Red Rose Vertigo
From Anime Indepth
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The ninth episode of the Hellsing anime.
Summary
Hellsing aircraft and infantry approach Baobhan Castle in Scotland, which Integra believes to be a vampire hide-out, however, as they enter, Integra and Seras are being watched by the gleaming eye of the myseterious purple man from the previous episode. As Hellsing is preparing to investigate further, all units are called back outside, where the British SAS are claiming jurisdiction of this operation under the pretense of the castle being storehouse for the IRA (Irish Republican Army) armaments and terrorist members, whose guilt, the officer infers, is not erased if they are no longer human. As Seras departs, Alucard telepathically warns Seras that the coming battle is unlike anything they have faced before, causing Seras to comment that, as Alucard affirms, he seems to be enjoying this.
Integra, returning from Scotland, is informed by Walter that her sister Laura is waiting for her, causing Integra to pause as she gazes at the blonde woman before her. While Integra, seemingly suffering from a headache, asks her sister to stay for the night, Seras senses a disturbance in the mansion, but is quickly distracted by Walter, who seems to be suffering from a heart condition.
The SAS unit at Baobhan castle, already overtaken by a mysterious threat, has only one surviving member, Paul Wilson, who is laid out on a slab in a mysterious chamber, where he is asked if he wishes to live forever and become stronger, all the while being surrounded by ambulatory freak chips. After Paul declares that he wants to “live forever,” several dozen freak chips plunge into his flesh, and Paul screams in horror.
Integra, asleep in front of her computer screen, reflects on all that she has done here at Hellsing, though these events are interrupted by the images of a baby girl being cloaked in a red haze, while a skeleton and woman, who appears to be her mother, make love above her. Now the dreams show the woman, older, with a picture of the aforementioned event, with her attempting to kill herself in her bathtub, but is thrown in jail after an apparent failed attempt. Alucard, traversing a set of mysterious catacombs, encounters someone, commenting that he, like Alucard, has thrown away his self-respect to serve the humans, and that he is truly pathetic. Laura, laying over Integra’s form, wakes Integra, who realizes that she never had a sister, while Laura undresses Integra and begins to caress her. Alucard’s mysterious opponent, the purple man from the previous episode, appears from the shadows, calling himself Incognito. Alucard, still smiling, asks that they take time and enjoy themselves. Integra, still unable to move, finds it ridiculous this woman uses the name of the victim of Carmilla Millarca (more on this below), and realizes that she is really the Boobhanshee, while outside Seras is being held back by Walter, who remains under the Boobhanshee’s spell. Alucard, asking if Incognito possesses any human weapons, produces an MGL (see “Vampire info” section), with Incognito, after noting that Alucard no longer has a master, fires, while Seras is being slowly strangled by Walter, and Integra, having been stabbed in the chest by the Boobhanshee, is told that she was instructed to keep her from becoming a ghoul for as long as possible, but she bites into Integra just the same. Alucard appears, raising his emblem above the manor and dispelling the Boobhanshee’s control, and then executing the creature as she dives in to attack. With the demon executed, Integra, rising from her chair and grabbing her letter opener, slices her throat open and hits the ground, declaring that she has freed the impure blood from her body.
Trivia
-Why did Integra and Walter show such signs of physical pain? Though the cause is obviously the Boobhanshee, it does not appear to be a simple telepathic attack they suffer from. More likely than not it is a spell cast by the Boobhanshee, which explains why it has no effect on Alucard or Seras, both of which are more intone with mystical elements. As for the effect it has on humans, they’re body is either reacting to the strain such magical forces can put on a human system, or the hosts are attempting to fight the effects altogether.
-Baobhan Castle and the Boobhanshee are references to a breed of Scottish vampires. For more information, visit the Hellsing Indepth’s References section.
-While the Boobhanshee’s story is muddled in the flashback sequence, based on what we’re told in the episode, Hellsing attempted to wipe out her race, the Baobhan Sith, but one was left alive, her mother, who made love to a demon or undead creature, resulting in the girl’s birth. She finds out about her heritage later in life, attempts to kill herself, is thrown in prison, gets out, dons the title “Boobhanshee,” and strives to exact revenge on the people who drove her mother into exile. Bear in mind, this is all just conjecture.
-Carmilla Millarca is the name of the vampires who has a lesbian relationship with a human woman in the vampire novel “Carmilla.” For more information, visit the Hellsing Indepth’s References section.
-What did Alucard mean, “my name is an anagram too”? Well, though Alucard reversed is pronounced “Dracula,” Incognito, unless the name of some demon of which I have never heard, is not an anagram for anything. What Alucard might have meant, instead, is that Incognito’s name is as much a disguise as Alucard’s. The anagram reference is perhaps in regards to one of the oldest vampire tales, “Carmilla,” where the lead vampiress’ name is an anagram of a passed Countess, “Carmilla” and “Millarca.”
-Where is Alucard when he encounters Incognito? He may be on some mysterious location on Earth, or, he’s in the Hellsing manor’s underground tunnels, which would likely mean either Integra or Alucard set him free. If they are in a mysterious location, this could be the connection with Interga and Incognito the previous episode foreshadowed, that, at some point in Integra’s role as Hellsing commander, she set free Incognito.
-Throughout the episode, we begin to see Seras’ growing vampiric abilities, such as increased perception, in the manga, however, Seras’ ability progression happens largely the result of one instance later in the series, as most of her earlier appearances in the manga see her doing battle with her trademark Hallconnen “Canon.”
-The JIC to which Integra refers is a Joint Intelligence Center, used by various governments to organize data on all affiliated military organizations.
-The man from SAS comments that they have come prepared with anti-vampire weaponry (silver bullets, etc.), and, considering the recent destruction and reorganization of Hellsing, it appears that other military organizations are taking it upon themselves to perform Hellsing’s duties.
-This episode appears on the Volume 3 DVD, titled "Search and Destroy," of Geneon’s release of Hellsing.
