GT starts with Men In Black. FBI? Mid 20th century IBM employees? Mormons? Nope. They're law students. But what kind of a lawyer can you be if you fall apart over a female stalker? Law student Yanagisawa Mitsuo can't handle his cloying childhood friend, Kaga Kouko. She's determined to marry him, and /nothing/ can distract Kaga from her goals. Tada Banri becomes Mitsuo's friend. When Banri first sees Kaga he is blown away: She's gorgeous. Satou Takaya, Oka Chinami, and Linda (Banri's hometown bestie) round out the group of friends.
Kaga, our FL, comes over as imbalanced because she's chasing a guy, and she's well over the line; she's into the mental illness zone. It's uncomfortable for those around her and for the viewer. She finally starts to understand the psychology underneath her motivations. She realizes it was all about her and going after something /she/ wanted. She never thought about the man at all - not who he is and what he wants, at least. The odd thing about attraction is that if it's real, it's always mutual. When it's not mutual, it's usually a situation in which one person likes the idea of the other person, not that person h/herself.
"I decided I want to move on. I don't want to be persecuted by things that happened to me anymore. I want to live. I want to live my life," Banri moans. The concept of self, who we are, and what we are, is brought into question. Banri Tada suffered a traumatic fall a few years back and has been an amnesiac since then. He doesn't remember the person that he was prior to the accident. In fact, he sees /that/ Banri as another human being all together - a complete stranger. He feels out of place in his own body, and he knows that his family and friends miss the old version of him. It's isolating. As time goes by, the more upset and anxious his loved ones seem because he is not the old Banri - They want that /other/ person, they don't want /him/. He doesn't know "that Banri", and he doesn't want to lose who he is now.
Are we us without our memories? When Banri woke up from his accident he was a clean slate. Part of who we are in the present is our past mistakes, failures, and successes, along with the good and bad times. Our memories are a collection of the result of our choices, but they shouldn't control what and who we are. The past can boost us, but it can also shackle us. Even our past successes can shackle us if we get trapped in our "Glory Days". Banri gets to start over, and any of us can do that. We need to be free to be the best version of ourselves. "Free your mind," the sages, En Vogue, tell us: "The rest will follow." We see Banri's old self as a forlorn ghost feeling forgotten and left out. Ironically, Banri does to his old self what others do to his new self (just wishing that Banri would go away) until he is finally able to shake free of the mold.
He isn't the only one that shakes free. Kokuo finally learns to let go as well. She thinks about the other person (finally!) and that is also oddly liberating. Too much self-focus will only lead to anxiety and despair, and helping someone can, at times, help the helper more than the receiver. We need to always be improving, but also to forget about ourselves. It's a balancing act.
GT is 25 24-minute episodes. The art and the English dubbing are VG. The song for the closing credits is quite nice. The opening song is Japanese pink-pop. One Scooby-Doo Snack they threw in is a character named Nana, who is clearly based on the punker, Nana, from the popular anime of the same name. It's a fun shout-out. It is a pleasant series to watch, with plenty that's good, but it's also a bit bland, even though Kaga's antics stoke up stress. More than a romance, the primary appeal is hanging with a group of school buds. The episodes roll by quickly. I kept thinking that I would ditch the show, but each episode put me in the mood to watch another one the following day. I never caught binge-fever, so one-a-day was the right pace. It is not a waste of time, but there are anime that are worth your time before this one, particularly if romance is what you are looking for. For example: Toradora-8.5 is an excellent romance in every way. Real Girl-7.5 is a fun HS story about how a nerd, who only likes 2D girls, scores a hottie. Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun-7.7 is HS romantic anime in which a young artist helps out her crush with his monthly girls manga story. Interestingly, this nerd can write about teen girls in love, but in reality he has no clue what's going on around him. Love- Chunibyo And Other Delusions-8.4 is one that cannot be denied. It starts out good and it keeps getting better. It's truly an excellent show with some superb romantic moments scattered in the mix. Finally, Maid Sama-10 is a top-tier romcom, hand drawn or not. It's in the highly rewatchable category.
The real currency in GT is how damaged people move past their mistakes and regrets to grow. That storyline is always golden.
QUOTES📢
Is fear of rejection a form of rejecting yourself?
You're the next to the next to the next person I like as much as Linda.
This is how time flows for everyone. Right after it's born, every moment becomes the past, and eventually has to die.
〰🖍 IMHO
🎬7 📝57 🎭74 💓53 🦋49 🌞67 🎨70⚡45 🎵/🔊77 😅38 😭35 😱15 😯63 😖0 🤔57 💤35 🔚70
Age 14+ with the following cautions: The tea club throws a wild party. Some dancing in bras and a bizarre crotch sniffing incident. Those b!+che$ are brazen! There's also the usual close-ups of cleavage with a case of the jiggles.
Re-📺? This one's in the good-to-pass-the-time category, but I may never pass this way again....
As of today, GT is available on Hidive. Some dubbed titles worthy of a visit of Hidive are:
Maid Sama 10, Made in Abyss 9 (currently the 3rd movie and S2 are not dubbed. Per Hidive: "Since MADE IN ABYSS: Journey's Dawn... and MADE IN ABYSS: Wandering Twilight... are compilation movies, you can either watch MADE IN ABYSS season 1 or just the two movies before moving on to the MADE IN ABYSS: Dawn of the Deep Soul..., the third movie is NOT optional ");
Parasyte the Maxim 8.9,
The Eminence in Shadow 8.8,
No Game No Life Zero 8.8,
RahXephon 8.6,
Akame ga Kill! 8.6,
Princess Principal 8.6,
Chihayafuru 8.5,
Girls Last Tour 8.5,
CR Chaika The Coffin Princess 8.4,
Love Chunibyo And Other Delusions 8.4,
Special A Class 8.2,
Food Wars 8.2,
Land Of The Lustrous 8.1,
Girls Und Panzer 8,
Land Of The Lustrous 8,
Reincarnated as a Sword 8,
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU 8,
Gate 7.9,
Ao-chan Can't Study 7.8,
Beyond the Boundary 7.8,
You're Under Arrest 7.8,
Pet Shop of Horrors 7.8,
Hakkenden 7.7,
Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun 7.7,
Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? 7.7,
Flowers of Evil 7.7 (not dubbed),
Farming Life in Another World 7.7,
Princess Resurrection 7.6,
Akiba Maid War 7.5,
Real Girl 7.5,
School Live 7.5,
Kokkoku 7.5,
Needless 7.5,
Senryu Girl 7.5,
D4DJ 7.5,
Iria 7.5
Kokoro Connect 7.4,
Aura Battler Dunbine 7.4,
Pet Girl of Sakura Hall 7.3,
After the Rain 7.3,
BToom! 7.3,
Ice 7.3,
Armed Girl's Machiavellism 7.1
Honorable Mention: Wasteful Days of High School Girls,
Blue Seed, Patlabor, Get Backers, Clannad, Tsurune, Tada Never Falls in Love, Kino's Journey, Lupin III.
