Hellsing, Vol. 5

Hellsing [ヘルシング] #5

by Kohta Hirano

Intense and full of psychotic action, Hellsing continues its fevered pitch into a dark chaos that defies human logic. Human? Well, there are only a few left in the storyline as the emerging Millennium Project, an army of Nazi undead, is unleashed upon the world. What will surely ensue is a war of blood and nostalgia, with a cool gothic style and increasingly frenetic pace. Envision the Hindenburg, old sharpshooter rifles, and throwback uniforms, mixed with new jet technology and incredibly bold vampires. Hellsing is packed to the gills with radical mysticism and scary apocalypse ... and it's fun as Hell!

Collects Chapters #28-37

Genres: Manga, Horror, Vampires, Fantasy, Comics, Graphic Novels, Action

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Kohta Hirano (平野 耕太 Hirano Kōta) is a Japanese mangaka most famous for his manga Hellsing. Starting his career first as a mangaka's assistant (self-described as "horrible" and "lazy" in said assistant position), and later an H manga artist, he went on to enjoy somewhat limited success with other relatively unknown manga titles such as Angel Dust, Coyote, Gun Mania and Hi-Tension. His first major success came with his manga series Hellsing, which got its start and was subsequently serialized in a monthly manga magazine, Young King OURs, towards the latter half of 1997.

Reviews

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

In retrospect, I'm getting some strong One Punch Man feels out of this. Get the absurdly overpowered and unbeatable protagonist out of the way, watch the mooks raise hell and the lesser main characters struggle to respond. Sure, daddy will come home eventually and give the belt to all the naughty kids, but there's a lot that can happen in the meantime.

Also contains one of the most brutal deaths in the entire franchise. There's a lot to unpack in how she goes down.

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume 5 covers chapters 28-37

Millenium begins their brutal assault on London, taking over the military, dropping bombs, destroying priceless historical artifacts, murdering as many innocents as possible, all for the sake of stoking the flames for the greatest war the world has ever seen. The Hellsing organization and the Vatican Church unleash their top secret weapons (Alucard and Anderson) against the Major’s forces.

Not quite as good as the previous volumes but still fun. My favorite part was Alucard riding a SR-71 jet into battle before unleashing hell on the nazis.

Most of the volume was one big fight with Alucard absolutely destroying one of The Major’s underlings named Rip Van Winkle and decimating her small army of nazi zombie soldiers. The rest was exposition for bigger and bloodier battles to come. Not enough screen time from the supporting cast or any worthwhile challenges for the main crew to handle in this volume. They were just cannon fodder.

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing to broaden my education, I read the next installment of Hellsing. With each number the story grows in complexity and the characters become *ahem* fleshed out. I particularly liked Hirano's solution for getting a vampire to be able to cross water. This particularly creative solution took me back to my childhood when the vehicle he uses (no spoilers here!) was first unveiled to the public.

Lots of action, lots of splatter. As the plot thickens the reader wonders about the backstory of Alucard. Vampires, it seems, do dream after all. I compared this volume with a much different vampire story on my blog: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World. Vampires come in many forms, and both Hellsing and Dark Shadows show them in a sympathetic light.

[Sparrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, I can remember why I stopped reading the series after this volume. This one was full of war and battle plans and it really bored me when I was younger. I wasn't riveted this time around either, and do actually feel less inclined to continue. I don't own any volumes after this one anyway, so I guess I stop now. It was a a good run. Maybe someday I'll check out more. I remember not liking the end of the anime series as well, but I imagine the manga could be different.

[Maija · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole Rip thing still makes me very, very uncomfortable, but I think that's the effect it was going for.

Integra continues to be badass. Whole page panels of characters posing continue to be well drawn and cool-looking. Alucard gets more monstrous by the minute. Gore levels keep amping up, which gets icky sometimes.

[Mickey18 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Te dodatki na końcu są najlepsze.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have no idea why I originally gave this five stars.

I wound up skimming through most of this installment, this time around at least. The carnage may have shocked me when I read it a decade ago, but now it just seems excessive and repetitive. I also really hate the cliche of civilians arguing over petty things right before the end of the world, not only for the obnoxiously obvious symbolism, but also the implication that victims of genocide "deserve" it for...what, not being nice 24/7?

Then there's Rip Van Winkle. She always bored me, and sans Spidercard, nothing about her death really stood out. Having watched the anime version though, I now see why people find it so disturbing. It would be unsettling enough if it were a grown woman in all those rape-suggestive images, but the fact that Rip resembles a barely pubescent girl (complete with freckles and glasses) makes it so much worse. That, combined with Girlycard, leaves little doubt in my mind that Kouta Hirano is a pedophile. Which is not a revelation I enjoy having about someone whose art and characters I otherwise enjoy so much.



