Relooking My Hellsing Review

Hellsing is a household name when it comes to anime featuring vampires. Not a single list about anime vampires will miss the opportunity to feature it and with good reason. I originally reviewed Hellsing on my blog back in 2016 when I had not yet settled in on a style or format. Thus, I decided to relook it and add some of the details that were missing and bulk up my initial 100 word review.

• Genre: Action, Horror, Supernatural, Vampire, Seinen
• Type: Series
• Episodes: 13
• Duration to watch: +/- 4 Hours 30 Minutes
• Age restriction: R – 17+ (violence & profanity)
• Release date: 2001
• Animation Studio: Gonzo
• Does it have a manga: Yes
• Kanji: ヘルシング

About Hellsing:

Vampires and their ghouls stalk modern-day England, hunting the oblivious populace. The Hellsing foundation led by Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing (aka Sir Integra) stands between the undead and the humans that would be their prey. Alucard, an ancient and powerful vampire is loyal to Integra executing her every order. One night while on a mission Alucard discovers the police girl, Seras Victoria and gives her a choice to either die or become one of his kind. While coming to terms with her new ‘life’ Seras is sent out into the field to help in the fight against vampires and ghouls. Will the Hellsing organisation survive against the revelation of artificial vampires called freaks, an all-out attack on the Hellsing house and unseen threats working to take the Hellsing organisation down?

My Thoughts:

I have always been fascinated with Hellsing ever since I first laid my eyes on it on Animax over a decade ago. I enjoyed the art work and the mystery and was drawn in by the sheer vulgarity of it. Up until that point I had only ever watched shows that were ‘age-appropriate‘. There had been none of the pure language, gore or blood lust that came with Hellsing. It was so fresh and raw that it will forever be an anime that shocked me.

The characters were really dynamic and fit into the overall tone of the anime. So much so that I never felt that any character was out of place or too much. Considering everything that happens in this anime, that is saying something. I had admired each character’s aspects before I had studied characterisation and world building.

The intensity of the scenes balanced with the humour artfully. The humor did not break or remove from the seriousness of the scene, but managed to bring things into perspective and clearly showed off the characters as individuals, rather than as just plot devices.

The anime influenced me quite a lot, it aged and darkened my writing style although I never quite got the hang of the colourful language. I never had a character it would work with.

The last battle however felt anti-climactic for me. They had spent the entire series building up to it and when it happened I was left somewhat disappointed. Comparing to the other fight scenes and quips, I had ultimately expected  more from it, both in terms of the actual battle sequence and dialogue. While only being a 13 episode anime, it feels a lot longer but it was still not quite enough.

The very end of the series left you wondering what happens next? True we got Hellsing Ultimate (the 1 hour length episode version) but I am still slightly disappointed that this version was not completed and was cut short without any proper conclusion.

Favourite Character: Alucard

The sheer power and insanity of Alucard instantly grabbed my attention and has held it ever since. I have yet to find a vampire character that I like more or whom holds more power and ruthlessness.

What do you think of the Anime, Hellsing?