Golden Boy

by Ken Cho

The cover and corny promo-bites of the GOLDEN BOY box suggests a comedy pretty much solely based on sexual and sophomoric humor, arguably A.D. Vision's main venue of anime. Funny thing is that GOLDEN BOY is all that and much more. By the time the credits roll, viewers will be thoroughly hooked to this semi-ecchi title. Trust me.
The Golden Boy is Oe Kintaro, a self-proclaimed "freeter"; a freelancer. And the premise of this OAV series is that Kintaro drifts from various job to job, learning as much as he can about everything. Twenty-five years old, Kintaro dropped out from law school on the eve of his graduation and climbed aboard his trusty mountain bike to travel around Japan. The thing about Kintaro is that he is a quick learner -- as in lightning-fast, idiot-savant quick. What takes normal people several years to learn takes Kintaro only weeks.
The first volume released by A.D. Vision is only one episode at thirty minutes. Quickly laying the groundwork for the series, GOLDEN BOY cuts to the chase and dishes out the laughs immediately to the audience, and the ride never stops until the end. GOLDEN BOY, quickly summed up, is the anime equivalent of Robin Williams; a breakneck pace of physical and vocal comedy that does not dare disappoint. And Kintaro manages to contort and form his face into so many different funny faces, Jim Carrey need not apply. Surprisingly, the anime version is very faithful to artist Egawa Tetsuya's manga, both in character design and story. While the humor is mainly sexual innuendo, plenty of other side-splitters are provided. Two very notable comedy sequences involve a toilet and C++ programming. I leave the rest to your imagination.
The original Japanese voice acting of GOLDEN BOY is so fast, so inflected, that to even attempt to dub it would be a monumental task. Unfortunately for this review, the dub version was not available at press time. I wish the American voice for Kintaro the best of luck; he will need it. The subtitled version of GOLDEN BOY is even difficult to watch because some titles, in synching with the voice, come and go so fast that if you look away for a second, you would miss it. Also, a small rub to the reviewer is the slightly incorrect translations for certain phrases, the least being "C-Base" being used for just plain "C". I know it is petty, but some things just do not have to be.
Push aside these small differences and you have yourself one great title. Unfortunately, once the thirty minute episode ends, you will be dying for more. The addiction of GOLDEN BOY has begun.