Disclaimer
I review based on plot, characterization, emotional pull, episode quality, and creativity. Length of the anime or the ties to an original source material will not be the basis of this review, nor will the review be bias, as I try to be as unbias as possible, leaving the review as professional as possible and having it a break down of what works and less of an opinion. This is also partially a guide for the reader to see what works better with them, and why some anime or media are better to them then others. I'm also aware that I'm reviewing two DVD sets, but the final set is literally two hours worth of material so it is short enough to include. Let's begin.
WARNING possible spoilers WARNING
Continuing where the last volumes left off, Major a returning Nazi with an army of vampires is just beginning to attack London. Looking for the Ultimate War, Major has already crippled most of the Hellsing organization and is manipulating the Catholic church's crusade into motion as well. The war heats up, Hellsing manor is attacked, Victoria unlocks her true powers, and Alucard who was trapped on a boat finally makes it to shore. Things heat up as Alexander Anderson turns into a monster, Walter is shown as the traitor who has been betraying all of them, and Alucard unlocks his true powers. There is a decent ending to all the action, an ending that is very satisfying. Oh and all the artificial vampires were created from the bone fragments of a creature that was and wasn't a vampire at the same time. A large amount of background for Alucard is revealed as well.
The plot is actually really good, while yes it is an excuse for large amounts of action, it is a war after all. The way everything comes together is interesting and the plans of the Major are just bizarre but fascinating at the same time. Everything comes to a great close leaving little stone unturned, and it was a great dramatic plot all through.
Seras really came out into the open these volumes. There are so many times she left me saying "damn..." kind of awe struck. She has certainly been building up to be a nasty fighter, but she experiences anger, fear, past memories, and a need for revenge. She becomes a destructive and powerful force, but that isn't to say the other characters are lack luster either. We learn much more about Alucard during this time as well, including a bit of fragments about his time as an actual count as well as Alucard's true power set. Mrs. Hellsing continues to be awesome, we learn a ton about Walter and he certainly comes out as more then a butler and fighter, and we learn a large amount about the Major too. While none of the past is fed to us excluding Seras' past, it is possible to pick up on pieces here and there. While there are more villains then the Major, we don't learn much about them excluding that they are monsters and kind of want to die in the end. The only antagonist we learn about more then the Major is Alexander Anderson himself who has a great development in these volumes.
Yes some of them are only there for a fight, but the characters that are developed are so wonderfully insane and three dimensional it is easy to overlook a few (and I mean few) one track personas.
I'm not basing this section off of the Emotional Pull section I had for my previous Hellsing Review, but I will say, there are a lot more emotions this time around. First off you get to see Seras Victoria's past and cringe as she watches her freshly dead mother get raped. Yeah that easily stood out in this anime, but there are more parts, like Seras getting angry seeing her comrades being slaughtered, and the emotional ties she has with the leader of the Wild Geese mercenaries and what happens when he is gravely injured. There is also the determination of Seras, Walker, Mrs. Hellsing, and even some minor characters have some sad or heroic (mostly both) moments. You also will probably feel the evil from Major and other characters' anger when trying to kill him, particularly Seras who brings out the biggest gun ever just to get to him. You may also feel a bit malicious when some characters die in a justified manor. The best part? The action of course. The fights between Seras and the illusion girl, Seras and the werewolf, Alucard and Anderson, Alucard and Walter, Alucard and an entire army... yeah the action is epic. One of the best car chase scenes in an anime happen during these volumes. Also you realize how much of a monster Alucard and to a lesser extent Victoria are when they are split in half and their bodies ripped apart several times through the series as the character shows little concern.
The animation is just beautiful even if most of the colors are crimson red. Not only is the animation just some of the best I've seen, each hour long episode wastes no time. The only problem here are there are moments of absolute weirdness and humor in nearly every episode almost to take tension away. Sometimes they happen in the credits, sometimes right in the middle of a tense scene, and some are funny some are just too bizarre. Still these aren't long and far enough between for it to not take away from the Hellsing experience. All the episodes certainly do their job and waste little time, and with the animation quality like it is, this series just looks amazing.
Everyone Alucard has ever devoured he can summon in a wave of blood. Literally his final power is to summon every creature he fully devoured, they were all inside him, he even reverted back to his base form of Dracula after doing this move. This is a huge army like move, and even has two familiar faces to help devastate all of Alucard's foes. Seras has her own version of this as well, and the powers of the enemies are just as amusing and interesting leading to epic fights. It certainly changes the way you look at vampires and possibly werewolves.
If you like horror anime or can stomach it and like action, or just like horror and action, this anime is for you. Go watch it. There is a great plot, epic characters, blood and gory action scenes with some disturbing images though never actually scary, great creativity and excellent animation. The only really issue is the oddly weird moments, and they aren't bad enough to negate anyone from watching.
If you don't mind blood and like action, or like blood and don't mind action, or love them both, this is for you easily. If you want a good story, great characters all showing insanity, and great creative things like super powers, this anime is also for you. The only people who should shy away are people with weaker stomachs and a dislike of gore. No really, if you dislike gore that is the only reason you should give this anime a try.