「イェス・ノー」 (Iesu Nou)
“Yes No”
The first time is not the charm.
Oh boy, today’s episode is keeping things real, with rejections, outright insecurity, and a rejection of the friendzone making our characters hit right at home! All those stray pieces are finally connecting as they frame a picture of romance that’s not as cut out pretty as we’d hope.
Golden Time is a path not of escapism into an ideal world, but rather a slap in the face reminding us of the realities of romance. People do get rejected hard in love. People do have to suffer through the friendzone–that pain of being so close yet so far. People use opportunities they can get to maintain the status quo, even if it might not be the most ethical thing to do. Finally, of course people are afraid of hurting the people that they love, for fear that they may lose them–especially if they’ve lost them once before.
I’ll leave it to you guys to actually discuss the events of this episode, but what I want to do here is give a brief look into how things have progressed so far as a whole. A quarterly report if you must call it that.
Banri’s Development
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Of all the characters who have developed the most, it is Banri who wins first place. I personally wasn’t a big fan of him in the first few episodes, but upon looking at his character as a whole, it makes absolute sense why he’s exploded in this episode. Having to look after two people at once and consult them both is tough already, but when they both have antagonizing agendas against one another, being in the middle of that is absolutely draining. Of course, add on top of that the many mysteries that Banri has to deal with thanks to his amnesia, with a huge wallop of friendzone pains, and it absolutely makes sense that he can’t be Koko’s friend anymore. I’m surprised he’s even made it this far, because the emotional stress this whole situation places on him is unimaginable. Good on him for rejecting what’s ultimately an insensitive bond added onto a situation where he constantly has to deal with conflicting drama. Where’s the help for Banri? When have people ever truly tried to reach out to him, rather than latching onto him because he’s a great moral support? I hope that the show turns the tables and allows people to directly console Banri, because this distance that he has from everyone–friendly yet spaced out–is something we can all surely relate to.
Koko’s Dependence
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In second place is Koko, though her actual change in character is significantly less than her exposition. She’s definitely learning to explore the world that is outside of Mitsuo, but he needs a lot of crutches in order to walk around that world. The most convenient crutch would be Banri, who was only the most convenient crutch because of his connection to Mitsuo. While I have no doubt that Koko does feel for Banri and attempts to understand his feelings about amnesia, such feelings come into direct conflict with her desire to have control in her life and have a source of emotional support when things get rough. She needs someone to pick her up as she falls down, to have an ally to cry to when her plans with Mitsuo fall short. This would all be fine, except her payment for having such services is more emotional tension. Koko in the next few episodes will need to learn how to pay back into her relationships instead of taking from them, to support others as they would support her. So far, her actions have been attempts at this support, thus alas they are muddled in mixed agendas and feelings, instead of a mostly pure desire to reciprocate the relationship.
While her confession to Banri is a surprise to many, to me it comes off as another attempt to keep Banri close. Just like how the exchange of gifts was a mixed message of appreciation and sealing a friendzone, the confession is a mixed bag of Koko’s honest appreciation of Banri and her desire to keep him close. Unfortunately both are just short-term remedies to the situation that doesn’t satisfy the true need–a mutual care for one another that’s equal in strength. That is why I find a lot of meaning to the OP than some people may believe–both Koko and Banri smile at one another, and their happiness feeds into one another naturally, rather than just one person taking and receiving. It’s not just a satisfaction of being close that makes Banri happy in the OP, but rather that he feels that Koko truly cares for him best and that her care for anyone else doesn’t hold a flame to what they have.
Linda’s Silent Pain
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Oh Linda…her situation sucks so much right now. It makes complete sense that she’d hide herself from Banri–after all, she has no idea what’s going on with him and Koko, and she fears that if she brings up the past again, the past will once again destroy what she treasured with Banri. In reality, the Banri she knew died long ago, just as she was going to presumably confess her feelings for Banri. As such, when she sees Banri, she is constantly reminded of all the times in the past that she thoroughly enjoyed, but that such memories could never occur again, despite how she hopes for otherwise. After all, those shoes were not mere coincidence. Her invitation to get Banri into the Festival Club wasn’t coincidence either. They are all conflicted gestures for a Linda that doesn’t know how to feel about this situation. I look forward to seeing how Linda resolves her inner conflicts, especially how she’ll make peace with Banri’s death and rebirth (something I assume she still isn’t over). Her character may be the most perplexing and complex to interpret. If Banri was dead it’d be easier for her to move on, but since she constantly has to face Banri’s ghost every day, she finds both happiness and a bottomless sadness in Banri’s reflection.
Mitsuo and Chinami
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Sucks to be Mitsuo. All hail Chinami!
No, but seriously. Sucks to be Mitsuo who gathered all that courage to confess in such a crowded room. However, Chinami’s not the type to be swayed that easily, though her reaction to Mitsuo’s confession is a bit perplexing. I expect that we’ll be seeing a deeper side of Chinami that hides beneath her cheerful exterior, that explains exactly why she treated Mitsuo so nonchalantly. However, I have a feeling that Mitsuo isn’t quite done yet with his pursuit of Chinami. I expect after revealing Chinami’s inner self will we see a second attempt come from Mitsuo. After all, just because someone says “no” the first time doesn’t prohibit you from asking politely again later (of course with a respectable amount of time in between).
