First Impressions of Golden Time

The new anime season is upon us! One of the first titles to be released for the season is Golden Time. A comedy romance anime will have any josei interested as it features an older cast of characters freshly graduated from high school. There’s only one episode out so far, but does it warrant a second look for next week? Let’s find out! This quick review is spoiler free!
It begins with a scene out of context but introduces the 3 main characters, Tada Banri, Yanagisawa Mitsuo, and the female love interest who is riddled throughout the intro, Kaga Kouko. Tada stumbles into his entrance ceremony at law school late, giving the audience the impression that he’s hard working but might not live up to everyone’s expectations. Kouko is conniving as the swats that rose bouquet in Yana’s (Yanagisawa’s) face. And Yana plays off as a too cool, but somehow very befuddled young man. He however holds the mysterious past with his involvement with Kouko, who in his words, is someone to be feared. The anticipation that plays through the episode is funny and exciting, making the comedy romance duo a nicely executed combination.

All the characters make for a funny combination as it seems Kouko runs the show. Their interaction is entertaining, and I look forward to what hijinks they’re going to get into. The love triangle is obvious, but there’s a lot of anticipation regardless. The inclusion of other girl characters later on in the episode alludes to some sort of harem type dynamic, but that isn’t really deterring me as each character feels unique enough to not be a cliche. The setting is also interesting, as it thrusts you into a colourful university with the clubs that are recruiting freshman. It opens up the antics to the other students, which could also play for some interesting comedy later on. But it’s not just about the comedy, small internal monologues from Tada suggest that this show is going to attempt to get at the heart of young love and new experiences; entering college is a big step in anyone’s life, and there’s a lot of life experience to be learned from it. I’m glad to see this show will be lighthearted,while also addressing deeper issues too.
Will I stay for next week? Yes!This show has a lot of potential and I’m looking forward to what it has to offer by addressing an older audience. If you’re a romance fan, a drama slice of life fan or a josei fan you should give this first episode a try, you might get hooked like me!
Christina