DIRECTOR Various WRITER Various STARS Victoria Harwood; Gildart Jackson; Stuart McLean DVD & BLU-RAY 20 May
REVIEW Erin Heavey
After a significant wait, Hellsing Ultimate: Episodes 5 – 8 are finally out to continue the story of Alucard, Seras and Integra from the Hellsing organisation, in their battle against Millennium, a 1,000-strong horde of Nazi vampires hell-bent on the total destruction of London, and seemingly, an endless war to follow it, all for the sheer blood-soaked fun of it. Meanwhile the Vatican’s Order of Iscariot, and some crusaders who look vaguely like they should be attending a KKK rally, stand poised to take advantage of the chaos.
While this is actually the second series to be released based on the manga, Ultimate follows original events more closely and benefits from this with a much more coherent and progressive storyline, with enough differences in plot to make a viewing not just worthwhile but also enjoyable, as you get to see your favourite characters advance in different ways.
The action and gore builds well, as it becomes clear that everything has been culminating to this point. The vampires, freaks and ghouls; all has been to push the Hellsing organisation to its limits and to tear at the boundaries of Alucard’s not insignificant powers. Seras also finally comes into her own, and we get a nightmarish glimpse into her troubled past, witnessing her move from fledging to fully-realised vampire. While understandably not as kick-ass as her master Alucard, she does manage to get her fair share of blood-spattered action.
Worth noting is an extra feature included, “The Dawn”, the first of three prequel episodes set during WWII featuring a much younger Walter, Integra’s butler and a former Hellsing operative known as the Angel of Death, along with Alucard, who’ve been sent behind enemy lines to destroy a sinister new Nazi threat.
Featuring a wealth of bloody violence with the odd bit of dismemberment or decapitation thrown in, Hellsing Ultimate manages to deliver on the action with some great battles spaced throughout, finishing on a cliffhanger in episode 8, as one of the biggest face-offs you’ve been waiting for is just getting interesting.