Though I have some serious problems with the pacing still, I’ll leave that for discussion in the comments if need be. Golden Time is still a great flawed masterpiece in the making–it is satisfying to explore these characters in detail and speculate about what’s going to happen next. Things are getting quite unpredictable here, so I hope the show can pull more fast ones on us, though not too fast as to not let us digest what’s already happened.
Preview
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What a wonderfully REAL show. Seeing as how this is a two cour show,I like them getting things out of the way early and focusing on the ramifications of their actions AFTER the fact.
First!
I think a lot of people feel the same but you just had to ask for downvotes with the “First! comment …
They actually finished volume 2 here, out of 7 main volumes so far(there are several side story volumes). That kind of explains the rushed feeling. They removed some scenes again, a crucial one in that Omaken practice. No C3-PO joke as well.
Also, Banri was suppose to be wasted the next day as he, Mitsuo and 2D-kun drank the whole night(they slept over at his house). Add that he was sleepless and invited again to another drinking party with the Omaken this time and no wonder he snapped like that to Linda.
Kouko also explained to Banri in the end why she rejected him when he confessed. She likes Banri as well but she wanted to know Banri more and didn’t want to get into a relationship immediately after getting rejected by Mitsuo. But Banri didn’t want to be with her anymore and she didn’t want to lose him so she was the one who chased after him and confessed in the end.
It was still done well though. Just wished they could have spread this out in 2 episodes. Guess they want to cover all the materials available, being 2 cour and all. It has flaws but it’s still a great story that hits in the right spots.
PS, being an Ai Kayano character this season is suffering. First Chisaki in Nagi no Asukara, now Linda.
Since there’s a scene post-confession in the preview, I think they might still have Kouko explain why she rejected Banri.
They likely just wanted to end the episode on the dramatic and romantic confession.
Yeah, I too was waiting for that scene during their Omaken practice, and was a little miffed it never came – it would have made a lot more sense of things.
Good for you Banri, you finally let your frustrations out.
Poor Linda… first losing old Banri and now she is close to losing the “new” Banri too; they really did a great job in depicting her despair.
The flashback sequence at the beginning was also something I could relate too; seeing that they left out his name I totally understood Banri’s reaction…
I had a different take on this. Banri seemed to vent his frustration by lashing out at Nana who was the easiest person to hurt (he made her cry dammit, unforgivable).
I’m not reading the manga so Kouko’s transition from “your a good friend Banri” to “I love you” seemed a bit quick.
Please note that he ACTUALLY had more of a beef with Linda at that time. Try putting yourself in his shoes: a person who knew him b4 he lost his memories is pretending to just have met him & have re-befriend him. That scene couldn’t have gone any other way than that.
@Megas.
I accept that. Therein lies the problem, the only thing he was capable of was throwing a tantrum at a person who didn’t deserve it. He could have acted like an adult and rationally confronting Nana. If they were so close in the past he should have realized that she had her reasons for hiding their relationship. Especially since she’s still going out of her way to look after him. His memory loss isn’t just hard on him.
I guess I have problems with whiny, “poor me, nobody understands my pain” types.
My guess for why Chinamis rejection came off that way was because she thought he was joking.? While I’m not sure how long its been since they met, I dont think it could has been more than a month. Anyway it looks like Mitsuo’s gone delinquent next episode and I too hope that he doesnt give up after the first try.
And from what we have seen of past/ghost-Banri, could it be that he was kind of a wimp?
Honestly,I found her “Don’t be stupid.” reply to Mitsuo fitting seeing as to where he decided to confess to her.I mean like,that was so out random & out of place that I don’t see why she shouldn’t assume it was a joke.Mitsuo seems to have taken that more seriously than he should’ve though…
The meet up they were at was a drinking party in the LN (and all you can drink at that). They were all smashed by the time MItsou confessed and was the reason Mitsou and Koko were thrown to the
wolvesTea Club. Banri and 2D were just as drunk and decided that MItsou and Koko’s arguing was too annoying.You know, WAITING MORE than a month to make the newly met girl your girlfriend is usually the same as direct asking for being friendzoned. His fault was rather that he did it in such situation, both next to Kaga and during the party. No wonder he got rejected.
A lot happened in this episode and I enjoyed it. This season looks good on the romance side with Golden Time and White Album 2.
One thing I was hoping for (as someone not familiar with the source material) is having Koko’s sway in feeling take longer than just 6 episodes since this is a 2 cour. Considering Koko has had a huge crush on Mitsuo for half of her life (maybe more), I wished this process would have been a bit slower. This was one of the things I liked the most in Toradora.
But who’s to say she’s over Mitsuo already?Her confession to Banri was most likely out of desperation – she has zero experience for situations like these so she just decided to act out of fear of loosing her only friend.
Seeing as how both Banri & Koko have plenty of issues,I’m expecting a quite a few ups & downs in their relationship.Seeing them support each other will be a joy for me though.
I thought that might be a possibility too. An explanation by belatkuro above indicates otherwise though:
“She likes Banri as well but she wanted to know Banri more and didn’t want to get into a relationship immediately after getting rejected by Mitsuo”
Oh, and by the way, awesome avatar =)
PLS LINDA WIN IN THE END PLS… only show that isnt obvious to whos gona win ignoring the intro….
koko jus stupid and wants to keep him by her and linda has done so much more for him yet banri just hides in the tiolet when she made that speech.. why…
This episode just went… KABOOM!
+1 to that Shingeki reference.
