Hellsing Ultimate

There are just so many vampire themed animes nowadays. Blood+, Trinity Blood, Vampire Knight, the list goes on and on. Then, once in a long awaited while, you find a gem in the ocean of piss and whale excrement. Oh, this review is going to have alot of vulgarity because I feel that gives off the right vibe for this review. As I was saying, the gem that you find will be Hellsing Ultimate. No, not Hellsing the TV series, that series gave my dog AIDS. In two words I can sum this anime up; Fucking Awesome.

Story

You already know the story. Its about a ... badass vampire named Alucard (thats Dracula backwards) who is a slave of the Hellsing Organization. Hellsing is a organization that hunts and kills unwanted vampires with the help of Alucard. Blah blah blah things are dandy until some fat Neo Nazi major decides to start an army of ghouls/vampires and destroy London and the Hellsing organization. Then, bitches go crazy and shit starts blowing up. If you want a deep story with drama and romance you can fuck off and go watch Clannad while wanking off to your Haruhi Suzumiya poster. You will not find deep meaning or morals from this anime. Think with a simple state of mind. Nazi zombie thingies are invading and a badass vampire (Alucard), his chain-smoking boss (Sir Integra Hellsing) and his big breasted assistant (Seras Victoria) are gonna kill every last one of them. I gotta love the storyline for its simplicity. It reminds me of a videogame. Its so easy to understand and it doesnt fuck with your head. It gets a 10/10.

Characters

I am going to give a big explaination about each character because you should know already I love talking about this anime. Alucard is a vampire, Integra is his master/boss, Seras Victoria is Alucards assistant, and the Neo Nazi major is some fuck up with alot of Nazi bitches. Theres really no character development, although a little bit of Alucards past is revealed and you see how sadistic and twisted he is. Alucard is by far the most evil "hero" I have seen. He enjoys torturing his enemies and rarely kills them before completely stripping them of their dignity. In short, he's more of a villain than a hero due to his lack of morals. Do not expect a compassionate, honorable character. He fucks shit up and he enjoys doing it. Integra is just so hard to read and very little is revealed about her. She is the head of Hellsing and likes to smoke cigars is all you need to know. Seras Victoria is probably the most likeable character. She has double D's and has a very happy go lucky attitude. Although she becomes a bloodthirsty vampire, she retains her sweet personality. Almost nothing is revealed about the Major but he is the character that intrigued me the most. On the surface, he is a polite, but loud man who likes to take command. But on the inside he is a homicidal war maniac with a hard-on for blood and violence. He has many memorable quotes about war. I really hate this guy but I can't help being curious.

Animation and Art

Hellsing Ultimate is an OVA series so expect top grade art and animation quality. The actions and facial movements are executed flawlessly. The fight scenes were very smooth and the blood and gore was portrayed very well. From the explosions to exploding heads, there is not much that can be said. Just great.

Action

In no way, shape, or form is Hellsing Ultimate an anime for children. Every fight scene is amazingly brutal and lots of people end up dying in a myriad of ways. From the first episode I could tell that this anime was over the top. I fucking love it for that. No other anime features crazy ass priests with hundreds of swords killing Nazi zombies. I mean, each fight scene is just so gory and explicit I can't help but get a boner. If you like guns, swords, and mutilated bodies, this anime will not dissapoint. From being impaled by a 8 foot rifle to being decapitated with a karate chop, this amine has every hellish way of dying. Even if you hate everything else, you will definitely love the action.

Overall enjoyment
All these elements are combined into a bloody, well wrapped packaged. Hellsing Ultimate may sound like a half assed, over the top anime, but it follows the rule of cool. The rule of cool is when an anime is just so fucking brutal and awesome that it seems like a masterpiece even with all of its flaws. Do yourself a favor. Stop watching Naruto and making Death Note fan fiction and watch this anime. Grow some balls and watch it already. It will not dissapoint.

My friends,

It has often been said that I like Hellsing Ultimate. My friends, I like Hellsing Ultimate…NO. Friends, I LOVE!! HELLSING ULTIMATE! I love the dark animation, I love the gore, I love the action, I love the charismatic characters, the accents, I love the bombastic plot and dialogue! I love any like-minded quality anime that can exist upon this Earth!

I love watching ghouls, vampires and mercenaries clashing in an all-out VAR within the Victorian hallways of the Hellsing estate. My heart leaps with joy whenever a soldier’s limps are blown off followed by screams of agonizing pain. And there is nothing like ... a British vampire chick dual wielding artillery canons to rain hell upon the mightiest engines of war, UND the feeling that comes when a vampire runs away screaming from Alucard only to be slaughtered in the most gruesome way imaginable... is such... an exquisite feeling. Like when ranks of mercenaries sign up to hunt vampires and ghouls using silver bullets. It moves me deep within my heart to see an entire squadron of innocent SWAT forces butchered mercilessly by none other than the MC in their final moments of shock and despair. The sight of haters being made fun of on the forums for their ridicule subjective criticism is an irresistible pleasure. And there is nothing more arousing then the major’s awe-inspiring war-speech which is still resonating with grandeur in your heads at this very moment. When a band of pitiful resistance fighters make their final stand with nothing but small arms only to have their city destroyed and their guts disemboweled by a thousand paratrooper vampire Nazis, I’m in ecstasy. I love it when my favorite factions are ravaged by enemy Nazi bastards. It’s so sad to see characters I had held onto dearly meet their tragic fates, their friends and comrades ripped in half gasping for their last breaths. I love to be squashed under the heel of the Nazi and Vatican war dogs, the humiliation as my men crawl around like vermin, hiding and taking cheap shots from walled corners.

Gentlemen, all I ask for is more Hellsing Ultimate. An anime so grand as to make hell itself tremble. Gentlemen…I ask you as fellow brothers in arms what is it that you really want? Do you wish for further anime like this as I do? Do you wish for a merciless bloody anime? Anime whose fury is built with iron and lightning and fire? DO YOU ASK FOR ANIME TO SWEEP IN LIKE A TEMPEST, LEAVING NOT EVEN CRITICS TO SCAVENGE FROM THIS EARTH!!!

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.

Overview:

I'm just going to come out and say it! Hellsing Ultimate is awesome! Count Dracula teams up with the granddaughter of Van Helsing in order to defend London from an army of Nazi vampires. Sound silly? Of course it is, and that's part of its charm! Hellsing is balls to the wall action that never takes itself too seriously and is extremely enjoyable to watch.

Spoilers!!!

