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A review by blubonby
Hellsing, Vol. 01 by Kohta Hirano
adventurous
fast-paced
started off kinda cool but the side story is genuinely terrible, and it’s put me off.
The anti-Palestinian message and Islamophobia made me feel sick. The Palestinian muslims are referred to as the “Anti-Jewish Islamic extremists” who have taken priests and nuns captive from a relief centre in a Palestinian refugee camp, for no reason other than money.
“If we can get the money and kill all of you infidels I’ve no doubt Allah will rejoice!!” Is a genuine quote from one of the muslim characters in this, which is fucking disgusting and a horrible representation of Islam and muslims.
This same character also use the term “Allah Akbar” as he’s preparing to kill a christian character, which is again, fucking disgusting and shows absolutely a complete lack of understanding of what that phrase actually means.
Oh, let’s not forget that the christian characters refer to the muslims as heathens and pagans.
Also this side story has the tired trope of a person with DID has two “personalities” one which is “so gentle she wouldn’t hurt a fly” and the other is referred to as a “berserker” where she’s super powerful and just kills everyone. Gross.
I do get that it was written a while ago, I believe around the time when Islamophobia was at an all time high, and that the understanding of DID has changed greatly over time and this, even to this day, is a popular misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the disorder, but it was still very unpleasant to read. Adding in that the extra chapter isn’t very long, or seemingly important to the overall story, almost makes it worse because it was completely unnecessary to write in.
The anti-Palestinian message and Islamophobia made me feel sick. The Palestinian muslims are referred to as the “Anti-Jewish Islamic extremists” who have taken priests and nuns captive from a relief centre in a Palestinian refugee camp, for no reason other than money.
“If we can get the money and kill all of you infidels I’ve no doubt Allah will rejoice!!” Is a genuine quote from one of the muslim characters in this, which is fucking disgusting and a horrible representation of Islam and muslims.
This same character also use the term “Allah Akbar” as he’s preparing to kill a christian character, which is again, fucking disgusting and shows absolutely a complete lack of understanding of what that phrase actually means.
Oh, let’s not forget that the christian characters refer to the muslims as heathens and pagans.
Also this side story has the tired trope of a person with DID has two “personalities” one which is “so gentle she wouldn’t hurt a fly” and the other is referred to as a “berserker” where she’s super powerful and just kills everyone. Gross.
I do get that it was written a while ago, I believe around the time when Islamophobia was at an all time high, and that the understanding of DID has changed greatly over time and this, even to this day, is a popular misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the disorder, but it was still very unpleasant to read. Adding in that the extra chapter isn’t very long, or seemingly important to the overall story, almost makes it worse because it was completely unnecessary to write in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gun violence, Islamophobia, and Violence