Recap

As Summer break winds down, Tada Banri, Koko, and Linda return to the Festival Club and some awkward assumptions. Tada Banri learns about a class reunion back home and plans to attend at Koko’s insistence. Mitsuo discovers Linda is also returning home, and in his effort to get closer to her he begins to unravel Tada Banri’s past.

Jel’s Thoughts

The first two thirds of this episode almost felt like it could have been the end of the series. Having Tada Banri accepting his past and the two girls at peace seemed like the big goal for the entire series. I actually got chills once the three of them sat down and began talking so openly. It created a very real sense of accomplishment and relief that I’ve felt before in navigating my own real life awkward relationship situations, and the fact that they were able to recreate that feeling is a testament to how well this story has been told. Let that be a lesson to you kids out there: Do not lie to your partner, honesty in relationships is awesome. Who says anime can’t teach you anything?

With that being said, there’s still half a season to go and I’m speculating what emotional payoff we have left to cash in at this point. Obviously Tada Banri realizing he needs to face his past is just the first step in actually doing it, so there’s plenty of room for drama once he returns home. We haven’t seen Amnesia Ghost for a few episodes, assuming he’s still reeling from the accident, so we do need to deal with him permanently. Maybe he’ll find some way to say good bye to Linda and find peace? I will say it was good that Koko was able to reaffirm her relationship with Tada Banri before he left, because I have a feeling Linda may put everything on the table once they get back home. I’m not predicting one final, desperate move to get him to ditch Koko or anything, but with Amensia Ghost still at large who knows what would happen if she admitted she really did love him?

Of course there’s also the developing drama with Mitsuo, who seems to be getting a little too upset about Tada Banri and Linda’s past. I guess I would be a little hurt if my friends had kept huge life events like that from me and you could throw in some jealousy as a factor, so maybe that’s just me overthinking things. I love the direction they seem to be taking their relationship, but I hope they don’t spend too much time on it. This is still Tada Banri’s show afterall. I’m really not worried at all as Golden Time has proven time and again that it knows exactly what it’s doing, but with so much time left it’s going to be fun to speculate how things turn out.