+1 to Okachi Nami’s nonchalant rejection.
+1 to Kaga running over Tada with a bike (though it could’ve been worse if he jumped from the bridge).
What was the Shingeki reference? 🙂
It’s in the… Okamera!
Nice to see Banri taking more of a center stage this episode and airing the frustration that I’m sure a number of viewers felt with Koko for a while. Koko being so fixed on the status quo in pursing a boy she thinks she likes, yet that boy trying to do everything he can to get away from her, yet she continues to try to catch him even though there’s a boy right in front of her who even comes out and tells her that he wants to be there for her.
And man, feel bad for Linda.
Am I the only one who thought Linda looked (even more) gorgeous with her long (ponytail) hair? I wonder if that’s why she got it cut shorter; an attempt to “cut off” the past.
Well,her long ponytail made her more feminine so it’s no surprise it’s more attractive.Can’t be completely certain of that though,as we don’t know for sure whether she was enjoying her time with Banri(looking after him apparently) in highschool or was just doing it because she felt sorry for him.From what we’ve seen so far,it might be a bit of both,which if you ask me isn’t enough reason for her to cut her hair.
Hmmm,I think we’re looking too deep into this and it’s just a mood swing 😛
That’s what I said last episode, the loss of Nana’s ponytail is THE most tragic thing in this show.
not high-paced, but for sure it’s eventful.
but it feels so genuine (you put it quite right – demonstrating therealities of romance. those characters are in college, they aren’t keeping things in the stomach for a long time (as different from many high-school romcom anime), mostly, they think about the stuff and getting down to the point.
we see it this ep quite alot: (1)when Banri faced Linda; (2) when Kouko “confess” to Banri; (3) when mitsuo was rejected by chinami
that’s the beauty of the show. however, GT is flawed. it came to me, that pace isn’t the real problem. but the characters’ line of thoughts and development. again, things are happening inside the characters(aka they have inner conflicts), but we can’t grasp and digest it fully. and it’s kinda crucial when things are getting much more complicated.
yet of course I do enjoy very much of golden time
Linda
finally, finally, Linda has come out of her shell. so far we barely got to see her like that. besides the caring for Banri in some occasions at college, I barely saw her carry emotions (again, something that the anime didn’t show us). I mean..I don’t expect her to cry out loud or something, but I did wanted to see internal conflict within her, and it was missing…until she couldn’t take it anymore when Banri faced her. painful as it might be..it was necessary to happend. one must face the demons of past, Banri is doing it all the time. poor Linda
I was wondering…how’s that she managed to act so..normal until now?did she shut herself down that much until now? how was she able to keep her facade all that time..especially when Banri popped out like that at the beginning of the year?
is it all because she feel responsible for the accident?
what I mean is…I want to know more about her and her line of thought in that matter.
most (but not all) of the accident(before and after) course of events are quite clear, but the characters’ thoughts are still fuzzy, especially Linda.
while I do kinda feel sorry for her, this is what I was waiting to see in this series.
kouko
getting herself distant from Banri she realized that she can’t be without him. I don’t buy the “I love you Banri” so easily. I still don’t see her loving him in romantic way. if you ask me, it’s quite analogy to the way of what Linda was to old-Banri… the way he simply couldn’t manage on his own without her, so it’s like that for Kouko (and I think she is aware of that).
of course it’s still quite different ’cause Banri really loved Linda (time is quite the essence here).
that way or another, Kouko has still a long way to go if she wants to be with Banri. I am still not sure whether she can put the issue with mitsuo behind her
mitsuo and Chinami
Chinami best girl.
LOL how she treated his confession that lightmindedness.
but that’s what I expect our best girl.
at least mitsuo is still fixated on Chinami. it shows he is serious. plus he confess to her. that is another feature of the show – demonstrating the realities of romance.
2D-kun
glad to have you back.
you need a lovely 2d-girl.
pick yourself someone…Shinichi from outbreak company has madoka-tan; Keima (kami nomi/TWGOK) has Yokkyun..you need a girl too. and yes, it’ll be okay to have ideal 2d-girl.
Banri
as the main of all MCs, his development is the most stable and thorough.
sometimes it’s hard for Banri..it’s not the first time we saw him running away.
and that’s the main issue with him. he should face things on his own, and stop getting help from others (mostly Linda).
the new-Banri is able to it, somehow..but not entirely. the key is probably lies within Kouko’s presence. when she’s around he is strong. when it’s Linda..he allow himself to be saved by her (as we’ve also seen through the flashback when he cried over a shirt!)
I want to know more about the ghost…the connection between old and new Banri.
what really happened between him and Linda. how he is going to overcome the current obstacle with Kouko…I mean..he wanted her in a romantic way…and now when it’s really happening..he is probably confused. besides..how Kouko gonna handle the news of a rival?old-rival?
this show is intriguing and intense. I wonder what it’ll pull out next ep. you can’t rest too much within the ep 😛
You have a point with Kouko, it´s hard to belive she has develop romantic feelings for Banri in such a short time, specially with the rejection from Mitsuo still lingering in her heart but I don´t think she´s just saying the words to keep Banri at her side. Mitsuo said didn´t really love him, she was just pleasing herself with a fantasy because to love someone means to know him and accept him and she didn´t do that at all; here come Banri, the first person to understand her and be kind to her so that ignites a feeling she didn´t know, something that is growing fast, it´s not romantic love but the begining of that love and that´s what´s worth to watch how it develops, grows and finally mature.
