[Review] Golden Time

Che Gilson December 19, 2015

College freshman Tada Banri meets Yanagisawa Mitsuo on his first day of school. It’s a bromance at first sight as both of them are hoping for a fresh start in college for very different reasons. Tada suffers from amnesia and Mitsuo suffers from girl trouble, namely the beautiful and upscale Kaga Kouko who has decided that Mitsuo is her one and only. She has her entire life scripted and that script revolves around Mitsuo. Kaga follows him to his new college, destroying what little hope Mitsuo had for a normal college life. But she also draws the attention of Tada, who decides to try to befriend the lonely-looking girl.

The majority of Golden Time is spent on Tada and Kaga getting to know each other. Kaga comes off as self-involved and not very bright. She keeps to herself and the other students don’t seem to like her much because of the money she flaunts. At first she only talks to Tada because she wants to learn Mitsuo’s class schedule, but when they inadvertently end up as prisoners of a cult (!), the real Kaga starts to come out and Tada likes her even more.

Golden Time is an odd little shonen romantic comedy, more intriguing than funny. Is Kaga nicer than she seems? Is Tada a better match for Kaga? Will Mitsuo realize what he had when it’s gone? (And will he even stay an important character?) It almost feels like a gender swapped Kimagure Orange Road without the attitude or super powers.

The art is excellent—clean characters with photo-referenced back grounds—and Umechazuke’s pages are smooth and well laid out. Golden Time is off to a good start despite some of the more preposterous plot elements (remember that cult? Yeah …) and it’s certainly not terrible to look at.
Recommended.