Golden Time Episode 12
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)
The things we do in order to go out on dates and give those we love something special… how else to explain Banri doing a server job that has him dressing up as a maid of sorts, complete with wig? He’s got the right personality to handle it at least and just laughs at the weirdness of it and enjoys the experience while making money. Heck, when he ends up running into Linda there who is doing the same thing, albeit in a simply little black number, the two of them just have to realize how silly it all is and enjoy the moment. Considering all the tension between them recently, it’s good to have something like this. Of course, while he’s off doing all of this, Koko is back at her place and spiraling shallowly into some despair over not seeing Banri.
There’s a lot of fun to be had with the way the party job plays for Banri and the others and the attempt Yana makes to hit on Linda as well, which opens up its own possibilities. But with Banri working and Koko not knowing why he’s not answering his phone, she ends up going to where he is and causes quite the scene in public with him. Which is bad enough of course for both of them, but it also pushes her into a place that she’s really trying to not be in. To not be the kind of girlfriend that would do such things. But she’s also being driven by some of the jealousies that comes from learning of his background with Linda, which is awkward considering his memory issues. It’s coming back to him, yes, but he’s been up front with her about the issues and it’s an awkward thing to try and bring to light when you take into account his feelings for her in the past that he doesn’t feel now.
This all leads to one of the best things about this series. The two characters, alone in the dark, end up talking it all out. It gets emotional, it gets messy, it reveals things about each of them that they were in some ways trying to hide because of fears they have. And it helps to actually advance their relationship and put it in a new place as it grows through the turmoil of it all. When you have Koko holding Banri’s hand and see the way it shakes, it left me wondering when I last saw something like that between characters. And I really can’t remember anything like it. It helps to just cement and make real their relationship all the more, which is what makes it so engaging and fun to watch.
In Summary:
While we get a little bit of really cute silliness at the start, which is definitely a positive as it focuses on the idea started in the previous episode, most of the show is pretty serious. And highly engaging to watch since it further explores and exposes the hearts and minds of our two lead characters. Each of them are flawed and human in so many ways and coping with not just who they are, but who their significant other is as well and all their flaws. And they’re actively working through it all, miscommunications and all, in a rather realistic way that makes you root for them all the more. I can’t remember the last time I was so enthused for an anime relationship as I am this one and hoping that it grows, changes and becomes even stronger.
Grade: A-
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.