Manga Review – Hellsing Deluxe Vol 2 by Kohta Hirano (5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Horror/Graphic Novel/Seinen
Length: 648 pages
Publisher: Dark Horse Manga
Release Date: November 24, 2020
ISBN-13: 978-0375406508
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd volume in the Hellsing Deluxe series
Source: Gift
Rating: 5/5 stars
“The Hellsing Organization is under siege by the undead Nazi army of the Millennium Project, who are turning the streets of London into rivers of blood and the citizenry into a legion of abominations. And with this murderous conflict at a fever pitch, the Vatican sees an opportunity to take down both Millennium and Hellsing in one swift stroke!
Collects Hellsing chapters 28-62 from Hellsing volumes 5-8.”
Series Info/Source: This is the second volume in the Hellsing Deluxe graphic novel series. I got a copy of this as a gift for my birthday.
Thoughts: This is probably the most violent part of this storyline and hence this is the most violent volume in the series. I am not going to talk a lot about the story much because if you are interested in the Deluxe edition you’ve probably read the original series already. Basically this volume is all out war, and vast portions of London are destroyed. This volume also includes the big reveal about what Alucard actually is.
I loved reading this in the original larger format and continue to be very impressed with the quality of these editions. They are leather bound, with high quality thick paper, and a ribbon to mark your place. They feel deluxe and special to read (and weigh a ton). I got rid of my Hellsing manga series and have been replacing it with the Deluxe editions as they release.
My son (14 years old) has also been reading this series since we watched the Hellsing Ultimate anime series together. I will say that the manga are a lot more mature than the anime. This volume in particular has a somewhat graphic rape scene in it. I sat down with my son and explained that to him and he said he didn’t want to see things like that, so we binder clipped those pages together and he’s going to skip that portion. We also discussed some of the epic violence because this is a particularly violent volume. This is just a heads up that if you have teens reading this maybe give it a look through first and talk to them about the violence to make sure they are comfortable with it first.
My Summary (5/5): Overall this is a beautiful collection of chapters 28-62 of the Hellsing manga series. If you are a fan of the series these Deluxe Editions are a must have. They are beautifully made and make re-reading the series an absolute joy. They are a bit expensive but totally worth it if you enjoy re-reading the series like I do.
