Kintaro Oae, Age 25.
After studying law at Tokyo University, he mysteriously dropped out but
only after he completed all of his required coursework for graduation. He now travels as a “student of life”, taking
on odd jobs across the country side.
Riding his trusty mountain bike, the Mikazuki 5, he’s always on the look
out for new knowledge and adventure. And
who knows, just one day, maybe, he just might save the world.
Wow, has it really been 2 years since I started writing
these reviews?
You remember those days when you were a young Anime
fan? When all you could watch was what
was on TV and it was edited big time for a younger audience: no blood, no
swearing, no nudity? Remember when there
were those titles out there that weren’t Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z or Pokemon
that you just wanted to watch? You know,
the adult titles you’d grown up hearing were awesome like Akira, Ninja Scroll
and Vampire Hunter D…but you were young so your parents wouldn’t let you watch
em. Well one Anime on that list of “for
mature audiences only” was Golden Boy.
To me, it was only a name. I had
heard a joke or two but nothing with exact context. And id heard it was the funniest thing many
had ever seen. WELL…it only took a
couple of decades. But I finally managed
to catch this one at Katsucon 2016…and I was then enlightened.
There is no deeper way to talk about it. Golden Boy is the funniest Anime I have ever
seen. It seems so simple in it’s story
but so much more in execution: a wandering man travels from place to place and
gets into adventures with the locals and he also happens to be a huge
pervert. And while this set up does
repeat itself every single episode, what keeps it from getting stale is Kintaro
himself. He’s a carefree spirit who
longs to learn as much as he can from life.
This stems from the littlest of factoids to the most depraved manners of
how to please a woman. The episodes vary
in their setting and cast. Kintaro is
never on the same job twice. Much of
what he does during his short time in these particular spots is very much the
same. He always feels up a toilet (yeah
that’s a thing), he always causes some form of trouble and works like crazy to
fix it, resulting in a, more or less, happy ending for all. There’s no end to Kintaro’s likeability. He’s the horniest human being on the planet,
but he has a heart of gold. He comes off
as a total wanna be submissive love slave, but he is one of the smartest people
in existence. It’s impossible to hate
him.
I LOVE the English Dub of this Anime. The cast (from ADV, I think this was one of
their big titles) is having an absolute blast translating this and giving it
their own spin. While it does kind of
date itself, “I opened up a can of WHOOP ASS,” it’s still entertaining as hell. Of course, this also leads to one of my
absolute favorite moments of the whole series, maybe even of Anime of all
time. When Kintaro’s well endowed
Computer Tech boss tears his prized notebook to pieces, Kintaro’s loveable good
side drops and he gets darkly serious.
He proclaims that his notes are more important than his life. He then proceeds to raise his torn notebook
to her and shout proudly, “Money can’t replace that kind of knowledge. THOSE NOTES WERE PRICELESS!!!” Unaware that
the tearing has revealed to his boss the sketches of the sexy staff he drew
while trapped in the womens locker room…an awkward pause and growl sets
in. And then Kintaro realizes in his
head, “OHHHH S***”. I die…everytime…turn
that moment on for me and I am on the floor laughing like a madman. Other moments are equally as good but hardly
ever as legendary as this bar setter.
Stepping into that viewing room at Katsucon to catch
Episode 3 of the series, I didn’t know what I was getting into with Golden
Boy. And I left knowing that I had made
such a mistake never getting to it until now.
It’s not as good as FLCL (no Anime will ever touch that one) but Golden
Boy does in six episodes the same amount of goodness FLCL did. It left you wanting more at the end. At the same time though, the shortness adds
to the lasting legacy and the need to appretiate what’s happening on screen
while you can. Kintaro may be a pervert
with the dirtiest of desires. But he’s
also the student of life we all want to be: traveling the country side, getting
into life changing adventures and making the world a better place, one town or
beautiful woman, at a time.
(I HEAR THE SOUND OF A WOMAN SCREAM!!! TO ACTION!!!)
So yeah, I had to pick this title to be my big 2nd
Anniversary review for the Anime Corner.
And to everyone and anyone who is reading…thanks. I’m not sure how many are actually stopping
by on a regular basis. But even a short
visit and peek at my long selection of titles makes me happy. Even if this blog was being read by no one,
I’d still keep it going. Talking about
Anime and reviewing it is my lifes goal.
Will it go beyond this blog, maybe.
But until then, I’m gonna keep watching, I’m gonna keep reviewing…and
just keep doing what I love most.
Thanks for 2 years and hopefully more to come.
Golden Boy gets a well deserved
10/10
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