Desert Punk

JJR1971 Jun 18, 2011

9.5

Oh my gawd, I freakin' LOVE this show...for me one of the best, funniest, raunchiest action/comedy Anime I've ever seen...Loved it so much I went out and bought the boxed set later.  (I usually aways do rental first before I commit to a purchase). Who knew a post-apocalyptic world filled with death and destruction could be so much fun? I admit, at first, I thought the Desert Punk costume looked kind of dumb, and kept away from this title for at least a year.  Then I happened to watch a trailer for it on a different DVD and said, well, maybe I should give volume 1 a chance.  I'm so glad I did. The story is so interesting, funny, wise-cracking and action-packed, I was hooked from the very first epsiode.  If you love roguish heroes like Malcom Reynolds of FIREFLY and SERENITY, you'll potentially LOVE Desert Punk. I won't deny it, this show is definitely aimed at men. The typical female viewer will probably be turned off or slightly offended by this show.  The main character is an unapologetic letch who likes big boobs. The kind of woman who might like this show...?  Probably someone with tatoos and piercing who isn't afraid to belch in front of the guys, the kind of girl you mostly think of as "one of the guys"... Luci Christian voices the main character's sidekick, a tween girl named Asuna.  One thing this show does well is character development.  Both the main character and Asuna grow and change as the show progresses.  The show does a good piquing the viewers interest and keeping them coming back for more, episode to episode.  There's lots of gripping action, but also plenty of fanservice and hilarity thrown in between.  

ThatAnimeSnob May 10, 2012

4

This is a partly action, partly comedy series around a powerful and very horny mercenary named Sunabouzu. It keeps flipping between interesting and funny for awhile until eventually it ends up being repetitive and boring. Animated by the most shitty studio GONZO and directed by a nobody who made only failures. There is very little context in all this mess, so I never expected much. And indeed I didn’t.Visually speaking, most of the sceneries are deserts and the characters are drawn rather simplistic. The general lack of variety and details may eventually become tiresome because of that. There is also a rather high amount of fan service going on at points, as the lead is a horny monster. There are also lots of fighting scenes with rather interesting strategy around camouflage and ambush in the midst of sand dunes and city ruins. But they all follow pretty much the same pattern and again they end up becoming tiresome after awhile. Acoustically speaking, the series has absolutely nothing to show. The music score is forgettable and the characters may sound lively but that is not something to give too much praise as most of what they say is lame puns or the same old stuff about getting food and money and boobs. The story is wasted potential as it has a rather interesting setting and a rather colorful lead and does very little with both. So ok, the world became a desert and the hero wants to create a nice place for him while trying to grab as many boobs as possible. How did all that play out in a full season show? Almost nothing of importance happens plot-wise, up until the finale which tries to win your final impressions. But no, it ain’t enough to be considered as anything much, especially when most of it is spent on ecchi comedy or repetitive spars in the desert.The characters are definitely a colorful bunch and I guess when the show was originally made felt a bit more unorthodox and uncommon than they do today. They are all selfish, greedy and horny and before the ecchi plague of the late 2000’s began, that meant a lot more to care about. But other than that, they are just occasionally funny and occasionally cool without ever being special or memorable. In fact, I only remember three of them, the hero for being the… hero, his loli assistant who repeats the word sensei a million times and the booby lady he keeps chasing around. Sure, it was funny to see them being greedy/horny bastards for awhile but the general lack of story development and the repetitive sceneries and battle strategies eventually bored me before the first half of the show was over. There is not much replay value here and even your enjoyment gradually drops because of the stale formula.The Mad Max movies are more enjoyable for having car chases in a desert world. Hokuto no Ken is more enjoyable for having martial arts in desert world. Road Runner is more enjoyable because each episode only lasts 15 minutes. This show should have either last half the episodes or at least pack more plot and variety in battles and sceneries.

flyingmongoose Feb 25, 2014

10

When ‘Desert Punk’ was first shown to me I was unsure about how I would feel about it. Surprisingly, I was blown away. With the story set in a desert wasteland, after what people believe to be mankind’s undoing, people who live in this hellish environment must do what they can to survive. Take all rules and social boundaries you have today and throw them in the trash, they mean nothing in this Hell known as The Great Kanto Desert. Bandits, slave trading, murder for a quick buck and a whole lot more of despicable behaviour all bundled into this action-comedy of an anime. With writing geared towards my demographic of rude, selfish and perverted 20 year olds, it spares no expense getting across the point that swearing children (and swearing at children), objectifying women and killing for money makes scum like me laugh.