Hellsing - Ultimate Series: 1
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Warning: Review may contain spoilers!
DVD Information
Cover Summary
For over a century, the Hellsing Organization has been secretly protecting the British Empire from the undead "freaks." When Sir Integra Hellsing succeeded as the head of the organization, she also inherited the ultimate weapon against these undead enemies, a rogue vampire named Arucard. Armed with an enormous "anti-freak" gun and possessing mysterious and frightening powers, Arucard is forced to shoot Seras Victoria, a policewoman held hostage by a vampire. "Do you want to live?" he asks Seras, whose very answer changes the course of her existence. Now reborn as Arucard's servant, Seras is torn between her conflicting humanity and her vampire urges...
DVD Features
16x9 Anamorphic Widecreen (Encoded from HD master)
English 5.1 Dolby Digital
Japanese 2.0 Dolby Digital
English Subtitles
50 minutes running time
Rating: 16 up
Characters
Integra Wingates Hellsing
Integra is very much in charge of the Hellsing Organization that she inherited upon her father's death. She handles everyone calmly and confidently, whether they be the powerful Arucard, regional police or even the Vatican's Paladin Alexander Anderson. She's not hesitant about going out into action herself if need be and is the only person that Arucard listens to.
When we first see Integra in the beginning flashback segment she gives the initial impression of being a stereotypical helpless girl. Integra is anything but stereotypical however, even though Arucard helps to rescue her from her murderous uncle it's apparent that Integra finishes him off by shooting him. In the present time sequences Integra is very obviously in command and quite sure of herself. She's completely unfazed that the officers in charge of the police operation in the town of Cheddar don't believe her, coolly explaining to them what is really going on and getting a cigar to smoke while she does so. Later on when she learns of Anderson traveling to Ireland to encounter Arucard and Seras she heads out herself, taking bodyguards but making sure she herself is armed. In the end the bodyguards are so much cannon fodder while Integra stands her ground against Anderson, never losing her cool even when he has her pinned to the wall.
Arucard
Arucard is the ultimate vampire fighting on the side of humanity. While other vampires can be killed by shooting or stabbing them in the head or heart, Arucard can regenerate from such damage and come back to life. Arucard's regeneration abilities are quite impressive, allowing him to recover from enormous damage that literally tears his body to pieces. Arucard is disdainful of the weak vampires he hunts, criticizing one for being unable to heal damage they take as well as not being able to fight once they run out of ammo.
Arucard is also enigmatic, when the young Integra asks his name he tells her the name that her father called him by. Whether this is because he was truly created by the Hellsing Organization and named by them or because he wishes not to share his real name is unknown. He makes Seras Victoria a vampire after he has to shoot her in the process of killing the vampire in the town of Cheddar, but his motives for doing so aren't clear. He tells Integra that perhaps he did it because human capriciousness is rubbing off on him but Integra suspects Arucard's own sentimentality was the reason. Undoubtedly there is far more we have yet to learn about Arucard than what we already know. He is definitely the series' most intriguing character.
Seras Victoria
Seras Victoria is a young policewoman who has the misfortune to be among those sent to the town of Cheddar to try and contain the chaos caused by the vampire in that town. While she manages to escape from the vampire initially she ends up a hostage and Arucard is forced to shoot her in the process of killing the vampire. When Arucard asks her what she wants to do she indicates to him that she doesn't want to die, and Arucard makes her into an immortal vampire. Since Seras is new to being a vampire, she serves to help us learn more about them as she herself learns.
While Seras provides the occasional comic relief in the OVA, she is stronger than she might initially appear. Despite the horrific things she has experienced she continues on in the service of the Hellsing Organization without any trouble and takes to her role quite quickly -- taking down a running vampire who is several hundred meters distant on her first mission. She seems to be struggling with her vampiric nature at times, the best example being when she refrains from drinking Arucard's blood. This conflict is most likely something that will continue to be developed in future episodes of the OVA.
Father Alexander Anderson
Father Alexander Anderson is a Paladin of the Vatican's secret Iscariot Organization. He has a great hatred of vampires and heathens and feels that he as agent of God and as such is God's instrument of destruction on Earth to wipe out all those who oppose God. Anderson's believes are quite strong and he seems to make little distinction between vampires and Protestants. To him all those that are of a demonic nature, no matter what side the fight on, and those who are not of the Catholic church are all equally repugnant and fair targets. Anderson's attitudes and beliefs seem to be rooted in the historic Catholic crusades in the middle ages.
While Anderson is not an entirely normal human, having advanced regeneration abilities normally only seen in vampires, he comes across as far more evil than the vampire Arucard. Anderson's willingness to not only attack vampires who are fighting on the side of humans, but to attack, and kill, human guards simply because they're heathen Protestants contrasts sharply with Arucard. In Ireland Arucard tells Seras that ghouls can not be changed back into humans and that their killing them quickly is showing them the only mercy left to them. While he does shoot Seras in the process of killing the vampire in the town of Cheddar, he apologizes and makes her into a vampire when she indicates she doesn't want to die. Anderson seems to show no compassion at all for his victims or regret for his actions. He's unwilling to withdraw, even when informed he's violating the cross border treaty and creating a crisis between the Vatican and the Hellsing Organization until he realizes he is outmatched by Arucard.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack is excellent, all the music fits the scenes perfectly and enhances them. Due to the atmosphere of Hellsing, this isn't the type of music most people would want to listen to stand-alone, but the music does its job quite well. It's hard to imagine how the music could be improved in any way, it's simply perfect already.
Pacing
Since this is the first OVA episode it has to provide most of the back story, explain terminology for the Hellsing universe and set up the story for the rest of the series. Some titles can get bogged down trying to do all of this, but Hellsing Ultimate keeps the pace moving briskly. The necessary scenes from the past are broken up into multiple flashbacks instead of occurring all in one shot, really helping with the pacing. After starting with a brief flashback to set up some of the back story we go to the scenes in the town of Cheddar, where Integra's interaction with the commanding officers there serve to explain the terminology of the Hellsing universe. By the end of the scenes in Cheddar we have nearly all of the back story and also all of the terminology, without the pacing getting bogged down any in the process.
After Cheddar there's a brief bit of comedic relief that manages to fit perfectly into the flow of the plot. The next sequence serves to introduce us more to the powers that vampires have as well as get us used to Seras' new role as a member of the Hellsing Organization. This is the only part of the OVA where the pacing felt off. This sequence could probably have been trimmed a bit, but overall it's not a major problem. Immediately following this sequence we are introduced to Father Anderson and these scenes help to provide us with some insight into his character. Immediately following this we go straight to Ireland where the confrontation between Anderson and Arucard will take place. This section uses the same technique that was used for the flashbacks to keep the pacing moving along while providing us with the necessary information. Occasionally we cut to Integra and those scenes not only provide us with more information about Anderson, they also help to move the story along. By the time Integra arrives in Ireland we are aware that she isn't concerned that Arucard is in trouble, she's more worried about what Arucard might do. This serves to make the revelations about Arucard's powers less of a surprise, but it also makes them more believable as well.
Along the way the story manages to leave enough questions unanswered to keep our interest and make us want to see more. The ending scene with the shadowy figure really drives this home, making us wonder exactly what is really going on behind the scenes.
Menus & Extras
The DVD menus are nice and simple, with short animated sequences when changing menus. Everything is easy to find and laid out simply and logically. Interestingly the Scenes section lists the titles of each section instead of having thumbnails as most titles do. Personally I liked this approach but others may not like it.
There are no extras with this volume which is disappointing. Since the ending sequence serves as the next episode preview as well I was really hoping for a textless ending to better see the scenes shown in it. All we get are trailers of other titles and the DVD credits.
Summary
We start in the past shortly after Integra's father has died. Integra's uncle wants to take control of the Hellsing organization and is pursuing the young Integra in order to kill her. Integra flees to the jail in the basement where here father told her to go if the situation was ever desperate. Her uncle finds her there and shoots her, wounding Integra's arm. Unfortunately for him the blood she sheds only serves to awaken the occupant of the jail -- Arucard, the Hellsing Organization's ultimate weapon.
Back in the present the police are responding to a disturbance in the town of Cheddar. The disturbance turns out to be caused by a vampire in the church. Scenes shift between the chaos in Cheddar and the police's operation tent where Integra is explaining to those in charge that there is a vampire in the village and they are creating ghouls -- any non-virgin human, or human of the opposite sex, fed upon by a vampire become ghouls controlled by a vampire. Integra explains that the Hellsing Organization is a special operations unit organized to "eradicate the satanic monsters that wish to harm [the] British Empire and Protestant Church." Hellsing has sent in their top anti-vampire specialist -- the vampire Arucard.
Upon encountering Arucard the vampire from Cheddar has his ghouls attack with their weapons, since the majority of the ghouls are police officers sent in to try to stop the chaos. After a massive barrage it momentarily appears that Arucard has been defeated, but he quickly regenerates, repairing all the damage dealt to him. At this point he pulls out his weapon -- a custom built Hellsing handgun that uses 13mm exploding bullets made from a melted down silver cross from Lanchester Cathedral -- and proceeds to take out all the ghouls using a single shot for each. The vampire takes Seras Victoria hostage, at which point Arucard asks her is she's a virgin. Once she answers yes, Arucard shoots the vampire through Seras' body, and finishes him off. At this point he explains to Seras that she is dying, the gun is quite high caliber and she won't last long and asks her what she wants to do. Seras chooses to become a vampire herself instead of dying.
Seras awakens in the Hellsing mansion, where she learns that she will be working for Hellsing in the mission to eradicate vampires and is sent out on her first mission with Arucard. Seras is given a high caliber rifle suitable for sniping and begins to learn of her newly acquired vampiric abilities. Under Arucard's instruction she draws upon these abilities to shoot a fleeing vampire several hundred meters away through the heart. Seras is amazed to discover that she feels almost no kickback from the obviously high caliber rifle and also that she was able to see more clearly than she'd ever been able to see in the past, even in daylight.
In what is apparently a Catholic school a man comes to visit the Father Anderson. He tells him there have been a number of strange occurrences lately, most within England's borders, and that they involve an abnormally high number of vampires. Both men seem to be disappointed that Hellsing's been handling the incidents better than they expected them to and keeping the number of Protestant causalities to a minimum. Anderson inquires as to what the man wants with him, saying that if the incidents are occurring in England they can simply leave them to Hellsing. The man then tells Anderson that that Hellsing has taken action in Ireland -- a location that both men obviously feel is Catholic territory and should not be under Hellsing's jurisdiction.
Arucard and Seras are on a mission again, this time at a location in Ireland. As Seras is gunning down ghouls she begins to become more aggressive, violent and her eyes turn red, indicating that she is giving in more to her vampiric side. Seras finishes off the last ghoul by crushing its head with her foot, and its blood spatters on her. As she is about to lick the blood from her hands she is suddenly pierced from behind by several bayonets. Arucard recognizes them as Holy Bayonets just as a spiritual barrier is put up around the corridor. Father Anderson then arrives from the stairway, blood dripping from the bayonets he carries, announcing himself as an "agent of God", an "instrument of his divine punishment on Earth" with the mission to wipe out all "fools who oppose him." Back at the Hellsing mansion Integra receives a report from their intelligence office at the Vatican tipping her off that Anderson has gone to Ireland and most likely encountered Arucard and Seras already. She departs quickly for Ireland herself taking two bodyguards, her gun and a sword.
In Ireland Anderson and Arucard start to face off, Anderson saying that it's been a while since he went vampire hunting. Anderson wants to have fun fighting Arucard, saying the vampire in the building that Arucard and Seras were sent to deal with was only "a piddling, two-bit, small-timer" that he didn't even have time to have fun with before finishing him off. In their initial exchange Arucard seems to have won, shooting Anderson in the head. As Arucard is explaining to Seras about the Holy Bayonets he is surprised when Anderson suddenly attacks him from behind. Again Arucard seems to defeat Anderson by connecting with several shots from his gun, but Anderson recovers and continues to come after Arucard. Finally Anderson manages to immobilize Arucard by nailing him to the wall with a Holy Bayonet through both of his hands. At this point we see Anderson heal from the gunshot wounds he had last received. Anderson explains that his race was "engineered and manufactured" to fight vampires. Anderson stabs Arucard through with several Holy Bayonets, then proceeds to behead him with two more.
