I think Hellsing was the first manga I discussed on this blog. Of course, at that time it might have been the only manga I was buying that was still releasing new volumes. Can't remember if I was buying Yotsuba! yet or not.
So, Hellsing. Vampires exist, and the UK is protected by the Hellsing Organization, currently led by Integra Hellsing. Their primary weapon is Alucard, an insanely powerful vampire who proceeds to kill a shitload of vampires, ghouls, and various lackeys over the course of 10 volumes. Hellsing finds itself up against a remnant of Nazi Germany, an entire battalion of SS vampires, 1000 strong, led by the mysterious "Major", that invade London with two goals: Have themselves a war, and kill Alucard.
Hirano loves drawing over-the-top violence. Limbs blown off with guns, or the top of someone's head sliced clean off. One vampires swallows a soldier's eyes and the bridge of his nose in a single bite. Seras Victoria, the "police girl" Alucard turns into a vampire in Volume 1, slams an enemy's face against the wall, then drags them the length of the hall until their head is almost entirely gone.
Alucard's ideal for all this, not just because he's presented as so powerful he can cleave another vampire's arm lengthwise with his own, but because he's so powerful he can take what seems an obscene amount of damage. And he's presented as so aware of his power that he will stand there and let a bunch of poor, clueless Brazilian SWAT teams spend literal pages shooting him, until the top of his head is Swiss Cheese and ribs are showing, then casually raise his gun and vaporize one of their skulls.
The longer the series goes, the more Hirano pulls back the curtain on Alucard. He seems quite gleeful at being a vampire at first, but there's a weight to it. Alucard wants a challenge, but more than that, he wants a challenge from a human. I think because there's a will or madness to humans that will drive them forward to challenge a monster against all odds. Despite their mortality, despite their limited strength. It's why he considers Father Anderson, the vampire exterminator of the Vatican's Section XIII, his rival. He's an enhanced human, but at the end of the day, he's human and he won't withdraw.
And the Major emphasizes that he is still human, that he wouldn't become a vampire no matter what, because it dilutes who he is. Of course, the Major is still a monster, even if he's not a vampire. He's a monster because, at the end of the day, he's entirely indifferent to the loss of life. It's all just a chance to fight a war, to destroy Alucard. His battalion, the ones who stuck with him for decades, the over 3 million inhabitants of the UK killed in his invasion, none of it is anything beyond a means to an end. His currency is still blood. He just spills it, rather than drinking it.
I'm not sure if Hirano is saying Alucard regrets becoming a vampire, because if so, why turn Seras? He didn't have to, he says she chose it, and he gives her a lot of crap about her reluctance to drink blood. To cross that threshold and accept what she's become. Maybe the point isn't whether he regrets it, but that he accepts he made his decision and Seras needs to do likewise. I'd think maybe he regrets the sort of vampire he's been, a true glutton, which contrasts with Seras, who only drank blood when someone freely offered it, and only drained one person entirely.
But no, he seemed to revel in it, that he could take so much, just as he reveled in acting as a weapon that Integra must "fire". He could just kill all their enemies, but he always makes her order him to it. It could be seen as deference, the way he kneels to her in the page above, but it also feels like he enjoys making her take responsibility for all the lives he's about to take. The brutality he will inflict.
Alucard's kind of a dick, is what I'm saying.
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