Leona Ozaki
Encyclopedia
Leona Ozaki is the fictional central character of Masamune Shirow
's Dominion: Tank Police
anime
and manga
series. In the first series she sports flaming red hair
with blue eyes. In the sequel series New Dominion she is shown with more auburn-colored hair and light brown eyes. She is also a Japan
ese Buddhist
who still lives with her parents and obnoxious younger brother. She bears a slight resemblance to Deunan Knute, the heroine of Shirow's Appleseed series. There is also an uncanny resemblance to another character of a completely different anime, Noa Izumi of Patlabor
.
squad leader Charles Brenten, and initially Leona herself had difficulty accepting the rather brutal tactics of the Tank Police, a feeling shared by Al, who became her partner and was also a relative newcomer to the Tank Police at the time. While chasing the criminal Buaku, Leona wrecked Brenten's personal favorite tank, the Tiger Special, causing a lot of property damage in the process, which angered Brenten royally and he tried to have her transferred to Child Welfare.
Determined to prove herself, Leona, with inspiration from Chaplain and help from Al, took the remains of Brenten's tank and rebuilt it as a mini-tank that she personally named Bonaparte. The brilliance of Bonaparte's design was proven when the other tanks were KOed by bio-plastic plates that expanded into large (penis-shaped) blockers, and the steel
exterior of Bonaparte held up in battle, highly resistant to fire and damage while also being very quick and mobile. Brenten decided to put the earlier offense behind him and accepted Leona as a member of the Tank Police, and from there she embraced the Tank Police's methods with a zeal that even Brenten found staggering, transforming herself into a hardened ūber-bitch and one of the unit's finest, most effective officers.
Another thing she embraced a bit TOO passionately was a concept Brenten taught her early on - love your tank above all else, no matter what. For Leona, Bonaparte is her pride and joy, often showering love and affection on it similar to that of a parent to a child or a pet owner. Her love for Bonaparte is so strong she absolutely freaks out if the mini-tank sustains any damage (even though it was built to take abuse), including minor scratches and dents, or if anyone should mock the tank's value or disregard any minor damage, the latter which Al also found out the hard way.
But even before joining the Tank Police, Leona had a strange affinity for metal, which made her "all tingly", often to the amusement of her then-partner, Charon Isihira (Isihara would later be strangled to death in an undercover assignment in New Dominion). Leona is perfectly capable of operating Bonaparte by herself, but she and her partner Al usually work as a team, with Al driving the tank and Leona working its cannon
and other weapons.
There have actually been two Bonapartes - the first one, which was forged from Brenten's Tiger Special, was destroyed in an encounter with Buaku's gang after they stole a super tank. Leona was devastated by the destruction of the first Bonaparte, but when Buaku and his gang escaped, the city built her a new one, with any specifications she wanted and a few additional features.
, as evidenced by her tendency to smash coffeemaker
s. She even chooses to carry an Ingram MAC-10 sub-machine gun as her side arm because of its firing rate. She also has a bad temper
and often uses brute force when dealing with criminals or obnoxious protesters that throw cans at Bonaparte, which usually gets her in trouble with the Chief. At the same time, Leona tries to keep an ear out for civilian
suffering
, such as when she decided to do a little investigation on a dangerous but popular sport called Smart-Ball after learning of all the deaths it caused.
Leona does not have much of a love life and possibly doesn't want one, since Bonaparte gets most of her affectionate attention. Because of her blind love of Bonaparte, Leona fails to see that her much calmer and more laid back partner Al has feelings for her; he even asked her out to dinner once, but they never got around to it. They're friends as well as co-workers, but Al would like to be more, despite their extremely different personalities, only Leona doesn't see that, or at least, she doesn't seem to see it most of the time. In the Manga, Leona is more receptive to Al's affections, but Bonaparte still comes first.
Still, Leona was touched when she learned that Al had fed clean oxygen
into her gas mask to keep her from dying of bacterial poisoning
and later when he took a bullet to save her from Colsman's aid Kataoka (the villains of New Dominion), which could have cost him his life. She was genuinely upset, even frightened, when she thought Al had been killed, but fortunately for both of them, he recovered. Leona once came very close to kissing Al in the garage
, but the alarm went off, ruining the moment. Only time will tell if they ever develop a deeper relationship.
Masamune Shirow
is an internationally renowned manga artist, born on November 23, 1961.Masamune Shirow is a pen name, based on a famous swordsmith, Masamune. He is best known for the manga Ghost in the Shell, which has since been turned into two theatrical anime movies, two anime TV series, an anime TV movie, and...
's Dominion: Tank Police
Dominion: Tank Police
is a two volume manga series written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. 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, the series follows a police squadron that uses tanks.Dominion has...
anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
and manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series. In the first series she sports flaming red hair
Red hair
Red hair occurs on approximately 1–2% of the human population. It occurs more frequently in people of northern or western European ancestry, and less frequently in other populations...
with blue eyes. In the sequel series New Dominion she is shown with more auburn-colored hair and light brown eyes. She is also a Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
who still lives with her parents and obnoxious younger brother. She bears a slight resemblance to Deunan Knute, the heroine of Shirow's Appleseed series. There is also an uncanny resemblance to another character of a completely different anime, Noa Izumi of Patlabor
Patlabor
Patlabor also known as , is an anime and manga franchise created by Headgear, a group consisting of director Mamoru Oshii, writer Kazunori Itō, mecha designer Yutaka Izubuchi, character designer Akemi Takada, and manga artist Masami Yūki.The popular franchise included a manga, a TV series, two OVA...
.
Tank Police
Originally Leona was part of New Port City's famed Osaka Women's Motorcycle Police Unit, but was transferred to the Tank Police for unknown reasons. As the first woman to ever join the Tank Police, Leona was met with some apprehensiveness, primarily from the overly machoMachismo
Machismo, or machoism, is a word of Spanish and Portuguese origin that describes prominently exhibited or excessive masculinity. As an attitude, machismo ranges from a personal sense of virility to a more extreme male chauvinism...
squad leader Charles Brenten, and initially Leona herself had difficulty accepting the rather brutal tactics of the Tank Police, a feeling shared by Al, who became her partner and was also a relative newcomer to the Tank Police at the time. While chasing the criminal Buaku, Leona wrecked Brenten's personal favorite tank, the Tiger Special, causing a lot of property damage in the process, which angered Brenten royally and he tried to have her transferred to Child Welfare.
Determined to prove herself, Leona, with inspiration from Chaplain and help from Al, took the remains of Brenten's tank and rebuilt it as a mini-tank that she personally named Bonaparte. The brilliance of Bonaparte's design was proven when the other tanks were KOed by bio-plastic plates that expanded into large (penis-shaped) blockers, and the steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
exterior of Bonaparte held up in battle, highly resistant to fire and damage while also being very quick and mobile. Brenten decided to put the earlier offense behind him and accepted Leona as a member of the Tank Police, and from there she embraced the Tank Police's methods with a zeal that even Brenten found staggering, transforming herself into a hardened ūber-bitch and one of the unit's finest, most effective officers.
Another thing she embraced a bit TOO passionately was a concept Brenten taught her early on - love your tank above all else, no matter what. For Leona, Bonaparte is her pride and joy, often showering love and affection on it similar to that of a parent to a child or a pet owner. Her love for Bonaparte is so strong she absolutely freaks out if the mini-tank sustains any damage (even though it was built to take abuse), including minor scratches and dents, or if anyone should mock the tank's value or disregard any minor damage, the latter which Al also found out the hard way.
But even before joining the Tank Police, Leona had a strange affinity for metal, which made her "all tingly", often to the amusement of her then-partner, Charon Isihira (Isihara would later be strangled to death in an undercover assignment in New Dominion). Leona is perfectly capable of operating Bonaparte by herself, but she and her partner Al usually work as a team, with Al driving the tank and Leona working its cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
and other weapons.
There have actually been two Bonapartes - the first one, which was forged from Brenten's Tiger Special, was destroyed in an encounter with Buaku's gang after they stole a super tank. Leona was devastated by the destruction of the first Bonaparte, but when Buaku and his gang escaped, the city built her a new one, with any specifications she wanted and a few additional features.
Characterization
Leona lacks patiencePatience
Patience is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without acting on annoyance/anger in a negative way; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. Patience is the...
, as evidenced by her tendency to smash coffeemaker
Coffeemaker
Coffeemakers or coffee machines are cooking appliances used to brew coffee without having to boil water in a separate container. While there are many different types of coffeemakers using a number of different brewing principles, in the most common devices, coffee grounds are placed in a paper or...
s. She even chooses to carry an Ingram MAC-10 sub-machine gun as her side arm because of its firing rate. She also has a bad temper
Temperament
In psychology, temperament refers to those aspects of an individual's personality, such as introversion or extroversion, that are often regarded as innate rather than learned...
and often uses brute force when dealing with criminals or obnoxious protesters that throw cans at Bonaparte, which usually gets her in trouble with the Chief. At the same time, Leona tries to keep an ear out for civilian
Civilian
A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...
suffering
Suffering
Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, is an individual's basic affective experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with harm or threat of harm. Suffering may be qualified as physical or mental. It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable. Factors of duration and...
, such as when she decided to do a little investigation on a dangerous but popular sport called Smart-Ball after learning of all the deaths it caused.
Leona does not have much of a love life and possibly doesn't want one, since Bonaparte gets most of her affectionate attention. Because of her blind love of Bonaparte, Leona fails to see that her much calmer and more laid back partner Al has feelings for her; he even asked her out to dinner once, but they never got around to it. They're friends as well as co-workers, but Al would like to be more, despite their extremely different personalities, only Leona doesn't see that, or at least, she doesn't seem to see it most of the time. In the Manga, Leona is more receptive to Al's affections, but Bonaparte still comes first.
Still, Leona was touched when she learned that Al had fed clean oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
into her gas mask to keep her from dying of bacterial poisoning
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
and later when he took a bullet to save her from Colsman's aid Kataoka (the villains of New Dominion), which could have cost him his life. She was genuinely upset, even frightened, when she thought Al had been killed, but fortunately for both of them, he recovered. Leona once came very close to kissing Al in the garage
Garage (house)
A residential garage is part of a home, or an associated building, designed or used for storing a vehicle or vehicles. In some places the term is used synonymously with "carport", though that term normally describes a structure that is not completely enclosed.- British residential garages:Those...
, but the alarm went off, ruining the moment. Only time will tell if they ever develop a deeper relationship.