Silence is “Golden”

June 28th, 2014 in Anime, General Reviews, Golden TIme by

golden-time-review

For those in the medical profession, Golden Time, (or the Golden Hour), refers to a time period lasting for one hour following traumatic injury being sustained by a casualty or a severe medical emergency, during which there is the highest likelihood that prompt medical treatment will prevent death and/or minimize damage. Our anime series, “Golden Time”, follows the aftermath of such an event, although the title can have a double meaning

We start off with Banri Tada. While in his last year of high school, he suffered a traumatic head injury in a traffic accident that flung him off a bridge, that nearly killed him in the process, that effectively erased his memory and personality, so he recalls nothing of the event, save that it did happen.

He transfers to a new college to start a new life, but it is already fraught with peril. Late on the first day, he runs into Mitsuo Yanagisawa, and they immediately hit it off. As they get to school, a gorgeous blonde presents Mitsuo with a bouquet of roses….which she proceeds to smack him with. This is Koko Kaga and she and Mitsuo have been childhood friends since childhood and she is to marry him. But Mitsuo fled his hometown to start a new life here….without Koko. Not going to happen, dude.

As it turns out, she starts to have feelings for Banri, as he is a nice goof (oh, understand that Koko comes from a very wealthy family, so she always looks runway ready, whether it’s a Parisian catwalk or a Parisian airport). But there is the rather mysterious Linda-senpai, who seems to know something that Banri doesn’t.

This show becomes a romantic dramedy love trapezoid. This is another entry into the “Love Stinks” category. “Love Stinks” is a marvelous song by the J. Geils Band and it opens with:

“You love her but she loves him
And he loves somebody else you just can’t win
And so it goes till the day you die
This thing they call love it’s gonna make you cry”

And that is the whole show in a nutshell. Of course, things get complicated when Banri starts to get his memory back, but in bits and pieces and love gets really complicated. One nice feature is Banri’s Ghost, his former self, who watches over his current self, but cannot intercede in any aspect of it. We see Banri struggle on all fronts, as since there is something missing within him, there is something missing for him, so he runs pillar to post, seemingly unable to do what has to be done.

For me, the show took its bad turn when Banri learned the truth about Linda and that really colored and affected the show from that point. That may have been the Deal Killer for me. The show does take a good look at relationships, but Banri is such a nebulous person, even with the memory loss, that you can’t feel anything for him. And Koko! That is one double high maintenance lady. Forget the designer clothing she sports (I mean, my monthly rent is just one pair of shoes for her); she’s got some major serious relationship/possessiveness issues that would wreck anything, and it does.

The show fizzles at the end, as it completely falls into standard romance tropes, but it is still work a look, just because it is always a treat to see Koko make her grand appearances.
On a scale of 1 to 10:

Artwork 8 (Koko is amazing)
Plot 7 (Nothing new)
Pacing 7 (Gets a bit jagged)
Effectiveness 7 (Too many cliches)
Conclusion 7 (It reaches a ‘coupler point’, but doesn’t really end)
Fan Service 3 (A similar show would be “Okamisan”)

Overall 6 (Too much trauma)

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. “Every move you make”.


2 responses to “Silence is “Golden””

  1. Façade says:

    Definitely gonna have to write a review of this one later on… I actually loved golden time, and its made its way in my top 20 of all time. I think the complicated mess with banri and his memories gave it a relatively unique twist.. Kaga was always there to make it even more interesting with her obsessive yet comical way of dealing with, well.. everything.

    As for the ending, I was so emotionally involved with the show by that time that when (trying to be spoiler free here) banri decided to ‘put on those shoes and go’ in the last episode I was like YEAAA!!!! GO BANRII!!! … of course, everything worked out for the main protagonists as I hoped and as the main theme (memories issue) was settled, I think it concluded perfectly. I wish I could have seen more solid conclusion in relation to the side characters but I guess the slight suggestions they gave has me content

    Overall, once again.. it was awesome.. made me change my mind about which anime character I wouldn’t mind going out with…. from Gasai Yuno to Kaga XD XD XD… whattt!!! they seem fun -.-

  2. Façade says:

    Definitely gonna have to write a review of this one later on… I actually loved golden time, and its made its way in my top 20 of all time. I think the complicated mess with banri and his memories gave it a relatively unique twist.. Kaga was always there to make it even more interesting wQ

    As for the ending, I was so emotionally involved with the show by that time that when (trying to be spoiler free here) banri decided to ‘put on those shoes and go’ in the last episode I was like YEAAA!!!! GO BANRII!!! … of course, everything worked out for the main protagonists as I hoped and as the main theme (memories issue) was settled, I think it concluded perfectly. I wish I could have seen more solid conclusion in relation to the side characters but I guess the slight suggestions they gave has me content

    Overall, once again.. it was awesome.. made me change my mind about which anime character I wouldn’t mind going out with…. from Gasai Yuno to Kaga XD XD XD… whattt!!! they seem fun -.-

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