By title alone, Hellsing Ultimate put forth a challenge. The supernatural action manga by artist / writer Kouta Hirano received an anime series in 2001, but rapidly diverged from the then-unfinished source material. So by taking on the series once again - and renaming it as the definitive interpretation - required this version to offer something more. So what makes Hellsing Ultimate, well...Ultimate? The answer is simple: blood.

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No version of Hellsing is shy about its violence, but Ultimate revels in its gore. Remember Nietzsche's classic quotes about how fighting monsters risks becoming a monster yourself and the Abyss also gazes into you?' If the secret organizations in the world of Hellsing held enlistment drives, those lines would be in their recruitment videos. Whats the point of sacrificing your humanity, Hellsing Ultimate contends, if youre not going to enjoy it? Here are the luxuriously intense fight scenes that punctuate the series convincing argument.

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When the clandestine Nazi vampire warmongers of Millennium finally reveal themselves by laying siege to London, Integra Hellsing and her loyal butler Walter find themselves caught up in the attack. Walter buys Integra time to escape on her own, but she is still relentlessly hunted through the burning streets of the city by Millenniums troops. Cornered, Integra prepares to make her last stand when Father Anderson makes his presence known.

The Iscariot Organization was also let loose upon London once Millennium made their move, and Anderson commands their ground forces. From the rooftops, Iscariot recites their oath of service before descending with Andersons disciples Heinkel and Yumie. Iscariot sustains casualties, but in the end they (and Integra) are the ones left standing.

As a feint to remove Alucard from their planned target, Millennium sends a contingent to take over a British naval carrier. Leading them is Rip Van Winkle, the Nazis' preeminent sniper. The bullets fired from her antique hunting blunderbuss are capable of tracking her targets, as well as penetrating them multiple times. The solution for assaulting this fortified position? Load Alucard in a decommissioned SR-71 Blackbird, launch it at the ship and hope.

Its a valid tactic, bestowing a harsh truth that Victoria will later come to know when trying to defend Hellsing from being overrun a second time: long range combat against the undead only forestalls the inevitable. Even more unfortunate for Rip Van Winkle is that the King of Vampires is an unforgiving tutor. Despite being shot down, crashing onto the naval flight deck, and promptly being shot by Rip Van Winkle again, Alucard is barely rattled before he turns the snipers own gun back on her in an uncomfortably intimate way.

Early in the series, Alucard relies mostly on his guns. Why shouldnt he? The pair of pistols he wields are nearly the length of his forearms, which is no small boast given Kouta Hiranos character design aesthetic. So when Hellsing headquarters suffers a home invasion from the forces of the vampiric Valentine brothers, the No-Life King is delighted by the potential of a fellow nightwalker who might be on his level. Alucard rises to the challenge by discarding his trademark weapons...and his corporeal form.

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Caught in a tide of nightmares unleashed from Alucards body, vampire sophisticate Luke Valentine finds himself the prey instead of the predator. Only the disappointment of Lukes failure to measure up draws Alucard out of his battle-drunk state as a writhing mass of eyes, shadows, and the horrors between them.The would-be assassin disappears down the throat of Alucards hellhound, and into the gulf of power between him and his target.

Hellsing Organization is a Protestant organization in Catholic territory, and Anderson has come to make it clear they are not welcome. By way of greeting, Alucard and Anderson trade bullets and blades. Only in a series like Hellsing Ultimate could combatants exchanging terminal head traumas count as sizing each other up. Their regenerative abilities force a stalemate, but Anderson departs with the promise to settle things later. Its as much a statement of intent from the show itself: setting themselves a high bar by starting as they intend to go on.

After the Valentine incident, Hellsing follows Millenniums trail to Brazil. All seems calm as they check into a hotel, but waiting for them are a battalion of local police. Their superiors have unwittingly sent them to death at the behest of Millennium operative Tubalcain Alhambra, the self-styled Dandy Man. If youre undead you have all the time in the world to pick up a hobby, and Tubalcains is mastering the deadly art of card tricks.

Alhambra reveals himself once Alucard makes short work of the SWAT team, and the subsequent duel between the two vampires takes them to the rooftop of the hotel. Alucard is pushed to the brink but Seras and her trusty cannon run interference, keeping Tubalcain occupied. In the end its the No-Life King who has the upper hand, as he bisects the Dandy Mans palm with a straight of his own.

