H E L L S I N G

A war is brewing in the underworld of England, and humanity is merely a pawn of a much larger game. Artificial vampires have started to appear, so from the shadows emerges the secretive Hellsing Organisation, who bring with them their ultimate weapon: the rogue vampire, Arucard and the recently turned vampire, Seras Victoria.

Hellsing is action all the way from the word go. If you've got a thirst for an anime that will satisfy you need for blood and plenty of it, Hellsing is a surefire tipple.

Be warned, Hellsing is a dark anime. Whilst Cowboy Bebop had its serious and stylish moments, it managed to offset this with some nicely timed comedic moments (mainly thanks to Ed) Hellsing is simply dark, nothing more and nothing less.

That's not to say that this is a bad thing of course. Arucard is a character that shoots first and asks questions later, whilst Victoria, the lightest character of the bunch, has recently been converted to the vampire world and is discovering the dark side of her new realm. She's the naive rookie that has to be lead by the hand in both her new job in the Hellsing Organization and also with her new needs as a vampire, allowing the viewer to learn alongside her, drawing both into the mire of Hellsing.

What makes Hellsing different to a lot of other "bloody" animes, is that the characters have a certain style, and don't come across as either boring or simple plot devices.

The main plot is a different matter. While its not going to make your head hurt from trying to understand it, it does come across some serious dead-ends, with very little light being shed on characters or events, and this can be a blittle frustrating - some extra narrative would have been helpful, but the open ended nature does allow for some good old fashioned fan speculation.

Its the style that will keep you watching until the end. The music has some extremely funky jazz, much like Cowboy Bebop's music, with some haunting background tracks for the action itself. It truly is something to listen to and behold.

Hellsing, won't be an anime that taxes your brain and get you pondering the meaning of your existence, but then, who really wants to? You've got an anime with solid characters, a fantastic score and well animated action.

8/10 - Hellsing is a fantastic action anime, if only we knew some more about the characters...

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