That went faster than I’m used to for romance stuff. Wonder how they’re going to handle the next 6-7 episodes.
*Sees that Golden Time is a 2-cour show*
Huh?
This should be left unsaid but ANYTHING that’s going to happen in this series hasn’t actually happened yet. This show is a great deal deeper than your typical romance, if the ridiculous amount of character themes wasn’t a clue.
Even though romance is a central theme of the story it goes to hand with the character development, you could even say the romantic relationships in the story are a by-product of the emotional growth of the characters.
Superb job on the Chinami fake out, I was just as shocked as Mitsuo and Koko haha. Banri doesn’t know if he’s coming or going, in full retreat though. I had a feeling Linda might be more a friend than gf. The answer to old Banri’s question though puts a spectacular spin on it. Well done. Not sure if Koko meant what she said though. Or if all in is better than alone cause she’s probably never been alone. Part of me thinks it would be nice to have a friend that would hunt me down like that if I blew them off. The other part of me fears it hahaha. I like the taste of this show! I thought White Album 2 would be more like this cause of the first White Album’s dramatic flair. Glad I could get some good drama from this show.
As someone who didn’t read the source material, my impressions during the episodes varies from:
“Wha-?! Did Mitsuo-! And Chinami rejected- Dude. Wow. Wow.”
to
“GOOD JOB BANRI, REJECT THAT *****! LINDA FTW!”
to
“But… Linda… Why nauwt?”
and finally
“HOLY SHIT DID KOKO JUST CONFESS?! BEST SHOW EVER 10/10 SHIT’S GOING DOWN IN A ROMANCE ANIME—
(Continues flipping out until pv of next episode start playing)
Wait a second, is that -adjust glasses- HAND HOLDING?!!!
[Fanboying intensifies]
*cough*
So yeah, it was a good episode. Very lovely. Can’t wait to see more.
Ooh. Almost same reactions with me huh? But I was hitting the walls and hitting my bed as I was screaming those. 🙂
Banri really earned a lot of manly points for breaking the friendzone with Kouko although he also looses a few due to his reaction with Linda afterwards.However,the later is something I really can’t blame him for.In fact,it actually fleshes out his character more which IMO,is very welcomed.
I honestly didn’t expect Kouko to confess to him so soon,even if it was out of desperation.Although I completely agree that she’s not yet ready for a romantic relationship,the show went into an interesting territory here.Starting a relationship out of need,where both partners complement each other and improve their relationship the more they realize that is definitely something to look forward to.
At any rate,now I’m even more hyped for this show.I’m already enjoying it more than Toradora.
It’s Sakurasou all over again, and the girl I like gets trampled on and trampled on and becomes some sort of object of wrath of the writers… Worst of all, I don’t think Linda will get the benefit of an open end this time…
WHEN WILL SOMEONE I LIKE WIN FOR ONCE?!?
:ahem:
Wow, stuff got real. I loved how Banri offered tribute to the tea club. I’d have to say, if there was a “Most Humorous Scene” end of season award, I’d hand it to that. That’s just awesome. This show rocks.
This show would be better if they actually implied that the characters are drinking!
I know they can’t show it because they’re underage, but that doesn’t mean IGNORE it.
IT’S NOT THAT HARD, YOU DON’T HAVE TO SHOW THEM ACTUALLY DOING IT, JUST IMPLY IT
Who thought that having the characters look completely fresh instead of hungover/drunk was a good idea when they’re supposed to be doing things BECAUSE they’re drunk/hungover?
God, this is just bad directing.
Well, Kouko was pretty obviously drunk after getting thrown in with the tea club.
And I find how the characters acted in this episode perfectly plausible without them being hungover or drunk.
I reject being rejected!
I reject your rejection of being rejected.
I reject your rejection of his rejection of being rejected.
Banri that was cooooooold bloooooded.
Does anyone else feel like Banri is bipolar? Maybe it has something to do with how the episode felt so rushed and I never got that feeling of the anime being rushed until this episode.
Nah,I don’t think he is,he just had an outburst which is hardly a surprise consider his situation. I think it’s just this episode being a bit rushed(as was episode 4).As an anime-only viewer it didn’t bother me much,even if everything that happened might’ve been done better in two episodes instead of one.
All hail Chinami!!
I love you.
The End.
To be honest, I was rather disappointed in Banri this episode.
If I am friends with a guy… but then he confesses to me… I don’t want to lose that friend just because I don’t want to get romantic with him. It’s not my fault that I just want to be friends. Forgive me for believing that guys and girls can just friends.
My disappointment with Banri is that… it is turning out that he can’t be just friends with girls. Banri said that Koko lost the right to care about him (as a friend) when she rejected his confession. That is not correct. Rather, he is denying Koko’s right.
I can understand that Banri is hurt. I can understand that there is some pain in his heart when he sees Koko. But he is also denying the chance to have her as a friend. I feel like he is lashing out at her, even trying to hurt her, because she rejected him. But remember, she did nothing wrong in rejecting him.
I guess I don’t like guys who adopt that all-or-nothing attitude… if he can’t date her, he can’t be friends with her? *sigh*
Banri has quite some baggage himself so I’m not surprised he lashed out at Koko and Linda.In fact,I appreciate the Golden Time for these flawed characters and I don’t think we were supposed to like him here but what we can do is try to understand him.Banri’s far from the ideal man & Koko’s far from the ideal woman(she’s wreck if you ask me,and he’s not far from that either) and if the show would just use a few cop-outs to deal with their problems I’d be very disappointed.