Plot 4/10

To say the plot of Hellsing Ultimate is stupid, would be an understatement. This plot absolutely revels in its own absurdity. A fat, over the top Nazi known only as Zee Major builds an army of Nazi vampires in South ... America and invades London with a group of giant Zeppelins. The only thing that can stop them...Count Dracula of course. You have to love Zee major though. He is such a silly, cartoonish caricature of Nazism, although he still falls short of Ann Coulter, who would call Zee Major a liberal pansy. This is not an artsy, experimental anime like Mushishi. It's not a thinking man's existentialist anime like Tatami Galaxy. With Hellsing, you have to just give your brain a rest and enjoy the EPIC battles and bizarre humor that permeates this series.

Characters 9/10


Hellsing has awesome characters like the absolutely insane Catholic priest Father Anderson, who is like Eren Jaeger from Attack on Titan fused with the Boondock Saints. It has a Cockney vampire chick that talks with that adorably silly accent and fights with a massive anti-tank rifle. It has an SS werewolf who is literally a werewolf and must therefore tear off his shirt before every fight. Lastly we have Alucard, the badass sociopath himself voiced by the legendary Crispin Freeman in the English Dub. (God I love that man!) Don't expect characters to be deep or 3 dimensional, but instead enjoy the sheer madness, like most other aspects of this series.

Soundtrack 10/10

It has an AMAZING soundtrack featuring Die Frieschutz by the early Romantic composer Karl Maria Von Weber. I am a huge classical music fan and hadn't even heard of Von Weber before Hellsing. Now I have most of his best known works on my itunes and listen to it all the time! The other parts of the soundtrack are rather nice as well, with good original tracks and cheesy remixes of old German wartime classics like Das England Lied.

Art 8/10

The art isn't perfect, but is a massive improvement from the first Hellsing series. The character designs are well done and although the blood looks like ketchup and lacks any bone fragments, organs, or anything else you would expect from people literally exploding all the time, it is still massively satisfying to see.

Enjoyment 10/10

Hellsing Ultimate is bloody fun from beginning to end. The first Hellsing series was ok, but at times took itself too seriously, which clashed with the carefree style of Kouta Hirano. Hirano is primarily a hentai artist and porn director who occasionally draws manga on the side, despite the fact that his art is actually pretty abysmal. He doesn't take himself seriously and clearly was laughing his ass off as he drew every panel. His humor and enjoyment is absolutely contagious, and he has utterly mastered the art of "so bad its good" storytelling.

Overall 9/10

Leave your brain at the door and get on the roller coaster of awesome silliness that is Hellsing Ultimate. This series may turn some people off with its incredible amount of gore and shockingly tasteless Nazi stupidity, but if you enjoyed Inglorius Basterds a lot, I highly recommend Hellsing Ultimate. Apparently a few German viewers on youtube found the portrayal of Germans offensive in this series, but honestly you are taking it WAY too seriously if you are offended by something as ridiculous as Hellsing Ultimate. I come from an ethnic German family myself and I found it fucking hilarious, so lighten up guys!

I get sick of shows that are supposedly brutal bloodbaths *very* easily. Why is that? Well I go into it thinking I'm gonna experience just that and instead all I get is a whole lot of bad pacing and tiny little splashes of blood that are heavily censored for no good reason whatsoever with a protagonist that can't shut the fuck up with his bitching. Of course, it's not surprising this is the case since I was spoiled ROTTEN by Hellsing Ultimate. Hellsing Ultimate is the epitome of senseless violence and sheer brutality. Fuck your Mirai Nikki, Deadman Wonderland, and Tokyo Ghoul! THIS is a ... real bloodbath and Alucard is the (un)living definition of a true badass.

Hellsing Ultimate is a reboot of the Hellsing franchise. Previously, there was an adaptation of the Hellsing manga produced by Gonzo in 2001 but it forked off from the source material because there were very few chapters to adapt at the time. Obviously, Gonzo didn't do THAT good of a job with the adaptation so in 2006, Satelight got on-board to do another adaptation. How did Satelight decide to handle the new Hellsing adaptation? Simple: make it a direct-to-video release so that way, loathsome censorship wouldn't be an issue and Kouta Hirano would have all the time he needed to finish the manga. It took 6 years to adapt with Madhouse and another studio stepping in to do the other episodes and it took even longer to finish dubbing, but the wait was definitely worth it.

For those of you coming into Hellsing Ultimate expecting the likes of Paradise Lost in terms of story, I've got BAAAAAD news for you. At the risk of pissing off the fanboys, Hellsing never has and never will be about the story. In fact, the story gets progressively worse as time goes on. There's a distinct lack of world-building, where the focus is always on the here and now with events in the past being mentioned but never properly explained save for select bits here and there. If you want a bloodbath that actually has a good story behind it, watch Berserk instead. While its lacklustre narrative might seem like a hindrance, it's not because Hellsing Ultimate is all about the rule of cool.

I mean... it's a show that has an immortal blood knight vampire fighting the remnants of a Nazi battalion 50 years after World War II that's led by a demented Major who starts a war with Britain JUST for the sake of starting a war that will "sweep in like a tempest, LEAVING NOT EVEN RAVENS TO SCAVENGE FROM THIS EARTH!!!" with a secret division of the Vatican led by a bloodthirsty priest who can pull blessed swords out of nowhere, absurd weaponry, and a whole lot of maniacal grins thrown into the mix as well. If you can't suspend your disbelief in the slightest, you'll hate this show just as much if not even more than you'll probably hate Gurren Lagann.

Regardless, the actual narrative isn't all THAT bad. It's more like a foundation that never really gets built upon but at the same time, at least manages to tell us exactly what it is and what it wants to be. It never sets itself up to be something grander than it actually is, and that to me is Hellsing Ultimate's greatest strength. Hellsing Ultimate knows that it lacks a compelling narrative, so instead it opts to be as entertaining to watch as possible which is where it manages to receive high marks most of the time. Key word: MOST of the time. All good things have to come to an end eventually, you know.

You know how Gurren Lagann slowed down to a crawl as it tried to take itself seriously? Well toward the last 3 episodes (8-10), it becomes painfully obvious as to how weak the story actually is as it starts taking itself seriously throughout the entire run of each OVA. The problem is that Hellsing Ultimate up until that particular point was about having fun with mind-numbing amounts of profanity, blood, and gore to boot.

There were moments where it took itself seriously in the previous 7 OVAs, but that's all they were: moments, and it works beautifully well as brief instances where we could take a break from all that shit, catch our breath, and resume the bloodbath. The final 3 OVAs are still entertaining, don't get me wrong. It's just that in comparison to what we had prior, there is a MAJOR difference in how fun those episodes are to watch. But I digress, for it's now time to talk about the characters.

You'd think that the characters in Hellsing Ultimate would be just as lacklustre as the story, but actually... that's not the case whatsoever. In fact, they're fairly well-written... well, about as well-written as you can get for a show that has 90% of its cast wearing a maniacal grin half the time. The two best-written characters in Hellsing Ultimate are by far Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing (yes, you have to say it like that) and Seras Victoria while the two characters that excel most in terms of just how fun they are to watch are none other than Alucard and Alexander Anderson (aka Judas Priest) along with Montana Max aka The Major as runner-up (he's more fun to listen to than to watch).

