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Hellsing is an anime TV series based on the manga of the same name by Kouta Hirano. The 13-episode series was released in Japan from 2001 to 2002. The series is about the Hellsing Organization, a secret paramilitary task force operated by the British government to hunt down vampires. Their most powerful weapon against the vampires is Alucard, the greatest vampire alive.

Setting

In the Hellsing universe, vampires and monsters are real, and the British government and other groups fight in secret to destroy them. Ancient vampires, hundreds of years old, are a rarity by the present day, and only a handful are left in existence. Vampires of such an old "vintage" are awesomely powerful, possessing demigod-like powers and commanding dark magic. However, most modern vampires have been "watered down" over many generations (vampires biting humans, who become new vampires) to the point that the gifts possessed by current vampires are only superior strength, speed, and regenerative power compared to humans.

The Hellsing Organization is a secret paramilitary group run by the British government and the protestant Church of England, to hunt down vampires and other real life monsters. The Hellsing Organization’s greatest weapon against the vampires, their trump card, is their best agent, Alucard…who is himself a vampire. Alucard is one of the handful of remaining centuries-old vampires, and is probably the most powerful vampire in existence. After being defeated by the Hellsing Organization during its early days at the end of the 19th century (implied to be during the events of the Bram Stoker novel, “Dracula”) Alucard became chained to their will and is now the servant of the Hellsing family (the hereditary leaders of the Hellsing Organization).

However, Hellsing is not the only vampire-hunting organization in the world. The Catholic Church has its own secret vampire-hunting organization, code-named "Iscariot 13" and answerable only to the Vatican. Just as Alucard is Hellsing’s trump card against the vampires, the Vatican’s ultimate weapon against the vampires is Father Alexander Anderson. Anderson is a priest that has been augmented with nanomachine technology that grants him vast regenerative powers, and is armed with an arsenal of baptized throwing-bayonets. While the Hellsing Organization is willing to use vampires to fight other vampires, Iscariot 13 kills vampires on sight, and is disgusted with Hellsing. Because the Hellsing Organization is Protestant-run (their formal name is actually “The Royal Order of Protestant Knights”) and Iscariot 13 is Catholic-run, they are often at each other’s throats, and actually fight each other more bitterly than they do the vampires (to the point that Anderson will zealously slaughter human Hellsing agents he encounters).

In the Hellsing universe, people bitten by vampires turn into another vampire only if the bitten one was a virgin. Non-virgins bitten by vampires become ghouls—nothing more than mindless zombies, undead monsters totally obedient to the will of the vampire that created them.

Plot

When the series takes place, the Hellsing Organization is dealing with an outbreak of new artificial vampires, or "insta-vampires," created by an unknown group by inserting a secret computer chip into their bodies.

Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.

The series begins when the town of Cheddar is overrun by ghouls created by a vampire dressed as a priest. A police special forces squad is sent in to defeat him but is overwhelmed and all of its members bitten and turned into ghouls themselves, with the only survivor being young rookie Seras Victoria. Just as the vampire closes in on Seras, Alucard arrives, and effortlessly defeats all of the ghouls. Desperate, the vampire uses Seras as a human shield, and Alucard shoots Seras through the lung to shoot the vampire in the heart, killing him. Alucard then gives the dying Seras a choice: He can save her life by biting her and turning her into a vampire so she can regenerate her wounds, or she can die as a human. Seras chooses to live, and Alucard bites her. Seras then becomes Alucard’s new servant/apprentice and joins the Hellsing Organization, much to the chagrin of Hellsing's current leader and Alucard's master: Integra Hellsing.

Alucard, Seras, and the Hellsing special forces soldiers must fight the true vampires, other monsters, Iscariot 13 and Anderson, and the insta-vampires while trying to find out who is secretly behind creating these artificial monsters. And Alucard knows that in order for whoever is doing this to make artificial vampires with computer chip implants, they must be using another ancient and centuries-old vampire like himself

Characters

• Alucard—Hellsing’s trump card against the vampires, aka the King of Vampires, aka the No-life King. (note: Alucard’s name is “something of an enigma”; “Alucard” is “Dracula” spelled backwards).
• Seras Victoria—a young police officer who Alucard bit to save her life. Most modern-day vampires are “watered down” from generations of one vampire siring another, but Seras was bit by Alucard himself, one of the oldest vampires, and thus she is inherently more powerful than most other vampires. Still, Seras has a great deal of difficulty coming to terms with her new life and new status as a vampire. Not least of her problems is an utter revulsion to drink blood (in the form of Hellsing-supplied donor blood from hospitals) which she actually cannot survive without.
• Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing—the young, 23 year old woman who leads the Hellsing Organization, which she inherited from her father when he died when she was 13 years old. Ruthlessly competent and composed, Integra rules the Hellsing Organization with an iron fist, and is one of the few that can stand up to the will of her servant, Alucard.
• Father Alexander Anderson—Just as Alucard is Hellsing's trump card against the vampires, Anderson is the Vatican’s ultimate weapon against them. Anderson and Alucard are bitter rivals, and Anderson is one of the few opponents who are actually a real threat to him. Consumed by zeal, Anderson has been upgraded with nanotechnology allowing him to regenerate like a vampire, but which a disgusted Alucard feels makes him neither a man nor a vampire, but an abomination.