Hellsing Ultimate

Plot synopsis:
Episode 1:
The show opens with a flashback of a man hunting down his niece because before passing away, his brother appointed her, Integra Hellsing, as the head of the family and succession to the Hellsing organization. Intent on killing young Integra and taking the family title for himself, he searches the entire Hellsing manor, gun in hand. Integra remembers her father's dying words and heads to the dungeon where her father promised her awaits "the Hellsing family's darkest legacies" and "the instrument to [her] salvation". Inside lies a corpse chained to the wall and her uncle shoots her in the arm. Her blood splatters near the corpse and as the uncle is about to kill her, the corpse comes to life after licking the blood. He saves Integra when she claims to be the head of the Hellsing family and pledges his services to her as his master before helping her kill her uncle.In present time, a police force is deployed to a small town where a vampire priest and his ghouls are running rampant. As they are being attacked, a now fully grown Integra and her butler, Walter arrive at the scene to take control of the situation. The Hellsing organization is a special ops division working for the Queen of England to purge England of supernatural beings such as vampires and ghouls. She explains that this mission now falls under her jurisdiction and she's put her top field agent on the case. The corpse seen from earlier is revealed to be Alucard, an ancient vampire serving Hellsing as their best vampire hunter.Meanwhile, all but one police officer is eaten by the ghouls and the vampire priest decides to rape the her so that when he bites her, she turns into a ghoul instead of another vampire. This is because if a vampire bites a virgin of the opposite sex, they also turn into a vampire, otherwise they'll become mindless zombies known as ghouls. Alucard intervenes but is forced to kill police girl Seras Victoria in order to kill the priest using silver-crossed bullets. During the fight scene, we get a glimpse of Alucard's powers as he is able to regenerate and survive even after being shot and dismembered unlike other vampires. He does however, drink her blood afterwards and turn her into a vampire to prevent her death.She is immediately recruited by Hellsing and is sent on a mission along with Alucard to hunt down a teen vampire couple committing serial murders as per Integra's orders. Alucard shoots the boy to death and leaves Seras to shoot the girl with a sniper. Initially, Seras doesn't believe she can do it as the girl is already 600m away but Alucard instructs her to "imagine a third eye on [her] forehead" and "aim from there". This is a natural ability vampires possess to see things much more clearly than humans. Seras takes the shot and hits the target, killing the girl. Afterwards, Integra realises that there have been a recent surge in vampire activity in England, almost like they were being mass produced...Meanwhile, at the Vatican, Father Alexander Anderson is told of the increased vampire activity in England and sent to investigate a case in Northern Ireland before Hellsing gets there first. The Vatican is at odds with Hellsing and see them as rivals and "filthy Heathens". Anderson works for the Iscariot organization, a covert section of the Vatican that has been hunting vampires for hundreds of years. He is in fact their best vampire hunter and is part of the Paladins (an elite task force wielded by Iscariot).Seras and Alucard finish the job at Northern Ireland, but receive a surprise attack by Anderson. Anderson and Alucard are portrayed as mirror images of each other, even down to their dialogue and clothes. Anderson, though human, is shown to have regenerative powers acquired through genetic engineering. He stabs Seras and decapitates Alucard with his trademark blessed bayonets. Much to his surprise, though, Alucard is still able to regenerate and brush it off like it was no big deal. Anderson, having vastly underestimated his opponent, decides that he "need[s] further preparation before he can kill this one", so makes a quick exit. Integra informs Alucard that they will be looking for whoever's responsible for the rise in vampire attacks.The closing scene is of a silhouetted figure speaking with a German accent about preparing for war.Episode 2:
Integra calls a round table conference at Hellsing HQ with all the high ranking officials of England to enlighten them about the vampire problem. She shows them a chip discovered in one of the vampires they took down. This 'freak' chip, when implanted in a human, gives them vampire-like abilities and is the reason behind the spike in vampire activity. During the meeting, the Hellsing HQ is attacked by the Valentine brothers, Jan and Luke. They are 'freak' vampires sent to kill Alucard and everyone at the round table. Jan is a crude, talkative guy who likes to get his hands dirty while Luke is very graceful, sophisticated and doesn't like getting blood stains on his white suit.Jan and his army of ghouls make their way towards the round table conference, slaughtering everyone one on the way while Luke goes searching for Alucard. Walter suggests that he and Seras can defend the round table from Jan and the ghouls while Alucard takes on Luke. Walter, the butler, reveals himself to be an ex-vampire hunter for the Hellsing organization known as the Angel of Death. He uses razor-sharp wires to slice his enemies from a distance. Walter and Seras succeed in taking down Jan and the ghouls before Integra interrogates him. He tells them