Golden Time

Due to a tragic accident, Banri Tada is struck with amnesia, dissolving the memories of his hometown and past. However, after befriending Mitsuo Yanagisawa, he decides to move on and begin a new life at law school in Tokyo. But just as he is beginning to adjust to his college life, the beautiful Kouko Kaga dramatically barges into Banri's life, and their chance meeting marks the beginning of an unforgettable year.

After having a glimpse of college life, Banri learns that he is in a new place and a new world—a place where he can be reborn, have new friends, fall in love, make mistakes, and grow. And as he begins to discover who he was, the path he has chosen leads him towards a blindingly bright life that he will never want to forget.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kaga, Kouko Main

Horie, Yui Japanese

Tada, Banri Main

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Hayashida, Nana Main

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Yanagisawa, Mitsuo Main

Ishikawa, Kaito Japanese

Nana Supporting

Satou, Satomi Japanese

Satou, Takaya Supporting

Hikami, Takahiro Japanese

Oka, Chinami Supporting

Kido, Ibuki Japanese

Koshino Supporting

Kondou, Takayuki Japanese

Sao Supporting

Gotou, Saori Japanese

Kouko's Father Supporting

Kanao, Tetsuo Japanese

Fujishiro, Atsushi Producer

Sudou, Koutarou Producer

Yuasa, Takaaki Producer

Kawakami, Ryuutarou Producer

Reviews

Feb 8, 2025

SmarterThanAll

Recommended

Let me start by addressing Kouko because it seems like a large amount of the criticism for Golden Time comes from Kouko as a character. Unless you're 12 or otherwise retarded in some way you'd be able to deduce that Kouko is objectively the most genuine character in the series. From her first introduction to the very last scene Kouko is entirely forthright with what she wants always telling first Mitsuo and eventually Banri exactly what she wants and not being subtle about it. Kouko falls hopelessly in love with Banri and that remains her singular driving character trait for the entire show. Kouko's so ... wholesome I thought it was all an act to manipulate Banri but turns out she just really loved him the whole time. Kouko is the sincerest deredere I've ever seen or read in fiction. Despite Banri being denser than a dying star Kouko does her absolute best to accommodate and change for him so enough with the Kouko slander I'm tired of the low IQ takes about her clinginess and possessiveness. Banri fell in love with Kouko in part due to her psycho nature therefore he knew what he was getting into when they got together. If the behavior is consensual and mutual there's no flaw or reason to complain about clinginess or possessiveness.

Now with the Banri slander. Banri isn't a terrible protagonist, but unfortunately, he often suffers from retardation. That's bad enough on its own but worst of all is the strange supernatural element to his amnesia. It's poorly introduced, executed, resolved, and it's never explained in any satisfactory way. A total and complete writing mess. The supernatural element very conveniently seems to suddenly take effect in only the most inopportune moments and of course this causes cascading drama as a result. This happens so frequently it becomes silly and by the end you're just rolling your eyes in mild frustration when it occurs. The supernatural element is very poorly thought-out it's without question the worst part of Golden Time an because it's so heavily tied to Banri as a character it does a lot of harm to him as a character.

Speaking of characters Kouko, Chinami, Mitsuo, and 2D are excellent characters who often carried the show. Banri and Linda are good enough but suffer from being tied to the past and thus the poorly executed amnesia plot. That being said while I loved the characters there isn't a ton of development for them. I think basically all of the character development is focused on Banri and Kouko. Which could be a huge problem if you don't end up liking Kouko and/or Banri as they get the overwhelming focus.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Golden Time but mainly because I was invested in the love story of Banri and Kouko. If you aren't hooked by their relationship like I was then I could very easily see you not finding much to like about this story but if you go into Golden Time expecting a pure romance, I think you'll be satisfied once all is said and done.

