Golden Time

Adapted from the “ゴールデンタイム” light novels written Takemiya Yuyuko, “Golden Time” is labeled as a romantic comedy with supernatural elements. The story is about Banri, a young student starting is university life and falls head over heels for Kouko, a beautiful but outrageous girl who obsessively stalks unwilling Mitsuo.

Add in a drama element that Banri suffers from amnesia, having lost all memories from an accident he got into two years ago, plus a supernatural element that Banri’s spirit, possessing all memories of his life prior to the accident now watches over this ‘new’ Banri.

Although unsure about this supernatural element, decided to try “Golden Time” since the romantic comedy potential seemed quite promising. Alas cannot say that this show has really captured me, in fact am struggling to continue watching it.

“Golden Time” isn’t necessarily a bad anime, but to my personal taste and expectations it has not been all that good either. The gimmick of Kouko obsessing over Mitsou only remains funny for so long and soon gets tiresome, the third episode with a cult subplot was downright ridiculous.

While it is suggested they are setting things up for Kouko’s character to grow and become a fated pairing with Banri, there’s some jarring inconsistencies in her character and actions that are too severe to allow for any subtle, believable character growth. Her reversal that is surely to come, will no doubt feel too forced.

In contrast, Banri’s own situation and plight are far more enthralling, though it feels like a shame it had to be revealed so bluntly. Do have doubts how well the spirit version of the old Banri will mesh with the show’s typical romantic comedy atmosphere.

Animation by studio JC Staff is alright, but there’s clear differences in animation level and overall care between generic scenes and key character close-ups, the former looking far less well polished compared to the latter. Looking at JC Staff’s recent work on “To aru Kagaku no Railgun S” and “Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo”, this new show “Golden Time” is visibly less well animated.

Horie Yui voices Kouko, she tackled many roles like Naru in “Love Hina”, Millhiore in “Dog Days”, Yoriko in “Yuyushiki”, Raika in “Papa no Iu Koto wo Kikinasai”, Hanekawa in “Monogatari Series Second Season” and this season also voices Kanon in this season’s “Coppelion”.

Linda is voiced by Kayano Ai who also voices Inori in “Guilty Crown”, Mashiro in “Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo”, Lucy in “Servant x Service”, Kanae in “Tamayura ~More Aggressive~” and voices Chisaki in this season’s “Nagi no Asukara”.

Petite Oka is voiced by Kido Ibuki, she voiced Akiko in “Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankei Nai yo ne” and Natsuki in “Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku ”. Wonder how much we’ll see of Nana, the character voiced by Satou Satomi who also voiced Ritsu in “K-ON!”, Aria in “Seitokai Yakuindomo”, Chitanda in “Hyouka” and Sakura in “Kiniro Mosaic”.

Somehow kept watching this series until now and may continue to do so, however from all the shows I am actively watching this season, it clearly ranks at the bottom.