Manga Review: Hellsing Volume 6

[Eclipse]

Hellsing (Volume 6)
By: Kohta Hirano
Genre: Seinen, Horror, Action
Serialized In: Young King Ours
Licensed By: Dark Horse

Vampires are real and alive… well, undead… in England. Fighting against this scourge on humanity is Hellsing, an organization that has stood as a secret guard of the crown and the Protestant Church for countless years. But just because they kill vampires doesn’t mean they’re above using one or two to complete the task. Alucard, perhaps the most powerful vampire alive… well, undead… and his protégé of sorts, Ceres Victoria, are the swords the Hellsing organization wield in its battle against the unholy. Now they are facing Millennium and its undead army of Nazi vampires under the command of the sadistic Major Montana Max. Supposedly dismantled by Hellsing at the close of World War II, Millennium is instead alive and well under its commander, and ready to help spread the Third Reich once more. Hellsing has fought the war against the undead for ages, but now, Millennium is ready to bring the war to them.

Who could have predicted at the end of Volume Two, when Jan Valentine whispered the word “Millennium” as he caught on fire, that four volumes later London would be under a full-scale invasion by a Nazi-led undead army? With Alucard trapped on the British warship still making its way back to land, Ceres finds herself forced to take charge of the Wild Geese mercenaries. Integra and Walter are alone in the streets of London, greatly outnumbered, and their only chance of rescue may rest with Father Anderson.

While Volume Five focused mostly on Alucard, Ceres is in center stage this time around, giving her a chance to take the lead of both the book and the action. Thankfully, although she has been somewhat hesitant in the past, Ceres shows she’s up to both tasks.

Also ready and willing to show what it can do in this volume is Kohta Hirano’s art. With the war now in full gear, the streets flow with blood as Millennium hordes try to accomplish what Hitler never was able to do… destroy the city of London. As armies clash and civilians are caught in the middle, each scene of devastation and depravity are captured in eerie detail. As you read through the volume, you can tell Hirano is simply having fun. Never content with vampires doing both each other and humans in with their teeth, everyone has their own over-the-top weapon to help increase the carnage. This is quite possibly the bloodiest volume yet.

The translations continue to be top-notch, with Duane Johnson’s script keeping track of accents ranging from British and Irish to German and Russian, keeping each believable without making the dialogue too hard to read. The fast-paced action could have been easily ruined if the reader was forced to sound out each sentence, but Johnson is able to keep each character’s identity intact while staying on the right side of the line between quality and going overboard.

Since the beginning, Hellsing has shown that it can be a fun, violent ride with supernatural characters and a unique method of storytelling full of panache and style all its own. Now, everything that has been building over the past five volumes comes to a head in a bloody fight for the survival of everyone involved and the innocent city around them.

Hellsing is readily recommended to horror and vampire fans alike who don’t mind stepping in a little blood along the way.

Reviewed by: Marlex
Proofed by: Wintry
Edited by: Firedog