In England the Royal National Knights of Hellsing have protected the populace for countless centuries from the paranormal. But now there is a sudden increase in the number of Vampies, it is soon discovered that the vampires have been artificially created. About this time the special D-11 squad of United Kingdom Police is investigating a crime in which a vampire is involved. All the members but one are soon turned into ghouls (unthinking undead that feast on corpses and the living) the remaining member is Celes Victoria. After all her comrades were killed she fled, but was eventually caught by a Vampire Alucard was hunting. Alucard then is ready to defeat the vampire but it requires him to shoot through Celes to get him. He asks her if she will go with him, she agrees and he fires killing the vampire and Celes. Alucard then gives her the second life and asks that she be assigned to Hellsing. The series is then an investigation of the FREAK chips and the fake vampires also highlighting Celes's struggle to keep her humanity even as a vampire.

The story is excellent if a bit esoteric and inconclusive, a lot of Christian references are thrown around that might boggle the mind of the uninitiated. The story also does not really draw to a conclusion per se, many questions remain (but there are rumors, some claim a confirmed, second season), but as we saw with Full Metal Panic, conclusive endings are not really Gonzo's thing. Otherwise the story is very deep and the setting offers an excellent change of pace, for instance the Tower of London is the site of the "final" battle instead of Tokyo Tower. So in essence the story is novel in concept but a bit lacking in execution and conclusion.

The Charcter Design for Hellsing is loaded with "style", all the characters are very cool. Alucard is without a doubt one of the coolest characters I've seen in anime in some time. Celes is damned hot (had to include that somewhere). Most of the characters have interesting complexity although in the 13 episode run they don't seem to completely develop. Overall the character design is excellent but the development is somewhat lacking.

Alucard: An ancient vampire enslaved by Integral's father, awakened by Integral. He is used by Hellsing to destroy the fake FREAK vampires and thus preserve his race's dignity. He has yet to meet his match.

Celes Victoria: A former DSS officer, KIA. Alucard gave her the second life after shooting through her lung. Alucard is her master. She is reluctant to let go off her humanity. She uses a massive gun impossible for a human to carry, that fire's shells able to take out any land forces.

Integral Hellsing: Leader of the Royal National Knights or Hellsing, member of the Knights of the round table. Alucard's master.

Walter: Butler for Hellsing manor. Also former Angel of Death, created both Alucard's and Victoria's weapons. Uses a near invisible string to choke or sever enemies.

Fergusson: Human captain of the Hellsing forces. Fiercely loyal to Integral and the Knights. Executed by the army for treason (false charge).

The music is pretty good, especially the opening "World without logos", the ending is also nice, but overall the music is really nothing to shout about, more in the background kinda thing.

The animation follows the dark gritty style of Cowboy Bebop and takes itself fairly seriously. It's nothing really new, but the dark rainy sorta Noir/Gothic style gives the anime its atmosphere. The animation also includes a large number of symbols, not on the scale of Evangelion per se, but a lot of religious imagery is included. Overall the animation is nothing new, but still keeps its own interesting style.

I don't know why so many people didn't like this anime. Its only flaw was its brevity, but everything else was wonderful. The opening music and video were awesome, the animation was great, and the main characters had a lot of depth for such a short anime. There were many religious references, and it seems there was a sort of roman catholic vs. protestant hue to the whole thing, which might lose some viewers. However, I thought this was just a great anime and deserves more credit than was given.

people are much to picky these days,the least thing they dont like in the story and its deemed boring ,confusing....etc. animation is taken closely under the loop and forgetting completely about the fun of watching anime they act like a bunch of critics who just have to nitpick over every detail. the fact is that this is a splendid anime who's only fault is being to short. ithe genre being action/horror delivers more than enough on that front and is certainly not boring in anyway. pick it up and you will not regret it!

the anime was not bad at all, the alucard guy was really cool, but the only thing which was very confusing was the end, I still havent figured out what really happened.....

Hellsing had the potential to be one of the coolest anime, but it ended up being one of the biggest disappointments ever. The premise of Hellsing sounds cool and original, and while they carry out the cool factor through half of the show, the second half is the worst thing I have seen, mainly because they ruined a great idea. Not only does the art change, but they suddenly throw in the main bad guy with no reference at all. It doesn't make sense and it's stupid. They build up an important organizations or something behind the chaos and terror, but they end up just having some guy to be the main bad guy. Hellsing had potential written all over it, but in stead disappointment was the deciding word.

I really enjoyed this anime. I thought the english voice actors did a really wonderful job. I thought the characters were well rounded and not a bunch of carbon copy's. The story was pretty good i thought although i did get a bit lost for an episode or two. The ending was just freaking sweet....Alucard is the man. He made this show....end of story.