Ask John: Could Dominion Get License Rescued?

Question:
I would appreciate a knowledgeable answer on Dominion Tank Police (DTP). I understand there are two US region 1 DVD releases with Eng dubs. One from 1999 and one from 2003. Now as I’m trying to purchase DTP I read a review on Amazon that spooked me some. The reviewer stated that the DVD release he purchased had content edited (opening and closing credits) and had some sort of cheesy paste-over censor bars on “objectionable” content throughout. Problem is, Amazon lumps together reviews for both DVD releases under the same section so it’s impossible for me to know which one the reviewer is talking about. So do you happen to know which US release is unedited? Also do you believe a company will license rescue/rerelease this and other old Shirow works?

Answer:

After initially releasing the Tank Police Dominion OVA series on domestic VHS, Central Park Media released the 1988 OVA series on domestic DVD in 1999 then again in 2003. I own the 2003 DVD release. According to old online DVD reviews and my examination of my own disc, I actually can’t determine any difference between the two DVD releases. Apart from a vague Amazon consumer review that states, “When I watched the DVD, I was disappointed… because the DVD conceals the nudity found in the original version in very uncreative ways that are very distracting from the plot. For example, objects are placed in front of the offending areas in ways that would have you beg for black bars instead.” I didn’t see any example of this in the 2003 DVD edition, as the extremely brief panning shot that includes a topless female hospital patient in the first OVA is uncensored in the 2003 DVD, and I can’t find any references to censored nudity in any other formal reviews of the 1999 DVD. According to the Anime No Editing Zone, the ending credits animation in the 1999 DVD is full screen until the non-graphic nude Puma sisters appear. Alternately, I’ve also found reviews that claim that the entire ending credits animation is windowboxed in the 1999 DVD. AnimeWorld reports of the 1999 DVD release: “The animation that originally appeared underneath the Japanese credits is shoved into a tiny box above the scrolling English credits, and even the Japanese soundtrack has the English end theme… I don’t know if their [CPM’s] 2003 re-release fixed these issues.” I can confirm from personal examination that the 2003 DVD did not “fix” these issues. In the 2003 DVD release, the complete ending credits animation is present & uncensored but windowboxed. Evidently both 1999 & 2003 DVD releases replace the original Japanese ending credits theme “Hoshi no Orgel” with an original English language song. Both DVD releases exclude the OVA 1 and OVA 3 ending credits. According to DVD Vision Japan, the DVD releases also exclude the “digest” that should begin OVA 2 and was included in the earlier domestic VHS release.

A few years ago I would have called a domestic license rescue for older Masamune Shirow anime including Patlabor, Dominion, Appleseed, and Black Magic M-66 a very remote possibility. Although still entertaining, most of these 80’s and 90’s anime distinctly reveal their age compared to slick, crisp and ultra-detailed contemporary digital-era anime productions. However, today’s domestic anime distribution scene is very different than it was merely three or four years ago. The domestic acquisition and re-release of older anime including Crying Freeman, Venus Wars, Lupin III, Fist of the North Star, Galaxy Express 999, Captain Harlock, GTO, Mazinger Z, Cutey Honey, Robot Hunter Casshan, Tekkaman Blade II, Unico, Mad Bull 34, Space Adventure Cobra, St. Seiya, Locke the Superman, Dirty Pair, and Rose of Versailles atests to the fact that a significant portion of the remaining active anime DVD and Blu-ray consumers in America are now adults and veteran anime fans with an analytical or nostalgic interest in vintage anime. Now that fewer Americans are purchasing anime DVDs, many of those who still are may be fans that fondly remember being introduced to anime in the 1990s and early 2000s with titles including Dominion and Appleseed. Furthermore, the fact that many of these older anime are single-volume DVD releases with existing translations and English dubs make them much more affordable and practical acquisitions than typical contemporary titles. Granted, titles like Black Magic M-66, Dominion, and Appleseed may now have a very limited domestic consumer audience, but these days practically every anime has a very limited domestic consumer audience for a DVD or Blu-ray release.