Dominion (manga)

Dominion (ドミニオン, Dominion) is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. Set in the fictional city of Newport, Japan, in a future in which bacteria as well as air pollution have become so severe that people must wear gas masks when outdoors, the series follows a police squadron that uses military-style tanks.

Dominion has been adapted into three original video animation series: the first was released in 1988, the second, New Dominion Tank Police (特捜戦車隊ドミニオン, Tokusō Sensha Tai Dominion) in 1993 and the third, Tank Police Team TANK S.W.A.T. 01 (警察戦車隊ＴＡＮＫＳ．Ｗ．Ａ．Ｔ．０ï¼', Keisatsu Sensha Tai TANK S.W.A.T. 01) in 2006. The 1988 OVA is four volumes long and animated by Agent 21, The 1993 OVA is six volumes long and animated by J.C.Staff while TANK S.W.A.T. is one volume long and animated by DOGA Productions.

The manga was published by Hakusensha, Kodansha and later by Seishinsha. It has been published in English by Dark Horse Comics. The anime has been released in English translation in the United Kingdom and Australia by Manga Entertainment and in the United States by Central Park Media, under their U.S. Manga Corps division. The New Dominion Tank Police series was also distributed in the UK, Australia and United States by Manga Entertainment, but later expired. Maiden Japan licensed the six-episode 1993 New Dominion Tank Police OVA series for distribution in North America in 2013.

Characters

The Tank Police

Leona Ozaki

Voiced by: Hiromi Tsuru & Rei Sakuma (Japanese), Toni Barry (English)

A young female officer in the Tank Police. Extremely enthusiastic about her work, and obsessively protective of her tank, which she calls "Bonaparte." Originally an officer in the motorcycle division before requesting a transfer to the Tank Police. Her name, in conjunction with her tank, is likely a reference to Napoleon Bonaparte.

Al Cu Ad Solte

Voiced by: Masaaki Ohkura & Hiroyuki Shibamoto (Japanese), Steve Graf & Adam Henderson (English)

A young male officer, Leona's much calmer partner and co-pilot of Bonaparte. He is very taken by Leona but is always second in her affections behind Bonaparte and a very good computer hacker (In the final episode of New Dominion Tank Police, Al refers to himself as "Al Southwell").

Charles Brenten

Voiced by: Yuusaku Yara (Japanese), Sean Barrett (English)

Leona's squad leader. Very macho, with little regard for regulations or the health, safety and property of civilians. He also is the best shot in the force, preferring a large, old-fashioned revolver (which he lovingly refers to as "the Castigator") to the automatic weapons used by other members of his unit. He also has a lifetime subscription to "How to Kill" Magazine. According to Shirow, he is named after the Bren Ten 10 mm handgun, as popularized by the then popular TV series, Miami Vice. In some translations he is known as "Britain", due to a mistranslation.

Chaplain

An unofficial police chaplain and tank pilot. Once took pity on a criminal, who then shot and killed his partner and escaped.

Jim E. Lovelock (Specs, Megane or Four-Eyes)

A scientific expert and tank commander. His knowledge and insights are often helpful on difficult cases and his calm and logical thinking are a blessing in crisis situations. He has a friendly rivalry with Chaplain.

Chief

The chief of police. Prone to tearing out what little hair he has left... and what's left over turned white due to the stress of the job. He also has a chronic ulcer that always acts up whenever the Tank Police cause too much collateral damage. In arguments with the previous mayor, he comments in the introduction that tanks are insufficient for keeping the peace, and would prefer 'replacing our guns with tactical nuclear weapons,' though it's unclear if he means this to be taken seriously.

Criminals

Buaku

The "super criminal" the Tank Police was formed to fight, specializing in bank robbery and general mayhem. He leads a gang, but appears to be backed by unknown individuals. Buaku's true origins are unclear between the OVA and the Manga itself. In the OVA, Buaku was apparently a "test dummy" for the Greenpeace Crolis project, who escaped destruction when government agents raided the lab and destroyed everything except for encoded data disguised as a nude portrait of himself. He ends up living on the streets and is eventually framed for a bank robbery by an unidentified woman and later arrested by police... which starts the chain of events that led him to become a criminal. In the Manga, it is said that Buaku started his criminal career over 80 years ago in Argentina.