That said, this installment does have Alucard's Willis!-dream, Sir Penwood's tear-jerky exist, and some more amazing artwork. Sans that though, it feels like filler.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last time I tried to read the series, this is the volume I stopped on. Seems the action started and I dropped it lol. Rip's death was pretty violent and borderline uncomfortable, but we're meant to see how terrified and helpless she is in that situation. Who wouldn't be?

Alucard flying a ship was kind of funny. An ingenious way of making up for a vampire not being able to cross running water. Just send him careening into an aircraft carrier in a giant plane. Love it. I hate whenever authors right accents into dialogue and now we're probably going to see a lot more of the Nazis so I'm not looking forward to having to trying to decipher what they are saying.

[Amanda Setasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Again, with the typing out of accents. There's also some pretty lazy art in this one.
I love the characters overall, but they seem to be lacking something.
The chapters are insanely short - some don't even have words and are literally just explosions.
I get that they're fighting a war, but there's a limit to how much you can get across with photos alone.

[Δανάη Ιμπραχήμ · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a lot of action but it felt like something was missing.

[Leila Anani · Rating 4 out of 5]

We’re half way through the series now and in this volume I felt a bit disappointed. Action wise not all that much happens in this one. Over half the volume is taken up with Alucard’s fight with Rip Van Winkle aboard a ship. Whilst the androgynous maniac is described as a werewolf we don’t get any transformation and we do seem to only get two expressions, insane glee or abject terror. Alucard’s body morphing is always awesome, but I’ve seen sharper and more interesting attacks in earlier volumes. There is one very nice bite scene though.

After the far too lengthy battle, the last third deals with the Major unleashing his war machines and airships on an unsuspecting London, whilst Alucard is distracted. Nice scenes of airships over London and Integra and Walter come off really well. Zorin Blitz with her tattoos looks pretty awesome as the next of the Generals to be introduced.

But that’s about it – the artwork isn’t nearly as good as in the earlier volumes and I felt a bit bored. I mean we know the Major’s insane and bent on war, so going on and on about his glee is a bit of a rehash. I also felt the balance wasn’t quite right in this volume. It is a to be continued of course, but too much weight was spent with Rip Van Winkle in the grand scheme of things.

I also felt this was a very self indulgent volume – It begins with Flash Point – Alucard’s dream of the spirit of his gun in the same vein as the end very random and completely off the wall Jan and Luke’s Paper War Humanity God Eat God corner. I can cope with a couple of pages at the end, but at the beginning as well? It’s like Hirano has just been let loose to do whatever the hell he wants, which isn’t necessarily a good thing.

This is still of course the awesomeness that is hellsing and head and shoulders above any other manga of its type out there, however this particular volume is one of the weaker instalments in the series.

[Jane Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Posiblemente este es el volumen mas flojo del manga, centrado principalmente en la batalla de Alucard contra Rip y la cual a muchos (entre ellos yo) me hizo sentir vagamente incomoda...




Aquellos que hayan leido este manga o visto el OVA donde se contiene dicha pelea sabran de lo que hablo. La historia sigue bien y mantiene centrada la atención a los numeros que estan por venir.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some absolutely stunning pages here, and some brutal death/attack scenes. We're getting into the big war! And I'm ready for the war to actually begin. This volume eases up on the humour, leans a bit harder into Millenium going on long tangents that don't really make much sense, and while I'm excited for this arc to get into full swing this wasn't as fun as previous volumes. Penwood is a highlight though, I do like his accepting incompetence and stepping up when faced with absolute destruction.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Nazi thing is getting to be a bit much, but still intriguing. Alucard is very cool.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm beginning to get a bit tired of the Hellsing standard story. This was good, but I was really hoping for more.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hellsing has a way of redeeming itself at volume’s end. This one starts out in lackluster fashion with a dreadful and utterly pointless 4th wall-breaking dream sequence featuring Bruce Willis and then follows with copious pages devoted to the aircraft carrier — assaults by special forces, alucard arriving in a blackbird which he bombs into the deck. (The plane is impaled vertically in a cruciform shape.) He “battles” rip van winkel, but really it’s just a lot of posing and explosions. A dozen pages or more are devoted to Alucard drinking van winkel’s blood.

This action is not as good as the earlier fights. The art is in some ways technically better, but it’s overly detailed and lacks the simple, bold focus of previous volumes, as well as the inspired whimsy. A lot of this just feels tired.

Things pick up once the assault on London begins. We find out that the ploy with the carrier was designed to lure Alucard from the defense of London and strand him at sea. The major is in fine form, reveling in the unfolding holocaust.

The incompetent but courageous sir Penwood makes a heroic stand and his loyal subordinates stay to back him up. This is so far the only uplifting moment in the series, adding some much needed emotional depth.

(Much of the British empire is riddled with traitors who forsook the kingdom for the gift of vampirism.)

Integra heads back to Van Helsing hq, on a collision course with a scythe wielding zeppelin commander named Blitz.

