open/close all folders
Kanta Mizuno (Desert Punk)
Kanta Mizuno (aka Desert Punk/Sunabozu)
Voiced by: Chihiro Suzuki (JP), Eric Vale (EN)
The initial protagonist of the series. Kanta Mizuno is a "handyman", a do-it-all mercenary who accepts all kinds of contracts from finding kidnapped people to delivering packages. He's a lecherous young man who's narcissistic, greedy, selfish and perverted, who operates on his own and only for his own interests. To the public, Mizuno is known as "Sunabozu" or the "Desert Punk", having accumulated some renown for being a cunning fighter.
- All Men Are Perverts: Kanta's one weakness in his lustfulness, notably for women with large breasts. He's at best constantly distracted by them, but other women can actually lead him by the nose just with their breasts.
- Anti-Hero: Oh yes, and then he becomes a full-on villain.
- Body Double: Punk often uses balloon decoys that look like him to throw his foes off.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Kanta is a rude, arrogant, perverted and overconfident handyman who despite his self-proclaimed professionalism acts like a thug with a badge. Nonetheless, he has a stellar job record.
- Crazy-Prepared: Kanta's one brilliant trait is his habit of accumulating gadgets that may, and do come in handy when he's in a pinch and his extreme adaptability thanks to his years of mercenary work. He mainly uses his winch and numerous bombs and smokescreens for when he's cornered, but has also used sleeping gas against big muscled thugs who've cornered him up close, an electronic scope to shoot his rifle around corners when shot at in open space, has rigged his own backpack with bombs in case it was stolen, etc... And he notably prepared all that despite his overconfidence.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Kanta doesn't comprehend the idea that someone would be willing to help someone else out of the goodness of their heart.
- The Cynic: And HOW! Being born and raised in the great Kanto desert, Kanta is convinced that only a dog eat dog society can work. He always expects the worst from people, and when an altruistic person comes around, he assumes they're idiots or are trying to trick him (which actually comes up several times). When an idealistic faction of men tells him they plan on using old technology to turn the Great Kanto Desert into a paradise again, Kanta is so against it he decides to join an opposing government.
- Face–Heel Turn: Kanta quickly becomes an antagonist by the end of the anime, and in the middle of the manga, he turns his back on the South Oasis progressive faction to sell his talent to the West Oasis.
- Good Hurts Evil: Being a ruthless cynical bastard with an absolute belief in a dog-eat-dog world, he despises Stryker so much for his virtuous idealism and altruism that just being around Stryker makes him literally sick.
- The Hedonist: He prioritizes joy for himself, even if it's at the expense of others.
- Hypocrite: Often criticizes Kosuna for dreaming of delusions, when he's no better.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk:
- One good illustration is that episodes 15 and 16 open with a flashback that at first seems like Kanta was a childhood friend of the Machine Gun Brothers and Natsuko, but the end of episode 16 shows the reality- young punk bullying the brothers into stealing for him and sexually harassing Natsuko.
- A second example. Later on, he sustains a head wound that causes him to be a much better person. Turns out hes just using it as an excuse to raise people's opinion of him and his social standing so he can get a good job eventually and relax. He's still exactly the same as he was before inside.
- Kick the Dog: Lots and lots of times. And he enjoys every moment of it.
- Lack of Empathy: Kanta cares nothing but money, boobs and staying alive to obtain the two.
- Manipulative Bastard: Very much so. He relies on skill and daring wit to get his way and it's worked well enough for him to become The Dreaded to many across the Kanto Desert.
- Narcissist: Kanta is always all about Kanta, and he sees everyone else as nothing more than tools to further his goals. After his Face–Heel Turn, he swan-dives into full-blown sociopathy.
- Nominal Hero: Kanta has no real redeeming moral qualities and doesn't care about anything except money, boobs and staying alive. However, much of his work ends up being vaguely heroic because of the jobs he's assigned tend to be things like "Take out this gang terrorizing our town."
- Pintsized Powerhouse: He's a very short guy who is still capable of wielding a high-caliber shotgun with ease, and even without it he can pretty easily beat the crap out of most people.
- Red Baron: He is occasionally referred to as "the Demon of the Desert".
- Rogue Protagonist: He is the protagonist of the series or saga, and later on he becomes the antagonist.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: His favorite firearm. One gunsmith even lampshades it.
- The Sociopath: Even before his Face–Heel Turn, he was a dangerous narcissistic bastard. After that, he's become devoted to dog-kicking.
- The Social Darwinist: He believes in a dog-eat-dog world where only the worst and most devious survive and the rest die off. This contributes to his decision to join the corrupt Oasis Government, as he agrees with their policy of providing bare necessities and leaving people to fend for themselves or die and despises the We Help the Helpless world the Resistance wants to create.
- Stern Teacher: To Kosuna. He does punish her only when she fails, is not above a few words of praise when she does do good, and is generally in far better terms with her than with other people. Except Junko.
- The Unfettered: This is why he is so effective. He cares for nothing and no one but his own agenda, and will turn on anyone at a moment's notice to get what he wants.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Bordering on Villain Protagonist quite often.
- Villain Protagonist: He becomes a villain later on in the series, especially after his Face–Heel Turn. Though by that point he's not really the protagonist.
