Hellsing

Heavy on style and very dark, the devilishly cool Hellsing is one of the hippest animes I've seen in the past half-decade. Oozing coolness, it's excellent musical score and characters hook you in, and the story keeps you interested enough to watch all the way through. The characters look fantastic....some times. The animation ranges from flawless to sub-standard and is wildly incosistent, which is sad considering the character designs are amazing. The entire look of a character will change from frame to frame, which can be really jarring, but the big fight scenes all look great. Music is always important to an anime (or at leastit is in my eyes), and Hellsing is second only to Cowboy Bebop when it comes to the fantastic score, everything from 70s rock to dark piano instrumentals is present on the soundtrack and none of it ever feels out of place. The opening theme is an amazing song, not to mention very complimentary to the sequence's visuals. The story is a breath of fresh air from the normal generic vampire story tripe that pollutes Hollywood and cheap horror novels, and the strong connections to religious symbolism and Bram Stoker's Dracula were a real treat for me. Sadly, the main plot sorta goes out the window after episode seven in favor of a quick explanation of Integra and Alucard's pasts and the origin of the synthetic vampires. Fortunately, the manga and currently running Ultimate OVAs tie up most loose ends. Overall, the memorable cast, great music and cool story bit me (hahahaha, vampire humor) and left me with the serious desire for human blood (or a better ending, either or). If you're a fan of Dracula, you'll love the series. If you're a fan of stylish anime, you'll love the series. If you like action, but also like compelling characters, you''ll love the series. Flawed animation and story aside, it's defintely a must-see.

DISCLAIMER: If you are a "Hellsing fanboy", ignore this review as it will probably fill you with murderous rage. That being said... Hellsing is the kind of series not meant to be taken seriously, at all. If you like stories about vampires and find random violence cool and fun then this may be right up your alley. If you enjoy effortless entertainment with no real depth and no thought required, then stop here and just skip my review. However if you know what kind of anime you like, and are curious to see if Hellsing may or may not be for you, the following criticisms mayhelp with your decision. Story: Let me make this clear, it's not like shows about mindless violence are beneath me (I loved DBZ). The first episode of Hellsing was very interesting and drew me in, but from there on things went downhill. For one, everything about it moved at such a quick pace nothing really develops. This is especially evident with the way characters handle events (see "Characters" below). And this frantic momentum just keeps on going. The cut scenes are sudden, making for rough transitions, and even the plot progresses sporadically. It's also morally all over the place, which could be a statement about the ambiguity of right and wrong, but most likely the creator just didn't care about that kind of stuff. If you like shows like Cowboy Bebop which are very episodic and have very thin/loose central plots, then you may still enjoy Hellsing. The Anderson guy was kind of cool and the fights with him weren't bad. The whole vampires commanding ghoul armies thing was a nice touch; kind of different. Still, there was little plot, and much of it was ridiculous and/or didn't make sense. The way they acted, the things they fell for, etc. The dialogue to action ratio was like 3:1. That much dialogue and so much dubiousness made even less sense. But anyway... I'd say this is probably not for young teens as there's plenty of blood and some sexual situations... Characters: The characters weren't the most original, but I didn't mind. The problem was that they weren't fleshed out very well and they were considerably static. They had no range. They were always in the same "mode" all the time. Alucard was always smug and "bad ass". Seras was always weak and impish, etc. Some people may actually LIKE this kind of certainty, but I prefer dynamic, unpredictable characters. Their interactions were also so unusual that I spent more time scratching my head than clapping my hands. Examples... Alucard - I like bad asses. I can forgive a lot, but I expect a certain consistency. A certain logic or order to a characters behavior. But so much of the show is just kind of up in the air and random. For instance, Alucard's encounter with Seras. There was no pressure and no time limit and despite his considerable powers he still takes the least practical action. He didn't even consider any other options. The whole event felt so forced and rushed. Speaking of which, one moment he'll be asking, "Hey, wanna be my servant?" the next, "Hey, wanna be on your own?" Bwa?? O_o Additionally, Alucard suffers from "overpowered main character" syndrome, which (when combined with the above characteristics) make it hard to either care or be concerned about the character. Seras Victoria - I actually liked the whole vampire in training bit with her, but (like everything else) they never really developed this much. Also, she was all too eager to accept some random monster as her new master. Maybe the British have weaker constitutions than I was aware of, but I have to wonder, who does this? I'm ok with a character being weak or hesitant or not super special awesome, but to be so inexplicably submissive just seems unbelievable. No resistance? No doubt? No concern? I just can't imagine anyone in such a situation being so nonchalant. Ironically, despite her instant instinct for servitude, she still ends up being very reluctant to actually DO anything. Maybe if there were some backdrop or history to her character this might have made sense. It's areas like this where the lack of character development really hurt the show. Strangely enough, her breasts seemed to fluctuate in size and her hair would alternate between yellow and orange. "Sir" Integra Hellsing - Not much to say, just wanted to comment on how usually in anime you'll see guys who look very, very feminine. The whole "Sir" and "Miss" thing was a little confusing, but it also didn't help that she might be the first in a new line of girls who look/sound very masculine. Art: The art's good, though a little weird at times (especially when the characters end up being stylistically "elongated") but this may come across as cool. I did like the look of the DVD menus though. I give the previews credit for being... different, although I personally found them annoying. Sound: The one thing I did like about Hellsing was the music. The selections were unusual but interesting and somehow went well with the show. I wished it was used more often, then I could've enjoyed it as some extravagant AMV. The dubbing for Hellsing is noteworthy if for nothing else than the fact that they got mostly European voice actors for the European setting. Though despite this novelty I still preferred the sub. Freeman was the only one who didn't come across as amateurish to me.

