Hellsing - Vol. 3: Search and Destroy (2002, DVD)

Welcome to Hellsing, an anime you might have heard about. It s a little creation by Kouta Hirano and something I d heard about but never seen for, oh, years. Finally I get to see it, all 13 episodes of it, immersing myself in vampires, ghouls, freaks, and plenty of blood. Good to unwind to on a dark night. Hehe. Ah, the things I do when I should be doing homework.

In this volume you get another three episodes, and here are some tastes of what you ll be getting.

Episode 7: The last attack took out much of the Hellsing Organization, so now it s time to rebuild, figure out all info about the Valentine brothers, and deal with more ghouls. Then there s that Andersong regenerator from the Roman Iscariot Organization again. Seems he and Alucard still have a score to settle. Messy, messy, messy.

Episode 8: China? Is that where the freak chips are being manufactured? Either way, it s time to get some new Hellsing members. Seras is introduced to someone like her only much older, er, in her own way. Alucard has some startling news for Integra.

Episode 9: What? Integra has a sister? Never saw that coming, but I suppose there s a reason for it. It seems Alucard was right when he said Seras s intuition was getting sharper. Looks like that castle wasn t just a hideout for the IRA like the SAS said.

The Good:
The animation is superb. It s been a while I ve seen nice, smooth, detailed goodness. Alucard is still awesome, if not becoming even more interesting, with his crazy red outfit, orange glasses (I think he s gone through at least three pairs by now), and crazy demon dog power (or whatever you d like to call it). He is, in my opinion, the best vampire ever because he loves what he is. It s rare to see a vampire actually enjoying his vampireness and not getting depressed about it. He s a lot of fun to watch, fading in and out of walls, hanging around upside-down, in general just being his weird self

The music is still good, and I doubt it s ever going to not be. It gives you that party under a full moon with pumpkins all around feeling. Wicked piano with that hint of Halloween-midnight-awesomeness. I actually liked the opening song so much, I managed to find it and download it in its entirety. Hooray. I still think the closing song is out of place, though I m used to it by now. It s in English by the way, which I think sort of adds to the randomness considering it s Japanese made and all.

I ve decided I need to hear more shows that Crispin Freeman VAs in, haha. He does Alucard so well, both in calm situations and when he s a bit ballistic. Listening to the series in Japanese is fine, though initially it felt a little weird since we re in London. But that s what makes the dubbed version a lot of fun all accents go right where they re supposed to. Helena s voice is good, but it takes a bit of getting used to for the simple fact that it s a woman s voice in what looks very much like a child s body.

The Annoying:
Seras Victoria still annoys me being anti-vampire and I find that really old and boring. Not to mention she s still wearing the same outfit she had when she wasn t even in the Hellsing Organization. You think she d at least do what Alucard tells her to do. Geez, I know I would. It s as though she had no idea what she was even agreeing to in the first episode. Worthless vampire At least she does one thing amusing in episode 8 in regard to her vampireness.

Then there s the episodes themselves. Though the initial volume seemed disjointed, the second volume had a lot more substance to it. Things seemed to be pulling together, but there are other aspects that remain random and/or confusing. What was with Andersong s flashback? I can guess, but that s all.

A last tiny twitch is the random English (or should I say Engrish?) in the Japanese version. There s actually no way around it I guess, but it just seems odd to hear Amen and search and destroy and other English things popping up in the middle of a Japanese sentence.

A final warning, the blood has been ever-present, but this volume has a lot more swearing than in the last, so put the kids to bed if you feel like watching it. Actually Jan does most of the swearing, but it works for him. Either way, keep all that in mind. Enjoy!

Episodes in this Volume:
Order 07: Duel
Order 08: Kill House
Order 09: Red Rose Vertigo

NT

The Rest of the Series
Volume 1: Impure Souls
Volume 2: Blood Brothers
Volume 4: Eternal Damnation