The Symbiotic Student - Golden Boy

Golden Boy is a mature anime indeed. Although it is not hentai it does not mind showing the audience breasts and mastrubation. In this way it was definitely made more for guys than for girls. It is about a 25yo guy named Kintaro Oe, who withdrew from college having learnt everything already, in order to persue a journey of life study by travelling on his bike and taking on new and difeerent part time jobs. Anyway this anime way certainly an enjoyable way to spend 3 hours of an afternoon. The animation is pretty good (but obviously shows its age, being from the mid-nineties) and the music is pretty good. But what is really fun to watch is the characters and their interactions. Kintaro (the protagonist) is definitely one of the best lead roles to be written. Overall what grabbed me about the OVA was the humour. It was very funny. There is a particular scene in episode 3 where Kintaro is trying to break up a love scene at a racetrack that was hilarious. However, some humour, particularly that which is about perverted love ( for example Kintaro's obsession with toilets and what females do on them), is strange for me. But maybe this is just a western thing. I never found Master Roshi all that funny either. That being said this anime is still very funny and the change in animation plays into this, even turning into real photos at one moment in episode 6.  

Probably one of the funniest moments in the anime!!

However, despite being an anime driven by humour this short OVA series did seem to have some nice observations of life and reality (even if it was quite unrealistic at times). The first of these observations is that we shoud always be looking to learn from others. Kintaro is an eternal student it seems, whose mantra whilst doing anything is "study, study, study". Every episode we are reminded the reason Kintaro is taking on these jobs is to learn life skills. Everytime Kintaro is scolded, he is not offended and does not go on the attack, he sees it as something to learn from, for him it is "educational". He is constantly writing what he has learnt down in his very important notebook. The workplace he seemingly like the best is the ramen restaurant, not due to some large wage, but due to the fact the boss is so encouraging in teaching him. In fact money often plays a secondary role for Kintaro who offers to work for free in places, for example at the swimming pool and the software company. He realises life lessons are more important than the money he could earn. Each episode is called Lesson 1, Lesson 2, etc and the closing theme is even about study, being called "Study A Go Go". We too should always be open to learning from others, like Kintaro. 

Someone's own version of Kintaro's notebook. http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs45/f/2009/079/0/8/Fan_Art___Golden_Boy_by_witegots.jpg

And it is not just Kintaro who learns from others but they (usually the women he is trying to seduce) too learn from him, at which time Kintaro leaves the town. This then turns into them wanting him after seeing his true nature behind the perverted, clumsy and naive exterior. This anime also observes how we should not judge others by their first impressions. This is mainly shown with Kintaro, who is able to save the day or able to overcome obstacles despite the first impressions he gives. In fact in the first episode, he is misjudged in numerous ways by the software company president: first he is a perverted dolt who wastes his money; then he is a scammer who made a copy of the software and unplugged the server for laughs; and then she finally realises he is a kind, hardworking and intelligent guy. At the same time we learn not to judge Kintaro by his appearance we also see others are not to be judged as they appear. This is done with Mr. Kogure, who isn't the kind-heartened man he appears, but really a thug and a con-artist, and Reiko, who appears to be a very dignified and sophisicated lady but is really so sophisicated she cannot be pleased by men only by her motorcycle. Kintaro realises he should not judge by appearances, as he is able to out play Naoko, the seemingly innocent daughter of the mayor, at her own game. 

The animation of Kintaro's face create both humour and the mood of the anime.

Lastly, this anime shows us that every profession has its place and is important. This is primarily shown in the last episode where he calls all the friends he has made throughout the first five episodes to help him save the day in the last Lesson. He sees the value in every job, even the lowly ramen makers have their purpose. Humanity and the economy it seems is based on a symbiotic relationship. I think it is important that Kintaro refused to graduate from Law school (what many would recognise as the most prestigous faculty of any university) in exchange for a life of learning from others, whether it be as a worker handmaking ramen or a servant in a rich estate. Every job has its importance it seems. It is also shown where his what he learnt at the circus pays off when working for the mayor and what he learnt working at a different restaurant pays off when he needs to make the animators a healthy dish in the last episode. And again we see the importance of keeping an open mind and learning all we can in life. No knowledge and no profession is unimportant.

I don't really get this "toilet" humour.

Golden Boy was a really fun anime to watch. Its humour was very nice to watch, even if all of it wasn't to my taste. This was definitely what made the OVA series enjoyable, even if it wasn't all to my tastes. At the same time the real life observations made by this anime were quite nice to see. Even if his ability to learn things is far too unrealistic, idea we should always be looking to further educate ourselves is a valid idea. As if not judging others by first impressions and how every jb has its importance and value. 

Nice piece of fanart to end with. http://37.media.tumblr.com/1fa5362315636d1ddb7568fd7f91b3fe/tumblr_mrm87pn7lL1qhq98mo1_1280.jpg

http://myanimelist.net/anime/268/Golden_Boy

http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=355

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=373