Customer Reviews

Hellsing Ultimate: Volume 4 (Steelbook Packaging)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I love hellsing and since ultimate is closer to the original manga, i had to buy the limited editions. The first 3 volumes never caused a problem, but with this volume i had troubles playing it in vlc media player. The sound and picture was choppy, which surprised me, since all other dvd's played fine. Soon i discovered that this disk installs a copy protection rootkit on your system, so that you can't copy files from the dvd. Seems like this caused the problem with playback. As if the copy protection rootkit isn't enough, i couldn't even watch the movie. I used Anydvd, which disabled the protection during playback and this worked fine. The movie is great, but for the rootkit, i would have given it 5 stars. Now i consider not buying dvd's from this company anymore, since i don't like software being installed without my knowledge which interferes with my system. Things like that should be banned

The fourth chapter of the anime at the very top of my current "drooling in anticipation of every release" title is finally here and it delivers. After some truly obnoxious and distracting humor took the black sails out the last volume, I'm happy to say that that this one is relatively goof-free, though not perfect. If you've ever thought that the characters of Hellsing are not the strong point, you are about to be schooled. While there is no shortage of gore and murderously exciting (though brief) action scenes, this chapter chooses to expand the story,raise the tension, and introduce a cavalcade of new warriors into the ring. The villains get their due this time around. In fact, the last ten minutes is nearly entirely devoted to a spectacularly mad speech given by the Millennium organization's leader, The Major; a man Alucard put down half a century ago during WWII. Millennium's goal is chaos. Bringing the world to it's knees starting with Britain by realizing the Third Reich's plan of a vampire army. "Hellsing Ultimate: Volume 4" gives us the declaration of war, and it's opening skirmish with Great Britain's defenders from the supernatural, the Hellsing organization.

The film opens with Alucard phoning Integra. Not to say hi, mind you, but to continue his taunting of his master about the human bloodbath she ordered in Volume 3. But it turns out that there is one human that the No Life King respects: the Queen herself, who he meets not for the first time at a roundtable conference including the Vatican's hated Iscariot organization. Yes, Father Anderson is in this installment as well. Never a bad thing. The meeting is interrupted by a messenger from Millennium. Now if there is one thing I have never, ever thought it is "Hellsing needs more catgirls". Sure this particular catgirl is a boy, but seeing that the character model is essentially Seres Victoria with cat ears, I'm calling it what it is. Alucard's reaction to said catgirl: blowing it's fu#*ing head off. Have I mentioned that that vampire is my favorite animated character of all time by about a mile? The Major describes him best: "immortal, invincible, undefeated , and almighty". He forgot "wicked cool and pure evil", but he is plotting to kill the guy so you expect him to omit a few praises. In Volume 4, the head vamp adds kamikaze pilot and possessor of God-like evil power to his resume. That's a good day for most any creature of the night.

My favorite thing about Volume 4 is the character on the cover. A nazi vampire girl who calls herself Rip Van Winkle, possessing a joyous personality and a love of singing triumphant old-time war songs. Her weapon of choice is an old-school single-shot musket. Why use a single-shot weapon? One is all she needs to destroy an army. She can guide the bullet's flight to take out as many targets as she wishes or hit the same target repeatedly, shredding even fighter jets to bits. But there is one thing she can't do; and that thing is keep her composure in the presence of the baddest vamp on the planet. Pity. I really loved that character and wished for better from her. But hey, we can plainly see that The Major has an entire freak show of brilliant-looking characters at his back so I expect future volumes to be insanely action-packed. Also of note is an Integra/Seres scene that seems to have come from a fanboy doujinshi. Not complaining, just observing.

As cool as this is, the pacing at the end is quite atrocious for such a short film. While this is the longest Hellsing OVA yet at around 55 minutes, when the last 15 or so consist of only a villain's speech and a slow supernatural torture scene that borders on rape than you imagine much more could have been done. This is pretty much a symptom of the main complaint which is pretty much the same complaint I would level at every volume of "Hellsing Ultimate". IT'S TOO DAMN SHORT! The wait for these is torture for me and the short length of each story keeps me perpetually frustrated that each DVD ends right when it's reaching critical mass. It keeps me lusting for more of my favorite ongoing anime, but it annoys me as well.

Well that's the skinny on "Hellsing Ultimate: Volume 4". It fails to reach the heights of the amazing Volume 2, but it isn't far off either. As far as the animated vampire-kills-nazis action/horror genre goes it won't get much better than this. If you haven't seen any of the Ultimate series than you have done yourself a disservice. These OVA's mostly kick the snot out the television series. If you don't wish to experience the same story as the original anime, start with Volume 3 where the action deviates from the established anime story and enjoy what is a far superior continuation of the first half of the television show's story, which got a little stale after the halfway point. Here's to a quick release for Volume 5!

4 1/2 stars, rounded down for an underperforming cover character. (sniff)

Not really a review of this episode, but just a heads up to all that according to Funimations announced licensing deals Hellsing Ultimate parts 5-7 will be released in North America sometime in 2011.

