Hellsing Ultimate

Still bathing in the afterglow of the brilliant Hellsing I, we now move on to the second part. So whats on offer? As it turns out, there was something strange about the duel at the end of part I. You see, our heroes were assailed by ghouls, and yet the source vampire was already dead, meaning the ghouls should have been as well. The Hellsing organization has noticed this, and called a meeting of its head council, but a mysterious organization has sent out two deadly assassins and their army to raid and destroy the Hellsing headquarters and everyone in it...

Part II advances on the already great Part I immensely. It is more gruesome, more action packed, and more engaging, introducing more about the world of Hellsing. We get to see a little of Alucards past, as well as more about Integra and Seras, our female protagonists. We also see more of the organization that will become the main villains in future volumes.

The problem is, despite all this, Part II isn't as entertaining as it could be. Yes, the weird humor is a little more suited in this one, but the direction lacks the crazy wildness that made the first one so great. This one isn't quite as good as it could be.

Although the new series is an improvement over the original, it still could be better. But thats not to say it isn't already great. The action is only beginning, and there's a lot to come...

"The bird of the Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame."

Hellsing Ultimate is a 10 part OVA anime based on the Hellsing manga that follows it very closely compared the earlier attempt which contained 13 episodes and had to stray off because of catching up the the story at the time. And unlike many, I did liked that early attempt and still do but this, however, COMPLETELY BLOWS IT AWAY!! Bigger budget, better animation, better action, better plot and way more GORE.

The story follows Hellsing organization which has only one goal, to rid the world from vampires/monsters. And they accomplish this mainly by their trump card, ALUCARD (DRACULA in reverse), an immortal and powerful vampire that does the bidding of his master, the leader of the organization, Integra Hellsing.

Since they followed the manga to the fullest, the story this time around was a lot better and actually went somewhere. Still, plot isn't the reason to watch this anime because its the action and gore and the awesomeness of Alucard that makes Hellsing a joy to watch. The anime is filled with gruesome bloody sequences with people and monsters being totally decimated in thrilling and amazing ways.

ALUCARD is probably the most badass and awesome Anti-hero I have ever seen in an anime. He taunts and humiliates his enemies before ripping them to shreds, takes extreme joy in the act and really defines the word MONSTER when doing all this. But at the same side you see that he has a softer side which he hardly ever shows and there is more to him then just being an all out monster. Also, I don't think I've ever seen the main character to be THE STRONGEST in the whole anime and the world it shows. Usually the hero/anti- hero/lead has to train hard, overcome obstacles, acquire knowledge and powers to become strong and defeat the enemy. But not here. Hellsing's like "Screw all that. Alucard is the most powerful. Enjoy.". And I loved this. Such a refreshing thing to see.

The anime isn't without its flaws however. One thing that REALLY bugged me is that when all the stuff is going down, carnage and destruction everywhere, the anime decides to take the time off and do some character development or deliver a monologue or a speech or something. But it wasn't never really good at this stuff so it turns into a drag and all you want is to see more action. The pacing wasn't that good at times. And then there were those typical anime comedy thrown in the mix, which popped up in the most atmosphere breaking moments and really annoyed me, only a few times it was actually funny and worked.

Animation quality was superb. Detailed characters and violence and stuff. The soundtrack was a mixed bag.

Overall, I really enjoyed the anime. It's a definite watch for anyone who wants vampire centric story without any lovey dovey/teenage/high school stupidity and just delivers the awesome gory action we want.

8.3/10

After been waiting for a long time, finally Hellsing Ultimate 3 is here! This episode starts with the aftermath of the attack that took much of episode's 2 time and then follows Alucard, Victoria and a new guy on their trans-continental quest to find out more about the Millennium organization (with help from the less expected source, I must say...) The CGI-loaded animation is still the same, and I've seen people who have loved it and people who have hated it, so for this one, either you love it or hate it, your feelings will be the same. The soundtrack keeps going with it's epic-oriented tracks that add a very good atmosphere to the OVA.

This episode is blood/gore loaded, much more than the previous two, so if you felt uneasy about that, you probably don't want to see this one. This episode is violence-packed with a more conspiracy-like plot and a really good duel (that didn't show up in the original series) where Alucard has the opportunity to show his powers once more. There are also a couple of funny scenes to break the tension of the moment.

At the ending credits we get an animated teaser of the past of Alucard and Walter that is told in Hellsing: The Dawn.

A few people may remember a short, pseudo gothic,13 episode vampire anime series a few years back called 'hellsing'. It had a steady cult fan base but was in the essence of things good, but not really great. It seemed doomed to obscurity with no more material to work from into the latter half of the series, which then free-styled off onto a tangent.Fans were disappointed, an ultimately anti-climactic series with no real reverence for it source material.

last year things changed and a phoenix rose from the ashes in what can only be called anime 'history'. Most failed series are laid to rest and never mentioned again like a past you want to forget, but not with kouta hirano. His labour of love was to have his vision realised in animated form and so we get,true to its name,'Hellsing Ultimate OVA' this series unlike any other gives us a viewing experience we could only dream of, with episodes now feature length ova's with lush quality animation and production values out of the norm for short anime series. From the artwork to the dialogue, everything about the series reeks 'quality'. Its almost scary how very close it comes to being exactly like the manga it is based on. The music is 'epic' and sound is superb.

This is so unlike the old t.v series that it's beyond even funny! To those not familiar with hellsing the manga is probably, well actually IT IS the darkest graphic novel you are ever likely to read. Sure it has moments of mild humour which Japanese love, but in the grand scheme of things it is genuinely unsettling how close to being an evil villain the protagonist assumed to be 'good' really is. In short Alucard a vampire hunter,but a vampire himself works for & protects humans (you can see where characters such as Dante from devil may cry were inspired :p), the hellsing organisation a secret organisation set up to obliterate any supernatural threat to the protestant British empire. Protestants (Hellsing) Vs Roman Catholic Vatican (Iscariot Organization,Section XIII), Modern day Nazi bad guys, these are elements of the content in the series. No spoiler here, but needless to say, if you like blade,devil may cry, cool anime with action, extremely mature and 'cool' dialogue that isn't cheesy, a serious and dark storyline, a proper depiction of a modern day vampire (and believe you me, the way alucard is depicted has set the standard of what vampires should truly be about :D). this series is not Bram stoker 'dracula' re-told, or Dracula 2001 or anything you've seen related to vampires. GET READY for an anime that will literally blow you away! Overview: MATURE CONTENT, SCENES OF GRAPIC VIOLENCE AND OF A SEXUAL NATURE (Although you'll be surprised how little there really is :D). OVA (Original Video Animation) - Feature Lenght, High Budget, High Quality Anime. One 'episode' per DVD but it's Worth it since it's like watching a mini film based directly of each consecutive manga.

(Bare in mind i am not usually a big fan of vampire related anime or overly violent anime but this anime charms the audience in a way never thought possible. This anime has in essence the truest 'anti-hero' in the definition of the word. ENJOY!)

Not being familiar with the older 13 episode series, then I had no expectations for this series. I sat down to watch it with a clean slate, so to speak. Was told that it was a really great series by an acquaintance, so I decided to give it a go.

I will say that the art style is somewhat different from the Manga that I am used to watching, but it wasn't bad. I liked the style of art in "Hellsing Ultimate", it was dark, it had an edge and it was nicely rendered. Smooth animation and interesting characters really helped the series along.

"Hellsing Ultimate" has a lot of blood and violence in it, so it may not be suitable for all people. Just a word of warning. I, however, did enjoy it. The vampires here were brutal, devilish and beastly - read not having big hair and sparkling skin.

The characters in the series were nicely thought up and well put to the screen. However, I think that they could have made the episodes longer and given the characters a chance to show their personalities and nature more on the screen. Given them a chance to delve into character development, as some of the characters were a bit shallow and could have benefited from a more in-depth presentation.

There was a lot of jumping between the episodes, in the sense that there was an red thread in the storyline, but individually the episodes were a bit too skittering and 'flash bang'. By that I mean, it was all great, action-packed and full of blood, but once one episode was over, the next would skip entirely to something else.

One thing did puzzle me, well it is just me being petty, but why did everyone speak Japanese? It didn't make any sense that people from the Vatican or South America spoke Japanese, or that the Nazis spoke Japanese. But hey, it was a Manga animation, so it was easy enough to bear over with that.

Having seen this new series, it sort of sparked an interest to get a hold of the old series and check that out as well. The 2006 "Hellsing Ultimate" series was great entertainment and it well worth checking out, for both newcomers to the Manga scene and for avid fans alike.