I should tell you this right now: if you absolutely despise overpowered characters, you're going to HATE Alucard and Judas Priest. Anderson is the living definition of a badass while Alucard is the un-living definition of a badass. They're both absurdly powerful individuals who absolutely dominate everything else in combat and throughout the show's run, you keep banking on that final fight to show up between the two to settle once and for all who the true badass is. When that final fight DOES rear its head, you can't help but squeal like a pig throughout the entire run. It genuinely is THAT entertaining to watch... provided that you can handle how absurd Hellsing Ultimate gets at times.

If on the other hand, you desire some more "human" characters that are less likely to throw blessed bayonets and exploding silver bullets at your face, Integra and Seras are more than enough to fit the bill and then some. Integra is by far one of the best authority figures I've seen in anime and manga thus far. She just has this air of authority about her like Motoko Kusanagi and even when she's put into situations that might make her seem like a damsel-in-distress, that's never the case. She just scoffs at you while smoking a cigar and grinning like a maniac. Her only downfall would be the fact that as the show gets crazier and crazier, all she really seems to be able to do is just stand back and watch. Of course, that's what happens when you let a MASSIVE power creep into your show like that.

As far as Seras goes, she's... how do I put it? She's adorable, quirky, and is quite the action girl when the situation calls for it. At the same time, the writing doesn't really focus TOO much on her transition from human to vampire. That's not a totally bad thing, mind you and she does improve as a character as the show goes on. At the same time, I would've expected her to have more of a problem with being an undead creature of the night for the rest of her life. Well... then again, I DID say that Hellsing Ultimate is all about the rule of cool and questioning your own humanity ISN'T cool at all (in comparison to everything else that goes on). Regardless, she's a great character and by far the most human (in comparison to everything else she has to deal with).

While storytelling and characters aren't Hellsing Ultimate's strong suit, there is one area where Hellsing Ultimate succeeds constantly and that is with the production values. This show was just spoiled in ways that the original just couldn't be and that's no surprise given that this is a 10-episode OVA series that took six years to complete. I could spend hours gushing about the production values, but it wouldn't do me any favours now will it? All I can say is that EVERYTHING looks awesome: from the super-creepy horror imagery surrounding Alucard, the battles which are so deliciously overflowing with carnage, and all else that lies in-between. You think Tokyo Ghoul has good visuals? Psh, Hellsing Ultimate makes Tokyo Ghoul look like Naruto filler in terms of visuals.

OST-wise, Hellsing Ultimate delivers in full-force. There are plenty of bombastic orchestral tracks and such which further emphasize just how awesome this show actually is and there's no shortage of songs and character tracks that I've grown quite fond of. BUT... if there's one minor complaint I have, it's the fact that it lacks style in comparison to its predecessor. Now hear me out: the 2001 Hellsing show is flawed to high heaven but one thing that it has that Hellsing Ultimate lacks is music. The 2001 show had no shortage of jazz/blues tracks, guitar themes, and whatnot which gave the show its own sense of style. Hellsing Ultimate has quite a bit in the way of stylised visuals, but when it comes down to music... it could've been handled a little better.

Dub-wise... I have absolutely no complaints other than just how long it took to actually get the entire thing out. Well, then again I guess that's on Geneon for ceasing all operations outside of Japan before they finished dubbing Hellsing Ultimate (they only did the first four episodes). Due to licensing issues, the dub itself was delayed even more than the production of the OVAs. Thankfully, Funimation stepped up to the plate, re-hired all the voice actors that worked on the episodes that Geneon dubbed and I swear to GOD, Funimation just knocked the ball out of the park with this one (perhaps even more). Crispin Freeman does an amazing job as Alucard (then again, he's Crispin fucking Freeman, of course he did a damn great job) but that's actually NOT my favourite thing about this dub which is surprising since I'm a huge fan of Freeman's work.

One of Hellsing's calling cards is taking place in Great Britain, so obviously it would help if the voice actors had British accents, right? Well instead of doing Cockney accents like the Black Butler dub had, Funimation actually hired 2 BRITISH voice actors to do the roles of Anderson and Integra (Steven Brand and Victoria Harwood respectively) while the rest of the cast barring Alucard did some rather convincing accent work to set the mood. There's always going to be sub-supremacists touting how the English dub pales in comparison to the Japanese one but at least we've got Steven Brand's thick, Scottish accent while you sub-touters just have Norio Wakamoto's Engrish. If you want accents, go with dub. If you don't, stick with the sub.

So, final thoughts? Hellsing Ultimate is far from a masterpiece but as far as entertainment value goes, you'll be hard-pressed to find a show that can easily keep up. As far as bloodbaths go, there's only a handful of anime that can match Hellsing Ultimate's brutality (i.e. the Berserk movies, Gantz). This is popcorn material through and through and makes no attempt at hiding that fact. Considering the fact that all 10 episodes of Hellsing Ultimate are now available for legal streaming on Funimation's website AND have been released on DVD/Blu-ray, there's no reason why you SHOULDN'T give this show a chance.

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 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.

Hellsing Ultimate is the definition of badass. From the over-the-top characters to the insane plot to the violent, blood-spewing fights, it is the disregard of all that is holy and possibly the most intense, balls-to-the-wall anime ever made. It’s also the epitome of style over substance, featuring some of the best animation of any series to date, superb voice acting, and a fine soundtrack, but little in terms of plot or character development. It’s Michael Bay doing an anime about Nazi vampires. It’s Japan’s answer to Hellboy. In short, it’s an exquisitely done pure action/horror, but not much else.

The story starts out with a lot ... of potential. The premise is great, and for the first 4 or 5 episodes there’s a perfect mix of character intros, action-packed fights, and plot revelations to keep you glued to the screen. Alucard quickly reveals himself to be an unstoppable maniac constrained only by his loyalty to Hellsing, Seras struggles with the loss of her humanity and acquisition of her new power, and Hellsing tries to uncover the mystery behind the rise in vampire attacks, Iscariot’s aggression, and the Millennium organization.

Unfortunately once these mysteries are unraveled, the plot becomes little more than a series of battles and an endless supply of blood and gore. Although there’s a last ditch effort to infuse it with some substance — a minor twist without much subtext, the revelation of Alucard’s past, and some half-hearted philosophy about monsters and humans — I couldn’t help but look back and think, “That was fun, but what was the point?” Like the Millennium organization, the essence of Hellsing Ultimate is war for the sake of war, and not much else.

Despite lacking much of a plot, there’s no denying the show is a lot of fun. Much of this is due to the fantastic cast, which features some big personalities. The stylish Alucard breaches the divide between human and monster and revels in destroying his enemies. The cool and collected Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing is every bit as elegant as her name suggests and makes the call to unleash Alucard on Britain’s enemies. And the mad scientist Major is the embodiment of evil, a man whose purpose is the total absence of purpose. This only scratches the surface, with other standouts including Father Anderson, Walter, Seras, and the Major’s various minions. If nothing else, Kota Hirano deserves credit for bringing such a diverse and extraordinary cast to life. The series also boasts some great lines that will leave you grinning from ear to ear, such as “I highly recommend pissing yourself, followed by a course of praying to your impotent God.” The Major in particular has some of the best dialogue from a villain in any series.

Hellsing Ultimate also has some of the best animation around — gorgeous and freely experimental, with a wonderful manipulation of lighting, color, 3D effects, and bold outlines of characters to make it feel like a rich comic book brought to life. The series does everything right on this front, but especially excels in its facial designs and copious but creative use of blood. My sole complaint has to be that, amidst all of this breathtaking art and maturity, we occasionally get tacky, humor-themed scenes that feel like they’re out of Fullmetal Alchemist. This style is usually only 20 or 30 seconds long, but in the last episode it goes on for some 5 minutes and really detracts from the atmosphere.

On audio, the soundtrack is pretty good and fits the show perfectly, a mix of tracks that feel like they’re straight out of a 70′s horror flick and some ornate religious themes. Compared to the original Hellsing soundtrack, this one is definitely more toned down and sounds more like the score of a movie than an anime OST. Some might say it lacks the same soul, others will love it, and in any event, it does a fine job. The voice cast is top notch, featuring most of the actors from the original series, with notable roles from Crispin Freeman as Alucard and Steven Brand as Anderson.

I enjoyed Hellsing Ultimate and consider it a keeper, but I also think it receives far more praise than it deserves. It certainly accomplishes what it sets out to do, but it helps that it doesn’t set out to do much. While the series should be commended for satiating the appetites of action lovers and demonstrating the full potential of animation, those who prefer a story with much depth or complexity will probably have trouble seeing what the big deal is.

Following my conflicted experience with Hellsing TV, I stumbled onto Studio Madhouse efforts into creating an anime that follows the source material of its manga to a much closer degree. Instead of a standard weekly airing schedule, Madhouse decided to go with releasing a total of ten OVAs over an agonizing long six years. In doing so, they have rectify most of the problems that marred the potential of Gonzo's effort.

While the first two OVAs are fairly straight-forward rehashed material from the original Hellsing, the remaining eight volumes goes off on a completely awesome and different tangent. Gone are the half-baked storylines ... and in their place, is the plot and every single subplot coming to a definitive conclusion by the time the final volume rolls around. Adding on to the main antagonist that is the Catholic Church, Nazis, of all people, have come back to wreck some occult vengeance with their own brand vampires, werewolves and abominations that soon engulfs the island nation of Britain into a state of war.

The thing I love most about the Hellsing Ultimate is that it takes itself so seriously with its notions of holy crusades, genocide, and grand ambitions of power and warfare. Yet, at the same time, it has some of the most over-the-top and ridiculous setups I have ever seen, having zeppelins, KKK outfits and Nazi vampires all mingling together in a climactic battle worthy of the Apocalypse itself. In the world of Hellsing, everything is black and white with no ambiguity in where characters stand. It is simply a matter of kill or be killed. The villains are no exception to that rule, that are none too subtle about their powers or motivation and offer some of the most unforgettable performances in the animated medium.

If you have watched the original show, the three main leads of Alucard, Intrga and Seras should be familiar to the audience but there are few key differences. With much more screen time to explore their relationship with each other and the stakes being so much higher, these three form deeper bonds than their previous versions. Also, power levels, in reference to Alucard and Seras, are exponentially increased to reflect this change in the amplified severity of their opposition. One change that I found to be hit or miss, was the addition of humorous elements placed in juxtaposition to some very serious and forbearing scenes, which could be jarring at times.

Under Studio Madhouse, which is well-known for high quality series like Black Lagoon and Redline, Hellsing Ultimate is noticeably different in its visual style and quality from the TV adaptation. The colors are much more highly contrasted and character designs have gotten angular, which is something I can live with but I do prefer the TV's style over Ultimate's direction. One thing is objectively better, and that is that the animation is top-notch and no expense were spared in handcrafting some truly titanic showdowns

For all the improvements that Ultimate has over Gonzo's effort, the OVA's music doesn't hold a candle to the quality and style of the TV adaptation. It ranges from orchestral pieces, that depicts the epic and dramatic moments, with mixed in electronic sounds. There were some moments where the music choice for some scenes that was downright bizarre and just didn't work out at all for me. If there is one thing that I wish I could change about the Ultimate version, it would be importing the music from Gonzo's production to cover up the awkward soundtrack. This area is, by far, largest aspect that is notably weaker in the transition to Studio Madhouse.

With a giant budget and a ridiculously long release schedule, Hellsing Ultimate, despite some minor gripes, is the definitive version to be watching Alucard, a real fucking vampire, go through one of the best supernatural shows that anime has to offer.

8.5/10

Hellsing Ultimate has everything you want and expect from a vampire series revolving around the greatest vampire of them all: Dracula. Only in this series we know him under the name of Alucard. This show is rated R for a reason, a bloody good reason. It contains blood, gore, big breasted female leads and even more blood.

The story is about a secret organization within the British Government, named Hellsing, who takes care of any supernatural beings that is not supposed to roam this earth. It is run by Integra Wingate, whom has a butler with the nickname "Angel of Death". This should tell the viewers ... enough about the rest of the story: A complete battlefield with multiple parties: The Hellsing organization, The Millennium organization run by the Nazi's who have a complete army of Ghouls and Section 13 of the Vatican, who also kills off any supernatural beings. Including 'pet' vampires that go by the name of Alucard. This three way war is waged in the streets of London, which is soon burnt to the ground.

There is not much character development in the series, but this series needs none. Alucard is the protagonist and by no means the 'hero' of the story. He has absolutely no morals and enjoys stripping even the smallest shard of dignity from his victims before he decimates them.
The one who is in charge of Alucard, the head of the Hellsing organization is Integra, whom we do not really get to know other then the cigar chain-smoker. You also have Seras Victoria, a girl who is transformed into a vampire at the start of the series. The antagonist is the Major, a war loving manic who seems quite the nice guy when you meet him first.

The art and sounds are just great. You have a lot of nice quotes about 'var' from the Major while you enjoy watching perfectly executed executions of people and beings that die in the most exquisite ways.

All of these things combine into what a vampire series should stand for: Blood, gore and even more blood. Like I said before, it is rated R for a reason. And you should watch it for that same bloody reason!

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.

