The anime was bland. The plot, animation, and script writing were all shit, but anyone would expect Hellsing Ultimate to be a lot better in comparison due to being an OVA and having a larger pool of funding that wasn't all wasted by abandoning the manga's plot. The only thing the animation in the anime had going for it was it's simpler, darker themes(the OP image for example) that are arguably "cooler" than some scenes in the Ultimate.