Canadian's #06: Dominion

This is truly one of the best manga books. It includes the original Dominion plus 32 pages of short story Phantom of the Audience and a few pages about characters and Dominion world. The story is really fun and since it is not as complex as Ghost in the Shell or Appleseed it's easy to follow. I just recommend it.

Dominion: Conflict 1 (No More Noise) is not Dominion : Tank Police. In Conflict all the tanks are mini, the bad guy flies a plane (because the air is nice and clean) and the Puma sisters are now COPS! Jealous meter maids, corrupt officials and a tank design competition. Will mini-tanks be replaced?The fact is this book is set in a universe totally different from the DVDs and the other manga. Extras include the fact files in the back, plus lots of scenes with the Puma sisters. They're easy to make happy, just give them candy or food, and they can sleep anywhere. Anna can even change her size (but I prefer her in her adult, shapely, size). Uni, on the other hand, seems more serious about the job.

From the creator of Ghost in the shell, Massamune Shirow, comes a story about the future in which mankind has to wear oxygen masks outside, lives in bio-created cities and fears crime levels so high that the police use tanks! The main character is a tank-loving Leona Ozaki,a police mini-tank commander, who seems to be fighting a one-woman war against crime, which in most cases means she is dealing with Buaku, a master criminal, and his two catgirl thugs, the Puma sisters (who make an appearance in Ghost in the Shell). The fact is, that Buaku has more than just gold coins on his mind. In fact, the future of planet Earth, and the human race, hangs in the balance. Can the tank police stop him or will he get away with more than just cash?Great book. Has extras, like character files and even a small chapter on min-tanks. Also includes an extra story - Phantom of the Audience. Like most of Shirow's books there is great artwork and lots of humor as well as important themes about mankind and his changing world. Not as solid as Ghost in the Shell, but frankly, what manga is?

This was the first manga i read back in the year 1997, since then my collection has grown to over 200 books. Unlike many folks who like Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed better this manga is my favorite of Shirow's work. For those who are not of the scientific mind this volume will be much easier to read than ghost in the shell or appleseed, but that does not mean that it loses any insightfulness, anyway one should read the book alone for the exploits of Lt. Brenten and Annapuma and Unipuma

This may be heresy, but I think this is by far the strongest actual *story* by Shirow. His other works--Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed, among others--are beautifully illustrated, but get bogged down in technical arcana. This book is much more straightforward. The art is still gorgeous (especially the 8 or so color pages at the start), so this book scores on all counts. The core of the story is police using tanks to hunt a criminal. The subplots give the book its charm, with a host of characters (particularly the lovestruck meter maids) zipping about on their cleverly-interwoven agendas. Also, for those who haven't read the original Dominion story, Shirow notes that he wants readers to think of Dominion Conflict as entirely separate. This book is entirely worth special ordering, as it is wonderful and almost impossible to find.