Golden Time – 05
Midnight (almost) rendezvous.
And suddenly things get supernatural. Honestly I wasn’t expecting this, but at least it’ll make for some interesting story telling.
Golden Time is not really going the way I expected, but there’s certainly nothing bad about that. If the concept seemed predictable, the execution certainly isn’t.
Lost Memories
Meet Banri and Banri.
Sumairii \\ We know that Banri suffers from amnesia and doesn’t have any memories from before he was 18. Turns out those memories didn’t just disappear. Instead, the old Banri’s consciousness was separated from his body during the accident. I’m not sure how that works, but let’s just roll with that. Now, you may be wondering what the whole point of having a Banri in spirit and Banri in the flesh is. The two don’t interact, and no one else seems to be aware of the former’s existence. But I think it is exactly one of these two points that we will see. Maybe eventually the Banri we know and the Banri of the past will be able to communicate with each other. Or perhaps they’ll merge somehow and become a “complete” being. On the other hand, it’s also possible that someone on the cast can perceive spirit Banri; I’m looking at Linda here.
Ramblings of a broken girl.
There wouldn’t be any point to spirit Banri aside from stuff like this, so the fact that he has been introduced suggests he won’t remain as a disembodied consciousness isolated from the rest of the world. But of course, there is a lot that could be done with such an unusual setup that I can’t possibly predict with any certainty what will happen. It might even be possible that spirit Banri is just here to narrate Banri’s past to us viewers. That would be rather boring and a waste of an opportunity for intriguing developments, but again, who knows?
Significant Others
Well, this is all going to shit.
Sumairii \\ Last time Banri confessed to Kouko abruptly. So it comes as no surprise to me that he gets turned down here. Kouko is very proactive about their friendship though, so I’m certain our hero still has a very good chance of ending up with her. While it’s true that some of Kouko’s over-the-top enthusiasm is probably to spite Mitsuo, I would not use that to discount the possibility of her looking at Banri in a different light. She just needs a bit more time to get Mitsuo off her mind. Then, when she’s truly over the guy, she can give a relationship with Banri more thought. And speaking of relationships, spirit Banri confirms that there really was something between old Banri and Linda, as I suspected. Nothing is explicitly stated as of yet, but I’m willing to bet they were a couple. That would be the most dramatic course.
The Mysterious Linda-senpai
What does she hide and why?
Highway \\ Banri’s finally taken a look at some of his old memories, and after finding that picture of himself and Linda, seems to finally have a crisis of his new self. Throughout the show, he’s been confident in his current self, but this is the first occurrence of him wondering whether what his old self knows is better than what he knows now. And even more confusing is why, if Linda knows who he is, and knew him before, why does she persist in not revealing that fact to him? She seems friendly and interesting, but what is she hiding. And having the revelation that he knew her before his accident brings another memory: the night he tried to “escape” from the hospital, beckoned by the light on the hill that might have been for him. Again, it was Linda, but she played it off as if she was trying to contact someone else. Why did she change her mind? Is she feeling as unsure of herself as Banri? But she does plant the idea that he should ‘escape’ to Tokyo, a place where he can get away from the oppressive feeling of his old self hanging over him.
The Mecurial Koko
Better luck next time.
Highway \\ Koko definitely seems to be flailing a bit in this episode. From vamping about her new close friend Banri and their mythical past lives, to putting on a brave face in the Matsuri club, she definitely seems to be trying to hard to both forget about Mitsuo and play down the fact that she’s rejected Banri. And it’s definitely a difficult thing with Banri, trying to friend-zone him to the satisfaction of both of them. We don’t really know what kind of guy Banri is (not like he really does either), so while he’s obviously disappointed at the indirect rejection (Koko even works really hard to not outright turn him down, instead focusing on how he’s a good friend), he’s not going away, and still acts friendly. Is he just being a friend? Or is he just biding his time? It’s pretty obvious that Koko is an emotional wreck right now, and even breaks down right in front of him. But Banri is still supporting her, even as she brings up the other enigma in his life, Linda, and says she wants to be like their senpai.
Things are really moving along now with the continued addition of Banri’s past. The pieces are slowly coming together, and our hero’s past and present will likely collide sooner or later. The unexpected introduction of supernatural elements also up the interest at the risk of being gimmicky. That said, I’m really liking how the show is unfolding in spite of its rather unexciting premiere. The relationships are clearly setting up for some drama, yet it doesn’t look like a completely convoluted clusterfuck dramafest like in a certain other show under the sea.
