Golden Time - Episode 1

It's a time of new beginnings for Banri Tada - the start of university life, the start of his time in Tokyo, and the start of a spell living alone.  You could almost say that it's a Golden Time for Banri.

At least, you might be able to if he wasn't making such a pig's ear out of the start of that university life.  Having managed to miss the establishment's opening ceremony, he's also struggling to find where he needs to go for his first introductory class, and once an attempt to follow some girls who seem to know where they're going fall flat he's less stranded.  Then again, he isn't the only one, and that allows him to strike up his first friendship, with fellow law school student Mitsuo Yanagisawa.  Then again, Mitsuo is having a bit of a rough time himself, having had a childhood friend named Koko Kaga follow him to the college just to slap him around with a bunch of roses.

Worse is to come however, as Koko's devotion to Mitsuo has even seen her join the same department of his school, even though Mitsuo only selected this college to get away from her in the first place!  In comparison, things are at least looking a little more rosy (with every pun intended) for Banri, as he makes himself a couple of new female friends before his first day is up, while getting to marvel at the new opportunities presented to him as he stands well back from the explosive relationship between Mitsuo and Koko.

As an introduction to the setting a brief but decent enough unveiling of its main characters, Golden Time was actually pretty enjoyable - funny enough without descending into outright comedy (unless you count its audio mixing as comedy, because it was hilariously bad for this episode), and pitching its cast just right in terms of making you want to know more about them and seeing how they interact.  Even Banri himself manages to sidestep being a complete milquetoast right from the start - he isn't afraid to complement a girl and can be quick thinking and a little smooth when required, which is more refreshing to see than it probably should be.  With hints of some troubles in our protagonist's life too, it feels as if there should be plenty on offer within this series, so hopefully they can sort out their audio production and keep the ball rolling for future episodes.