-- Story --
The story of Gosick starts off in a quite faithful-to-its-premise way — and by that I mean in a rather lame way. Kujo, our typical dull main character has just transferred to a school in a fictional spooky European country where he meets Victorique, our second main character and, in hindsight, a typical tsundere. He then begins stumbling upon various unsolved, mysterious cases, often because he's rather dumb and naive, which greatly interest Victorique because she's really, really bored chilling out in her vast library all the time.
For the most part, the series follows a simple format: each case takes up two to three episodes to solve, with the occasional transitioning episode before the next case appears. The cases themselves are fairly interesting but also quite easy to figure out at first, which isn't a bad thing by default. The problem is that there's an issue in the way they are executed. Sometimes Victorique comes to convenient conclusions that may be obvious from her perspective, but due to lack of information given to the audience, she appears to be performing some giant leaps in logic. There are even a few times that her reasoning is a bit too far-fetched, but it just so happens that the odds are in her favor and so she ends up being correct anyway.
However, not only do the complexity and execution of the cases get progressively better — with some of them ending up being pretty good, frankly — but as the story unfolds, you begin to realize that all of them were hints to or puzzle pieces of a greater, underlying plot line. All mysteries presented to us from the beginning are either loosely or strongly connected to each other, and they either serve as world-building tools or pieces of the actual story. In short, Gosick isn't a detective show per se but a political show that uses the detective bits as a means to introduce the viewer into the background political scene.
That is the aspect where Gosick shines the brightest. The fictional world and underlying political mystery is interesting, rather original, and taps into quite a few good themes relevant to real history. In this regard, the writers also do a good job with the execution and the layout of the mystery itself, as the viewer has to piece together all the information scattered around the individual cases. Parts that seemed unimportant or confusing at first are later revealed to be crucial and well thought-out. The true focus of Gosick's story isn't very forgiving to viewers who failed to pay close attention, and that, in my eyes, is undoubtedly a positive.
-- Characters --
The characters of Gosick follow a pattern of negative and positive aspects similarly to the story, but taken to an extreme. The staff of Gosick somehow manages to be both shamelessly awful and surprisingly good when it comes to writing characters.
As aforementioned, our two main characters, Kujo and Victorique, are simple stereotypes (although not the worst of their kinds). Kujo's defining traits are his unresolved inferiority complex, stupidity, naivety, not knowing when to back down, and turning the name "Victorique" into a nightmare for all of us with his constant insufferable yelling. Even though Kujo definitely wins the competition, Victorique isn't much better. Her defining traits are her intelligence, asocial behavior, and her often annoying, bossy attitude.
To be fair, I have to admit that Sakuraba Kazuki attempted to justify the protagonists being, for the most part, blunt stereotypes through their backstories, and I can say that the anime pulled a half-decent effort at that. However, while character development is not completely absent for either of them, the fact that they are so stereotypical, especially in Kujo's case, creates more of an illusion of character development than genuine progress. I mean, the guy is a blank canvas; he can be painted any color you like, so it's inevitable he will appear to have developed in some way by the end of the series. In the end, although the inner conflicts of both Victorique and Kujo are there, their actions fail to truly push the boundaries of their respective archetypes.
Likewise, the romantic relationship that develops between those two carries the same annoying attributes. It's so poorly demonstrated that I'm willing to bet many viewers will fail to realize that it is, in fact, contributing to the plot and it was quite necessary for it to progress. The romance mainly consists of Kujo trying to be chivalrous and sympathetic towards Victorique and then Victorique playing difficult and being stubborn. As a result, it manages to be either uninteresting or annoying because of how unoriginal it comes off as, even though it's actually a driving element in the story. This aside, I believe the show would benefit from it being less of a focus at times, as it often takes away from more interesting plot points and character interactions by overshadowing them.
All that said, there's something that Gosick does pretty well: almost the entirety of its supporting cast. It's probably not a coincidence that the multi-dimensional and overall best written characters of this show are the ones more closely related to its underlying plot line. You'll meet a plethora of supporting characters — from government officials to police inspectors to simple aristocrats or outcasts — with clear, realistic motives, decently explored backgrounds and emotions, and strong personalities, who will truly carry the story of the series and act as a surprising breath of fresh air. Had the writers put the same amount of love and effort into the main cast as they did with the supporting cast, I'd be willing to even to forgive most of the story's flaws. I don't think anyone will be disappointed by most of the characters of Gosick — besides the two protagonists.
-- Overall --
Gosick was an interesting watch for me, but this certainly won't be the case for others. Despite it starting off in a rather silly way, it proved to have enough substance for me to enjoy it. I imagine the Light Novels do a much better job at the individual cases, as well as fleshing out the characters, and they might be a better suited medium to enjoy this story. As for the anime, however, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who's expecting to watch a romance or even a detective story. I'd recommend this series to people who are interested in political and historical mysteries/dramas, and more specifically to those with an abundance of patience.
Story: 7
Characters: 6
Art: 6
Sound: 6
Enjoyment: 7
Overall: 7
