Anime Review: Hellsing Ultimate

Hellsing, a secret organization of the British government, has long been battling supernatural threats to keep the people safe from creatures of the night. The current leader, Integra Wingates Hellsing controls her own personal army to eliminate the undead beings, but even her highly trained soldiers pale in comparison to her most trusted vampire exterminator, a man by the name of Alucard, who is actually a powerful vampire himself. Along with Integra's mysterious butler and Alucard's new vampire minion, Seras Victoria, The Hellsing Organization must face not only regular ghouls and vampires, but a rivaling secret organization from the Vatican, and Millennium, an enigmatic group of madmen spawned by a certain war over 50 years ago...

A bloody battle between monsters is about to begin, the dead are dancing, and all hell is singing...

Hellsing Ultimate Genres: Action, Horror, Supernatural

Hellsing Ultimate Synonyms: Hellsing OVA

Hellsing Ultimate Studios: MADHOUSE, Geneon Universal Entertainment, Satelight, FUNimation Entertainment, StudioRF Inc., Graphinica,

Hellsing Ultimate Review

Action has never been that epic.

"We ruin the countries we govern and the people in our care. We slaughter our enemies and sacrifice all our allies. We will keep killing till there is nothing left but to destroy ourselves. It will never be enough." ? ?Alucard, a.k.a., ????? ??????? (Vlad Dracula).

Place: The United Kingdom.

Time: The Present Day.

Alucard is a vampire that works for Hellsing, an organization responsible for hunting down vampires in England. For some reason, England is not a safe place anymore, as well as some other countries. More and more vampire attacks are being reported in England. On top of that, one day, Alucard receives an order to destroy a group of vampires in a church. During his mission, he saves a police officer, Seras Victoria, making her his companion and turns her into a vampire. Now, Seras is a part of the Hellsing organization under the command of Integra Wingates Hellsing and the Hellsing organization is to find the culprit that is responsible for vampire attacks in the whole world. What organization is trying to turn England into dust and will the Hellsing organization be able to stop them? Find out the answer now.

Truth be told, the story line of Hellsing Ultimate does not sound intriguing: watching how the most powerful vampire is killing other vampires and humans for 500 minutes cannot be interesting. However, Hellsing also has its philosophy and I must say that it is simply splendid: it is dark and very dramatic. I also would like to mention the fact that Hellsing Ultimate is not like some battle-shounen with overpowered main protagonists; Hellsing Ultimate is different and you will find out why. All I can say is that Hellsing Ultimate is a story about a man, who challenges the most powerful being in the whole world. Whether you will respect him, or hate him is up to you, but their duel is simply epic. Of course, it is not the only focus of this series: Hellsing Ultimate has many things to offer to you that I will, of course, will not mention in my review, so if you want to see an epic action with a grain of philosophy, I guarantee you that you will like the story of Hellsing Ultimate.

Hellsign Ultimate mostly takes place in Europe, portraying different castles and famous places of interest. Most of the time, the series will show you old castles and spooky villages, and this series will do it so that you will surely remember it. Hellsing Ultimate is truly dark, gruesome, and cruel. But it is not the only good thing about the animation, Hellsing Ultimate has also quite beautiful characters.

From the first to the fifth episodes the ending of each episode uses various pieces of instrumental music composed by Hayato Matsuo and performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Episodes VI and VII feature vocal closing themes by Japanese rock group Suilen, titled "Magnolia" and "Shinto-Shite." Episode VIII has "When You Start the War, Fight With Arrows, Spears and Swords!", which was also in the original series. Finally, episode IX features Japanese singer Maon Kurosaki and her song "Scars." The music fits the series and I am sure that you will even find some pieces for your collection. By the way, both English and Japanese versions are good, so you are free to watch it in whatever language you want.

The best part about Hellsing Ultimate is, of course, its characters. There are many characters and I am sure that you will find someone that will be truly interesting for you. Alucard is the main protagonist of the series. He is the most powerful worker of the Hellsing Organization and its the most powerful weapon. Alucard is no mere vampire; it has been implied that he is the most powerful vampire, he sometimes acts like a soulless creature that kills humans without a single thought; however, as the story line progresses, you will find out how humane this monster is. Seras Victoria is a human that due to some circumstances becomes a vampire. While she does not show enough development at first, she shines in the later episodes: in Hellsing Ultimate her role is mostly to restrain her master?s, Alucard?s, humanity. Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing is another protagonist of the series and the leader of the Hellsing Organization. She is the only protagonist that will annoy you. Not only the anime shows almost nothing about her past, but also her character is annoying as hell. Finally, Alucard?s enemies and the series? antagonists: they either consist of people who want to kill Alucard in the name of God, or of people who are jealous of him, and, in my opinion, the series antagonists is the strongest part of Hellsing.

As for enjoyment, I like this series and I rewatch it from time to time. The story of this series is dark and well-written, the animation, for the year it was made in, is breathtaking, the OST and the voice acting make you enjoy thins anime even more. However, there are also flaws. Alucard?s personality is so strong that it makes other characters shrink. Of course, there is Max Montana and he is, perhaps, the only character that is on the level with Alucard, but, in my opinion, there should have been more strong characters. I would not call it a serious flaw, but the fact that this series has weak supporting characters is the only reason why I cannot call this anime a masterpiece.

All in all, Hellsing Ultimate is the series that has both action and philosophy. So, if you like to analyze characters and if you are a fan of spectacular battles, I am sure that Hellsing Ultimate will not disappoint you. To be honest, I cannot think of even one reason for you to not watch this series. Yes, it is long, but it should not be the reason for you to not watch it: take your time and try to understand this series. Without a doubt, it is not a masterpiece, but, in my opinion, this anime deserves its 9/10.

I hope that you will enjoy Hellsing Ultimate as much as I did.