The bird of the Hermes is my name...

Eating my wings to make me tame.





-Tagline from Hellsing Ultimate Vol. 1. Your guess is as good as mine what it's supposed to mean. It's not like Hermes is a very occult god.




Justin's post would be very hard to follow in any meaningful way, so this one will be utterly lacking in meaning. Be warned.





I've watched this dvd three times in the last two days, a level of enthusiasm equalled only by my first sibling's fixation with Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Watched five times in the week we bought it). So I think it's safe to say I liked it about as much as the original unfinished series. It compacts a lot of plot down to where it was in the manga, rather than having to stretch it out in hopes that the manga would be finished soon; thus we have Anderson's first appearance in Volume 1 and the beginning of Sir Integra and Alucard's relationship depicted ditto.





I really have to get this manga and read it. I just have this feeling it's going to cost me a lot to get an English version and I'm, well, cheap. Anyway, the best features of the original series are still here - much of the art, the voices, and Alucard's patented trash talk are the same. Here are some things that were different.



First: Police Girl is FAR more interesting in this one. She's not the pansy shrinking violet from the other one, but is in touch with her new vampire identity to a great enough extent that she agonizes about it after kicking ghoul butt rather than instead of ditto. You know the part in the series where she just can't snipe someone? Well, in this version she does it with flying colors, or at least flying organs.

Second: Alucard gets a better introduction, since Sir Integra's expositional flashback occurs earlier on.

Third: Some other things are also clearly explained that were never explained at all, such as why Seres Victoria became a vampire when everyone else turns into ghouls (because she was a virgin, natch).

Fourth, and my only real quibble: There are some chibi elements introduced, almost solely in the scene of Seres' change into a vampire, that I absolutely hated. Seriously. They took what should have been one of the most serious and compelling scenes in the episode and ruined it with these stupid little cartoon faces.

Fifth: Alucard is about fifty times more emotional in this version, meaning he occasionally has a facial expression other than grinning maniacally. He was great before, and now he's great and interesting. Watch him show dismay and discomfort! Watch him wax philosophical! Watch him snap at Seres for being a twit! It's awesome.

This would in many ways be a better introduction to Hellsing than the first episode of the tv series, so if you haven't seen either, watch this first.