Ranked #32

Hellsing Ultimate

I just finished watching the third installment of the long awaited Hellsing Ultimate OVA series. In a nutshell, Hellsing is about vampires. And if you're thinking, "Oh, this is going to be like Blood+, Vampire Hunter, Black Blood Brothers, etcetera"... you're very, very wrong.

This is exactly the kind of anime that can keep you panting for the next episode. A very well knit product it encompasses intrigue, betrayal, conspiracy, gore, sarcastic humor and plenty of ass-kicking action, John Woo vampire style.

If you enjoyed the mediocre 13 episode TV series, you're in for a glamorous treat with the OVAs. The OVA stays very true to the manga, almost panel for panel, much like 'Monster' in that respect. Each installment covers the incidents of one volume of work (by the way, I highly recommend the manga as well) and is a visual spectacle. The voice acting (done by the same people who did the TV series) is quite good and even the English dub is fairly commendable. The characters are much more polished and darkly drawn than the TV series too. The music is as good as what we were treated to in the TV series with a mix of eerie gothic/baroque and electronica.

All in all, one of the best animated series I've seen. Highly recommended.

Warning: If you're quesy about blood and violence, I suggest you steer clear, because this series is a cornucopia of gore. read more

Hellsing Ultimate is not Hellsing TV. Better/worse is for the reader to decide, but the two series have completely different feels.

Story:
Hellsing Ultimate follows the interplay between the Vampire hunting Hellsing organization and the monsters that it pursues. Hellsing's primary tool of destruction is the vampire Alucard (Dracula backwards) and his servant the Draculina Seras Victoria. The story progresses throughout the 40 minute episodes at breakneck pace, moving right from one conflict to setting up the next. If you're the type who digs that kind of non-stop bad-ass action, you'll love the OVAs. That said, because it all moves so fast, delving into the really intriguing characters of the Hellsing universe had to be put to the wayside. Furthermore, the concepts in the story aren't entirely novel, and the plot doesn't build the way that a really well-told anime's does. Yet, in the end there's nothing to really complain about. The story is the sequence of fights tied together. The plot is coherent, just not fully explored.

Art:
The animation in this series is wonderfully executed, especially when compared to its precursor Hellsing TV. The jerky, darkly animated fights, twisted expressions, and horrific manifestations of evil make the non-stop action that much more exciting. The art really captures the feel of the Hellsing universe wonderfully.

Sound:
Sound effects in Hellsing Ultimate is executed superbly, the bass of the gunfire is first class, voice acting and other sound effects meet the same standard of excellence set by the TV series (voice actors are the same). That said, I think that the soundtrack leaves something to be desired, possibly because there wasn't much room for lengthy overtures in a series without any pauses.

Character:
The lack of development of the great characters in the Hellsing universe is my biggest disappointment in Hellsing Ultimate. Though Alucard gets his role in the spotlight as the incredibly powerful vampire that he is, the consistency and attractiveness of Integra and especially Seras is lost in the series, which is a huge shame, especially since Seras' understanding of what it means to be a vampire is my favourite thing about Hellsing. However, if you judge characters' quality by how much butt they kick, then Alucard will not disappoint.

Enjoyment:
I liked Hellsing Ultimate a lot, but I think I would have really disliked it had I not already seen Hellsing TV previously. The TV series acquaints you with the universe and characters more eloquently than the OVA does. The OVA, on the other hand, provides the story continuity that you long for when watching the TV series. I think that for full enjoyment, Hellsing Ultimate should follow Hellsing TV, with a bit of distance in between the two so it doesn't feel like you're rewatching a trimmed version of the TV series in the first two episodes of the OVA, because they are anything but that.

Overall:
Hellsing Ultimate is an action anime about a vampire hunting other vampires. The universe that it explores is rich and rewarding to experience, inhabited by a swath of remarkable characters. In order to appreciate those characters fully, however, I recommend first watching Hellsing TV and then: dissatisfied with the story presented there, come to Hellsing Ultimate for the real thing. Hellsing TV is about what it means to discover and possess power; Hellsing Ultimate is the telling of the story of that power. read more

Hellsing Ultimate is by far one of my favorite animes I've seen. It has so much to offer and keeps you on the edge of the seat. Hellsing Ultimate is the OVA based off the 13 episode tv series but you don't really need to see the tv series to understand this which is one thing I like about it.