I own both Hellsing's first DVD, Impure Souls as well as the collectors edition which contains the first and the rest of the DVDs. I had no idea what I was going to watch when I purchased both and to be honest, I couldn't be more disappointed. There is no plot! Yes! That's right! There is no direction as to where the anime is going! Incredible, isn't it? There are characters, which I will talk about later, all of them have a background story which intertwines somehow eventually, there is unquestionably a past which is slowly unveiled (and poorly done, may I add) but the sequencesof episodes are just random events that could be summed up by saying that a vampire goes raging. This leads to the characters. Although there is an idea behind each character, most of them, apart from the main character, Alucard, are poorly executed. Most characters don't feel real. Alucard of course gets excused, would he not be the main vampire. However, many important questions remain unanswered throughout the whole anime! Who is the ultimate villain, Incognito? What does he want? Who is Alucard? Who was he before he was a vampire? Who is creating these fake vampires and with what purpose? Unless you want to watch an anime about vampires just for the sheer fun of it, then I won't recommend you picking on this. However, if you just want to consume anything that contains vampirism elements, regardless of the originality, then this might be the show for you. In terms of animation and gore, Hellsing does rise well above the average specially in times where vampires are thought as sweet blood sucking creatures. It comes down to its core and explores the gore and blood of the world of vampires. The artwork is very good and the music though nothing special, does the job. To sum up, Hellsing will entertain you if you like vampires but will add nothing new to your knowledge if your looking for something more.

Story - 6 Hellsing could have done so much more with the material it was working with. Not to say that the story was bad, far from it, but it failed to elaborate and strengthen its plotline enough to really be immersed into it. There was even a setup for a huge conflict between the vatican and the Hellsing corp., that was reduced to almost nothing. I suppose with only 13 episodes you can only expect so much. The story score for Hellsing is a 6. Art - 8 The art in hellsing is just dark enough just red enough to give it a very vampiric feel. Consideringthis is an anime about vampires I'd say thats a good thing. The characters have been drawn well enough to match their personalitlies as well. You could tell that the character would act the way they do almost on appearance. While this might come across as being cookie cutter to some, I think it is an important aspect. The artwork for Hellsing is an 8 Sound - 6 I did not like either the opening nor the ending themes for Hellsing. While the opening might fit the mood of the anime for some, the ending totally fails. It doesn't fit the anime either in lyrics or sound at all. Rest of the soundtrack was nothing to get excited over. Character - 7 There are a few very cool characters in this anime. Alucard is pretty much the trump of the anime being by far the most interesting character. More interesting in fact then the main character who is nothing but dull. Actually almost all the side characters are more interesting then her... Maybe im being a bit too harsh but she never once in the anime does anything that is deserving of the role of main character. Enjoyment - 7 Short but interesting, I was able to make it through the whole anime even without an adequate plotline. It had enough action and blood to keep my eyes fixed and even a certain amount of mystery to toy with my brain a little, but still far from the best level. Overall - 7 I tried not to give this rating based on length, but it is pretty hard not to. Hellsing left too much uncovered, no room for a decent plot, characters that hardly developed, and frankly satisfied only the need to see a little blood and action. There's no better anime out there for people who want to spend a mere 5 hours finishing an anime, and just want to get right to the blood and sweat.

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