Pull this anime out of a top ten list. Going in, all I knew was that it was a romantic comedy set in a law school. Thankfully, there is little to no attempt to talk about law or any of that angle. That would have killed it for me right there. Nope, this anime is all about the characters and their interactions away from class. After the first episode, I knew it was going to be good. So good in fact, I marathoned it and watched all 24 episodes in a week. On all aspects, I give it top marks, story, dialogue, animation and entertainment.

The story flows along at a great pace, never losing speed, each episode moving the story forward nicely. Many times it feels like it is someones actual life being portrayed, it is believable. Except for the supernatural elements which are really just going on inside the head of Banri.

The central figure, Kōko Kaga is initially shown as overbearing, jealous, needy and half crazy. But despite those qualities, she still manages to win your sympathy. Despite all her craziness, she is a lovable character. (possible spoiler start) I believed in their romance as the true one and not the potential one with Linda. After all, Linda stated quite clearly she did not want Bandi in that way very early in the story. (possible spoiler end). The dialogue was excellent and believable between most characters. Also, there were very few characters that didn't seem tacked on or meaningless. The dynamics between each were well done. Each characters personality developed nicely as the story went on and you seemed to care about them. Not too many caricatures for comedy sake, like the tea club girls. Although I did have a good laugh at their few scenes.

The animation was well done. The aspect of Japanese festivals as a backdrop gets used a lot but it's still interesting. That crazy dance in costumes with 'yes' and 'no' signs... what's up with that?

There was a refreshing lack of fan service, which in it's absence, adds to a series like this one IMO. Boob jokes and what not work in a pure comedy but when things get serious as they do in this anime, it would just prevent the drama from building up. Instead it would just fall back on the same old jokes and none of the characters would develop to any serious degree. To me, the comedy aspects of this anime are light... good, but light. It's more drama than comedy.

On the whole I found this anime very compelling and entertaining. It pulls you and your feelings along through think and thin. The writing was such that I started feeling dread for certain characters. I started thinking this is going to go bad for someone. At a certain point in this anime, your feelings will hit a low and it's going to hurt. I'll leave it there. You will have to watch the whole thing to know how it all turns out. (show less)

Golden time, well truthfully the title didn't really interest me. After looking at the reviews, I decided to give it a shot, not knowing what I was in for. BAM. This is the exact type of romance/drama animes I've been searching for, something more down to earth, more mature as the situation is more logical and best of all, the plot is great! Although I agree with most that the romance between the main characters are nothing more than love for convenience, it's still kinda acceptable as not all love stories are the typical Romeo and Juliet. I'm not too sure about the ending though, not gonna spoil it but I was hoping for ova's and alternative routes... Still, love the series and after doing some research, I finally realized why the feels were quite similar. The author apparently is the same as Toradora. Nothing more to say, highly recommend this anime to those who plans on boarding train of feels (show less)

I plan to watch this thanks to your heartfelt review. IF you want recommendations though you need to post some way of giving you recommendations other than via the 'review' system.

In any case, this is your lucky day - here are my recommendations if you liked this kind of anime; kimikiss, amagami, itazura na kiss, kimi ni todoke are very good romance anime and not the childish, silly kind. Other good anime that have solid romance are nodame cantabile and skip beat. Even more examples of great anime with romantic elements include From Up on Poppy Hill (ghibli movie), Chobits, Ano Natsu de Matteru, Spice and Wolf, Natsuyuki Rendezvous, Suki na Yo and Tora Dora...

I think that should be enough to keep your romantic side going for a while. ;) (show less)