Hellsing, The Complete TV Series

While Ultimate May have better animation... (It’s an OVA! Of course it does!) Classic handles its characters much better than Ultimate. Ultimate has frequent slapstick, which detracts from the drama and tension Hellsing is known for, and its treatment of Seras is much poorer than Classic. The same logic applies to the soundtrack. Classic’s is cool, smooth Jazz and while not always thematically appropriate; it is memorable. Long rant short, get this classic over the OVA. (Or, just watch Team4Star’s Ultimate Abridged. It’s hilarious!)

This like many anime series was made before the manga was actual finished. As a result the animators quickly run out of source material and have to make up stuff ("filler"). The problem here is while the filler material is good in its own right it is doesn't quite fit the rest of the series and so the series feels uneven. Of the 13 episodes only 1-3, 5-6, part of 7, and 10 come from the manga and even they feel "off" due to different amounts of filler material being mixed into them. Sadly by Episode 11 this series give up any attempt at even following the manga story line and as seen by the other filler material the anime suffers as a result. There is a story going around that the studio doing this series quite literally ran out of money and had to wrap up the series in a hurry which would explain the totally unsatisfactory ending that is done in TEXT that leaves a LOT of plot threads dangling. For fans of the manga who want a complete storyline I would recommend skipping this and going for the Ultimate OVA version as Seres, Walter, Anderson, and even Alucard get far more character development in that version then here.

If you're thinking about watching Hellsing, the original 13 episode anime is a great place to start. To quickly summarize the differences between Hellsing (this version) vs. Hellsing Ultimate; Hellsing Ultimate consists of ten 50 minute episodes and closely follows the original manga, whereas Hellsing consists of 13 22 minute episodes and expands upon one of the plot threads of the manga. The 13 episode Hellsing anime tells about as much story as one or two episodes of Hellsing Ultimate, and as the pace is less hurried it does a better job developing the characters and story line. Whereas Hellsing Ultimate has more action (and gore), Hellsing has more suspense and dramatic tension. Finally, the music in this version is absolutely stellar, and is far superior to the unremarkable (but decent) soundtrack of Hellsing Ultimate. If you like either Hellsing series you'll probably end up watching them both. I recommend watching this first though, as Hellsing Ultimate is more action oriented and this might seem a bit slow if you watch Ultimate first. The downside to watching this series first is you'll miss the awesome soundtrack when you watch Ultimate.

Sentimentality aside, this series is vastly outmatched by the ultimate OVAs. As the first half of the series coincides more or less with the first two OVAs, you get a lot more story with the ultimate series. Comparing scenes from the depict the same plot, the animation is much better in the OVAs, particularly in the action sequences. Alucard hardly moves in this version. The villains in this version are incredibly lame compared with the ultimate series, and the overall plot development hardly makes sense. This is because this version was made before the manga was finished. Although this version does omit the anime slapstick that appears somewhat frequently in the OVAs, the characters and the action more than make up for it. I admit that I saw the ultimate series first. This series is a joke and a waste of money in comparison. I can't say what it might've been without that bias, only that after watching both, this series seems like a fraud.

After wishing for this series to be at itunes its finally here. I like the ova but i love this version better :)

This show does have the things that I like about the Hellsing franchise: the demented characters, the awesome soundtrack, the over-the-top violence, and Alucard (he's in a category all his own), and as such, I can't bring myself to hate it because it did get me into the franchise. However, having read the original manga and watched the Hellsing: Ultimate OVA's, I start to notice a few nagging problems that cut this show's rewatch value. Firstly, the plot is poorly put together. The first half essentially drags out and softens the story-line of the first two volumes of the manga, and the original plot they came up with for the second half is not terribly interesting and it doesn't make much sense. Secondly, there are some serious issues with the animation quality. Although the first episode has no real problems, from the second episode onwards the animations quality becomes wildly inconsistent, ranging from okay to terrible, particularly when it comes to making Integra look like a woman, not a woman's head attached to a boy's body. Despite all that, it's still Hellsing, and even a bad iteration is world's better than some other schlocky anime titles. So, while I would personally suggest everyone watch the Hellsing: Ultimate series instead, I can at least say that you will probably find this interesting if you are curious. Take that as you will.

If you're new to the Hellsing series, you may be familiar with the fact that there are two variants of this series; Hellsing & Hellsing: Ultimate. If you're trying to decide which one to purchase, I would highly recommend purchasing the ultimate volume(s). Unless you're intentionally trying to purchase the original Hellsing, Hellsing: Ultimate could be seen as the "remastered" version of the two. The animation is more vivid, the soundtrack is more exciting, the fight sequences are more intense and the plot has a better twist in my opinion. The Ultimate season does cost much more money wise, but take my word for it, it'll be your worth every penny. Still, the original Hellsing is great, and a good place to start for people trying to get into the series.

I am not knocking the ultimate Series. but this is the first one i saw of the hellsing series and i like it better. I just got done watching the whole series of the Hellsing ultimate and the two are both great. but it falls to this one that made me love the series so i think its a little better. while this one might be a little less adult then the other one this one takes story over action. ultimate seemd to favor action and little story while this one did a nice bit of both.