In part 1 of the OVA his goal is to retrieve urine samples for a mysterious go-between for the unseen crime boss "Mr. Big." The Tank Police thwarted his plans, but are unable to arrest him.

In part 2 of the OVA he tried to retrieve the encoded data from the Greenpeace experiment, which is on display at a local auction house in Newport. In the Manga, his final criminal act is the theft of the Space Colony "Embryo", in which he succeeds and escapes to the stars with his gang, with the exception of the Puma Sisters, who were left on Earth to organize the final getaway.

AnnaPuma and UniPuma

Anna & Uni are a pair of tall, beautiful blonde android catgirls who were created as "love dolls" to be marketed for profit, but they developed beyond this superficial programming and became criminals, joining forces with Buaku. Except for the occasional spat, they are inseparable and sisterly in the most extreme ways. They despise the series' heroine Leona Ozaki, and the feeling is mutual.

Interestingly, for all that they were created as sex dolls, they are vastly superior to humans in terms of strength, agility, speed and ability to take damage. They also have what seems to be the equivalent of military-grade targeting computers. The oddest trait of their construction is that much of their large size is optional. They have the ability to shrink to child-size by expelling large amounts of water (and returning to normal size by ingesting water). This is revealed when it's discovered their normal size is too big to effectively pilot the tanks. Many of these traits don't come into play much (or at all) in the OVA, but are all present in the manga.

Others

Greenpeace Crolis (or Chloris)

A mysterious green-skinned girl with wings, kidnapped from the Critical Science Development Agency by Buaku's Gang. She is not actually seen in the OVA, but is an important element for the antagonists to reach throughout the course of the episodes.

The Counselor

Buaku's client before the Greenpeace incident in Part 1 of the OVA, he provides Buaku's gang with intelligence and "weapons" (vintage tanks) to obtain the urine samples necessary for the completion of Greenpeace.

Media

Manga

The manga was serialized in 1986 under the Young Animal Arashi magazine, later released under a single tankōbon in the same year. The plot of the manga is set in the distant future on a highly polluted Earth. Due to unbearable air quality, the people who inhabit the metropolis of New Port City are forced to wear oxygen masks outside.

The conflict is born when a bandit by the name of Buaku, accompanied by two android twins affectionately called the "Puma Sisters", makes an effort in capturing a top-secret government project that applies a plant's biology to a human's genome allowing for self-oxygenation. In doing so he hopes to prevent the establishment from forcibly evolving the human race instead of solving the pollution issue. Captain Brenten and his comical squadron of Tank Police, composed of officers Leona Ozaki and Al Cu Ad Solte among others, set out to put a stop to Buaku using their brute military force.

Original video animations

The OVA is a four-part prequel to the manga, leading up to Buaku's discovery of Greenpeace. New Dominion Tank Police appears to be a direct sequel to the original manga, right down to where Leona's Bonaparte is a different color, and minor differences to its body, showing when she had to rebuild it after the initial Bonaparte's destruction. This anime also shows the first animated incarnation of the Fuchikoma, which originally appeared in Masamune's Ghost in the Shell manga.

Tank Police Team Tank S.W.A.T. 01 takes place near the events of the Conflict arc, the 'pumas begin as members of the police department. Unlike in the manga, however, it seems that they don't need to shrink down in order to fit into the driver's section of the tanks.

Dominion Conflict One: No More Noise

Dominion Conflict One: No More Noise (ドミニオンC1コンフリクト, Dominion C1 Konfurikuto) by Masamune Shirow was originally published in collected form February 1995 (Seishinsha) and published in North America March 1997 (Dark Horse Comics). It is not considered to be part of the same continuity as the original stories. As before, the story revolves around Leona Ozaki and the members of the Newport Tank Police; Conflict One contains some of the same elements of the original stories, but other aspects have been downplayed, altered, or completely removed. Originally planned for 4 Conflict series, Shirow has placed Dominion on hold while he worked on other projects, namely the various Ghost in the Shell anime and Man-Machine Interface. Conflict Two, originally planned for 1997, has yet to be published.

New continuity

There are many things that set Conflict apart from the original Dominion story, and are the main reason Shirow himself has asked people to downplay some elements and think of Conflict as another time line.

