Manga: Dominion Conflict Number 1, No More Noise

 Content Warning: Violence, police brutality, explosions, and two annoying android catgirls.

To round out Mecha March, I’m returning to the world of Dominion Tank Police. This time, we’re looking at Dominion, Conflict #1: No More Noise. Now, the canon of this setting is different than the original manga we looked at last time, with less pollution and a more organized Tank Police. However, there’s some new characters and some of the old ones are missing. Visually, it doesn’t look nearly as run down or decayed but the same aesthetic is still there in the building designs. Oh, and all the tanks are mini tanks, which seems to make Bonaparte a little less unique.

Our story starts with Urushi-Maru, the Skyscraper Pirate, flying his plane through the city and getting attacked by the tank police. This makes him drop his stink bombs on the wrong target. The following day, we get some little introductions to the rest of the tank police, including Habana, who uses a wheelchair, and some of the returning cast, like Brenten, before Leona (now a squad leader or Sargent) has to go to a meeting. There’s an inspection, talk about the hunt for Urushi-Maru, and then Leona gets assigned the Puma sisters to her squad. So it appears that they’re still criminals, or at least they were, but since they’re androids, they can’t be held accountable for their crimes. Whatever they might be.

After this, the story becomes more of a cop drama, with the story following around various characters at various locations. Brenten is trying to track down where Urusi-Maru might have landed, and dumps a review thing onto Leona at headquarters. While she’s there, we learn a bit about how the Bonaparte class tanks work and what is being offered in the replacements. There’s also a line about how the bacterial cloud is now gone, suggesting that what happened in the other manga might be some-what canon. We also follow around various members of the squad around the station house, learning a bit about how this world works and how police work is done. It’s a rather interesting read, if you’re into that kind of thing. To make a more recent reference, it’s kind of what they do in Hot Fuzz but with more characters and with more discussion of explosives.

As things move on, the investigation of Urushi-Maru continues, with a piece of his place being analyzed and making it look more likely that Sagawa Armaments being the company funding his piracy. This, of course, turns out to be correct and Leona and the tank police set up a steak-out at the factory. Sending in a smaller Uni (or is it Anna?) to check things out, she catches the factory owner and Urushi-Maru discussing their plans. As she’s a “bimbo” she screws everything up and the tank police have to move in. Except for Leona because her tank ends up surrounded by protesters. They seem to be anti-war, anti-police protesters and they pick her to pick on. Which is about the worst thing they could have picked.

This fight takes up most of the rest of the volume and it is fantastic. There’s really two battles going on, with most of the tank police going after Urushi-Maru and Leona having to deal with the head of Sagawa, who’s behind the wheel of some kind of APC. This fight is really good, with each tank and crew having a role to play in combat. Leona, of course, does a lot of crazy things that she shouldn’t be done. This includes using HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) and Sabot rounds to blow open a hole in a wall that’s suppose to stop test rounds. While she tries to take out the corrupt boss, the others are going through the factory to try to capture Urushi-Maru and his female sidekick. You get to see both sides using all kinds of gadgets and equipment, as well as tactics and teamwork, trying to come out on top. Of course, the tank police come out on top and Urushi-Maru is captured.

With the main plot of the volume finished, the rest is tying up loose ends and the other plots woven into the story. And, yes, the paperwork. There are a few things left hanging but these were clearly there for another volume. Which never happened. As much as I like Shiro’s work, the man rarely finishes anything. And that makes this a very sad tale, as there’s plenty more to work with that’s just left on the table.

This is a much more polished version of the original manga, both in look and story, making for a mixed bag. While I like how much more cohesive the story is, the loss of the grit and grime in the setting takes away too much of it. It’s also really hard to tell stories about the police having tanks unless you strike a good balance between the two. The first version of the tank police was more focused on tanks and crime, while this one is much more focused on the police part of the tank police. Perhaps someday we’ll see that perfect version. Maybe it was already done in New Dominion Tank Police but I only saw one episode of that back in the day and don’t really remember it. That said, this is a fun read, despite the flaws.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Suggestion: If you liked the first one, you might like this one, too. If you like police dramas with a dash of the absurd and comical, this might be something for you, too.

And with this, I wrap up another Mecha March. Next year, I'll finally be doing the OVA of Dominion Tank Police. If you have any suggestions for what else to do for Mecha March next year, let me know.

Manga: Dominion

 

Content Warning: Violence, police brutality, nudity, and stupidity

Ah, the good old days, when the police ended up with tanks. Wait a minute… Ahem. Dominion, which was called Dominion Tank Police when it got an anime, is one of Masamune Shiro’s abandoned projects. Like most of his stuff, it’s set in the far future where things have been messed up. Unlike many of the other stuff he’s done, this one is dying because the air is full of a biological mess, made up of pollution, bacteria, and who knows what all else. As such everyone is required to wear a mask when they’re outside… And that just hit REALLY close to home.

Anyway, the manga begins without introduction, with Leona and Al in the mini tank, chasing down Buaku. Buaku is dressed like a classic thief, which a literal giant bag of gold on his back. Leona makes the mini tank climb up the walls after him and then fires a shell at him. Like, holy shit! Of course, it doesn’t quite work like they wanted, as the Buaku they were following was a robotic double and the gold coins are fake.

After this, Leona and the others return to the squad house and we slowly get introduced to the various characters; Brenten, Specs, Chaplin, the Chief, and so on. It’s like a scene out of a cop show the era, except with tanks. I rather enjoy how Shiro weaves in some backstory and character in this way. Of course, it would be nice to get an info dump, too.

This scene comes to an end when there’s a raid on one of the Buaku gang’s hideouts. There, we find the missing “person” Crolis Greenpeace, who’s green and has wings. Turns out that she’s an artificial being designed to purify the air, but why is she given humanoid form?

After this, there’s a few little stories, with Leona and Bonaparte (the mini-tank) “resolving” a hostage situation, trying to catch Unipuma and Annapuma… Oh, I should explain those two. Unipuma and Annapuma are twin robotic sexbots turned criminals that work with Buaka. They enjoy guns, fast cars, destruction, and causing mayhem. They also like good clothes and jewelry. They’re some of the more iconic characters from this series, usually plastered all over the packaging of whatever media it’s in. They’ve also appeared in Shiro’s other works, like a brief cameo in the original Ghost In The Shell manga (which is on my list, look for it). There’s also a story with Buaka using a group of “concerned citizens” to buy a spider tank looking thing so he can use it as a Trojan Horse to attack the Tank Police.

When Buaka returns, he’s stolen a “sand submarine” and uses it to attack Newport City (which is near Osaka, build on landfill in the bay, and where the manga is set). Using missiles, they hit highways, telephone exchanges, and then targets in the slums and rich parts of town, before launching Unipuma and Annapuma in anti-tank helicopters to take hostages. Leona and Al, in Bonaparte, end up chasing down Unipuma and Annapuma as they kidnap a bunch of babies from the hospital as the hostages. Yeah, that’s pretty evil. Somehow, the two officers get aboard the sand ship thing and start chasing hell. But, they’re put out of commission and Buaka and his gang get away. To a space station. They’re leaving Earth behind because it’s so messed up. It’s also revealed that Buaka and the twin (Unipuma and Annapuma) are robots.

The final chapter of the volume opens with Leona waking up at home. I have to say, I love how tolerant her mom is of Leona’s life. When she arrives at work, she gets an assignment to work crowd control at a “smart ball” stadium. She ends up confronting a politician about the sport and is later suspended. Of course, she quits and takes Bonaparte with her (because that’s totally something they would let you do, drive off with your tank). Well, the protesters come back and end up lighting the stadium on fire, trapping the politician and one of his cronies inside. Using Bonaparte, Leona rescues him and she gets reinstated. I have to say, this one feels really preachy to me and doesn’t quite work compared to the other stories.

And that’s where this ends. This was all that was written originally for the Dominion setting. It’s fun, as it tries to be a parody of the action movies and cop movies of the era, tactfully ignoring the implications of militarizing the police to the point of giving them tanks.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Suggestion: It’s an absurd comedy about cops with tanks, just sit back and enjoy the plentiful jokes.