[Cherie Fontain · Rating 5 out of 5]

no one can ever make me hate you rip van winkle

but holy fuck where do i start? i could b here all day so this may become a side rant.
i am convinced the author has a fetish for rape and sa. no doubt.
rip's death scene? overly sexualised! the anime is worse in my eyes, but still. too overly sexual for the death of a character.
like, sure, alucard is brutal already so of course he finna kill in a brutalist type way. but was the suggested rape really necessary?...NO! other death scenes involvin alucard were obviously pretty jarrng also, but why do i feel as if hers is probs the most violent? just my opinion!
and hey! why not just take rip's character design into the scenario. freckles, glasses, in that one flashback of her and the major in 1944 (correct me if the year is wrong i forget) she be wearing her hair in two braids? yep, giving off childlike vibes, and plus all the over iffy things in hellsing....literal fetish im convinced. on my soul bro.
of course i love the series so so much, but i blame hirano for this shit. it only gets worse from there.
i am glad im not the only one who thinks this as ive seen some threads on reddit and even a few reviews here stating some things similar to what i said. so pretty happy im not the delulu one.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

By this point we’re in the full swing of war and it’s clear that Millennium wants the joys of war and almost nothing else with the exception of bringing down Hellsing. This fifth installment of the 10 volume series eventually stops the side stories and brings on the culmination of the clashes of war between the factions only halfway through. With five more volumes to go, I wonder just how drawn out this will get!

Regardless, it’s much of the same fun with overpowered vampires, bloody panels, and large guns that keeps the pages turning!

[Sylvette St Clair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me sentí semi engañada, digo, creí que tendría un primer enfrentamiento que me mantendría pegada al manga (desde el tomo anterior lo logra) pero las peleas son tan cortas…algunas ni llegan realmente a pelea pero ahí estoy, con otra vuelta de tuerca 🙃
Si está bueno pero no me han dado un enfrentamiento bien con Alucard, salvo tal vez con el de la Corte de Iscariote…pero de eso creo que fue el 3 y aún sigo esperando que continúen donde se quedaron

[Ahab · Rating 3 out of 5]

En el ecuador de la relectura de la obra de Kohta Hirano. Una de las cosas que más me gusta de esta obra es la evolución del dibujo, más trabajado y detallado. Este tomo es curioso como te muestra una de las escenas más locas de toda esta historia, pero que también te muestra una escena muy incómoda, coincido con las personas que la han reseñado. En mi caso la primera vez que vi ese momento fue con las OVAS y bueno. 3,5⭐

[Cecillie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah I think I'm going to give up on this series now. It's gotten to a point where I'm more interested in just looking at the art (mostly, I'm still getting distracted by the anatomy in places) rather than reading the actual story. It's a bit disappointing that a manga where the action is really great that the plot is boring.

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like a 3.5 out of 5 for me. Things are starting to pick up in terms of story but the fact that the German in this couldn't be translated into normal English kinda irked me a bit because I had to try and read it like a German accent. So that is one of my bigger complaints this volume in particular.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hellsing goes after the British carrier the Nazi vampires captured. Then things get even crazier. The way this Nazi leader talks though is just ridiculous. I doubt they'd have the same German accent to their English after living in South America for half a century. At the end of the day, this is over the top mindless entertainment.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

alucard flies a plane into a battleship to kill a beautiful woman named rip van winkle and her horde of nazi soldiers but she shoots the plane with a special sniper rifle that risks destroying the plane but alucard imbues the plane with his vampire powers and runs it into her and the battleship but it doesn't kill her so he has to go crazy and kill her another way.

[Tar Buendía · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sigo con Hellsing, ya cerca de la mitad. Es difícil explicar como un manga me puede parecer por un lado bastante malo y por otro engancharme tanto. Pero es como el dibujo en general, que es regulero y a la vez está repleto de escenas epiquísimas.

[Khari · Rating 2 out of 5]

この巻も難しかった。この巻も「なぜこの話は有名なのかな」のことをずっと考えた。

攻撃の名前は難しかった。そして、セリフが何回もリピートした。つまらない。三分の一がただ読過した。「あ、場所の名前。。。また場所の名前。。また。。。また。。。っていうか三ページで必要！？！？」イギリスの有名なところ一人ずつ丁寧に書かれた。＠＠！なぜ？！「イギリスの有名なところ全部壊して」で充分でしょ？意味ちゃんと分かるし。なぜ一つずつ書いたの？！中尉はセリフいつも繰り返す。「戦争は大好き」「戦争は大好き」。。。。そうよね。戦争が欲しくて好き。。。でも十回言っているはさすが多いと思う。

つまらない。

[Dony Grayman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nueva edición argentina con sobrecubiertas con logo plateado y nuevo ISBN. Tomo 4 de 10.

[Emilio José Brenlla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hago la reseña en el último tomo.

[Amy DeRosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alucard vs Rip Van and the Attack on London begins

[Eule Luftschloss · Rating 4 out of 5]

trigger warning
gore, gun violence, mutilation