Hellsing: The Dawn

I'm going to go against the grain here: in its current form, 'The Dawn' was unneeded and contributed too little to the main story to warrant existing. It's targeted towards those who've watched or are watching the Ultimate OVA, as this will make very little sense on its own, but even then it provides very little that we haven't seen in the parent story already.

There are 3 roughly 10 minute-long episodes to showcase a part of Walter and Alucard's past during WWII, when they fought side by side against vampires created by the Major and his cohort. Which I guess happens off-screen, since the only ... battle that happens is like half a battle between Walter and the Captain, which is cut off right when it gets interesting. But, fortunately, we get scenes of the Major eating, some other minor characters whose names I can't remember arguing over getting drunk, and a third of the final episode dedicated to a trailer for another anime. Time and money well spent, indeed.

The art and sound are decent. Lots of panning shots, though most stills showing Walter in action, breaking through windows and using his wires, were appropriately cool. The sound is what you'd expect from the new Hellsing - orchestral and choral pieces - but nothing that stands out. The best was the song from the trailer for 'Drifters', but...should I even count that as part of 'The Dawn'? Probably not.

Characters? Don't learn anything new about them that we didn't know from the OVA already, except that Walter was a kid once. The Major is himself, Doc is himself, the Captain is silent and deadly as always (preferable to the Major's rambling, at least), Walter is entertaining but predictable, and the other two who were arguing...who even cares.

Overall, I wish I hadn't bothered with this and would like my ~30 minutes back, please.

Story: 5 | Art: 7 | Sound: 7 | Characters: 6 | Enjoyment: 3 | Overall: 4/10