Hellsing Ultimate Vol. 1 (2002)

The Ultimate OVA series (2006) continues the popular vampire hunter broadcast series Hellsing (2001), both of which were based on the manga by Kouta Hirano. Vampires are stalking England, which means Sir Integra Hellsing must take them out. Most of this 50-minute segment is devoted to a duel between Hellsing's super-vampire Arucard and Father Alexander Anderson, a bio-engineered vampire in the service of the Vatican's murderous Iscariot Organization. It's a veritable gorefest, but not a particularly original one: the shooting effects are copied from T2, while the ghouls recall The Night of the Living Dead. The dialogue is often unintentionally hilarious: "It's been a while since I had my head cut off." Viewers may be repulsed by the endless sprays of blood, the leering sadism, and misappropriation of religious symbols. (Rated 16 and older, but more appropriate for 18 and older: graphic violence, violence against women, sadism, sexual situations, grotesque imagery, offensive religious imagery, tobacco use) --Charles Solomon Amazon.com

5 stars if you haven't seen the regular Hellsing

If you have seen the regular Hellsing this Hellsing Vol.1 OVA is the same storey as the regular Hellsing but told slightly different. But the rest of the Hellsing Ultimate edition episodes are not, they are completely differend stories. So if your a first time Hellsing watcher go ahead and watch it. If your not then I would suggest skipping this disc. Hellsing is deffinetely one of my all time favorite anime series. I even got some of my friends that are completely against anime to watch it and they loved it. March 31, 2008

My Daughter Loves It

I bought this for my daughter who was having problems finding it in the stores. She loves it and it worked fine! March 31, 2008

Excellent OVA!!! Not your typical anime

When I found out this DVD even existed, I had to go out and buy it. It was everything I liked about the first series, but this time stayed closer to its magna roots. I tried to watch other anime series and OVAs, but most of it is garbage compared to Hellsing. If you're a fan of the magna, you should definitely pick this up. If you like vampires, huge guns, and lots of action, you should pick this up. March 26, 2008

Not as good as the orinal TV series.

This OVA tries to follow the manga, but just ends up looking extremely cheesy. Almost everything is overacted, and does not look believable at all. I wish they made it more serious like the first TV series. For the most part, the story feels really compressed, and compared to the original series, they just show all the action, but none of the psychological drama. As always, the manga is much better, so if you haven't read it yet, do so. February 9, 2008

"Nothing I shoot ever gets back up again!"

Lets be honest - this series was created to appease the hoards of Hellsing enthusiasts who loved the TV show but yearned to see more of Hirano's brilliant manga in animated form. As such I think it's important for any potential viewer to note that this OVA assumes that you've either seen the original TV show in it's entirety or read what's been released of the manga. The events are fast paced and the character introductions/developments are a bit rushed, but they have to be; even though the manga isn't complete there's a lot of catching up to do if this OVA is to replicate Hirano's storyline. For someone who is familiar with the Hellsing universe this comes as little consequence.

A friend let me borrow her Hellsing DVD's (TV show) a few years ago and I was captivated. Characters = brilliant. Conecept = exceptional. A year or so later I would start to read the manga series and, while it too stunned me, let there be no mistake that they are quite different. Aside from differing story lines the manga often focuses very intently on character development, such as Hirano's idea of Alucard's lack of humanity vs. his self identity as a monster. This OVA series takes these ideas very seriously and incorporates them into their animation as carefully as possible.

Aside from storyline and the subtle character aspects to the show the OVA's animation is superb; the animators payed particular attention to the endless power Alucard seems to posses, and do everything they can to bring that out visually. Battle scenes are amazing and closely resemble the comics. Character design is a bit different, again mimicking the manga series. Indeed, it sometimes seems as though the animators try to follow the comic frame for frame during certain sequences of shots.

In short, a fan of Hellsing will not be disappointed. Whether you are a hard core fan of the manga and want to see it in animated-action, or, like me, you're just happy to see Hellsing re-animated into an epic OVA this series will satisfy. December 8, 2007

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