Oliver’s idle musing: Hellsing

[May have the slightest spoilers unless you have seen up to either episode 10 of the anime or episode 2 of the OVA, though hopefully nothing major]

Holy crap, this blog needs updating. Can’t believe I completely forgot about it; you’d have thought a passing thought would have come sooner rather than later. Well, better late than never and all that.

So, recently, I’ve been getting into the ‘Hellsing’ fandom, and I had a few thoughts turning around in my head, and while I would usually just bother Max about them (whom I’ve been showing the OVA and he seems quite taken by it, though it’s hard not be swayed by the amazingly badass Alucard), I’ve decided to write my thoughts down and bother you, the good populace of the internet, with them instead. Aren’t you a lucky bunch?  }:D

To start with, I discovered the whole Hellsing franchise years before I actually sat down to watch it (which is now quite a few weeks ago). I used to be quite taken by mythological monsters, and I remember it being odd how frequently a huge red duster wearing guy with unnerving eyes and a grin kept showing up when vampires were related to my searches on the internet. It looked interesting, but at that time didn’t look like something I would enjoy, since I was something of lightweight when it came to violence and/or dark themes. However, now we’re a few years down the line, it’s a total 180: when I rediscovered it, the no-hold violence and the dark themes were what actually intrigued me enough to start hunting down the episodes (haven’t seen the manga yet, though I am thinking about it).

…Maybe helped along by discovering images of a cute girl that wielded a gun nearly twice her size *cough cough*.

In all seriousness though, I do believe Seras is what really hooked me into the series. You see, I started off by watching the original anime series, and moving onto the OVA later. For those who weren’t aware, Seras’ development from human to vampire is given a little more foreground importance in the anime, and it is a little bit heart wrenching to watch a clearly innocent person battling with herself for the sake of doing what she thinks is right, like how long she struggles with simply drinking blood. And her attempts at retaining her humanity, and almost reluctance to act like a vampire, is the perfect contrast to Alucard who is so proud of his vampiric standing he will berate others who aren’t acting like a good vampire should. Not only that, but I think she is a genuinely well rounded character* who goes through what is a very real (for that situation) character arch. Even though she struggles with the idea of losing what made her human, it is still clear she has a strong sense of duty: she has been given a second chance to protect others from what she went through, and she won’t let it go easily. But as she begins to lose control, and let the raging blood-hunting monster closer to the surface, as shown by her completely berserk moment when the Valentine brothers attack, her exchange of power for the creature within is not a concept she wants to deal with.

That’s not to say I don’t like the OVA Seras. They really ramped up her level of badass in that, and it is still impressive to see her wield a freakin’ sniper rifle with the same amount of fluidity one wields a normal rifle (and that’s not touching on her god damn anti-fu**ing-planet gun). I also really enjoy the oddly fitting humour she can put into the episodes: you wouldn’t think you could fit in that much comedy into a show that regularly has people’s limbs and heads being torn off without it seeming really phoned in (or maybe you’d think they’d be idiots not to?), but she somehow makes it work. I think it’s mostly because it only ever really concerns her and maybe one extra to back her up (like Walter, when he’s trying to say she needs to sleep in a coffin while simultaneously taking a cautious step back): it’s kind of hard not feel amused and sympathetic to this person who is so clearly out of her depth, like when she wakes up in the  Hellsing base for the first time and see’s Alucard grinning at her, and she reacts exactly just as you would expect. The only thing I would raise a slight brow at, and maybe why I still half prefer the anime version of Seras, is that the fan service is turned just a smidgen too high?

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate some scenes as much as the next guy, but at times I begin to wonder if it gets a little gratuitous at times. For example, when the Valentine brothers are attacking the base, she and Walter have to get down from a vent after they crawled through it to avoid the roving death squad in the corridor, and she ends up landing rear first on one of the ‘round-table’ member’s face. It can come across as just a little too much some times, although I think that’s the point as well, since I’m pretty sure a lot of those types of the scenes are made more for the comedy then any actual titillation. Thinking back on it, seeing Walter flip like a damned ninja out of the vent after she had fallen in like a klutz was pretty hilarious, so that might have been the intention.

