Golden Time - Episode 18

Koko was never likely to cope all that well with Banri leaving her behind to return home for a spell over the summer, but even by her standards she seems to have gotten herself embroiled in some "interesting" adventures, as her decision to take a look inside Banri's apartment ultimately leaves her at the mercy of Nana and her nefarious plans.

Meanwhile, it's time for Banri himself to face up to his forgotten past thanks to the school reunion he's decided to attend with Linda - a prospect that understandably terrifies him given all of those missing memories that leaves him unable to discern who he was back then.

However, it seems that Tada's former classmates are well-prepared for their former classmates' visit, and do everything in their power to make him feel comfortable, whether it's wearing named shirts under the auspices of a game of Dodgeball or peppering with stories about his past.  Such is their dedication towards helping out Banri that the event ultimately becomes about him, and what's more it seems to work in making him feel more comfortable about himself, who he was and who he is now.  Filled with this confidence, Banri visits the bridge where all of those memories were effectively lost - an experience which in itself threatens to trigger the reemergence of some long-lost memories.

It had some fun moments, and some rather sweet ones to boot, but I'm not really too sure what to make of this week's Golden Time as a whole - Banri's final experiences within the episode were confusing in their own right, Koko's shenanigans were amusing but not sufficiently formed to be all that memorable, and the stuff in the middle worked okay in service of developing Tada's character but still left our ultimate impression of him to be decidedly scattershot.  Although this is somewhat excused by his amnesia, it's starting to feel like the show's biggest hurdle, and I hope it's one that the series can overcome as it certainly feels like there are still some twists and turns left in this tale.