Hellsing is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. It first premiered in Young King Ours in 1997 and ended in September 2008. The individual chapters are collected and published in tank bon volumes by Sh nen Gahosha. As of March 2009 all chapters have been released in 10 volumes in Japan. Hellsing chronicles the efforts of the mysterious and secret Hellsing Organization, as it combats vampires, ghouls, and other supernatural foes who threaten England. The manga series is licensed for English language release in North America by Dark Horse Comics, in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment, and in Singapore by Chuang Yi. In 2001, Hirano began publishing chapters of a prequel series, Hellsing: The Dawn, in special editions of Young King OURs, with six chapters released as of September 2008. An anime series of the same name was produced by Gonzo. Directed by Umanosuke Iida, the series was based on the manga, but used a screenplay by Chiaki Konaka and is significantly different from the manga in terms of plot, though it uses some of the same characters and similar character designs.