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I have a real hard time recommending this title. Sure, you have the cool story and the great acting on the Japanese track, but you have to contend with a mediocre disc and bad English dub track.

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DOMINION

Tank Police

Review by Matthew Anderson

4 Episode OVA series

Company: US Manga Corps

Running Time: 150 minutes (4 episodes)

Region: all

Rated: PG-13 (Violence and Adult situations)

EXTERNAL EXAM

In the Newport City Police Force there exists a team of specialists who's primary function is "crime deterrence". Using massive Biotanks, the "Tank Police" patrol the streets, and keep the citizens of Newport City safe from Buaku and his gang, the worst criminals in the city.

Thing is, the only thing that differentiates the Tank Police from the criminals they are trying to catch is that they have badges! Lead by the psychotic Captain Britain, the Tank Police are not afraid to break the law to get results.

Leona Ozaki has just been transferred in from the motorcycle patrol to the Tank Police. At first overwhelmed, she quickly leans what it means to be a member of the glorious tank police! She even makes her own tank, the light weight, yet powerful "Bonaparte".

Good thing too.

Buaku and his gang (which consists of the lovely Puma Sisters), are on a mission for a mysterious backer. The "Councilor" wants the gang to steal certain items related to a project called "Greenpeace". This project seems to have some sort of connection not only to Buaku, but the government as well.

Now, Leona with her "co-pilot" Al, must solve the mystery of "Greenpeace", stop Buaku, and not get killed by a mercenary group called the "Red Commando's" who are also after the infamous criminal for reasons of their own.

Newport City may not survive with the Tank Police on the case.

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: In every CPM DVD we have reviewed, we have been fairly satisfied with the video quality.

Not in this case.

There is so much edge enhancement, wrinkling, and pixels, it really detracts from the overall presentation. With the washed out look of the source print, it does not look like they did any restoration at all. I am shocked that one of the films that put CPM on the map was mistreated like this.

AUDIO: Pretty even on both the English and Japanese 2.0 tracks. The sound is mostly center speaker based, with almost no surround sound elements. In fact, I wound up having to put my ear to the rear speakers to make sure they were on.

EDITS: To anyone who has a copy of the subtitled VHS release... do not get rid of it! If you do, this is what you will loose.

The Japanese closing animation has been pushed up to the top of the screen, so the English credits can roll. The original Japanese closing theme has been replaced with the English dub closing song on both the English and the Japanese tracks. Not only that, they only use the closing animation at the end of episodes 2 and 4, not 1 and 3, so that's a big edit.

The other thing you loose is the "Digest" that is before episode 2. While it's not really necessary for the overall flow of the story, those of us who have the VHS release are gonna be really ticked.

EXTRAS: Again, why did CPM do such a crappy job with this seminal release? If you consider a text paragraph and a few scene excerpts extras, then you really don't understand the potential of DVD. Oh, and lets not forget the "web link". Whoopee!

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: Unlike most Mastumune Shiro stories, which tend to be a little dark, this one is a ripping good time. Koichi Mashimo and Dai Kohno both do a good job at taking the lighthearted spirit of the manga, and translating it into a successful anime. Since they have the semi daunting task of creating a "prequel" for the manga, they really had to know the story, and it shows. The only "hiccup" is the rather rough ending that is supposed to link the OVA to the first chapter of the manga. Other than that, it's funny and full of action!

ACTING: Wonderful on the Japanese side. Hiromi Tsuru is perfect as the cute and perky Leona. When she is squealing at how wonderful her tank "Bonaparte" is, you believe it. You will love the way that Michi Tomozawa (Linna in BGC, Bko in Project Ako) and Yuko Mita purr out their lines as the very sexy Puma sisters. The best part is Yusaku Yura as Mr. Squad Leader Britain. This man is the epitome of "Muscle bound freak". He rants, he raves, and has some of the best comedic timing on both sides of the Pacific. There is no better way to watch this series!

Never again will I listen to the English Dub. This is the most God-awful case of flat, mis-matched, bad acting I have ever herd. This one makes the "Macross II" dub sound like Oscar winning material! Really, I hated it so much, I stopped listing after the first episode.

FAN SERVICE: You have the Puma sisters in their undies, and a boob shot (the nipple is covered in tape) of the lovely ladies. There is a "blink and you miss it" shot of a nude Leona, but it ain't no big thang.

For those who read the manga, there are plenty of references to keep you smiling.

FINAL EXAM

In the early days of anime on VHS in the US, Dominion: Tank Police was one of the first to be released. This was nothing like anyone had seen before in animation. There were cops torturing a suspect. There was a villain that was totally "mad". There was a girl the loved her tank more than she loved men. You even had sexy cat girls doing a naughty nurse strip tease to avoided being arrested. Never saw that in "Rambo", or even in "Robotech".

Dominion introduced so many people not only to Japanese animation, but to Mastumune Shiro as well. Unless you were into the "Appleseed" or "Dominion" manga, you probably didn't know anything about this prolific author. It's ironic that in episode 3, there is a "joke" about Dominion being a Seminal work, and that it was at the level of an antique. Well, for those of us who own the original VHS release of this series, this "prediction" has come true.

Dominion Tank Police is not typical of Shiro's work. While there is some philosophical discussion (hey, it's a Shiro after all), it's mostly battle after battle, with plenty of slapstick thrown in to keep things going. There are no "Landmates" in this one, and no special sections with X-Files level secrecy either. A refreshing change from his typical "man and machine" morality plays.

Dominion is truly a major event in the history of Anime in the United States. So why oh why did CPM do such a disappointing job on this one? Frankly, I would have preferred they made this a "special edition" other than MD Geist.

This is one disappointing disc. The video quality is very poor, and the audio is average. The subtitles are too light in some places, making it hard to read. The edits do nothing but annoy me, and the lack of extras (not even a decent amount of DVD-ROM stuff) really break my heart. To be fair, if you never saw the VHS release, you won't miss the cuts, and the video and sound are good enough to bear, depending on your player.

The worst part is the English Dub.

They never should have dubbed this, at least with the cast they used. Never have I herd such bad acting in one anime. Was everyone asleep, or just doing this job for a pay check? There is no emotion in their voices, their reading is slow and painful, and what is up with the Southern accents for the Puma sisters? They sound like white trash vixens. At least the acting on AnimEigo's "Bubblegum Crisis" English dub got better as the series progressed. This one stunk at the start, and stunk at the end.

Another bad thing about the dub is the crappy background music. Where did they get this Eurotrash "Real McCoy" on valium sounding group. Their music is nothing but over-used keyboards and synths. It seems that they use every single "techno" add-on out there thrown in to make it sound cool. The use of "Japanese Flute" just seemed like pandering. The soundtrack isn't cool. Paraphrasing Bart Simpson, it both sucks and blows.

To be honest, I have a real hard time recommending this title. Sure, you have the cool story and the great acting on the Japanese track, but you have to contend with a mediocre disc and bad English dub track. The only ones who should get it are those who want to preserve their VHS copies or those who don't care if it's edited or not, in Japanese or not. Those of us who want our anime pure and uncut will have some serious thinking to do.

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