Brotherhood
From Anime Indepth
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The fifth episode of the Hellsing anime.
Summary
At episode’s outset, we see a nervous looking man wander into a rave club, and is instructed by one of the waitresses to meet a man upstairs. The man upstairs is blonde and wearing a white suit, and is handed a card by the nervous man. After asking the nervous man what he wished to do when he became a vampire, the blonde man raises a rifle to the other man’s head, thinking him a member of the rival gang. However, the man mentions his connection with someone named “Britz,” causing the blonde man to give pause. Back at the mansion, Walter gives Alucard his promised new firearm, the Jackal 13mm, which packs a greater deal more power than the .454 Casull, likewise, Seras receives her new weapon, the 30mm Hallconnen “Canon”. Back at the club, as blonde man, Luke, and his brother Jan’s servant vampires drain the blood from the man, Luke realizes that, since Britz was arrested recently, this man must be a professional sent in to infiltrate their organization, an organization they believe to be Hellsing; the nervous man is shown impaled on the British flag and floating down the river. Later, Integra learns that this man was an MI-5 agent, and that his death marks the commencement of another Round Table conference to be held at Hellsing HQ; Integra comments that these freak vampires contain a human cunning Alucard is unfamiliar with, though Alucard only wishes to relieve his boredom. Soon after, Jan makes a crank call about a vampire attack, Hellsing is scrambled, and Seras, after investigating for a moment, discovers a bomb, but manages to get everyone out in time, with Seras saying “I don’t want to sacrifice anymore people.”
At the Round Table conference, held the following morning, Integra and the rest of the attendees determine how best to handle the growing number of freak vampires and resultant leaks to the media. Outside, Luke and Jan arrive, executing the gate guard and ramming a bus full of ghouls through the main gates and into the central part of the mansion. The Round Table members grow increasingly tense as the Hellsing troops barely sustain the onslaught of heavily-armored and armed ghouls. As Integra attempts to contact Fargason in the control room, Jan appears near Fargason, and gun shot echoes through Integra’s communicator.
Trivia
-The Round Table conference is a reference to the historical (and possibly fictional character of) King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table, which was a gathering of the King’s most trusted knights, where they would evaluate various issues within the kingdom. Round Table conferences are held in actuality, such as the Round Table of Industrialists or the a Round Table on economics and policies.
-Why did Seras not take the Hallconnen with her? One, it means she’s coming to fully accept this new lifestyle of hers, which means she’d have to accept all the other changes in her life. Two, however, is a more practical reason, in that, in the small warehouse which they entered, there was hardly enough room or need for a cannon with high yield explosive shells.
-“Canon” is a reference to certain pieces of religious history and belief that are held to be fact by the majority of the denomination. For more information on the weapons seen in this episode, please reference the bottom of the Hellsing Indepth section titled “Vampire info and Abilities”.
-This episode is based around the Hellsing manga, volume 2, chapters 1&2, titled “Dead Zone.” In addition to those events, any scene with the Valentine brothers that takes place before their walk towards Hellsing is entirely new material, and gives you an idea of the various vices of violence and passion they indulge in. This can be paralleled, to some extent, with Integra’s cigars and Alucard & Seras’ vampiric blood lust, as, irrelevant if demon or human, everyone has a vice.
-Luke and Jan Valentine share an interesting relationship, as though they are clearly not brothers, they seem to care for each other on one bizarre level or another. Even in absolute darkness people manage to form relationships, and the fact that vampirism does nothing to destroy this relationship is another fold in the theme of blurring the line between humans and demons.
-This episode appears on the Volume 2 DVD, titled "Blood Brothers," of Geneon’s release of Hellsing.