that the chip implanted in him was created by an organization called Millennium to monitor and control the brothers' every move. It also has a fail-safe that sets the host on fire, killing him before he could reveal any more information to Integra.Meanwhile, Luke is shown to possess incredible speed and agility, even for a vampire. When he finally confronts a bored Alucard, he boasts about his talents and assures that he is unlike any vampire Alucard has ever faced before. Initially sceptical, Alucard becomes convinced that Luke is indeed a worthy opponent. Thrilled to finally get a proper fight, Alucard unlocks his power restrictions placed on him by the Hellsings, from level 4 to level 1. Alucard sheds his physical body and turn into a monster made up of shadowy familiars with countless eyes and swarming insects. Luke is horrified by what he sees and it becomes apparent to him that Alucard is no ordinary vampire. Alucard proceeds to dismember Luke and demands that he put himself back together, intending to revel in the long battle that's about to ensue. However, Alucard soon realises that he had overestimated Luke's powers as Luke calls him a monster. Thoroughly disappointed and angry, Alucard deems Luke unworthy of an honourable death and feeds him to his hounds (one of his familiars) claiming that he was "nothing but dog shit!".At the end of the episode, Integra figures out that Millennium is a sect of Nazis that Hellsing had fought during WWII.Episode 3:
In order to replenish the men they lost to the brothers, Integra hires a group of mercenaries called the Wild Geese lead by Frenchman, Pip Bernadotte. Father Enrico Maxwell, the leader of the Iscariot organization, helps Integra by revealing the current location of Millennium in the hopes of forming an alliance of convenience. Millennium is actually a faction of Nazis that survived WWII headed by the main antagonist of the show, simply known as The Major. With an entire army of vampires at his disposal, the Major seems to only be driven by his love for war and destroying Alucard.Integra orders Alucard, Seras and Pip to go to Brazil as she received intel from Maxwell that Millennium has been hiding out there since WWII. Anticipating this, the Major sends The Dandy Man to attack Alucard in the hopes that Alucard would kill him and drink his blood, thereby revealing (some parts of) Millennium's plan. Alucard, of course, follows suit after being instructed by Integra to "Search and Destroy!". The Hellsing organization now believes that the Major's plan is to destroy London with his army of vampires.The Queen calls a meeting with Hellsing and the Vatican to discuss the implications of Alucard's revelation when they are interrupted by a Millennium messenger and cat-eared boy named Schrödinger. He brings a message from the Major himself declaring war on England and Alucard. He even shows off his gruesome vampire army as the video is live-streamed. Under Integra's orders, the messenger is shot but his body seems to have mysteriously disappeared during the confusion. Schrödinger is then seen back at the Millennium HQ unscathed, implying that he is able to regenerate and teleport. He is said to be a creation of Millennium's top scientist and the Major's right-hand man - The Doctor.Meanwhile, a ship in the middle of the ocean is seen to have been taken over by Millennium's vampires headed by Rip Van Winkle. This ship is heavily armed and anything that tries to come near it is completely destroyed. As Hellsing gets wind of the situation, Alucard is deployed to kill everyone on board. Rip Van Winkle is killed painfully as the Major and the Doctor say that this was the plan all along. All communications on board the ship is disconnected and Alucard is left isolated in the middle of the ocean. With Alucard out of the way for now, the attack on London begins.The Major instructs Zorin Blitz to surround the Hellsing HQ with Seras, Pip and the rest of the Wild Geese inside.  Zorin kills almost all Wild Geese including Pip and rips off Seras' arm. Seras drinks Pip's blood and kills Zorin. [\spoiler]The Major gives his army orders to capture Integra. Walter 'sacrifices' himself to protect Integra. Maxwell has also given similar orders to the Paladins. Anderson and the Paladins rebel against Maxwell and save Integra from the Nazi vampires. Maxwell's army arrives. Chaos ensues as both the Nazis and Maxwell attack London and each other. Alucard's ship also finally arrives at the scene and a three way battle ensues- The Nazi army vs Maxwell's army vs Alucard. Integra releases all restrictions on Alucard's powers, unlocking level 0. Alucard decimates the two armies. Anderson confronts Alucard with a new found weapon in hopes that it is able to kill him. [spoiler] Alucard is almost defeated but manages to kill Anderson. Walter comes back revealing that he was working for Millennium all along and his 'sacrifice' was staged. Integra and Seras go to confront the Major but Seras has to battle the Captain instead as Integra confronts the major alone. Seras kills the Captain. Alucard consumes the blood of everyone that died to gain enough strength to kill Walter. Meanwhile the Major tells Integra that the sea of blood is contaminated by Schrödinger and that was the Major's ultimate plan. Integra kills the Major who turns out to be a cyborg. Alucard disappears from existence thanks to Schrödinger's blood. A dying Walter kills the Doctor before passing away. 30 years later, Alucard is reunited with Seras and an old Integra.

Tags: good versus evil, violence, comedy, gothic

Review: