7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The worst enemy of the Night - is one of its own... A secret war brews in the night - a war where humanity is merely a pawn. The Hellsing Organization deploys in the shadows to protect the mortal world. But now, artificially-spawned vampires have appeared, forcing Hellsing to call in their ultimate weapon - the rogue vampire, Arucard! After he transforms the dying Seras Victoria into a vampire, they join forces to combat the undead army, as well as her own newfound hunger!
Starring: Jôji Nakata, Fumiko Orikasa, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Motomu Kiyokawa, Daisuke NamikawaAnime | 100% |
Foreign | 97% |
Action | 37% |
Comic book | 29% |
Supernatural | 14% |
Horror | 4% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Five-disc set (2 BDs, 3 DVDs)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
What’s in a name, or indeed in one single letter? Take the case of what is colloquially called “Engrish” for example, a term some may find objectionable but which is bandied about without any real pejorative subtext by a lot of people these days. My youngest son spent a couple of weeks this past summer in China, on a field trip facilitated by his middle school (we hosted a Chinese student earlier in the school year). My wife and I presented him with a sparking new IPhone in order for him keep in touch with us and also to serve as his camera on this exciting journey. When our son returned to us, he had snapped literally hundreds of pictures, with the vast majority (as in all but a handful) being of what he called “Engrish”, the sometimes admittedly very funny weird translations that adorn Chinese placards, banners and signs throughout the nation. There’s something akin to “Engrish” afoot in Hellsing with its lead character, one whose name is variously offered as either Arucard or Alucard, which those who notice such things is either a slightly morphed version of Dracula’s name spelled backward or a straight ahead mirror image of the name (a name which pops up in some previous Dracula film outings). The character is in fact identified as Alucard all over the place, but the subtitles for Hellsing as well as the commentary tracks included on this release, not to mention the dialogue itself, clearly replace the “l” sound with an “r” sound, which is probably neither here nor there but which does give a just slightly wacky sound to an otherwise pretty gruesome vampiric agent who works with an agency known as Hellsing whose mission it is to rid England of various bad vampires and other things that go bump in the night. Whatever you call him, Alucard (which is the form of the name which will just arbitrarily be adopted for this review) is one of the coolest ghouls in anime, a vicious and even haunting specter who is both downright frightening and also weirdly funny some of the time.
Hellsing Ultimate Volumes 1 – 4 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. I'm a little conflicted about this release. As many Hellsing fans probably know, FUNimation picked up the license of these titles from Universal Geneon, and though their packaging indicates an HD Native source, my hunch is that refers to FUNimation's kind of odd verbiage that labels "pre-upconverted" product (i.e., SD native product that is delivered to them upconverted) as HD Native, something that I'm assuming is the case with at least the earliest OVAs here, which date from 2006. Parts of this transfer look exceptional, especially some of the more graphical elements, while other elements have the kind of gauzy soft ambience that usually indicates an SD native source. Hellsing fans know what a dramatically designed anime these OVAs are, and quite a bit of these first four outings pop with substantial color and solid contrast, helping to make the often very dark surroundings bristle with really good detail.
Hellsing Ultimate Volumes 1 – 4 offers DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes in both the original Japanese and an English dub. This is one of those rare cases where even original language purists may want to at least check out the English dub, for it features some unusually excellent voice work, especially Crispin Freeman who really brings a delicious sense of menace to his reading of Alucard. Fidelity is excellent in both of these tracks, and there's also consistent surround activity in many of the ubiquitous action scenes, scenes which also quite often offer really boisterous LFE. Dialogue is cleanly presented and both tracks offer significant dynamic range.
Taliesin Jaffe and Crispin Freeman (SD; 31:47)
Taliesin Jaffe, Patric Seitz and Josh Phillips (SD; 24:15) /blockquote>
English Cast Panel featuring Taliesin Jaffe, Crispin Freeman, Ralph Lister, Patrick Seitz, Josh Phillips and Jonathan Klein (SD; 42:02)
Geneon Booth featuring Hellsing Mansion (SD; 1:58)
Broken English Version (SD; 6:25)
Young King Ours Version (SD; 5:22)
Japanese Episode I Trailer (SD; 1:43)
Japanese Episode II Trailer (SD; 1:13)
Episode IV (SD; 2:31)
Episode IV Long Version (SD; 4:12)
U.S. Trailer (HD; 1:04)
I (HD; 2:48)
II (HD; 2:53)
III (HD; 3:26)
IV (HD; 2:08)
I (SD; 00:30)
II (SD; 00:30)
III (SD; 00:15)
IV (SD; 00:15)
There is a lot of vampire related anime to choose from, and many of the offerings are quite good in and of themselves, but Hellsing Ultimate is a (no pun intended) cut above. Relentlessly stylish, filled with intriguing characters (none more so that Alucard himself) and offering a nicely complex and nuanced overall storyline, this set of OVAs restores the anime to its manga roots (even as it takes off on a few new tangents, especially starting with the third OVA). This first of two Hellsing Ultimate Blu-ray sets ports over the plentiful supplements that were featured in the Limited Edition DVD releases. Video quality here is just a little iffy at times, but audio quality is excellent. Overall, Hellsing Ultimate Volumes 1 – 4 comes Highly recommended.
2008-2011
2008-2011
2012
2010-2011
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2008-2009
2022
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST
2009
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2007
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2006-2008
2006
レドライン
2009
1992-1993
2010
Classics
2005
2010-2011
2010
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2012
2004-2005
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2014
1985
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2015
Beruseruku: Ohgon jidai hen II - dorudorei koryaku hen
2012