Cannon Busters: the latest original anime from Netflix is an enjoyable ride
- The series is adapted from Tokyo-based American animator LeSean Thomas’ comics of the same name
- Cartoons are not just for children, as illustrated by the show’s post-watershed action and adult humour
Gone are the days when cartoons were for children. Cannon Busterson Netflix is testament to that, because although it features a chirpy little maintenance droid (hello, Star Wars) and a magnificent muscle car-cum-1950s Cadillac that transforms itself into, well, something closely resembling a Transformer, it would undoubtedly be a post-watershed viewing experience on regular television.
Made by Japanese studio Satelight, this is Cowboys & Aliens on intergalactic steroids. Butchery and blood abound. Heavy weapons blast desolate desert towns and the soundtrack booms along as wild-haired outlaw Philly the Kid, who is indestructible, tries anyway to outrun a murderous bunch of samurai-shaped robots with cannons for faces, as well as scarred, eyepatch-toting human bounty hunters probably modelled on the United States National Rifle Association’s rank and file.
Much to Philly’s annoyance, the droid, accompanied by Sam (“special associate model”), an excessively polite and overfriendly robot (hello again, Star Wars) has inadvertently become his travelling companion. Sam’s mission, meanwhile, is to track down her best friend and significant other, Kelby. Sam is a refugee from the kingdom of Botica, of which Kelby is the prince. Being a royal, Kelby was spirited to safety when Botica was largely destroyed by a malicious, rampaging magician. Being a bot, Sam was left to fall out of a tree.
It’s a madcap romp also graced by a couple of low-IQ punks straight out of Mad Max-land; vicious, sex-siren femme fatale Syrena; and jolly Mama Hitch, whose primary skill is skinning human corpses to make leather. Man (and woman) versus machine; evil versus good; the morally ambiguous hero on a journey to redemption … the gang’s all here, in this live-wire adaptation of the Cannon Busters comic books by Tokyo-based American animator LeSean Thomas.
It’s not without a certain rakish humour either. “What type of sport do you play where the balls get scratched?” asks the naive, ever-optimistic Sam. “It sounds like a real delight.”
The Righteous Gemstones – a dark and comic look at televangelists
Religion finds a spiritual home in China in the opening moments of HBO’s slick comedy-drama The Righteous Gemstones, starring the incomparable John Goodman.
A marathon, “24 hours of saved souls” baptism is taking place in a Chengdu swimming pool, where 5,000 white-robed congregants are being dunked towards deliverance on the Almighty’s production line. Until the pool’s wave machine is inexplicably switched on and a mass soaking threatens to become a mass drowning. It seems the Lord moves in mysterious waves after all.
The Righteous Gemstones are a family of television evangelists led by the Reverend Dr Eli Gemstone (Goodman). He and his grown children enjoy all the accoutrements essential for the heavenly mission of humble God-fearing folk: private jets, SUVs, a legion of security staff, plus mansions full of bling, bad art and arcade games.
The serpent in their private Eden arrives in the form of a video showing son Jesse (Danny McBride) snorting and cavorting; cocaine and prostitutes being his blackmailers’ ticket to US$1 million. Meanwhile, Eli plans to expand his divine mega-church by sweeping up four nearby congregations, because a bigger flock means more donations. To bless his enterprise, he visits the grave of his dear, departed wife – at which he waves the paw of a lucky, feng shui Neko cat. It was, after all, “her vision to minister to the people of the Far East”. Praise the Lord.
The producers of The Righteous Gemstones say their preachers aren’t based on real televangelists. You can decide whether they remind you of anyone on Mondays at 10am on HBO Go and HBO, with repeats at 11pm on HBO.
