Hellsing: The Dawn

I'm going to go against the grain here: in its current form, 'The Dawn' was unneeded and contributed too little to the main story to warrant existing. It's targeted towards those who've watched or are watching the Ultimate OVA, as this will make very little sense on its own, but even then it provides very little that we haven't seen in the parent story already. There are 3 roughly 10 minute-long episodes to showcase a part of Walter and Alucard's past during WWII, when they fought side by side against vampires created by the Major and his cohort. Which I guess happens off-screen, since the onlybattle that happens is like half a battle between Walter and the Captain, which is cut off right when it gets interesting. But, fortunately, we get scenes of the Major eating, some other minor characters whose names I can't remember arguing over getting drunk, and a third of the final episode dedicated to a trailer for another anime. Time and money well spent, indeed. The art and sound are decent. Lots of panning shots, though most stills showing Walter in action, breaking through windows and using his wires, were appropriately cool. The sound is what you'd expect from the new Hellsing - orchestral and choral pieces - but nothing that stands out. The best was the song from the trailer for 'Drifters', but...should I even count that as part of 'The Dawn'? Probably not. Characters? Don't learn anything new about them that we didn't know from the OVA already, except that Walter was a kid once. The Major is himself, Doc is himself, the Captain is silent and deadly as always (preferable to the Major's rambling, at least), Walter is entertaining but predictable, and the other two who were arguing...who even cares. Overall, I wish I hadn't bothered with this and would like my ~30 minutes back, please. Story: 5 | Art: 7 | Sound: 7 | Characters: 6 | Enjoyment: 3 | Overall: 4/10

Hellsing The Dawn is a series of 3 OVAs that are each about 10 minutes long. They serve as a prequel to Hellsing and show a young (VERY bishonen) Walter kicking Nazi ass in WW2. What's not to love here? I was ready to give this OVA a 9 because of the GORGEOUSLY animated action scenes, but the shenanigans they pulled in episode 3 brought my score down to a 7/10. For some reason I cannot fathom they decided to stack on a full trailer for the anime Drifters to the end of episode 3. Like, if you wanna make a trailer for Drifters, thenjust do that, don't interrupt Hellsing to do so. And I say "interrupt" specifically because the Hellsing portion fades to black just as Alucard enters the fight to back up Walter, who was getting a beating by The Captain. Obviously Alucard and Walter are both alive in Hellsing, so I know they didn't lose the fight, but it still would've been nice to see HOW that fight ended. Instead time and money is spent on the aforementioned trailer, which is why I finished the OVA a little annoyed.

When it comes to the Hellsing saga, noone can argue that Hellsing Ultimate is the best series. After it was finished, Hellsing:The Dawn was announced. I eagerly waited for it, but I can't say that it was as impressive as its predecessor. Starting off, the story aims to show us events that are only mentioned in the anime and specifically the origins of the artificial nazi vampires. Set in 1944, we see Alucard as young as ever and Walter in his early years. It was obvious that the reason of Dawn's existence is to cover some holes in Hellsing's plot. Therefore, the story is really shortwith few battles and somewhat rapid event rotation. However, it achieves its goal. The visuals and battles are outstanding as ever, same style with Hellsing Ultimate. Excellent character models, dynamic shadows and realistic blood. Same goes for the sound. The same cast of voice actors and themes. What I didn't like that much is that Alucard lost a lot of screen time. With Walter as main character, it was logical Alucard would fall behind. However, Walter's screen time is not that good as well since there are many pointless and unnecessary comical sequences that can tire you and make you bored. I definitely enjoyed it, but The Dawn is nothing compared to Ultimate. I understand it was created to fill gaps in the plot, but it gives a quickie work feeling. It was wonderful to watch young Walter slaughtering nazis in an elegant way, but I disliked the reduced screen time on Alucard and the strict plot. It could have been better. Overall, The Dawn is a nice extra to the OVAs of Hellsing. But don't expect to see Alucard slaughtering helpless victims all the time. Watch it after Hellsing Ultimate. Story: 7 Art: 9 Sound: 9 Character: 7 Enjoyment: 7 Overall: 8