Hellsing Ultimate OVAs 1 & 2 Review.

Today I’m going to review of the first entries of the Hellsing Ultimate OVA series, which I've been putting off for a long time. I watched about 6 episodes of the original Hellsing TV series. While it certainly had a nice style and atmosphere, the production values were quite poor. At the time, I also read the first volume of the manga, I knew that there was an OVA series in production that had better animation, and that apparently the ending for the TV series sucked. So I decided to drop it and watch the “real thing”.

The 1^st OVA episode covers the first volume of the manga and as such suffers from a slightly choppy plot. It starts off with a flashback scene of how Integra meet Alucard and then goes right back to the present to the town of Cheddar where Alucard meets (and by “meets”, I mean kill and resurrect) up with the person he makes his partner, Seras Victoria. After that the main characters are sent on another mission where they have to kill a few vampires that have been killing people, where the writers take the opportunity to further build upon the relationship between Seras and Alucard. And to end the episode, while on a mission to exterminate a vampire in Northern Ireland, Seras and Alucard run into Father Alexander Anderson who works for the Iscariot Organization.

The 2^nd OVA is much more linear. It starts with a flashback that features Alucard being defeat by Van Helsing. It’s a nice piece that wasn’t in the manga, but it works to show that the series is set in the same continuity as the original Dracula novel. After that we’re shown that Integra is at a Round Table Conference to discuss the findings of the recent increases in vampire attacks. While on the outside, the Valentine Brothers prepare to make their assault on Hellsing Headquarters with the help of ghoul army. At the end of the episode, we’re left with the introduction of the Millennium Nazis, which were not introduced at all in the TV series, but they are present in here so it gives a promise of fresh new content in the 3^rd episode, and it leaves no room for direct comparison to the TV series either.

While the production quality is indeed high, if you take away the gory violence from Hellsing, you’re really left with a shallow plot and your enjoyment of it will greatly depend on how much you can enjoy and tolerate graphic violence and action. The fights are pretty exciting, but once you learn that Alucard is presented as a demi-god, then you might find the ones involving him to be anti-climatic. The musical score in the OVA often looked down upon by fans of the TV series, whose punk rock style is replaced by a more techno and orchestral type of music. Personally, I find the overall score for the Ultimate series to be far more fitting.

Another big difference between the 2 series is the change in tone. While the original series took itself very seriously (except the next episode previews), these OVAs retain the oddball humor that’s present in the manga. To be honest, it does not work very well. It’s placed in some pretty bad places, though it does amuse but in a “this doesn’t really belong here” kind of way. The art style for both do provide a good haunting atmosphere, but the OVAs stick closer to the original art style and stays much more consistent in terms of quality, except in a few spots in the first OVA where it gets to be a bit choppy.

The English dub for Hellsing is one of the best out there. The show is set in England, so New Generation Pictures went the extra step in hiring actual British talent for this dub. The high points of the performances are Father Anderson (complete with a Scottish accent) and Jan Valentine, who both bring a great deal of energy and life to the show that it wouldn’t be the same without them. I don’t really want to comment on the Japanese version too much except that from what I can tell the performances are pretty good in their own right, though there’s quite a bit of mangled English. If you prefer to watch to your anime in Japanese, then it won’t disappoint. The script follows closely to the original Japanese version, but overall I’d recommend listening to this one in English.

Like with most anime that feature Christianity, its religious (and sacrilegious) symbolism is just there to look cool. It may offend some, or make other roll their eyes, but you do have to keep in mind it’s merely being used as style and has no meaning otherwise.

And I think that really sums up Hellsing so far. I look forward to upcoming volumes, though they’re released at a snail’s pace, but it’s better slow and good than what Gonzo came up with.

Dub (overall) B+

Sub(overall)B+

Art:B+

Animation: A-

Music:B+

Story:C