Golden Time Episode 15
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 gave us some good fun in the previous episode with a touch of bathing suit material coming in, but that was all just a lead-up to this episode as the gang heads out to the beach itself. It’s something that was obviously done for the sake of fanservice in the previous episode, but it also had some good character reveal material as well for Koko, which definitely helped to flesh her out a bit more with her issues. Still, the simple material is just as much fun as we see her and Banri heading out for the beach and having Banri talk about wearing his speedo before it delves into the problems of Mitsuo and Linda apparently dating, which is something that can be complicated between the two of them because of their respective feelings and issues from the past.
The first half of the episode is amusing as we see everyone slowly but surely getting together with 2D-kun, who has a car to take them where they’re going. Not that everyone gets together easily since there’s some confusion along the way and plenty of frustration on 2D’s part since the traffic is difficult and he just wants to get on the road. It is amusing that he changes his mindset once Oka-chan gets into the car though, realizing how attractive she is and knowing that swimsuit is on underneath it. But it’s not something that can stem the problems of watching the slow moving traffic and more. Though everyone gets along well to be sure, there’s also some tension as everyone finally gets in and the three of them have to make sure to not talk about seeing Mitsuo with Linda recently since they don’t want to open up that particular discussion just yet.
To make matters worse, once they arrive at the beach, it’s an absolute storm out there. But you have to love how Banri just enjoys the situation, stripping down to his speedo and savoring the rain. That draws Koko out and you can really see how well connected they are and how much fun they simply have. Thankfully, they do get some good weather along the way and that makes for some very fun beach time between the gang as they frolic and it definitely makes for an enjoyable sequence. The episode as a whole has a lot of fun material, but it also puts you into a real bind at the end on the ride home as they all fall asleep while driving and it nears an utterly horrific accident, one that the “old” Banri inside is the only one who’s aware of it and is desperately trying to stop it from happening, which could lead to a whole host of other issues. It’s a cringe inducing sequence because of the potential for things to go so bad on so many levels.
In Summary:
Golden Time gives us a whole lot of fun when it comes to the drive, the beach and the relationship that exists between Banri and Koko. It’s a couple that I find myself really caring for more and more with each episode, not just because of how they talk and get to the root of things together and by themselves, but because they also have fun together. Having a beach episode without the usual jealousies coming into play and simply letting the group have fun together is just wonderful to see, even if it was in the midst of a storm at first since that showed us another side of Banri that he’s not always bringing out. Of course, into every show a little or a lot of drama must fall and this episode drops a potential brick ton of it on us. How it plays out will potentially determine much of the second half of this series and I’m curious to see if it can pull it off.
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.