Hellsing

Hellsing (ヘルシング, Herushingu) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. It chronicles the efforts of the mysterious and secret Hellsing Organization, as it combats vampires, ghouls, and other supernatural foes who threaten England.

The series premiered in Young King Ours in 1997 and ended in September 2008. The individual chapters were subsequently collected and published in 10 tankōbon volumes by Shōnen Gahosha. The series was licensed for English language release in North America by Dark Horse Comics, in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment, and in Singapore by Chuang Yi. In 2001, Hirano began publishing chapters of a prequel series, Hellsing: The Dawn, in special editions of Young King OURs, with six chapters released as of September 2008.

An anime series of the same name was produced by Gonzo. Directed by Umanosuke Iida, the series was based on the manga, but used a screenplay by Chiaki Konaka and was significantly different from the manga in terms of plot, though it used some of the same characters and similar character designs. Spanning 13 episodes, it was broadcast on Japan's Fuji Television from October 10, 2001, to January 16, 2002.

An original video animation (OVA) entitled Hellsing Ultimate was produced by Geneon. It followed the manga storyline more closely than the anime series.^[1] The series spanned 10 episodes, released in Japan between February 10, 2006 and December 26, 2012. In North America the series ran from December 5, 2006 to October 28, 2014.

Plot

Hellsing is named after and centered around the Royal Order of Protestant Knights, originally led by Abraham Van Helsing. The mission of Hellsing is to search for and destroy the undead and other supernatural forces of evil that threaten the queen and the country. This organization is currently led by Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, who inherited the leadership of Hellsing as a child after the death of her father. She witnessed his death which turned her from a once innocent and shy little girl to a tough and deadly force. She is protected by the faithful Hellsing family butler Walter C. Dornez, a deadly foe in his own right, and Alucard, the original and most powerful vampire that swore loyalty to the Hellsing family after being defeated by Van Helsing one hundred years before the story takes place. These formidable guardians are joined early on in the storyline by former police officer Seras Victoria, whom Alucard turned into a vampire.

As the scale and frequency of incidents involving the undead escalate in England and all around the world, Sir Integra discovers that the remnants of a Nazi group called Millennium still exist and are intent on reviving the Third Reich by creating a battalion of vampires. Millennium, Hellsing, and the Vatican section XIII Iscariot clash in an apocalyptic three-sided war in London, and Millennium reveals its true objective: to destroy the vampire lord Alucard, ending a feud begun during World War II.

Media

Manga

The series premiered in Young King Ours in 1997 and ran for eleven years until the final chapter was released in the November 2008 issue.^[2] The individual chapters are collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Shōnen Gahosha, with 10 volumes (the complete series) having been released.^[3][4] The series is licensed for an English language release in North America by Dark Horse Comics. The first volume was released on December 1, 2003 and as of May 19, 2010, the company has published the entire translated series, at ten volumes. Chuang Yi is releasing the series in English in Singapore, with six volumes released as of October 2008, and through an agreement with the company, Madman Entertainment is re-releasing those volumes in Australia and New Zealand.^[5][6] Hellsing is also licensed for regional language releases in France by Editions Tonkam, in Italy by Dynit, in Hungary by Mangafan, in Germany by Planet Manga, in Spain by Norma Editorial, in Poland by Japonica Polonica Fantastica and in Denmark and Sweden by Mangismo.

Crossfire

Crossfire is a three-chapter side story about Iscariot Members Heinkel Wolfe and Yumie Takagi, with cameos of Alexander Anderson and Enrico Maxwell. Crossfire follows Heinkel Wolfe and Yumie Takagi, a Catholic nun and an assassin who work for the Iscariot organization. They call themselves "earthly agents of divine punishment". Crossfire also has cameos by Alexander Anderson and Enrico Maxwell, the head of Iscariot. Across the three chapters, Heinkel and Yumie face a variety of opposition, including Islamic terrorists, communist revolutionaries, and finally, an obscure pagan cult.

Crossfire as a side work was discontinued by Kouta Hirano, but it was republished in the first three volumes of Hellsing as an extra. The Crossfire's story was adapted into a drama CD and included in Hellsing Ultimate OVA 6 and 7.

Hellsing: The Dawn

In 2001, Hirano began publishing chapters of a prequel series, Hellsing: The Dawn, in special editions of Young King OURs, of which six chapters have been released as of May 2009. The Dawn features a fourteen-year-old Walter C. Dornez and Alucard, in the form of a young girl, attacking Millennium's base of operations in Nazi-controlled Poland in September 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising. Publication was scheduled to resume after the conclusion of the main Hellsing series, but there have been no new chapters since the manga's conclusion. Chapters of The Dawn were animated as part of the Hellsing Ultimate OVA series. The three animated entries to The Dawn were released in conjunction with 8th, 9th, and 10th OVAs.

Hellsing prototype manga

This series includes Kouta's old works, before he started Hellsing that features the character's prototypes.

