-Tada Banri
Golden Time is the first romantic comedy anime I have seen, and many people I talked to for recommendations said it was one of the better in the genre. After completing the series I had my fair share of positives and negatives about it. It was an emotional rollercoaster relying heavily on character development rather than story, with a happy yet slightly unfulfilling ending thatcould be interpreted many ways. I’ll warn readers now that this review will contain spoilers (especially in the story section) in effort to fully explain my opinion of the series.
I don’t really have much to go on as far as “stereotypical” romantic comedy animes go, but the story itself in Golden Time was fair at best. The main protagonist is going to a Tokyo Law School when he meets a friend, Mitsuo Yanagisawa who just so happens to have an over-obsessed, clingy beauty chasing him around. This girl, Kaga Koko confides in Banri initially for the sake of getting closer to Mitsuo, but in turn ends up falling for Banri herself. Oh, and there’s one important plot point to mention… Banri suffers from amnesia due to an accident he had at the end of high school. It seems relatively convenient to include this in the story, but it could’ve been done far better. Personally I would’ve enjoyed the series much more without this element at all. It certainly made the last two episodes confusing and unfulfilling.
Before Banri was struck with amnesia, he was in love with Linda, an upper classmen he meets again during his first days at his new law school. Although he doesn’t remember a single thing about the relationship, an ominous, “ghost” version of his past self lingers on watching Banri’s life unfold, while moping through inner monologue. I also felt like personifying Banri’s past memories was unnecessary and could’ve been accomplished by him slowly remembering bits and pieces at a time. As I said previously, the rest of the story is told mainly through character development and dialogue, and it was actually done quite well. I found I often had to take a step back and analyze the situation at hand, and discovered that Banri and Koko were working out their issues like grown adults even though they may have seemed overdramatic at times.
Undoubtedly the biggest issue I have with Golden Time is the way the last few episodes were written. So I can understand Banri slowly remembering information about his life prior to his accident, but at the cost of forgetting everything that has happened afterward??? That didn’t bode well with me. He went from not remembering anything before his accident, to remembering some, then forgetting the present entirely, and finally to remembering everything from before and after the accident. Talk about confusing. I also wasn’t pleased with the way the Linda situation was handled. She’s actually the character I felt bad for throughout the entire show, even more than Banri. Inside it seems that she wants to go back to the way things used to be between her and Banri, and on top of it feels a level of responsibility for his accident. At the end, just when it appears that the two of them are going to end up back together again, Koko visits Banri at his home and he magically remembers everything. He chases after her and Linda throws him some shoes she previously gave to him, and then magically runs to the ghost of Banri shouting that she wants to be with him forever. I was seriously confused. She turns to Banri and says yes to her comfortability of him being with Koko as well and runs off saying she has something she needs to take care of. Except, you never find out what that is. Does she get together with Mitsuo? Is she content with being the eternal side to a love triangle? This definitely could’ve been better written, and is a large reason for the relatively low score.
The dialogue and character development is where Golden Time really shines. In fact, Koko is one of the most complex characters I think I’ve seen in an anime. At first you hate her, then you understand her, then you hate her again… it’s all due to the clever and intricate writing from the creators. Tada Banri himself isn’t necessarily a deep character, and I often found his actions to be rather unbelievable; a college-aged guy who blushes every time he’s about to be kissed by his girlfriend or professes his love for a girl he’s only known for a few days in a rather dramatic way. Seems like the way a middle school student would act to me. On the opposite end, Koko and Banri solve their problems in a very mature fashion. Other than the fact that Koko sobs and screams along the way, the dialogue shared between them is very to the point, while still pouring on the mushy stuff.
Linda is also a very strong character in this anime, and you can really feel for her. It has to be really hard to essentially press the reset button on a relationship you’ve had with a guy your entire life, let alone right before you were going to accept his token of love. She stays distant, but in the interactions she has with Banri, you can tell it takes a lot out of her each time… it’s like you want to grab her by the arm and yell “dang it girl, just tell him you love him already!” I probably sound rather silly since I normally don’t watch these types of shows, but Golden Time had a profound effect on me in that respect.
The rest of the supporting cast is just as good. Mitsuo and 2D-kun both served as loyal man-companions to Banri, and Oka Chinami seemed to balance out the slightly overbearing Koko in the main friend group. Even Nana, Banri’s neighbor and friend of Linda (although this is never fully explained) adds a great contrasting personality type with her flagrant sarcasm. I was slightly disappointed that Oka’s story wasn’t touched on more. She appeared to only have one chance at Mitsuo and missed it, and had to struggle with finding herself again within the friend circle afterward. You never quite figure out which avenue the love triangle between her, Mitsuo and Linda went either. In the ending credits there is a moment where Mitsuo is filming Linda and she turns away blushing…. But of course that’s all you get.
The art score may seem relatively low, but you’ve got to understand that this show aired less than two years ago. The artistry isn’t bad, but it definitely could’ve been better. Some of the still scenes were drawn a tad sloppy and the expressions the characters had sometimes seemed out of place. I may be alone on this, but I’m not a fan of the over-enlarged eyes in anime. They take over the face and detract from the character’s overall expression. The animation in the character’s mouths was also slightly off and felt more like two flaps of skin moving up and down adding no real individuality to each character. Other than that, the environments were decently drawn, and the OP/ED were filled with plenty of color.
The OST felt a little lacking, and I sometimes didn’t even notice it was there. The first OP I really enjoyed but I thought the second one was quite loud and annoying… and began/ended in a rather odd fashion. Both ED were alright, I actually found myself watching them all the way through on most occasions. The voice acting is a large part of the high score for sound. Yui Horie did an exceptional job playing Koko, the inflections in her voice when she's upset or crying are 100 percent spot on. Banri's voice played by Makoto Furukawa was very soothing as a main, and the narration was well done.
All in all, Golden Time felt like a great introduction to the romantic comedy genre. It did have a few elements that felt unbelievable or improvable, but I did enjoy it overall. With strong character development and dialogue, it’s an anime you have to sit back and think about rather than take at face value. It’s a great one time watch but I don’t expect to rewatch it anytime soon. Thanks for reading!
