Golden Time - Episode 5

Banri's return home has proved to be rather a confusing one for him - spurred on by a seemingly random comment from Linda, a hunt through his old possessions seems to suggest beyond all doubt that she knew him - and was very close to him in fact - before amnesia struck him and his memories.

Not that there's all that much time to digest this possibility, as Koko is as ebullient as ever - indeed, she seems to have struck upon a new vein of positivity as she works hard to get her university life together.  Unfortunately for Banri, that also means unequivocally shooting down his confession with an over-bearing instance that they're simply best friends - a new-found status that she also uses as a stick to beat Mitsuo with at the first available opportunity.

While both Banri and Koko finally join the festival club and go through the motions of enjoying life, underneath it all it's clear that this is a facade for both of them - Koko is still a mass of uncertainty and regret in light of how her relationship with Mitsuo has panned out, while Banri can't shake the constant, nagging worries about why Linda is hiding what she really knows about him as he comes to remember that she is in fact the whole reason he's currently in Tokyo in the first place.

It's taken a little while, but it's finally feeling like we're starting to dig in and explore the depths of some of Golden Time's main characters - yes, Koko's still pretty annoying and decidedly high maintenance for the most part, and Banri's amnesia still feels like a lazy plot device, but both characters seem to be headed in interesting directions in their own right and as a "couple".  If this trend continues, then perhaps we'll start to see the kind of emotionally resonant drama I was hoping for from this series after all.