- Visionary Villain: In chapter 129, Kanta explains that he wants "brighter future" for humanity, and build a society where people wouldn't depend on relics from the past era anymore. Whether he's sincere remains to be seen, however.
- Young Gun: Somewhat. Kanta is only 17 at the beginning of the story but he's already built a reputation for himself as a fearsome mercenary.
Junko Asagiri
Junko Asagiri
Voiced by: Tomoko Kotani (JP), Stephanie Young (EN)
Kanta's Lust Object, a fact that she abuses to no end.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Pretty much every male character is enamored with Junko's gargantuan breasts.
- Face–Heel Turn: She becomes a villain later on in the series as with Kanta.
- I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: Uses her looks to get others do to what she wants.
- Ms. Fanservice: She invokes this to get other mercenaries to do her job for her.
- Nominal Hero: She's just as amoral as Kanta, only she's not considered a villain because her job is taking out people who tend to be worse. Much like Kanta, she ultimately pulls a Face–Heel Turn.
Taiko Koizumi
Taiko Koizumi (AKA Kosuna)
Voiced by: Chiwa Saitō (JP), Luci Christian (EN)
Kanta's young apprentice.
- Anti-Hero: Just like her master. She may be slightly less callous that him though.
- Badass Adorable: Somewhat, although less by personality than by size and age.
- Breakout Character: From the 13th volume of the manga on, she (as an adult) is the protagonist.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Oh yes. Not above calling out her master on things or insulting people they beat up.
- Closer to Earth: Somewhat, due to not being lustful and greedy like her master.
- Corrupt the Cutie: Was notably more idealistic before being taken up as Kanta's apprentice.
- Generation Xerox: Becomes just as cunning and just as mean as Kanta. Then takes his place as the new Desert Punk.
- Genki Girl/Plucky Girl: Fits these, but is kind of a darker take on the idea since her goal is to be a badass bounty hunter, not a "hero of justice".
- Girl Friday: Toward Kanta, as well as her previous mentor.
- Hero-Worshipper: She acts this way to Natsuko so hard she comes off as having a crush on her. She sometimes acts this way to Kanta, when he can go five minutes without disgusting her.
- I Just Want to Be Badass: Which arguably succeeded.
- Small Girl, Big Gun: Defied. She keeps a rather small submachine gun and a grenade launcher because she hasn't the strength and size to get something bigger.
- Teen Genius: Sometimes shows remarkable intelligence.
- The Social Darwinist: Seems like hanging with Kanta did have some effect on this.
- Training from Hell: Kanta isn't exactly nice to her, but nobody doubts Kosuna Tooka Level In Badass under him.
Rain Spider / Amagumo
Rain Spider/Amagumo
Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (JP), Kenny Green (EN)
- Lovable Coward: His habit of running away in the middle of battle. Besides it being presented humorously, he tends to just as unexpectedly come back as The Cavalry and save the day.
- Nominal Hero: Although since he's usually against Kanta (until the last arc of the anime), he may be more of a Anti-Villain.
The Machine Gun Brothers (Fuyo, Haru, and Akio)
The Machine Gun Brothers (Fuyuo/Fuyo, Haruo/Haru, Akio)
Voiced by (Fuyuo): Jirou Saitou (JP), Jeremy Inman (EN)
(Haruo): Yasuhiro Takato (JP), Mike McFarland (EN)
(Akio): Otoya Kawano (JP), Justin Cook (EN)
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Unlike Kanta, they seem to be capable of genuine kindness, especially toward their sister.
- With Friends Like These...: They're considered friends with Kanta in the loosest sense possible. Kanta and the three of them can't even trust each other enough to come to a meeting unarmed.
Kaido / Stryker
Kaido/Stryker
Voiced by: Takahiro Imamura (JP), Robert McCollum (EN)
- Being Good Sucks: It the Great Kanto Desert, it mostly means being taken advantage of constantly.
- Expy: Stubbornly optimistic and heroic guy trying to bring peace and good to a desertic CrapsackWorld with his fists and CONTINUES despite the world seemingly trying to prove him wrong every time ?
- Foil: To Kanta; his intro episode is even called "Opposites Collide".
- Meaningful Name: Stryker strikes down entire crowds of enemies using a knowledge of Kenpo and sheer badassitude.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: He is, however, aware his ideals probably aren't even right and upholds them mostly because Good Feels Good.
- We Help the Helpless: Reconstructed; Kosuna tells him treating people this way makes them dependent on you, which is a terrible way to be in this sort of Crapsack World. However, he decides it's still his responsibility to help people incapable of becoming strong or who never got a chance to do so.
Natsuko
Natsuko
Voiced by: Yuko Minaguchi (JP), Jamie Marchi (EN)
- Childhood Friend Romance: Subverted in the anime: flashbacks seem to imply she resents Kanta because she can't get over a romance between the two when they were children, but it instead turns he actually just sexually harassed her and treated her horribly in general.
- The Dog Bites Back: In the manga she gets a good amount of revenge on Kanta for his mistreating her as a child: his introduction to La Résistance has Kanta humiliatingly dragged around (and given several embarrassing cavity searches) and when he tries to escape, she beats him up and dragged his ass back to the Oasis.
- Rebel Leader: Although technically not in charge of the rebellion, in practice she seems to have the most influence.