Have you ever read Bram Stokers Dracula? Have you ever wondered what happened afterwards? If the answer to both of these questions are yes then do I have a show for you, but first I recommend taking an assortment of drugs (much like the creators of this show) to receive the full effect. Do you have your cocaine lines ready? Alright before you make sweet love to that let me tell you my thoughts.

Story: 7

This might sound crazy, but this show can actually be tied directly to Stokers original work. In fact on the wiki page it's deemed a sequel, and boy what a ... sequel it is. Broken up into 10 OVA "Hellsing Ultimate" in terms of story telling, to be frank, isn't all that great. But if you absorb yourself into the ridiculous nature of the show there is tons of fun to be had. Structurally what I loosely call a plot is actually fairly sound, and by that I mean its enough to get you from fight scene to fight scene. For hour long episodes the pacing is immaculate, and doesn't slow down really at all. One aspect I personally found to be a great touch is the actual connection to Stokers work. The notion itself is crazy I know, but it adds another layer of enjoyment to the overall madness.

Art: 9

Stylistically devilish, and full of creativity "Hellsing Ultimate" delivers the goods in this department. The overall cinematography, and art assets create action scenes that are some real crowd pleasures. Sticking to form of its roots the art itself is Gothic in nature, and really pleasing to the eyes. The character designs themselves are creative, and fun.

Sound: 8

Production value on this end is high as well. Every gun shot, and explosion sounds absolutely wonderful. Sticking to form the OST is ridiculous, but sadly nothing to truly right home about. It does its job at the very least. Now where voice acting is concerned its downright fabulous. Everyone in the cast does a stand up job, and some are just hilariously over the top.

Character: 7

Lets be honest here. The real question is are there any actual characters in "Hellsing Ultimate"? Well yes and no. If we are going by means of growth, and depth then no not really. Most of the cast is as thin as cardboard. But if we were to think in terms of likable, and entertaining then yes. Looking at Alucard we have a sleek, suave, and devilish individual. Brutal by nature he is a fantastic portrayal of the King of the night, but in terms of actual depth there technically isn't any. In a situation such as this a term I've come to use concerning characters like Alucard seems to fit just right. More or less he is a fully realized character. At the end of a show you usually have a character that has grown, and developed. Well take that end result, and start a show from that point. This is what I've come to coin as a "Fully realized character". (One of the best examples of this in Anime would be Kamina from Gurren Lagann). Alucard is the only cast member that I actually would deem this, and pass in terms of character. Now concerning the rest of the cast we have Seras, and Walter which have their own little growth, but again nothing real substantial. Oddly enough this still doesn't hurt the show. What I'm getting at is its serviceable. The cast overall is quite likeable, and for a show of this nature that is really all you need.

Enjoyment: 9

One of the best times I've had watching an Anime. Filled with jaw dropping action scenes, and overall crowd pleasing moments "Hellsing Ultimate" is one hell of a good time.

Overall: 8.0

"Hellsing Ultimate" is a fun ride, and filled with creativity. It really is one of the most enjoyable Anime I've seen. If you are a big fan on action then I'd give this one a try because honestly its one of the best aspects of it. If blood, guts, and violence isn't your thing then I'd say stay clear. I really enjoyed the show, and for me it was all that I wanted. As always thanks for reading.

Hellsing Ultimate provides the background and plot that was missing in the original Hellsing series. However, it exchanges a lot of the more intimate moments and character development present in the original series for violence and battle scenes. There is also a lot more vulgarity present in this version. The anime presentation style oscillates between more detailed and dark, to lower quality, to classic flat animation during moments that are supposed to be silly. The switching animation styles works sometimes, but in this series it feels out of place with the overall darkly dangerous atmosphere of the story. The ... congruity of style and overall animation in the original series was preferable, though some portions of Hellsing Ultimate are superior.

As a character, Alucard is alluring and oddly likeable. He is often described as a monster, though his characteristics seem to be more in line with a human sociopath. He is obviously not a good person in the classical definition. He loves to fight, and destroy, and kill. He seems to enjoy the pain and terror of his enemies. But he uses his own aggression towards fighting for good of the masses. There are also moments where he almost shows a sliver of kindness or caring for others which provide depth to his character (though these are far more prevalent in the original Hellsing).

Hellsing Utlimate has much better complexity and development than the original, but it is worth watching both series since the ideal story lies somewhere in the balance between the two.

I have to add something before i start my review about Hellsing Ultimate. I finished the series Hellsing about a year ago and hated it. A few days ago i finished this OVA and fuckin' loved it. What i found was way further than what i was expecting. So the moral is if you watched the tv series and bored it definately give this show a go.

Now let me tell you something about myself, ı hated vampire series , animes , shows until i met with Hellsing. Hellsing is more than just a typical vampire show which gives you love, passion, complicated love phenomenons ... between the characters. Hellsing Ultimate carries a simpleness with a great enjoyment

The characters were so wisely created that you could sense the idiology they were sharing or the feeling that they felt.You sense the ego of the characters.

I can honestly say that i was so bored of animes whose main character gets stronger in several episodes. This shit doesn't happen in Hellsing. Alucard the cruel vampire kont moster just talking about him makes me horripilationed.

I also fuckin' loved the transformation of a little police girl with potential turning into a vampire.

Now when we step into the fact of enjoyment i will just say that i finished total of 10 hours in 3 days. You just can't stop watching it.

The composition the author was giving is remarkable. Especially how he puts the characters into the stage was brilliant. In one side a brilliant german genius (who actually is just like Hitler) and his thousands of soldiers. . On the other side a priest ! and of course Alucard. It is just a visual feast.

Another vampire anime, how lame. Normally, this is how people would react to anything with vampires in them ever since the boom of the vampire industry not so long ago. However, that is not the case with Hellsing: Ultimate, an OVA remake of the original Hellsing anime. Now the question is what exactly sets it apart from those cliché vampire shows that everyone got bored of? Does it set a new standard for modern anime? Did it revolutionize the vampire genre? Is it a marvelous masterpiece that could possibly revitalize the dying hype for vampires? Possibly, but of course, as with all anime, it came ... with its own flaws and of course, that is the reason that I’m writing this review; to give a detailed analysis of this series.

Probably one of the things that will either make you love or hate Hellsing is its overwhelming use of gore. I for one happen to love it, but if you are haemophobic or otherwise disgusted by blood spattering and mutilated body parts flying all over the place, then I discourage you from watching this anime, because not only will it turn you off, I’ll probably nauseate you to the point of disgust. This however, is what sets it apart from all the other vampire-themed anime. Hellsing is completely unique with the fact that it consists of lots mindless slaughter and violence. It doesn’t mess around with concepts that has already been explored already like harems, creating countries, and love triangles but instead just goes back to the very roots of what vampires really supposed to be, which is purely terrifying. Hellsing portrayed what vampires are truly supposed to be which are horrifying blood-sucking monsters that hunger for death and violence, who bring destruction and chaos wherever they go, and not cute, bishounen loverboys who fawn over women. One last thing is that unlike others, Hellsing exudes a creepy aura, as well as a tense and ominous feeling to it, setting up nice atmosphere for the all-important plot.

