Hellsing Ultimate Review

Hellsing Ultimate was a show I watched almost 10 years ago and it was back in a time where I was waiting for each english dubbed episode to come out since they would take a while for them to release. Watching it again almost 10 years later after the final dubbed episode came out and all it really did was confirm my thoughts that Hellsing Ultimate is an average show carried by an amazingly well acted english dub.

If the dub wasn't as over the top and amazingly directed as it was, I probably wouldn't even have made it through the show. While the OVA isn't super terrible or overly repulsive, I also think the writing overall is average at best and it also caried by the animation and art direction.

The big issue with the show overall is the character of Alucard and while I do have some entertainment value from watching him primarily due to Crispin Freeman's excellent performance as him, as a character who supposed to be on the side of "good", he is just a character that is just too hard to get behind, Crispin Freeman does a good job at selling me on the material and his character design is pretty good, the first issue is that he basically just a maniac who enjoys killing people and inflicting pain on to others, this wouldn't be too bad if he went through an arc of slowly regretting all that but he doesn't. On top of that, and I don't like saying this criticism towards any character but he is just way too "overpowered". Alexender Anderson early in the series was the only one who managed to provide him with some semblance of challenge, more on that later but everyone else Alucard fights are barely even a threat to him. Luke Valintine and the "Dandy Man" just scratch him a little, then he transforms and then wins. Many of the fights ends this way. Anyone who isn't named Alexender Anderson, barely even puts up a decent battle.

The writers know this, so mid way through the series Alucard is literally waiting on a boat while all hell breaks loose around the characters. The episodes with Cerez and the Mercs have a decent amount of stakes and tension because they can't win super easily as Alucard has, the villains are only able to do any damage in this show at all is because Alucard spends so much time on the boat. If he wasn't, the Major and the Arch Bishop probably would've gotten killed extremely easily. This all feels like the kind of writing Superman gets bashed for having but at least he has villains who can hurt him like Parasite, Metallo, General Zod, Braniac, Mister Mxyzptlk and Darkseid where Alucard only has one which is Alexender Anderson. On top of all this, Alucard isn't going through any existential crisis and making his next plan of attack while waiting on the boat, he is simpily just waiting there with nothing is happening which makes me think the writers of the series couldn't figure how to keep around in the series at all times. He is also way too overpowered to do the Dragon Ball Z thing of having the protagonist get taken out of the story for a long period of time.

This is where Alexender Anderson is a rather fascinating character, he feels like the true protagonist of the story. He has a code of honor, needs back up and doesn't kill unless if the people he is killing absolutely deserve it like the Arch Bishop for example. The fact that Anderson needs back up with his Paladins on top of him struggling really badly against his rematch with Alucard and him giving up his humanity in order to beat him makes me think that he was the true protagonist of the story. He is easier to root for than Alucard is. Steven Brand's performance as him is also fantastic much like Crispin Freeman's as Alucard and admittedly their "ham to ham combat" with each other was very entertaining.

Then this leads to the final encounter with Alucard and Walter, the latter's betrayal literally feels like an asspull since the writers needed another opponent who knows how to fight to face Alucard since Anderson died beforehand and it's really poorly written since Walter before this betrayal never seemed like he had any resentment towards Alucard and any signs he was evil. If he was, he would've turned Integra over to the Major the first chance he got as opposed to letting her escape. The fight is basically Alucard mostly winning which is already really dull and of course Walter gets a "hero's death" in spite of all the bad things he did. I started to zone out when I got to this part of the show.

Other parts where I zoned out was during the forced comedic expressions comedy scenes which I never really found funny and it can cause a massive tonal whiplash during the more serious moments. The ending was full of this stuff and it can be jarring since Integra lost someone who was "important" to her. It was 30 years later sure but that is also convient since you would need 30 years to rebuild Britain after all the damage that happened.

I also got sick of the excessive if well acted monologuing by the Major especially. The "War" monologue earlier in the OVA was decent but it really started to get over done and the final episode could be shorted down a great deal if the Major would just shut up and accept his own death instead of talking, talking and talking.

Overall, while I don't dislike Hellsing Ultimate and it was certainly better than the Gonzo show released years prior, the well acted and directed dub is why I reccomend this show at all. The writing overall is average and the animation and art direction also carries it a good deal. It just has too many issues for me to give a high reccomendation.