" If only the story were more detailed this could be a truly stellar anime. "

      Title: Hellsing from Pioneer

      Format: Vampiric Action Anime

      Reviewing Monkey: Chimpan-A

      The Hype: Who here loves vampires, raise your hands… Okay… hold on, there's too many to count… Travel to merry old England, where the Hellsing organization uses its resources to keep the supernatural buggers off the streets. It's greatest weapon? Steak and Kidney pie drenched in malt vinegar. It's second greatest weapon? Alucard, the Vampire. Hunting his own kind at the behest of the humans, follow Alucard on this four disc series of adventures.

      What This Monkey Thought...

      Animation: For the most part it's nice and clean, there are a few bits of blurring here and there, but nothing that will lessen your enjoyment. Character designs have a great aesthetic, with Alucard (or is it Arucard? Depends on what country you're from apparently) looking very cool in his red jacket and hat. The ghouls and other minor characters look appropriately desiccated. The backgrounds are a little bland, not really taking on the quality presented in the character design. That as well as a couple of easy cheap animation outs (just show a spray of bullets and some soldiers shaking) keep this from having truly awesome animation. What it does have, however is style. Everything here has just got a great sense of style to it that really reaches out and grabs you. It's very easy to forgive a few easy animation cells when you've got as much pure style factor as this anime oozes. 4 out of 5

      Story and Voice Acting: The voice acting is fairly quality, although there are a few lines which could be read better. Unfortunately most of these less than stellar lines are out of Arucard, which is too bad. When he's on though, he's got a great bastard quality going for him. He's especially great when expressing morbid joy over a great fight.
          The real issue with the story is that it's just too short. This series introduces a lot of really cool elements. There are awesome recurring characters and great villains. The plot begins with "Police Girl" Seras Victoria being turned into a vampire by Alucard during a fight with another vampire. From there they go on to investigate the plague of "fake" vampires being created in droves of late. It's an interesting plotline with neat twists that could have happened. Unfortunately, the series just kind of speeds itself towards the penultimate finale. There are a few people with decent set up, but not many. This series is about 12 or 13 episodes long (over four discs). If they could have extended it for another several episodes (maybe to a standard 26), they could have explored the plot a little more, and probably would have avoided the whole thing feeling a little forced at the end. 3 out of 5

      Value vs. Price: Well, the full set will set you back a good hundred after you've collected all the discs. If you bought the first disc, you should have a nice box to keep it all in (as well as a blood pack). The second disc came with an awesome Hellsing Patch I'm still looking for a good place to put. The discs themselves each have a little artwork and some additional extras. Not a whole lot, but enough to warrant mention. For the most part though, you'll be getting this stuff on the merit of the series itself. The first disc or two are well worth it, past that only those interested in watching the series play out its speedy finish will collect the rest. 3 out of 5

      The Verdict:

If only they had gone for the full 26 episodes. We could have explored more in depth into the various bones they throw up. Believe me there are a lot of cool elements thrown out for us to bite into. Unfortunately, a bite is all we get. Moreover the whole series is filled with a frenetic exciting style that it's hard to completely disregard the series. It's certainly got its appeal to D fans. Arucard is a crazy cool vampire with a smooth élan about him. If only the story were more detailed this could be a truly stellar anime. Instead it comes off as cool, but rushed.

      The Good: Awesome sense of style, cool vampiric battles

      The Bad: Not enough time to properly develop the arc the story is trying to follow, especially bad because the story is interesting.

      The Overall Ugly: D fans may want to give it a look for some cool vampire action, just don't expect much story.

      What it's Worth: Serious rental, maybe market.