Dogs (manga)

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The dog inside me will not die...

DOGS is set in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic setting where it is always winter. Genetic manipulation exists in various forms, from creating attractive child prostitutes to making bizarre weapons. The organisation running the underground world seems to be the cause of a lot of violence and corruption... Including certain events in the main characters' pasts. The trouble is, those characters don't have the whole story. Either they're trying to find who exactly is behind something, or killed X person, or just what got Y involved in it all. Familial angst is prevalent, as are people who are a lot more involved than they first seem. But whatever their reasons or pasts, they're in it together.

It started off with one volume, simply titled DOGS, which introduced the four main characters and gave a little backstory for some of them. DOGS: Hardcore Twins introduced Luki and Noki, two young girls who treat killing as a game. More recently, DOGS: Bullets & Carnage started the main plot aspect, revealing more about the characters, introducing new ones, and dishing it all out with heaps of action.

There's also an OVA entitled DOGS: Stray Dogs Howling In The Dark, which is based on the original manga.

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DOGS Bullets and Carnage provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents: Angelica Einstellsehn to the kids with Cerberus spines, though technically she's not their actual mother. She tells them to kill in order to gain her love.
• Action Girl: Naoto and the Twins.
• Animal Motifs: Constant references to being 'stray dogs' on the edges of society.
• Anti Heroes
• Arm Cannon: Noki.
• Art Evolution: Given the several-year gap between the original DOGS and DOGS: Bullets & Carnage, it's not much of a surprise.
• Ax Crazy: All of the villains, some of the heroes too.
• Backstory
• Badass: You have to be one just to survive.
  • Badass Abnormal: Heine, Giovanni, Luki, Noki, Bishop.
  • Badass Boast: Freuling boasts that no one who's ever seen her has lived to tell the tale, which is pretty much true. But it's only on a technicality. Ernest Rammsteiner - that is, Bishop, the blind priest - fights her and lives.
  • Badass Longcoat
  • Badass Normal: Badou, Naoto, and Mihai in particular. Also, Magato.
  • Little Miss Badass: Luki and Noki.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: Averted hard, at least with the women, who have visible nipples and (in the prequel manga) lower parts too. It's understandable why no naked men have been drawn yet.
• Berserk Button: Depriving Badou of cigarettes. Or for Heine, being touched by females. And if for some reason you find yourself holding Heine's gun, don't fire it.
• The Berserker: Heine & Badou in combat.
• Big Bad: Part of the plot is trying to figure out just who this is. Einsturzen seems to be a good candidate
• Big Brother Instinct: Heine towards Nill.
• Bio Augmentation
• Blind Seer: Bishop
• Blond Brunette Redhead: Heine, Mihai, Naoto and Badou.
• Bob Haircut: Naoto, Lily, Luki and Noki.
• Broken Bird: Naoto.
• Butt Monkey: Badou.
• Cain and Abel: Heine and Giovanni.
• Cheerful Child: Luki and Noki, subverted in that they go about hunting people down, fighting, and killing while treating it all like a fun game.
• Cloning Blues: Possibly Naoto.
• Cool Old Guy: Mihai.
• Cool Shades: Giovanni
• Crapsack World: Definitely...
• Creepy Twins: Luki and Noki.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Badou.
• Cute Mute: Nill.
• Dark Action Girl: Freuling.
• Dark and Troubled Past
• Dead Little Sister: Heine with Lily. For Badou, it's a dead older brother, except that brother might not actually be dead...
• Designer Babies: Heine, Lily, Giovanni and most others with a Cerberus spine.
• Dissonant Serenity: Unless there's a woman around or someone's holding his gun, Heine is disturbingly calm while mowing down mooks.
• Does Not Like Women: Heine has some issues regarding women.
  • The last woman (Einsturzen) Heine really trusted turned him into a monster, the last woman (Lily) he held close he ended up ripping to pieces. Despite knowing logically that he has a lot less to fear from women than most men and other women do, Heine has every right to be afraid.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: At one point, Heine ends up straddling Naoto's stomach while her sword is impaling him through the stomach. He even holds her face in his hands while it's happening.
• Dynamic Entry: Mihai does this once.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Badou shows up very briefly (and even gets a line) in Mihai's intro chapter. Luki and Noki show up a few pages later (though they look Off-Model compared to later). Haine is first mentioned briefly in Badou's intro chapter.
  • In the equivalent OVA episode of Badou's intro chapter, you get an actual visual shot of a shirtless Haine.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Naoto, Freuling and Magato.
• Enemy Within: Heine. In his mind, he and the "thing" sit down and have a nice chat over lunch in chapter 55.
• Enfante Terrible: Luki and Noki.
• Everybody's Dead, Dave: Poor Heine and Giovanni.
• Evil Albino: Sort of. See Enemy Within.
• Eyepatch of Power: Badou.
• Eyes of Gold: Luki and Noki turn out to have Cerberus Spines, though other characters with them have other eye colors.
• Fauxlosophic Narration: Badou does this at the beginning of his intro chapter, then lampshades it.
• Flash Back
  • Flashback Nightmare: Heine gets something like this when females touch him.
  • Whole-Episode Flashback
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Badou is sanguine, Heine is choleric, Naoto is melancholic and Mihai is phlegmatic.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Heine and Naoto have a moment of this.
• Giggling Villain: Luki and Noki.
• Girl With Psycho Weapon: Luki and Noki.
• Gratuitous English: "Fuck up, gentlemen!" stands out, though there are other examples.
• Grotesque Cute: You guessed it, Luki and Noki.
• Guns Akimbo: Badou and Haine.
• Gunslinger: Badou guns down tons of people and never seems to get hit. On one occasion, he does this with his arms literally tied behind his back.
• Guns vs. Swords: Heine versus Magato.
• Half-Human Hybrid, including Petting Zoo People
• Heartwarming Orphan: Nill, namely towards Heine.
• Heroic Albino: Heine, though he's more of an Anti-Hero.
• Heroic Neutral: Most of the protagonists, when they're not being bodyguards or info brokers and the like.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: Badou and Haine.
  • "I'm only going to say this once: our relationship isn't like that."
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Takahiro Sakurai, who voices Heine Rammsteiner in the OVAs, also voices Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, another spiky-haired anti-social and psychologically damaged Super Soldier with a Dark and Troubled Past. The fact that they both wear sleeveless black longcoats while kicking ass is a bonus.
• Hidden Depths
• Hidden Eyes
• Hive Mind: Angelika Einsturzen seems to be a group of four similar looking blonde women.
• Hot Chick in A Badass Suit: Freuling.
• Hot Chick With a Sword: Naoto and Freuling.
• Impossibly Cool Clothes
• Improbable Weapon User: Haine's guns aren't improbable on their own, but they're connected with a chain, which he uses to strangle someone at one point. Luki's giant claw may also count.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Naoto and Freuling use them.
• Kick the Dog: When Einsturzen comes to the surface and starts just verbally sniping at Miss Liza and her gang and referring to them as cattle. In their own establishment.
• Knife Nut: Luki, Naoto and Magato.
• Limited Wardrobe: Only for some characters.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Sibling, in this case. Pretty much anyone who reveals to Haine that they have a Cerberus spine.
• The Man Behind the Man
• Mark of the Beast: Not really a marking, per se, but everyone with a Cerberus spine has a metal collar attached to their neck.
• Miniature Senior Citizens: Granny Liza.
• Mismatched Eyes: Luki and Noki, in reverse of each other.
• Nigh Invulnerability: Anyone with a Cerberus spine, who have Healing Factor to the extent of being practically Immune to Bullets.
• Oddly Named Sequel
• Only a Flesh Wound: Badass Normal Mihai not only keeps walking, but also fighting with a few swords stuck through his arms.
• Only Mostly Dead: Heine gets shot out of a window at one point, seems dead, then jerks back upright a moment later.
• Orphanage of Fear: The kindergarten where all the people with Cerberus spines start out.
• OVA: DOGS: Stray dogs howling in the dark animates the four short stories from the prequel manga. See the description above.
• Parental Abandonment: Naoto's parents were murdered, Badou's parents are never mentioned, and if Haine (or anyone else with a Cerberus spine) has real parents, they're never brought up.
  • Heine and the other experiments DON'T have parents.
• Perky Female Minion: Luki and Noki
• Power Trio: Badou, Haine, and Naoto.
• Recurring Extra: Zack and Baran.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Heine may be a protagonist, but anyone he goes against really should pay attention to this.
• Redheaded Hero: Badou.
• The Reveal
• Scars Are Forever: Badou has scars on both his right hand and right eye (underneath the eyepatch). These are implied to have something to do with his older brother, but little more than a very brief, bloody flashback has been shown so far to explain the wounds.
• Schizo-Tech
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Naoto's always been pretty but the clothes that Miss Liza picked out for her look outstanding on her. It annoys Heine.
• Ship Tease: Quite a bit between Heine and Naoto as the series progresses. These two links are some of the high points (spoiler warning).
• Shirtless Scene
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Heine volunteers to become the "Master" of his group in the Organization to save his friends. Unfortunately, by succeeding at it, he renders his group moot and Einsturzen makes them kill each other.
• Shower of Angst
• Slasher Smile
• Small Girl, Big Gun: Noki.
• Smoking Is Cool: Badou smokes like a chimney or three - whenever his bad luck doesn't keep him from doing it.
• Sociopathic Hero: Heine. Badou has his moments, too.
• Spell My Name With an "S": Haine or Heine? Mihai or Michai? The latter ones are the official spellings ("Heine Rammsteiner" is also obviously a German name), but probably due to the scanlation, most people use the former ones.
  • Einstellsehn or Einsturzen?
• Super-Deformed
• Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Freuling
• Team Shot
• Technicolor Eyes: Luki and Noki
• Theme Naming: Heine Rammsteiner and Prof Einsturzen are named after German bands (Rammstein and Einsturzende Neubauten, respectively).
  • And then there's Badou Nails, named for Nine Inch Nails.
• Theme Twin Naming: Luki and Noki
• Token Mini-Moe: Nill, Luki, and Noki.
• Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Naoto
• Trademark Favorite Food: Luki and Noki with spaghetti from Buon Viaggio.
• Twin Banter: Luki and Noki, especially when they are about to get into a fight with someone else.
• Tyke Bomb: Luki and Noki again and really anyone with a Cerberus spine implanted in them, at least while they're young.
• The Unfavorite: Giovanni seems to be this to his allies, as they seem to prefer Heine, who ran away.
• Villain Episode: DOGS: Hardcore Twins
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Most characters have fairly realistic hair colors, but Luki and Noki's hair is green.
• You Killed My Father: Naoto, but with both her parents. Doubly subverted, as the man she originally believed to be her parents' killer got killed by Magato before she could do it, and then it turned out that man wasn't the one who did it after all. She's now looking for their true killer.
  • Subverted again when we learn they were not her parents
• Weirdness Magnet: Badou is something like this.
• White-Haired Pretty Boy: Haine.
• Winged Humanoid: Nill
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity