Hellsing

After watching the complete series of Hellsing I have to say I was left wanting more. I did enjoy the originals: Vampire Hunter D and such but I just liked the portrayal of Alucard as a protagonist alot better. All and all I would give it and 8 maybe 8.5.

My husband LOVES Anime. Those big eyed ditzy girls who squeal and bounce in unnatural ways. The love stories. The "college aged" (riiiight) boys and girls who work so clumsily toward some farce of a romance. The weird creatures with big ears and eyes that talk like 2 yr olds. All the things I can't stand. Then he brought home Hellsing. Horror cartoons? Vampires and zombies? Blood and decapitations and mutilations? My first thought was, "Well, he's not going to let my 13 yr old son watch this but WOW! I LOVE IT!"

The animation is gritty, harsh and solid. The story is involved and keeps you hooked. They push the envelope with the death scenes but it works! "Police Girl" has a bit of that big-eyed look and occasionally her breasts will change size drastically depending on the supposed camera angle, but overall, she's likable. And if Alucard likes his custom made guns more than the old fashioned bite and drain, who can blame him? His weapons are a sight to see.

So if can't stand anime but you're a horror fan, give Hellsing a shot! Just be prepared to watch only 12 episodes... That's all there are. :(

My hubby would still like me to sit down with him and watch the cutesy stuff, but is happy that he can at least say that his wife likes *some* anime. ;)

Rowan

I find Hellsing to be by far the best anime I've watched, not because of the story or art, but because of the characters. Just put together Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing, Alucard, father Alexander Andersong and other secondary characters like Jan Valentine. It's f****** awesome dudes, they rock too much.

The other thing, that seemed overlooked in most reviews - the OST. This is by far the best OST I've ever heard, I listen it 8 years now, each and every song and not a hint of being fed up of it. Pure brilliant.

In the end, it could have been better, in drawing, in story, etc... Still its genius is to overwhelming to get something different than 10/10 from me

I've watched the OVA also, it lacks the strength of the original and the weebo Seras Victoria scenes... it's just tooooo much for me

One of the best anime I've seen. Ratings for all 13 episodes,

Ep 1 ~ 8/10; Ep 2 ~ 8/10; Ep 3 ~ 8/10; Ep 4 ~ 8/10; Ep 5 ~ 8/10; Ep 6 ~ 8/10; Ep 7 ~ 8/10; Ep 8 ~ 9/10; Ep 9 ~ 10/10; Ep10 ~ 8/10; Ep11 ~ 9/10; Ep12 ~ 9/10; Ep13 ~ 8/10

Bags of atmosphere (the British - especially London - setting is perfect). All the vocal performances are spot-on (English dub), the artwork is great, the plot is intriguing, and the mythology of the Hellsing Organisation, the Iscariot Order, the Round Table (very X-Files), and the vampires/freaks/ghouls is pretty deep. Love Hellsing's secret ties to the British military (SAS), police (D11), and security services (MI-5). Not wild about the beginning or end titles music, but some of the incidental music is great. Insanely consistent. Overall rating, 8.5/10.

I had mixed expectations before seeing this series. First, I really like stylised action anime and I really like vampire-hunter genre. I was also excited by the reviews I've read at IMDb and how fans of other vampire movies recommended Hellsing to me. But I also read the the makers of "Hellsing" also created "Ninja Resurrection" which turned out to be one of the worst, most appauling animes I've seen.

Well, after watching the English dub of the series I have a lot of positive things to say. The dubbing was excellent, and the casting for Allegra was especially noteworthy. The animation was very good as was pacing of the series and the characterisation. My absolute favourite element of the series was how it showed the relationship with the Hellising Organisation with the Crown of England. Watching the politics unfold was a real treat, and it was so realistically done. There were a lot of unanswered questions, but I didn't have a problem with that as their mystery both added to the series' mystique and left the door open for a possible second season.

Although I would have preferred the final fight seen go the more vampiric route, rather than a demonic powers route, I do not cite this as an objective criticism of the movie. I guess certain "hell" themes make me a tad uncomfortable, but that is just a personal reservation of mine.

In the final analysis, I recommend this series. The direction was so solid and the story was so interesting that watching the 13 episodes back to back felt more like watching a really good epic movie. See it!