Duel
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The seventh episode of the Hellsing anime.
Summary
As the remaining Hellsing members and widows stand upon a rain-soaked cemetery hill, Integra reflects on being asked by the Round Table conference leader, Sir Islands, to personally execute all her ghoulish Hellsing members and accept responsibility for her actions. Integra confesses that it is all her fault.
The next day, Walter begins to read off the body count for Hellsing, on the day that Luke and Jan Valentine attacked, which totals that of the 192 members, only 57 survived. Elsewhere, Seras is eliminating ghouls in the London streets, while Walter indicates that, in conjunction with MI-5, they are investigating the Valentine brothers; later, Integra receives a letter from Enrico Maxwell, the Vatican’s Iscariot leader, inviting her to an art museum. At the museum, Enrico, bearing flowers, recites the exact figures of the Hellsing members lost in the attack, and offers his condolences, with Integra responding by knocking the bouquet from his hands and denouncing Enrico for sending Anderson previously, resulting in the death of Gareth (episode 3). Enrico, presenting a freak vampire chip, notes calmly that Integra’s mess has begun to spill into his country, and that he views Hellsing and vampires as the same, ending by calling Integra an “English sow.” Alucard, appearing from behind Integra, notes that in 2,000 years Romans haven’t changed from their oppressive ways.
Back at Queen’s Gate, a railway station, Seras and Mason Fox, the remaining Hellsing commander, are attempting to stop a group of freak vampires, simultaneously, Walter receives an image of a ghoul stabbed through the head with a bayonet, taken near Seras’ present location. Before it appears that Alucard is about to execute Enrico for the slight, Alucard and Integra are informed of the appearance of Anderson. Alucard, appearing as Anderson begins to take out Hellsing members, chases Anderson into a train car who throws a holy scripture book towards Alucard. Alucard instinctively shoots it from the air, but it’s pages and unfold and bind him, allowing Anderson to rush in and cleave Alucard’s head off. Seras, recovering the head, flees into the inner tunnels, while Anderson gives chase. However, Alucard’s body decomposes and reforms into bats, which merge to become Alucard’s body once more. Alucard, using the Jackal, blows off both of Anderson’s arms, while Anderson flashes back to himself as a young soldier in an unidentified military group who, as what appears to be a vampire’s shadow is engulfing him, sticks his gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger. Returning to the present, Anderson begins to rush toward Alucard, grabbing a nearby bayonet in his teeth. Anderson, after Alucard shatters the blade, stands erect, and, as holy scriptures flood from his coat, says that, though he can not finish Alucard as he is now, he will kill him.
Alucard comments that something that is neither human nor monster can kill him, that only humans can kill monsters. As Integra walks away from her victory over Maxwell and Iscariot, she realizes that the rain has stopped.
Trivia
-So, what does the flashback say about Anderson’s past? Well, first of all it shows us that Anderson’s loyalty may not be to the Vatican because he is a Catholic, but because they gave Anderson an opportunity to have his revenge, and quench his hatred. Another indication that this version of Anderson may not be a Catholic is that he chooses to shoot himself, and suicide is a grave sin within Catholic Church. Also, considering the length of Alucard’s apparent lifespan, it’s safe to say that he may have been the vampire that was about to turn Anderson into a ghoul. Anderson is also no stranger to taking orders and serving as a soldier, so placing him within Iscariot seems a logical choice, and makes Alucard’s intonations that Anderson is just a dog more understandable.
-Another parallel is drawn between Alucard and Anderson in this episode, as their face transposes from one to the other in the same shot. This reflects the bond they share as beings who live to fight and serve.
-Enrico refers to Alucard as the “Nosferatu,” which is a word that appeared in print as early as 1885 in Emily Gerard’s novel “Transylvanian Superstitions”, which soon appeared in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, the basis for the 1922 silent German film during the Expressionist movement, titled “Nosferatu”. For more information on this, Mason Fox, the James Matthew Barrie work “Peter Pan,” and Judas Priest, please visit the Hellsing Indepth References section.
-For those unaware as to why Enrico’s knowledge of the fallen Hellsing members would upset Integra, beyond the obvious emotional implications, is that the information should not be public knowledge.
-By this point in the series, we have now met seven characters (Alucard, Integra, Walter, Anderson, Luke, Enrico, and Ronaldo) with glasses or eye wear of some variety.
-Father Ronaldo is at least somewhat more prevalent in the manga, such as being the one who gives Anderson his mission to eliminate a vampire in Ireland (V1C4) that causes him to cross paths with Alucard. However, in his few appearances in this episode, Father Ronaldo has no speaking lines. Also, while you are clearly able to view Ronaldo’s eyes in the manga, his glasses are constantly reflecting light in this episode, signifying his perception of himself as a holy and divine agent of God’s will, as Iscariot views themselves as the only chosen people of God to defend his lands. This draws an interesting contrast as, with the Vatican and Catholic church as a whole, an observer might be more inclined to trust them, yet their actions are more readily devious, whereas Hellsing, which employs demons and even has the word “hell” in their title, might appear far more sinister, yet they remain the show’s protagonists and fight the forces of darkness.
-When Walter mentions MI-5 to Integra, we see a distant shot of two men speaking, one of which who appears to be Harry Anders from episode 4.
-As Seras takes out a ghoul in the London city streets, we’re witness to another parallel drawn between her and Alucard, as the shell casing that flies from her pistol spins on the ground in much the same way Alucard’s Casull shots did in episode 1.
-Walter, when phrasing the death toll, gives names of the members who died in Hellsing’s London Office, which gives the implication that there is more than one Hellsing office on the Earth, though it’s not a piece of information clarified in either the manga or TV series, and can be seen as part of Walter’s attention to detail.
-This episode is based partly on the events in Volume 1, Chapters 4-6, titled “Sword Dancer”, and V2 C4, and C5&6, titled “Dead Zone” and “Balance of Power”, respectively. From Sword Dancer, also the name of TV ep3, there is the extended fight with Alucard, of which only the opening attacks were retained for the original TV rendition. From V2C4, we’re given witness to the Round Table conference leader ordering Integra to execute her now ghoulish subordinates. Finally, from V2C5&6, there is the early stages of the organization’s recovery (which records much higher personnel losses than in the TV version due to the addition of Mason Fox’s squadron), as well as the meeting between the Iscariot leader Enrico Maxwell, and the second fight between Alucard and Anderson. However, in the manga, just as Anderson and Alucard are about to duel, Seras leads a tour group through the museum (Alucard and Anderson square-off at the museum instead of Queen’s Gate), and the comedy of it ruins the moment for the two battle weary soldiers, similar to how Integra interrupts their battle in ep3. Additionally, as Enrico is in position of information regarding the Millenium organization that attacked Hellsing, Integra is put into a more subdued position as she requests Maxwell’s assistance. This point in the series, with the exception of 2/3 of a later episode, begins to reflect a growing trend of breaking free from the manga’s plotline, in large part because the manga was scarcely beyond V2 when the TV series was initiated, but also partly in regards to the writer’s, Chiaki J. Konaka, style of theme. This takes the series into a wildly different direction than the manga, a change of which fans have very mixed feelings about.
-This episode appears on the Volume 3 DVD, titled "Search and Destroy," of Geneon’s release of Hellsing.
