Episode nine of the Hellsing OVA series will be released in Japan on February 15th 2012. The collector’s edition of the episode also contains another bonus animated short which will most likely be the second ‘episode’ of The Dawn flashback story. The runtime is listed as 45 minutes on amazon.jp and will feature an ending theme sung by Kurosaki Maon.

As exciting as it is to see the OVA series nearly complete in Japan, it is perhaps even nicer news for those in North America that Funimation has finally begun production on their own release of the series. After having announced the license in 2010, there was no word until just last week when and how Funimation would be releasing the Hellsing OVA. Funimation also announced that it has bought the rights to the recently released 8th episode and will begin releasing the series in 2012. For those who enjoy the dub, Funimation also stated that the entire original english vocal cast will be returning to episodes 5-8 after Geneon USA released the first four OVA episodes here in the states on DVD several years ago.

It’s nice to see Hellsing finally getting some attention here in the west and I’m very excited to see how the final books of Kouta Hirano’s original manga will be adapted for the screen.