Dominion

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Because MAL does not have a separate page for both of the Dominion manga (which are vastly different, by the way), I'm going to attempt to write this review to suit both of them.

The original Dominion has got to be the lightest read I've ever bought, Shirow-wise anyway. It was funny, had decent artwork, and had more tanks than you could shake a pistol at. Released in 1986, this is his third work, and one of the easiest ways to get someone at least interested in Shirow. There's no huge glossary you have to memorize, no notes to take or side stories to follow. ... It's just a straight cop and robber case, and all the wackiness that ensues in between. Some of the characters seem to pop up in other manga of his too, Crolis and Buaku to be precise. The art isn't his best, I'll admit, but it's still decent.

Now No More Noise, which was released in 97 on our shores, is much better. While it doesn't include some of the characters from the original, mainly Al, it does bring a whole new squad and a few unexpected members to the team. The art is vastly improved, since by that time he had gained much more experience, and some of the color sections (there aren't near as many as I'd like), are very pleasing to the eye. The story focuses on yet another crazy criminal, but this outing has a lot more going on. The quirky characters in Leona's squad provide a few laughs and keep the ball rolling, not that it ever really slows down. It's more action packed and easily dominates over the original in almost every aspect of its creation.

Compared to Shirow's other works like Appleseed, Dominion is a much quainter, smoother read. It is closer to a comedy gag manga than a real serious philosophical investigation like many of his other works. However, he doesn't miss the opportunity to still investigate some pretty interesting ideas, both conceptually and artistically. Shirow's artwork is particularly clean in Dominion, which works especailly well with the equally 'clean' (ironically, the world being not 'clean' at all) story. However, that strength is also a weakness, as despite the interesting concepts explored, Dominion doesn't offer the depth of Ghost in the Shell or Appleseed, and there is much ... less content here to reread. That works for what is essentially a one-shot, and perhaps the following volume expands upon the universe in significant ways. This is still a complete work in itself, and I don't feel you really CAN do much more with Dominion, unlike GitS or Appleseed.