• Angel Dust: Alexander Anderson and Enrico Maxwell
• Coyote: Pip Bernadotte, The Major and Rip Van Winkle
• Desert Guardian: The Captain
• Doc's Story: The Doctor and Schrödinger
• Hi and Low: Integra Hellsing and Yumie Takagi
• Magic School: Renaldo
• The Legend of Vampire Hunter: Alucard, Seras Victoria, Luke and Jan Valentine
• Daidōjin Monogatari: Walter C. Dornez and Heinkel Wolfe
• Susume!! Seigaku Dennou Kenkyuubu: Makube (Section XIII Iscariot's 2nd leader)

Anime

Following the release of the manga, Gonzo produced a thirteen-episode anime series that uses the same characters and settings, but narrates a different story from its source manga. Written by Chiaki J. Konaka and directed by Umanosuke Iida, the series premiered on Fuji Television on October 11, 2001 and ran until its conclusion on January 17, 2002. The series is licensed for English language release in North America by Geneon Entertainment, in the United Kingdom previously by ADV Films until September 2009 and as of January 2013, Manga Entertainment has the license, and in Australia by Madman Entertainment. Geneon's English dub of the series aired in the United States on Starz's Encore Action channel from December 21, 2003 to March 15, 2004 and in Canada on G4techTV Canada's Anime Current block in 2007.

The series uses two pieces of theme music. "Logos Naki World" (A World Without God) by Yasushi Ishii is used as the opening theme for all thirteen episodes. Mr. Big performs the song "Shine" for the series ending theme.

OVAs

Hellsing Ultimate OVA, volume 1

Hellsing Ultimate, known as Hellsing in Japan, is an original video animation (OVA) anime series animated by animation studios Satelight (OVAs I–IV), Madhouse (OVAs V–VII) and Graphinica & Kelmadick (OVAs VIII–X), and produced by Geneon. The first fifty-minute episode was released on Region 2 DVD in Japan on February 10, 2006.^[7] The ending of each episode uses various pieces of instrumental music composed by Hayato Matsuo and performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra up through OVA V. OVAs VI and VII feature vocal closing themes by Japanese rock group Suilen, titled "Magnolia" and "Shinto-Shite" respectively.

On July 27, 2011, Hellsing OVA VIII was released in Japan after one year and eight months, along with the first episode of The Dawn. Episode IX was released on February 15, 2012.^[8] The tenth and final episode was released in December 2012. On August 23, 2014, Adult Swim's Toonami programming block announced that Toonami would air the show beginning on September 13 at 3:00 a.m.^[9]

OVA voice cast

United States

The OVA series is licensed for release in the United States by Geneon USA. In producing the English dub of the series, Geneon used much of the original cast from the dub of the anime series, which the company had also licensed. The first episode was released to Region 1 DVD on December 5, 2006, after premiering the episode at the 2006 Anime Expo convention. Though Geneon USA stopped self-distribution of its titles in 2007,^[14] it remains the licensor of the series and in 2008 the North American distribution was assumed by Funimation Entertainment.^[15] Funimation released the fourth episode on September 23, 2008. Simultaneously, the company re-released the first three episodes. At Anime Expo 2010, Funimation Entertainment announced that they had licensed all three of the new OVAs (episodes 5–7 as of that date) and the original TV series.

Funimation Entertainment additionally announced that they licensed the 8th OVA and would release the first eight episodes in 2012.^[16] Hellsing Ultimate 5–8 was released on November 13, 2012 as a DVD/Blu-ray set. 1–4 was also released as a DVD/Blu-ray set on October 30, 2012. At Anime Central 2014, Funimation announced that they will release episodes 9 and 10 in Fall 2014. At Otakon 2014, Funimation finalized the release date of the final two OVAs, setting it for October 28, 2014.

Soundtracks

Two CD soundtracks composed by Yasushi Ishii have been released by Geneon (Pioneer LDC) for the Hellsing anime series. Hellsing Original Soundtrack: Raid was released on November 22, 2001^[17] and contained 20 tracks, restocked on July 1, 2003.^[18] The second soundtrack, Hellsing Original Soundtrack: Ruins, containing an additional 22 tracks followed on February 22, 2002,^[19] restocked on September 16, 2003.^[20]

Also, three soundtracks composed by Hayato Matsuo have been released for the Hellsing OVA series (Hellsing Ultimate). Hellsing OVA Original Soundtrack – BLACK DOG Released on March 21, 2008.^[21] As well as a DVD-Audio mini-soundtrack released as an extra with Hellsing OVA IV in Japan, titled Premium Disk – Warsaw Recording Selection featuring 9 tracks.^[22] The newest one is also an extra with Hellsing I-V Blu-ray BOX, titled Nazi CD featuring 13 tracks and 1 secret track. The vocal tracks by Suilen were released by the band on their recent mini-album THE DAWN.^[23]

Reception

In 2005, the six and seventh volumes of the Hellsing manga series ranked among Diamond Comics Distributors's list of the top 48 manga volumes sold in the United States for the year.^[24] In November 2007, the ninth volume was among the top 10 volumes sold according to Japan's monthly sales rankings.^[25][26]

References

External links

• Official Geneon Entertainment Hellsing website (in Japanese)
• Hellsing (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• ANN Hellsing Ultimate 1-4 review
• ANN Hellsing Ultimate 5-8 review