Dogs: Bullets & Carnage

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Dogs
Genre Action, Drama
Manga: Dogs
Author Shirow Miwa
Publisher Flag of Japan Shueisha
Demographic Seinen
Serialized in Ultra Jump
Original run 2001
Volumes 1
Manga: Dogs: Bullets & Carnage
Author Shirow Miwa
Publisher Flag of Japan Shueisha
Demographic Seinen
Serialized in Ultra Jump
Original run 2005 – ongoing
Volumes 2

Dogs (狗-DOGS-?) is a Japanese manga series by Shirow Miwa. The manga was first published in 2001 as Dogs: Stray Dogs Howling in the Dark. In 2005, the series began serialization in the manga magazine Ultra Jump as Dogs: Bullets & Carnage, which continues the storyline. As of 2008, all adaptations remain unlicensed and no official English translations have been released.

Contents

[edit] Plot

It is sometime in the future, where a certain European city extends far underground to secret, dark levels that contain keys to the characters' pasts. The series focuses on the four main characters as they search for a way below in a dystopic world of extreme violence, genetic manipulation and other cruel scientific experiments.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Main characters

Haine Rammsteiner (ハイネ・ラムシュタイナー Haine Ramushutaina?)
An albino gunman with substantial genetic alterations and implants like the collar fused into the back of his neck, which give him extreme healing abilities allowing him to regenerate from almost any injury. It is known that as a child he murdered his younger "sister" Lily, who was also a genetic experiment, in a berserk rage. This has led to an extreme fear of women, to the point that he goes into a blind berserk rage when one gets too close to him. Usually emotionally distanced from others he has another "personality" which enjoys violence and destruction. Since the start of the story he has liberated Nill from child prostitution and developed a bond with her after the discovery that she can physically touch him without bringing on one of his rages. He often works with Badō and had no qualms about killing en mass in a hail of bullets in order to escape. Money has little importance to Haine, and he is slowly revealing the details of his childhood an underground research facility to create the ultimate human weapon. He wields a white Mauser pistol and a black Luger which are connected by a long chain at the base of the grips.


Badō Nails (バドー・ネイルズ Badō Neiruzu?)
A chain smoking freelance journalist and photographer turned gun for hire who has often gotten into humorous, but dangerous situations through work and his addiction to nicotine. He resents being referred to as "eye-patch," but is visually striking with long red hair and an eye-patch over his right eye. He has a scar where his eye should be, and a single long scar on both sides of his hands indicating a violent and possibly traumatic past. Recent chapters have revealed that Badō had an older brother whom he claims has died, but appeared to be the reason why Badō began smoking at a young age. Often seen as a foolish and cartoon-like character because he can flip between extreme elation to murderous violence in relation to the availability of cigarettes. However, his comical mood swings gloss over the otherwise serious nature of the character. He wields a pair of Mac 10 machine guns.
Naoto Fuyumine (ふゆみね なおと Fuyumine Naoto?)
Orphaned at a young age, Naoto was found suffering from amnesia after the extremely violent murder of her parents, which also resulted in an iconic X-shaped scar across the middle of her chest. She was taken in, raised and trained by a swordsman whom she believed to be her parents' murderer. He named her Naoto after someone else in his own past, but never revealed his own name to her. After his subsequent murder she discovered that her parents were killed by an assassin whom she was named after; the original Naoto. Following his death she has uncovered the name of her mentor, Fuyumine, and adopted it as her family name. It seems that after the years spent with Fuyumine she developed some affection for him and even refers to him as "father" after his murder. Since then Naoto made friends with Nill, and has been following Haine in an attempt to find more about Fuyumine's history, the first Naoto, and to have her revenge. She fights with the katana that she inherited from Fuyumine. Out of the main group of herself, Badō, and Haine, she seems to be the most gentle and least willing to kill.
She doesn't seem to get along very well with Haine and most of their time together away from fights is spent glaring at each other maliciously. This is probably due to the fact that Haine employs extemely brutal and cruel tactics during fights. Often, Badō has to ease the tension between the two. However, during confrontations with enemies she and Haine are shown to be lethally effective when working together.
Mihai (ミハイ Mihai?)
A retired assassin with a comical bad sense of direction. Despite being considerably older than the rest of the cast he retains a muscular build with scruffy facial hair and scars all over his body. Due to his years of experience as a gangster he remains calm under pressure. He has a long-standing friendship with Kiri, the owner of the local restaurant and former prostitute. Although it is unknown if they previously had sexual relations they remain firm friends. Ten years prior to the start of the story he was a hired gun for a mobster and became mentor to the boss' son, a psychologically disturbed young man named Ian. At that time Mihai was romantically involved with a prostitute named Milena, but the relationship ended when Ian grew into his teens and brutally murdered her after intercourse. During the story of Dogs, Mihai has confronted Ian and failed to protect him during an assassination attempt. He has since aided Badō escape from gangsters, and in recent chapters he is protecting the passengers of a derailed train from the advancing army of unknown assassins, while trapped in an underground tunnel.