Seras is shocked to see her master Arucard apparently defeated but manages to flee from Anderson with Arucard's head wile Anderson is gloating over his apparent victory. As Seras is grieving over Arucard leaving her Anderson finds her and manages to pin Arucard's head to the wall with another Holy Bayonet. Seras discovers she is unable to escape due to Anderson's spiritual barrier, but just as she is most desperate Arucard speaks to her and his head dissolves into blood. Arucard tells her to drink his blood, and with it she can become an eternal "No Life King". Seras hesitates, confused, giving Anderson a chance to reach her. Just as he is about to attack shots suddenly ring out destroying his Holy Bayonets -- Integra has arrived.
Integra demands that Anderson surrender, saying that his attacking them is a serious violation of the agreement between the Hellsing organization and the Vatican and that if he doesn't there will be a serious crisis between them. Anderson refuses to withdraw, attacking Integra, taking out both her bodyguards, and pinning her against a wall. He gloats that all of Hellsing is too weak, including that "garbage man" Arucard, who's head he chopped off. As Anderson says he's going to kill them all, Integra says he'd better hurry up because Arucard is about to come back to life. Just as Anderson is the pinnacle of anti-vampire technology, Arucard is the greatest of the vampires, created by the Hellsing Organization over 100 years. Cutting off his head or stabbing him in the heart won't stop Arucard like it does other vampires, he'll still come back to life. Anderson attacks Arucard again but quickly realizes that he is outclassed in his current state. He chooses to retreat, vowing that next time he will kill them all.
Arucard and Integra talk with Integra telling Arucard that Anderson's actions are a serious cross border violation with their agreement with the Vatican and that the Vatican will owe them big for this. However, Anderson and his Iscariot Organization aren't the ones Hellsing is fighting now, there's a large scale organization working in the shadows behind all the recent vampire attacks in England. Arucard urges Integra to give him the order and he will wipe them out, she says she will when the time comes. Arucard then asks Seras why she didn't drink his blood. Seras says she isn't sure, but that she felt like is she did it would be the end of something. Arucard calls her a nitwit but says perhaps it's OK for her, for someone like her who's "scared to walk at night." Integra asks Arucard why he chose to make Seras a vampire, he replies that perhaps it's human capriciousness rubbing off on him from all the time he has spent among humans. As Arucard and Seras leave Integra says that perhaps it was really the sentimentality of a "No-Life-King". As the OVA ends a shadowy figure speaks of carrying on plans for "the war! The next war! The war after the next war!!"
Opinion
To be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to watching this. I tend to prefer other genres over action/horror and was concerned that I would not enjoy Hellsing. I was pleasantly surprised with the depth of the story and found myself enjoying it quite a bit, although it is far too bloody in places for my taste. The story is quite good, the characters are interesting and I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the series and finding out what is going on behind the scenes.
With that said, I still feel the blood is excessive in places, even considering the target genre for Hellsing. Some of the most massive bloodshed seems to have been done for no other reason than to have lots of blood squirting everywhere and contributes nothing to the story. When you find yourself thinking that the amount of blood coming out of a body is completely impossible it pulls you out of the story and interrupts your enjoyment of the show. Thankfully not every scene in Hellsing is like this so overall it's still a great title.
Finally I was impressed with the graphics. The art style uses much heavier lines than I'm used to seeing but the approach really fits with the story so it works great. The CG graphics are integrated into the 2D graphics incredibly well. While you can still tell what is CG and what's not most of the time, the CG doesn't look like it doesn't belong in the world on screen, a problem that I often notice with CG. Hellsing also has what are probably some of the most detailed teeth ever animated. Given the story this makes a lot of sense, but it can take some getting used to.
Links
Press Release & Trailers
Omake: Wallpapers, Avatars, Etc.
Official Website
Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc.
Screenshots
