Hellsing is a TV series that was directed by Umanosuke Lida and was released in 2001. The story is about an organization called the Hellsing organization, which is led by a woman named Integra. And the organization's job is to hunt down undead creatures that appear all across the globe, mainly in London, England (which is where the anime takes place.) Integra has a vampire that is working with the organization named Alucard, which is Dracula spelled backwards. He also brings in a human girl that used to work for the police named Victoria and she had became a vampire, by the hands of Alucard. Main reason is because in the first episode a vampire priest caught Victoria and placed her right in front of the priest, so that he could give Alucard a hard time for killing the vampire, because he doesn't want Vicoria to be killed. But, he asked Victoria if she wants to go down the path of being a vampire. She accepted it, Alucard shoots the gun, the bullet went through Victoria's chest and killed the vampire priest.

So you might be asking to yourself "Is Hellsing following the same footsteps as other animes like Cowboy Bebop?" Well, yes and no. Yes, because the first 7 episodes of the series do follow the manga and each of them are told differently. And no, because starting from episode 8 through 13, the series sort of drifts away from following the manga and adds in a new plot that does not follow the manga at all. But does that mean that the new plot in the second half of the show is terrible? No, it's not. It's a neat plot in the second half, but it somehow doesn't really fit well when you are adding and mixing a brand new plot mixed with the first several episodes in the series that had no kinda of connection on what the second half of the show will be like. The characters in the show are superb. I love Alucard. He is a great vampire character that is ever put in an anime centering on vampires. Integra is a good character. She is really driven because she had a rough past that was dealing with her becoming the next head of the organization and for meeting Alucard the first time in her life. Victoria is good. Alexander Hamilton is this warrior priest that works with the Iscariot Organization and he is out trying to kill Victoria and Alucard, because of them being vampires. He also killed a few human members of the Hellsing organization. I also like Walter. Incognito, the main villian of the new plot in the second half of the series, is good. He kinda looks like Count Orlok from the 1922 movie, Nosferatu. So really, all the characters are great.

The artstyle and animation is superb. The overall look and the atmosphere of London looking so dark really looks amazing. The characters are really detailed and the action scenes are executed rather well. The one thing that bothers me about the animation is that Victoria's hair will change from orange to yellow in some occasions in the show. They only happens if she enters a place where it's so dark, and that's understandable. But, is that little change really necessary? I think it would look find if she had orange hair in very dark places in the show. But overall, it's a pretty good looking anime. I've watched the japanese version and the voice acting is spot on. Alucard is voiced by Jouji Nakata, who did Graham in Macross Dynamite 7, Childman in Orphen, Dark Oak in Sonic X and Van Grants in Tales of the Abyss. Victoria is voiced by Fumiko Orikasa, who did Lady in Devil May Cry, Miss Valentine in One Piece and Kirara Mikumari in Samurai 7. Integra is voiced by Yoshiko Sakakibara, who voiced Kate Valentine in Chrono Crusade, Karla in Record of Lodoss War and Dr. Rachel Links in Zone of the Enders. I also enjoyed listening to the music in this anime. It's got some piano rock tracks that I think really fits the anime very well. I also like listening to the opening theme of this anime, which sounds great.

Overall, Hellsing is an awesome series. With it's great atmosphere, good characters and even great dialogue given to the actors, it really makes this one of the best horror series I've seen. About the only major complaint I have with the series is that the second half of the show really drifts away from the direction of the manga and addeds in a new plot which is ok, but somehow doesn't fit well in terms of the connections between the first 7 episodes and the last 6 episodes. But Hellsing is a great series that anyone should watch, if you are into vampires or horror animes.

9 out of 10

Chapter 6: