7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
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
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Is graphic or even outright gruesome imagery somehow easier to take when it’s animated? It’s a salient question when it comes to an enterprise like Hellsing Ultimate, certainly one of the most violent and bloody anime of all time. Don’t take my word for it: over and over again in the commentaries included on this second set of Hellsing Ultimate episodes (the first set can be found here), cast and crew talk about how horrifying some of the imagery in this franchise actually is, evidently leading in some cases to nightmares. Vivisection, blood sucking, limbs being shorn from bodies and more gore pop up with great regularity throughout Hellsing Ultimate, and the fact that it’s “only” an animated outing really doesn’t help to dispel the shock of seeing some of these images explode on the screen. What keeps Hellsing Ultimate from being downright distasteful is its rather dark (and often sly) sense of humor, something that creeps into the main character of Alucard (or Arucard in its “Engrish” version) most especially. Alucard is one of the most distinctive characters in recent (and maybe not so recent) anime, a haunting and frightening character who is also just lunatic at times to provoke outright laughter. These OVAs delve into Alucard’s rather vicious tendencies but manage to make the character bizarrely lovable in his own (extremely) twisted way. Hellsing Ultimate is still probably not for the faint of heart of squeamish of stomach, but it remains one of the most viscerally compelling vampire anime to ever come down the bloody pike.
Hellsing Ultimate Volumes 5 – 8 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. As was discussed in the review of the first volume of this release, FUNimation has the odd habit of describing their licensed content as "HD native" even if the source elements were initially SD, but were "pre-upconverted" to HD before FUNimation attained rights to them. There's no question that the first Hellsing Ultimate OVAs were SD, but one would assume that at least the later ones included on this set were native HD (meaning really native HD). That said, the animation style here tends to favor a kind of gauzy softness, especially in some of the more graphic and gruesome scenes, as if slightly "smearing" the image (for want of a better description) might help the blood and guts go down more easily. Other elements of this presentation are clearly more precise and better defined than the first set, with exceptionally strong line detail and very nicely saturated colors. Overall, this is a step up from the first Hellsing Ultimate set, but not a huge quantum leap.
My comments about the first volume of Hellsing Ultimate apply equally well to this release. Hellsing Ultimate Volumes 5 – 8 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 (though it should be stated that this volume, as the first, offers some very "busy" sound design at times that tends to slightly bury the dialogue beneath the ubiquitous sound effects). Both tracks offer significant dynamic range.
- V (HD; 2:29)
- VI (HD; 3:04)
- VII (HD; 4:33)
- VIII (HD; 3:49)
Hellsing Ultimate Volumes 5 – 8 continues the take no prisoners visual style of the first set of OVAs, with a number of disturbing sequences that may well give more impressionable viewers nightmares, or at least waking frights. The series remains one of the darkest, both literally and figuratively, in the entire world of anime, and reactions will depend upon an individual's tolerance for the occult and the outright skewering of some religious ideas. For those who delight in Gothic fairy tales (as in the extremely Grimm type) will love Hellsing Ultimate, especially with regard to Alucard, one of the most magnetic and unforgettable vampires ever, animated or unanimated (in both senses of that word). This second volume boasts somewhat better video quality, the same outstanding audio quality and another round of copious supplementary material. Highly recommended.
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