As a fan who saw the incomplete Hellsing series first, I knew what to expect from the manga. But I didn't expect everything I got. The Hellsing manga, while as visually violent as the anime, has a lot more style than the anime had. The artistic sense of Kohta Hirano, who wrote the story and drew the panels, is excellent and a little different than the common manga style, a little mutated, to better explain. The characters are exaggerated, of course, but instead of the head it's more the limbs of the characters; long arms and large hands are common, and goes well with the atmosphere of this manga. And, while Alucard looks like every other manga vampire around, there's somehow a duffiness (yes, I made that word up, but you know what it means) to his appearance when he's all decked out in trench and wide-brimmed hat. It hides the monster underneath quite well. Another common artistic feature is the glasses worn by 3/4ths of the cast, which Kohta Hirano actually comments on.
Still, though the artistic style is unique, it's the story that makes Hellsing such a great manga (and anime, both past and future). Separated into six chapters, with a bonus seventh that goes off the main track of the story, Hellsing follows the exploits of the Hellsing Organization and the leader of this secret group of vampire hunters, Integra Hellsing. Their primary job is to exterminate all vampire threats across England. Yet their primary weapon is a vampire named Alucard, who has powers beyond those of the young vampires who roam the land and murder innocents. Following close behind Alucard is his unwilling servant and fellow vampire known simply (to Alucard at least) as Police Girl.
Here is a breakdown of each chapter without spoilers:
Chapter 1 -- Vampire Hunter: The basic introductory manga story, which brings in the two primary characters of Integra and Alucard. It presents what can be expected from this manga in the future. In this Alucard battles a rather controversial vampire-figure.
Chapter 2 -- Master of Monster: Explains Integra's dark past and how she came to meet Alucard. It also shows how she became the leader of the Hellsing Organization.
Chapter 3 -- Murder Club: This chapter follows Alucard and Police Girl in their fight against two vicious vampires on a murder spree. It also shows Police Girl coming into her own as a vampire.
Chapters 4 - 6 -- Sword Dancer 1, 2, & 3: A new vampire hunting organization based out of the Vatican is introduced in this series of chapters, one that doesn't believe in the Hellsing Organizations methods for exterminating vampires. Alucard and Police Girl hunt vampires but do not realize that they are being hunted by the Vatican's best killer, the knife-wielding Father Anderson.
Bonus Chapter -- Crossfire: Follows the tale of two of the Vatican's greatest killers as they travel to the Middle East to rescue hostages from a group of extremist Muslims. (Has no actually bearing on the Hellsing story that I know of).
The first volume in this series was excellent, and I'm hoping that the remaining six can keep up with the intense pacing that Kohta Hirano set for this manga. If he can, then this series promises to be one of the best. If you were a fan of the Hellsing anime and want to see the real story, or if you want to know what's happening before the upcoming Hellsing Ultimate hits American shelves, then I recommend picking this volume up. It has somewhat of a Trigun feel to it, but is as cool as Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo.
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Reviews with images
Great characters, amazing art, cool premise
The five stars are not to imply that this installment is perfect. Far from. The dialogue, especially in the first few chapters, is often laughably corny and redundant. (Possibly due to translation issues.) The story also has the feel of a new series, where the writer is still figuring out the story as it takes off; compare to the anime, "Hellsing Ultimate," which takes the finished story and arranges foreshadowing and flashbacks in a way that ties the full series together a bit better.None of those imperfections are a big deal though. This installment instantly turned me into a "Hellsing" fan, a full decade ago now, with the fantastic characters and mind-blowing artwork.If your favorite thing about "Hellsing" is Pip or the Nazis, this probably won't be your favorite installment. But while I love both of those things, I also really love this "early season" version of "Hellsing," with the monster-of-the-week and the lighter, black-comedy tone. I also strongly prefer Integra's hairstyle in this book.
Top reviews from other countries
Michael Lewis-McFarlane
It’s how they said it would be
Reviewed in Canada on September 4, 2021
