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Jul 27, 2023
Okay, this is my first ever review written for a manga simply because I actually enjoyed it. Enjoying it, geeky me decided to go down the rabbit hole of the mess that is, The Kingdoms of Ruin's story. Which includes, this might turn you off, MULTIVERSES. I'll explain it further but, let's get to the basics first.
The art really carried the series for me. It's fantastic, nothing really needs to be said.
The characters are a bit likable, save for Doroka at first but you'll grow to like her eventually. There's really nobody to hate except for the author for constantly killing everyone at
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rapid pace one by one. This series is really edgy and gorey, expect getting your favorite characters killed in the next panel, chapter, volume, ect.
Now, for the story. Massive spoilers ahead. Okay first, you'll have to know how the previous work of the author, "The Kingdom of Calburn," had ended: To put it simply, the main character Alfred dies and the female lead, Dorothea Grethe, promised to bring him back even it means killing him in another timeline. Well, the Kingdoms of Ruin's world is where Dorothea and friends (White Rabbit [a.k.a Shirousagi], ect.) appeared in.
Using her "love magic," she manipulated Emperor Goethe and eventually have him jump off a building and die, so she ended up becoming the Empress of the world's strongest and largest empire. While she sits back in her throne, she orders some very powerful people to go after Adonis' head, which is a key part in bringing back Alfred. Adonis, is Alfred in another timeline. Same goes for Doroka, who herself is Dorothea in another timeline. Shirousagi noted the similarities between them both.
That's really, the "true story" of the series. It gets really confusing, I know. I was confused if The Kingdom of Calburn and The Kingdoms of Ruin are really connected or not. Everyone who had previously read Calburn would really understand the, "great...", storytelling. Which is not a lot of people, trust me. But to those who haven't, which is the majority, would be so turned off by how the story shifted from "revenge, kill all humans" to romance between an idiot pacifist and an angsty teen. I really like it though, and I'm pretty sure it'll get explained later on. Depending if you like multiverses or not, go have a read.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Nov 21, 2022
One of the few animes that does a great job adapting a video game, however, with some one of the mixed animation I've ever seen; especially from Madhouse, it's just quite ugly and dull. Originally made by Yasuhiro Nightow and Red Entertainment as a videogame, I think it does a fine job.
The animation is just ugly most of the time but I can safely say that Harry's betrayal, Bunji vs Grave rematch and the end was drawn beautifully. Bit disappointing we don't get to see Grave wearing his iconic, stylish, cowboy look though; and instead switches to a basic, dull and ugly clothing. But I
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swear, Lee's fight and Grave's first fight with Bunji was disappointing; the animation was choppy and slow, and just... bad.
Bringing a lot of staff that had previously worked on Trigun, this show's writing is without a doubt; better than the game itself. It's just so good, but the end left me confused whether Grave died, or was he still alive. Oh I forgot to mention, this show has two parts; the Mafia, Godfather-like part, and the Sci-Fi, Revenge part. And I'm kinda liking the Sci-Fi part more, well, because I kinda found the first half a little boring. The series starts out veeeerrrryyyyyyyyy slow, you need to really be patient in this anime but, if you ask me, it's worth it. It's a heart-wrenching story about two bestfriends that ends up being enemies and eventually at the end, the main protagonist still loves his bestfriend, despite what he did.
The characters are interesting, originally designed by Yasuhiro Nightow; I love their designs. Except for Bob Poundmax, he's just... ridiculous. Having played the ps2 game, the game left the anime so much material to work with, as the game primarily focuses on being stylish, cool and shooting stuff; the interesting story was eventually not focused and therefore - the game was riddled with plotholes and such. Also, the anime's character designers not Nightow.
The music? It's fine to be honestly, I kinda like the jazzy, mysterious tone of the opening and the sad feeling of the ending when you get to the Sci-FI part of the anime, it's just heartbreaking seeing Harry and Brandon going from BFFs, to great enemies. The OST is just good, nothing special however except for some tracks.
I really recommend this anime, but for people who has the patience to finish it; otherwise you'll end up wasting your time. It's a beautiful series filled with an enjoyable protagonist, however, a bit disappointing animation.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Nov 21, 2022
Ah yes, Hellsing; one of the most controversial anime within the fandom, either it's bad or good. There's no in-between when talking to the fandom about this anime, however, if you ask me; it's a fine anime on its own.
It's very dated animation was due to the fact that Gonzo was fairly new to the industry at the time, so I gave it a pass and whew; it's better than Madhouse's Gungrave that's all I can say. However, it's noticeable that Gonzo definitely gave this series so much, including hiring a bunch of talented staff with the likes of Chiaki J. Konaka (Lain, Texhnolyze)
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and Umanosuke Iida (Devilman). Also, the animation in Episode 1 and 13 is just good. It's so good. The character designs are, if you ask me, better than the OVA. It's also very inconsistent, especially Alucard.
The characters are just wonderful, can't say the same about the anime originals though; they're mixed, especially Incognito, whom if we were told who his master was, his awakening, blah blah; it would be much cooler and his character would def be better. However, we weren't given any of that, we were only given that he's just... a vampire from the "Dark Continent" with powers that surpasses Alucard in his level 5 - 2 form but then get's obliterated when Alucard unlocks level 1.
The most controversial part of this anime however, is the story; with some calling it better than the original manga, and others calling it worse and confusing. I agree with both; the FREAK chip storyline I found quite interesting, but never gets resolved and was literally finished with just texts. And this anime needs more rewatch to understand it better, well, not surprising considering this is literally written by Konaka.
In addition to the more, less controversial part; is the music. Generally, the music is accepted as better than the OVAs orchestra, and I do agree. Hellsing's music is a combination of Jazz, Rock and it's just brilliant, the tone of the series also somehow, perfectly matches with this. However, I could def say that some was underused, like Clunky Piano and Falling into a trap with a Sexy Lure for example; both of which was only used in episode 1, and never again.
Overall, Hellsing is a anime that very badly needed either a Second Season, or more episodes than 13; it's certainly too short. With very unique ideas, Hellsing fell short at the end and it is very clear that they're setting up something for another season, which didn't happen; for good, or for bad.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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