Bounty Dog

Bounty Dog
バウンティ・ドッグ
Original video animation
Directed by	Hiroshi Negishi
Written by	Mayori Sekijima
Music by	Sho Goshima
Studio	J.C. Staff & Animate Film
Licensed by	NA: Manga Entertainment
Released	October 1, 1994 – November 1, 1994
Runtime	30 minutes
Episodes	2

Bounty Dog is a 1994 Japanese science fiction original video animation produced by J.C. Staff. The story takes place in the future, when humanity has colonized the moon. It has various cyberpunk elements, such as robotic artificial limbs, sinister corporations, memory uploading, and advanced cloning.

Plot

In the future, mankind has colonized the bleak expanses of the moon. Cities now stand proudly where there was once only desolation and emptiness. But there are alien forces that do not want mankind to succeed and only one man can stop them: Yoshiyuki Otomo. He is a member of the Bounty Dog Investigation Unit, a high-tech cybernetic mercenary team.

The first episode introduces the setting and characters. Departing from Earth, Yoshiyuki Otomo and two other members of the Bounty Dogs travel on a commercial flight to a lunar colony. The colony is a city under a pressurized clear dome. Their objective is to gather information about a militarized mining company called Constans Operations, which they suspect of developing a powerful weapon. He meets a woman who looks almost identical his lover, Yayoi, who died on Earth a year prior. The mysterious woman explains that her name is Ines and acts erratically. Two men arrive and shoot her with tranquilizer darts. He fends off the men and flees carrying her. Once she recovers, she vanishes. He remembers Yayoi's dying words, which implied she would somehow meet him on the moon. His cybernetic arm converses with him, as it contains Yayoi's memories and DNA.

Meanwhile, his teammates have also seen Ines, standing outside the dome of the lunar base, where no human should be able to survive. The team infiltrates Constans Operations to study "Project Kaguya." On the way, they see Ines yet again on the side of the road and surrounded by armed soldiers, who are working for Constans. Against orders, he rescues her in a mecha-like high-mobility vehicle called the Manslave. They fight the soldiers and team is captured. Ines explains that she is a clone of an alien being called the Sleeper, which Constans is studying. Again, she vanishes. The Sleeper emits a wave of energy and, in the resulting chaos, he is injured and captured.

In the second episode, Yoshiyuki is awakened in prison by Yayoi's voice coming from his cybernetic arm. Two more clones of the Sleeper have arrived, steal the module from his arm that contains Yayoi's DNA, and prepare to kill him. The Sleeper emits a beam of energy that punctures the dome over the city, exposing it to the vacuum of space. While prison is evacuated, the Bounty Dogs kill the evil clones and escape with Ines. As the situation on the base deteriorates, Ines explains that the Sleeper wanted the DNA to reverse genetic experiments done on it by Constans. The Sleeper has been studying humanity from inside the moon for 180,00 years, but now intends to destroy it in retaliation for its treatment.

The team travels deep into the moon to find the Sleeper, but more clones appear and fight them. Ines is mortally wounded saving Yoshiyuki. Before she dies, she tells him how to kill the Sleeper. He does so, saving humanity, but losing his final connection to Yayoi. Alive, but with many unanswered questions, the Bounty Dogs join the evacuation to Earth.

External links

• Bounty Dog (OVA) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia