Like many I was made aware of this manga by the OVA. I had assumed, like the OVA, that this would be a ecchi comedy with some character analysis thrown in. Fun, short, but heartfelt.
The early chapters were very much like this, even at it's most bizarre. Kintaro drives somewhere new, finds a new job, a woman he works with or encounters in some other way intrigues him and helps solve their issues. It's a simple formula that's not very deep, but it must have worked seeing as how popular the OVA is.
I think they only selected these earlier chapters for good reason as they had consistently good stories.
The artwork, at least to me, is very unique. I love how you can tell a different assistant worked on specific chapters, each assistants style pops yet matches at the same time. Details like teeth and hair are very nice (weirdo lolol) and Kintaros expressions are a delight with how grotesque they can get. Even the weird anatomy at times have charm. Backgrounds and things like cars or bikes are also disturbingly accurate and beautifully drawn.
By the first long arc though, the premise falls apart very fast. They go against the original premise; it is no longer about Kintaro and the women he meets, but random people at random times who are vaguely but conveniently connected to him in some sort of manner and have these convoluted dramatic arcs, and not dramatic in a good way.
Characters create political and ideological conflict, and the dialog becomes very long winded and the points they make are outright conflicting with their actions.
They talk less like people and more like college essays.
They'll say things that boil down to "society bad" or "people evil" and yet they do outright nefarious actions. But because they're open about the "evils of the world" it's OK!
And in ecchi fashion, the only punishment they receive for it is unsavory sexual acts.
We're shown over and over with some characters disagree with establishment-type figures.
They hate being led around by people who think they can take over the world, and they want to decide things on their own.
But then they also want that same power and use malicious methods to fulfill their goals for...some reason? It's not really explained why? They'll claim they want power and status, but they don't even have end goals.
Let's use Kintaro as an example. He's shown early on that he has a very freedom-loving sense of mind; he wants to learn about the world as much as he can, who doesn't enjoy government and other establishment figures using their status for wrongdoings. He wishes for society to empower others, to learn freely as he even in school, and to stop holding others back.
In flashbacks this part of him had always been the same. But there is a part in the very later arc where he's shown as someone who's actually just pro-"work and get a wife and get excited for the next thing". That kind of mentality. Despite saying otherwise earlier as it was his reason for doing something specific in the beginning of that arc.
Characters can change as people, but to twist his character just for the sake of relationship drama that's shown later on, it's poor writing imo.
The political takes that show up in later arcs seem like very personal views (war bad, environmentalism good, industrialization bad, capitalism bad). I'm not here to judge the author for them, they're his own views, and I am but the humble reader just trying to read a story with anime boobies.
Like I said earlier, character dialog becomes extremely long. There's less panels and more gigantic speech bubbles you'd find in bad internet webcomics, you know the ones.
I had to read through someone getting lectured on WW2 and the consequences of Japanese warcrimes and their bubble economy at a fancy dining table and it took about 8 pages.
If anything the author predicted "fictional characters used as some sort of political mouthpiece" trend of the current year. Big brained.
And like the morals, they'll be outright conflicting with the characters actions.
As for the sexual acts, I was personally fine with the ecchi. I don't mind a bit of weird porn lmao.
But, as the series progresses, fetishes become more and more blatant.
Without too many spoilers, there's an entire arc dedicated to crossdressing and another with VR hypnosis. Lots of NTR. And piss. An obscene amount of urine. There is so much piss drinking.
Sometimes the sex scenes take up so much time half of an entire volume will be just that, and you bet they'll be ranting about how "people are like, just sheep, maaan, open yer mind to the woooorld" while cumming.
It just goes from 0 to 100 very fast to the point where you're turned off completely.
I felt like I had caught syphilis with some of the events occurring lololol.
But this part is probably personal preference, maybe you'll enjoy or do enjoy some of these fetishes. Godspeed brother.
All these things I criticize, they're fine on their own.
A character with flaws is not a bad character, they're only human after all.
For characters to constantly go against their own values that they'd outright said in dialog, and for the authors views to overpower the entire storyline, it's just shitty.
In writing, you should show consequences for ones actions good or bad, yet there is nothing.
Besides getting forcibly starved to death, pissed on, raped, or cheated on, which, I guess works but it's still dumb.
Once you learn about the authors past as a porn director, as well as his teaching career however, it begins to make sense.
Golden Boy is not the story of a young and free-spirted man looking to learn about the world around him, but the author using it as a dumping ground for his takes he's acquired in college and his fetishes.
Authors putting themselves in their works isn't wrong, I love authors who basically create memoirs of themselves, putting down their thoughts and what they enjoy in comic form.
If the work is pulling itself in so many directions it can't keep it's head straight, and it doesn't even mesh well, then I have to question the authors sanity.
It's a shame, since there were some storylines or exchanges that I did like, at least theoretically. They would have been awesome if written by someone who understands what makes good and consistent writing.
TL;DR: It's just a counter-culture of the 90s version of long political tumblr comics with weird fetishes so if that's your thing go nuts
