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In a post-apocalyptic world, a pint-sized, horny, teenaged bounty hunter divides his time between chasing marks through the Kanto desert and chasing women. His two goals in life are to get laid and become the best bounty hunter in the desert. He has shamelessly abandoned all forms of morality, and is not above selling children into slavery if it will make him a quick buck. One would think this a typical "warrior of the waste" type of anime, but Desert Punk treats the material with gleeful irreverance.

Kanta has absolutely no redeeming characteristics, unless you count his extraordinary repetoire of euphemisms for female breasts, and yet in this anime, I found myself rooting for him anyway. While I was laughing away at the rude jokes (it really is in the toilet), I kept thinking that Kanta would somehow prove that he wasn't a complete waste of oxygen. Even anti-heros have a value system, right?

In the second half of the show, Kanta takes on an apprentice, Kosuna. He accepts her mainly because he thinks she would develop into a woman with a nice rack and an unabiding love for him. With her arrival, the writers give us a measuring stick to judge the level of Kanta's depravity. Kosuna strives to better herself; Kanta seeks to fill his pockets. Kosuna is loyal to her master; Kanta might leave Kosuna behind without a second thought. Kosuna struggles to decide for herself what is right and what is wrong; Kanta's applies the label of "wrong" to anyone and anything that interferes with his own desires.

In the end, both Kosuna and Kanta are true to themselves, and the result is a dark ending that I found to be vague and inconsistent. The poorly constructed ending, however, did not diminish my enjoyment of the anime. This story is more tied up in the journey than the ending, and I laughed till my sides hurt most of the way. If you can tolerate crude, lewd, and rude humor, give Desert Punk a try.

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