Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Hellsing Ultimate: Volumes 1-4 Blu-ray Movie Review

Bloody good.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 20, 2012

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 has kind of an interesting adaptive history. Like many anime, it was culled from a well received manga that appeared in the late nineties. The original anime television series departed from the manga’s storyline in several significant aspects, and some fans of the manga were not shy about voicing their displeasure. Hellsing Ultimate was the result, a new set of OVAs that hoped to get the story back to its manga roots and also provide a continuation of the manga’s arc which had not yet been published when the original anime started airing. While there’s a lot to like about the original Hellsing series, anyone wanting to get a real feel for what the manga had to offer should probably stick with Hellsing Ultimate.

These first four OVAs do a fantastic job of introducing the main characters and (in some cases unlike the original Hellsing series) giving us some context and back story for them. The first OVA in fact gives us a brief look back to Hellsing’s leader’s childhood. Integra Wingates Hellsing is seen as a little girl, attempting to escape from her dastardly Uncle who is none too pleased that his dying brother, Integra’s father, has bequeathed the Hellsing organization to his little girl rather than to his brother. Integra’s father has warned her about his brother’s nefarious plans to do harm to the little girl and cautions her to find help in the Hellsing’s castle deepest, darkest dungeon. It’s there that we meet the wonderful Alucard (and/or Arucard, depending on your facility with “Engrish”).

We quickly move forward in time to Integra’s adulthood. England is having all sorts of problems with various evil entities, and Alucard’s attempts to deal with one invading horde of vampire-controlled zombies (don’t worry, it makes sense within the sometimes daffy context of the franchise) results in a young policewoman being mortally wounded. Alucard gives her a choice: either die or become an eternal vampire herself. This character turns out to be another major player in the OVAs, one Seras Victoria. While Seras is ostensibly a vampire slave to Alucard, she turns out to be his partner in crime (or in fact reducing crime) throughout the OVAs.

We also meet one of the main villains of the piece, Father Alexander Anderson (and it’s part of Hellsing Ultimate’s topsy-turvy world that the undead vampire is the good guy while the putative religious figure is, despite his noble intentions, kind of a bad guy out to kill many of Alucard's minions at Hellsing), as well as two brothers, Jan and Luke Valentine, evil vampires whose machinations to overthrow Hellsing provide a lot of drama in the second and (tangentially at least) the third OVAs. There’s a fine feeling for place if not especially time in this series. Part of what makes it so unique is the discordance between the stiff upper lip British approach toward life in general and the hyperbolic aspect of England being overrun by all sorts of goblins. The time element is a little more problematic, as some of the show feels like it’s supposed to be at least slightly in the future, but we also get elements like villainous Nazis playing into some story arcs.

Hellsing Ultimate is not a show for the squeamish or faint of heart. As several of the voice actors joke about in the commentaries included on this release, this set of OVAs features some of the most nonstop carnage in any anime, vampire related or otherwise. Virtually every OVA is filled to the brim with blood, guts and gore, not to mention evisceration and outright dismemberment. There’s an almost freakish sense of humor that runs through a lot of the mayhem, however. It may not make watching the gruesome events unfold any easier to take (especially for those with weak stomachs), but it gives this reboot a really distinctive and oddly enjoyable demeanor.

Hellsing Ultimate: Volumes 1-4 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

Hellsing Ultimate: Volumes 1-4 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Episode I Commentary features Crispin Freeman (Arucard) and Talisin Jaffe (Voice Director/Script Adapter).


• Episode II Commentary features Taliesin Jaffe along with Josh Phillips (Jan Valentine) and Patrick Seitz (Luke Valentine).


• Episode III Commentary features Taliesin Jaffe with J.B. Blanc (Enrico Maxwell) and Victoria Harwood (Integra Wingates Hellsing).


• Episode IV Commentary features Taliesin Jaffe with Kari Wahlgren (Rip Van Winkle) and Ralph Lister (Walter).


• Interviews include:

  Taliesin Jaffe and Crispin Freeman (SD; 31:47)
  Taliesin Jaffe, Patric Seitz and Josh Phillips (SD; 24:15)



• Anime Expo 2007 features:

  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)



• Promotional Videos includes:

  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)



• Textless Songs includes:

  I (HD; 2:48)
  II (HD; 2:53)
  III (HD; 3:26)
  IV (HD; 2:08)



• Japanese TV Commercials includes:

  I (SD; 00:30)
  II (SD; 00:30)
  III (SD; 00:15)
  IV (SD; 00:15)



• Japanese Ending IV (SD; 2:09)


• Karaoke of Major's Speech (SD; 6:40)


• Trailers for other FUNimation Entertainment Releases

Hellsing Ultimate: Volumes 1-4 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.