Golden Time – 08
A good, if unlikely, group of friends
So which Yui Horie song do you guys like best from this season? I’d go with the ED from Golden Time as best song, but for animation, nothing beats the Miss Monochrome ED (if you’re not watching Miss Monochrome, you should at least go look for the ED 🙂 ).
It’s that Golden Time of week again! This episode, the band of merry friends take a day off to visit the amusement park. Good times ensue.
First Year Friendship
Nothing makes friends like attempted murder
Highway\\ I guess you could say it’s inevitable that this group of characters would end up being friends like this. No matter what you think of Kouko, this group of first years has developed a good friendship, with even Kouko and Oka making a bit of conciliation… after Kouko tried to kill her. And to be honest, I think this is also good for Kouko. She’s been learning what it’s like to have an actual boyfriend, and now she has to learn what it’s like to try to have a girl friend. And sure, their start has been somewhat fraught, but I think it’s gone in a good direction, as she learns that she can’t just hate Oka, even if there’s something between Oka and Mitsuo (no matter that Oka rejected him, there’s still plenty there).
Poor 2D-kun with nobody to love
With that, and the inclusion of 2D-kun, I think the divide has crystallized in this show. We have the group of 5 first years coalescing into a group, and at the same time hardening around the edge. And of course, that barrier kind of leaves Linda on the outside. That’s exemplified in the way that Banri meets with Linda: everyone else asleep, alone on the balcony, with even a literal wall between them. I think it’s tough to tell if Linda was telling the truth about her answer to Banri. Given what we’ve seen of Banri and Linda from that time, I think that it’s definitely plausible that her answer would be ‘no’. Maybe she did feel something for him, but it really didn’t look like love in any of the scenes we’ve seen. And even if she had said yes to him, would it have held up? I still think she likes current Banri better than old Banri, but hopefully we don’t get old Banri back (I like new Banri better, too) even in little spurts like this time.
A barrier between them
The Past
Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time
Sumairii\\ Golden Time proves that you just can’t escape from the past. The show continues on a roll with Banri and Linda’s relationship, which is getting more and more complicated by the second. It begins with another flashback, in which Linda vehemently denies any romantic feelings for Banri when teased by other girls. Of course, this comes back to bite her as the guy himself happens to be eavesdropping outside the door. Stuff happens, and eventually they make up. But I think there is something important we should take away from the incident. So far, it’s been unclear just where in the gray area between friends and lovers the two stand. With this new flashback, I would argue that they really are closer to the latter than the former.
For one, if Linda truly didn’t feel anything for Banri, she wouldn’t get so worked up about it. As with Chinami, it can be possible for someone to hide their feelings under a facade and appear otherwise unaffected. But this falsification doesn’t work so well in the reverse. I don’t see how anyone who doesn’t have romantic feelings for a person in question could get so flustered when denying it. That reaction is one of someone who realizes the truth, but is in denial for one reason or another. And in this case, the reason might be as simple as a fear of changing the currently comfortable status quo. So when Linda claims the answer she would have given on the bridge, had she made it in time, was “no”, I call bullshit.
I guess you’d call this a setup episode, as one group gets closer together while another relationship that seemed to be closing up seems to have a gap open up. And was that an assertion from old Banri, taking over new Banri’s body? I sure hope that doesn’t continue. Either way, I still enjoy this show, doing things that are unexpected and keeping it interesting. I still like the Kouko and Banri pairing, a bit more than I like Linda and New Banri. And I don’t know if anyone likes Old Banri.
It’s possible I’m just biased because I’ve previously stated my belief that she held and still holds a special place for Banri in her heart. But with the way she was acting in that flashback, I can’t believe that Linda truly only thought of him as a friend. Which means we’re now set up for drama max if anything ever comes out of this troubled past. My guess is Linda is keeping quiet about it out of respect for new Banri’s new relationships. But it’s looking like spirit Banri might be more selfish, with hints that he’s wrestling for control of Banri’s body to reaffirm his love for Linda. Knowing how possessive Kouko is of the guy, this can’t possibly end without a blood bath.
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: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Having everyone become friends will make things that more unstable when eventual emotions start to boil over. I know Kouko has her eccentric ways but I really can’t stand it when she picks on Oka like that. At least Oka is being the better girl by not retaliating in the same fashion and simply telling her what goes on between Mitsuo and she is none of her business.
Banri has some serious cojones to pull off that image destroying and easily misunderstood stunt to keep that from troubling Mitsuo. He’s lucky no fujoshis were hanging around. His dwelling in the past by talking to Linda is distorting what he has now. It’s obvious she was lying when she said “no” about the confession so I wonder how he would’ve reacted if she said “yes”.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Something to think about, tho. Even if Linda’s answer was going to be ‘yes’ back at the time, it matters what her reasoning was at the time. To me, that is an important thing. Was she going to say yes because she unreservedly loved Banri? I think it’s tremendously obvious that she didn’t. If she had, she wouldn’t have asked for another day. If she had, she wouldn’t have been so adamant that she didn’t to her friends. That wasn’t ’embarrassed and demure’, that was out and out rejection of the idea of dating Banri. And the only thing that was a problem with it was that Banri overheard it, and got his feelings hurt. And even if Linda doesn’t love Banri romantically, she doesn’t want to crush her friend.
So maybe Linda, finding out that Banri is becoming his own person, sees someone that she feels she could have loved now, but feels that she can’t use their past vs Kouko.
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
Regarding the question at the top of the article: I really like Sweets & Sweet Cherry.
Regarding Rinda’s true feelings: I don’t think she really liked him (romantically). I do think he was an important friend, or like a younger brother, so she felt bad about hurting him, and didn’t want to stop being with him completely.