And just as a final thought before I sign off: Alucard. Christ alive, I swear that he has one of the most badass designs a character could ask for, and he more than earns it. Everything about his character, from his insanely un-killable body to his guns that shoot bullets made of melted down blessed crosses, everything about his character comes off as effortlessly badass. This is almost odd coming from me, since I usually don’t like the idea of near invincible protagonist, since it sort of kills the tension when you know a character can’t be killed. But everything about him is handled so well: not only does he keep us interested since he’s got more tricks up his sleeve to murder and maim then an actual magician has tricks, but it is half established during the Anderson fight that he can be killed, or at least threatened, and I think this makes him an object of morbid curiosity. A part of us begins to wonder just how much he can take before he is genuinely at threat. Not only that, but his attitude makes him an immense joy to watch, grinning like a mad man as he blasts the living dead into bits, and acting like an aloof bastard to everyone by phasing through walls when nothing serious is happening and/or there’s no threat to anyone’s life. AND (on top of all that) is his increasingly intriguing relationship to the others: is Seras really just a whimsy of sport? To see if he could raise another vampire, having grown bored of simply killing every vampire he encountered for so long? Did he genuinely want to take another under his wing and train her in his ways? If so, why?

And CHRIST, I could write a whole essay on the complex relationship he has with Integra, but I understand that I’ve used plenty of your time already, so I think I’ll end it here.

Well, this was the first of what I’m dubbing as “Oliver’s idle musing,” which are primarily going to be about…well, my musings. Just thoughts and ideas that I want to put to paper because it helps me think, and I hope that you can enjoy reading my odd little thoughts and wonderings as much as I enjoy making them.

*Please refrain from making jokes about her character’s “roundness.”

(Note: Beware spoilers, all thee that enter here)
Welp, just watched the end of Merlin, and I have to say, it was pretty fantastic.

I have to give kudos to the writers of the series; they not only wrapped everything up neatly, but also satisfyingly, and in a pretty clever way. I liked the way they got the Lady of the Lake in what were probably the last few minutes, which was a nice touch, and that gave the dragon his last few moments, and the implication that Merlin would live on. But what has to be the greatest aspect of a well written ending is the fact they were brave enough to kill a few characters off. I know that sounds horrible, but bear with me.

It basically translates that this is indeed the end. When characters start dying, it means that the writers can no longer use them without a lot of pre-planning, or the rather risky idea of bringing them back from the dead (or have them come back as ghosts, as Uther reminds us…). And hence, it means (if the writers and creators were smart about it) that they got everything they could out of the character, and when lots of characters start dying it means they’ve done all they can with the series. I mean, look at the body count: the main villainess Morgana, her main boy (Mordred), Gwaine, and the implication that the Dragon wasn’t long for this world, all lead up to quite a few notable characters ending up dead. But it also means that the writers know that they have to leave it there. I’ve been told that the show’s creators are (wisely) going to leave it there, and I support that notion. If a series drags on too long, it can start to deteriorate in quality, so I agree that we should let the series end here, with a bang on the top of their game.

I could go on about all the things I liked and loved about the show (great characterization, smart writing, the good balance of humor to seriousness), but I don’t need to. The things I like are likely the things you like, and I believe that we can all agree that we have had the fortune to watch a great series. I’ll keep a look out for whatever the show’s creators make next eagerly, but I will always remember this series fondly.

Overall, a great ending, to really great show.

Have a good morning, noon or night, at whatever time you happen to be reading these words on whatever device!! (And a happy new year!! d^_^b)

…Well, ahem, erm…
I have been gone for quite a long time, haven’t I? I last updated… a really, really, REALLY long time ago.
I’d better explain myself, shouldn’t I?
Here’s the short version: I’ve just started college, and I want to try and devout time and energy into actually getting good grades as to make the best out of my mine going to college.
Alongside that, my brother and I got a impressive capture card for our birthday, and I’m really looking forward to truly start getting some game commentary and play through footage on our YouTube channel (MrBaddamobs), so a bit of our time has been going towards that.
Add that to the fact I get really easily distracted (for example I’ve re-discovered Oliver and Company, a animated film I highly recommend, and stayed up late just thinking about some shorts I could write on a COLLEGE NIGHT) and the general laziness and you have very unloved tumblr account.

But let’s talk for what I plan to do with this little corner of the internet for now, as I’m sure you don’t want to read a page of junk that I’ve been doing.
Basically, I plan to maybe update blog wise maybe a little bit, but that will fall into a secondary concern, as my main concern will be trying (in-between college work and getting grips with the capture card) to write more, and actually getting stuff posted on this tumblr. And if tumblr isn’t enough I’m beginning to consider getting a fanfiction.net account and posting some stuff on there (once I have something to actually post).

