Hellsing Ultimate 07 - Review

Title: Hellsing Ultimate 7
Genre: Action, Drama, Horror, Supernatural

Summary:

Vampires exist. It is the duty of Hellsing, a secret organization sponsored by the British government, to hide that frightening fact and protect the blissfully unaware populace. Along with its own personal army, Hellsing has secret weapons. Alucard, an incredibly powerful vampire, has been controlled by Hellsing for years. It is unclear how he feels about being a servant to the Hellsing family, but he certainly enjoys his job as a vampire exterminator. Seras is a fledgling vampire and former police woman. Although reluctant to embrace her new self, she is a valued member of the organization. Integra Hellsing, the current leader, is usually fully capable of fulfilling her duty, but lately, vampire activity has been on the rise. Unfortunately, the cause is more alarming than anything she could have imagined. A group long thought dead has been plotting in secret since their apparent destruction over 50 years ago. Plotting to plunge England, and perhaps the entire world, into war.

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Story: 9/10

The story is the direct continuation of the previous OVA and wow, that played out better than expected. Finally, after waiting for several years I finally got a chance to watch this part of the manga in its animated glory. This part of the manga is my favorite part since Seras finally became a full vampire and the trigger is the death of Captain Bernadotte (awwww he died :( it would have been nice to see Bernadotte and Seras as a couple) and gosh it was animated and directed well and also let's not forget the gore, the bloody battle field, the way people got ripped off by those sadistic vampire and let's not forget how Seras smeared the face of that Zorin on the wall till her death (ha! Serves her right!) simply unforgettable but definitely not for the weak hearted. This is probably the best episode of Hellsing Ultimate since it packs a lot of action, gore, desperation and plot twist that I never expected when I've read the manga. The next one I think is also action packed since Alucard is coming and he'll be facing off the forces from Vatican and the Nazi's together with Seras and let's not forget that Allegra would be releasing the limit of Alucard. Oh I can't wait for the next episode, I just hope Madhouse would release it faster.

My only rant is that since its been a long time since I've watched the episode prior to this one and its been a while since I've last read the manga, I have to refresh my memory on what happened earlier and somehow when I've found out that this was already released, the hype in the OVA is almost gone and this is almost overshadowed by the shows I'm watching.

Characters: 9/10

Definitely had a lot of character development from Seras and Bernadotte. It was really sad that Capt. Bernadotte died since in the previous episode, he tried to kiss Seras but failed so it suggest that he fell in love with Seras and the second time he tried to kiss her he succeeded but died in the end while saving her. Oh man, that was just sad since they really get along in the previous episodes and now he died. Nevertheless, because of that Seras drank his blood just like he suggested and that turned her into a true vampire. After watching her whack all those soldiers and Zorin's face I can't really believe that she's the same sweet girl we knew from the beginning. Also, we finally know what happened to Sera's family that make her desire to become a policewoman because of Zorin's power that almost cost Sera's life.

Zorin is one of the badass antagonists in this OVA. You'll learn to hate her for what she's done to the Hellsing army, to Seras and of course to Bernadotte. She's a very good opponent but still the 'main boss' is that fat general of the Nazi (I forgot his name -_-).

Animation: 8/10

The animation is still the same as the previous OVAs. It was fluidly animated specially the action and the gore. The lines are still thick to bring out the faces of the characters better. The animation and character design is still loyal to the manga. Nothing much changed but still impressive despite that I've only watched the DVD version of this OVA.

Sounds: 8/10

Like its predecessor, the OP and ED songs are mostly orchestrated music and somehow its very fitting since it brings an ominous ambiance as the OVA starts and ends. I honestly can't remember how the bgm sounded but I think its functioning since I got really excited during the fight scenes and sometimes the atmosphere have become bleak when everyone was almost killed.

Enjoyment: 8/10

Hell yeah! I enjoyed this episode very much but because of the late releases the excitement in me is almost gone. Nevertheless, this episode is memorable mainly because of Bernadotte, Seras and because of the sudden turn of events. I just hope Madhouse would release the next episode sooner or else the excitement would eventually evaporate and maybe this will come under the radar again.

Overall: 8.4/10

until then...

~ja