Banri’s world is getting more confusing by the day, not least because of the mystery of Linda. The question really is what he will do about it. He’s interested in Koko, but she’s seemingly shutting him down, at least as far as a romantic partner goes. And while Linda is nice to him, he’s never gotten any message from her that they could be more than just friends, in their past or present. Why won’t she say anything? My guess so far is because Banri’s consistently made it clear that he does not care to think about his past self, and the ‘oppression’ that he feels because of it, even referring to it as a ‘prison’. What should Linda think about that, hearing that he would consider her one of his ‘jailers’? But that conversation was a while ago, so perhaps his attitude has changed, especially given the way she hasn’t tried to push it on him. From seeming to be a pretty cut-and-dried series on rails, with Banri and Koko getting together and living happily ever after, it seems there’s quite a bit of doubt now.
About Tag Team
We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
POWUH: 600-699 and LN Enthusiast with 623 comments
The ‘ghost’ of Banri here has been present ever since the first volume of the novel. Every beginning of a chapter of the LN, the narration and perspective shifts to him/it observing the current Banri. I would say it’s more of a different style of storytelling rather than the show having a slight supernatural thing. The narration of pre-amnesia Banri actually gives more characterization to Banri in the novels as it really highlights the disconnect of the past and present Banri.
And they removed Kouko’s story about getting bitten by a snake after they’d met up with Linda. It kind of highlights her big change of character due to the events of the past few episodes. She was pretty energetic in retelling it that Banri was relieved she was taking things well. It also kind of explains why she’s wearing those black tights as the weather is pretty hot then(middle of May I believe).
They also placed Kouko’s crying a bit earlier as it should have happened after they got those ‘No’ fans in the preview.
And that flashback with Linda in the hospital is probably from a future volume as it’s definitely not in volume 2. Actually at this point in the story, we should have already known Banri and Linda’s relationship from the prologue of volume 2(which will be in the next episode) and why Banri was in that bridge but it wasn’t clear who the rider was. Seems like it’s Linda from that flashback. I always thought that detail wasn’t a big deal. That kind of explains a lot really.
Seems like they’ll finish volume 2 in about 2 more episodes since we have that drinking session and Kouko holding the fan. The rumor that they plan to cover all of the available volumes like in Toradora is possible. Incidentally, volume 8 of the LN will come out a little before the show ends though it’s not clear if that’s the last volume. We’ll see I guess.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Linda *is* the only person we’ve seen with a scooter (behind her when Banri finds her on the hill), but it’s really odd that if she was going there to meet Banri, why would she run him over? That seems more like something Koko would do. 😉
That would kind of explain why she’s so interested in him, while also not mentioning his past connection to her, tho. Perhaps she’s super guilty about this happening and is hoping that maybe she can reconnect with him without him remembering it was her that ran over him.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 88 comments
The Overly Attached Girl has found a new target. Run, Banri, run!
Soul? More like a personification of Banri’s pre-accident self. Just as the dude, I’m curious as to why Linda hasn’t said anything up to this point. I guess the whole thing was painful that she does not want Banri to remember.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 167 comments
Old Linda kinda looks like Natsume Rin.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 104 comments
About Koko:
I believe she needs a friend more than a love interest right now so the (surely temporary)friendzoning was a good idea if you ask me.She’s got a ton of problems and sorting out her feelings is just one of them.Taking it nice & slow is definitely for the best,as well as refreshing for us viewers to see a relationship take it’s time to develop.
But there’s a lot of work to be done here and I do hope that Banri won’t let her do as she pleases all the time,such as when she oversteps her boundaries,just because he likes her – this show can do better than that.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Koko can definitely use a true friend, but I don’t know if she’s the kind of person who could realize it. I actually think What she really really needs is a girl friend to help deal with her isolation. Unfortunately, she really laid it on Chinami, so she’s out. And I wonder if she admires Linda too much to really be friends with her.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Banri will eventually get closer to Koko but for his sake, he better hope she doesn’t get as obsessive as she was with Mitsuo. Not that she hasn’t already started with that past lives bit.
I wonder how Linda is going to take it the closer those two get while she obviously wants to remember everything before his accident. It’s doubtful she’d take it easy if he just went ahead and said he’s content with who he is now.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I kind of took the past lives bit as Koko tweaking Mitsuo, much more than showing her being obsessed with Banri. She’s pretty certainly rejected him, even if she didn’t want to say it out loud, and she certainly isn’t jumping into a rebound relationship.
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
So far this series has been alright. It certainly has gone in directions I hadn’t anticipated. First the cult, then Koko’s bullying, and now Banri’s ghost.