A secret British organization defends the country from vampires using a weapon of its own: Alucard, a vampire bound to serve the Hellsing family. Alongside him is Seras Victoria, a police officer he turns rather than lets die, and a butler who kills with wire.
Plus 2 optional extras.
1 title · 10 episodes · ~8.5 hours
Hellsing has two anime adaptations of the same manga, and they are not equal. Hellsing Ultimate follows the manga from the first page to the last, and it is the one to watch. The 2001 TV series was made while the manga was still running and invents its own second half and ending, so it works as a separate curiosity rather than a starting point.
The one to watch. Ten episodes running 42 to 68 minutes each, adapting all ten volumes of the manga through to its ending. It starts from the beginning and assumes no prior knowledge, so this is a complete entry point on its own.
⚠ The violence and gore go well beyond the 2001 series, and past most action anime generally.
The 2001 TV series, 13 episodes. It follows the manga for the first few episodes and then goes somewhere else entirely, with an original antagonist and an original ending. Worth watching after Ultimate if you want to see the other version, not before.
⚠ This is not an earlier part of the same story. It branches away from the manga while it was still being serialized, so nothing that happens in its later episodes is reflected in Ultimate.
Three shorts of under ten minutes each, set in Warsaw in 1944 and following a teenage Walter alongside Alucard. They were bundled with the limited editions of Ultimate volumes 8, 9 and 10, which is where they fit best.
⚠ The prequel manga this adapts was never completed, so these three shorts end partway through the story with no conclusion. There is no English dub — subtitles only.
Almost everyone arriving at Hellsing asks the same question: the 2001 series or Ultimate? The answer is Ultimate. It is a ten-episode OVA run with episodes between 42 and 68 minutes, it adapts all ten volumes of the manga, and it reaches the ending the manga actually has. Nothing in it requires the 2001 series first.
The 2001 series is not a lesser version of the same thing — it is a different story. It was in production while the manga was still being serialized, so it follows the source for a handful of episodes and then invents everything else, including its own villain and its own ending. Watching it first means sitting through five hours that lead somewhere the manga never goes, and then watching the same opening beats again in Ultimate. Watching it afterward is a different experience: you already know the real story, so the divergence becomes interesting rather than confusing. It has its own following, and the atmosphere and score are genuinely distinct.
The Dawn is a set of three shorts running under ten minutes each, set in Warsaw in 1944 and following a teenage Walter. They came packaged with the last three volumes of Ultimate. The prequel manga they adapt was never finished, so the shorts stop mid-story rather than concluding.
Hellsing has 1 other entry in the main run — 10 episodes altogether.
| Title | Type | Episodes | Aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hellsing Ultimate | OVA | 10 episodes | February 2006 |
| Title | Type | Episodes | Aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hellsing | TV Series | 13 episodes | October 2001 |
| Hellsing: The Dawn | Special | 3 episodes | July 2011 |
1 title · 10 episodes · ~8.5 hours
Where each part of the anime lines up with the source, so you know where to pick up reading.
Hellsing Ultimate adapts the manga to its ending, so there is no point to pick up from — the story is complete in both formats. The manga ran from 1997 to 2008 and finished at ten volumes; Dark Horse published it in English. The 2001 series is the exception: it follows the manga only through its early episodes before continuing into anime-original material, so most of the manga is not in it. Hellsing: The Dawn adapts a six-chapter prequel that Kouta Hirano left unfinished, which is why the three shorts stop mid-story.
Watch Hellsing Ultimate. It adapts all ten volumes of the manga and reaches the real ending. The 2001 TV series was made while the manga was still running and invents its own second half, so it's a separate story rather than a shorter version of the same one.
Start with Hellsing Ultimate. It begins from the beginning of the story and assumes no prior knowledge, so nothing else is needed first. If you like it, the 2001 series and the three Dawn shorts are worth adding afterward.
Hellsing Ultimate first, all ten episodes. Then, if you want the rest: the 2001 TV series, then Hellsing: The Dawn. That's the full set, and only the first item is essential.
No. Ultimate starts from the beginning of the story and covers the same opening events, so watching the 2001 series first only means seeing that material twice, then following it somewhere the manga never goes.
The 2001 series follows the manga for its first handful of episodes, then departs into an anime-original story with a villain who doesn't exist in the manga and an ending written for the show. Ultimate follows the manga throughout, includes the Millennium storyline the TV series never reaches, and is far more graphic.
Hellsing Ultimate has none — it adapts the manga directly. The 2001 series is a different case: rather than filler episodes scattered through it, everything after the early episodes is anime-original, including the ending. Sources place the split anywhere between episodes 5 and 8.
Yes, both the 2001 series and Ultimate are dubbed, and Crispin Freeman voices Alucard in both, so the lead voice carries across. Hellsing: The Dawn is the exception — it was released with subtitles only and has never been dubbed.
Both the 2001 series and Hellsing Ultimate stream on Crunchyroll in the US, and both have also been on Hulu. The Dawn isn't on streaming services — it's included on the Hellsing Ultimate complete collection Blu-ray. Availability varies by country.
Three shorts running under ten minutes each, set in Warsaw in 1944 and following a teenage Walter on a mission with Alucard. They were bundled with the limited editions of Ultimate volumes 8, 9 and 10 rather than released on their own.
No. It adapts a prequel manga that Kouta Hirano never finished, so the three shorts stop partway through the story. Nothing more was produced. Go in expecting a fragment rather than a complete side story.
Yes, it's finished. Hellsing Ultimate concluded on 26 December 2012 with its tenth episode, covering the manga's ending. The manga itself finished in 2008 at ten volumes. No new Hellsing anime has been announced since.
Not as a story. Drifters is a separate series by the same author, Kouta Hirano, and one of its characters appears briefly in the third Dawn short. That's the extent of the connection — it isn't part of the Hellsing story and doesn't belong in this watch order.
Hellsing Ultimate does — all ten volumes, through to the final chapter. The 2001 series covers only the early portion before writing its own conclusion, so it never reaches most of the manga's story.