The plot is straightforward, yet highly effective. It goes something like this: One night, a certain place called Cheddar Village was overtaken by a vampires and almost all of its population has been completely transformed into ghouls. Seras Victoria, a policewoman was fighting amidst of that town was taken hostage by the vampire, who plans to drink her blood and turn her into a vampire. Unfortunately for that vampire though, a vampire by the name of Alucard was dispatched by Britain’s special taskforce, the Hellsing Organization. Seras was then mortally wounded, but right before she died, Alucard gave her a choice: to die or to become a vampire. Now, that pretty much sums up the first 10 minutes of the first OVA. I won’t give any spoilers, but I can assure you, the story develops at a very comfortable pace, and also gets deeper and deeper with each episode. It doesn’t mess around or beats around the bush, most of the time the anime would either be busy advancing the story and developing the plot and the rest of the time is spent with revealing the character’s pasts and creating conversations between characters which reveals their ideals and personalities, all of which contribute heavily to the character development. There are moments though wherein the anime gives us a breather from all the action and switches into a somewhat silly, cartoon-like animation that consists of slapstick comedy and dark humor that is highly contradictory to the theme of the show. This however is kept minimal and is mostly happens at the very start of each episode, and it somehow compensates for Hellsing’s lack of an opening. Now, even though I said that the story is quite straightforward, do not be fooled, there are some surprising plot twists in the story, and because of its seemingly straightforward plot, it can really catch you off guard and cause quite a bit of a shock. One last thing that I would like to mention is that each episode of the OVA is quite long - roughly 45 minutes each without the ending credits. So somehow, each episode feels like a short film in itself, and that works really well too, because it leaves a satisfying feeling after you finish an episode yet still keep you interested enough to make you anticipate for the next one.

But even with the already tense and creepy atmosphere as well as the wonderfully paced plot, the main selling point of Hellsing is as one would expect, the main character Alucard. He is exactly what a real vampire should be; Bloodthirsty and violent yet charming and elegant in his own way. He is what one would call a near-perfect anti hero. As the saying goes, either you die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a villain. This quote perfectly describes Alucard entirely. As he was already alive since the times of the crusades, he has seen all of the dirt and grit of this world, and as an effect, he turned into a sinister being, one who only longer only lives to find an equal who can slay him, yet actually caring enough to his master and servant, and pities those who tried their hardest to kill him. Of course, as with all main characters there always has to be a rival. Here comes the legendary priest, Alexander Anderson. At the very first time I laid eyes on him, my very first impression of him was that he was a deranged madman, a person who lusts for battle, a person who will never defy an order and kill everyone he was ordered to, regardless of what happens to anyone around him. I was wrong though, because as the story advanced, his story was revealed, piece by piece and he was shown to be a very caring person, who owes great loyalty to his organization and is willing to sacrifice his life for the sake of his comrades. These are only some of the most important characters in Hellsing though, and although I only mentioned two of them, there are other interesting and equally important characters as well, but I won’t spoil it for you because I want you to know them for yourselves.

All of this, coupled with an exquisite animation really makes Hellsing a sight to see. The visuals were quite unique, emphasizing on the blood and the facial expressions of the characters. Everything, from that slight, contorted smile up to that evil, maniacal laughing expression was done perfectly. The problem is, even though the character designs are done well, there seems to be a reoccurring problem in the series which is the repeated drop in quality in some parts, but then suddenly turn HD in other parts. This seems like it was done deliberately to save money, as the ones with low quality are only during the dull moments and the fight scenes were the ones done with utmost care. Don’t worry though, these minor setbacks aren’t really that big of a deal, especially when you’re focused deeply into the story.

For my final sentiments, I wouldn’t say that Hellsing is a new masterpiece of some sort, but it did manage to deviate from the norm and become a cut above the rest. It was a pleasure to watch, and I encourage everyone who wants to see something different from all of the other cliché vampire romances to go and see this anime. It was a worthwhile watch, and I’m certain that the time you will invest into this anime will not go to waste.


~ first and foremost, I would like to thank you for reading this review and second, if this review has helped you or pissed you of in any way, I would be very thankful to hear your feedback. It really helps a lot. Thanks again : ) ~

Hellsing Ultimate is defined by its style and the Rule of Cool. It's brilliantly action-packed and gory, and when you take it this way, it's incredibly enjoyable brainless fun. Best watched on full moon nights so you can go outside and stare at the reddish moon while decompressing from a long episode.

The OVA adaptation does everything it's supposed to, and IMO obsoletes the TV anime and the manga - when it comes to showing action and fights, manga simply isn't the right medium to use. (The OVA doesn't quite outperform when it comes to the comedic sections used for breaks from the dire action; manga ... does comedy very well.)

When we point to the OVA's strong points, we can refer to the animation in fights and explosive scenes. Most are done well, and with enough diversity in angles, weapons, and effects that one could conceivably marathon _Hellsing Ultimate_ without growing disgusted and bored. Even when it differs from the manga's visual approaches, it's not necessarily inferior. (For example, in the final London sequences, I recall the manga showing Alucard's 'fortress' in some extremely striking static black-and-white compositions; the OVA does nothing similar, but we do get CGI'd blood-rivers with zombiefied soldiers which are disgusting and striking in their own right.)

The music is no slough either, with many pieces that set the mood and further help the style with tons of random shallow Christianity references.

All in all, a very satisfactory OVA indeed.

You'll notice what I didn't mention: the plot, the characters, or the worldbuilding. I didn't mention them because fundamentally they're irrelevant to why _Hellsing Ultimate_ is so great: what counts is what's *awesome-cool*, not whether the world makes a lick of sense or whether the plot conveys any message or whether any characters feel real.

But I might as well say something about those parts...

