Hellsing

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

Hellsing UMD V. 1

By David Rasmussen
20th Aug 06

The PSP is not brimming with a wide variety of Animes to watch, so finding some choice picks for the PSP in terms of Anime is -- well -- a hit or miss proposition.
So, in that regard, let’s take a look at another recommendable PSP UMD title worth checking out for your collection… Hellsing UMD V. 1.

If you are familiar with my past reviews of the Hellsing franchise, you know I’ve been reviewing in the past the Hellsing Manga series (which is being handled by Dark Horse). I didn’t review the DVD series, but now that I’ve got this PSP (and continue to find new ways to justify the investment for reviewing from this portable) I have the time to review PSP Anime UMDs… like this one.

Ok. You know all about the better known Van Hellsing, right? Be it from the (oh god I’m referring to it) Hugh Jackman disaster movie, or the Van Hellsing inspired character from the AD&D Ravenloft series (or even from other movies or from other actors portrayal of the character, for instance the portrayal done by Max Von Sydow for instance).

Why is that so important though, when we’re supposed to be talking Hellsing from Japan? Because they are connected, in a manner of speaking.
This is the Hellsing Organization, whose descendants can claim connection to the original Van Hellsing, and who continue on his battle against creatures of the night… only unlike the Hugh Jackman movie these Hellsings are NOT tools of the Vatican since they’re Protestant, not Catholic (as Hugh Jackman’s interpretation of the character was since he called Vatican City his base of operation and the Catholic church his bosses).

This Hellsing, based out of the UK (and not Vatican City), protect Queen and Country from the unholy evil that is the supernatural. Yeah, the United States, Japan and the UK seems to have a market for secret supernatural crushing organizations hellbent on destroying the unholy evil… so what does Canada have… Alpha Flight? And don’t you even get me started about the heroic potential of Greenland or Iceland!

But back to Hellsing. The present head of the Organization is a woman named Integra. Hard smokin’, probably hard drinkin, and all about just hard, she did not get into the family business the easy way. After her father died, willing the Hellsing Organizationo ver to her, she was nearly the subject of an inter-family insurrection as her own uncle tried to off her. Yeah, don’t you know that “ownership” of those secret organizations are just too darn tempting to pass up (especially if he waited forever and a century to get ahold of it only to be passed over for the leadership role).

While hiding from Uncle Snearest’s goons, Intergra stumbled onto the hiding place of a corpse that (upon tasting blood) fully revived and become her protection against the worst darkness and humans have to throw against her. Meet Alucard , the ultimate achievement of over 100 years of undead research (basically Dracula spelled backwards though the subtitles seem to spell the name differently from the manga).

Now if you are familiar with the little known long forgotten corner of the AD&D universe known as Ravenloft (and, really, who remembers that these days since nobody has uttered the name Ravenloft in such a long long time) then you know that this is plausible since the Van Hellsing family (and the man who was cloned after Van Hellsing) was aces at the whole undead research thing, and he makes for one helluva kick ass main character being so damn cool and stuff.

Anyway long story short. He deems the uncle unfit to lead, and gives him and his few followers the undead “whammy” as he seals his displeasure with the seal of unapproval (aka death).
With that Integra becomes head of the Organization, Alucard becomes operative no. 1 with a silver bullet (packing a nasty big hand pistol capable of chucking monster holes into enemies) and we start the UMD version of the Anime series. Hellsing UMD V. 1.

Episode 1 - The Undead
The first few minutes are just dramatic introduction as some older guy gets all touchy feely with a docile evil vampire woman who stands perfectly still so Alucard can punch a hole into her head and dust her. Yeah, dusting in this show is not as dramatic as in the Blade movies, but it gets the job done.

After that the assignment is to head the to village of Cheddar (home of cheese) where the latest priest to come to town has been munching on things other than the namesake cheese of the town… namely he’s been making people disappear and turning cops into “ghouls” (or if you’re just plain too addicted to Resident Evil games you can call them “Zombies” though they are technically NOT Zombies in a sense).

Anyway one female officer is still alive, which means (if you read my Hellsing V. 1 (manga) review I did sometime ago (www.animeboredom.co.uk) you know that means the first appearance of Victoria Seras, aka “Police Girl”… and, in this Anime version, aka “Little Kitty” (Neko-chan?)

Violence roars, blood (or pure and otherwise) flies, and Seras (in order of necessity to save her) becomes a vampire. Nice start to the series.

