London becomes a sea of fire as Millennium launches an
attack 60 years in the planning. With
Alucard stranded in the Atlantic, even Hellsing might be powerless to save
anyone. In spite of that, Integra,
Seras, Pip and Walter press on to war, joined by some unlikely allies in Father
Alexander Anderson and the Iscariot Organization. But will this unholy alliance between age old
rivals be enough to turn the tide against an army of 1,000 undead vampire ghouls
and growing?
It’s weird im starting off this review with another
callback to the Anime I reviewed last year for October: Supernatural-The Anime
Series. The two part series finale was
entitled “All Hell Breaks Loose” based on the same title and story as the
Season Two finale of the Supernatural TV Series. Well I bring this up because even for all the
crap Sam and Dean went through in that finale, it was kind of
underwhelming. Now Hellsing Ultimate,
this week capitalized on that title because All Hell certainly did Break Loose
and there is no Alucard in sight to help at the moment. Episodes 5 and 6 were chaos and carnage as
promised by an out of his mind Nazi War Fetishist and his army of undead
monsters. Some of it was hard to watch,
this is def not a show for the squeamish or feint of heart. But looking past all the grim, the supporting
cast got a chance to shine bright against the darkness, helping these episodes
be more than just an over the top gorefest.
Integra, Seras, Pip and Anderson all took their turns on
centerstage as the war came to London suddenly and violently. All four remained steadfast and down right
scarier than the monsters coming to kill them.
And that’s just the kind of warrior needed to fight such a
nightmare…well that could def be said for Seras and Anderson. Integra and Pip are two of the few fully
human characters in this show right now and both got to show that’s hardly and
handicap. Whether it’s the Nazi’s or the
Iscariots, Integra is a force to be reckoned with and one of the strongest
leading ladies in all of Anime. Down to
just a sword and her cigar, she’ll battle all without any fear, the warrior woman
Alucard admires so much. Plus, in one of
the few times the humor actually worked (because things got real grim
especially in Episode 5), we got to see Integra poke and prod the Iscariots and
basically intimidate them into escorting her through the city. As for Pip, he was level headed during the
siege of Hellsing HQ, ready with a tragic tale, a fun quip and a calm sense of
devil may care as he ordered both his troops and Seras into battle. Pip knows that he and his men probably wont
survive (which is a shame cause id love to see more scenes of the Wild Geese
and Seras together before most of them get slaughtered). But like Integra, there’s no way he’s going
down without a fight or a smile on his face.
In the face of such hopeless odds, such tiny optimism is very welcome in
Hellsing Ultimate.
Without her Master to guide her, Seras loaded up with a
backpack arsenal, the kind reserved for most Gundam Mobile Suits, and got to
have one of the most bad ass scenes in Hellsing Ultimate to date. She might not be picking off Nazi Vampires
with a bowie knife, but seeing the downright sexy image of Seras unloading
cannons ten times her size at a blimp is pretty much Rambo inspired. And then there’s Anderson, finally back in
the fray after a couple of episodes in a relative background capacity. He’s ready for this war and he’s come
prepared with more than just bayonettes.
Backed by a cigar chomping German, a Japanese Vampire Samurai Nun (yes
you read that right), and a host of holy blessed warriors, Anderson looks to be
having the time of his life, saying prayers while mowing down the hordes of
Hell. Man was made for this kind of work
and after seeing all the despair, it’s kind of welcome to see it sent back the
way of the bad guys with interest.
Indeed, some of Episode 5 was kind of hard to watch as
half of it was London being ruined in every horrific way possible. Hellsing Ultimate isn’t skimping on the
mature content and if seeing people eaten or diced into little pieces isn’t
your cup of tea…well congrats on getting this far. This is horror done on a massive scale and
the sense of hopeless despair can be a bit daunting. Is there anyway to come back from this
catastrophe? As I said above, the
unrelenting will to survive seen in most of the cast produced glimmers of
hope. But one character who has mostly
been a far off side character, Sir Penwood, got the best send off, so much so
that I wish he’d been more in the series from the beginning. Knowing full well his position might be
overrun, he and the men he inspired stayed together until the end and Penwood
was able to take out a contingent with a bomb.
Most people are getting pretty gruesome deaths in this show. But others, like Penwood, are going out like
heroes and I have to give that to Hellsing Ultimate.
Once again, the bits of humor are one of the shows
weirdest points, especially this week.
One the one hand, as grim as things are, some are welcome. I mentioned Integra intimidating the
Iscariots into her service, but there was also Pip’s attempt to kiss Seras
before Round 2 of the Hellsing HQ defense got started. Knowing that most of the Wild Geese (and
maybe Pip?) will be getting taken out in every horrific way possible made that
moment of levity a good one. But then
there’s the beginning where the spirit of Alucard’s gun (The Jackal) starts
talking to him and claims to be Bruce Willis and all of his various roles
(including The Jackal from the movie of the same name). It didn’t make any sense and even Alucard was
getting pissed about it. The red coat
sporting bad ass was in maybe less than 5 mins of total screen time across two
forty-five minute episodes and just that bit felt like a waste of his
time. But should I be complaining about
that given the gorefest that was this week?
Ehhhhhh…maybe I am nitpicking that one.
Well the war is underway.
London is a burning Hellscape.
Seras and Pip are holding the fort for now and Integra has got Iscariot
Bodyguards. But this is just the opening
salvo and Alucard isn’t anywhere close to back yet. Point is, the start of this battle was brutal
beyond imagination…and it’s only going to get more insane before its all
over. We’ll see just how much it will
get next week right here at the Gundam Anime Corner…where I know how to pick
good horror for Halloween apparently.
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