• The pollution problem. Newport no longer suffers from the poison smog that kept the city in a haze. Many images in the manga feature skyline shots showing clear skies, and it is commented that aircraft are now much more common.
• Formalization of the Tank Police. No longer a rowdy mob operating under the whims of Lieutenant Brenten and answering directly to the Chief of Police, The Newport City Police Department is shown as a full station house. The chief is still in command, but there are now many other divisions (including traffic control, investigation, forensics, data processing, and internal affairs) making the unit much more realistic. The Tank Police themselves have also changed, becoming a much larger organization with a clearly defined role in police operations.
• Bonaparte. With a larger and more structured Tank Police, Bonaparte is no longer a unique vehicle created by Leona. Now the backbone of the Tank Police, the Kenbitsu Heavy Industries Bonaparte Mark 9 is a modular urban combat vehicle used by all Tank Police platoons.
• Characters. Despite a much larger cast, many old faces are absent from Conflict, most noticeably missing are Chaplain, Mohican, and the Mayor. Buaku and Greenpeace are also absent. The largest surprise is the disappearance of Al Cu Ad Solte, Leona's tank driver and possible love interest.

Plot

Set in November 201X, Conflict One exists to introduce the new reality of Newport City. No longer plagued by the poison clouds that covered the city in the original Dominion, the story starts with Urushi-maru the "Skyscraper Pirate" and his partner attacking the Nankaiden department store while being pursued by the Osaka Air Police. Tank Police Sergeant Leona Ozaki gets involved when she fires on Urushi-maru's plane, causing the pirate to drop his stink bombs on Nankaiden's rival (and presumed backer of Urushi-maru's attack) Hokutenro, and a familiar face comes out of nowhere to take part of Urushi's plane.

From there, the story follows a number of plot lines. While searching for Urushi-maru, Leona must deal with the selection of the next generation of police tanks, relationship issues, public backlash against the Tank Police, personal rivalries with the current members of her old traffic division, andâ€"to her greatest displeasureâ€"the addition to her unit of the former criminal android Annapuna.

Characters

• Charles Brenten. Tank Police Commander (T-30A). Head of the 3rd Platoon, Brenten has calmed down from the earlier story but is still firmly in control of his reduced unit. As Platoon Commander he oversees three Squads. He is also joined in this story by his brother Brady, a pro-wrestler.
• Leona Ozaki. Tank Police Sergeant (T-31-1). Once the rookie and mascot of the TP, Leona is now one of three squad leaders operating under Commander Brenten. A well-known figure in both the Newport Police and the Tank Police Battalion, Leona now commands a squad of three Bonaparte class tanks
• AnnaPuma. Tank Police Officer (T-31-2). Formerly a member of the Buaku Gang, found to be not criminally liable as she is an android. Assigned to Leona's squad, she becomes Leona's new driver and partner.
• Habana. Tank Police Corporal (T-32-1). Injured earlier in his career, Habana now uses a wheelchair. Leona's second in command.
• Shinozaki. Tank Police Officer (T-32-2). Member of Leona's squad.
• Asada. Tank Police Officer (T-33-1). Member of Leona's squad.
• Shimizu. Tank Police Officer (T-33-2). Member of Leona's squad. A One-Monther (a fast-track management candidate present only for form's sake.)
• Yon. Tank Police Sergeant (T-34-1). Leader of the 2nd squad. (In the original Dominion manga, this character was known as Jim E. "Specs" Lovelock.)
• Pak. Tank Police Sergeant (T-37-1). Leader of the 3rd squad.

Role-playing game

The Dominion Tank Police Role-Playing Game was published by Guardians of Order in 1999. It uses the Tri-Stat System.

David L. Pulver worked on this and a number of licensed, standalone games for the company.

Reception

Helen McCarthy in 500 Essential Anime Movies commented that 1988 OVA "has some serious themes - ecological disaster and the excessive power of state - but they're delivered lightly, wrapped in a shiny package of action, slapstick, and outrageous visual puns".

References

External links

• Official Tank Police Team TANK S.W.A.T. 01 website (Japanese)
• Dominion (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Dominion Tank Police (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• New Dominion Tank Police (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Dominion: Conflict 1 - No More Noise (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• TANK S.W.A.T. 01 (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia