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Reviews
Hellsing Ultimate (2006)
Alright, but quickly goes stale
Hellsing Ultimate tries to do a lot over the course of the series, so it would be a disservice not to credit its sheer ambition. That said, some of these things it does very well, while others very poorly.
Hellsing excels at action, and it will sometimes take unexpected directions which is an enjoyable surprise. Of the episodes currently available, I was impressed by the intensity of the action. Without doubt, the savagery of many prominent characters and the brutality of the fight scenes is just about peerless. This is the keystone of the series. Hellsing dances in the gray area between a visceral action movie and a snuff flick. That sounds a little more extreme than it really is because Hellsing doesn't take itself too seriously. Weapons, fight scenes and especially gore vacillate between extreme, improbable and comic. Also, goofy, cartoony scenes with bright color and heavily stylized animation sneaks its way into the series. These breaks for comic relief are zany, slightly juvenile and slapstick, so you will laugh or be annoyed depending on your tastes.
Unfortunately, Hellsing Ultimate, at this point in its release schedule, falls sadly short on developing interesting characters. You only get two flavors: calm, confident, vicious and sinister or cowardly and incompetent speckled with moments of surprising heroism. The protagonist, Alucard is a super-powerful vampire that feels like a demi-god. He is cruel, bloodthirsty and invincible. He comes off as either cold and arrogant or crazed for violence, and that's all you can expect through the whole series. He is so overpowering that fight scenes come off as pointless outside of providing action for its own sake. Imagine a fight between an evil superman and an arthritic 90-year-old . . . every episode, and you get the gist. Villains are, with few exceptions, idiosyncratic, utterly demonic and have only two emotions: hubris and panic. They start off as seemingly powerful, terrifying forces that quickly turn into stormtroopers, figuratively speaking, (sometimes at the first sign of a major character) so that we can watch them be killed in entertaining ways. The other characters can be interesting as they are introduced, especially Seres and section 13 members, but they become static quickly. Sometimes viewers are given flashbacks to provide character background, but that unfortunately comes off as insignificant when the show gets around to doing it.
The plot is so-so. Without revealing any spoilers, I have to admit that I rolled my eyes when the major villain was revealed. Hellsing doesn't exactly go out on a limb with its bad guys.
Overall, I would say Hellsing Ultimate is like an Ozzy concert. It specializes in shock, and it does that well. Everything else is hit and miss. I found it entertaining, so I would recommend watching it. After 2-3 episodes, though, episodes start to feel the same. For those whom are not already big anime fans, I would much more recommend something like Cowboy Bebop or Black Lagoon.