Monday, June 2, 2014

(Vol. 1) Hellsing: Kohta Hirang: Media Mondays (4)

Hey, I (Sofia) am currently in New York, having heaps of fun doing god knows what, and this is a scheduled post written by Joyce, otherwise known as crazy #1 that you read the bio of last week during my Sunday Post. Her review style is a bit different from my own, but I thought it would be nice to have a fresh voice on the blog, and all credit goes to her. Without further ado, this is a review of volume one of the manga Hellsing by Kohta Hirang. 

 
Chapters: 92  
Volumes: 10 
Serialization:  Young King Ours
Status: Finished
Publication Date: 1997 --- Sep 30, 2008

Synopsis:  Hellsing, a secret organization of the British government, have long been battling supernatural threats to keep the people safe from creatures of the night. The current leader, Integra Wingates Hellsing controls her own personal army to eliminate the undead beings, but even her highly trained soldiers pale in comparison to her most trusted vampire exterminator, a man by the name of Alucard, who is actually a powerful vampire himself. Along with Integra's mysterious butler and Alucard's new vampire minion, Seras Victoria, The Hellsing Organization must face not only regular ghouls and vampires, but a rivaling secret organization from the Vatican, and Millennium, an enigmatic group of madmen spawned by a certain war over 50 years ago...

A bloody battle between monsters is about to begin, The dead are dancing, and all hell is singing...
SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I'M BACK. And you thought that you've seen the last of me *snickers* Well, I'm back to review a lovely manga by the name of Hellsing. Does that ring a bell? No? Yes? Whatever. I would give this manga a whopping 7 out of ten  ink jars. I gave it a 7, because, firstly, I COULD NOT HANDLE THE LEVEL OF GORE THE MANGA THREW AT ME.  It was unbelievable. The eye for detail was great, but did it have to be THAT detailed? 

I was gagging through the bloodshed (The scene where Alucard shish-ke-bobbed those soldiers really made me cringe. Another scene was also where Yumie sliced up some weapon dealer's eyeballs and...UGH). The plot was great, with the 'I want to take over the world' sort of thing, but seriously, the bloodshed was overkill. The manga was gory, visceral, and explicit. I would not recommend this manga to fans of girly shoujo mangas, because A) There is very little romance in this series, and to be honest, it's kind of refreshing to flip through a few pages without encountering any lip locking, and B) Most people who are used to cute, fluffy romances would experience a rather rude awakening to the darker (and gorier) sides to different types of manga. There wasn't much character development in my opinion, other than Seras overcoming her apparent distaste for drinking blood and her progressively becoming more violent as the series went on (I don't know if that's a good thing).  Alucard was bad ass as usual, with a hint of insanity...or a lot. I sorta get an anti-hero vibe from him, even though he's on the good guy's side. Maybe it's his violence or the fact that he'd rip apart anything in his path. You tell me. In some parts of the manga, I was a little confused, but maybe it was just me not paying attention to the details. The whole manga was centered on various religious beliefs, and it might appear offending to most people, so didn't say I didn't warn you. I loved the little side stories, though. They provided some insight on the Vatican, which was awesome.
 
Not a huge fan of the artwork, because in the first volume, I mistook Integra for a guy, and it didn't help that everyone was addressing her as Sir Integra either. I thought the manga's artwork was unique, but it wasn't exactly my cup of tea either.  
 
So there you have it. I was rushing a bit, so sorry if it isn't to your liking. All opinions are mine, blah blah blah.

Peace out,
Joyce

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