Hellsing: Impure Souls

Based on the manga by Kouta Hirano, the Hellsing series is an eye-popping (both in the state-of-the-art animation and gruesome senses) anime that revolves around a winning premise: artificially created vampires are wreaking havoc on humanity while turning harried police forces and religious figures into ghouls with a quick bite to the neck. Enter the vampire-fighting Hellsing Organization (no doubt inspired by Bram Stoker's "Van Helsing") of the Royal Order of Religious Knights, and their lead vamp hunter Alucard (who looks like an R. Crumb cartoon on a Jenny Craig diet), a rogue vampire himself who has no patience for "half-assed vampires" and regularly dispatches same on a southern vacation to hell in invariably gory ways. In the opening trio of episodes (The Undead, Club M, Sword Dancer), human police officer Seras Victoria is caught in the crossfire and ends up becoming a reluctant--though on the side of good--vampire working with Alucard. In addition to the free-flowing blood and mayhem, the second episode's teen-Bonnie-and-Clyde-vampires-on-a-killing-spree plot features a non-graphic though clearly suggested oral sex scene, making the 16-up rating on the box accurate. While demonstrably short on redeeming social value, Hellsing is unquestionably one of the more visually striking anime to come down the pike in some time. Recommended. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)