Golden Time

So it's been a few hours since the other 'review/rambles' I wrote today... i am still a little feverish from having had food with msg in it so again... if my spelling is worse or i'm not making sense it's cause i can't rally think straight.

Also because i can't think straight i'll probably just end up spoiling everything so....

Short version: This isn't very good, Toradora! is much better watch that instead.... this isn't bad but boy is the main love interest creepy/annoying.

Okay onto spoilers~

Tada Banri is an ordinary guy (his name is a pun for just another ordinary guy apparently), he's just started college and makes some new friends quickly, one of his friends is apparently being stalked by a girl named Kaga Koko who has hunted him down to his college and is trying to join all his classes... but he doesn't like stalkers so he does his best to avoid her.
Banri on the other hand thinks she's cute and harmless and tries to get her to be less obsessive but she just uses him as a way to try and get pity for her situation and get closer to the guy.
Throught this they eventually become friends and after getting half kidnapped by a cult Banri lets it slip that he has no memories before the end of highschool because he was in an accident and fell off a bridge.

Hey you know what... a rom com about a boy who is deal with amnesia could be really interesting, it gets to deal with themes of "what is the Self" and we've seen it work well in some films from the 80s... lets see where this goes.

So they (Kaga and Banri) end up escaping the cult, become better friends and come across the traditional dance club who has a girl named Linda in it who has helped banri a few times so far... later we find out that Linda and Banri were best friends in high school and he loved her and the accident happened cause she was late getting to the meeting point and he was hit by a motorcycle.

Anyways... all that stuff about the amnesiac boy having to deal with the fact that he may know people and not recognize them and how that may effect them and all those lovely themes of self i was talking about... well.... toss those out the window for most of the show.

Stuff happens and eventually Banri and Kaga start dating cause apparently they are in love (though theres a bit where he asks her and she sais no but then later she asks him and was like "sorry it was in my plan that i ask you so i had to turn you down before" and i'm sorry but thats REALLY creepy) and then the rest of the show is them being all lovely dovey but kaga screwing up cause she's kinda useless and obsessive.
again theres an ep where they want to go to the beach and banri wants to pay for himself but he can't afford it without getting a job... Kaga doesn't want him to work cause it means they can't be with each other as much... this forces banri to lie about working on an assignment while he goes to a high paying waiter gig.... in the (lets assume) 4-6 hours he was working she leaves him hundreds of textx, calls him a lot and leaves some messages... she even went to his house to check up on him... then she has the audacity to be angry that he lied about working.
i'm sorry... no
no that is stalking, it is creepy... it is not cute
after that episode i actually wrote a rant on why this ep is really creepy and how it disturbs me that she is most likely the one banri will end up with.... but anyways.

Eventually the fact that he has amnesia comes up again and he realizes that as he's gaining mempories from before he's losing the memories he got after the incident.

ooo this could be neat.... how do they screw it up?

By making Kaga the focus.
Hm... okay show... you seem confused... Kaga isn't the main character... Banri is.... this is his story.... so why is all the focus on her and her creepy obsession then sudden dismissal when theres the threat of being forgotten... why should i the viewer care that she finds the anti anxiety meds he's taking... for that matter why does that upset her... it was perscribed by a doctor and he's taking it... whats so bad about that? But by having all the focus being on Kaga's feelings you minimize Banri's story or having an identity crisis and facign the fact that one day the current him may vanish like the old one did. The most intersting arc Kaga has is when she nearly kills everyone by falling asleep at the wheel and havign to deal with the guilt... but that only lasts one episode.

Anyways.... Banri loses himself, goes back home and thinks abotu dropping out of college since he can't remember anything he did while there. Kaga goes to his house to drop off a DVD and he mistakes her for another girl Oka Chinami (who is essentially just a plot device... maybe she has a more important role in the manga?) Kaga doesn't correct him and asks for directions to the bridge he fell off of.
then stuff happened and he remembered her and we are supposed to be happy but.... you know what? No.

Kaga isn't a creepy by the end of the story... but that doesn't change the fact that as a character i really didn't like her. I felt her actions forced and cruel and possessive and creepy and damn near abusive at some points. I would have been fine had the two sets of memories merged and he went back to her and tried to start as friends again.... but no it's just "Hey, I remember you... i love you" and super happy ending.

I just feel like this show is a huge mess of crap happening without a strong plotline to make it cohesive... the amnesia thing could have been more more prevalent and gradual and heart breaking... and these scenes where he switches between the two banri's are the most interesting in the show... but the show is so obsessed with Kaga and his relationship with her and how awkward she is that you don't get the time you need to deal with the heavier subject matter.

So why compare it to Toradora.

Well when i first saw Golden time the first thing i felt was that it had a Toradora vibe (and not just cause the main girl had wavy hair but i'm sure that helped), so i did some research and yeah, it's the same creators.
I honestly couldn't see it in the art causethe anime of Toradora has slanty face syndrome (which is not a bad thing it's just not what i like to see in art but it works for adding more expression) and golden time has these odd lines that make no sense to be but seem to be a stylistic thing.
but then i started reading the toradora manga and yeah... the style is pretty much exactly the same... so yeah thats the connection.

But i have to wonder... what happened?
Yes in toradora Taiga could be really annoying but she had this sweetness to her.... and Ryuji was a very well developed character who had some interesting character traits that you don't usually get from main characters in what is essentially a show where all the girls like the main guy.
But in golden time banri is just blander the white bread and kaga is a creepy stalker with pretty much no redeeming qualities... and i'm supposed to root for these characters because?

I don't know how this show could have been better.
well.... if it had focused more on the dual personality thing... and more on linda's sotry instead of just resolving that at the end... and i use the term resolving very loosely.... it just felt like a patch job and honestly do not waste your time on golden time.... Toradora is better... go watch that instead... NISA is dubbig it... get the dub and watch it *nods*
side note: if they dub nastume yuujinchou... i will be so happy.

If you still are curious, you can watch all of golden time for free (except the last ep which will be free next week) on crunchyroll.

other side note: if you ever suffer from a severe MSG sensitivity/allergy or  MSG toxicity... get some cream of tartar, mix a little [1/2 tsp to 8 oz] it with water... drink it as fast as you can (the longer it sits the more you can taste the cream of tartar) and then just try and drink water for the rest of the day... i was surprised but it really works, apparently cream of tartar either absorbs or neutralizes msg and makes it easier to get out of your system... yay. It does not taste good though...

Samurai Flamenco finishes tomorrow for some reason... Nagi asu has one more ep... so yay... still sat is going to be busy... see you then.