Golden Time: Collection 2 Review (Anime)
Golden Time: Collection 2, its final collection, releases this month and it still stands as my all-time favourite anime, and it’s been amazing reviewing it again.
I’ve spoken in length about my love for Golden Time in my original review – which also acts as my first anime review – and my review of Collection 1 earlier this year for its official UK release. I’ll keep this briefer so I’m not repeating myself, and because this is the second collection and I don’t wish to spoil this for anybody – you should definitely be watching it yourself! Collection 2 follows Banri and Koko with their relationship highs and lows, and Banri’s difficulty in living his life with amnesia. The characters you’ve grown to love have been maturing, particularly Koko who became my favourite anime character due to her impressive growth, and I fell in love with the entire main cast.
Character development in Golden Time is among the most fantastic and well-written that I’ve experienced across any medium, and Golden Time has become something that means very much to me, and something that I hold near and dear to my heart. It’s the finest romantic comedy I’ve watched and its arrival to the UK had, and still has, me incredibly excited and filled with joy. If you’ve suffered from relationship issues, current or past, then I highly recommend giving Golden Time a watch as it’s personally helped me in some of the toughest times and continues to do so, and it might be able to do the same for you. Of course, you can watch it without the personal reasons that I have for loving it now, as it’s an outstanding romantic comedy with equally fantastic writing.
J.C.Staff have done more than a few beautiful shows and Golden Time is among their greatest, providing multiple outfit changes, various different locations and times of day and weather, and brilliant character design – Golden Time is a gorgeous anime through and through, and it being set in college is used to its full advantage. It’s clean, dynamic and boasts some of the most visually stunning OP’s and ED’s across anime, and its used to bring the characters to life in a way so well that it made me a massive J.C.Staff fan – if they’ve got something airing, you can bet I’ll at least be looking forward to giving it a go based on their name alone. Golden Time is at times breathtaking – which is a word that can be assigned to the series overall – and portrays emotion so expertly and realistically that its nothing short of amazing.
There’s no English voiceover but that’s fine because I can’t imagine anyone other than the lovely Yui Horie breathing life into Koko in all of her wonderful ways – good and bad. Banri’s Makoto Furukawa captures Banri’s struggle with his amnesia and relationship issues, along with his otherwise naturally upbeat and optimistic nature. The rest of the cast perform equally memorable performances and I’ve not fault here, and this quality carries on over to the official soundtrack. I listen to the OP’s and ED’s regularly and tracks from the OST which is brimming with a variety of tracks ranging from rock, pop to tunes with more classical undertones and instruments, and it’s both unique and absolutely phenomenal.
Golden Time wraps up perfectly and due to the in-depth characters, heartwarming moments and laughs to be had, there’s plenty of re-watch value. Revisiting Golden Time fills me with nostalgia, despite the fact that it isn’t very old, and joy, and I’m happy that the manga is currently being translated into English. Now all I want is for the Vita game, Golden Time: Vivid Memories, to be localised into English along with the original light novel source material. I can’t get enough of Golden Time and it’s the strongest rom-com on the market and some of the most realistic characters I’ve had the pleasure to meet. Golden Time deserves to at least be given a chance and if you do give it one, then be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster that not only deserves to be called one of the greatest anime around, but also an anime that might help you through tough times and help you to come out better than before – this is the effect that Golden Time had on me,a and I’ll forever be grateful for it. I love Golden Time, and I hope you do too.
- Super Mario Odyssey Celebrates its One Year Anniversary - October 28, 2018
- Dragon Ball Z KAI Final Chapters Review (Anime) - October 28, 2018
- Resident Evil 2 Remake Gets a Steelbook Edition in Europe - October 24, 2018
