It's been a long, long time that I wanted to write about this series of OVAs. Especially when I always end up re-watching them at least once a year (during the Easter holidays for a change in the Holy Week TV channels filled with Christian movies). An anime was made in response to the first adaptation of its original manga, which was not faithful and lowered the quality of the content notoriously. That gave us in return what I can consider a sublime work which, despite the multiple times I've watched it, does not bore me. Without further ado, let's start with this review.
The plot follows the adventures or missions of the royal protestant organization Hellsing, which is dedicated to exterminating any vampire that could become a risk to England. This organization has a secret weapon to eliminate these creatures, and that is Alucard, a vampire who has decided to obey Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing. During a dangerous operation, Alucard is forced to transform Ceres Victoria, a rookie policewoman who gets involved in a ghoul invasion, into a vampire.
Alucard will train her as a vampire for the organization while facing Iscariot XIII, a secret section of the Vatican dedicated to the same end as Hellsing in the Catholic world and a powerful enemy from the past who has returned for revenge and will not hesitate to fight against anything. In the middle of this conflict, Millennium arrives, a group founded by Adolf Hitler's Special Order n 666, which wanted to use supernatural beings and powers for war purposes.
Do you know the story of Dracula by Bram Stoker?
This anime has been inspired by that work, from the protagonist himself to the thousand references to that book, including Abraham Van Hellsing himself, who defeats Alucard a century before and puts him under his service. I'm not saying all this to say that this anime is just an adaptation of Dracula, coming from the mythical Vlad the Impaler to the present time.
Here we have Dracula with two guns, being as "badass" as possible, and hunting vampires. Don't tell me it's not cool. But leaving aside Bram Stoker's work, we find an engaging plot that ranges from Alucard himself and his history to the Nazis and the Crusades. Let's see. I have to warn you that everything in Hellsing Ultimate is wildly exaggerated: Nazis are dogs of war who only live for war, and Catholics are demon-hunting inquisitors with death squads. Mix all this with this handsome vampire and pools of blood, and you have this anime.
Do you want action? Do you like death? Here it is. It's simple why I love this work. It is undoubtedly its visceral action, its plot, and those charismatic characters that make me fall in love with this work. But let's be clear that it's not perfect; it has flaws like other anime. Its pace is perhaps a little slow at times. Although the adaptation is relatively faithful, parts of the story are skipped that would clarify many things, but in the end, its development is gratifying.
A section where it deserves a standing ovation is in how the characters are constructed. Most of them are pretty profound and charismatic who, by their attitude and personality, win the audience regardless of whether they are villains or heroes (although this anime is challenging to draw the line, all are human, meaning everyone has their good side and their bad side). Just to give an example, they have a character so powerful that any other story would have called him a Gary Stu. Still, he remains a more complex being even with his high power level because of his history, motivations, and personality.
The characters are developed correctly (in my humble opinion) since it tells us the brief history of each of them; Seras Victoria, Alucard, Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, Alexander Anderson, Walter C. Dornez, and others.
But for those who have read the manga, you can notice personality changes in some characters, an example is Alexander Anderson, who appears in the series as a psychotic killer, but in the manga, he is a more complex character with a high sense of morality.
The layout is similar to the manga with deep shadows and detailed scenery, a good balance of lights and shadows (the latter are not annoying, nor are they used to censor as much as in other stories). It mixes pale colors with vivid ones, but the animation form is usually closer to vivid colors. It has a great fluidity during the battles. However, I must say that the atmosphere and character design are pretty dark and even grotesque, following the manga's feeling of being a dark and dystopian story.
The music is simply one of the best that can be found. Here we have a soundtrack a little more mature, instrumental music composed by Hayato Matsuo and performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Some themes were made by the band Suilen, which is dedicated to electronic and gothic music. This mixture allows conveying many emotions with its wide variety of tracks that do not tire the audience.
Hellsing Ultimate is the closest version to the manga, with nothing to do with the previous series, as that is far from being comparable. The story and animation quality combine perfectly—approximately seven hours of a story full of intrigue, blood, and action. I highly recommend watching it to get rid of the bad taste in your mouth if you saw the first adaptation. And even if you didn't see the first one, I assure you that you will love this anime.
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Hellsing Ultimate Madman Entertainment Trailer
