Ranked #505

Hellsing

Hellsing is my favorite manga of all time. It combines a fun story, memorable characters, quirky humor, stylish art, and unrelenting gore and brutality all into one little paper back graphic novel.
So naturally, you'd think that the manga would make an awesome anime. Well, Chiaki J. Konaka and Umanosuke Iida thought so too and took it upon themselves to make an anime based off the popular series. In many ways, they succeeded. But they also failed...

The anime was released in 2001, long before the manga series would be complete. So they were forced to come up with their own story, completely unrelated to the manga (save for a few key plot points). This potentially is a pretty cool idea and allows room for originality, but the story in the anime is very hit and miss. There were times I was really enjoying the series and other times that I was flat out bored. I felt that the story just dragged and was often times pointless.
The story also lacks a key element that makes Hellsing so great, and that's the humor. This anime takes itself very seriously, but it loses heart doing so.
I've heard many times from fellow fans that the anime is just poor a fanfiction, and I can't say I disagree.

The animation is just plain ugly, even by TV anime standards. The characters are all poorly drawn, the colors are bland and ugly, and animation is smooth but suffers from choppiness. Visually, this is a lifeless anime. And that's all I can really say about it.

The soundtrack and voice acting is the anime's highlight. The soundtrack is nothing short of wonderful. The jazz tracks really set you in the mood for the series and I'd go as far as saying that the actual album is worth they buy. The voice acting was also very good. Crispin Freeman, K. T. Gray, Victoria Harwood, Steven Brand, Ralph Lister, and the rest of the cast did such an excellent job voicing their characters.

All the characters themselves were great, but the one character that truly stands out in the series is Seras. Her character is really fleshed out and you got to know her alot more then you did in the manga. Alucard was great, but he really becomes more of a prop in the background then anything else. The shows villain 'Incognito' was just... blah. He was kinda cool, but can't hold a candle to the manga's villain 'The Major'.

Overall, this is just simply an okay anime. Nothing rememberable or even exciting. It's not bad really, but it isn't great either. And to be perfectly blunt, this fails to live up to Kouta Hirano's vision. In recent years, they've rebooted the series with 'Hellsing Ultimate', an OVA series that is almost panel by panel like the manga's. I highly recommend you go see the OVA's, those did everything that the TV series couldn't.
If you consider yourself a Hellsing fan, then by all means go see this series. But if you're just entering the Hellsing universe, then I recommend you stay clear of this and go straight onto 'Hellsing Ultimate'. read more

Story - 6

Hellsing could have done so much more with the material it was working with. Not to say that the story was bad, far from it, but it failed to elaborate and strengthen its plotline enough to really be immersed into it. There was even a setup for a huge conflict between the vatican and the Hellsing corp., that was reduced to almost nothing. I suppose with only 13 episodes you can only expect so much. The story score for Hellsing is a 6.

Art - 8

The art in hellsing is just dark enough just red enough to give it a very vampiric feel. Considering this is an anime about vampires I'd say thats a good thing. The characters have been drawn well enough to match their personalitlies as well. You could tell that the character would act the way they do almost on appearance. While this might come across as being cookie cutter to some, I think it is an important aspect. The artwork for Hellsing is an 8

Sound - 6

I did not like either the opening nor the ending themes for Hellsing. While the opening might fit the mood of the anime for some, the ending totally fails. It doesn't fit the anime either in lyrics or sound at all. Rest of the soundtrack was nothing to get excited over.

Character - 7

There are a few very cool characters in this anime. Alucard is pretty much the trump of the anime being by far the most interesting character. More interesting in fact then the main character who is nothing but dull. Actually almost all the side characters are more interesting then her... Maybe im being a bit too harsh but she never once in the anime does anything that is deserving of the role of main character.

Enjoyment - 7

Short but interesting, I was able to make it through the whole anime even without an adequate plotline. It had enough action and blood to keep my eyes fixed and even a certain amount of mystery to toy with my brain a little, but still far from the best level.

Overall - 7

I tried not to give this rating based on length, but it is pretty hard not to. Hellsing left too much uncovered, no room for a decent plot, characters that hardly developed, and frankly satisfied only the need to see a little blood and action. There's no better anime out there for people who want to spend a mere 5 hours finishing an anime, and just want to get right to the blood and sweat. read more