Dominion Tank Police
(4 episode OVA)
For a while there, I wasn't entirely sure what age group this OVA was aimed at. The only thing that was clear was that this was meant to be a comedy romp. Initially I thought that this was meant for kids due to the immaturity of the humor and just the way the voice actors were treating it, not to mention how the tank squad commander freaked out when the tank squad had been assigned a "gooyal". Then again there were things like the twin cat girls doing a strip show to distract the police (and it working), giant inflatable penis and ball sack mines, the occasional cuss word, all the fan service, and just all the lame sex jokes in general. Then again there wasn't much cussing, no actual nudity (unless it was artwork) and no one actually died (on screen), so I suppose this actually could've originally been aimed at kids in Japan.
Okay, I suppose I should pause a bit to actually introduce this OVA properly. Really it's just a basic dystopian future sci-fi, which looks like it was inspired quite a bit by Blade Runner. It's set in a city with very organic-looking skyscrapers that is being shrouded by a poisonous bacterial cloud that forces everyone to wear respirators if they go outside (except as it turns out humanity has had to deal with it for long enough that the masks aren't really needed anymore). There are also androids, though it doesn't appear that they only get to live 4 years or that there is any restriction against them living on Earth. The reason there is a tank squad within the police force is that there has simply been so much escalation from the criminal element that it was a controversial way to give the police a definitive advantage. Of course they seem to cause a lot of damage no matter where they go, including tearing up the road the way a real tank with tracks would ... except these are tanks of the future that roll around on big plastic-looking balls.
Cool, so a bunch of police cruising around town in tanks. Sounds awesome, right? The only problem is that this is an over-the-top comedy and not an over-the-top action piece like Black Lagoon. Admittedly, over-the-top action is usually funny, too, but in a different way that doesn't involve giant penis mines (usually). There's also the guy who talks like a medieval monk they all call "chaplain". Why'd I make a point of bringing him up? Because he's annoying and not funny, at all. Actually I'd say that most of the humor fails, either being too immature (coming from a pretty immature guy), or being just plain unfunny. Example: apparently it's supposed to be funny for the police to torture criminals and to mock violating their civil rights to whoever wrote this. They even had Leona Ozaki, the resident "gooyal" dress up in a bunny suit to turn it into a kind of game show for the tank squad on one occasion. Personally, I wasn't amused.
As an aside, I have to admit to some pleasant surprise that Leona was actually dressed the same way as all the male officers (usually), as opposed to the typical stripperiffic "uniforms" that seem to be standard issue in sci-fi in general, let alone in future cop shows like this. Kind of ironic, too, seeing as some of those are actually supposed to be taken seriously, and this show was completely fluff. Of course Leona is still treated like the stereotypical klutzy, initially semi-cowardly, eventually extra gung-ho woman one tends to find in anime comedy cop shows like this, so I suppose it kind of balances out.
Anyway, back to the story, it seems that there's some kind of evil secret plan involving urine and Greenpeace, which sounds hilarious, except that it's about creating a green-haired fairy chick, whose significance is left unknown by the end of the OVA. So basically there isn't a lot of plot, except something secretive about the poisoned atmosphere and their fairy chick.
I'd say that this OVA was decent enough. I honestly don't mind mindless fluff on occasion, though in this case it still wasn't particularly good, it just wasn't horrible. 6/10.
Oh, did I mention that it had a catchy intro theme?
(4 episode OVA)
For a while there, I wasn't entirely sure what age group this OVA was aimed at. The only thing that was clear was that this was meant to be a comedy romp. Initially I thought that this was meant for kids due to the immaturity of the humor and just the way the voice actors were treating it, not to mention how the tank squad commander freaked out when the tank squad had been assigned a "gooyal". Then again there were things like the twin cat girls doing a strip show to distract the police (and it working), giant inflatable penis and ball sack mines, the occasional cuss word, all the fan service, and just all the lame sex jokes in general. Then again there wasn't much cussing, no actual nudity (unless it was artwork) and no one actually died (on screen), so I suppose this actually could've originally been aimed at kids in Japan.
Okay, I suppose I should pause a bit to actually introduce this OVA properly. Really it's just a basic dystopian future sci-fi, which looks like it was inspired quite a bit by Blade Runner. It's set in a city with very organic-looking skyscrapers that is being shrouded by a poisonous bacterial cloud that forces everyone to wear respirators if they go outside (except as it turns out humanity has had to deal with it for long enough that the masks aren't really needed anymore). There are also androids, though it doesn't appear that they only get to live 4 years or that there is any restriction against them living on Earth. The reason there is a tank squad within the police force is that there has simply been so much escalation from the criminal element that it was a controversial way to give the police a definitive advantage. Of course they seem to cause a lot of damage no matter where they go, including tearing up the road the way a real tank with tracks would ... except these are tanks of the future that roll around on big plastic-looking balls.
Cool, so a bunch of police cruising around town in tanks. Sounds awesome, right? The only problem is that this is an over-the-top comedy and not an over-the-top action piece like Black Lagoon. Admittedly, over-the-top action is usually funny, too, but in a different way that doesn't involve giant penis mines (usually). There's also the guy who talks like a medieval monk they all call "chaplain". Why'd I make a point of bringing him up? Because he's annoying and not funny, at all. Actually I'd say that most of the humor fails, either being too immature (coming from a pretty immature guy), or being just plain unfunny. Example: apparently it's supposed to be funny for the police to torture criminals and to mock violating their civil rights to whoever wrote this. They even had Leona Ozaki, the resident "gooyal" dress up in a bunny suit to turn it into a kind of game show for the tank squad on one occasion. Personally, I wasn't amused.
As an aside, I have to admit to some pleasant surprise that Leona was actually dressed the same way as all the male officers (usually), as opposed to the typical stripperiffic "uniforms" that seem to be standard issue in sci-fi in general, let alone in future cop shows like this. Kind of ironic, too, seeing as some of those are actually supposed to be taken seriously, and this show was completely fluff. Of course Leona is still treated like the stereotypical klutzy, initially semi-cowardly, eventually extra gung-ho woman one tends to find in anime comedy cop shows like this, so I suppose it kind of balances out.
Anyway, back to the story, it seems that there's some kind of evil secret plan involving urine and Greenpeace, which sounds hilarious, except that it's about creating a green-haired fairy chick, whose significance is left unknown by the end of the OVA. So basically there isn't a lot of plot, except something secretive about the poisoned atmosphere and their fairy chick.
I'd say that this OVA was decent enough. I honestly don't mind mindless fluff on occasion, though in this case it still wasn't particularly good, it just wasn't horrible. 6/10.
Oh, did I mention that it had a catchy intro theme?