User:Pmt7ar/Drafts/Golden Time

Golden Time (ゴールデンタイム), by Yuyuko Takemiya, is a Japanese light novel. Eeji Komatsu is in charge of illustration. Dengeki Bunko (ASCII Media Works) since September 2011 has published three volumes so far (as of August 2011).

Overview
The freshman students at a private university, the surrounding characters and the protagonist, Tada Banri, are all interwoven, with college the stage for this romantic comedy. Banri, due to the effects of an accidental fall from a bridge shortly after his high-school graduation, has lost all memory from before the graduation ceremony. And at the time of the accident, an existence you could call "Banri's Spirit" made its appearance, slipping out from Banri's body and holding all of his memories from before graduation, albeit related from a male perspective.

Story
In Tokyo to start studying at a private law school, the protagonist, Tada Banri, found himself lost after the entrance ceremony, crossing town on his way to the new student orientation on campus. Just then, he met Yanagisawa Mitsuo, who was also lost on his way to the same part of campus. They hit it off at once. They were barely going to make it on time when in before them a beautiful girl with a bouquet of roses appeared. The girl struck Mitsuo on the face with the bouquet many times, and then handed the bouquet over to him, saying "Freshman, congratulations", and left. This stylish, well dressed, entirely perfect woman was Kaga Kouko, Mitsuo's childhood friend. When they were very young they had exchanged vows, and dreaming of the realization of their promise to get married, had swung at him. In order to escape from her, from his high school (attached to a famous private university) he had secretly taken the outside entrance examination for this school. Yet there she was, in the department's freshman orientation. She too had taken the outside examination and entered into the law school, following Mitsuo.

Characters

 * Banri Tada (多田 万里)
 * First-year student at a private university in Tokyo, in law school. Coming up to the capital from his parent's home in Shizuoka, currently living in an apartment alone.
 * Banri's Spirit (万里の霊魂)
 * Declaring himself to have died when he was eighteen years old, a being seeming to be the ghost of Banri. He retains the memories from before high school graduation.  Watching anything and everything, but doing nothing, he invisibly keeps an eye on everything going on around the later Banri.


 * Mitsuo Yanagisawa (柳澤 光央)
 * First year law school student. After the entrance ceremony, on the way to where the freshman orientation was to be held, confused for a bit, he met Banri.  Nickname: Yana.  Banri calls him 'Yana-ssan'.  Since elementary school, he'd been attending a school affiliated with a famous private university.  In order to escape from Kouko, he'd taken an outside entrace exam to his current school.  He lives alone in an apartment three train stations from where Banri lives, having a tough time economically since he gets no allowance from his parents, his relationship with them having turned sour over the aforementioned outside examination.


 * Kouko Kaga (加賀 香子)
 * First year law school student. From her appearance to how she dresses, she is completely the perfect princess.  From first grade onwards, she went out with Mitsuo.  In that time she promised to marry Mitsuo, and since then made her plans to accomplish her "perfect scenario", telling them to Mitsuo.  From the time she entered into the same university as Mitsuo, she asked Banri about Mitsuo's schedule and such, relentlessly pursuing Mitsuo.


 * Nana Hayashida (林田 奈々)
 * Nickname: Linda. Member of the Extras (Japanese Festival Culture Research Society), second year student.  Leaving out the details, to help Banri and Kouko, she invited them to become Extras.


 * Nijigen-kun (Mr. Two Dimensions) (二次元くん)
 * Real name 'Satou Takaya'. Participated with Banri in the welcome party for the Tea Ceremony club.  Despairing of three dimensional women, he has declared he would live in two dimensions.  Since then, of course, he has created his perfect woman in his dreams, and has become more and more deeply involved with her.  His high-school nickname was 'Satou Taka'.


 * Chinami Oka (岡 千波)
 * A petite school-girl attaching herself to film studies. A voice actor playing the part of young girls, speaking with the voice of a child.


 * NANA Senpai (NANA先輩)
 * Third year female student. She resembles one of the characters in a shoujo manga Banri read while he was in the hospital.

Production
Golden Time is Yuyuko Takemiya's third light novel series after Watashitachi no Tamura-kun and Toradora!. All three of her works have been published by Dengeki Bunko. Unlike Takemiya's other works in the past, which did not include aliens, time travelers, nor persons with special powers, Golden Time includes a supernatural theme to the story by having Banri Tada's spirit.

Interesting facts

 * The characters' age in Yuyuko Takemiya's works seems to move up: middle-schoolers in "Watashitachi no Tamura-kun", high-schoolers in "Toradora!", and finally university students in "Golden Time".
 * In the first volume’s postscript, the author noted that the locations “Tokyo” and “Shizuoka” as portrayed in the work are imaginary.
 * Unlike the previous two series, where the first volume had no number and none of the books had subtitles, from the first the volumes are numbered, and each volume has subtitles.
 * The term "Golden Time" in Japan originates from the term "Prime time".
 * As of September 2010, Dengeki Bunko has published over 2000 light novels; the 2000th novel was volume one of Golden Time.

Paperback

 * Golden Time 1: A Blackout in Spring (ゴールデンタイム1: 春にしてブラックアウト) ISBN 978-4-04-868878-9 (September 10, 2010)
 * Golden Time 2: The Answer is YES (ゴールデンタイム2: 答えはYES) ISBN 978-4-04-870381-9 (March 10, 2011)
 * Golden Time 3: Masquerade (ゴールデンタイム3: 仮面舞踏会) ISBN 978-4-04-870735-0 (August 10, 2011)
 * Golden Time 4: Don't Look Back (ゴールデンタイム4: 裏腹なる) ISBN 978-4-04-886546-3 (March 10, 2012)
 * Golden Time Spinoff: Mr. Two Dimensions Special (ゴールデンタイム外伝:二次元くんスペシャル) ISBN 978-4-04-886631-6 (June 10, 2012)
 * Golden Time 5: The Ghost of Summer, Japanese Summer (ゴールデンタイム5: ONRYOUの夏　日本の夏) ISBN 978-4-04-866897-6 (September 10, 2012)
 * Golden Time Extra (ゴールデンタイム番外) ISBN 978-4-04-891324-9 (January 10, 2013)
 * Golden Time 6: To Memories of Other Lives (ゴールデンタイム6: この世のほかの思い出に) (April 10, 2013)

Magazine

 * Golden Time Nijigen-kun Special (ゴールデンタイム 二次元くんスペシャル), Dengeki Bunko Magazine #16, November 2010.
 * Golden Time Love from Mr. Two Dimensions 2011 (ゴールデンタイム 二次元から愛2011), Dengeki Bunko Magazine #19, May 2011.
 * Golden Time The Nijigen Incident (Before) (ゴールデンタイム 二次元事変（前）), Dengeki Bunko Magazine #21, September 2011.
 * Golden Time The Nijigen Incident (After) (ゴールデンタイム 二次元事変（後）), Dengeki Bunko Magazine #22, November 2011.

Manga
978-4048914567
 * Golden Time 1 (ゴールデンタイム(1) (DC)) - ASCII Media Works, ISBN 978-4-04-886494-7, March 27, 2012
 * Golden Time 2 (ゴールデンタイム(2) (DC)) - ASCII Media Works, ISBN 978-4-04-891022-4, September 27, 2012
 * Golden Time 3 (ゴールデンタイム(3) (DC)) - ASCII Media Works, ISBN 978-4-04-891456-7, March 27, 2013