Nazi vampires preparing to invade London, bloody vampire violence, ten minute long death scenes, and a meeting with the Queen herself what more could a hellsing fan want? Vol IV gives us a taste of what's yet to come for Hellsing and to our delight the ova series has been following the manga almost perfectly. The english cast has many new editions such as Kari Wahlgren as Rip Van Winkle, Helena Taylor as Zorin Blitz and Laura Bailey as the adorable cat-boy Schrodinger plus Heinkel Wolfe who has yet to have an actual speaking role. This episode gets even more violent with a ten minute death scene for a certain someone, but with Hellsing you come to expect high octaine violence so if you have a weak stomach Hellsing might not be the best way to go. The extra features disc will keep you entertained with 2 cast interviews one with director Taliesin Jaffe and Ralph Lister the voice of Walter and Kari Wahlgren. The karaoke of the major's speech is highly entertaining especially with a group of Hellsing fans things could get crazy! Sadly it will be a long time before we see vol V of Hellsing but with the cast interviews, trailers, a Karaoke of the Major's speech, and a great fifty minute episode this will keep Hellsing fans satisfied until vol V.

I really enjoyed watching the new Hellsing series. I was sad when they stopped making them. Much like the first animated series, the show ends without really having an ending.

I saw the English Version and it was dubbed perfectly just like the past 3 OVA's. I have the Japanese version, the packaging was different than this U.S version, because All of the North America releases have metallic casing.

But yeah, this is worth bying its action-packed and bloody...My Fav ; )

The Good Things

*Excellent video/sound quality.

*This version of "Hellsing" has excellent imagery and graphics. It includes a lot of computer-generated-imagery, but none of it looks too hoaky or out-of-place. It is definately high quality animation.

*Excellent amount of bloody action. Some of the scenes in this volume are downright awesome. Also includes a few comical moments.

*Storyline is great. It is close to the original manga. It has also accelerated in momentum, thrusting the whole Millennium Group story arc into the saga in a way that is very revealing and cohesive.

*Characters are splendid. All of the main characters are still great. The characters of the Millennium group are now introduced, and are a very interesting group to watch. The main enemy in this one (Rip Van Wrinkle) is fun to watch (although she doesn't put up much of a fight against Alucard).

*Some good lines throughout.

*Funky music (although I think the music in the old "Hellsing" show was better).

The Bad Things

*Not for the sqeamish; contains lots of bloody violence and swearing (rated TV-MA).

*A lot of stuff is packed into a single hour. As fast and condensed as everything is, it may be seen as overly compressed with not enough exposition.

The Other Things

*If you buy the single-disc version, you get little or no special features. The two-disc steelbook edition (although more expensive) includes a small wealth of interviews, textless credit scenes, a karaoke version of the major's speech (which was pretty darn long), and probably some other stuff.

This volume is probably one of the best in the series so far. The action scenes are incredible, and the whole episode is fun to watch (except maybe the end, with the major's super-long monologue). Above all, they finally introduce a cast of interesting characters that had never been seen before (except in the manga), and they are great to watch. It is clear now that "Hellsing Ultimate" is not just another serious vampire shooting spree; it's a whole lot of fun. A definate must-buy for those already into the series.

I'm so glad Hellsing IV is finally here I was so sad when all that stuff happened, but now that Hellsing IV is here I'm so happy.. =D

The Hellsing Ultimate is a must for the fans of the Hellsing manga it follows pretty closely with the storyline and I think both the English and Japanese voicing is really great the extras in the Limited edition dvds are really nice and the 200 page artbook is really nice I give this 5 out of 5 stars because Hellsing ultimate has such a good story and this volume is my favorite because it has Rip van Winkle she's one of my favorite characters in Hellsing so it was so nice seeing her and hearing how her voice sounds also seeing as how there is a Karaoke of Major's Speech I was hoping there would also be a Karaoke of Rip van Winkle singing... Just kidding. =)

With Hellsing Ultimate IV here I can rest well knowing there'll be more of the Hellsing Ultimates comming on the way.

Our favorite vampire returns to tear through some nazi vampires, and I mean literaly tear through them. But thats the reason we love Alucard isn't it, he's viloent, merciless and has no remorse. We also get to see some new powers on display by Alucard that we haven't seen in previous episodes. All in all it was good fun, can't wait for the english, Although I do like Joji Nakata's Alucard better than Crispin Freemans. Crispin Freeman's still tight but Joji Nakata's the sickest, he's got this sinister laugh that I love. This Hellsing Ultimate series is definately one of my favorite anime series of all time, it's got bloody action and a decent story and a killer english dub. And the best part is I can watch these episodes over and over again and still be excited about them. Can't wait for volume 5.

The darkest, deepest, most disturbing volume in the Hellsing Ultimate series. Easily the best! You'll laugh, you'll cry, and maybe cringe a little bit too...