Junko, but it’s not a real friendship that Kaga offers Banri, nor it is an honest “I do care about you” thing. Right now, she’s a leech, not a friend. It’s perfectly natural that a guy like Banri would tell her to go to hell, until she changes her attitude.
I can accept if Banri told Koko that he does not want to be friends with her because he does not like her personality.
But the thing is… it is not her personality that she has issue with. If it were the case, then he would not accept her confession to him, because he does not like her personality enough to even be friends with her.
So, ultimately, if he does accept her confession and starts to date her, then it shows that he cannot be friends with girls… If she does not date him, then he does not want her around.
Personally, I don’t like that kind of guy.
That being said, while I do not like Banri as a character, I do appreciate Golden Time as a show and its portrayal of Banri. I think the show is developing Banri’s character rather with a lot of realism. I know guys in real life who are not able to be platonic friends with girls. I just don’t happen to like that kind of guy… so when I express disappointment in Banri, it is because of his own attitude.. not on how the directory/writer/actors portray him.
I wish Banri had a better personality… but hey, I feel that way about some people I know in real life. So, good job Golden Time for making Banri realistically annoying to me!
I agree there are guys who simply can’t be friends with girls and they are a real pain for girls. But usually guys have no problems being friends with some of their ex-girlfriends or love interests, but sometimes can’t become friends with some others, simply because those other girls have tendency to make it difficult for guys, as they lack of empathy this or other way. Kaga is surely such a girl and she doesn’t know how to behave in front of Banri in this situation, thought I assume it’s in big part because of her inexperience with people (which isn’t only her fault, as we see how she didn’t get any offers to join clubs).
But still she can be a very fine girlfriend, or a good friend to somebody who’s not interested with her.
In short – I suppose no girl likes such guys and you’ve got full right to feel this way, but Banri is not necessarily one of them, as in this particular situation I’d blame Kaga more.
Studies have shown that guys are far more likely to believe their relationship with a woman has romantic potential than the woman in question. If the pair don’t see the relationship the same way from the beginning, then after being friendzoned, it takes some time to adjust. You can’t just assume that since one side saw the relationship as platonic, the other person did as well. One side doesn’t see a need for the relationship to change, but the other clearly does. That’s why the whole ‘I hope this won’t affect our friendship’ is BS; if one person saw a potential romance, of course the relationship is going to change, since that person must change how they define the relationship from ‘possible romantic partner’ to ‘platonic friend’.
Is it more the male audience here that puts more of the blame on Kaga Koko than on Banri?
For me, I can see Koko’s flaws. She is overly dependent on Banri, seeing him as her only friend after the whole Mitsuo ordeal. But she genuinely thinks of him as a best friend, and does nothing intentionally malicious towards him. She does many things that are annoying… but they are not intentional… and she is even introspective enough to realize and feel sorry for some of her bad actions.
But when I see some people here make comments on how it is nice to see Banri man-up… I just don’t understand it. I guess I just don’t advocate Banri’s behavior in real people.
I don’t like how he effectively presents Koko with an ultimatum… Go out with me or go away. If he does not like her personality enough to be friends with, how is this same personality OK in a girlfriend?
Some blame Koko more, but I feel that for all her annoyances, she has been genuine when it comes to wanting to be friends with Banri.
But in Banri’s case, I have to wonder whether Banri ever truly wanted to be friends with Koko, or if he was just claiming to be friends with her while having an ulterior motive of trying to be romantic with her, but when she rejects his confession, he drops the facade of wanting to be friends. I hate that sort of scenario… but unfortunately such events happen quite often in real life.
So, I wonder… is it mostly males who feel that Banri did a good job here? I wonder if I just empathize with Koko more, or if it is a testosterone thing, or if any guys agree with my perspective?
This isn’t the kind of situation that we can sympathize with a given character. Most people are looking over the entire situation & expect the characters to behave in a way that depicts the mess that has been drawn up. Some of us just don’t want your typical MC that goes along with the girl’s rhythm all the time, & if that involves venting then so be it.
To be blunt, it’s much more entertaining that he did vent rather than handle the situation like your typical MC.
i like how everyone forgets that koko has in fact been supportive of banri’s amnesia troubles and even given him advice on occasion.
What advice?
I’m not trying to blame either Koko or Banri, just trying to point out that each person has a different perspective on the relationship. What I’m trying to say is that Banri’s actions are understandable, if not necessarily fair. Koko may see Banri as a best friend, but Banri doesn’t necessarily share that viewpoint. Banri clearly saw her as a potential partner, but she (initially) didn’t agree.
I brought up the studies earlier to point out, no matter how clearly a (usually) woman gives signals that she’s not interested in that kind of relationship, guys aren’t necessarily going to pick it up. Guys will usually think they have a shot, no matter how small it may be. Again, I’m not making any judgments on how guys SHOULD act, but pointing out how they DO act. As you pointed out, this kind of thing happens. I’m willing to bet that at least 1/3 (IMO a conservative guess) of male-female friendships started with the guy being interested in dating the girl, whether he admits it or not.
