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The latest Hellsing
So why is it every time that I decide to go to an actual sit-down restaurant for lunch where they put me in a table in the frickin' middle of the room instead of a nice booth off to the side, the book I've got with me to read turns out to be a manga that's either violent or partially sexually explicit? Today's turn was the latest Hellsing, which I'd forgotten I had with me. I attempted to reassure myself that the mangaka's art is so dense that you have to be staring at the page for a few seconds before realizing you're looking at a picture of someone ripping half of someone else's head off. Not like MPD Psycho, where the violence and grotesquerie* is lovingly rendered in clinical detail with a sharp, thin line that you can see from a mile off. "Waitaminnit!! Is he ... planting flowers ... in her brain?!"
Compared to MPD Psycho, Hellsing is appropriate for all ages.
At any rate, I liked the latest installment of the Hellsing saga quite a bit - we get more character development in Seras Victoria, and there seems to almost be a light at the end of the tunnel of death and destruction. Not for a good long while yet, of course, but I was wondering if Kohta Hirano** was writing himself into a hole for a bit there.
And it's still got what I really like about the series: it lulls you into feeling sympathy and then reminds you that it's still monster vs. monster - the antagonists are monsters, and the protagonists are monsters, but you have to be one to fight one effectively. And no matter what side you're rooting for it's monsters all the way down.
Not to mention that the mangaka has a sense of humor: among other things, if you look closely at the letters on Zorin's arms, you can see band names. :)
* Which ought to be a word, if it isn't.
** Which is his personal name, and which his family name? I can usually figure it out, but I'm not sure which order Dark Horse prints them in.
Compared to MPD Psycho, Hellsing is appropriate for all ages.
At any rate, I liked the latest installment of the Hellsing saga quite a bit - we get more character development in Seras Victoria, and there seems to almost be a light at the end of the tunnel of death and destruction. Not for a good long while yet, of course, but I was wondering if Kohta Hirano** was writing himself into a hole for a bit there.
And it's still got what I really like about the series: it lulls you into feeling sympathy and then reminds you that it's still monster vs. monster - the antagonists are monsters, and the protagonists are monsters, but you have to be one to fight one effectively. And no matter what side you're rooting for it's monsters all the way down.
Not to mention that the mangaka has a sense of humor: among other things, if you look closely at the letters on Zorin's arms, you can see band names. :)
* Which ought to be a word, if it isn't.
** Which is his personal name, and which his family name? I can usually figure it out, but I'm not sure which order Dark Horse prints them in.
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...and searching for "Kohta", "Kota", and "Kouta" as a character name on AnimeNfo.com reveals it is the name of the guy in Elfen Lied, of which I have watched 3 DVDs.
Still, that's only my best guess, and should not be taken as the least bit definitive!