(1993)
Since the first Dominion Tank Police series was one of Manga's best sellers out of their early releases, it comes as no surprise to see them follow that example by releasing Acts 6 onwards of Dominion 2. Creator Masamune Shirow's manga strip is something of a land-mark in recent Japanese history and those unfamiliar with his work could do worse than begin with this con-sistently good animated series version as a starting point. What we have here is the (all together now) near future setting of Newport City, Japan, where the police have re-sorted to establishing a special tank division for those particularly troublesome criminals.
Dominion is comedy first and science fiction second. A great ensemble cast of characters is lead by tank police officer Leona whose affection for her tank, christened Napoleon (because of it's small size), resembles the rapport that is usually confined to pet animals. The recurring baddies are led by the two, scantily-clad Puma twins - Una and Anna - but there appears to be a larger story arc that encompasses the entire second series - guess we'll just have to wait and see on that score. Subtitled is the way to really appreciate the character voices but the dubbed UK release makes and admirable effort in trying to capture the feel of the original. Less fiddling with the format this time by Manga also results in a closer-to-the-original item when compared with Manga's series one releases. I'm not as huge a fan of the series as many are but there's no denying the appeal of the great artwork, distinctive style of anima-tion and Yoichiro Yoshikama's memorable jazz piano and slide guitar score that becomes a theme throughout the series. Naturally, there is maximum destruction of Newport City each episode. Very watchable stuff. 6/10
Rob Dyer
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