Hellsing: Psalm of Darkness

"I'm Hermes. I become tamed by devouring my own wings."

Hellsing: Psalm of Darkness was the promotional video release for the Hellsing anime by Studio Gonzo, in which was based upon a manga by the same name. Many parts of the trailer, including the intro, adapts mostly the third volume of the manga.

Psalm of Darkness was animated first before the episodes that aired later in 2001, with some animations from the trailer itself being reused in the anime. Though featuring the series' main villain from the manga, the anime would instead deviate from the manga and instead go for a filler ending, which means that the trailer was made before the decision to deviate from the manga was decided upon.

Promotion and Release
In 2000, Psalm of Darkness broadcasted on Fuji TV and announced that the Hellsing anime is to air at midnight in October of 2001.

Later in 2001, a production presentation, in which key staff and casts of the Hellsing anime would present and let out their thoughts about the anime. Psalm of Darkness aired first during presentation before the crew made it on stage, showcasing the characters of the Hellsing series being animated on screen, which sparked high hopes within fans appearing. Instantly, Hellsing became a hot topic afterwards and was one of the most anticipated shows to come.

After the broadcast of the series in 2002, Psalm of Darkness would later be given to dubbing companies to let them know what kind of show they're buying the rights too. In addition, Psalm of Darkness appears as a special addition to the Impure Souls DVD, along with its music.

Trailer
Whilst the misty clouds of the red sky with a bright, yellow moon shining; clocks of mysterious bell rings. The moon shines upon a certain coffin with an inscription that lies a meaningful quote of Hermes, the Greek God. Until then somewhere in Rio, Brazil, a massacre happens in someone's room and after that, that "someone" picks up a call, in which his master asks if he's a friend, or a foe. Dodging the question, the servant, Alucard, asks for orders.

Upon hearing his insists of orders, the master, Sir Integra, drops the phone and slams her psalms on the wooden desk as she stands up while shouting "Search and Destroy" multiple times; ordering her servant to kill all enemies that stands in the way of them, no matter they be a friend or a foe. But then suddenly, an explosion happens as Alucard comes out of the explosion seemingly unscathed.

Surrounded by a hail of fire and a massive cloud of smoke, Alucard makes an "x" pose with his two guns whilst smiling as his long, dark hair flows through the massive winds, and so does his clothing. Looking forward, Alucard takes a step backward as he pulls out his pistols, only to shortly aims his second pistol at the coming ghouls. Blowing them all away with 3 shots that penetrates one after another. Only then his fledgling, Seras Victoria, grabs her cannon and ditto.

Sitting in a stair, one of the ghouls were left alive however, he takes them out of the misery quick enough. In a fit of bloodlust and immense rage, Seras goes on jabbing and brutally beats up ghouls near her. The Angel of Death, Walter C. Dornez runs into a line of ghouls who starts sending a barrage of bullets to him; however easily enough after throwing out his Monofilament Wires, Walter sliced them all quickly and all of them falls one after another.

As a mysterious priest slowly walks, a shot of Alucard's head gets blown off and Alucard impaling a pastor, in turn, turning him into dust appears. But then, Alexander Anderson, the bayonet priest, makes a cross with his Holy Bayonets as a circle of pages originating from the bible surrounds him and summoning multiple bayonet projectiles aiming at Alucard. Easily enough, all of those hits the stunned-Alucard in the chest and ends up killing him, in which made Anderson go laugh histerically.

But then, the corpse of Alucard takes a look at Anderson and smiles slowly as multiple bats takes up in a form of the No-Life King. Upon fully regenerating, Alucard shows off his terrifying powers before then he faces the Judas Priest once again. Back at Rio, a GATE officer is being fed on by Alucard who had previously massacred all of his comrades. Turning up and showing his face full of blood, Alucard growls before turning into Baskerville, and strikes the screen.

Pictures of Seras Victoria, Integra Hellsing, Walter Dornez, Alexander Anderson, Enrico Maxwell, Jan and Luke Valetine, and then finally Alucard, appears before an open coffin falls through an endless pit of coffin before shutting loudly as a mysterious man, surrounded by two of his strongest bodyguards, claps the screen into darkness.

Somewhere, in a moment of hesitation and pure force, Seras grabs onto a bloodied bowie knife and puts it closer and closer to her face, seemingly licking the blood and turning into a true Midian; all while Alucard pesters her into following him into the darkness as far as she can go in spite of fear as the screen goes dark for the last time.

Cast and Characters (In Order of Appearance)

 * Alucard: Jouji Nakata
 * Sir Integral Wingates Hellsing: Yoshiko Sakakibara
 * Seras Victoria: Fumiko Orikasa
 * Walter C. Dornez: Unannounced
 * Alexander Anderson: Nachi Nozawa
 * Pastor: Unannounced
 * Enrico Maxwell: Unannounced
 * Jan Valentine: Unannounced
 * Luke Valentine: Unannounced
 * The Captain: Unannounced
 * The Major: Unannounced
 * The Professor: Unannounced

Trivia

 * "Hellsing: Psalms of Darkness" may be the first name for the Hellsing anime, and "I'm Hermes. I became tamed by devouring my own wings." would've been the title card as the trailer was made first. They would later however be changed to only "Hellsing" and "Impure souls of the living dead shall be banished into eternal damnation. Amen."
 * Regarding the title card of Psalm of Darkness being "I'm Hermes. I become tamed by devouring my own wings." instead of "The Bird Of Hermes is my name, Eat my wings to make me tame.", it seems to have been a mistake done by Gonzo's part as in Volume 3 of the manga, the inscription written on Alucard's Coffin is the former.
 * In addition to the mistake in the quoting, Alucard's coffin also has "The Bird Of Hermes is my name, Eat my wings to make me tame." being written on it as seen in the trailer.
 * Although the trailer is shot in a wide-screen format, the episodes broadcasted a year later is shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio. As such while importing animations from the trailer to use in some episodes, mistakes were made and shots weren't fully cropped into 4:3. One notable example is in episode 3 where Alucard is hit by the holy bayonets of Anderson.