Kill on Sight!! Leave Your Head Behind!! I went to the Kouta Hirano Grand Exhibition.

On June 4th, I went to the Kouta Hirano Grand Exhibition held at the Namba Parks Museum.
Speaking of Kouta Hirano, his two representative works are "HELLSING" and "DRIFTERS".
At this grand exhibition, you can see precious original drawings, dioramas, and animation footage from these two works.
To describe my impression in one word, it was overwhelming power.
It was overwhelming, aesthetic, fantastic, decadent, and wild.
*Contains spoilers

Alucard, the protagonist of HELLSING. A waste disposal specialist with overwhelming combat power.
HELLSING is an organization established to protect the British Empire from demons and monsters.
He, Alucard, is its sole and strongest fighting force.
In the anime, Alucard was voiced by Joji Nakata.
That eeriness is unique to Joji Nakata.

Two other factions appear in HELLSING. Iscariot, the protector of all Catholics.

Father Anderson, the strongest heretic inquisitor of the Iscariot Organization. In the anime, he was brilliantly played by the late Nachi Nozawa.

The other is Millennium, which is once again waging war on the world. Its true form is the last battalion of the former Nazi Third Reich.

These three factions fight in a chaotic struggle reminiscent of the Three Kingdoms period.
A three-way battle between the strongest, the most terrifying, and the most insane unfolds. In the midst of that battle, London, the city of fog, is reduced to ashes.
There is also a rumor that Kouta Hirano turned London into a sea of fire in the story because he was treated poorly when he went to London for research.

There is also the unique dialogue style of Kouta Hirano's works. The archaic lines are something only found in Kouta Hirano's works.

In Kouta Hirano's works, there are very rare scenes that make you feel affection for humans.
The immortal Alucard has an audience with the Queen of England before the final battle. It is only a silhouette, but when it comes to the Queen, it is that person, isn't it? And Alucard says to the elderly Queen: You are most beautiful in the present.
Alucard is a monster, as everyone knows.
He is a monster that defeats monsters.
That is precisely why he says that humans, who live limited lives, are beautiful and precious.
And in the end, Alucard wishes to be defeated by a human.
However, Alucard shows no mercy to those who have abandoned humanity and become creatures.

He releases the tens of thousands of monsters within him to annihilate the enemy. And finally, after burying the two factions, Alucard disappears into the darkness.

Another charm of Kouta Hirano's characters is, quite simply, glasses and large breasts.
The representative for glasses is Integra, leader of the Hellsing Organization. In the anime, she was played by Yoshiko Sakakibara. Her strong-willed and noble performance was nothing short of masterful.
The representative for large breasts is the policewoman Seras.
She is an unfortunate woman who becomes a vampire and a subordinate of Alucard out of a desperate desire not to die.

The sight of Seras absorbing the mercenary Bernadotte and his men in the end to fight is truly a masterpiece.
Hellsing is a manga that gives you goosebumps the more you read it; it can truly be called a bizarre book.

Another work is Drifters.
Drifters means travelers or wanderers. The group from 'Hachiji Dayo! Zen'in Shugo' also gets its name from this meaning.
When you learn that, you realize it has a pretty cool meaning.

During the retreat of the Shimazu at Sekigahara, a severely wounded Shimazu Toyohisa is summoned to another world.
That's right.
That is exactly it.
Believe it or not, 'Drifters' is Kouta Hirano's version of an isekai story.
In that other world, Toyohisa meets the master archer Nasu no Yoichi and the Sixth Demon King Oda Nobunaga.

Toyohisa ends up fighting against a mysterious force called the Ends alongside Nasu no Yoichi and Oda Nobunaga in the other world.

The one leading the Ends is a figure called the Black King.
He gathers orcs, goblins, dragons, and others in the other world to form an army and fight against humans.
This figure, the Black King, is said by some to be Christ, or perhaps his disciple Judas.
The Black King creates wheat and water out of nothing. That miraculous ability is the same as the one once used by the Savior.
The Black King despaired of humanity and became an ally of the monsters. If the true identity of the Black King is Judas Iscariot, it is a point that connects to Hellsing.

The Ends side includes Toshizo Hijikata, Joan of Arc, Gilles de Rais, Anastasia, Rasputin, Mitsuhide Akechi, and Yoshitsune Minamoto. I feel like many of these figures met somewhat tragic ends.
The battle between Toshizo Hijikata, who hates the Satsuma, and Toyohisa Shimazu, which transcends time, space, and history, is a heart-pounding development.

The Drifters side includes Toyohisa Shimazu, Yoichi Nasu, Nobunaga Oda, Naoshi Kanno, Tamon Yamaguchi, Hannibal, and Scipio. The Drifters side has a somewhat bright image, or perhaps a wild, unconventional feel.
The eras also range widely, from the BC era to the early 20th century.

The idea of heroes from different eras clashing in battle might be a genre similar to Fate. However, there is something like a Kouta Hirano flair to each of them.
Leave your head behind!!
Lines like 'chiyu' are far from tragic.

A hero who built the Orte Empire in a single generation. It is clearly Adolf Hitler. This kind of sensibility would likely be impossible in the West.

Drifters has not yet concluded. It can be called an unfinished masterpiece.
It has also been adapted into an anime, and Toyohisa Shimazu is played by Yuichi Nakamura. It is a must-see because you can hear the Satsuma dialect in Yuichi Nakamura's voice.

Of course, a big-breasted character with glasses also appears in 'Drifters'. It is Olminu of the Octobrist Organization, also known as Oppai-minu. Olminu is a pitiful character who is mainly groped by Nobunaga Oda.

Kohta Hirano's works, such as "HELLSING" and "DRIFTERS," feature fast-paced storytelling despite their complex plots, and are filled with highly distinctive characters. They are the kind of works that, once you fall into them, you can never escape.
If you haven't read them yet, please give them a try.
If you have read them before, please try reading them again.
You will encounter a new Alucard and Toyohisa Shimazu. Hirano's works have a charm that makes you want to read them over and over again. And you will surely become captivated by Kohta Hirano's characters.