Anyway, that’s what has been happening, and what will hopefully come to furition, and I look forward to hopefully hearing from all real soon d(^_^)b
Have a good morning, noon or night, at whatever time you happen to be reading these words on whatever device!!

Hello all!
Right, I’ll get straight to the heart of the matter. I’ve been hardly updating because GCSE’s are killing me here. Gotta work hard and get the grades for entry into the college and what not, so updates will be slow for probably quite some time. Luckily, there is also a big break coming up as well in a little while, so I’ll have a lot more time to put my thoughts on the computer, so there will be more posts coming!
(… Also, Diablo 3 has been more then slightly addicting…)
Anyway, I hope you have a good morning, noon or night, and I’ll see you all later! d^_^b
- Oliver.

For those who don’t know (aka everyone since I didn’t actually tell anyone o_0’’’) I had set myself a sort of mini-challenge regarding the music on my IPod. Because I like to listen to some music while I brush my teeth every night (don’t listen to any during the morning- way too tired for that), I am forever clicking shuffle and randomising the music. Last Friday/Thursday, a thought struck me, that there will probably never be an instance where I can listen to every song in one sitting. Then I thought ‘it doesn’t really need to be in one sitting, just keep the current shuffled songs’.
So I set myself a challenge: listen to every song on my IPod within a single week, from the start of Monday, to the end of Sunday.
Some of you are probably scoffing, mostly because you probably listen to a heck lot more music then I do. But for me, this is quite a small achievement, considering I don’t usually listen to my music during the day, especially not all of it.
It was quite an enjoyable experience, and I’m glad I did it. Even if playing Syndicate while Total Eclipse of the Heart plays in my ears doesn’t really seem like the most fitting idea (despite the fact it actually did fit o_e). There were some really fitting moments, especially when Holding Out for a Hero came on when the whole Syndicate (as you can tell, I really like that game ^_^) was charging into a room, and we cleared the whole thing like real professionals; it was bloody brilliant!

So, if you have a similar music playing device, I suggest that you try the challenge as well, it is most enjoyable! Then again, what is a challenge for me might be what everyone else does normally o-o.
In any case, I hope you have a good morning, noon or night, and I’ll see you all later! d^_^b

P.S. The final song on the shuffle was The Ballad Of The Beaconsfield by Foo Fighters. Sort of wish it had been something more inspirational, but still, I’m not complaining. Foo Fighters can truly play a lyric less balled when they want to.       

So, I was part of a small trip to the magistrate’s court today, and I will admit, I didn’t know exactly what I should expect. I had imagined a sort of dumbed down replica of the what I had seen of the crown court from TV (though that really isn’t a perfectly reliable source…), but I was actually pleasantly surprised.
The magistrates court is actually quite efficiently run, where everything has to be in check and everyone knows their station and duty. In the court we observed, we saw them burn through several cases in no time at all, most of the while I was quickly and feverishly writing down notes, and apparently I was the only one who wrote three pages of notes, a fact I like to attribute to my messily large hand writing when I write quickly. Not sure if I’m proud or not…
The speed and care with which they all took to their job impressed me, and (to me at least) the verdict always came out more or less fair, and was often delivered quickly and to the point.
Later, on the bus ride back to school, I was musing on it on what we had seen, and a reassuring thought came to me. Yes, there are glitches in some parts of the system, and sometimes we’ll never agree on whether someone is guilty or not, but for the most part we have an actually good system.
Think about places in the world where justice is not delivered as fairly, or back to times where some had no fair justice for the innocent at all (e.g. the Jews in Germany during Hitler’s reign); in comparison to what we could have, we have it pretty good here in merry old England.
Now, to clarify, I’m not saying the system is perfect (a case where my brother was assaulted, and the criminal who lives next door was never charged properly comes to mind), but things could be a lot worse than they actually are, and I’m happy to live in such a place. 

Just some food for thought for all you good people of the Internet, this has been your writer Oliver, and I hope you all have a good day, noon, or night. :) 
P.S. First real post! Hurray! But do point any problems, should they occur. 
Thanks,
- Oliver 

Hello people of the Internet!
OK, so after talking about it a lot, I finally decided to get this tumblr account. I’ll mostly be using it as a blog of a sorts, but it will also be where I post some of my written work (mostly just fan-fiction/practice for my actual writing, which I’ll be keeping largely to myself).
Not much else to say, but here’s to a good start, and hopefully we can all enjoy ourselves.
Your’s eagerly looking forward to using this account,
Oliver :)