Hellsing Ultimate Volume 1

By Tim MacKenzie

Hellsing is a popular gothic action manga by author Kohta Hirano. Fans and critics appreciated his work because of its highly exaggerated art, dark sense of humor, and fantastic action; the violence was over-the-top, the dialogue was a bit tongue-in-cheek, and the characters had extremely unique personalities. Much to his delight, the manga was eventually made into a television series unsurprisingly called Hellsing. To many anime fans, Hellsing TV was a good thing: the animation was solid, the action was intense, and the voices (both subbed and dubbed) were actually great. Unfortunately, it hardly followed the original plotline whatsoever. At about episode 6 of the original anime, Hellsing TV went in a completely different direction than the manga, which disappointed many fans of the original work. Alucard’s battle with the Nazis was completely removed, and instead, the plotline of the animated series went with a different villain.

However, it looks like that will be remedied—because Geneon is producing Hellsing Ultimate, a proper rendition of the manga storyline. Most of the anticipation from Hellsing Ultimate stems from the fact that it will properly cover what the original Hellsing did not, and that it has the chance to improve on many other areas. The same voice actors are back to reprise their roles here, and of course, fans would expect better animation, better sound…better everything. Ironically enough, even though it seems Hellsing Ultimate does deliver, it may wind up being disappointing anyway.

First of all, the animation in Hellsing Ultimate is great. The visuals are dark and over-the-top like the first animated series. Characters are outlined heavily and everything moves gracefully. The backdrops are typically dark and drab, which makes the characters stand out far more. The style is also much more exaggerated in Ultimate; in this way, it resembles the manga appropriately. In addition, one of the points of the Hellsing manga was that it was a bit of the dark comedy, as represented from the dialogue and animation. The 2D designs are animated beautifully and it’s amazing to see some of Alucard’s powers flesh out during the fighting scenes. The first volume features Alucard’s battle with the vicar in the Village of Cheddar, as well as his bouts with Paladin Alexander Anderson. Ultimate also tries to integrate some more CG work into the fold, but unfortunately, it winds up as a bit of a turn-off in comparison to the more stylish 2D animation. There’s no denying that Ultimate features beautiful visuals, and wonderful production value to boot. The presentation is just awesome.

The story is where things become a bit tricky. Obviously, Hellsing Ultimate is a proper rendition of the manga, so it faithfully follows the first few chapters: the Village of Cheddar, the fights with Anderson, etc. Unfortunately, this area actually was covered somewhat accurately by the first TV anime, so it doesn’t have the sort of appeal that later entries will have. It’s basically a re-tread for the second time. Diehard fans will be able to go through it without a problem at all, but other anime fans may simply put it off until later volumes come out because of this. That’s not to say the story is bad, because Ultimate isn’t a poor anime by any means. For the uninitiated, Hellsing Ultimate is a fantastic place to start, but those who have already become acquainted with Hellsing and take a more casual approach to it will probably only be impressed by later volumes.

Hellsing Ultimate begins with police officers having trouble investigating a case in the Village of Cheddar. The vicar has turned into a vampire, and many of the investigative teams are too incompetent to take proper action: enter the Hellsing organization. Obviously we see Alucard step in with his arrogant smirk and maniacal nature to start taking care of business, and fans are treated to an intense taste of the vampire’s power. Alucard mops the floor with the ghouls and the vampire, and looks good while doing it. In the midst of the battle, the vampire grabs Seras and holds her hostage…but the plan doesn’t work so well because Alucard simply shoots through her anyway. This is basically the basic plot set-up for the show, so it will become more interesting later on. The first volume introduces the characters, gives the fans some violence, and that’s about it. One of the interesting things, however, is Ultimate’s method of progression. Instead of going as standard sequential half-hour episodes, Ultimate shows all of his content straight up, with nothing to break it up. You have about 50 minutes of the show, then the closing, and that’s it. It would’ve been nice to get more substance (it would’ve been nice if Geneon could’ve included 100+ minutes of content), but at least the show has great promise.

The voice work (both subbed/dubbed) was great in the original Hellsing, so it’s nice to see that the cast took such an effort into Ultimate. All of the voice actors have reprised their roles here: Crispin Freeman as Alucard, K.T. Gray as Seras, Victoria Harwood as Integra, and so on for the English cast. The characters actually sound better this time around, and thankfully, they haven’t lost their charm—although they didn’t have to try that hard, because even the original work sounded fine. Alucard is a maniacal, sadistic monster, Seras is still awkward and Integra is still a badass. Whether or not to go with sub vs dub is really a matter of preference here, because both actually fits the characters well. The writing can come off as a little cheesy, and admittedly, this is not an intellectual’s anime, but everything fits well and that’s what counts. The soundtrack, however, is a bit harder to judge than the voice work. The OSTs for the Hellsing anime (titled “Raid” and “Ruins” respectively) featured an insane mix of classical/rock/jazz befitting of its dark nature. However, Ultimate features a new soundtrack that has some similar music, although some of the main themes (such as the ending theme) display more of an “epic” feel befitting of the war theme featured later in the series. The ending theme of the first volume is “Gradus Vita,” performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra…and is beautifully done. The songs that play during the show aren’t quite as inspired as this (it’s difficult to compare), but overall, the soundtrack is fitting here, and ultimately works.

Now let’s talk about value. The standard version retails for about $24.99, and only includes the main disc. $25 is a steep price just for the main feature with limited options, despite the great production. Luckily, Best Buy offered an exclusive offer for the Limited Edition DVD for the same price—which includes a metal tin and a second disc with interviews, promo videos, an art gallery, etc. There’s also a version that retails for $45, and besides including the metal case and both discs, also comes packaged with an Alucard bust. For the price of admission, Geneon should’ve included more actual content to the show, but that’s not to say there’s no substance here. The first OVA, particularly the Limited Edition, is a great collector’s item and is far more attractive than the standard bare-bones anime DVD.

So what’s the verdict on Ultimate? It looks and sounds great, the action is over-the-top, and it’s an attractive buy for fans and collectors. The big hits are that the content isn’t as appealing as it could be because this a second re-tread of the same story—it’ll be more intriguing once it hits its stride—and that it feels a little short. Casual fans will probably want to wait for a later volume or watch a friend’s copy, and for those who weren’t interested in Hellsing beforehand…this isn’t going to change your mind. However, if you like the Hellsing and can’t get enough of Alucard sadistically killing things while laughing his head off, then this is a go.