The story is full of action with what seems like constant gun draws and fighting and I like that. Now if you have seen the tv series before this you will notice that this goes a bit faster than the tv series so that may or may not annoy you. For me it seemed more like a recap at the beginning of an episode but technically it's not. Also this time around they added some humor, mostly with Seras delivering the joke and I thought it was nice to have a little bit of humor after a bunch of shooting. The story is kind of hard to review since there is so much action but I promise you it's there.

The art style of this impressed me so much. I love the colors and the way things flow. I'm even more pleased with the way Seras was drawn in this since I thought she was poorly drawn in the tv series. The way the characters are drawn really show their personality and who they are. So yes I am very pleased with the art style.

Now as for sound, I watched the first 3 episodes in dub and the 4th one in sub so I'm going to comment more on the dub. I'm only pleased with 1 of the dubbed voices. Alucard's. Crispin Freeman does a fabulous job as Alucard and upon hearing his other work as Kyon in Haruhi and Itachi in Naruto, I was very amazed and suprised by how well he potrayed Alucard. All the other character's dubbed voices I didn't like so much. Especially, Anderson's. I wasn't expecting him to speak with an Irish accent after hearing his Japanese voice. XD Now as always, the Japanese voices were very good. And the music, well I can honestly say I don't remember what the music sounded like...but I'm sure it was good.

The characters were awesome. Alucard is my favorite and there are so many reasons as to why he is so cool. But overall, the characters each packed their own punch and I think, delivered it well.

Enjoyment. I indeed enjoyed this anime so much. I love how their was so much action and how it was also somewhat funny. The characters were all great, the art style was wonderful, so yeah, I'm pretty sure I enjoyed this anime. The one thing that I do have to complain about is the 8 month or so wait in between each episode. I mean come on! They can't leave me hanging for that long. At least when the next episode airs, I can sit and enjoy a full hours worth of Hellsing rather than 30 minutes. XD Hellsing Ultimate has so much to offer and more. And considering this to be my first vampire anime, I can walk away with a good impression of vampire animes. Hellsing Ultimate gets a 10. read more

Short and Sweet Review:

Hellsing Ultimate is an breathtaking OVA that deserves a 10/10. There are no needless emotional parts, or extensive plot lead-ups, etc. It is all badass action! In each of the episodes there is a “Boss” battle and that’s all we Hellsing fans need, right?
Alucard taking millions of bullets, and scaring the shit out anybody who dares approach him. 10/10 – better than the TV series.


If you did in fact find this review helpful, I do take value in my “Helpful” rating, so please take a moment of your time to tell me how you liked this review.

Hellsing Ultimate is not very enjoyable series to watch. I really liked Hellsing anime, but this one is just waste of my time. The characters except few are quite boring and/or undeveloped enough. The development of the story is done in a weird way. The action for the sake of action. They spill a lot of blood as if they do not know how else they could attract the viewers... The "dramatic" confrontations of the characters are just silly. The series are not funny (even though at some points they tried their best to make it a bit funny).

The "traditional" villains in the story are acting for their reasons which we would describe as madness.

The art of the anime is not very good either (most of the time) and the same goes for the sound.

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The Hellsing Ultimate OVA is the second anime adaptation of Kouta Hirano's manga, Hellsing. The first was done by Gonzo Studios and was widely panned by the fans, due in large part to huge deviations in story. The folks behind Hellsing Ultimate were likely critics of the older Hellsing series, as one of their main goals has been to stay as close to the source material's story as possible. However, it seems they forgot to have a look at what the Gonzo anime (and of course, the manga) did right - or perhaps, they did indeed look and see a wonderful cast of characters and a variety of interesting themes and decided that those things weren't quite as important as sex and violence.

Hellsing Ultimate's story does indeed follow the Hellsing manga's story very closely, even including frequent references to The Dawn, a Hellsing prequel that is presently incomplete. The problem is that Hellsing's story is definitely not its selling point. The story exists to prop up the themes in the series, and those themes have thus far been downplayed in favour of flashy gunfights and ridiculous amounts of extremely shiny blood. There are a few problems with the manga that translate to problems with the anime, and it's a pity that the Hellsing Ultimate staff decided not to take it upon themselves to close any of the gaping plot holes or remove the more insipid plot arcs.

