Forget what you think you know. Monsters are real and they come in all kinds
of terrifying forms. For the ones that
threaten England, there is only one group capable of dealing with them: The
Hellsing Organization. What makes this
group stand out from your average monster hunters? They have a monster of their own, the
ultimate Vampire Hunter, Alucard. A
dying Police Girl, Seras Victoria, is brought in by Alucard himself and she
begins a journey into the night filled with Vampires, Ghouls and horrifying man
made weapons. Monsters beware when
there’s a blood red moon and Alucard prowls the night.
Every Halloween I try to find a horror themed Anime for
the month of October. This little
tradition kicked off back in 2016 with my review of the original Hellsing TV
Series. Ever since I tackled that one,
I’ve wondered when id get to the truer to the source material OVA that followed
it years later. Well, that day has come. Alucard, Integra, Seras and the gang have all
come back for another go. Welcome,
ladies and gents, to Hellsing Ultimate.
From the get go, this OVA could not look or feel more
different from its TV Series predecessor.
From the oddly thinner character designs to the operatic score to the
oceans of blood, Hellsing Ultimate is doing everything the TV Series could not
and running with the carnage at full speed.
Of my numerous thoughts on the TV Series, I noted that despite its
unique artstyle and creepy factor, the violence still seemed tame compared to
what Hellsing and other Horror Anime are capable of. Well Ultimate isn’t holding back and is
allowing Alucard and company to move and cut loose (literally) like never
before. The action is far more fast
paced and stylized with blood gushing from every decapitation and limb
removal. This is Hellsing unleashed and
fans of gory action will welcome this more uncut approach. It helps that the masters of Action Anime
insanity, Studio Madhouse, have been recruited to this task of a title. Don’t get me wrong, one thing Gonzo got right
with its TV adaptation was the more arthouse style of animation that helped
distinguish Hellsing as a must check out title (even if everything else didn’t
measure up). The OVA so far feels like
this is how Hellsing should have been done from the beginning.
Adding to the experience is the return of the bulk of the
TV Series English Dub Cast. It helps
remind us why we loved the TV dub so much.
It wasn’t perfect but the cast had a lot of charm for such a dark
series. Crispin Freeman reprises one of
his most famous roles as the ever so too cool for school Alucard, who is able
to both mystify with his darkly wisdom and trash talk opponents like never
before. Steven Brand is once again
having a blast as the Irish accented murder machine that is Father Alexander
Anderson. He also brings a surprising
amount of added likeabilty as we get to see Anderson mentoring a pair of young
children and even speaking with low level calm before he fights Alucard and is
able to cackle and go stir crazy like we all love to see. Still rocking the MVP of this first pair of
episodes is Josh Phillips as the younger Valentine Brother, Jan. He’s still allowed to be as vulgar and dark
as his original role and you can tell that only he could somehow make you both
terrified and also laugh out loud with all of the words coming out of Jan
Valentine’s mouth (“Bringing the mother f***** death by Konami”). K.T. Gray, Victoria Harwood and Ralph Lister
all do admirable jobs back again as Seras, Integra and Walter
respectively. In short, it’s good to
have the band back together.
For all the flashy action and returning voices, the
premiere of Hellsing Ultimate has a few flaws too. Most of them lie in the first episode
itself. It doesn’t play so much as a
premiere as much as it does a quickly paced compilation feature. We barely have any time to take in the
introduction of Alucard and Hellsing as well as see Victoria start to adjust to
life as a Vampire and a Hellsing operative.
Things kind of simmer down (or rather heat up) when Anderson comes into
play. Prior to that though, it’s like
the plot is hopscotching just to get to that particular duel (which is also the
best part of the episode). Both episodes
also have some weird CG monster models roaming about that feel out of
place. Sure the CG is fine when
brandishing the weapons of Hellsing in action (I WANT A JACKAL COMBAT PISTOL
PLEASE!!!). But for the random Ghouls
wandering about, it didn’t seem quite right.
I’ll also say…I miss the TV Series soundtrack. The music of Ultimate tends to be more
grandiose and operatic which compliments a series with the scale to match. But the TV Series score by Yasushi Ishii is a
beloved classic for a reason, offering a mix of Jazz and haunted house for to
every scene it was featured in, even the action. You cant deny how cool the opening and ending
theme songs were either. I miss them.
Well while nostalgia for the better parts of the TV
Series cant be ignored, Hellsing Ultimate is off to a good and terrifying
start. Lots of teeth, monsters, bullets
and blood along with the welcome return of some familiar voices help get the
series going right and it looks like each episode is going to cover a full
volume of the Manga too (10 episodes for 10 Volumes). And with episodes
clocking in between 45-60mins each, I think we’ll get plenty of our fill on
cool Vampire action and intense Horror Anime thrills. See ya next week as Alucard takes a
vacation…the Alucard kind of vacation.
No comments:
Post a Comment