Before I begin this review, I would like to start off by explaining how I came around to knowing about Gosick. I have a Discord account, and periodically, like Twitter – yes, I’m still calling it that – I find myself receiving messages from people who share the same interests and religious beliefs as I do. During one such conversation there, he messaged me saying that he was renaming his user handle, to which I managed to sneak in a pun involving it in a reply, and they replied with the following video, in gif form. Behold, I share it now with you for all to witness its glory!
I saw it, was like “this looks like a dank quality meme gif”, and then endeavoured to know which series it was from. Thanks to the power of Google’s reverse image search, I found out Gosick is the source, and said character’s name is Victorique de Blois. Looking at this, my first impression was that it would be some kind of early 2010s romantic comedy considering the ironic nature of that gif. Instead, tell me if you can see what it’s actually about. We have a main character with the personality of a blender that has overpowered detective IQ, their lackey sidekick who comes to them begging to solve a particular mystery and it takes place in a post-WWI Europe high school. Yep, if you haven’t noticed, Gosick is basically Hyouka: I Are Serious Edition.
Gosick
– Victorique De Blois, probably
Award-winning manga author Kazuki Sakuraba is the driving force behind Gosick, which started off as a light novel of 9 volumes serialized over a span of 8 years, and the anime manages to cover the contents of that. Following its completion, it was followed up by two sequels: GosickS, which acts as sort of a semi-anthology taking place between the main story, and Gosick: New Continent which is set 7 years after the original story and, as the name states, has the characters solving mysteries in Prohibition-era New York City. Before becoming an anime, it saw life as a manga in the Monthly Dragon Age magazine and even had a drama CD of its own; and only then in 2011 did we get a television rendering of this series, courtesy of Hitoshi Nanba, Mari Okada and the staff at Bones of Full Metal Alchemist, Soul Eater, and Boku No Hero Academia fame.
Gosick has seen a good following and approval from fans ever since its release, and appears to be one of the most under-appreciated series ever written: with fans praising its mystery element and the character development between the protagonists.
Story
The year is 1924; the First World War had ended, Europe was slowly rebuilding from the horrors of it, and among that cohort is the small Kingdom of Sauville, home to the prestigious St. Margaret Academy. Kujo Kazuya, the son of a high-ranking Japanese army officer, enrolls there in the hopes of getting away from the pressures of his family at home and start anew. Despite getting the attention of the school’s populace for his Oriental features, he struggles to fit in and spends most of his days alone, until a trip to the school’s library tower brings him to Victorique de Blois; a reclusive girl who, like him, is a loner, and a bookworm. Despite her cutesy appearance she at first intimidates Kujo with her boorish tendencies. Only when she displays her true ability to decipher solutions of mystery cases given limited information does he become enraptured by her, and spends more time with her to alleviate her boredom.
At first, the series explores not only Kujo and Victorique’s detective expeditions together, such as investigating a so-called cursed ship, a department store with a child-trafficking and treasure-auctioning connection, or the inner workings of a royal scandal, but also Kujo’s adjustment to life at St. Margaret’s, befriending fellow exchange student Avril Bradley and interacting with miscellaneous individuals such as klutzy teacher Cecile and Victorique’s inspector sibling Grevil. It then transitions to a thriller where we look at the shady origins of Victorique’s family and upbringings, the means by which her high-IQ skill comes, in particular her power-hungry father Albert, who seeks to unite the country under a nefarious banner that they must stop.
What I Liked
- I like that Gosick progressively intensifies the narrative with each passing episode. At first, it seems like a standard romantic comedy featuring opposite personalities and the mysteries are quite mild. However, we gradually see how upped the complexity and macabre factor of the cases, the stakes and the effect it lays for future episodes; such as the Leviathan case, which we see plays a huge role in the final episodes’ motivations.
- That being said, the mysteries’ pacing was also well-timed, taking several episodes to gather the problem, explore the associated persons and places, and reasonably links the clues together to determine its finality. It makes sure nothing gets lost in translation and always features enough traction between scenes to keep it going.
- Victorique’s roasts, unpredictability and the way she and Kujo banter about are fun to watch and kept me engaged all throughout the first half. At times the humorous situations they find themselves in are like a sitcom but at the same time, don’t distract from what it’s really about. It’s also cool when she preludes her skills by talking about her “wellspring of wisdom”.
- I really liked the atmosphere of the Gray Wolf Village arc (episode 6-8) – the inclusion of fog, suspect characters, and eerie imagery like the summer festival effigies evoke the “something’s not right” and “be on your guard” feeling really well, and the characters take that to heart very well. This similarly goes for the Coco Rose arc (episodes 19-21), where the characters envision the truth behind it in parallel with a theatre version of it that also leaves a sinister feeling throughout.
- No fanservice! I’m not surprised at this considering the time period and the dark, serious nature of it, but still, this is one of those films that would pass not only a Traditionalist Catholic standpoint, but also in replicating the flair of Victorian-era novels. Instead, the viewer will find satisfaction in seeing exquisite architectural bits, like the St. Margaret Academy complex or the Gray Wolf village, being played.
What I Disliked
- Episode 16 is set in a convent off the coast of Lithuania where fighter pilots “saw a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the sky” and in panic, self-destructed with each other in 1914. Add to the fact that the episode shows the nuns and resident clergy meddling with black magic, absence of any Roman Catholic sacraments, the name of it – Beelzebub’s Skull – and how a literal non-religious festival takes place in its grounds… yeah no the writers were on crack when drafting this. Also, a real apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, like the one in Fatima three years after the in-show timeline, wouldn’t cause disorder like the above but miracles, a growth in faith and good fruits.
