Hellsing Ultimate: Volume 2

Introduction

I'll point you to my review of Volume 1 for the story behind the Hellsing Ultimate adaptation, why the OVA episodes were made to retell a story once told in series form, and the release freeze when Geneon in the US shut down its distribution arm, leading to about a year's worth of delay in this show finally getting a DVD release. In fact, this review ought to have been part of the review for volume 1, but the latest speed bump in the Hellsing saga is that Geneon and Manga Entertainment got their contract wires crossed, and what Manga were so considerately going to release as a two-disc set, was pulled at the last minute to be replaced by two single-disc releases. I actually got both discs at the same time to review in September, but as soon as the news broke, I put the second on the back burner, vowing to watch it when it reached the top of my review pile. The thing is, all my review discs tend to go in chronological order first and foremost, and those review discs kept on coming in. So it transpires that I finally get to watch Hellsing Ultimate: Volume 2, barely a couple of weeks before the rescheduled release date. Typical!


Vampires exist, as do the legions of the undead, and the Hellsing organisation has been tasked with guarding the British Empire from their onslaught. The current head of the organisation is Sir Integra Hellsing, who inherited the position from her father. The ace card she holds is Alucard, a renegade vampire who fights for humanity against his own kind. If only vampires were the only problem they had. Britain is a Protestant nation, and Hellsing works for the Church of England, something that rubs the Vatican the wrong way, who have their own Iscariot organisation to battle the undead. The ideological differences between the two groups have them locking horns on more than one occasion, and while they are distracted, the vampires can feed.


The previous volume introduced the characters of the show, and also saw the induction of Seras Victoria into the Hellsing organisation as a full-fledged vampire. It's not been easy for the former policewoman to adjust to un-life, especially as she keeps trying to hold onto her humanity. That first episode concluded when Alucard and Seras confronted the apparently immortal Alexander Anderson in Northern Ireland, where the two sides of Christianity clashed over a nest of ghouls. That battle may have been inconclusive, but certain aspects of their encounter hold deep ramifications for what occurs in the second instalment.


As we begin the second OVA episode, the Hellsing Group is meeting at the mansion to discuss the disturbing discoveries made in Ireland. It's a well-known fact that vampires create other vampires only when they feed on virgins; otherwise all that results is a mindless ghoul. Hence the average vampire has an entourage of ghouls to protect and fight for him. But, should that vampire die, then the ghouls he has thus far created perish as well. Except in Ireland, the rules changed. When Alucard and Seras arrived on the scene, Anderson had already killed the vampire, but the ghouls remained to attack them. Also, when the remains of the vampire were examined, a microchip was found that apparently controlled or communicated with it. Suddenly it seems as if the vampires are being organised by a mastermind, and that means trouble for Hellsing. But the debate doesn't last long when a couple of vampires come knocking at the gates. There's a mole in the organisation if brothers Jan and Luke Valentine know where Hellsing is, and they have brought an army of trained and armed ghouls to prey on the inhabitants of the mansion. Their mission is to wipe out the Hellsing Council, and Luke wants a piece of Alucard. As all hell breaks loose in the mansion, only three brave defenders remain to save Sir Integra and the rest of the council.

Picture

Hellsing Ultimate gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer, and it's a good one. The image is clear throughout, there's no signs of artefacts except around excessively noisy moments, NTSC-PAL conversion issues are practically invisible, and this is as good as anime transfers usually get. What usually causes trouble for anime transfers are misty or dark scenes, or a combination of the two, usually showing up in horrific colour banding. Hellsing is about vampires, it's all mist and darkness, but there are no such issues here, and the animation comes across brilliantly.

It deserves a good transfer too, as the character designs are excellent, the animation is vibrant and expressive, it's given the full OVA budget treatment so expect something a cut or two above the tight schedules and corner cutting of television animation. What you get here is moody, utterly stylish, and deliciously dark. Effective use of light and shade do much to establish the genre feel of the show, and broad distinctive outlines give it a unique character. And there is plenty of blood, gallons of it, arterial sprays all over the place.

Sound

You have a choice of DD 5.1 English and Japanese, as well as a DTS English track. There are optional English subtitles provided, but once again Manga Entertainment omit the separate signs track. Of late, Manga's releases have been nigh on perfect, it's just that one final quibble that remains. The sound is awesome. This is an action packed show; with an excellent orchestral score from the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, and the surround does it full justice. It's a vibrant, immersive track with excellent directionality for effects, dialogue and ambience. Unlike a lot of television anime that start off with stereo and then get glorified upconversions, this is a show that was sound designed right from the beginning. And yes, I still loathe the English dub.

