Based on the two volume manga series by acclaimed author and illustrator Masamune Shirow, New Dominion Tank Police is 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. In a desperate attempt to stop the swelling tide of rampant crime and urban terrorism plaguing the city, the government forms a special task force – The Tank Police – with the firepower to combat the high-tech crime syndicates.
The main protagonist of the series is Leona Ozaki, a young female office in the Tank Police who is obsessively in love with her heavily modified, small tank, nicknamed Bonaparte, is not afraid of bending the rules, and more importantly, is VERY enthusiastic about her work!
New Dominion Tank Police is a six part OVA that first saw release in 1993, directed by Norubu Furuse and animated by J.C.Staff. It is a direct sequel to the original manga, this time pitting the tank police against the shadowy and powerful Dai Nippon Gaiken Corporation, which seeks to prevent the mayor from shutting down their weapons manufacturing industry with her newly proposed bill!
What follows is a roller-coaster of action and silliness, with a little bit of drama thrown on top for good measure. Over the top in every way possible, there is no way to describe this other than pure throwaway fun, featuring a lot of explosions, gunfire and chase scenes, and which just happens to be set against quite a rich and serious background.
This is a 90’s anime OVA through and through, meaning a very distinctive character design style, very detailed weapons and vehicles, a gorgeous mecha design, and fantastically detailed backgrounds. The color palette is muted and dark for the most part, and on the whole, the well animated episodes perfectly and seamlessly capture the necessary atmosphere of both the serious of the environment, as well as the silliness of the action.
On top of these quality visuals sits an enjoyable soundtrack which is again distinctly 90’s in nature, all topped off by some great performances from the varied voice actors employed to bring the diverse (and quite stereotyped) character set to life.
In summary, if you are looking for something dark and serious, or even a masterpiece for that matter, you would be best off looking elsewhere. However, if you are looking for some silly explosive fun, that just happens to feature the designs of the great Masamune Shirow which instantly raises its credibility, New Dominion Tank Police will most certainly deliver this in spades!
It won’t kill you if you’ve missed it thus far, but it remains an enjoyable watch for when you do have some extra time to kill!
Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Dominion_Tank_Police