The art is shiny, it is polished, it is in high colour and of high quality. So why only a 6? The first problem is that they seem to have a very difficult time drawing women. Integra looks decidedly mannish, with shoulders far broader than even the most hardcore 80s shoulderpads could ever hope to accomplish. Seras' shoulders, too, are often far too broad for her body, and her breasts only occasionally resemble breasts rather than alien growths in the chest region. The occasional use of CG is intrusive, poorly blended, and immediately obvious. Consistency errors across the board only worsen these problems, but all of that is nitpicking in comparison to the animation's worst flaw: static movement. The animation is often lacking in any actual animation. Characters rarely move while they speak, backgrounds zoom in and characters zoom out to create the illusion of motion, and the result is scenes that are often frustratingly still. Fight scenes are the obvious exception to the rule, and fight scenes getting the most attention is definitely a reoccuring theme in Hellsing Ultimate.

The sound is decent. The soundtrack pales in comparison to the Gonzo anime, and the OVA has taken it in a different direction. I don't think any of the tracks ever rise above the level of background music, which is fine, seeing as how that's their purpose. All the voice actors from the anime were brought back to reprise their roles in the OVA - on the bright side, that means quality performances from Alucard, Integra, Jan, and Walter. However, it also means having to suffer through Seras' terribly fake English accent.

The characters are rarely focused on in Hellsing Ultimate, which is a shame because they are extremely good characters when given the integrity and attention they deserve. Hellsing Ultimate gives them neither, reducing most to their simplest form: Seras is a timid sexpot, Alucard is "cool" and violent, and Integra is the mannish boss. Integra and Seras definitely bear the brunt of poor characterization, though I'm personally more inclined to attribute their degradation to good old fashioned sexism. Many of Integra's important lines that showcase her strength, determination and competence have been either handed off to unimportant male side-characters or omitted completely. Shots of Seras's breasts (excluding all else) are surprisingly frequent, and there is at least one occasion where, when beset by enemies, she apparently forgets that she is a killer vampire with a gigantic gun until after a horde of zombies have groped her and pried her legs apart. Mixing sex and violence is one thing Hellsing Ultimate has proved adept at, at least where the women in the series are involved. The sexual undertones present in the manga version of a particular female character's death have been amplified almost one hundred fold, and the result is a very disturbing, very deliberate, and of course very drawn-out eroticization of her death.

Character interaction has largely been cut, which is a shame as it is often exceptionally charming as well as necessary to make Hellsing something more than just a bloodbath. Scenes in which the characters do interact are taken almost directly from the manga. Hellsing Ultimate doesn't bother to embellish or elaborate where characters are concerned, again preferring to pump time, energy and money into making each fight scene gorier than the last.

The overall result is, unfortunately, another disappointing Hellsing title. It's fine - perhaps a great deal more than fine - if what attracts you to a series is blood and guts and breasts, but if that's the case then you're probably barely post-pubescent. Otherwise, it's a pretty sorry adaptation of the manga, which, though flawed, has something to offer other than wanton violence. The OVA isn't over yet, but I'm certainly not holding out any hope. read more

Dracula, calling himself Alucard for those with delicate sensibilities, has been "tamed" by the descendants of Abraham Van Hellsing and is tasked with hunting down other vampires. It's 1999 and the Hellsing organization finds itself facing an foe it thought destroyed, the Third Reich's Last Battalion and it's insane leader The Major.
That's the short take, watch it if you want the whole story.

Story: This is not the same as the TV series though you will notice similarities. That's because there were only 2 out of 10 volumes of the manga out when they did the TV series. This OVA will eventually encompass the entire plot of the manga. The original story is a masterpiece, a work of brilliance that took almost 10 years for Kouta Hirano to complete. The story is definately dark and not upbeat, but Hirano's sometimes quirky humor shows through. At the end of OVA 4 Alucard is tearing another vampire to shreds slowly, painfully, and bathing in it's dying blood. You rejoin Alucard at the beginning of the 5th OVA and he's having a bizarre dream where Bruce Willis (yes the actor) is warning him about a hidden threat.
It's that original.

Art: The artwork is actually the one glowing disappointment for me. At times the drawing seems rushed, and they added in some CGI scenes that are also low quality. I will add that most of the poor quality was in the 1st OVA and it gets better.

Sound: The soundtrack is very fitting, being at times ominous and at other times almost quirky and jazzy. What makes this stand out is the fantastic voice acting in the dub (I'm judging this by the dub). All of the characters have excellent and authentic accents, and even Crispin Freeman does credible Eurotrash in a flashback (Eurotrash being that crappy fake transylvanian accent in B-movies).