Episode 2 - Club M
Seras, the newly deceased vampire now new agent of Hellsing Organization (at the request of Alucard, pronounced Arurcard in the subtitles) is not having an easy time of it. For, to paraphrase Kermit the Frog, it’s not easy… being undead.

She’s not getting used to her new abilities, she’s not getting used to killing the undead (she totally freezes up and drops the ball on an easy cap off of a wandering newbie vampire stalker), she’s not getting used to drinking blood or sleeping in a giant king sized bed that converts into a coffin… she’s just not coping well.

Maybe a job concerning a pair of “Bonnie & Clyde” roaming newbie vampires who take the Rob Zombie approach to life by wandering (on their totally gimpy little motorbike thing) north (killing happy families in their homes along the way) will get her back in the game again. Maybe.

Otherwise for the most part it’s a day in the undead unlife of Seras episode, her first with Hellsing.

Episode 3 - Sword Dancer
Press the panic button and call Aoi House! A Yaoi turned horribly wrong is about to occur!
Italian guy, rich and well off in family, ends up… well, let’s just say you are about to hear the story of the blonde near naked dude who cried Mick(u). (At least he didn’t go totally nude ala Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2 : Sons of Liberty).

Oh, and since this has all the earmarks of an italian intervention fresh from his stint over at the Vatican is the Catholic church’s answer to Hellsing, Iscariot Organization (aka Section XIII), led by a tall (should have been in basketball) priest with a fetish for bladed weapons, plastering the walls with sacred parchments to inhibit the powers of vampires and killing human and undead alike regardless of whether they’re friend or foe (all in the name of the Vatican and that pope who wasn’t Pope John Paul II).

Oh, and Alucard and this guy from Iscariot have a totally nasty bloody bitchslappin’ fight because they don’t like each other at all… go figure. (Expect to see much more of this total breakdown in communications between Hellsing and Iscariot in the near future… if anymore UMDs ever come out).
That’s that. There would have been more if we were reviewing Hellsing DVD V. 1 and NOT UMD V. 1 -- uh?!? You’re KIDDING ME!! THIS IS 100% episode turnaround?!?
Well slap me and call me O’Reilly! That’s a surprise! At last Geneon surprises me with a UMD that contains the same episode count (if I read this right from the original DVD review) as it’s DVD counterpart!
Guess giving this a 5 out of 5 is truly justified now isn‘t it! Now the breakdown in communications (amen).

Hellsing UMD Breakdown the 1st
What’s Hot?
This is a “new to me” view again, like my review of Read or Die (first time I saw the anime when I picked up and reviewed the PSP UMD), and I liked it. Sure, it’s not “new to me” in totality since I’ve read Hellsing the manga, but… well, you know what I mean. Hellsing is as good as the manga, if not more so. It’s a nice series (why didn‘t I check this out sooner is beyond me), and considering I am usually one who is shy about horror series I found this worthy of viewing (and owning). (Guess that’s why I didn’t check it out sooner, the whole being gunshy about horror titles and all that.)

In fact, considering how well I received this series reviewwise here and now, you might even come to the conclusion that this might be my new horror fix for the coming months…

What’s Not?
Of course you would think that if, I don‘t know, Geneon ACTUALLY RELEASED MORE UMDs!! Ahem…now… (cough cough)… you people at Geneon go out and make some more UMDs, and I‘ll, you know, review them. Now if there is one thing I HATE about the whole discouraging PSP UMD reviewing thing is the total lack of follow through when it comes to UMD releases! One UMD of Read or Die released to date, one UMD of Hellsing released to date, one UMD of Cowboy Bebop… need I go on?
How can I get hooked on a series if the series ends just as it began? Yes, I’m all happy that this UMD contains the same episode count as the DVD and all but still… show more!

Moments to Remember?
Oh the horror! The lovely bloody vicious horror! Oh the joys of the horror and the vicious bloody violence! (This is Older Teen 16+ only please, remember that!)

What to Ignore?
That I actually crooned slightly about the joys of the horror and violence.
Oh, and the thing on the jewel case about there being nudity in this UMD, and there isn’t any that I noted when I spun it a few times over. Ignore that.

Overall?
Looking for a series with bite (but didn’t like watching Hellsing on TV in English Dub?), then picking this up for your PSP (because you, like me, continue to thrive to find new series to justify owning a PSP) is something you should do ASAP.

So then, once you pick it up, sit back in the comfort of your own room and enjoy the dark violence in the comfort of your favorite sitting chair or bed… wherever you watch your PSP.

-- David Rasmussen 20th Aug 06

Hellsing Images