Golden Boy
Golden Boy is a manga series by Tatsuya Egawa, later turned into a short anime series.
Kintaro Oe, the series' protagonist, is a freeter (low income freelancer) pervert who rides through Japan on his trusty bicycle, looking for his purpose in life. Having left Tokyo University without graduating (while at the top of his class, mind you), he decides to try every job he can to find something he likes. During his travels, he comes in contact with beautiful women whose lives he changes in different ways - and always for the better. However, before that change, he makes rather poor first impressions on them due to his perverted traits and general clumsiness. In the end, Kintaro rides off into the sunset, having won new experiences - and the hearts of the women he leaves behind.
In 2010 Tatsuya came back with Golden Boy II - Sasurai no Obenkyou Yarou Geinoukai Ooabare-hen, as the name implies it is a sequel for the original series, it remains fairly unknown, in contrast to the original boom.
- Actual Pacifist - Kintaro has Kenpo training, but he only reveals it once, after getting beaten up several times.
- Actually, he uses his combat skills several times in the manga, but only if someone else will get hurt besides himself. He once attacked the woman of the volume to save Yakuza, who had been beating him up, from her. Now he just used pressure points to incapacitate her then run away while carrying her.
- A Date with Rosie Palms - The woman with the motorcycle fetish mentioned below.
- Almighty Janitor: Kintaro. And he loves cleaning toilets, too.
- Art Evolution: Golden Boy II is this in all aspects, considering it began serialization more than a decade after the original Golden Boy's ending, Tatsuya really evolved his artstyle.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Pissing Kintaro off is not a good idea.
- Cargo Ship: In-Universe, Kintaro's toilet fetish. There's also that woman who basically masturbates with her motorcycle.
- Casanova: Kintaro
- Catch Phrase: "Study!" This goes to Survival Mantra levels during the bike-versus-motorbike race.
- Cerebus Syndrome: Only in the manga. It starts with the known formula - then at one point, a bizarre techno-sex cult run by a former friend comes up, Kintaro gets relegated to a side character, and the manga gets more and more involved with lengthy and confusing arguments about the ills of society, mind control, etc.
- Chekhov's Armoury: The skills Kintaro learns and the girls he meets in the first five episodes of the anime all help him in the final episode.
- Chekhov's Gun: "I think I'll change these brake pads."
- Chivalrous Pervert
- Colour Failure: In Episode three. After taking part in the "Kogure Special Corkscrew Kiss," he's left grayscale for hours.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
- Crowning Moment of Awesome Anime: Kintaro uses his bicycle to race a woman using a racing motorcycle. And he wins.
- Effortlessly kicking Kogure's ass definetely counts too.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose In Life
- Determinator: Kintaro Oe is one of the more extreme examples of this.
- Ecchi
- The Electric Slide: Kintaro invokes this trope to win a race against a motorcycle. I don't know how it works either, so don't ask.
- Fan Service
- Genius Ditz: Kintaro always acts like an idiot for most of the episode, before amazing the woman he was chasing (as well as the audience).
- Gondor Calls for Aid: The final episode. Awww.
- Large Ham: Kintaro and HOW! "Life is STUDDDYYYY!"
- Lovable Sex Maniac
- Meaningful Name: "Kintaro" means "Golden Boy"; it is the name of a hero from Japanese folklore.
- The Messiah: Even if he is a pervert, you won't find a more sensitive and kind-hearted anime guy outside Rurouni Kenshin or Fist of the North Star.
- No Fourth Wall: When Kintaro gets fired in the fifth episode, he yells, "You can't do this! We haven't even developed the subplot yet!"
- Obfuscating Stupidity: The basic premise of the series is that even though Kintaro might seem like a real dumbass at first glance, he's actually incredibly smart and athletic.
- Running Gag: Kintaro hugging a toilet bowl when imagining that a beautiful woman sat on it. During his fantasizing, said woman will surprise him. Hilarity Ensues.
- Stripperiffic: Especially notable with the outfit of the woman in the first episode of the anime. And she's the boss of a successful software company.
- The So-Called Coward: Kintaro is beaten up several times without fighting back - except for once, where he wins handily.
- Walking the Earth: Condensed to walking just Japan, but the principle is the same.