HELLSING 01: Impure Souls (M)

DETAILS: DVDs $34.95 each (Multilingual - English/Japanese) Region 4. Running time 75 mins Videos - $24.95 each ( English language) PAL VHS Available in Australia from Madman. Episodes Order 01: The Undead Order 02: Club M Order 03: Sword Dancer

SYNOPSIS: A secret war is brewing in the night - a war in which humanity is only a pawn. The mysterious Hellsing Organization deploys within the shadows to protect ordinary mortals from the undead legions that would prey upon us. Now, as the ghouls and vampires increase in number, they threaten the human police forces forcing the deployment of the Hellsing Organization's ultimate weapon - the rogue vampire, Arucard! After saving Seras Victoria, a special police operative, from death by transforming her into a vampire Arucard must work with her to fight the undead army - as well as her own newfound hungers!

HEROIC-CINEMA'S REVIEW: Vampires. Seems they're everywhere at the moment, and what with three almost consecutive releases from Madman - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Vampire Princess Miyu and Hellsing - it got me to thinking. What is it exactly about vampires that gets the blood pumping? Freudian theory might have you believe that it has something to do with a subconscious association between sex and death and on some level this is certainly true enough. However, there is a little more to the attraction of fanged fiends and cloaked carnivores than merely some repressed Victorian libido could warrant.
No, in a much more relevant, less sexual sense, Vampires represent an even deeper fascination with the line between civility and barbarism, a cultural-wide fear that despite human evolution we are all really only animals. Vampiric inspiration, all horror entertainment value aside, seems perfectly suited the themes of anime and manga that question where the line between human and monster resides. As witnessed in Shinji Ikari and Unit 01's berserker rage in Neon Genesis Evangelion, in the sad, monstrous genetic product XIII of Patlabor 3 or in Yushiro Gowa's trance-like assimilation into the world-killing Kougai in Gasaraki, the need for there to be a difference, for there to be some level of control over the animalistic in man is one of our most darkest fears.
This fear, this subconscious suspicion that we are not quite as in control as we like to think, is a consideration that initiation into Volume 1 of Hellsing takes well into account. Set in the heart of Western civility - England - this series has some of the best chilling hallmarks of gothic literature. The Hellsing Organisation, dedicated for centuries to the eradication of the walking undead, operates from a position of shadowy, high-level political power to protect God, Queen and country. Protestant symbolism, Illuminati-like societies and SAS militarism combine in a series that manages to be something that is at the same time both uncannily familiar and thrillingly new. At the outset we are thrown into the thick of it - the fight against the monstrous undead, the fight for control over our own animalistic tendencies.
All that is, except for Arucard.
Despite his relatively low screen time, you will find yourself fanging (Christ, pardon the pun!) for a glimpse of the Hellsing Organisation's super-soldier on his rounds. Lurking in darkness, sliding in and out of the shadows uninvited to make loftily cruel comments, he's everything an anime King of Vampires ought to be - superior, cultured, lethal and well dressed, not to mention, as it appears, utterly stark raving mad. Maybe he's feeling his age. After all, the country is being overrun by Freaks, and such instant vampire rabble is barely worth the effort it takes to kill them, which by the way he does with a great deal of prejudice, relish and the biggest handgun this side of Vash the Stampede's AGL Arms .45 Long Colt. He enjoys his work so much in fact that the idea of actually battling a vampire of his own calibre practically sends him into raptures.
Possibly it's a very good thing that Sir Integral Wingates Hellsing, the Organisation's illustrious leader and daughter of that Hellsing (of the Van Hellsings...) has him on an extremely short leash. She's cold, calculating and utterly capable of dealing with any situation that arises, and maintains a chilly distance from the family 'pet'. Perhaps she and Arucard merely tolerate each other and the old ties that bind them, but then again, there are hints not only of her humanity but of his also. There is certainly a little more to both their relationship, the nature of Arucard's 'employment' and indeed, to Arucard himself, as exemplified in the odd, almost impersonal tenderness he exhibits towards greenhorn vampire Seras Victoria, than the first three Orders detail. It will be worth seeing the series (and Arucard's relationship with the two women) through to the end.
It will also be worth watching for the surprising array of peripheral characters, from zombie soldiers to seemingly insane ScoTtish Vatican hitmen. In terms of damage, there is merely a glimpse in the first DVD of what Arucard is capable of, only hints of what might be to come, both within and without the walls of Hellsing Mansion, but there's enough of a bite to it to make you want to come back for more. The series' stylistic approach both in terms of sound and animation, begins as something almost quirky and quickly descends into surreal and sharp edged. The soundtrack may at first seem just weird (Mr Big? Now, hang on...), but trust me after a while, it will grow on you and the ADR voice acting, while requiring a little adjustment time (those British accents are a bit of a shock after all The American) is as good both conceptually and technically as the original Japanese seiyuu (voice actors).
This looks to be all round quality work, embarking on its short,13 episode life-span with a magnetic eccentricity that is perhaps becoming more and more the life-blood of modern anime series in the same vein as Trigun. Produced by Gonzo Studios (also responsible for Blue Submarine No.6 and Vandred) Hellsing is yet another feather in the company cap and earns them the inarguable right to stand out from the shadow of Gainax (they broke away from the animation giant in the early 1990's and dedicated themselves to developing quality video games, CD-ROMs and eventually anime series). Based on manga by Kouta Hirano, with character designs by Toshiharu Murata (Blue Submarine) and a screenplay by Chiaki Konaka (Serial Experiments Lain), Hellsing is a full blooded fledgling of the vampire genre more than able to live up to its antecedent's expectations.
Rating: 8 Blood-sucking Bad-ass Vampire Hitmen out of 10
ABOUT THE DVD: Production is slick, however it gets a bit tiring waiting for the bullets to fly into position after the first few times. The subtitles are brilliant - easy to read on the background and the navigation is equally highly visible and easily negotiated. The extras, especially the music video trailer (check the mix of techno and goth imagery!) are particularly satisfying. Features: Creditless Opening Sequence Music Video Trailer Concept Gallery (-huge!) Madman Propaganda (Vampire Hunter D, Armitage Dual Matrix, Berserk, Excel Saga & End of Evangelion)   PLACES OF INTEREST : The most complete fan source on the web - Hellsing.nu Hellsing HQ (there's some rad trivia here) Official type DVD website reviewed by Deni Stoner

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