The worldbuilding is completely broken and doesn't make a bit of sense, and there are constant aspects that make one go "huh?" - Alucard turning into delicious loli, the Crusaders dressing up like Ku Klux Klanners, Alucard's original defeat (how was it possible when he can single-handedly eat London?), how one becomes a vampire (licking some blood on the ground is no mythos I've ever heard of), where random characters' powers come from like Anderson (why does the Vatican have only one 'Regenerator'? What *is* a Regenerator anyway, Alucard regenerates because he's eaten lives but that doesn't work for Anderson, and while we're at it what the deuce is Walter supposed to be/do‽), lack of use of suicide explosives (Iscariot's commonsensical use of them merely raises the question why they aren't a standard precaution when fighting hordes of the dead), Major's gibberish speeches (quick, can you explain the difference between a 'dog', a 'human', and a 'monster'?), Walter's completely unmotivated betrayal (he had the hots for girl-Alucard? I don't even), the lord's failure to notice Walter's failure to protect Integra (hey, if you warned the butler Walter to protect Integrate, wouldn't it strike you as a *little* odd that she got shot?), why other vampires never have servants or voices in their head despite sucking tons of people's blood (?), the last-minute info dump on Mina Harkner (where did that come from? why did the mangaka feel the need to dump that in there?), the Schrodinger deus ex machina (it's not good plotting when the climax is completely and utterly unpredictable an episode before it happens, or heck, the minute before it happens and the Major explains the plan), how can Integra claim to be a human who kills monsters when her monster servants kill 99.9% of the other monsters... These are just the parts I remember, I'm sure one could come up with dozens more if one took notes while watching the series. I will admit that there are some nice touches tying in Vlad Tepes, the Turks, impalement, and the plot of Bram's _Dracula_ particularly with the derelict ship.

The characters are cardboard. Alucard doesn't change, Integra just chomps cigars (the first time Alucard tests Integra's resolve and is told "search and destroy!", it's cool and feels like you learned something about Integra; the fifth time, not so much), Seras changes a little bit in learning to drink blood and kill (not that she seems much different in the epilogue), characters are not given any kind of real background (the asspull involving Walter has been mentioned, but what about the werewolf? the Major? Anderson?), Maxwell descends into cackling idiocy with no better explanation than 'he's drunk on power', etc.

The plot is bizarre. So a bunch of vampires led by a mechanical-clockwork man flee to South America to plan their assault on England in the service of defeating one particular vampire, succeed in doing so via some technogibberish named Schrodinger, and it fails and the vampire survives to return 30 years later. Uh, OK... What was the point of all that, exactly? Heck if I know. I paid close attention to the Major's constant speechifying, trying to glean the ideas being espoused by this obvious authorial mouthpiece, but failed entirely. Something about monsters wanting to die and humans killing them out of duty, or something.

If you're looking at this anime and thinking "Uh, another vampire story, I've seen enough to know what this one is going to be like" then you are wrong. I can guarantee you Alucard isn't like any vampire you have ever seen before and this anime will show you just how deep Hell goes.

I'm a fan of horror because whenever I watch a horror movie/anime I always tend to root for the killer. There's something about the killer's motivation that I always find fascinating. When Alucard is fighting he's also laughing and smiling like a battlefield is his paradise. I love that side of ... Alucard's personality; I love his madness and his blind fury as he completely destroys his enemies. Alucard's appetite for death is complemented by this anime's use of horror; seriously, whenever a character gets shot in this anime they explode like water balloons of blood.

However, I also love the antagonist - The Major. What I love about the Major is how he has so much enthusiasm. When the Major explains his evil plan he doesn't just explain it, he preaches it. He spends literally 10 whole minutes describing it in excruciating detail and he does it while grinning ear to ear as if he couldn't be happier. I love how he takes the time to relish every word he says like his whole life has led to this moment. What makes it so wonderful, however, is how insane his plan really is! He even admits that he has no motive or meaning for his actions, but he still talks about his intentions like they were gifts from on high.

Seras is also an amazing character. For one, I'm in love with her! I love female character's that are also cold blooded killers so whenever I see Seras blowing people away with her rifle my eyes get wide and my jaw drops to the floor. Furthermore, I love how Seras develops as a character throughout the anime. I don't want to spoil anything, but when the anime begins Seras is a little girl and when it ends she's a real vampire!

I also have a real connection with the supporting characters. At the anime's climax, it's basically Hell on Earth so I sympathize with these characters more for still having the courage to keep fighting. It's demonstrated earlier in the anime how human these minor characters are, but they keep fighting until the end and I find that beyond heroic.

Overall, Hellsing Ultimate is one of the best anime's I've seen and I'd recommend it to anyone if only just to see Alucard in action.

An unusual spin off for a vampire story, Hellsing is probably one of the most intriguing vampire anime out there. Hirano Kouta combined all the fantasy realm creatures that we've become so familiar with and gave each a new twist.

The story starts off as a usual vampire story where the vampires ,as per usual, are being hunted..by another vampire Alucard. Later on we get introduced to the Vatican's priest and vampire exterminator Alexander Anderson and we have yet another struggle between the priest and Vampire Alucard where the watcher sits in confusion wondering which side to chip in for and wanting to actually support ... both. As the story progresses though even more unusual elements get introduced into the story and you end up with a vampire versus Priest versus vampire nazi army. So basically all hell breaks loose. At the very least if the viewers don't find the story intriguing they'll stick around for the amazing action and the few comical moments in-between.

The unusual story line provides great action scenes that leave you screaming in glee and wanting more (if you're a fan of seeing a bit of gruesome killing that is). The humor is a bit exaggerated but works well with the seriousness of the show when need be.

The characters are quite outstanding although sadly not much elaboration about them is provided but we do at least get some background information about the most crucial characters and the mystery element makes the viewers wonder.

The Art in the OVAs is also quite brilliant and very similar to that in the manga so not much is left to be desired in that department.

Overall the show is worth the watch. Vampire fans and regular watchers alike will be refreshed with the unusual plot, brilliant characters and beautiful art.

This is actually my first Anime review, and since I am rather new to Anime, I may not look like the most experienced person ever, so be gentle with me. However, I've read some guidelines and know how a good review should actually look like. Let's hope I do well then.

If you have watched the original TV series, you will vaguely know what this is like, since this is just an alternative version with the same story, but it has parts that weren't appearing in the original TV series even once, such as the Nazi part, though personally, the whole concept about the Nazis is ... utterly abrupt. But there are also parts in the TV series that aren't appearing here, which is the final Arc. Leaving that Arc out is a disappointment though, since it was actually great, and seeing it with a better execution would definitely be interesting. But of course this series is a lot better than the original TV series. The entire execution is much better, not to mention the art and the music.

The plot is not heavily intricate, but it's good and quite interesting. It is about a secret organization named Hellsing, that is trying to keep the existence of vampires unknown and protect the humanity. They get involved in many bloody wars and there are many things that get into their way, but the vampire Alucard, an important member for Hellsing, doesn't seems to have during the whole series actual concurrence. That doesn't mean he is there and kills everything that could possibly harm the Hellsing organization, there are many moments where Hellsing is really troubled. Alucard can not be everywhere, and even if he is not there for once, they still have Walter who's really strong as well, not to forget Seras Victoria.

I am not sure if I am the only person who felt this, but I felt like the pacing of the first episode was way too fast. In case you watched the TV series, you might feel that, too. They were basically summarizing the first three episodes of the TV series in 50 minutes. But it doesn't mean that the first episode is bad. It was actually impressive right off the bat. Especially the fight between Alucard and Anderson was epic. It had a good length and the creators managed to excite the watcher during the fight a lot. The pacing was actually my only issue with the first episode, however if you have not watched the TV series, you will likely not notice this.

Blood. This is probably the most frequently occurring element throughout the entire series, however it was not drawn well at all. It was way to thick which does not look really realistic. It looked more like, Magma with a darker color. Sometimes there was a quite unnatural amount of blood coming out of the body of a human. I am not a biological expert, but I can definitely say that. The blood drop sound effect doesn't sound really realistic as well. I know how it sounds, and it certainly does not sound like that. The sound effects are all really loud, but it gives actually an epic feeling.

It's really unlikely that you will finish this Anime without liking any character of this series. There are many characters with a different personality. The mainstream cool characters are like, Alucard or maybe Seras Victoria. They are indeed cool, but my personal favorites were Bernadotte and Walter. The main villain was actually rather cool as well. He is definitely different from the villains you normally see, and that is pretty good. The Seiyuu cast has done a great job as well. I especially like Bernadotte's voice, but every voice fits pretty well. No character is actually really annoying because of its voice.

While there is no opening which might sound disappointing, the endings will not leave you disappointed. They sound really outstanding. The endings will always give you an awesome feeling, even though the episode ended. You can also consider them as a representation of its episode's nature. My personal favorite ending was the first and the last one. The background music throughout the series is catchy. It doesn't sound remarkably amazing, but it meets it purpose perfectly. There was still one track that was constantly appearing during the action scenes, which sounds really cool.

As for the Nazi part, I've already mentioned it in my introduction, and now I go into detail. It should not be left out because the concept was absurd, but it should not be mentioned. Instead, they could act like it's just an organization that wants war and to take the Hellsing organization down. The fact that they are actually Nazis is plain redundant and should not be mentioned. It doesn't destroy the story nor does it change it, which is why not mentioning them is not a big deal.

If the characters are viewed from a close perspective, the outlines look horribly bold, which doesn't look really good at all. The eyes aren't drawn really well, too. The titles that always appear at the start of an episode are really cool, though. They always managed to get new ideas with the titles, and it looks really nice and creative. Every more or less important character except Seras Victoria seems to have glasses, and it seems like it's only for the sake of the cool effects they do with them. It's definitely not a bad thing, it actually got me really well.

The absolute highlights of this Anime are... definitely the action scenes. They were amazingly executed, thoroughly exciting, really interesting, and wonderfully animated. There are many cool protagonists and seeing them fighting various insane antagonists is always awesome. The action scenes are something in this Anime that practically can not disappoint you. It's usual that while you are watching the show, you hope for certain characters to confront, and you willl get what you want. If there is any Anime with better action scenes than Hellsing Ultimate, then tell me.

Now I get to the somewhat critical part of this show. I've criticized this Anime slightly already, but now I get to the really critical stuff. At all Hellsing Ultimate fans, please do not feel offended by the following paragraph. With it, I point out the rest I disliked which should explain why the score is not so high although I've mainly complimented this show so far.

The comedy genre was totally out of place. It was not hilarious at all but disturbing and made it difficult to take this show serious sometimes. The gory scenes weren't executed really well. It looks like the creators tried to make them look as scary as possible, but terribly failed. Victoria's past or that illusion appearing in episode seven, was too gruesome. Of course nobody would like to experience something like this, but while the last rape scene supported to make it even worse, it should have been left out. It's way too much. As for another unnecessary raping scene, in episode nine was probably the most disturbing Anime scene I've seen so far. It isn't really good looking at one character raping another one with the same gender.


Clearly, this Anime is not for everyone, and the elements that made this statement to a fact, meant that this Anime was not for me either. I was not scared, but disgusted sometimes, especially by the raping parts. The gory scenes did not make me sick, but I was always like, what am I watching right now? But I still managed to like this Anime despite of these issues, and this is my overall impression of it. I accept criticism about this review of course, since I obviously want to improve, but please do not complain about my opinion, since it doesn't help me at all. I have not watched much Anime and I am not too fond of this kind of excessive violence, so that's why the score is not that high. But I definitely liked the show as a whole, even though I don't consider it as a masterpiece.

Having been bombarded with all the vampire themed crap lately in the media, I wouldn't blame you for brushing this series off. This series however is a beautiful work of art that showcases the best animation and music composition I have ever seen.

Story - 7
Whilst the OVA follows the manga to the dot, the story in the first place wasn't so groundbreaking anyways. Its got that shounen-esque feel since the OVA relies more heavily on action sequences now. You have the seemingly unstoppable vampire lord that kills everything in his path whilst keep his smoke alight (sounds like pierce brosnan). Whilst Hellsing Ultimate does ... have that shounen feel, it is masked by blatant portrayal of corruption, masochism and blunt violence. Soon, however you'll begin to forget the cliches within the story as it really puts you on the edge of the seat as the story is faced paced, has a improved script (imo anyways) and gratuitous amounts of violence.

Art - 10
Since the manga in the first place had a unique yet attractive art design, the OVA really takes that on board and portrays what Hellsing should have been. The detailing in the animation is consistent and accurate in every episode and the backdrops are beautiful. Action sequences amount to many and are fluid and smooth, so they look amazing. The direction and camera angles are dynamic and varied and readers of the manga will recognize some camera angles too. As a series that takes a rather long time to release, you would expect nothing less in the animation department.

Sound - 10
Probably the strongest points in both the oriiginal and the OVA series, the musical score is just great. The music consists of a neo-gothic sound that really immerses the audience into the universe of Hellsing. Also, all of the background scores are perfectly placed so the experience of the great fight scenes are doubled.
As for the Japanese voice actors, they all seem fine and since the scripting for the series is pretty good, non of the actors seemed forced. They all seem natural which is a great plus for a anime of this scale.
As for the English Dub, i thought they did a pretty good job too. I watched the original hellsing which i thought had superb voice actors (crispin freeman in particular), and happily the English studio, Geneon, decided to reuse them. So really the Englsih Dub is a good rendition of Hellsing, except for the Germans who sound freakishly high pitched. They sound ridiculously stereotyped and not subtle so it will take some getting used to, if you decide to watch it dubbed.
Other sounds like ambiance, explosions and gun fires are done nicely and are realistic.

Character - 9
What really struck me first about the character's were their design which i thought were original and attractive. Each character plays in a important role, whether they are supporting or the mains. Since the OVA is more action oriented, the story is more plot oriented rather that character oriented which causes the subtlety of the original series to disappear in the OVA.
However lots of character development of the protagonists as well as supporting characters are jammed into the OVA's at a steady pace.

Enjoyment - 10
I had a blast watching the series up till the latest episode and really the OVA is a step up for those not satisfied with the original ending. Featuring a revamped (and imo better) plot, more character development and gratuitous amounts of violence, this is what the original should have been.