagine he had a personality like Hannibal Lector...without the whole eating thing...that kinda fits the Dracula aspect tho...
And as I'm really not that far into reading the series, I figure I'll have a lot more to say about it, this just caught me off guard and I loved it.
I wonder if they'll incorporate a form of a Drone? That was more of a Fright Night referrence though.