- As someone who was a huge European history enthusiast back in high school, I have to say Sauville’s geography is quite retardedly placed. It’s said to be French-speaking but set in the Italian part of Savoy, meaning it would likely have been conquered by the Kingdom of Sardinia during the 19th-century Italian unification wars. With so much of the plot set in Sauville, the country’s culture, history and politics are barely explored save for a distinction between the urban and rural lifestyles, and tidbits regarding the monarchy and a half-baked war against science and magic. It looks indistinguishable from any other European country – so, why couldn’t they have just put this in Paris or Milan, and spare making up a fictional country?
- Victorique’s father, Albert, is shown to have connections to occultism which is rightfully defeated, but it doesn’t get much time to develop or show why it’s such a threat. And for all their hype as this underlying big bad… why do his disciples wear a cartoony rabbit head as their symbol?
- Ever since Avril “shows up” in episode 5, her role has mostly been here-and-there; from being doppleganger’d to disappearing in the last arc, she really only serves a negligible purpose to the story. Her involvement with Kujo and Victorique in the Leviathan case was a different shade of that, and honestly she should have made more appearances there considering her closeness to Kujo and all – ditto for Luigi who the latter meets in episode 10.
Characters
There’s only one character that steals the spotlight in Gosick, and it’s Victorique. She is the one with the most personality – over the course of the show you see her being stern, focused, giddy, sarcastic, melancholy, frustrated and oddly enough, this makes her an odd sort of charismatic figure. Most people would say that she is too overpowered in her abilities and it kills the vibe of the mystery. However, I have to disagree, simply because there are instances throughout where she does notice the clues laid out and incorporates them in her solution. Also, it’s not all that out of the ordinary for some people to just be very good at connecting the dots – for example, I knew a girl in my high school’s computer club and a guy in my university computer science program who had a knack of solving programming and mathematical contest problems with ease; so no, I don’t think it’s reasonable to say Victorique is intellectually overpowered. Even Scripture reminds us in 1 Corinthians 12:7-8 that certain persons have better God-given dispositions to talent than others.
Kujo on the other hand, I will grant that he is a step down from Victorique in personality or screen presence, but I don’t think he’s all that bad. We explore his backstory and learn that he and Victorique come from similar home lives, and have a strong desire to be independent. He shows himself unafraid to put his life on the line to protect his friends and can be inquisitive for his own purposes at times. The same can be said, to a lesser degree, for Avril, Grevil, Cordelia, the Brian Roscoe twins (who I don’t understand why they had to pull that shtick off near the end) and Cecilia. The main villain, Victorique’s father Albert, comes off as a cheap version of Judge Claude Frollo (given they are despotic madmen who locked their “offspring” in a tower to rot) with cliché motives of being a cold-hearted bad dad who wants to start a world war and invest in the rise of black magic. He may be an overarching villain, but charismatic or intimidating as James Moriarty he will never be.
Music
The episodes’ soundtrack has a very Gothic allure to it, which serves to amplify the show’s mystery element more. It’s creepy, mysterious and definitely feels dramatic – but it’s great. I mean, how can you not get chills from hearing songs like this or this? Although at times, it can divert from this path by having pieces that are goofy or majestic-sounding, and find other ways to engage us emotionally in what’s going on. The opening song is an absolute banger, titled Destin Histoire by Risa Yoshiki which grabbed my attention with its cheerful composition and the sequence’s art, which is just storybook-like and unique compared to other anime; and I can’t forget that one bit where Victorique’s sitting on the chair reading a book, looking all fancy and that. If there’s only one gripe I have it’s that it feels off-putting to have this play in a Sherlock Holmes-esque story, but eh whatever, it sounds good so I’ll let it slide on that account. Can’t say the same for either of its two ending songs by Komine Lisa though, I just skipped those.
Favourites
Favourite character: Victorique De Blois. We humans are unworthy of the intellect and ethereal power she possesses, even if they do come through the power of the evil forces of Freemasonry and juju magic. She reminds me of Houtarou Oreki and L from Hyouka and Death Note respectively if their genders were reversed and their heights reduced.
Favourite moment: Apart from Victorique’s half-laugh, there’s also the part in episode 1 where Kujo finds Victorique rolling on the floor whining her arse off – or can you say, ROFWHAO. I’m not making this up, see below. I wouldn’t mind if they made this into a running gag of hers for whenever she’s bored, instead of just reading a book.
Favourite mystery arc: When Kujo, Victorique and Grevil look at solving the unsolved murder case of Coco Rose, Sauville’s former queen. The buildup, conspiratorial aura involving Victorique’s father’s occultism and the reveal of the details surrounding the mystery blended together to make it easily the best arc I watched.
Favourite quote: I’m just gonna leave this roast here.
So, you say he was an alchemist just because he changed a white rose into a blue one, huh?… Well, let me show you the truth. After that, I will watch as you wallow in shame for your incompetence to the point that you’ll kill yourself.
Victorique destroys Avril’s logic, episode 14, and lives up to her savagery
Conclusion
Gosick is good and I find it’s got a certain appeal to wit. Some of its high points include the dankness that Victorique engages in, compelling mystery sequences that take place across multiple settings and a decent shade of family drama. It really only falls flat in its final sequence and the use and treatment of characters, but if you can overlook that and invest yourself to what’s going on, you’ll see it’s a show that grabs your attention and brings something worthwhile that you can take out of it.
SCORE: 7.6/10
– Victorique De Blois, probably
The Traditional Catholic Weeb 
Another great review. I completely agree on that misrepresentation of Catholic beliefs and practices: the writers were surely on crack for that episode. But still, Victorique made the show for me as well.
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Great minds think alike indeed Paul! 😎 Thank you for your kind words! Honestly Victorique is one of those characters we need to see more memes of.
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