Character: While the villains of the story are simplistically two-dimensional, the main characters are very complex individuals. Alucard can be a perfect gentleman to the queen one minute, and then tear a SWAT team to shreds later. Sir Integra is unflinching in her duty and has an iron resolve, but is not oblivious to human suffering and feels protective over Seras. Even Seras, who seems simplistic at first, has a tragic past and a will to live that is strong.
You can't understand all about any one character from just one episode, you must see them all to begin to.

Enjoyment: The story is fast moving and very enjoyable to watch. I didn't give it a 10 though because the story lingers over some very graphic violence. Alucard slowly torturing Rip Van Wrinkle and the Millenium's attack on London are grotesque and disturbing.

Overall: More than any anime I've ever seen, this is one I'd like to see made into an American movie. Yeah, they'd butcher it but you know what I mean. This is a visually compelling thriller that doesn't pull any punches. read more

Guns+Vampire; no it's not a Rosario+Vampire episode name, though would be interesting if it was solely on the basis that guns would be present...

Guns+Vampires, no joke those are the two things you can't go 5 minutes without in this OVA well while I'm listing things I could throw in zombies, big guns, Nazis, WWII German weaponry amongst other things. Cliche yes but by no means bad, if you have seen the TV series or read the manga then you know what is going to happen. Having watched the series and reading it, it is by no means repetitive, that is assuming you liked the Hellsing franchise to begin with.

Probably the best OVA yet, art is done fantastically; lead flying everywhere being second only to blood and gore on the screen. Character's expressions are menacing to say the least and The Major is still short and fat.

For those who have not seen this it is not Rosario+Vampire (don't worry I slapped my self for mentioning it in the first place) not Blood+. It is John Rambo meets anime meets London meets vampire meets enemy vampires (minus machine guns[for Rambo]) (also minus traps).

World War II (Nazis or no Nazis) is a great treat for those history loving people here, they also throw a SR-71 in all it's over stylized glory like in the anime/manga. The FG-42 machine guns and the way the Nazi paratroopers (see part 5) are launched reminds me of the original Mobile Suit: Gundam which had me laughing when it intended to be serious.

All the characters or series I have mentioned are in no way comparable to the Hellsing franchise as it stands on it's own. If you haven't seen this hop on to YouTube and see a trailer, or purchase a copy. A must see if you like...
guns
nazis
vampires
london (lol; if you see part 5 you'll see while I laugh at this) read more

If you're looking for a full-fledged fast-paced non-stop adrenaline pumped action anime (comparable to action movies like Die Hard or Crank (not story wise or anything just pace-ish)). Then you can stop looking, this is it, the ultimate action anime. Badass protagonists, lots BIG guns, wannabe super-villains who get their asses kicked, zombies, vampires, nazis (possibly a Indiana Jones homage, lol?) and spice it up with a little humor between the action scenes (are there other kind of scenes in this anime?).

Great, if you're looking for an anime for entertainment and willing to overlook the fact that there is no character progression at all and that the story is horrible. Basicly they skipped the story and extracted (and greatly improved) only the action scenes from Hellsing TV, later on it starts to shoot off though, but the story is still tremendously bad. It completely lacked lacked the criterias for a "superb" or "masterpiece" anime, that is in my educated opinion; thought-provoking, plot- or character-driven anime. But it wasn't trying to be anything like that. This anime is none other than pure entertainment. So shut off your brain and enjoy. read more

The art in these OVA's was beautifully done, aside from the random moments of animation that simply looked like cardboard cut outs, I suppose to increase the sense of humour of those particular scenes. That style simply does not fit in the otherwise phenomenal animation style of these movies.
Of the three that I have seen completely, I can tell you most assuredly what the fourth will be like:
1) The basic story will set up, the Saris Victoria chick will be in some situation where it is supposed to be humourous, and the cut-out animation style shall ensue for at least one scene.
2) We will see a small preview of the particular villain Alucard must face in this movie, and he will say something along the lines of, "Let's see how the famous Hellsing monster deals with MY power! Mwahahaha!"
3) The Hellsing Chick-dude will smoke a cigar and deals with England's problems by sending out Alucard.
4) Alucard goes one-on-one with the 'monster of the week.' When the battle has gone on for a few minutes, Alucard will unleash his full power, which turns him into dogs and bats and eyeballs. The villain will scream and call him a monster or something, then Alucard will retort by saying he is not a worthy opponent for his mightyness.
5) He kills the villain in some bloody fashion, then the blonde chick pops out and is like, "Master!" Then he says she is a moron, and they go on their merry way.
Overall, I would say these movies are beautifully animated, and will give the horror/gore crowd their fix for the week, but the stories were, frankly, predictable and monotonous. read more