Oh, and there is in fact a happy ending for those sensitive to such things like I am.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Sep 26, 2024

AnimeIsAMistake7

Mixed Feelings

This show has made me feel a lot of different things, and I can't say that I am likely to ever rewatch it. Golden Time would at times feel like its name implies, and at others it was more akin to a goddamn trainwreck. That being said, a lot of the reasons I struggled with watching this show was because of how real the writing felt. It captured some of the best and some of the worst feelings that come with being in a relationship, and the one we were audience to was far from any semblance of something you can call healthy. Its remarkable ... how easily we can wound eachother, especially those we choose to share our most intimate secrets and vulnerabilities with, and unfortunately Golden Time did an excellent job at giving us a front row seat to such events. Sometimes done out of ego or pride that we know what is best for our partner, sometimes done out of guilt or self loathing, and sometimes done out of sheer frustration and anger at the other, there truly is no shortage of motives nor methods for people to fight.

The main pair in this anime are not a healthy couple, at least for the first half of the show. Banri is an easy-going and borderline unremarkable average college student but with a debilitating neurological condition brought on as the result of an injury, and runs from this looming threat to his very existence through nearly the entire show, often through deceit and keeping those he cares about at arms length. Kouko is a beautiful golden haired rich girl who has deep-seeded insecurities and anxieties which drive her to be obsessive, controlling, and generally check off every red flag that should make a potential suitor run for his life.

But soon the unlikely duo hit it off and down the spiral begins. People often praise the first half of the show and say the second half was where it fell off, but I think it was the opposite. It was often played up for comedy, but the first half is full of signs this relationship is in an extremely precarious position. Anyone that has ever been in a toxic relationship will recognize what it means when a partner spends all their waking moments with you, when you check your phone after a short amount of time and have hundreds of missed messages from the same person, or when you find yourself making up lies to excuse yourself for an hour just to hang out with a friend they dont want you to associate with. The rationalizations you tell to yourself to explain why you put up with their behavior, and the way you yourself begin to excuse your own problematic actions since you feel as if you are owed some leniency for 'putting up with' them despite at the very beginning of all of this you promised that being with them will never feel like 'putting up with' them and their problems...

All these problems are very obviously present in the first half of the anime, and I would have written the show off as a loss had nothing changed. However, it often takes hitting rock bottom for people to change their ways or at least begin an earnest attempt to, and that turning point does come. Each of them attempts to restrain their worst aspects and to improve themselves for the other's sake, but more importantly for their own as well. And just like any recovering drinker or addict, there will be bad days where it seems like all the trials and efforts have been for naught. Perhaps it isnt the best message to encourage the "i can fix her" mindset, but in this anime it appears to have prevailed. The only problem that remains... is everything else.

Of the various reasons I've seen people cite to explain why this show is bad and not worth the watch, the amnesia/ghost banri plotline seems to be the most reoccurring. To briefly describe it, a ghost of his former self prior to his memory loss follows him around and attempts to sabotage his current life and relationship as he is still in love with a childhood friend. I'm not necessarily opposed to this plotline, as it could be a personification of our memories the past and the lingering regrets we carry with us. When are we supposed to stop loving someone, when are we expected to have erased those previous feelings like deleting photos from a camera roll, and how do we disentangle complicated feelings and separate them from the things we feel in the present? All of it is worthy of exploration, and this setup made for as decent place as any to try. Some balk at the idea of such a surreal sequence in an otherwise straight laced slice of life romcom. But such things have been successfully pulled off in the past, just think about those dreamlike sequences from Clannad after all. Clearly based on its reception, Golden Time was not a very successful example. The idea could have been promising, but they failed in its execution, along with the pacing and ultimately delivered a half baked product which only furthered the audience's frustration with the anime.

The pacing of the show in general left a bit to be desired. The most egregious parts though seem to be the beginning and the end, where the impact of what should be life changing events is ultimately rushed over far too quickly than it should have been. The enormous weight of what has happened isnt given enough time to really sink in. It would be like if a shounen villain kills the protagonist and everyone cries, only for him to come back 5 minutes later and defeat the villain. Instead of the moment reaching its full emotional potential, it just sort of seems like a cheap trick.

