Audio (Music, Sound Effects, Overall Mixing)
Right off the Bat I noticed that the sound effects and music seemed lifted right off of the Japanese Audio track, it was very nice to hear that none of that was altered, it also appears most of the sound effects made the cut, and there were actually a few additions that I liked, such as more Gun Reloading noises while Alucard does the Off-Camera Reloading during the ghoul hunt in Badrick. The Music was mixed well with the rest of the tracks and it can be heard clearly in the background, without overshadowing the Voices or the Sound Effects, making them both clear as well. The Show was mixed in 5.1 Surround sound audio like the Japanese Track, and actually has a second english option for DTS (Aside from the normal Dolby Track) and, of course, the Japanese track mixed in the flawless 5.1 that I have been watching for a year now XD. One thing that is to be noted however, for the Regular Edition, they re-mixed the Japanese audio to make it 2.0, meaning not surround sound at all, and they did not include the 5.1 Japanese track, only english. I see this as a bad move because basically the Japanese regular edition had the 5.1, so why not the US? But beyond that, on the Limited edition, it's all very well done.
Score: 9/10
(only problem is the Lack of 5.1 Japanese on the Regular Edition)
Audio (Voice Track)
This Review is of the Dub, since everyone and their mom (assuming their mom likes Anime of course) has already seen the Japanese Track. As you all may know, This time around it was once again dubbed by New Generation Pictures with almost entirely the same cast. As you also may know, I was a big fan of the dub last time around, so what did I think? surprizingly great!
This Time around, all of the characters for the most part seem to be acted differently (except Integra, as her voice was already perfect ^_^) and there is actually a fresh spin on things. First off, Alucard's Voice has changed, Crispin Freeman has actually done it Deeper and now sounds a little closer to Nakata (Alucard's Japanese Seiyuu) however, he still doesn't quite get it, but I am VERY happy to say, his laugh is about 10x Better than it was before XD. Seras too was acted differently, but in a different way. K.T. Gray (or Katherine Gray, as the Credits now List her) has actually not changed Seras' tone or her main voice much at all, however this time around she has a different accent. Seras now sounds more lower class, she's now closer to Horace and Jasper from 101 Dalmations (if any of you remember that movie) and it actually makes her sound better, Seras was never british nobility and her accent now shows this. Victoria Harwood...Integra.... Perfect.... she did the part the same as she did before, and I have always maintained that it was Her and Josh Philips (who Played Jan Valentine) who sounded absolutely perfect, and the 4 years since then hasn't changed anything. now that brings me to Anderson, I was a huge fan of Norio Wakamoto's Take on Anderson in the Japanese Track, he sounded quite pyschotic and his laugh had this hysterical Kackle to it that just made it something special, now we come to Stephen Brand, first off, he did good. Anderson sounds great. It's similar to the TV series' Dub, but this time he actually toned down the Scottish accent and it sounds less forced this time. my guess is, for the TV series they asked him to maybe overdo the accent on purpose so people could tell he was scottish, and maybe this time he got to just use his Normal voice (As Stephen Brand is In fact Scottish, so everyone please stop saying his accent is wrong XP) and it actually rolls off his tounge a whole lot better. now, while that is all well and good, the one area he didn't accel in was the sheer psychoticness of Wakamoto's performance. don't get me wrong now, he sounded psychotic enough and it's easy to tell it, but it was just a level down from Wakamoto, especially the laugh, it's got the same psychotic tone to it, but it's just off, mostly because he doesn't do the crazy Cackle, nevertheless, it's actually an imporvement on his TV Series Dub so I'm happy with it. Walter had 3 lines in the whole thing, so evaluating Ralph Lister's performance wouldn't really be that fair. however, from what I gathered, he sounded like he did in the TV Series. Now onto the Major, the first "New" character in the Dub, and we get a glimpse at his voice. First, for those of you who dislike Dark Horse, he appears to Have a German Accent, and I am not sure how accurate it is. here is what he said "Damen und Herren, ve vill move forward viz our plans for ze impending var, und for ze var beyond zat, und ze var beyond zat, und ze next, und ze next, und ze next!" [Credit to my German-speaking Grandpa for hearing, translating, and properly spelling the German words] I asked my Grandfather about it, he was in World War II and was in Germany for quite a while so I figured he would know as much as anyone I could talk to at moment (Rip being Away when this happened) and he listened to the accent and gave me his honest oppinion on it, he said "It's a good accent, although it sounds like an Englishman trying to do the accent. it's pretty good, but I can tell he isn't German" so there you have it. Personally, I'm gonna wait till Rip hears it to accurately pass judgement. And to finish this section of the review, I get to the Ensemble, The rest. all of the other voices were ranging from only passable (some of the officers In the tent during the Cheddar incident) to Much better than even the Japanese Version (The Priest). the only ones worth mentioning were Richard Hellsing, who sounded quite Great, and the Priest. now about the Priest, he was awesome, Stupendous!! I say this of course because in the Japanese Version, he was terrible T_T. in the Japanese version this guy sounded basically like sounded bored like he didn't care, especially his laugh. the English version makes him sound great, different than the TV Series, and great. he sounds lower class like Seras so it really fits.
so yes, overall I was pleased with the Dub and I hope to see how they handle the rest of Milennium!!
