Golden Time is this anime I casually saw on Animax. In the few instances I saw it, the story got more interesting. Skipping episodes did not work for me, so I watched all 24 episodes.
Golden Time is a story of Banri Tada, a college freshman, who enters a university with everything put behind him — because he has amnesia. There, he created a new life, while struggling to keep in terms with his past. It's a story about identity, peppered with a good amount of comedy and drama.
What I liked about the Golden Time is the developing characters. Kuoko ( the female love interest), for example, wasn't very likable in the beginning (she's a bit of a psychopath), but she evolved into an adult, episode after episode after episode. It's not only her, but almost everybody in the anime grew, except Banri.
A core part of the story is Banri's relationship with another female character, Linda, his high school sweetheart to whom he shared secrets and a deep understanding. She was easily likable, which in terms of how stories go makes an exciting love triangle.
I enjoyed every episode until episode 23. I hated the finale. Despite some foreshadowing, I was not prepared of the supernatural. I thought the other version of Banri who knew his past, who spoke to the viewers, was his repressed subconscious. Not a ghost of his former self, rather a part of his psyche. Maybe I wanted it to go my way.
It appeared that when Banri got into an accident, his former self departed his body as a spirit, and the one after the accident was a new soul.
It appeared that when Banri got into an accident, his former self departed his body as a spirit, and the one after the accident was a new soul.
I should have known better. Right in the middle, ghost Banri had powers that poltergeists would be envious of. His power bordered on cosmic abilities: weather control, probability manipulation and jinx enhancement.
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| You must understand, ghost Banri has god-like abilities, such as creating bad weather, putting people to sleep, and give you bad fortune. |
In the end, instead of Banri remembering his past in addition to his present memory, he forgets his post-accident experiences. I thought they would merge together as one personality, then decide who he loves more, Linda or Kuoko. Either way would have been fine. I liked them both.
It's a cop-out ending for Golden Time where Banri forgot his pre-accident self to be with Kuoko, and Linda says goodbye to Version-1 Banri as a ghost before going into oblivion.
I read somewhere that the story is ongoing, Maybe the book is better, but I wouldn't bother knowing. An emotional investment and time put to waste.
When I was in college, back in 2002, I had a classmate who asked a question about amnesia. She asked about a man found in the beach by a woman who had amnesia. They fell in love. The memories of the man returned and forgot all about the woman, until everything came back again like Banri did. It was a story she read on a cheap Tagalog pocketbook.
I told her it doesn't happen in real life, fairly annoyed by such silly plot.
Hopefully, she will never hear of Golden Time. I have not spoken to this classmate since graduation. But if she's seen Golden Time, hopefully, she does not remember me as the idiot.
No, I still stand by what I said.
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When I was in college, back in 2002, I had a classmate who asked a question about amnesia. She asked about a man found in the beach by a woman who had amnesia. They fell in love. The memories of the man returned and forgot all about the woman, until everything came back again like Banri did. It was a story she read on a cheap Tagalog pocketbook.
I told her it doesn't happen in real life, fairly annoyed by such silly plot.
Hopefully, she will never hear of Golden Time. I have not spoken to this classmate since graduation. But if she's seen Golden Time, hopefully, she does not remember me as the idiot.
No, I still stand by what I said.
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