Dominion: Tank Police

Dominion: Tank Police is a manga series written and drawn by Masamune Shirow, and later adapted into two OVA series: Dominion Tank Police, which came first, and New Dominion Tank Police. Set in the fictional city of Newport, Japan, in a future in which bacterial air pollution has become so severe that people must wear gas masks when outdoors, the series follows a police squadron that uses tanks.

The manga has been published in English by Dark Horse Comics. The anime has been released in English translation in the United Kingdom by Manga Video and in the United States by Central Park Media, under their US Manga Corps devision.

Shirow has also produced a sequel to the original series, entitled Dominion Conflict One: No More Noise.

The Tank Police

 * Leona Ozaki : A young female officer in the Tank Police. Extremely enthusiastic about her work, and obsessively protective of her tank, which she calls "Bonaparte".


 * Originally, Leona was an officer in the motorcycle division before requesting a transfer to the Tank Police.


 * Al : A young male officer, Leona's much calmer partner and co-pilot of Bonaparte.


 * Charles Britain (Also Charles Brenten) : Leona's squad leader. Very macho, with little regard for regulations, or the health, safety, and property of civilians. He also is the best shot in the force, preferring a large, old-fashioned revolver (which he lovingly refers to as "the Castigator") to the automatic weapons used by other members of his unit. He also has a lifetime subscription to "How to Kill" Magazine.


 * Chaplain : A police chaplain and tank pilot. Once took pity on a criminal, who then shot and killed his partner and escaped.


 * Jim E. Lovelock (Specs, Megane or Four-Eyes) : A scientific expert and tank commander. He has a friendly rivalry with Chaplain.


 * Chief : The chief of police. Prone to tearing out what little hair he has left. He also has a chronic ulcer that always acts up whenever the Tank Police cause too much collateral damage. He comments in the introduction that tanks are insufficient for keeping the peace, and would prefer 'replacing our guns with tactical nuclear weapons,' though it's unclear if he means this to be taken seriously.

Criminals

 * Buaku : The "super criminal" the Tank Police was formed to fight, specializing in bank robbery and general mayhem. He leads a gang, but appears to be backed by unknown individuals. Buaku's true origins are unclear between the OVA and the Manga itself.  In the OVA, Buaku was apparently a "test dummy" for the Greenpeace Crolis project, who escaped destruction when government agents raided the lab and destroyed everything except for encoded data disguised as a nude portrait of himself.  He ends up living on the streets and is eventually framed for a bank robbery by an unidentified woman and later arrested by police...which starts the chain of events that led him to become a criminal.  In the Manga, it is said that Buaku started his criminal career over 80 years ago in Argentina.


 * In the first OVA his goal is to retrieve urine samples for a mysterious go-between for the unseen crime boss "Mr. Big". The Tank Police thwarted his plans, but are unable to arrest him.


 * In the second OVA he tried to retrieve the encoded data from the Greenpeace experiment, which is on display at a local auction house in Newport. In the Manga, his final criminal act is the theft of the Space Colony "Embryo", in which he succeeds and escapes to the stars with his gang, with the exception of the Puma Sisters, who were left on Earth to organize the final getaway.


 * Anna Puma and Uni Puma : Buaku's assistants, a pair of tall blonde android catgirls. Anna and Uni both started out as mechanical "lovedolls", androids built for nothing more than sexual entertainment. (i.e. strippers, prostitutes, etc.)  They achieved sentience and ended up working for Buaku as his personal thugs/bodyguards/errand girls.  When Buaku left for the stars in the "Embryo", the girls were out of work, living on the streets (in New Dominion, the girls are given red hair).

Others

 * Greenpeace Crolis : A mysterious green-skinned girl with wings, kidnapped from the Critical Science Development Agency by the Buaku Gang. She was originally developed to counteract the bacteria-laden smog that covers the Earth:  a humanoid "air purifier".  Although she's constantly in the company of Buaku and his gang, she couldn't really care less about their motives... as long as she's in a place with plenty of light.  Annapuma and Unipuma are constantly left caring for her.


 * Critical Science Development Agency : A scientific research institution and think tank. They first show up to try and recover Greenpeace Crolis from the police, with little success.  Later, Specs joins them after they finally accept his application for employment, only to return when he finds out they only wanted to steal his research and put their name on it.


 * Citizens Against Destructive Police (CADP) : A group of citizen activists who oppose the Tank Police. They are led by a woman who is only known as the "District Prosecutor."  She only shows up in Dominion Part 1 with the unveiling of the T4-F tank and in one of Leona's nightmares in "Phantom of the Audience."