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Review: 'Golden Time'

Anime Review

By Riot DragonPublished 6 years ago 9 min read
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Anime: Golden TimeGenre: Romantic ComedyAge Rating: Good for AllStudio: J.C. StaffMusic: Yukari HashimotoAuthor: Yuyuko TakemiyaDub/Sub: Subs

Ecchi Level: Conservative (Mandatory Beach Episode)

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I got this recommended to me by someone who enjoyed my other reviews. And I want you to know that when I find you again, I'm gonna hurt you. Because this anime was a fucking doozy. I read the summary on the MyAnimeList website, and what I saw in the show was not at all how I pictured the anime playing out.

That being said, the anime itself was a ride all its own. We basically start with our typical obnoxiously shy and reclusive protagonist, Banri Tada, trying to find his way to his college. Along the way, he meets the handsome Mitsuo Yanagisawa, who he finds out was running from a certain someone in his past. Then it follows a slew of awesome characters, like the lovely Kōko Kaga, the mysterious Linda, the cheerful Chinami Oka, the punk rocking Nana-sempai, and the always comical 2D-kun. Did I mention this cast is amazing by the way?

The first couple episodes kind of set everything up. It's definitely a slow starting anime, because the main chunk of the entire series doesn't really begin until maybe episode three or four. But when that rollercoaster starts, prepare yourself for destruction. Seriously, legit. I don't cry. Sad shit happens, emotional shit happens, and I cope in other ways. But for some reason, crying never comes to me. But this goddamn series made me cry TWICE! TWICE I SAY! Two different scenes in the entire series made me cry, and another made me seriously sick with empathy towards Banri when I barely spare a sniffle for even the saddest of tragedies in RL. But, getting back on track, it's a romance series. And after they finally set up the romance, which, again, they did pretty slow by anime standards, then you start to get sucked in.

By episode ten, you have a tack board on your wall with the red strings leading from one portrait to another in some kind of conspiracy theory predictions of who is going to end up with who. Speaking of who, the characters in this story are fucking amazing. I've said this about a character in a previous anime I've reviewed, but it counts for almost every character in this entire fucking anime. This is basically "Character Development the Anime." All of the characters start off fairly childish and have their own obstacles to overcome when it comes to romance. But the thing is, you actually see them develop. Unlike most anime, where the character goes through ONE traumatic event that somehow makes them a better person, this one actually lets you see the character grow.

This is an anime where I truly didn't know who I wanted to win. I had my hopes of course, but I could totally see the other person's side and would be totally happy if that ended up happening instead. It tore me back and forth between them so frequently that I wanted to stop watching it just to take a goddamn break from all the feels! But I didn't. I binged the damn thing. And out of it, I found a series that would be amazing for people who are too obsessive. They could take some serious notes from this series.

Feels aside, it was also hilarious. I was laughing more than once at the chaotic and turbulent dynamics between the characters who love, hate, and everything in between each other. It was a web of different reactions from different characters that made the comedy slide right in perfectly so that it didn't outstay its welcome. The funniest scene in this anime, which I will be putting in the Spoiler Area below, also made my list of funniest anime moments of all time. So there's that. Along with the comedy came the references, and god did they have references. From Edvard Munch's The Scream to even The Peanuts. And let's not even get started with the Tea Club, because I'd rather not ramble on about how hilarious those entire sections were.

Now, all that isn't to say the anime didn't have its pitfalls. Because it definitely had some. Starting off, despite being like...three episodes in, Banri's affection for a specific character came out of nowhere. Up to that point, he had shown little interest in her aside from being a friend, then all the sudden he confesses to her. It was a bit jarring to say the least. And on the topic of Banri, a few of his flashbacks were a bit confusing as to where they fit into the timeline of his memories. I'll go more into that in the spoilers though to spare those wanting to save themselves for the series.

Another irritating thing about the series was that despite how mature most of the characters are, and how much they grew as characters, they still refused to divulge potentially Earth-shattering information to the people who needed it the most. This resulted in a lot of unnecessary drama, of course. Which, hey, they grew through that as well. But after four times of a character choosing not to tell another something they should know, it got pretty groan-worthy. Also, near the end of the series, they took an appropriate trope and abused the hell out of it. It got old...really fast.

