Story:Golden Time is, in the most ironic of fashions, a romance/comedy series with a fundamental identity crisis. As a well-versed connoisseur of the romance/shoujo sphere of anime over the years, I've seen the full range of what the genre has to offer -- and unfortunately, most times you roll the dice on a show, you come up short. Thus, when Golden Time opened its first episode showing just how awkward and cringey it could be, I actually ended up going into things with a fair amount of hope. Unlike a title such as Bokura ga Ita, which starts you off with the warm and fuzzy and proceeds to spend 26 episodes slowly making you hate the characters, Golden Time slams you with all that dislike upfront, which actually creates the framework for significant character growth and development that the series attempts heavily to capitalize on.
Make no mistake, the show comes on very strong very quickly. The viewer is spared mere minutes before meeting Kaga Kouko, a rich, spoiled brat who takes "overly attached girlfriend" well into the "I desperately need a restraining order" territory -- especially when she failed to make that first step into being "girlfriend." She's chasing after a fellow rich boy, her highschool crush named Yana, who in his attempts to escape her encounters ours protagonist, Tada Banri. They stumble shortly thereafter upon Linda, Banri's childhood friend, all parsed together under the standard "we're freshmen in college" setting. As with every shoujo, the default love triangles get carved out quickly, and a few archetypal supporting characters get thrown in the mix like the girl who only likes pretty people and the NEET (hilariously nicknamed "2D-kun".) The batter, all whipped together, forms the stock-and-barrel shoujo cake, and has all the grounds for being a bad and stereotypical mess.
Fortunately, Golden Time lived up to my expectations in that is not quite as shallow as it first portrays itself to be. It takes a few episodes to get going, but it soon establishes a story with an interesting dramatic premise that, while peppered with cliches, is executed well at times. Unfortunately, the show seems to vacillate back and forth between wanting to be a slapstick slice-of-life comedy for the first two-thirds (which it is NOT successful at) and a serious romance drama (which it is MILDLY successful at.) This creates some awkward pacing that the series struggles to balance, and though it eventually transitions to mostly-drama toward the end, it takes too long to get there and relies on too many melodramatic drops to offset all the comedic filler to keep the story on track. The over-the-top comedy scenes are all incredibly boring and formulaic, and seem to serve little purpose other than to create dramatic interaction between characters that's always thrust into cringey shows of public display. What keeps things interesting is that the supporting cast of characters are actually surprisingly well done, and the writing does understand that it has an interesting cast to work with.
Yet, what really drags the show down from "good" to "mediocre" is the fact that our main male protagonist is basically the Shinji Ikari of shoujo, down to the show literally giving him lines of "I can't stop running away!" and "I don't want to die!" during some of the dramatic parts. If that wasn't bad enough, the writer blatantly acknowledges as much, with an entire comedic break episode devoted later on to spelling out how everyone around Banri views him as a whiney brat who oozes desperation. As much as the annoying "perfect, cool, talented, and handsome guy who's kind of an asshole" trope gets used for overused for shoujo leads, I'd honestly have taken that here over a Shinji clone. Let's face it, bitch-boys are not good main characters in a romance, and while Banri doesn't ruin the show per se, he certainly doesn't win it any points.
Animation:
Not really much to add here: the show is a shoujo with a mild budget and a 24-episode run. The characters have quite a number of different outfits and looks, and a lot of detail is given to Kouko and Linda as the female leads all things considered. Still, there's really not much to see - Golden Time looks quite average and does a decent job hiding its static backgrounds and reused scenes. It's functional, and that's all it needs to be.
Sound:
Golden Time's soundtrack is potent mix of class and trash, at times offering up some beautiful piano solos during dramatic monologues and at others tossing in pieces that sound like awkwardly-recorded one-offs from a high school band. In general, though, I really liked the piano pieces, and the voice acting covered all the bases at all the right times. I would have appreciated a bit more consistency, but there's nothing too much to complain about.
Characters:
As I spelled out above, Tada Banri is an abjectly awful main character. His story, unfortunately, makes it difficult to comment on without spoiling the hell out of the show, so I must refrain from saying too much. Kouko, however, evolves much as should be expected with how poorly her character is portrayed to start, shedding the bratty teenager (for the most part) as the show progresses once life and reality start slapping her in the face. Hers is an obvious-but-endearing growth, and functions well given how her writing steers away from melodrama (the opposite of Banri.) Linda is also done quite well, but spoilers prevent really saying much about her role in things -- in general I really liked her character in the beginning, but she seems quite underdeveloped by the time the show comes to a close.
What should instead be mentioned here, though, is just how unused the potential of the supporting cast was. Chinami was one of the better shoujo secondary support characters I've seen in a very long time, and it would have been much better had the show devoted more time to her arc in the show's circle of friends. She has strong interactions and good scenes at assorted times throughout the 24-episode run, but her story only has the surface scratched once or twice which puts a sour taste in the viewer's mouth given how much time is wasted on comedic filler. She easily could have had an episode or two devoted to her, especially with the juxtaposition of the "social butterfly" angle to her that seems to leave her remarkably unhappy. Similar comments could be made about Yana, who really steals the stage as the far more respectful protagonist that Banri could have been. He serves to foil Kouko's growth, but he's also clearly painted to have issues of struggling to deal with establishing himself against his family's name, and wanting to find a positive female relationship while constantly struggling with fending off the superficial and shallow ones. Several times hints are dropped that we, the intrepid viewers, might get to explore his tale a bit more, but Banri-bitch-tears steal most of his thunder whenever the opportunity seems like it might arise.
The parents in the show, too, are entirely underused. Kouko's father had a ton of potential, but ultimately gets relegated to random-comedic-relief-character #25. Same with Banri's mother, who could have been woven into the tapestry of the story with seamless ease, but instead barely even makes it into the show outside of a few interesting scenes that just seem to flop and fizzle shortly thereafter.
To state my point bluntly: despite the show being fundamentally about Tada Banri, everyone else but him are what keep the show moving forward in an entertaining fashion.
Overall:
For fans of romance and shoujo, Golden Time is worth a watch, I suppose. While it's certainly no Clannad, it's also not some bungling pile of crap that wastes hours of your time. Keep your expectations tempered, and it will be an enjoyable once-through. The nature of the show really makes it difficult to dig into the story outside of a very superficial assessment, but note there's actual substance there beyond fluff and gimmick.