Review - Desert Punk Complete Series
Reviewed by Richard Brownell on 8.17.2009.
Score: 6/10
Note: This review was done using the series as available on Netflix streaming through Xbox 360.
Desert Punk is a show about a post-apocalyptic world made up almost solely of desert. The few people that remain live in sparse settlements, and water is a hot commodity. The government has only loose control over its people so justice is not always served. Many odd jobs abound and mercenaries of the Handyman Guild are in demand.
Kanta Mizuno is one said mercenary and is also known as "Desert Punk." He's earned that name through thorough self-advertisement, but also through his skills, equipment, and incredible luck. He's a little guy, short, ugly, and only 17 years old. But he always finishes the jobs he takes. He knows how to get around the desert world and how to deal with enemies that come in his way.
He's got an interesting array of equipment. He uses a modified Winchester Model 1897 shotgun for most of his shooting. But it's his extra goodies that really make the action shine. He's got a special rocket powered winch that he uses to get around all the abandoned buildings that latter the landscape. From his enemies' perspectives he is able to fly, but Kanta is simply using coordinated Spider-Man-esque tactics. On top of that, he always plans his encounters ahead, leaving explosives and decoy Desert Punk balloons around to win each battle. It's revealed that he prepares several contingency plans for every job he takes.
Unfortunately, athough Kanta can sometimes be a cool character and his action is always entertaining, he's also one of the show's problems. He's the anti-hero and it's difficult to sell that kind of personality to the audience though rewarding when done right. The show is slightly dark in tone and contains some serious moments, but Kanta ruins them with his brash personality and sense of humor. I'm all for stupid humor (Dumb and Dumber is one of my favorite comedies), but it just doesn't work that well here. And with comments about how much he wants to get laid all the time, one arc of the story really comes into question: A girl he lusts after in the show is his prisoner. She's even passed out. He could do whatever he wants with her for the rest of their lives. But Desert Punk isn't a hentai; it aired on TV. So instead, we just get an awkward storyline where she has to escape and Kanta gets nothing. And this isn't the only time he has a hot girl in his command and doesn't act on it. If he wasn't such a weasel the whole show, I might think that the intention was to show that underneath his brash exterior, he's actually a good person. But this show is far too shallow for something like that.
What could arguably be considered the real main character is introduced four episodes in. Kosuna is a 14-year-old girl who is quite a trickster. She's completely inexperienced and totally useless when introduced, but she becomes Kanta's apprentice quickly by showing him a picture of her supposed mother, another buxom babe. Kanta is convinced she'll grow up to look like that and be his sex slave so agrees to train her. Like I said, he doesn't have many redeeming qualities.
Kosuna is a much more interesting character than Kanta and much of the show actually rides on her. While Kanta whines, complains, is a jerk to everybody, and spends his days wishing he was having sex, Kosuna can actually be enjoying to watch. She's not the only one either. There are other Handyman mercenaries called the Machine Gun Brothers that show up in a few episodes. There's Kanta's male rival, Rain Spider. And Kanta's female rival, Junko. All of them provide for interesting episodes, but aside from maybe the Machine Gun brothers, most of the other characters are very flat.
Desert Punk is a classic example of a show that can't decide what it wants to be. It's got a dark setting with occasional dark humor. But then it also has ridiculous characters like Kanta that throw all the seriousness out of the window. It just can't decide whether it wants to be a childish sex humor show or a serious take on a post-apocalyptic world.
And what really sets in the stone Desert Punk's indecisiveness is what happens in the final several episodes. Kanta leaves the show. A single season show typically doesn't have the main character leave the show but Desert Punk does that. Kosuna becomes the main character. It's actually a welcome change. The latter half of the show takes on a more serious tone and losing Kanta helps move that along. The only problem is that the story arc at the end completely falls flat. It's premise is ridiculous and it just doesn't deliver.
Desert Punk left me wishing it had been done right. I haven't read the manga so I can't comment on whether the source material does it right. But Desert Punk could have been much higher quality. The setting works. The cool action sequences and the Desert Punk character works. Gonzo's animation quality works for much of the show. But Kanta himself doesn't work and the lame sexual humor doesn't work. If Desert Punk had stayed serious with dark humor sprinkled throughout, it would have been a good show. Instead, it comes across as average, or more accurately a series of highs and lows that will leave you wanting to watch another show to cleanse your palate.