Complaints aside, I fucking loved this series, and it was truly gripping. The animation and music were on point. Nothing really special about either one. But the storytelling is where everything shines. The characters, the romance, even the aggravating triangles, squares, and other polygonal shapes were all magnificently done. The twists, turns, cliffhangers, suspense, and resolution were all stupidly satisfying. That may just be for me, but this is my fucking review, so I'm right.

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TLDR: Basically, if you're a sucker for romance like I am, then you'll get sucked into this faster than I did into My Hero Academia. It's got a balance of drama, suspense, and comedy that mixes well into a beautiful tapestry of an anime. If romance isn't your thing, then I'd avoid this, as it's almost exclusively about that. But even so, I'd give it a shot people, because it's magical.

Ratings:Animation: 7/10

Music: 7/10Story: 10/10

Comedy: 9/10Overall Rating: 9/10

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SPOILER TALK: Due to the amazing characters in this show, I've decided to add a "Best Bro" section on top of the already existing "Best Girl."

So, right off the bat, I want to say that I was literal seconds away from cannoning this anime into the trash of shit anime that I hate and want to burn for an eternity. But they turned it around at the end. And that just tells me further how amazing this series was. It got me so emotional that I was a heartbeat away from hating it to death. But, even if it hadn't ended the way I wanted (which it totally did by the way), it would have still been an awesome anime because of how fucking drawn into the story I was.

Above, when I said the flashback Banri was having was confusing, I meant the hospital one. The one where he slips out of the hospital and ends up meeting with Linda. It's confusing because you're wondering if this meeting with Linda was before he lost his memory, which would explain why he didn't recognize her at college. And if he was, in fact, in that hospital recovering from his memory loss accident, then why the hell did his meeting her...after he already lost his memory, not come back to him when he saw her at college? It's confusing as shit, but given the fact that he was still recovering from a pretty traumatic brain injury, I'd say I'd let that slide.

What I almost didn't let slide was how many times they agreed to meet and have serious "I'm going to tell everyone the truth so we can stop being mad at each other" talks, which were then interrupted by Banri's memory flash frying, causing him to collapse into a mess while screaming for Linda. After the first two times, it reeeeeally started to fucking annoy me.

Speaking of memories, amnesia doesn't work that fucking way. Once your memories come back, they don't just eject what's already on the hard drive and download themselves. You gain them back along with your current memories. While yes, this made for some serious dramatic tension at the end, I did have to shake my head at the stretching of logic.

Also, they never explained why Linda is called Linda in the first place, as her name is actually Nana Hayashida. That's just an oddity I had personally, but it doesn't detract from the anime.

Now, for my last bit of input here, the number two funniest scenes in anime came from this show. When Banri visited Mitsuo and found him being hounded by an eager girl from the film club, he intruded on their conversation and acted as if he was Mitsuo's boyfriend. And my Dende did he milk the hell out of it. My sides were splitting as soon as Banri cut in, and I just continued to die from laughter throughout the entire scene. Here is the clip on Youtube. Enjoy.

Best Girl: This was stupidly tough to decide, because on the one hand, I love Koko's character development throughout the entire series. She grew and matured so much, while Linda was already mature, and was obviously suffering through the entire ordeal by not being able to express her feelings. Both deserve it, but I have to give it to Kōko Kaga at the end. Because in the beginning, she was a spoiled brat. But at the end of the series, I really felt her desperation and her stupidly mature stance of not interfering with a Banri who didn't know her. It was heartbreaking all the way up to the end, when I finally let out a satisfying sigh of relief and finally collapsed back into my damn chair.

Best Bro: Takaya Satō. Otherwise known as 2D-kun. The irony of an anime character complaining about 3D women aside, this bro was there the whole time. And if I'm being honest, he's why they ended up a happy couple at the end. Were it not for this bro, they would not be together and this would be on my list of "It's a good anime but I fucking hate it anyway!" titles. So good on you 2D-kun. You are best bro of this series.

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About the Creator

Riot Dragon

I like anime, and since I'm binge watching a bunch of them anyway, I thought I'd review them. Enjoy.

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