In the 1990s, ecchi anime was reaching new heights of popularity and boundary-pushing content. While many shows pushed the limits, none took things as far as the now-infamous Golden Boy. This 6-episode OVA series, based on the manga by Tatsuya Egawa, followed the adventures of 25-year-old Kintaro Oe as he traveled around on his bicycle taking on various odd jobs. Golden Boy Anime: Was it the peak ecchi of the 90s? Let’s find out.
Golden Boy Anime: What was it about?
Each episode featured Kintaro getting entangled with different women in compromising and sexualized situations as part of his work assignments. This provided ample excuses for nudity, panty shots, overt sexual humor, and depictions of various fetishes.
- Golden Boy dove headfirst into the kind of content most anime studios would shy away from at the time.
- Some of the most memorable ecchi moments include Kintaro becoming a bike seat sniffer for a female cycling club, getting roped into being a nude model for an art class, and even joining a computer software company where he’s tasked with being a “master” for researching sexual submission.
- Through it all, Kintaro remained optimistic and ambitious in his unusual pursuits of knowledge and skills.
Theme and Narrative
The show’s animation style exaggerated things even further with the characters’ expressive reactions and bountiful nude forms. Golden Boy dispensed with any hint of subtlety and gave viewers forms of fanservice and scenarios they’d never seen in an anime before.
- This unapologetic ecchi content made it infamous as a really “dirty” show for its time. The way it showed explicit nudity combined with Kintaro’s lecherous personality clashed with common depictions of more innocent ecchi anime protagonists of the era.
- Most other ecchi anime of the 90s played things a bit more coy, with side-glances of panties and the occasional topless scene. Golden Boy shattered the norms by depicting sexual acts in exaggerated comic form. This overtly erotic content challenged conventions and pushed boundaries.
Golden Boy’s Influence and Staying Power
The show’s influence can be seen in later series that continued exploring taboo topics like fetishes and sexuality. But Golden Boy was one of the first to go all-in with extremely perverted concepts, making it a high point of 90s ecchi excess.
Whether due to curiosity or true perversion, the OVA gained a cult following that recognized it as a peak in 90s ecchi. Love it or hate it, Golden Boy left an impact as possibly the most sexualized and controversial anime of its era.
- The show was unabashed in its focus on nudity and sex. Each episode was basically an excuse to get Kintaro into erotic scenarios for both laughs and fan service.
- While the 90s had other ecchi classics like Ranma 1/2, those still tended to have some restraint. Golden Boy broke all restraints and took anime fanservice to new levels. This swerve into overtly perverted territory made a strong impression on viewers.
Conclusion
While modern anime and manga go much further in terms of adult content now, Golden Boy still stands out for pushing the boundaries in an era when most ecchi were still fairly tame and self-regulating. Its influence paved the way for more explicit trends in Japanese media. The series remains a fond memory for old-school anime fans craving more hardcore eroticism from the time.