And I saw his ultimatum as more, “I’m tired of being your emotional crutch, especially since you’re still so caught up on Mitsuo”. I understand that moving on from someone that she’s known her entire life takes time, but she’s been venting a lot of her emotions on Banri. Until this point, he’s seemed like a nice guy, but just because someone seems (or truly is) nice, doesn’t mean they don’t have a breaking point. It’s usually much harder to tell when someone like that is reaching that point compared to someone who’s very expressive, and can have pretty nasty results since it’s so abrupt and unexpected. It’s not like he doesn’t have his own issues to deal with, and she’s one of the few, if not only, people with whom he’s talked about his amnesia.
Regardless of intent, if someone is constantly annoying, that can quickly wear on a friendship. It’s not like these two have known each other long enough to get used to (or ignore) their individual quirks. Saying sorry only works for so long until someone gets tired of seeing the same mistake. At Chinami’s party, Koko doesn’t have to be cordial to Mitsuo, but she also doesn’t need to make every action/word a shot at him either. She’s still so focused on him that Banri is fed up and throws her (and Mitsuo) to the wolves. Show that you’ve made some kind of progress, rather than repeat the cycle of mistakes and apologies. I suppose you could point out that Koko didn’t engage with Chinami, but then again, she just crushed Mitsuo harder than anything Koko could do, and she was also in shock that he actually went through with the confession.
As Megas said, his reaction does differ from the typical MC. I’ve seen enough bitching on other shows about the dense male leads, so why not show how someone IRL might react? Don’t expect prince charming, all of these characters have flaws, which make them and the story interesting.
MY goddam heart strings i live for this stuff really i do, never knew it till i started watching dramatic romance animes, geez.
I felt that linda didn’t deserve those harsh words, but from Banri’s perspective she’s lying and pretending and he doesnt know why, he may have an idea now but he jumps to conclusions ways too easily as seen earlier int the episode. Linda has probably been twisted on the inside since the first moment she saw him (in that epic kimono btw) we just havent seen her internal conflicts hit the screen. She has so much guild and loving feelings for the guy it must tear her up to think he’s with koko and moving on without her, and now he may actually be doing that which is even worse.
Koko, as stated by a previous commenter, is latching onto Banri for dear life, i think she’s just desperate and hasnt reached her true love stage yet (its only ep 6/24 for goodness sake). She cleary isnt over mitsuo, and she still needs the perfect Banri crutch, i think she’s going to spend the next episode lying to herself and Banri that she’s in love with him. That being said i feel that Banri kinda “dumped” her a bit suddenly, i mean it seemed like he was ok with after after the rejection but i guess his inner turmoil finally got the better of him.
btw i love the whole “YES” “NO” parts they made me squeal like a girl, im not one, but i just can’t get enough of this stuff, these kind of animes get me RIGHT IN THE FEELS!!
I enjoyed your point about Linda, she’s definitely feeling conflicted right now by the desire to keep Tada close, even if it isn’t the Tada that she knew. I can understand her desires, but at some point she should have realized how painful even being close to him would be. Really not sure what to think if I had a close friend and they suddenly developed amnesia, would I still feel like I need to force myself to still act like their friend, even if they are essentially not the same person. It’s as much a moral decision as an emotional one and I’m not really sure of the right answer in this case.
All I know is that Linda was only hurting herself with that charade, she should have been forthright and honest with the new Banri if she wanted to be his friend and not just be his friend because he looks like the Tada she used to know. If she started fresh then she could have fostered a new friendship with Tada without keeping such a painful secret. Now that Tada’s found out, it only hurts him since he knows that the one Linda is missing is him but the old Tada Banri.
The rest of the series will be for feels, suffering and diabetes. Calling it now.
The directing is unable to do justice from the source material.. unlike toradora which remain faithful to the source material but still enjoyable to watch. The animation quality is fluctuating between ok and bad, when they suddenly use “old shoujo anime style” https://randomc.net/image/Golden%20Time/Golden%20Time%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2007.jpg in omaken practice scene, they made it unfitting. When I read the scene via LN, it was never meant to be such wry joke, it was meant to be a normal situation of surprise. And as an artist student I thought the way choose the time to do deformed style is ineffective, it’s seems like out of nowhere which ruins the mood https://randomc.net/image/Golden%20Time/Golden%20Time%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2021.jpg https://randomc.net/image/Golden%20Time/Golden%20Time%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2024.jpg https://randomc.net/image/Golden%20Time/Golden%20Time%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2026.jpg
I liked this episode a lot, especially how the title was pretty much ringing all over.
I’ve been curious as to why Linda has been silent, and that flashback made sense now. I mean, the one she knows is pre-accident Banri, and not current Banri, and for her, it’s like meeting another dude who looks like him and has the same name.
As much as it was pitiful, Mitsuo still has a lot of balls for doing that confession, but he just did it to spite Koko. His feelings for Chinami may be for real, but he has to work his way up to her, as she doesn’t see it yet.
As for Chinami herself, I’m curious as to why she has that many friends. I mean, she has a cheerful disposition, but maybe she has some emotional baggage like the others, and that Mitsuo could be key.
Lastly, I am still conflicted with Koko’s character. It was nice that Banri saw through it and threw the truth and burn at her straight up. Still, if she does something with her being an overly attached girl, there could be hope for her.
LOL at Mitsuo being owned by Chinami’s casual “Don’t be silly” rejection, with her thinking he was simply joking. We won’t be seeing the end of poor Mitsuo though, as this would surely fire him up to try and proof to Chinami he’s serious.
