ikarix

I liked this quite a bit but I have friends that hated this. There's no sex, but there's very little nudity in any of the episodes - which is a good thing. Also, Keitaro has a toilet fixation that's explored in at least half the episodes. (Toilets are way more advanced in Japan.) Hmm, I'm wondering why I rated this so high myself...? It certainly isn't that I like naked cartoon girls. In some ways, Keitaro Oe (the main character) is analogous to Johnny Bravo except instead of being an obnoxious, musclebound jock, Keitaro is a hyperactive nerd. Or you can think of him as Japan's answer to Leisure Suit Larry. He's easier to take if you watch it subtitled rather than dubbed, but he grows on you either way if you give him a chance. He IS the Goldenboy.

The formula is the same for each episode. Boy meets girl, boy tries to win girl's heart despite being a dorky pervert, boy somehow succeeds against all odds. Typically, the girl doesn't realize she likes Keitaro until after he's beaten to a pulp and/or pulled off some spectacular stunt like engineering a modern operating system in one week or winning a race against a gasoline-powered motorcycle using his bicycle.

Episode #1 features a rich software tycoon. I think animating her boobs put a major dent in the budget because she's the only female that has this kind of animation. She also dresses completely unprofessionally. Most people who rate this negatively probably never got past the first episode.

Episode #2 has the rich, young daughter who likes to tease. She's only 16 but that's legal age in Japan (and in some states in the US, I might add). Her father is also a brutal yakuzza type that has a reputation for killing guys interested in his daughter.

Girl #3 is the sweet innocent daughter of a noodle shop owner that's mixed up with a bad boyfriend. Aside from Keitaro running interference for the maiden and being kissed by a guy, there's almost no ecchi of any kind in this episode - a sharp drop from the previous two. Nevertheless, Keitaro and the evil boyfriend really pound each other.

Episode #4 has Keitaro trying to impress a top-notch swimming coach. Keitaro seems more 'direct' about his intentions with this particular girl than any other... and she's pretty direct in return...

Girl #5 is the biker babe. She's probably the most top-heavy of the 6 (although not super-buoyant like girl #1) and 'raciest' in terms of sexuality and vulgarity. This particular episode is easily the most over-the-top in terms of (lack of) realism. Keitaro should have broken every bone in his body at least twice during the race against the biker babe but I think the producers and writers said, "It's just a cartoon! We can do anything!" This lapse in realism makes it a fan favorite.

Finally, episode #6 introduces a new girl (that's works in animation) and the previous 5 girls help Keitaro as he tries to cope with impossible time and resource constraints to get an OAV out the door by the deadline. In terms of ecchi, this one's very tame as well, but there's plenty of humor. The ending has all 5 extremely pretty girls from the past team up to hunt Keitaro, who slips away unnoticed, ostensibly with the intention of gang-raping him. Yeah, that -ALMOST- happens in real life. Someone crossed Ukyo Tachibana (ala Samurai Shodown) with Steve Urkel(ala Family Matters)...

All in all, there's no middle ground for this. You'll either hate it or love it. If you're new to anime, you probably don't want to start with this. At the same time, if you can stand characters like Happosai (from Ranma 1/2) or Johnny Bravo... or you like comedies that lean more heavily towards silliness but have very sexual overtones, you should give it a shot.