HELLSING

Hellsing revolves around an organization in England run by the Hellsing family. They are known as the Royal Protestant Knights (don't get too caught up on the name) and have been entrusted to protect England from the undead through the centuries.

Sir Integral Wingates Hellsing (yes, Sir is actually a woman) is now the leader of the Hellsing family. Her most important tool (besides her private special forces army) is a vampire known as Arkard (or Alucard, or Arucard, depending on which fansub you watch).

His connection to her is not immediately apparent. In fact, little other than his impressive abilities in the realm of death and destruction are revealed at first. Arkard is quite the elitist and regularly humiliates his undead brethren before sending them to their maker. He walks the line between service to Sir Integra and the living souls of England and his darker nature throughout the series, and for most of it I wondered how this powerful a vampire happened to be working for the anti-undead league itself.

In the first episode (or "Order"), we are also introduced to a policewoman named Seras Victoria. While her character could really have improved the storyline by offering a female outsider's viewpoint on the whole situation (especially considering her transformation), she was unfortunately probably the most annoying character in the series. Considering her constant vacillation and whining, I'm surprised the director didn't get rid of her after the first few episodes.

The other main characters are Walter, the Hellsing family butler (possessor of powers that are, surprise surprise, not revealed for till the end of the series), and Ferguson, the head of Hellsing's private army.

One of the things immediately apparent about the series is the nearly constant, gratuitous violence. Anime tend towards exaggerated violence as it is, but it must be said that there are certain aspects of Hellsing that are a little unsettling.

The animation & music are well done and, for the most part, appropriately styled. The animators used dramatic pauses and 'camera' pans to heighten the suspense during action scenes, and the drawings are decidedly gothic. The series gets visually darker as time goes on, but it definitely fits with the story. The characters are well drawn and interesting for most of the series. One exception is the annoying oscillation between styles of drawing Victoria - from a freakish evil-Victoria, to innocent doll-like-Victoria, to somewhere inbetween. You will notice when it happens. I can certainly catch the hint that she's got a serious issue whenever she starts looking like a total freak, but it's actually pretty un-cool and decidedly not subtle. As for the music, the opening and ending themes are quite catchy, although not necessarily fitting with the mood. Most of the music played during the actual episodes is also well selected. The soundtracks, "Raid" and "Ruins", are mostly filler. There are a few songs good enough to listen to on their own, but most of it is probably not worth import prices. Unfortunately, you'll have to acquire both albums to get all of the catchy songs.

The story moves to a conclusion fast. You are quickly introduced to all the important characters, and soon after that a buildup occurs toward the ending. The story involves a conspiracy to mass-produce low-level undead by means of a "FREAK-chip", but you won't really notice a whole lot of explaining going on. There are a lot of weird references that aren't ever explained, and much of the possible character development never comes to fruition. Nevertheless, the story is quite entertaining and serves to allow a great deal of delicious fight scenes.

One relatively strange aspect is the way the creators dealt with Western religion, and Christianity in particular. Although religious references and crosses are peppered throughout a lot of Japanese animation, Hellsing takes this to a new level. Apparently the Reformation has yet to be completed, as the Protestant and Catholic versions of the Holy Orders that protect Europe from the undead spend more time fighting each other than they do vampires. The Iscariot has a particularly terrible way of dealing with The Royal Protestant Knights (send their henchman out to kill the heretics who are trying to save England), which of course prompts the Hellsing family to order the elimination of those "Catholic heathens" who dared to trespass on the Queen's land. All the while, zombies and vampires stream around untouched. Such strange quirks aside, the competition between undead-fighting agencies added a lot to the series. I certainly enjoyed watching Father Anderson mete out swift punishment to all unbelievers.

Anyone who begins watching Hellsing will be sorry to see it gone so quickly. Only 13 episodes? While it's a common number for new series (most never go beyond one season), I still feel a few more years of vampire action could easily be sustained. Whatever the future holds for Alucard and the gang, these approximately 290 minutes will be some of the most entertaining of your life.