Old Hellsing vs. New Hellsing: Which One is Better?
Greetings ladies and germs! It’s
that time again, not just for a post, but for a long overdue discussion
post. For this week, this post will be
taking two shows and seeing which one is the Ultimate. Noting the pun I just made, in honor of the
release of the last two episodes of Hellsing
Ultimate, this week I will be taking a look at Hellsing and Hellsing
Ultimate and seeing which one is better.
First Up: Hellsing Ultimate
So first in this
duel is Hellsing Ultimate. Now seeing that I recently reviewed this OVA
series, I’ve done a simple copy and paste from the post:
“Hellsing Ultimate takes place in modern day England. The Hellsing Organization, a secret program
run by the Queen of England to kill monsters-particularly vampires-, has been
dealing with a series of bizarre vampire attacks. In one of these attacks, Hellsing’s top agent
Alucard-who happens to be a vampire and is also one of the most bad-ass
characters in anime-kills a police woman named Seras Victoria and turns her
into a vampire. Seras finds all of this
new arrangement very difficult to adjust to.
She even refuses to drink blood.
Yet despite this issue, the cases start to become worse. But everything comes to a head when Hellsing
discovers that a secret Nazi organization known as Millennium is responsible
for the attacks. Hellsing also finds out
that these attacks are in preparation for an all out attack on London.”
Not very original, I
know. But I don’t think I could’ve put
it better myself.
What Hellsing Ultimate Does Have
First of all, Hellsing Ultimate almost, if not
exactly, follows the original manga.
This is a huge advantage and element that sets it apart from the
original series. This was possible was
because the manga had been completed well in advance. Granted, there is some scrambling and
uncalled for cliffhangers that may upset some of the loyal manga
followers. For instance, one bit of
scrambling of the story involves a flashback of Alucard’s past. In this particular seen, Alucard dreams of
his encounter with Professor Hellsing.
After being impaled and on the verge of death, Alucard wakes up to find
himself crying. In the OVA, we see this
in the beginning of the second episode.
In the manga, however, this doesn’t happen until well into the fourth
volume. Now in cliffhangers, the biggest
one involves the one fans have been dying to see resolved. In the end of episode eight, Alucard is
stabbed with one of Anderson’s blades, and then cuts off when Alucard and his
familiars catch fire. The manga ended
this scene a little differently. Though
this scene was in the eighth volume of the manga, it added more to it; it went
on to show the tragic past of Vlad the Impaler.
After this, the volume ends with Seras calling out Alucard’s name. So in conclusion, the OVA series may follow
the manga to a tee, but it does tweak the story in some spots. Oh, and I know I gave away a huge spoiler in
my cliffhanger example, but don’t worry, you’ll see this in the ninth episode.
What Hellsing Ultimate Doesn’t
Have
I’ve obviously given
a lot of praise to the show in just about everything. But there is one thing that Hellsing Ultimate doesn’t have. Limits.
As I’ve stated in my review, there is no telling what you will see in
this show. Among the worst things I have
seen is in Seras’s past. And for those
who have either read the manga or have seen that much of Hellsing Ultimate, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up for the
cons.
Next Up: Hellsing
And now, let’s take
a trip back to the early 2000’s. In
sum, Hellsing
follows a very similar plot to that of the manga. However, after the seventh episode of this
thirteen-episode series, it goes in a completely different direction. The Hellsing Organization stumbles upon a number
of cases where vampires implanted with microchips are terrorizing England. Hellsing delves further into the case to find
that a vampire named Incognito is responsible.
And although he claims to have a master, this master is never revealed
in the series. Soon, the Hellsing
Organization becomes intangled in an all-out battle between humans and
monsters. Despite the big difference in
plot, the one thing that does remain the same is Seras’s struggle of being a
vampire.
What Hellsing Doesn’t Have
Now I know I’m starting
off with the bad things about the show first, but there are some things that
are seriously wrong. At a reviewer’s
stand point, this show gets about a three and a half star rating. There is one good thing saving it, but I’ll
get to that in a minute. Anyways, the
biggest issue with the original Hellsing is
animation. I watched through the entire
series and thought, “Did the animators really try?” Frankly not, considering the stiff movements
and poor character design seen throughout.
Seriously, I’ve seen 80’s animes that were animated better! And I say that because when looking at an
anime that came out of the 80’s, you’ve got to keep in mind that animation
techniques were not as fine-tuned as they are now. So it’s going to look a little bad
anyway. But Hellsing is from the early 2000’s.
By then, animation should be more fluid and more vivid. The work done on Hellsing is not excusable!
Part of this may have to do with the fact that the anime was done before
the manga was even finished- at the time the anime was made, only the third
volume of the manga had been completed.
Another factor may be demand.
This was probably done in a hurry to satisfy a demand from fans. Now I have no legitimate proof of this, it’s
only a theory. Still, Hellsing shows no effort whatsoever in
animation.
What Hellsing Does Have
Despite what I’ve
said about Hellsing thus far, the one
thing saving it from this blogger, believe it or not, is the story. Despite what little the manga provided for
the plot, the creators of the show took what they had and ran with it. And it worked! Despite the poor animation, the plot kept me
hooked. And even though the microchips
implanted in make-shift vampires was not the main point of Hirano’s original
story, what the creators did with it was pretty impressive. So my kudos!
Also, the one thing
that the original series had that Ultimate
didn’t have was a very important detail to the entire story: how Integra
met Alucard. In the OVA, Integra makes
it to the chamber where Alucard is held.
If you’ve seen Hellsing, you
know how the story goes: uncle shoots Integra, blood goes everywhere, and just
before the uncle can make the kill, Alucard wakes up after drinking Integra’s
splattered blood. Now right here in the
OVA, we watch Alucard reawaken, but from there it cuts off and continues with
the rest of the series. It comes back
later to show Integra about to shoot her uncle, asking Alucard his name. Yeah, major downer.
However, in the
original anime, we see the full fight between Alucard and Integra’s uncle. Also, one twist that the series adds that
manga didn’t have was that Alucard didn’t recognize Integra as his master at
first. It was only until Integra put her
foot down that Alucard began to recognize her.
In the manga, this is automatic. I
liked that this twist was added because it made the situation all the more
interesting.
And for a better idea between the animation styles between the two shows, check out these videos of my favorite Hellsing moment:
Alucard vs. Luke Valentine (Hellsing- in Japanese) Don't worry, there are subtitles!
The Winner?
Hellsing Ultimate
I have to admit,
when you look at the two series, it’s pretty obvious which is better. Most of this has to do with the fact that Hellsing Ultimate was created after the manga was completed. Another is the fact that Ultimate was animated way better than the original series. However, I also have to admit, the orginal
series actually had a good story, despite the fact that it didn’t follow the
manga entirely. In fact, it could’ve
called for a second season- mostly because I didn’t like how it ended. However, one big lesson that the creators of
the anime should’ve learned is that they should’ve waited until the manga was
completed or at least at a decent point to actually start a series. It’s also a trap that I’m afraid that Attack on Titan may fall into- not to
disappoint any AOT fans.
Well, I think that
ends this week’s discussion post. So
what do you think? Do you think that Hellsing
Ultimate is the Ultimate? Or do you think that the original is better
despite the fact that it doesn’t follow the manga? And what about Hellsing’s plot? Speak up
people! I call these discussion posts
for a reason. I want to hear what you
have to say. You can leave your comments
below. And with that, I’m off! Stay tuned for more because next week I’ll be
doing Character of the Month.
-Hanime on Anime
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