- Masamune Shirow on Dominion
Passages taken from Intron Depot 1 ©1991 Shirow/Seishinsha - Dominion Characters
- Dominion "censored"
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| Dominion |
Shirow wrote the original Dominion manga, featuring the manic Tank Police, in 1986. As always the main characters is a police woman, but this is the series where Shirow is using most of his witty: here you can find absurd situations, super deformed characters, likeable villains, and ... Bonaparte, the best tank in history.
Official Japanese Intro (written as the original): "Megalopolice covered with thick backterial smog. The human beings are destroying the balance of the Nature by their high developed technology, led by the bio-technology. In that megalopolice the big banditti "Buakudo" is doing evil things here and there and they even snacks the precious cybernetic organism "Green Peace" which has been studied and made at the Heavy Science Development Agency. At the same time, special aimed police so-called "Tank Police", driving a tank..."
Official US Blurb: "In the future the world's pollution problems have escalated and toxic micro-organisms force people to wear filter masks out of doors. Crime rates are very high, and to counter it the Tank Police, a special SWAT unit, have been formed. Their main task is to catch the criminal BUAKU gang. But the residents of Newport, a vast bio-constructed city, are more enraged by the destructive activities of the Tank Police than those of the criminals. Leona, her pet tank Bonaparte, and her lovesick partner Al, have to confront the villainous Buaku and his felinoid accessories-to-crime the beautiful Anna Puma and Uni Puma."
Of all of Masamune Shirow's policewoman series, Dominion is by far the lightest and least serious, despite that brooding title. It's a short story, only one volume in all, that first ran in Hakusensha Publishing's dearly departed magazine Comi Comi. The short temper and Type A personality of police tank commander Leona Ozaki and the daily events of her Newport Police Station (Hyogo Prefecture, Shinhama City) are depicted in loving slapstick (fortunately there isn't area unit like this in Japan).
Shinhama City and Newport Ward don't really exist. In theory they're part of an imaginary artificial island called Waterfront floating off the coast of Hyogo Prefecture near Kobe. It seems Waterfront is a long construction stretching as far as the Kii Peninsula. One interesting thing about it is that it doesn't go all the way to the ocean floor -- it floats above it.
The centerpiece of Dominion was the pocket tank Bonaparte T-1, virtually an extension of Leona herself. Bonaparte's name was meant to be a take-off on both "Napoleon" and the Japanese pronunciation of the German "Leopard" tank. The driver lay almost prone on the bottom armor of the hull, with Leona's seat covering him like a tortoise shell. Small as it was, it weighted a good five tons, and the treads could leave any road in serious need of repair. Bonaparte fired a variety of stun and gas canisters. However, Leona always kept three illicit high-velocity AP rounds in a special "good luck" bag at her feet.
I should mention that all four videos were original stories written by the animation staff and differ a bit from my own Dominion universe. Not to worry -- if it's interesting, what more can you ask? (Actually, I liked their Brenten a lot).
The italics comments come from an original Dominion Japanese edition.
Leona Ozaki
She's the only woman in the Police to drive a tank (so she's the main characters of the story) and the only policeman to really love her tank too.
OAV: Newly assigned to the Tank Police, from the motorcycle division, Leona has a few initial problems adjusting to Tank Police techniques. However, with a new, custom built tank, she rapidly becomes one of their most effective officers.
LEONA is a saucy miss commander at the top of "Tank Police". She loves Bonaparte.
Al
Al is the driver and mechanic for Leona's tank, Bonaparte. He occasionally questions the rather brutal tactics of the Tank Police, but doesn't object too much, when shouted down.
ALU (sic) is Leona's fellow commander. "Tank Police" one and only good sense user. He loves Leona.
Charles Brenten
Brenten is the leader of the Tank Police, and likes to keep a tough, macho cop image. Beneath the harsh exterior, he is a bit of a softie, and prefers riding around the streets in his tank to actually solving any crimes. Of course, he wouldn't let anyone else know that, and tries to live up to his image as a hard taskmaster.
BRETEN (sic) police inspector is always referred to as "Mr. Squad Commander". The leader of "Tank Police".
The Chief
He suffers from prematurely grey hair and constant heart trouble (doubtless brought on by the actions of the Tank Police).
Mr. CHIEF is always made to hold his subordinates' bag, which feel sad.
Chaplain
Besides looking after the spiritual welfare of the Tank Police, Chaplain is a fairly mean tank driver.
OAV: He's rather useful interrogator and he also helped design Leona's tank.
Specs (Megane)
Specs is a failed scientist, who acts as the brains of the Tank Police. He's a computer wizard and also a fairly useful biologist.
Buaku
Buaku is a cyborg or even an android. His gang is the Tank Police's most dangerous opponents, armed with both Buaku's cunning and some high-tech weapons. They are basically thieves, but, supported by some powerful organization, they want to turn against the system of government which has led the Earth to a desperate situation.
OAV: He has a mysterious past: he has been created in a laboratory and he is the only survivor of that experiment.
BUAKU is a wicked boss. He is the worst character.
Anna Puma & Uni Puma
The Puma sisters are Buaku's lieutenants, and they are sexy androids. They have a serious affinity for big guns and motorbikes. In Conflict 1 they join forces with the police.
ANNAPUMA & UNIPUMA is Buakudo's member. Annapuma's ear is shorter than Unipuma one.
A small part of the logo background is a photo of marshy waters (they are easily recognizable on a previous page).
Toren Smith said (thanks to Asrafrate!): "After the fuss in Japan over Tezuka's "Jungle Taitei" caricatures, Shirow requested we drop that image. No translation was ever done as "he doesn't say anything important," according to Shirow."
Shirow: "This was the first page of the serialized version, and ran in a special edition of Comi Comi. The sloppy, handwritten title is an embarrassment -- I shouldn't have done it. Naturally, I had it covered in the graphic novel... nyahahaha! [...]" (from Intron Depot 1; page 90).
A more important censorship has been done in the Dominion comic since the US editions (as the Italian one) have been released without an image. It is about an African guy and it was originally printed in the lower left corner of the "Intermission 2" note first page.
Act 1 - Crime Corps
As Act 1 opens, Leona, a red-haired female recruit to the Tank Police, reports for duty as Lt. Brenten and his men are interrogating a prisoner with the hand grenade torture. It is Leona's very first assignment. While on patrol inside the company commander's tank special, the cyborg Buaku and his female sidekicks the Puma twins break into a hospital and steal a valuable research material. In her very first personal experience controlling a tank, Leona struggles very hard to run after Buaku and his accomplices. Somehow the Police is able to recover stolen goods, but the commander is fiercely mad! The tank he loves has gone to pieces. What the Buaku gang is after is the urine of healthy people.
Healthy people who are not immune to the air pollution have a scarcity value, and they are very important objects of study. The tank police prepares for more attacks from the Buaku gang, and security arrangements are made.
Act 2 - Crime War
Buaku escapes to his hideout and works over his next operation after a representative for Buaku's employer awards him a secret weapon. Buaku heads out for the tank police and provokes them. Tempted by the invitation, the tank police mobilizes all tanks, but they were all overturned by plastic land mines set by Buaku and the others. Coming their way are Leona and Al, riding on the finally completed Bonaparte. Taking along the company commander they head for a hospital. At that time at the hospital, the Buaku gang's two tanks and one security tank are fighting a fierce battle running about inside the hospital.
Arriving there, the Bonaparte also becomes buried underneath the crumbling hospital, and the Buaku gang successfully gets away while holding the "liquid".
Act 3
This time, the gang is not out to steal the urine of healthy people. Rather, they're after an 80 year old nude painting of Buaku himself. Meanwhile at Tank Police headquarters it's "Showtime". Girl recruit Leona, in Bunny costume, helps lob knives at a drug dealer strapped to a spinning board with a live hand grenade in his mouth. The audience place bets on how many seconds it will take him to spit out the grenade. The Tank Police attend the burglary but Leona is captured by Buaku.
Act 4
The print representing Buaku has been made by the computer of the laboratory where he has been created together with Crolis and it hides all the data of an experiment. For Buaku it is the only connection with his past because that experiment has been wiped out and all the evidences destroyed.
Now Buaku is running away with the painting and Leona, while the Tank Police, Buaku Gang and Red Commandos (the guards of the auction warehouse where Buaku has stolen the painting) are following them.
The episode can end only with a big battle.
Act 5
I doff my hat to Hakusensha's Book Publishing Division for their clever design work." (from 
