Dominion

I remember owning this 1988-1989 Anime mini-series on VHS tape back in the day. And I remember it fondly, and I watched it quite a lot back then. So needless to say that when I had the opportunity to sit down here in 2023 to watch it again digitally, of course I jumped at the chance to do so.

The storyline in "Dominion", which was released as "Dominion: Tank Police" here in Europe, was and still is a good one. Writer Koichi Mashimo did a good job in constructing an entertaining and enjoyable storyline for the four episodes this mini-series ran for. Now, I haven't read Masamune Shirow's Manga, so I don't know how true writer Koichi Mashimo was to the source material.

I only have had the opportunity to sit through Englished dubbed versions of "Dominion", both back in the late 1980s and again here in 2023. A shame really, because I prefer to watch things in their original language. With that being said, I also have to claim that the English dubbing in "Dominion" actually is good. Many dubbings tend to be cringeworthy and take away a great deal of enjoyment from whatever you're watching, but that was luckily not the case in "Dominion".

The character gallery in "Dominion" is good. I always had a fondness for the criminals in "Dominion"; that being Buaku and the twin catgirl sisters AnnaPuma and UniPuma. They were the comedy element in the series, and it panned out quite well.

The art style and animation in "Dominion" is good. Sure, it definitely shows signs of being from the late 1980s and being of Masamune Shirow's design. But it still holds up today.

If you enjoy Anime, then "Dominion" is well-worth sitting down to watch, especially if you enjoy something that isn't overly serious from start to end.

My rating of "Dominion" lands on a six out of ten stars.

I first caught this movie when I would watch (HEAVILY) Sci-Fi Channel's Saturday Anime block. Without that lineup of quality japanese animation every saturday I would've never known about anime at all.

I got to see all sorts of awesome stuff like the megaman-esque "Cashaun: Robot Hunter," "8-Man After," "Project A-Ko," "AKIRA," and of course, the classic "Dominion Tank Police" This wasn't Bugs Bunny, Chip N Dale, or Care Bears, or any of the soft american animation I was used to. This was something totally new to me. It was rough, dark, and agressive. But with enough humor thrown in that I could chuckle at it. This was intelligent animated entertainment.

The technology they use, the furutistic concrete jungle they live in. The concepts and ideas. Incredibly interesting. And they actually cursed! I had never heard anyone cuss in cartoons except for Beavis and Butthead. (not top notch on intelligence but its funny)

Everything about this movie is just awesome. Okay well maybe not all of it, their noses look pretty wierd and sometimes its hard to understand but hey, its anime and not everyone in anima draws in the same style. The humor and the things discussed in this movie aren't for your kids to watch (unless they are mature enough to understand it) there's a part in the movie where Anna and Una Puma start tossing out all these plastic sheets that turn into giant multicolored phalluses (think about it for a while.) Plus there's alotta destruction and gunfire. Still awesome. Oh and anime cat chicks rock! (even though I'm gay hehehe ^.^)

Rent this movie. Or do something even better and complain to Sci-Fi till they bring back Saturday Anime.

One of the first OVA's ("original video animation") I ever bought, this still has to be one of my favourite anime titles. A cyberpunk sci-fi action comedy set against an unlikely (for a comedy, that is) background of near-future pollution in a dystopian society.

The "heroes" of Dominion are the Tank Police, formed with a "if we can't beat crime, we'll get bigger guns" philosophy, and who are, like the name suggests, patrolling the city in tanks instead of patrol cars, and who are actually far more dangerous than any criminals they are trying to catch. Most, if not all, of these cops are borderline(?) psychopaths and neurotics, giving new meaning to the phrase "loose cannons".

Equally colourful and amusing are their adversaries, terrorist Buaku and his hench(wo)men, the Twin Cat Sisters, whose existence always seems to involve giving the Tank Police a hard time.

The animation is not state of the art, but it's very nice otherwise; the colourful palette and cartoonish look of the characters and mecha fit nicely with the comedic atmosphere of Dominion.

The English dubbing is, again, lots of fun. The soundtrack of the English version is also very good. I wonder if they ever made a soundtrack album of that...

Anyway, Dominion Tank Police is great. It's Japanese cyberpunk SF with lots of comedy, filled with completely over-the-top characters and situations, making sure that it never takes itself seriously. Highly recommended.

I stumbled across this (Act-I) by pure dumb luck and this was more than a decade ago. This was'nt even what the cover label on the tape mentioned. It amazed me. It intimidated me. It shocked me. I eventually forgot about and almost a decade later, I happened to think about it again. Then went and bought both acts. They were even better than I had experienced at first.

My only complaint is that while the Tank Police keep on going on and on about being at war with crime, warranting tanks and heavy artillery, it would seem as though they are really having a hard time with criminals. That is either never shown or is simply a lie as they appear to be taking it easy most of the time. If that bit about being in a state of war was really propaganda, it certainly has not been shown as such.

I don't think the original Japanese version could have been any where as good as the Americanized version of this. But regarding the story, there has certainly been some proper explanations lost in translation but it can be excused.

Why did this amazing totally mindblowing series only have to last for 2 acts spread over just over 2 hours? Just when it gets better and better and more emotional, they leave the story hanging and we have go refer to the bloody comic. That itself would have just about covered 1-2 more episodes. Is that too much to ask? Its hard to believe that the Japanese were making this in the late 80s while the other parts of the world were making childish nonsense? I think even though Ghost in the Shell is much more popular, the Tank Police are closer to Shirow's heart. The follow on series, Crusher Police or New Dominion Tank police, is no way in the same league.