Hellsing Ultimate Volume 1 [DVD]

This new Hellsing anime follows the books much closer than the original series. If you enjoy anime or want a fresh look on vampires in the modern age I highly suggest you give either this anime or the manga series a try.

The action is fast paced and fluid with plenty of blood and gore, which is to be expected. If you find the current portrayal of Vampires in other media a little wimpy you'll defiantly love them in Hellsing. Alucard in particular is a very cool yet still vicious and at times monstrous vampire who just comes across as a complete badass.

The soundtrack for this series is stellar, a mix of traditional orchestral scores with dark electronic rhythms, the tracks create perfecting backing for the over top fights (a prime example being Alucard and Andersons first meeting). The animation quality is top notch; it's sharp and has a wonderful style to it. The art is vivid and the colours pop to create some beautiful art and animation despite the dark and bloody content of said animation.

Story wise it's a contemporary look at the classic Vampire hunter story with a bit of a twist, following what would have happened to Dracula after he was supposedly killed by Van Hellsing when in reality he ended up serving the Hellsing family as Alucard. The story follows an overarching story that becomes more apparent in later episodes but this first volume serves as more of an introduction to the characters, setting etc.

Speaking of characters they all hold up well, Seras and a few others bring some welcome humour to the mix and we see her grow throughout the series from a scared police girl as she is in the first volume. Integra is one of my favourite characters we see many different sides of her throughout the series and she is overall a very interesting character.

In conclusion if you like anime or Vampires and fancy something thats fast, bloody and beautiful to look at you should give Hellsing a look, even if you don't want to watch it I would highly recommend the manga series as well just for the compelling story and characters.

I don't have much knowledge of Hellsing other than having watched a few of the original anime series a few years ago.

This revamped version certainly looks a lot better than the original. It might be pretty dark but we get lots of details and some very slick animation. The 5.1 sound is pin sharp and is an acoustic treat which compliments the action scenes - and there are plenty of those ...with plenty of splattering.

Although there's lots of gore and violence, this isn't a mindless series. This is as much a series of politics and religion as it is a vampire story. With references to the Vatican, Protestantism, and soldiers of God - it's clear that this has the potential to become something more than just a slash 'em up.

If you're a fan of the original manga series, or the other anime series, then I'm sure that you'll love this as you'll already know the characters.

However - if you're new to this, then this introduction to the Hellsing Ultimate contains little plot and the characters don't feel very developed. I'm sure that as the series progresses the characters will gain more depth, but the first volume just feels a bit flat.

The voice acting in the English dub is overall pretty good, but Integra Hellsing always sounds a bit bored! I always prefer to listen to the original language soundtrack through, and in this case if you stick to the Japanese soundtrack with subtitles the series has a bit more life.

In a nutshell: Series such as Guyver - The Bioboosted Armour Vol.1 [2007] have breathed new life and energy into some modern classic series. This tries to do the same, and though Hellsing Ultimate does give a great snazzy new look to Hellsing whilst remaining true to what has already been established, it relies too much on the audience knowing the characters in order to actually feel anything for them.

Several years back I chewed my way through the original Hellsing anime and enjoyed it. I read some of the manga afterwards which I enjoyed, but hadn't managed to get round to Hellsing Ultimate until recently when I bought the first four volumes on the cheap.

For the confused, Hellsing Ultimate is not a continuation of the original anime, but a reboot that follows closer to the manga plot line. You don't need to be aware of the original anime or manga to enjoy this. Each volume consists of one OVA at just under an hour.

The plot of Hellsing revolves around the Hellsing Organisation - an organisation devoted to protecting the country from vampires and the undead. Alucard, a vampire who works under the organisation, is called out to eradicate a vampire priest. A police officer, Seras Victoria, is fatally injured in the process of Alucard attempting to bring the vampire down. He gives her a choice: die as a human, or live as a vampire. She chooses to live and, by doing so, becomes Alucard's servant and the newest member of the Hellsing Organisation.

Plot isn't an issue. It's the same gripping start that the anime and manga uses. Seras Victoria's turning acts as a good device for the audience to be introduced to the world of Hellsing, but the problem with this first volume is everything moves too fast. We don't really get a feel for Seras honing her new abilities, or attempting to adjust to her new lifestyle. There are moments here and there, but she seems to get over it so fast that it's irrelevant.

And whilst the plot itself isn't an issue, the amount of it that we get is. This one fifty minute volume covers the first three episodes of the original anime, and it feels exactly as if three episodes were jammed together, rushing through each one without giving us enough time to identify with the characters. The arc that should have brought the entire thing together - Seras joining Hellsing - is rushed over so briefly that the episode feels less like an entire piece and more like some sort of spliced together 'best of' moments. By the end of the first volume, we don't really care for Seras or Alucard, they are merely figures carrying out their assigned roles.

The English dubbing is abysmal. I'm not normally one of these people who is fussed and I'll happily watch pretty much anything in English, but as soon as Integra (leader of Hellsing) came on, I immediately switched to Japanese. The accent is so painfully stereotypically British that by the time I managed to find the remote, I had already made several cups of tea and consumed a couple of scones. To further add insult, she constantly sounds bored. She's not the only one either. It's a shame as there are a few characters that were voiced well enough, but the rest dragged it down too far for me to want to put up with it.

Whilst this review may seem pretty negative, I want to follow it up with a good note. As I had already bought the first four volumes, I decided to give the second volume a whirl just to see if it gets any better. Good news: it does. The pacing of the second volumes feels much better and the characters feel more genuine. I can only presume this volume feels so rushed due to the creators not wanting to spend too much time treading over ground that has previous been covered by the original anime.

So on the whole, this particular volume isn't all that great, but don't let that deter you from the entire series if it sounds like something you would enjoy. From the strength of the second volume I'll be continuing on and enjoying the series, but I'll probably never revisit this particular episode, as it appears to exist purely to set the scene.