Poor Linda! The gods (author) are cruel to her, first they take away her old Banri by erasing his memory just when she was about to decide she wants to be with him, now after patiently getting along with the new Banri and slowly building up their friendship, he finds out about their past.
Go linda sempai. that is all 😀
x2
Chinami reminds me of Minorin from Tora Dora
Minorin seems to be 10 times better for me (she’s more in Sakurasou style). But she got some proper screen time and development that we haven’t seen for Chinami.
quite funny ’cause Minorin’s VA is now plays as Kaga Kouko 😛
but, I understand your point, both seems to have energetic side that lighten up the mood (:
besides, Minorin was much much in the center and dominant than Chinami. that’s the difference between MC and secondary cast, yet I think Chinami is getting quite fair screentime as secondary cast. of course I’d love for more screentime with her.
Banri was a pathetic loser before his accident…who cries like that, in class, over not having his name on the shirt. He is much better off not remembering :/
“a great flawed masterpiece in the making”
Well that pretty much sums it up. That’s why I’m still watching this show. Hope things get more interesting soon…
I have feel for this anime!
Kouko is a strange and difficult girl but.. but.. i love her! Come on! there are a lot of girls like Kouko in the world.
I think she will could be happy with Tada Banri and will find true love with him.
I hope for they!
I’m sorry for Linda but i prefer Kouko too much! More imperfect more self-obsessed and for that more realistic.
Here is a comment from another site that describes my feelings on this episode perfectly.
By musouka
“Actually, that’s where the problem comes in. His reaction is understandable–he’s under a lot of stress, he’s jealous when he sees Kouko react that way towards Mitsuo, ect, ect–but it’s not justified. To either of the girls.
Let me put it this way. Both Linda and Kouko’s actions were trying to spare his feelings. Linda thought it was for the best if she kept her distance. Kouko was clumsily trying to express how much she cared about him and affirm that they had a bond. Both those things ended up hurting Banri, so it’s entirely understandable that he got stressed and angry.
However, the things he said to them were deliberately designed to hurt them. Throwing it in Kouko’s face that she wants someone who understands her, then deliberately yanking that away. Accusing Linda of trying to erase her connection with Banri without ever asking her the motives behind her actions.
So, no, Banri wasn’t justified. He’s human. He snapped. It doesn’t make him a bad person. It does mean he wasn’t right in those instances, though.”
I can understand how people think it was perfectly reasonable for Banri to snap at both Linda and Koko but still you have to admit he indeed went overboard. When he snapped he never really tried to understand how the other person would feel about it and simply vented his frustrations on them without holding back. He didn’t seem to think about how that would effect his future interactions with them did he? Linda has always been looking out for him at this point and she didn’t deserve to be ridiculed like that when here reasons for keeping quiet were completely understandable. He was pretty much just trying to push everyone around him away in the worst possible fashion.
I honestly hope he patches things up with Linda at some point or I’ll probably end up hating him.
Agreed.
I honestly don’t see how he can even function at all. He’s literally the result of his body developing another personality during the year he was recovering. He’s no where near a complete person & he even has his actual self around him 24/7 experiencing all the crap as well. How can something like that ever be reasonable, especially when he finally starts to learn about it. If he didn’t explode, I’d call bull.
what the fuck’s up with all this “friendzone” bullshit everyone’s spouting? like it’s somehow unfair to banri that kouko placed him there? like she fucking owes him something because he’s such a good friend?
dude seriously needs to check his entitlement… kouko clearly dictated to him what her feelings for him were and now he throws a hissy fit and calls HER selfish? he’s told her he’s fine with being a friend. plus he’s gone out of his way to be nice and supportive which was simply presented as him being a nice guy but it turns out he’s just a “nice guy” with shit ulterior motives… maybe he should try coming from a genuine place rather than an emotionally manipulative one? oh but who gives a fuck cuz the gambit worked and now you’ve snared and emotionally compromised girl who’s still trying to get over her life-long crush on her childhood friend. good job bro. way to fight the good fight.
seriously, why is everyone on his side? dude came off this episode as a manipulative jackass. hell whats up with everyone’s friendzone bullshit? like being friends with a girl is SUCH a drag… THE INDECENCY!
It´s not his freindship with Kouko what Banri finds difficult, it´s the whole situation she is going through with Mitsuo. She still still has lingering feelings for the idiot and that hurts him but at same the same he can´t leave her alone because he loves her. He´s upset because didn´t realized the horrible position he is, combine that with the emotional storm inside him because of his amnesia and the way Linda acts, no wonder the poor guy went nuts.
Even nice guys have a breaking point. It’s much harder to tell how close someone is to that point if they tend to hold in their negative side, as Banri does, so when they hit it, they are usually explosive. His life isn’t exactly the paragon of stability, so you can’t expect him to be the rock-solid emotional support forever. Sure, his situation is at least somewhat self-inflicted, but to say he’s entitled? Koko’s honestly more of a leech than a friend at the moment, since he’s pretty much her only source of support. The least she could do is try to understand his situation.
Banri stuck me as someone who was fed up with his situation rather than a manipulative jackass.
And just as the girl doesn’t need to accept the guy’s desire for a romantic relationship, doesn’t mean that the guy needs to accept the girl’s desire for a platonic friendship. He has every right to say he doesn’t want to be friends with her, if that’s not where he really wants to take the relationship.
