Golden Time 1: A Blackout in Spring

Golden Time #1

by Yuyuko Takemiya, 竹宮 ゆゆこ, E-ji Komatsu (Illustrator)

Tada Banri, a newly admitted student at a private law school in Tokyo, found himself completely lost after the opening ceremony, trying to find his way to the freshman orientation. Just then, he ran into another lost freshman from the same school, Yanagisawa Mitsuo, and they hit it off at once. As they were hurrying to their intended goal, with hardly any time to spare, there appeared in front of them a beautiful girl holding a bouquet of roses. The girl whacked Mitsuo across the face with the bouquet and handed the flowers over to him. "Congratulations, Freshman!", was all she said, and then she left. The stylish, well dressed, perfect woman that had swung at Mitsuo was his childhood friend, Kaga Kouko. As children she had promised to marry him one day, fulfilling her dreams. In order to escape from her, Mitsuo had gone out secretly and taken the entrance exam for this well known private college, but now there she was in the freshman orientation hall. She had taken the law school entrance exam too, and had caught up to him there.

Genres: Manga, Light Novel, Romance, Japanese Literature

263 pages

First published September 10, 2010

About the author

Yuyuko Takemiya (竹宮 ゆゆこ Takemiya Yuyuko) is a Japanese writer of light novels. Takemiya debuted in September 2004 with her light novel series Watashitachi no Tamura-kun (Our Tamura-kun) which first appeared in the autumn 2004 issue of Dengeki hp Special, a special edition version of Dengeki hp. That same month, Takemiya worked on the scenario for the bishōjo game Noel by FlyingShine (also known for creating Cross Channel).

Following the completion of Watashitachi no Tamura-kun, Takemiya began her best-known series, Toradora!, which she declared to be complete in April 2010 after ten volumes and three spin-off books. The first book of her next series, Golden Time, was Dengeki Bunko's 2000th published light novel. Takemiya launched the manga series Evergreen with artist Akira Kasukabe on July 19, 2011 in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Daioh Genesis quarterly magazine.

Reviews

[Sophie · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was nothing golden about my time reading this book.

I saw someone in a group give this a good review and I thought the plot sounded cute (guy goes to law school and runs into his childhood best friend) but I just got this from the library- and the cover is like- straight-up porn. Also, my stepmom picked it up for me, so that was fun.

Let's jump right into it.

So yeah, like I said, idk what the heck if the novels are different or something but the first half of the book is basically just Kouko trying on bikinis that obviously don't fit her because she's trying to seduce her boyfriend or something.

Rq

In spicy manga, why is the girl always like a 10, and the guy she's crazy about is legit a 3 at best, can someone explain this to me.

The second half was like random incoherent mafia drama, even I could not understand what was going on.

1 star. For the male lead who seemed ironically nice and not a total perve.

[Glasdow Teacosy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I watched the anime based on this book series years ago. It caught my fancy. Firstly, because Kouko was stunningly animated. Secondly, because despite the trope of amnesia being used, Banri’s real struggle was one of self-identity, and I enjoyed how his struggle with mental health was treated, even if it did lean towards the melodramatic, and thirdly, I found the collegiate setting refreshing compared to the veritable deluge of high school themed anime out there.

All those elements were present in the book since the anime very closely follows the original story. I enjoyed the book, especially the depiction of Kouko’s beauty, which was always based on clothing and poise as opposed to the anime which focused on her poses. The drinking scenes were not nearly as obnoxious in this original source material, too. Unfortunately, my overall enjoyment was marred by a very stilted translation. The translator was likely technically correct, but his/her writing lacked flow and style—so bound was he/she to the literal translation of the words. There were many passages that were indecipherable as English because Japanese conversational filler was translated literally. Imagine if somebody translated our “um”, “like” and “ya know?” into another language, and you get an idea of what I am referring to. Yet I am grateful for this fan translation since the work isn’t commercially available. I wish I could credit the translator here, but they didn’t add their name to the translation.

[Caecil Chen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tada banri initially loved Linda. But he lost his memory due to an accident while on the bridge waiting for Linda. Linda promised to provide answers to a declaration of love Banri. But, Linda came too late.

After the accident, Banri not remember anyone, including Linda. Linda and Banri go to the same university. At the University, Banri meet again with Linda. But, Banri not remember with Linda.

At the university, he gained a new friend. Mitsuo, Oka Chinami, Kaga Kouko, Takaya Sato, Nana.

Kaga Kouko and Mitsuo are dating. Kaga Kouko always followed wherever Mitsuo go. She was very fond of Mitsuo, but Mitsuo didn't like her and always avoid her. Just Banri wants to be friends with Kouko. Long short story, they eventually begin a relationship.

I don't like Kouko because she is childish. I also don't like Banri who prefer Kouko. I don't like this story. I just like Linda and Oka Chinami in this story. For that, I only give it two stars for them.

[Sukvinai]

So good

[Francis Velasquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me gusto el anime porque la trama era super genial ,me encanto mucho, espero que haya la segunda temporada. :)

[Patricia allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave it 5 stars but its not my particular cup of tea. It was good art and story just not what I was looking for. It deserves the 5 stars its just a personal thought

[Taha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Idek why I watched half of this, it basically makes me not want to watch anime again, I ended up doing Anki while watching some of it

Guy with personality of brick + girl with bpd

[Alethia]

I think the TV show was better, unfortunately...