Golden Boy was a bit of a surprise for me. I assumed it was just a raunchy sex comedy—but there's a bit more to it than that.

The protagonist, Kintaro Oe, is a happy-go-lucky twenty-five-year-old who jumps from town to town and job to job. The reason is revealed at the end of episode one: despite Kintaro's impulsive, goofy innocence, he's a genius who quit ultra-difficult Tokyo University because he went through the entire curriculum. He wants to learn.

Moreover, Kintaro has a student's approach to everything. Other people assume he's naive or dull because he approaches each new job and skill as though this is the only thing he's evern going to learn. And he's loathe to reveal his other skills, because in each new job, he's not there to show off; he's there to learn.

If that was the premise, it'd make for a compelling series as Kintaro comes to a new town and immerses himself in a new situation, and has to weigh the worth of interference.

However, the creator decided to make Golden Boy into a sex comedy. So, not only is Kentaro a bit of a lech, nearly every story involves a woman with huge breasts and a revealing outfit, whom Kintaro lusts after for most of the episode. By the end, Kintaro's resolved the woman's problems and left town, and the woman, in turn, lusts after Kintaro, who's now out of reach. A good psychosexual research paper could come out of this.

Except for episode three.

Episode three is a complete aberration. Kintaro works at a noodle shop. The owners have a late-teen daughter who is the model of traditional Japanese ideals—devoted to her family and job, sweet, caring, and a bit naive. A ruthless businessman is after her, and she doesn't realize his evil plot. Kintaro isn't particularly interested in the girl sexually, but he wants to protect her innocence from the ruthless businessman.

The closest we get to sex is a scene in which the businessman tries to seduce the girl. He opens the top three buttons of her blouse, and unzips her pants, both of which are immediately closed. We see maybe the top of her bra and a sliver of her panties.

The remainder of the episode is an emotional character study as Kintaro observes the girl's behavior, tries to discourage her from marrying the businessman, and deals with the businessman in his own way. I was riveted. It was an episode of sensitivity, delicacy, and depth.

If only the same could be said of the remainder. Instead, we go from a schoolgirl who keeps flashing Kintaro to tease him, to a woman who rubs herself to orgasm while sitting on a motorcycle. In public. Then pours a beer all over herself and races off.

Oddly, I'd be less annoyed if this devolved into straight-out pornography. But this is mid-90's anime; the most we get is an occasional naked breast. So the show teases its male audience with no payoff, so to speak, while alienating any potential female audience.

The show's funny, no question. And it has some nice little character moments, even outside of episode three. But it's overwhelmed with teasing sexuality.

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