SK, agreed. Jealousy is an ugly feeling and people will try and avoid it if possible. If you can’t win your loved one, then staying away is better then having to watch them moon over someone else. The only thing wrong he did was doing it when they were drunk and refusing to listen to what she wanted to say.
I’m surprised so many people are so sympathetic to Banri right now. Yes, his situation really sucks, but what he did to Koko was just heartless. He basically took out his anger and frustration with Linda, out on Koko and forced Koko to choose between going out with him, or losing the only supporting friend she had after the fallout with Mitsuo. He should know better than that as its still painfully obvious that Koko is not ready to move on to another relationship. Koko’s confession at the end, to me, sounded more like she was grasping desperately at whatever support she had left as opposed to a sincere confession based on romantic feelings.
I suppose all the character’s actions are somewhat justified, but Banri has definitely lost a few points as an altruistic goody-two shoes male lead by revealing his manipulative character (which is probably a good thing as it makes his character less 2-dimensional). It will be interesting to see what will happen as a result of the drama in the next episode. From the looks of the preview, Koko will begin lying to herself in the only way she knows how, going completely overboard in her expressions of love for Banri.
So you don’t think its wrong that Koko never gave an answer to Banri’s confession and constantly uses the friend-zone card instead of giving him a direct answer. And you don’t think its wrong for Linda not to be telling him anything when he has no idea why. God, if girls did that with me I’d be furuious.
And you have to give me your definition of manipulation. Because there is zero evidence of manipulation of Banri’s side, nor is there any on Koko or Linda’s side for that matter just in case.
oh good, more friendzone bullshit. male entitlement at it’s finest. newsflash dude, women don’t owe “nice guys” shit. all that shit banri’s done for her? it’s called being a friend. which she clearly told him was all she wanted to be. or does “no i just want to be friends” actually read “i just want to take advantage of your emotional support”? or does him helping her somehow buy him her heart and love? i forgot that that’s the reason men actually do anything for women, so they give them unlimited access to the v.
You clearly don’t understand what I just said. My problem is that Koko isn’t giving Banri an answer to his confession. I mean all she has to is say “I am sorry, but I don’t think I am ready for a relationship. let’s just be friends” and that’s that. And you have also clearly missed the point where I said that I am not demonizing Koko either. So here’s how I see it, people are just siding with Koko because she is the cute girl conveniently forgetting that Banri has every right to be upset. So no. No male entitlement going on here.
And more to the point. I never said Banri is right and Koko is wrong either.
What entitlement? Banri has the same rights to refuse a platonic friendship as she has to refuse a romantic relationship. She isn’t entitled to have him around if he doesn’t want to be.
And that doesn’t mean Koko or Linda have to be demonized either. All three of them are nice people who just so happen to all have pasts that give them a lot of baggage.
i can’t help but be curious. linda says that if she just had been on time for her and banri’s meetup at the bridge, she would have confessed. so that throws out the theory that linda was in fact the one riding the scooter that bumped into banri and caused the accident. so who was it then? i notice that the scene where kouko ran into banri with the bicycle looks rather similar to the flashback.
It’s probably just some random shmuck. No sense making a conspiracy about it: this is a romcom. Though it would be a bit fun:
>Linda did go to the bridge on time
>She ran over Banri on accident
>Calls the police through some untraceable means and runs
I don’t know about the random accident idea. The accident significantly affects current events so isn’t it standard procedure to have some link that can be mined for drama?
My theories:
1. Nana went yandere big time and runs him down so that she can dote on him exclusively (yandere Nana, mmmmm).
2. Mitsuo was trying to run from Kouko, hijacks a scooter and knocks Banri down (yes I realize they lived in different towns, don’t try and bring facts into this).
3. Mitsuo misses Banri on the bridge but Kouko, who is in pursuit, doesn’t.
Since I have not read the source material, I feel everything was rushed and wasn’t very clear to me. I don’t understand Linda’s situation, I thought she was Banri’s girlfriend but on Banri’s flashback he states that they’re more like of very close friends (friendzone) and it seemed to me that only Banri thought of her as his girlfriend.
As for Kokou, her situation was properly explained by our fellow RC readers here in the comment section. If I didn’t read it, I wouldn’t buy her sudden confession to Banri. It seemed to me that she was keeping Banri as her “backup plan” but things got out of hand so she was forced to confess. But the comments cleared things up, thank you LN readers for sharing your knowledge. I’m quite disappointed the producers skipped the scenes you guys are saying.
At this point, New Banri doesn’t have have any idea what went on between Old Banri & Linda. Linda thought it would be the worst thing to try to make him remember (doctors usually tell you that BS in an anime). However, it’s not that he can’t remember, it’s that he doesn’t have anything to remember – I thought they made that point just as vague as Koko’s backup crap.
They really are rushing things quite a bit so they are making it terribly hard for non-LN readers to understand this stuff. Skipping multiple LN chapters in an adaptation is never a good thing, but it sorta points to that they’re trying to completely wrap this series up in anime form. I know it’s impossible. I’m also getting horrible Maou-Yuusha vibes (skipping an entire half a volume), if they keep this up.
Personally, I could follow things just fine even without having read the source material.
I thought Linda’s situation and her motivation for what she did was conveyed pretty well in the bathroom scene, with how scared she was about dealing with Banri and her guilt from the accident.
I still think they’re moving Kouko’s explanation to the beginning of the next episode.