Customer Reviews

Hellsing, Vol. 8

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kohta Hirano's bloody vampire epic continues in this newest volume. Picking up directly where the last one left off, we find ourselves in the middle of a raging battle between the millennium organization, the vatican, and what remains of the hellsing organization. Alucard has just arrived at the party, and it promises to be a hell of a time. Fans of the series will not be disappointed, as everyone's favorite vampire anti-hero pulls out all the stops, finally showing us what happens when he releases all of his control art restriction levels. We also finally get a glance into his past, and perhaps a hint of what makes him what he is. In typical Hellsing fashion, the volume ends on a note that will leave you begging for volume 9 to be released.

I enjoyed this volume, but I'm not entirely sure that it was worth the wait. A year is a pretty long time to wait for a single volume, especially when not much has progressed, story-wise. I'll continue to read this series, as it is one of the best out there, but I will no longer make it my top priority to look for new volumes, and I can't help but be relieved when I hear that volume 10 will be the final installment in this series.

Was this worth the year long wait? I am still not sure, but I am surprised by this installment in the Hellsing story. Hellsing is still a gore fest through on through, but what caught me off gaurd was character depth. Kohta Hirano created more than a gore fest of a manga he actually created a story that is very profond.

In this installment he see more into the heart of Alucard. More to the fact we finally we get an idea of what makes him tick, and why he has such a strong respect for Father Anderson.

" A weak monster like me, a monster that could not go on being human must defeated by a human." -Alucard, Hellsing Vol. 8 page 143.

Over a 100 years ago Dracula was defeated by Van Helsing, Holmwood, Morris, and Seward. Hirano added to the story of Dracula, by telling us the aftermath of the events of Bram Stoker`s story, and a good addition it is. In volume eight one begins to wonder if Alucard is looking for release from his unlife from a worthy advesary. Van Helsing did not kill Dracula in the end, but made him a servant/ soldier to help in the cursade rid the world of other creatures of darkness. What better soldier to have than the king of vampires himself?

We also find that Dracula in his madness lost everything that was around him. As Alucard, he is not lost on this irony.

I had forgotten that the original Vlad the Impaler did serve the Vactican, which back in the 15th century was not unusual for someone who is roaylty. . My history is still a bit fuzzy. For Hellsing, this little tidbit of infomation proves to be vital.

It serves as paralell with Father Anderson, and a good explanation for Alucard`s animosity for the Vactican. Alucard became a monster for war during his days as human fighting the Turks and so forth. Father Anderson is a human who fights monsters, but has not totally given up his humanity like Alucard.

Enough rambles and rants from me. Give Hellsing a read. Yeah its gory and insane, but look beyond that and you find good horror story with some seriuos plot and character depth.

I mean, I wasn't totally disappointed with this next installation, but for the prolonged wait and the lack of progress story wise, I almost felt shortchanged. I am really hoping the next volume will be a bit more satisfying and hopefully not take as long to make it over seas? Well, that's my opinion anyway.

I found this book at a good price and it was in good condition. It took long to get it, but it was not important to me.

When I was able to finally read this book, I found it was a fast paced read. The series is coming to the climax and the fight made the whole book seem like it was going by real fast. Next time I read it, I'll have to take a deep breath and look at the background to see what else is going on; it's like a movie you enjoy watching over many times.

I have two problems with this book. First, that as soon as I got my hot little hands on it I couldn't stop reading until I finished, and second, that volume 9 STILL isn't pout in the US. It's a great story, but the graphic violence is not kid friendly. Don't give this to your 10 year old just because it's a "comic book."

The original Hellsing anime stopped before the series got really good, so it was up to the manga to carry on.

Vol. 8 has been a long time coming, but it carries the crazy, blood-soaked story on into the battle of vampires, werewolves, Nazis, the Protestant Knights, and the Catholic Iscariot Section XIII. The Hellsing Organization stands alone against all its enemies and the fight has come to their door. Each of the armies has a champion 'trump card' and all of these are facing off in what remains of London.

I'm glad the anime is being remade into the Hellsing Ultimate series, but until it's finished, I'll be sitting here waiting on Vol. 9.