HELLSING ULTIMATE IV
December 30th 2008 01:39
Category: Videos
Originally Created by: Kouta Hirano.
Director: Tokoro Tomozaku.
Screenplay by: Yosuke Kuroda & Hideyuki Kurata.
Producer: Yasuyuki Ueda.
Starring: Crispin Freeman (Alucard), K.T Gray (Seras), Victoria Harwood (Integra), Steven Brand (Anderson), Ralph Lister (Walter), Yuri Lowenthal (Bernadotte), JB Blanc (Maxwell), Kari Wahlgren (Rip Van Winkle), Laura Bailey (Schrödinger) & Glidart Jackson (the Major). .
Produced by: Gonzo/Wild Geese
English language version by: Geneon Entertainment in association with New Generation Pictures.
Released by: Madman Entertainment.
Running Time: 57 minutes. Rating: MA 15 .
The other day whilst wandering around seemingly aimlessly I came across this slick looking DVD on the shelf at the local music store and having the readies in my wallet swiftly scooped it up and hied myself to the counter, upon which I swiftly purchased it. Interestingly I had only been reading about this release moments before hand in the pages of Anime Insider Issue 61, now granted that it was about a month or two old I didn’t think that Hellsing Ultimate IV would be on the shelves here any time soon, imagine my surprise to find it on the shelf. Especially when you take into account the fact that where I currently reside is not noted for being on the cutting edge when it comes to the field of anime, comics or manga all though the local library has coughed up some surprises over the last twelve months or so.
So after the brief of exchange of cash and pleasantries that passed between myself and the guy at the cash register I found myself in the possession of Hellsing Ultimate IV. Now a while back I did a review of Hellsing Ultimate I & II and I pondered on whether or not there was any more to come in this particular series. Well it seems that there is, due to the fact that entire thing is a remaking of the original Hellsing anime, which went on for twelve episodes but was no where near as violent as these particular episodes are. By giving it what has been dubbed the ‘Ultimate’ treatment the makers have ramped things up several notches although the story and characters remain the same, only the level of carnage and the effects has changed. So if this is the case then after this particular release it would seem that there would be another eight parts to go.
Herein lies the problem, the my eyes anyway, probably not those of the manufacturers, it’s a bit much to ask someone to fork out twenty five plus dollars Australian for a feature that goes for a little under an hour even if there are various other extras such as actor interviews et al. In my humble opinion it would be far better, at least here in Australia, to market the whole thing either in one boxed set or break into three DVDs with four episodes each – I’d feel that it would get a better reception and be better value for the viewer. Like I said it’s a bit much paying over twenty five dollars for something that doesn’t even go an hour.
Price aside though the actual quality of animation in this OVA (Original Video Animation) is truly fantastic, almost on a par with the animation techniques used in Hell Girl. The opening scenes involving a very large Zeppelin in a hangar in some undisclosed location looks very life like and later on the scenes of three RAF Tornados doing a run on an aircraft carry are very impressive. As mentioned earlier it seems that the Ultimate treatment has ramped up the animation by several dozen degrees, and the whole story looks better for it, although there are a few areas where its not such a good thing – usually in the scenes that involve the demise of someone, there it can get a tad bit too graphic.
But what I hear you say is actually going on, what is Hellsing all about? Well essentially in the United Kingdom there exists and organisation known as Hellsing, named for its founders the Hellsing family. The mandate of this organisation is to protect British territories and people from any supernatural danger and menace ranging from ghouls to vampires to anything else extraordinary. Lead by Integra Hellsing the organisation also includes within its ranks Walter, Integra’s ADC and general assistant, Alucard, a vampire of truly prodigious power and might, Seras, a female vampire or Draculina who was sired by Alucard and Bernadotte. These are the pointy end of Britains defence against all that is dark and unholy; of course being British the organisation is a Protestant group which means that in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church it is filled with heretics and infidels. It has clashed several times with the Catholic Church’s special unit Iscariot and the infamous monster hunter Anderson.
In this episode though the enemy is not Iscariot but the Millennium organisation, in Hellsing Ultimate II the Millennium organisation through the agency of the Valentine brothers staged a truly brutal and vicious attack on the Hellsing mansion during a conference of the organisations various head honchos. Once the threat had been terminated with extreme prejudice the task turned to finding out precisely the identity behind the group calling itself Millennium. At the opening of this episode we find out that its all to do with vampires and Nazi’s and that way back when in the chaotic days of the Second World War, 1941 to be precise, the Vatican’s own European General directorate helped back the SS in its project to create an army of vampires. Unfortunately this grand scheme to create an army of Nazi vampires met a truly vicious opponent in Alucard and Walter, these two managed to single handily destroy the operation, end of story.
Not quite, it seems that the Major, the smirking podgy little SS officer in charge of the project did not pass on into the afterlife, not by a long shot and it seemed that the candidates of the project were not all killed either. Millennium is the revival of this operation, it is the Last Battalion and now it is girding its loins for war. In particular war against Britain, the Hellsing organisation and in particular Alucard himself. The uber vampire is only too happy to except the challenge and thus war is declared, the forces of Hellsing pitted against those of the Millennium organisation, it promises to be an epic contest.
Still with the frequency that these videos are being released at it will be a contest, as far as viewers are concerned, that will consume large wads of cash and time. One wonders if at the end of the day whether or not Hellsing Ultimate is really worth it and even though the story, acting, effects are all top notch it really isn’t worth the time or money you’d need to invest in order to eventually find out how it all ends…
Director: Tokoro Tomozaku.
Screenplay by: Yosuke Kuroda & Hideyuki Kurata.
Producer: Yasuyuki Ueda.
Starring: Crispin Freeman (Alucard), K.T Gray (Seras), Victoria Harwood (Integra), Steven Brand (Anderson), Ralph Lister (Walter), Yuri Lowenthal (Bernadotte), JB Blanc (Maxwell), Kari Wahlgren (Rip Van Winkle), Laura Bailey (Schrödinger) & Glidart Jackson (the Major). .
Produced by: Gonzo/Wild Geese
English language version by: Geneon Entertainment in association with New Generation Pictures.
Released by: Madman Entertainment.
The other day whilst wandering around seemingly aimlessly I came across this slick looking DVD on the shelf at the local music store and having the readies in my wallet swiftly scooped it up and hied myself to the counter, upon which I swiftly purchased it. Interestingly I had only been reading about this release moments before hand in the pages of Anime Insider Issue 61, now granted that it was about a month or two old I didn’t think that Hellsing Ultimate IV would be on the shelves here any time soon, imagine my surprise to find it on the shelf. Especially when you take into account the fact that where I currently reside is not noted for being on the cutting edge when it comes to the field of anime, comics or manga all though the local library has coughed up some surprises over the last twelve months or so.
So after the brief of exchange of cash and pleasantries that passed between myself and the guy at the cash register I found myself in the possession of Hellsing Ultimate IV. Now a while back I did a review of Hellsing Ultimate I & II and I pondered on whether or not there was any more to come in this particular series. Well it seems that there is, due to the fact that entire thing is a remaking of the original Hellsing anime, which went on for twelve episodes but was no where near as violent as these particular episodes are. By giving it what has been dubbed the ‘Ultimate’ treatment the makers have ramped things up several notches although the story and characters remain the same, only the level of carnage and the effects has changed. So if this is the case then after this particular release it would seem that there would be another eight parts to go.
Price aside though the actual quality of animation in this OVA (Original Video Animation) is truly fantastic, almost on a par with the animation techniques used in Hell Girl. The opening scenes involving a very large Zeppelin in a hangar in some undisclosed location looks very life like and later on the scenes of three RAF Tornados doing a run on an aircraft carry are very impressive. As mentioned earlier it seems that the Ultimate treatment has ramped up the animation by several dozen degrees, and the whole story looks better for it, although there are a few areas where its not such a good thing – usually in the scenes that involve the demise of someone, there it can get a tad bit too graphic.
But what I hear you say is actually going on, what is Hellsing all about? Well essentially in the United Kingdom there exists and organisation known as Hellsing, named for its founders the Hellsing family. The mandate of this organisation is to protect British territories and people from any supernatural danger and menace ranging from ghouls to vampires to anything else extraordinary. Lead by Integra Hellsing the organisation also includes within its ranks Walter, Integra’s ADC and general assistant, Alucard, a vampire of truly prodigious power and might, Seras, a female vampire or Draculina who was sired by Alucard and Bernadotte. These are the pointy end of Britains defence against all that is dark and unholy; of course being British the organisation is a Protestant group which means that in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church it is filled with heretics and infidels. It has clashed several times with the Catholic Church’s special unit Iscariot and the infamous monster hunter Anderson.
In this episode though the enemy is not Iscariot but the Millennium organisation, in Hellsing Ultimate II the Millennium organisation through the agency of the Valentine brothers staged a truly brutal and vicious attack on the Hellsing mansion during a conference of the organisations various head honchos. Once the threat had been terminated with extreme prejudice the task turned to finding out precisely the identity behind the group calling itself Millennium. At the opening of this episode we find out that its all to do with vampires and Nazi’s and that way back when in the chaotic days of the Second World War, 1941 to be precise, the Vatican’s own European General directorate helped back the SS in its project to create an army of vampires. Unfortunately this grand scheme to create an army of Nazi vampires met a truly vicious opponent in Alucard and Walter, these two managed to single handily destroy the operation, end of story.
Not quite, it seems that the Major, the smirking podgy little SS officer in charge of the project did not pass on into the afterlife, not by a long shot and it seemed that the candidates of the project were not all killed either. Millennium is the revival of this operation, it is the Last Battalion and now it is girding its loins for war. In particular war against Britain, the Hellsing organisation and in particular Alucard himself. The uber vampire is only too happy to except the challenge and thus war is declared, the forces of Hellsing pitted against those of the Millennium organisation, it promises to be an epic contest.
Still with the frequency that these videos are being released at it will be a contest, as far as viewers are concerned, that will consume large wads of cash and time. One wonders if at the end of the day whether or not Hellsing Ultimate is really worth it and even though the story, acting, effects are all top notch it really isn’t worth the time or money you’d need to invest in order to eventually find out how it all ends…
| 56 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
