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AtomHellsing Volume 1
Ever wake up and find out that you’re a vampire? That’s what happens to Seras Victoria in Hellsing. She was once a SWAT team officer destined for death as she’s caught in the hands of a vampire. Alucard, an agent working for the top secret Hellsing organization, kills the rival vampire and Victoria who’s in the crossfire. In Victoria’s eyes Alucard sees her will to keep living and gives her the "gift" of a second life. Gift meaning that he transforms Victoria into a vampire because Alucard himself is a vampire. As the story progresses we see Victoria learn the ways of the nightwalkers up to episode 3 where her life is at jeopardy again.
In the past Hellsing has been compared to Cowboy Bebop and Trigun mainly due to the style of the series. Like Cowboy Bebop, Hellsing manages to have it’s own feel, separating it from other animes out there except for Vampire Hunter D. The art design in the series rocks. Best described as a mix of gothic design in modern circumstances, Hellsing is entertaining to watch for the art alone. The two main characters have two distinctly different places. You have the "bad-ass" character in Alucard, who dons a red coat, sunglasses and silver pistols. Victoria plays more of the sympathy case in the series as she explores her new life both as a vampire hunter and a vampire. Between the two characters is a nurturing relationship, where Alucard guides Victoria.
On the actual PSP screen Hellsing doesn’t look as great as it could have been. Instead of using the widescreen format Hellsing has a direct DVD transfer with the 4:3 aspect ratio. You end up with a black bordered box, instead of a full screen. You can zoom in or use the full screen option to alter the image, but neither yield perfect results. Stretching the video gives the entire show a squished look. Zooming in is probably the best option for full screen viewing. However even that comes at a price, you’ll miss out on some details and the subtitles are chopped in half. The audio has the same low volume level as other PSP videos, but it sounds decent if you get a good pair of headphones. If you want to hear the original Japanese track it’s on the disc with a fairly good English dub as the other option. As for extras there’s only previews for future releases and some new menus. I guess you can count having a third episode as an extra, since all of the other anime releases only contain two episodes per disc.
If you haven’t seen Hellsing before the UMD release probably isn’t the best option for viewing the series the first time. If you’re a fan of the series at $15 the UMD is a great option for a second watch before the brand new OVAs come out.
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