Throughout the series, several allusions are made to how long Walter has been with the Hellsing Organization. Hes served Integras father, and even fought Nazis during WWII alongside a much younger looking (and gender-swapped) version of Alucard. Walters loyalty to everything that Hellsing stood for was unquestionable... which is what makes his betrayal all the more startling. After Alucard and Anderson finish their final battle, a younger, more vital Walter appears to literally step all over the moment.

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Turns out that Walter was just as human as anyone else: he feared getting old. In a desperate attempt to hold onto his youth and prove himself Alucards equal in combat, Walter cut a backdoor deal with Millennium to get some of that vampiric immortality they were handing out. Faced with another human who betrayed their humanity to gain more power, Alucard is battered but not beaten.

Possessing the battleship he was marooned upon, Alucard sails up the Thames River just as the Nazis and the Catholics set about carving up the flaming ruins of London among themselves. Integra gives him authority to use his full power on the opposing forces. Alucard reveals why he was so disappointed with previous foes: as the original Count Dracula, he amassed countless souls that are now extensions of his will. Even his previous victims - Rip Van Winkle, Tubalcaine Alhambra, even Luke Valentine - surface in the bloody tide of darkness unleashed to sweep Londons streets clear.

Anderson cant set aside his rivalry with Alucard, however, and carves his way through the vampires hordes to take a shot at the Lord of Darkness. Their initial skirmish leaves Andersons left arm a ragged ruin, dangling below the elbow. The undeterred Father simply clutches his arm in his teeth and sets back to slaughtering. Backed up by the remnants of the Iscariot Organization, he makes his way to stand before Alucard for the final time.

Once again, Hellsing HQ is under attack. In order to replenish the ranks of the soldiers slaughtered before, Lady Integra Hellsing had the foresight to hire mercenary band the Wild Geese. Their leader, Pip Bernadotte, made no secret of his attraction to Victoria. Dubious though their bond may be, the Police Girl and the Wild Geese hold the line against the marauding Nazi forces of mesmerist Zorin Blitz. The mercenaries are only human, however, and Victoria has yet to fully embrace her vampiric nature. Zorins advance eventually has the remnants of Hellsing in a desperate situation.

Her intrusions into Victorias psyche give her an opening to slice off the young vampires left arm. Enraged, Victoria uses Pip to finally feed her blood lust. The embrace causes her to generate a wing of blood to replace her severed arm, which she uses to go berserk on Zorins henchmen. Seizing the commander herself, Victoria drags Zorin along the hallway they were fighting in. The Nazi commanders head is ground against the wall with such force that the white hot intensity sets her body aflame.

As a franchise, Hellsing has a very grindhouse-style sensibility. Indeed, the logline of this fight sounds like something emblazoned on a poster outside the Alamo Drafthouse: one-armed police vampire fights a Nazi werewolf ." Such a pitch would be a climax in another story, but its not even the main fight of the Hellsing Ultimate episode it appears in.

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Accompanying Integra, Seras encounters The Captain: a silent figure first seen during Walters last stand. Feeding on Pip Bernadotte has made Victoria much stronger, but shes still no match for The Captain once he shapeshifts into his true form. Thats when Victoria realizes she, too, has abilities yet untapped in the form of Pips mind. Together, they work out a strategy in the Nazi treasure room and demote The Captain by using a dental filling taken from a Holocaust victim as a makeshift silver bullet.

Anyone whos seen this would agree that it deserves its own entry. Midway through the fight, Anderson unveils a strange package and shatters it, revealing a holy relic: one of the nails from Jesus' crucifixion. Driving it into his own heart, Anderson becomes a being of living, writhing thorns. As the priest ascended to his most powerful form, Alucard was at his most vulnerable.

Having released the tide of souls that acted as his protection, the vampire was paralyzed by his nemesis attack. As his defenses burned away, it was Seras Victoria who brought Alucard back from the brink. Refocused, Alucard tore Andersons heart and nail out and crushed it. The power of the relic was all that held Anderson together, and as the two rivals reached an accord, Anderson crumbled to dust.

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