Extras

This disc follows the pattern of the previous one, offering a decent amount of extras to complement the rather brief episode, beginning with the Interview. Patrick Seitz (Luke Valentine), and Josh Phillips (Jan Valentine) join Taliesin Jaffe (ADR Director) in a 24 minute round table meeting. They talk about the visceral aspects of the show, comparing it to their earlier work on the series, and much humorous banter crops up as well.

You get the Japanese Episode II trailer, the US viral trailer, the Japanese TV commercials, as well as the Non Credit Opening, which is a little poorly labelled, as the show only has one credit sequence, and it comes at the end.

There is a 2-minute slideshow gallery of line art.


The disc concludes with the audio commentary, which sees Jaffe, Phillips and Seitz together again to have a jovial chat about the episode and provide a little info behind the making of the dub. This is an improvement over the previous commentary, as the balance is much better, and the speakers are audible at all times.

Conclusion

I'm sold. The first volume of Hellsing Ultimate was a bit of a damp squib for me, coming with a whole lot of hype and delivering instead a whole heap of exposition. It was uneven, disjointed, and uncertain, while being entertaining and striking in terms of the visuals and audio. I gave a whole-hearted maybe to the disc back in September, and to be honest, my enthusiasm for Volume 2 waned more than enough for me to let it keep slipping in my to do pile until I had no other choice. The second volume fixes all that and more, delivering on all the promises left hanging by the first volume, and giving us 46 minutes of blood-soaked, adrenaline fuelled vampire action that just doesn't let up from the first frame onwards.


Because the hard work of setting up the premise was done by the first volume, this second volume offers a minute or so of exposition to get everyone caught up, and then dives straight into the action. It's a fairly well worn genre that this story revisits, if you've seen any action movie since the late eighties you should know the trope. Hellsing undergoes its own Die Hard trauma, when the brothers Valentine descend upon the mansion with a horde of undying ghouls, quickly putting paid to the institution's mortal security, and leaving the council in dire need of rescue. All that stands in between them and certain death is the uber-powerful Alucard, a trainee vampire who is still squeamish about sleeping in a coffin, and the butler, Walter. Fortunately, Walter is perhaps the baddest-ass of them all, who turns the mansion into a charnel house once he dons his black gloves.


Given how powerful Alucard is, it's no surprise that he stays put in his dungeon for much of the duration, as it quickly becomes clear that he would rather fight someone approaching him as an equal, and the horde of ghouls are strictly cannon fodder, something for the minions to mop up. Fortunately for his superior sensibilities, it looks as if he will have a foe to deal with here. The Valentine brothers are what make this episode tick, as every John McClane needs a Hans Gruber. These two are entertaining, bloodthirsty, witty, crude and elegant. Jan is the obnoxious, foul-mouthed one, dressed like a hip-hop star and heavy on the Tarantino-esque dialogue, while Luke has something of a complex about Alucard, who he simultaneously idolises and wants to defeat. He's quiet, fastidious, elegant and lethal, and obviously styles himself on Alucard, but he has no idea what he is getting into when he heads down to Alucard's crypt to face off with him.


There's room for some character development too, and while previously we saw Integra's feral side, we see a glimpse of her humanity here as she witnesses what happens to her men when the mansion is invaded. Seras is still fighting against her vampire nature, and she refuses to drink blood, necessitating the change in her bedroom furniture. When attacked by a horde of ghouls, we see that vampire nature assert itself as does Integra, and it looks for a moment that Integra actually regrets what Seras has become. And when all the slaughter is over, we're left with the tantalising one word hint of what is yet to come, Millennium.


With this second volume, we go as far as the original television series did with the manga material. From volume 3 onwards it will be all change for the OVAs as they stick to the manga storyline. I am loving Hellsing Ultimate now, this second volume cements it as a triumph of style over substance, as it looks and sounds amazing. But that substance isn't minimal either, as the characterisations are excellent, the dialogue is witty and sharp in both versions, and the story is very appealing. Vampires and action go together hand in glove in Hellsing Ultimate, and it promises to get even more intense with subsequent volumes. This is an easy one to recommend. Next time, Nazis! I hate those guys.