What They Say:
Banri Tada is a newly admitted student at a private law school in Tokyo. However, due to an accident, he lost all of his memories. During his freshman orientation, he encounters another freshman from the same school, Mitsuo Yanagisawa, and they hit it off at once. Without any memory of each other, their lives become more and more intertwined as if set by the hands of fate. But what is their fate, and will it lead to happiness or another memory to forget…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Golden Time has moved things forward just enough here that Banri has mostly made a full recovery, his fever going away and all, and is healing nicely from all that happened. He’s smart enough to say that Koko was a big reason for the quick recovery and it’s pretty true since she spent a lot of time with him, taking care of him and doing other things. It’s the kind of situation that can obviously draw two people together more and now that they’re back on campus and getting around, it’s even more obvious what a good couple they make. Particularly since Koko is trying so hard like she was early on and especially with Mitsuo. She still has her concerns, as does he since there’s the issue of the missing picture, but they’re definitely stronger together at this point.
While the pair get together with the club and find out about the Awa dance that they’re going to participate in with little training, it becomes obvious that there are still some lingering issues with Banri when it comes to Linda. There are and likely always be emotions there with her, but he’s trying to deal with it in a logical way since he realizes it rather than it just eating him up unknowingly. Amusingly, once the club breaks for the day, he spends time with just the guys to find out the best way to take Koko to the beach for the day since promised her that. It’s comical with the way he’s so ill-prepared, but the guys are rough on him in their own way, especially since they keep calling Koko “robogirl” and all that. Not exactly friendly and they’ve painted themselves such a high class image of her that it just makes the situation even more complicated.
A good part of the show focuses on the various interactions that do exist between some of the characters, though we get some of the guys pushing Banri to get a job so he can do the things he wants to with Koko. But she won’t allow it since she’d rather just spend time with him. One of the recurring themes here continues to be the way others see Koko, which even has Yano talking about how clingy she is and how he must enjoy having some time away from her. But Banri generally is pretty good about this, not so much in an outright defense of her, but his continued expression of love for her helps him to put others in their place about what they’re saying since they don’t want to offend him. Naturally, he does end up getting a part time gig to raise a little money, but it involves dressing up to work in a nightclub and you have to laugh with how it unfolds – including the brief cameo by Miss Monochrome.
In Summary:
Golden Time does have a fair bit of fun with the characters as the night club serving role goes on and we see how Banri and Yano are in for more than they expected – in very different ways. The show does some decent things here as it delves a bit more into the complicated kind of relationships that exist and the way they’re perceived by others. You do have to feel for Banri in the way that everyone seems to have things to say about Koko while he’s simply fallen for her in his own way. Unless he’s really just deluding himself at this point. It just feels real to me though in how he cares for her and has connected with her while working with his own struggles. There’s some fun with the way Koko deals with things and even some with how the guys view Koko, but mostly what we get here is movement towards the next moment more than anything else or anything meaty to work with.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