[edit] Minor characters

Ernest Rammsteiner (ラムシュタイナー Aanesuto Ramushutaina?)
Bishop is the only priest in an old church, and has apparently known Haine for a long time. He is supposedly blind claiming he can "see" using his other senses. He has a Gothic-Lolita fetish and dresses Nill in the fashion. Despite his severe handicap, Bishop has been shown to be a swordsman of remarkable skill; having crossed swords with Freuling on even grounds and living to tell the tale. Haine once describes him as the church's "fierce guardian". His real name is Ernest Rammsteiner, and is the "lost number one" (the first Cerberus). He is another modified person with a collar like Haine's.
Nill (ニル Niru?)
A mute girl whom Haine saved from gangsters who intended to sell her into a life of prostitution. She has been genetically modified so that a small pair of feathered wings extend from her back. Notably, she is the only female Haine is comfortable around, and has not triggered a violent reaction through physical contact with him. She is very bad at sewing and is trying to learn how so she can fix Haine's and Naoto's torn, bullet hole ridden clothes.
Giovanni (ジョヴァンニ Jovaani?)
Haine's younger "brother," who appears to share Haine's extraordinary healing abilities. He likes to taunt Haine, especially concerning Lily's death, in order to induce violent rages from him. He wears a suit with bug-eye sunglasses, and sports a bowl hair cut.
Lily (リリィ Ririi?)
Haine's deceased younger "sister"; she only appears in flashbacks and so far and also appears to share Haine's berserker tendencies.
Kiri (キリ Kiri?)
The owner of Buon Viaggio, the popular local restaurant which all the characters visit. As a former prostitute she shares a past with Mihai, although their back-story has yet to be fully revealed the two remain firm friends. She sports short blonde hair, and is popular with her male staff who all appear to be smitten with her.
Milena Teslawska (ミレーナ Mirēna?)
A prostitute who was romantically involved with Mihai ten years ago. She was brutally murdered by Mihai's young charge, the gang boss' son named Ian. She only appeared in a flashback during Mihai's chapter in the original one-shot volume.
Ian (イアン Ian?)
A gang boss' son who was trained by Mihai. He killed Milena in a fit of psychotic jealousy, believing that she would take Mihai away from him.
Mimi (ミミ Mimi?)
A private detective who is a friend and confident of Badō. She introduces him to Mihai while he is fleeing from gangsters during the original one-shot volume, and can subsequently be seen in an annex story featuring Badō.
Fuyumine (冬峰 Fuyumine?)
An older gentleman who displayed a military background. He took in Naoto while while she was traumatised from the murder of her parents. He gave her the name Naoto and taught her how to wield a blade in battle.


Magato (曲刀 Magato?)
A psychotic young man who ties into Naoto's past. He was also taken in and trained by her mentor Fuyumine, but openly displayed an aggressive attitude. He attempted to rape Naoto, but was stopped by Fuyumine who he later killed. He was bested in a fight by Naoto and has not been seen since. Apparently he was taken in under similar circumstances as Naoto.
Luki & Noki (ルキ&ノキ Ruki & Noki?)
Haine and Giovanni's psychotic younger twin "sisters". Noted for their small and cute appearance, they wear matching pink and black hooded dresses that sport bunny ears and cotton-tails, with striped leggings. They treat life and killing as mere games, even telling a former mob boss during the Hardcore Twins story that they were playing tag with him and they were "it" (they really were chasing him with their weapons ready for the bounty on his head). Luki (dressed mostly in black) uses a large knife while throwing smaller knives, where Noki (dressed mostly in pink) uses a machine gun. Both are very agile and acrobatic, hiding their weapons in oversized sleeves. They both have heterochromia, but in a reverse form of each other.
Campanella Freuling (カンパネルラ フリューリング Kanpanerura Furyuringu?)
A woman who works for Einstellsehn and controls her small army consisting entirely of genetic experiments. She has her own set of motives, one of them supposedly being revenge.
Angelica Einstellsehn (アンジェリカ・アインシュテルゼン Anjerika Ainshuteruzen?)
Haine's "mother," who conducted experiments on him, Lily, Giovanni and many other unknown children. Giovanni mentions to Haine that she considers Haine her favorite.
Zack and Baran
Though they've only been shown as background characters for most of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage, they appeared in the original Dogs miniseries as bodyguards for a mafia don. After Badō went on a rampage that left them jobless, they decided to work at Kiri's restaurant.

[edit] Adaptations

[edit] Main story

  • Dogs: Bullets & Carnage: The ongoing storyline that continues the adventures of the four main characters.

[edit] One-shots

  • Dogs: Stray Dogs Howling in the Dark: The prequel to Dogs: Bullets & Carnage and the first Dogs volume introduces the four main characters and the majority of the support characters in four chapters that are mostly independent of each other.
  • Dogs: Hardcore Twins: This short one-shot chapter introduces Luki and Noki, as they are sent out to capture a former local gang-boss.
  • MMMWorks Annex Featuring Badō Nails: A brief one-shot chapter minorly detailing a brief glimpse into Badō's past.

[edit] Dogs Drama CD

The audio presentation of the original Dogs volume, introducing the main characters. It was released in 2007.

The Japanese voice cast is as follows:

[edit] External links