Hellsing

Publisher
ADV
Director
Yasunori Urata
Production
Gonzo Digimation
Format
Series
Running time
13 episodes
Year
2001

Hellsing

By Tobias Rosenbaum
9th May 04

Since generations the Hellsing family and the Royal Order of protestant Knights have been fighting a battle against the living dead. However, in our modern times, nothing is as it has been, with chips turning humans into blood sucking monsters, and vampires protecting humanity from the evil lurking in the shadows.

This is the setting of Hellsing, and the main actor on the stage is Alucard. Alucard is a vampire, bound by some unexplained mystery to serve, and Hellsing Institutions most secret weapon. Alucard is bored by his everlasting existence, and his only amusement left is to battle other creatures of the night.

The other main characters of Hellsing are:

Integra Hellsing - The head of the Hellsing Institute. She is a very cold woman, devoting her live to protect her queen and her nation as well as to eradicate every last trace of the living dead. We will find out later how such unlikely allies as Integra and Alucard could match together.

Celeste Victoria - A former police officer, she and Alucard meet in the first episode. That night would change her live forever.

The good side

The first episodes basically show Alucard hunting down different targets. The first one he hunts a fallen priest, the second one he fights "Bonny & Clyde" gone undead, and in the third order he destroys a gay italian vampire.

This might sound boring, but in fact isnt. The drawing is nicely done, the music excells, the story builds up nicely and Alucard is coolness gone person (especially when he beats the crap out of his victims). There is also some character development as Celeste tries to get on with her new "life".

The bad

There have been two different companys working on Hellsing. You will see many style changes (especially Alucard looks different in the last episodes). The bad thing about it is, that it starts great and gets worse towards the end. Especially the final fight is poorly drawn, and if you did not know better you would think that you were watching a different anime. Same goes with the story, which does not follow the original manga, but goes its own way. And by doing that, it avoids to use the well established storyline of the first half by introducing a new villain, as well as not bringing most of the subplots to an end.

So what?

As said above, the first couple of episodes (1-8) are great and a "must have seen" for every vampire or anime fan. Episode 10 contains a lot of information about Integra's background and is very interesting.

The rest... well, I was very disappointed how the producers managed to lead this excellent anime into a complete disaster. You will know after you have seen it.

9/10

-- Tobias Rosenbaum 9th May 04

Hellsing Images