The final issue I think might be worth discussing is the issue of realism. I have seen many criticize this show as having characters that are too stupid or erratic and behaving in an unrealistic manner, and just as many saying that the show's characters are very realistic. Personally I enjoyed most of the side characters; their comedic relief and their struggles felt comforting, harkening back to the time when i was in the midst of my own golden college times. Perhaps most of this debate lies in people thinking they would not act the same in a situation, and that's fair. At the end of the day if a viewer can't distinguish the difference between a character doing something for no reason, and a character doing something because their motivations, doubts, guilt, anxieties, self loathing, depression, or a myriad of other factors drove them to, then it matters not how realistic they are. It is a matter of communication, of how effectively the author is able to portray and convey the subtleties and underlying ideas to an audience. No one should feel like they 'werent paying close enough attention' or 'they should have picked up on this or that' when they engage with a story which promised them entertainment.

What I think is the real underlying cause of the controversy is an undoubted failure on the part of the anime. It isn't enough for an anime to be realistic, it has to be able to captivate and engross you into the story. Golden Time had many interesting components which certainly could have made for a great story, yet they struggled somewhere along the way weaving them together in a way that makes fans unquestionably stick around for the ride. Despite all the criticism I throw around, I find myself at a loss as to what to suggest could have been done differently, what could have been done better, so as to bridge that gap between audience and author. Perhaps there was the best attempt possible to bring this story to life, but at the end of the day I can't fault them for trying, and I ultimately think my time was well spent watching it. Compared to many of the faceless seasonal highschool romcoms that come and go, Golden Time is not something that will be leaving my memory anytime soon, for better or for worse.

This show is either the best written dumpsterfire i've seen or a good idea prepared in the worst way possible. I think the only way to really know if you like it or not is to give it a shot yourself and see.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Nov 20, 2023

MorningstarGX

Not Recommended

Let’s keep it simple…this show has a lot of flaws and unanswered questions, however its main flaws can be summarized into 2 people, Tada and Kouko. Let’s begin…

Story - The story has a basic premise. Boy has amnesia, doesn’t remember his past. Makes a new life. Love triangle happens due to the past coming back. That’s the tldr version of it. No it’s not deep but it tries to be, I would love to talk about the story but that’s not where the problem lies…(score: 5/10)

Characters - (Now THIS is the problem)
Let’s start with the main MC. Banri…at some parts his reactions and actions ... are justified due to the amnesia however when it comes to the “love interest” side to things he acts like an immature child who wants their way but can’t have it. Along with being a pushover who clearly has never had a relationship and doesn’t know how to say “no” or put his foot down even tho he does know how to. However again he isn’t the true problem and most his actions can be overlooked as a character tho he is an idiot, un-funny, not charming; he basically has nothing going for him. (4/10)
Koko….Koko is the secondary MC because she is the “love interest” of dumbass whom I just spoke about. This woman’s appearance alone festers hate to the extreme levels because she is (the list is long so get ready) immature, insecure, manipulative, narcissistic, controlling, spoiled, forceful, selfish, unappealing, hypocritical, overbearing, overreactive, mentally unstable and abusive women. I could go on but I think you get the point. Everytime she comes on screen she makes me reduce the overall score of the show(no I’m not kidding, the score goes up tho). She IS this show’s issue. I know I haven’t finished this show yet (I want to drop it) but I’m holding out just to see this woman get a wake up call or she gets her heart broken, if there’s anyone as insecure as her, I wish you the worst. Anyways.(0/10)
Side characters- waaaaaay more interesting (10/10) <—{reason why the score goes up}
Overall Character rate: 6/10

Entertainment - Entertainment wise, it’s good as long as Koko isn’t involved.
5/10

Overall - I wish I could get back the time I spent on this anime. I do NOT recommend it. My overall rating will probably not change as I finish this however if it does currently I give it a 3/10 and if my rating does change it will probably be a 5/10.

Edit: I finished it…

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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