ANIME REVIEW: HELLSING ULTIMATE VOLUMES 1-10 COMPLETE COLLECTION

Hellsing Ultimate Volumes 1-10 Complete Collection
Released By: Manga Entertainment
Rating: 18
Running Time: 490 mins
Release Date: 15/7/2019
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes

For most of us, the vampire myth started with Bram Stoker's Dracula, of which this is loosely based, but with a nice twist, Alucard, the ultimate vampire works for Sir Integra Hellsing of the Hellsing Organisation. His duty is to eradicate dangerous vampires in a war-torn era of good versus evil in the form of vicious vampire nazis causing havoc around Hellsing's England.

Here, Chedar is overrun with vampires and Integra wants Alucard to investigate why this is the case. Many might think vampires are just vampires, but in this anime, if a person of the opposite sex is bitten by a vampire and they are a virgin, they will become a blood-thirsty, mindless vampire, much like a zombie rather than the Western version and will continue killing to infect the village if not controlled.

Seras Victoria is another girl who is taken into their order to help destroy and keep at bay vampires in England. Originally, her friends were killed by vampires but she lived, yet only as a vampire, which she hates herself for and her ravening for human blood. In the series, Seras clashes with Alucard's destructive tendencies toward the vampires, but he thinks he is being normal while Seras can't cope with her vampire side, remembering when she was human.

The vampire threat is one of the main issues, yet when Hellsing has been noticed by the Catholic Church she has a problem, the Iscariot Organisation's head man, Father Alexander Anderson feels it should be them who destroy the vampires, resenting Integra's interference.

and feel as though it is their duty, not Hellsing's to rid England of vampires. Though the vampires have set their sights on Ireland and leave very little time to spare. The Iscariot Organisation have sent their best agent, the Paladin, Father Alexander Anderson, who Integra knows well, his name striking fear into her heart, for if he finds the girl and Alucard, they could well be in grave danger.

There is something to be said for the Japanese voice acting cast here as they do an impeccable job of projecting the characters thoughts and feelings into each one. The English voice cast do a similar thing, but the voice of Seras Victoria can come across as rather annoying if you have a vested interest in watching the anime.

Based on the comic by Kouta Hirano, Hellsing: Ultimate Volume 1&2 will be coming to DVD in July as an 8-disc release featuring the first two volumes of the popular four OVA episode series. Unlike the previous Hellsing series, this one 'Ultimate' promises to be more like Kouta's earlier work.


Bonus Material: Hellsing comes with a load of bonus material such as Interview with Taleisin Jaffe (English Voice Director) and Crispin Freeman (Arucard) Promotional Videos, Textless Closing Animation, Japanese TV Commercials, Characters Gallery, Props and Backgrounds Gallery, Interview with Taliesin Jaffe (English Voice Director) Patrick Seitz and Josh Philips, (Luke and Jan Valentine) Japanese EPII Trailer, US Viral Trailer, Non Credit Opening II, Production Art Gallery and Japanese TV Commercial.


Summary: Hellsing: Ultimate has it all – cool characters, witty dialogue, and excellent animation. This is close to the knuckle stuff, gory and bloody it will make viewers wince at the detail of decapitations – no one will ever see anything as good as this in a long time.