Print Review: Hellsing Volumes 1-4

Review Hellsing Volumes 1-4Written by WarpshadowRating good

I wouldn’t exactly call Hellsing a good manga but to be honest it does have more violence in it than most action manga does. If that last sentence interests you, then you might be the manga’s target audience.

Hiding in the shows are monsters of incredible power who drink blood, vampires. Taksed with keeping Great Britan safe from these fiends is the Hellsing organization. Even with centuries of experience their strongest weapons isn’t occult expertise; it is Alucard, a vampire who by contract serves Hellsing. One night police decide to assault the village of Cheddar which is under the control of a vampire. The night will not only change the life of one police girl but the start of a conspiracy that will rock the pillars of the nation.

Hellsing is a guilty pleasure (it even says so on the back) manga aimed at those that really enjoy watching heads explode. Even if you have seen the Hellsing anime volume 3 of the manga is of special interst as not only is it the point where the manga plot overtakes the anime but some of the issues in the artwork (such as the fact that Integra looks stoned half the time) are resolved. The artwork is different from many manga with it’s dark art style and frequent scenes of graphic violence. In short this manga is not the series for me but if you like that sort of thing you may like it a lot more than I do.