DVD REVIEW . Hellsing Ultimate Series 1

by Chris   ⋅   December 7, 2006   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

Having seen, and enjoyed the original Hellsing television series, I was a little surprised about the Hellsing Ultimate redo of the Hellsing series. Apparently series creator Kouta Hirano was less than happy with the original product, citing problems with the order of events in the series, as well as the introduction of non-manga villain Incognito (thanks Wikipedia!). That didn’t stop the anime from receiving a respectable following here in the states, but Hirano wanted a chance to get it right. Well, now you can see Hellsing as intended, from the very beginning.

If you’re not familiar with Hellsing, the basic story follows Arucard (Dracura backwards), an ancient vampire, and his vampire ingénue, Seras (a police girl turned vampire servant), as they help Britain’s centuries old Hellsing organization fight the hordes of zombie “freaks” and crazed evangelical assassins. Rounding out the series’ occult storyline are healthy doses of Protestant vs. Catholic dissidence, vampire existentialism, and super slick gunplay.

This first disc of Hellsing Ultimate (aka: Hellsing OAV) follows the first manga issue of Hellsing. This basically concerns Seras’s turn to a vampire at the hands of Arucard, and their first battles with the ghoulish “freaks” and warrior priest Alexander Anderson. If you’ve seen the original series you’ll notice that this rendition divides the screen time far more evenly between Seras and Arucard (Seras being the recipient of a noticeable majority in the TV version). Various elements of the shows mythology are explored in more depth straight from the get go, such as the explanations on the differences between ghouls and Vampires, and Integra’s discovery of Arucard. Furthermore, events aren’t depicted in quite such a linear fashion, as flashbacks and plot points from later episodes later episodes are nested with elements from the very first. Hellsing Ultimate also shows itself to be the more hard edged take on Hellsing, with more gritty violence and a higher creep factor than the original.

But the differences don’t stop there. Hellsing Ultimate has a distinctively different look from Hellsing TV. Character designs are

more in line with standard manga illustrations, with thin lines for character details and noticeably thicker lines about their silhouette. Characters such as Seras and Integra receive the most noticeably different renderings; the “Police Girl” seems older, taller, and less cutesy, and Sir Integra far less androgynous. In addition to the standard cell drawings the artists employ quite a bit of cell shading for objects such as guns and bullets, and shiny cg for spray and puddle blood effects. Although these stand in stark contrast to the flat lines of the characters, it’s a nice effect, and is never once a distraction.

Lastly, the voice acting is great all around, for both the English and Japanese tracks. It is worth noting that Geneon brought back all the original voice talent from the Hellsing television series, with every main actor reprising their respective roles. As such, the transition from one to the other should prove all the more smooth for the fans of the original.

If forced to compare the two versions of Hellsing, I would have to say I like the flow of this one a bit more. Having seen the original through to completion, I must say I find the new character designs a bit jarring, for even though they may be truer translations of their manga counterparts, I’ve grown a bit attached to the original butcheries. The action is definitely more engaging, and the overall episode more memorable. This first outing is a mere 50 minutes long, twice as long as the original television episodes, but again just the single episode. It’s a very close call, but I think Hellsing Ultimate might actually be the superior one.

The Disc:
The disc Geneon provided for review was the Hellsing Ultimate Series Standard Edition. As such, there are no special features aside from a small Geneon trailer collection, featuring the videogame anime, Disgaea, the Chiaki Kuriyama spooker, Last Quarter, and the creepy French-Victorian anime La Cosette. Hellsing Ultimate is presented in its original 16:9 aspect ratio with both 5.1 English and 2.0 Japanese language tracks, and optional English subtitles. As the back of the box proudly proclaims, the video transfer was encoded from a High Definition master. As such, the video is extremely clear, with all edges razor sharp, and no discernable color bleed. The audio is equally clear for both the English 5.1 and Japanese 2.0 tracks, though most likely nowhere near the DTS 5.1 English and DD 5.1 Japanese tracks available on the Special Edition.

If you’re just interested in catching the latest version of Hellsing, and don’t care about extras such as makings of, audio commentaries, and plastic figurines, this disc should be more than sufficient. However, if you have the money (twice the cost to be exact), you might want to check out the Special Edition, as it has everything mentioned earlier, and much much more. The $24.99 MSRP does seem a bit expensive for a 50 minute anime whose story has arguably already been told, and featuring nothing in the way of Special features, but the Hellsing Ultimate story is good, and worth a look for the discerning anime fan. If you don’t own the original Hellsing discs you won’t be disappointed picking this up. For the rest of you, however, you might want to wait for a sale.

Bonus items:

Click here for a Geneon podcast on the making of Hellsing Ultimate.
Click here for our Hellsing Ultimate DVD contest.

About the Author

Chris Nelson has been a film fanatic since age six. A former film and English major, he is now a Software Engineer and contract Technical Writer living in the Silicon Valley.

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