Forum - View topicREVIEW: Hellsing Ultimate Blu-Ray 9-10
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Hellsing isn't "horror" per se. It's more like action-oriented vampire mythos masturbation. But boy is it immensely satisfying vampire mythos masturbation. Because it goes that extra mile to be way, way over the top and gloriously cheesy, while still maintaining some semblance of cleverness- not insight, mind you, but cleverness- and comes out decadently glorious.
But it's no more self-indulgent or drawn out than, say, most Yasuhiro Imagawa anime, or Hiroyuki Imaishi's works. I fail to see where the show's trumpeted aspects suddenly become problems just in the final act. It knows what it is and remains so. |
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gedata
 Posts: 615 |
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The problem with the last OVA is that it simply spends far too much time with a seemingly endless load of dialogue. spoiler[How many times to we need to hear the Major tell us about how his humanity allowed him to overcome Alucard, or how much time needed to spent on Alucard relentlessly taunt Walter without actually finishing him off? I like me some hammy dialogue, but this came off as a bit too self-indulgent this time around.] Asides from that, I wasn't particularly miffed by the production quality myself. It was pretty cool ending despite all this. Last edited by gedata on Sat Nov 01, 2014 2:24 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Apparently whatever version of this show you watched didn't go from "exciting things happen and the plot moves forward in every episode" to "long drawn-out barely-animated monologues either restating things you already knew or changing character motivation for the 3rd time". At the very least there was no reason in the world that last episode needed to be 2 hours long. Hell, just remove some of the countless slow pans, cut a few seconds from still reaction shots, maybe explain things only once instead of 3 times (we get it, the major is 'conducting' the war, you don't need to look shocked and explain what's happening to us over and over again) and you could lose a half hour right there. It isn't "just like the rest of the show", it's a limp, repetitive conclusion to what was previously an exciting over-the-top crazy action show. |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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The final parts were just as exciting, big, hammy, and action-packed as any of the other parts. The fights between Alucard and Walter and Seras and The Captain was very well done and there was nothing "limp" about it. The aesthetic was maintained gorgeously, so I'm not sure what kind of niggling animation flaws you saw, but I didn't find any. It was exhausting, to be sure, but in a satisfying way.
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AtariBaby
Posts: 5 |
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Respectfully, have you ever been to a book store or video store and gone to the "action-oriented vampire mythos masturbation" section? No, it's always in the "Horror" or "Horror/SciFi" section. the rest of those adjectives just explain it's uniqueness in the horror genre, the hallmarks of "horror" being monsters, death, blood-- all components of this horror genre anime. |
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penguintruth
Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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It's next to the language books, isn't it? |
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AtariBaby
Posts: 5 |
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Thanks for the review. It's nothing short of amazing the "Hellsing Ultimate" survived the worldwide economic crisis, the crisis that drove most world-wide anime & manga distributors to go bankrupt or nearly bankrupt. I may have to watch the end, just for closure, but I was saddened by the decrease in quality and loss of narrative over time.
Despite the fun story and great overall quality, I was really drawn to the unique and delightful sound effects and visuals. They really should have won all kinds of recognition for sound editing and engineering, and digital effects. The first few OVA's are tremendous. |
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Leland Lee
Posts: 208 |
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...I honestly thought I'd never read Zac type those words. Calling anything Hellsing related limp.
So...uh, if I ever see you out and about in the streets, should I expect something like this? |
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Videogamep
 Posts: 564 Location: CA |
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The last two episodes may have been a bit too talky, but I enjoyed them anyway. spoiler[Alucard's fight with Walter and Seras's fight with the Captain were both especially good]. What really kept me interested was wondering about Alucard's ultimate (no pun intended) fate. It's kind of hard to think of a fitting ending for a character like that but I'm glad spoiler[they brought him back]. That part just felt really satisfying. Ultimate may have it's flaws but I'd still put it in my top ten.
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JackCox
 Posts: 386 |
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Are you kidding me on Episode 4's Speech by the Major? It's an incredible speech and lays out everything that character stands for, it lays out who he is and what he wants. He wants war, he loves it, he craves it and nothing will satisfy him more. It pretty much establishes that the man is completely nuts and he's not doing this for any other reason than to kill everything he can lay his hands on. His speech in Episode 10 in my opinion is one of the most brilliant defeat speeches ever spoken, in the end, The Major wins, spoiler[he causes countless destruction and dies with a smile on his face.] |
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Joe Carpenter
 Posts: 503 |
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Oh boy, I had no idea it would turn out like this, I didn't think the final two volumes of the manga were catastrophic failures or anything, but they were certainly disappointing, to think that the final two OVAS might be even worse is an unsettling thought, now I'm wondering about maybe skipping them entirely, at any rate they're not high up on my to do list.
It's weird to think that I've been a fan of this franchise for almost ten years now (it all started with watching the TV series and then reading the manga back in 2005) and now it might be all coming to a close, it's bittersweet to say the least. (that is unless Hirano decides to resurrect it someday, which is probably not likely but who knows) |
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Ulinox
 Posts: 687 |
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Horrible review. Most of the negatives here could just as easily be applied to the manga. The animation wasn't so bad as the reviewer is trying to make it out to be either. It should have gotten an overall B score at the least.
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Videogamep
Posts: 564 Location: CA |
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Being in the manga doesn't excuse flaws. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Surely you meant two hours, since episode nine is forty-seven or so minutes long and episode ten is sixty-seven minutes long. |
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JackCox
Posts: 386 |
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I may be one of the most lenient critics on most things, I think I tend to see more of the good where most people see the bad. I view the Major as my favorite Anime Antagonist, he has no convoluted scheme just absolute murder, death and destruction to the very end.spoiler[And I would say in the end to some degree the Major wins, he doesn't wax poetic about what he could have done better. No, he crows about how he defeated Alucard, how he set out to accomplish exactly what he wanted and he dies with a smile on his face, a life, in his mind completely fullfilled. For him death is not a defeat.]
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