Score: 9/10
(The Voices were a big improvement over the last one, but a point got taken off for Anderson's great but slightly lacking performance, more would be taken off for the Major's off accent, but since he has but one line, it wouldn't be fair to count it against him yet.)
Translation
Now, I handled the Voices, but what about the Things those voices Said? well, here I go!
The Translation was actually excellent, they got everything across excelently and used great wording, it fit the lip flap great. however, it may be excellent, but perfect it is not, they took liberties, some good and some that are iffy. An Example of a few of the good ones is when Integra welcomes Seras into Hellsing. in the Japanese Track, he says "Quiet Police Girl, you may be a draculina now, but don't lose your pretty english head" and in the dub she says "quiet police girl, I don't care if you are a Vampire now, you're still english, have some manners", I like this Rewording even if it doesn't exactly fit the translation. however not all of them came out better, for example, when the Priest asks Alucard "Who the hell he is" in the Japanese Version Alucard Replies "A Hitman", but in the Dub he says "Your Death". This technically gets the point across, Alucard is about to kill him, but it was an unnecessary change, although not too bad of one, there were worse ones, for Example, the term "No Life King" has been completely Removed, Instead, Integra calls Alucard "King of Vampires" in the end, which is very odd as "No Life King" was a big Thing I thought... nevertheless, even with the few odd changes, overall the translation is correct and on the ball and actually sounds more interesting than the subtitles at times.
Score: 9/10
(excellent almost all arround, only has those few changes here and there that kept it from being perfect)
Video
There isn't much to mention about the Video Track, it was presented Flawlessly just like the Japanese DVD was, including the Credits being in Japanese even! (there was a black screen right after that had the English Credits)
Score 10/10
Package & Discs
The Package on this set is where it shines the most, unlike the Japanese DVDs which had a Digipack box (fold-out plastic) box, this version has a nice metal box with excellent shiny printing. the inside is clear, with the cover image from the regular edition showing through, making the set look very nice. The Disc designs are slightly plain, but in a good way that makes them legible but also makes them look good and smooth, quite a bit better design than simply recycling the Cover art, as the Japanese DVD did.
Score 10/10
Menus
The Menus here look good, but are rather basic, with not that many good quirks. mostly you will notice blood and smoke moving on the main menu around the "HELLSING" Logo, and your basic Options "Play Movie" "Setup" "Scene Selection" and "Extras", all but "Play movie" simply lead to normal Lists of features with no real imagination in them. The Special Features Disc is just a list of said features, again, no imagination. The TV sereis had better Menus, having every menu visually appear in a different theme, like blood bag stores (main menu) Case Files with Pictures (Scene Select) and a Weapons Dossier (Language). After that great Menu Design, the OVAs is Disappointing on many Levels, but they are easy to read and navigate, so it doesn't completely fail.
Score: 6/10
(Bland, Unimaginitive Design, however it was easy to Naivgate)
Extras
The Extras on the DVD actually outnumber the Japanese DVD! First I'll start with the Outter Extras. it has a Sidecard with the Chapters on it, a two-sided mini-poster featuring both the Limited and Regular Edition Cover art, and it also came with the Same Alucard Relief the Japanese Limited Edition came with, only this new one has more coloring, giving the hair and reforming parts a red tint, and it looks nicer actually, only thing is, they got lazy and didn't translate the box to it XD.
The Extra features on the discs themselves are great and numerous. First, it has an audio commentary track with Crispin Freeman (Alucard's Voice actor) and Taliesin Jaffe (The ADR Director for the Dub), it has an interview with them, and it includes all of the promo videos for OVA I from the Japanese "Fish & Clips" Disc that came with OVA II and surprizingly, it features character design galleries for all of the characters, no matter how small a part they played and Galleries for the locations and Weapons! Strangely it has the Designs for the Jackal, Seras' coffin and the Halconen, and those were OVA II Items, but it's still an awesome feature, even if a fe wof them were already in the Japanese Version's liner notes.
while the Features outnumber the Japanese Ones, a few of the Great Japanese Features were left out. first of all, there is no 12 Page Liner notes book at all, which makes me sad, as they originally said there would be one, and when the Promoted the "Audio Commentary" Track before, they failed to mention that it was the Freeman/Jeffe Commentary and NOT The Japanese Commentary with The Japanese Production Crew and Hirano, that Commentary is not present at all. Despite this though, the Extras are nice and make this a well rounded-out package.
Score: 7/10
(the Extras were good, but Major Points off [3] for Excluding 2 of the best features which had previously been promoted as there)
An actual Review of the Episode itself would normally be here, but that will be included in OVA I's Japanese DVD Review coming soon.
Total: 60/70
85% B
It was a Great Release, but a few flaws Kept it from Getting an A
