Although Gosick isn’t outright detective story it has a lot of similarities which I appreciated as you average detective stories enjoyer. It’s very rare to find anime which can unite so many aspects and do it in good quality. Do you enjoy romance, mystery, historical setting or maybe comedy? There is plenty of all these elements. Often detective stories rely on one or two main narratives which are repeated on and on for even more like one hundred episodes and you can get bored over time. Thing is Gosick is not your typical detective and this mystery genre helps it a lot. Every "case" is somehow different and you almost expect some supernatural stuff to happen although culmination is always rational. Thanks to this it keeps you expectant and sharp. First of all I love detectives and I’m not trying to disgrace them or anything, but it’s always nice to see some show which is special and emerges from this rather cliché way of execution AND BOY THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT GOSICK DOES!
STORY:9/10
At first it was little bit harder for me to recognize where this story takes place just from watching. Obviously it’s said at the beginning of the show right at first episode, but I just had that impression it looks more like an end of Edwardian era and early 1910s in England than 20s in France and Switzerland. First half of the story feels more like mystery with lot of case solving by our main duo Victorique and Kujou with "help" of Victorique half-brother Grevil. Second half focuses more on drama and main story line which is basically background of Victorique and Kujou and their family circumstances with some struggle for power.
Subplots were all really enjoyable and dynamic although maybe sometimes predictable and easy to solve. If I should choose only one favourite it would be "cursed" ship. Episodes about this micro-scale part of the story had major mystery touch and it was best part in first half of the anime for me. Romance between main characters is wholesome and Victorique can be a little annoying from start, but you will quickly warm up to her as soon as you learn something about her past which will fully allow you to emphatize with our little loli blondie. Their relationship went through biggest progress probably in first half when Victorique started to open up to Kujou (open up in her own meaning) and Kujou was slowly but surely gaining her trust. It doesn’t take long since you are able to observe first sings of her affection to Kujou and that starts rght in first half, yeah and again affection in her own way.
Later parts of second half are exact moments where things starting to fit into each other like puzzle and story is completely shifting on cases and mysteries which are directly connected to the main plot. Storytelling is very detailed and keeps you in some kind of uncertainty to the last moment. Pasts of our main duo are fully revealed which allows the audience to fully understand their motives. It’s revealed that there is big conflict between two major sides which is practicaly ongoing whole time and even long before the arrival of main heroes. You could say it’s conflict between science and occultism or supernatural which is trying to manipulate population. This is directly connected to Victorique family situation and both conflicts are dealt with at the same time.
Last but not least is kinda like World War II part. Dates doesn’t fit at all and I’m not sure if it’s just mistake or if it’s intentional. Otherwise it’s not something important which would make some difference to the show. War and department of Kujou was solid dramatic icing on the cake. Latest two episodes went by really quickly and it felt slightly rushed after watching all these rest of the episodes which were dynamic but not hasty. Final scene is something which I will remember for sometime along with Kujou shouting Victorique!
CHARACTERS:10/10
Forming of the bond of our main charaters is one of the main selling points of this show. Obviously Victorique seems a little toxic from start, but she is Tsundere so that’s nothing unusual and majority of the audience will like her later. She is most complex character which almost everytime tries to act rational and cold in front of others. In fact the opposite is true, because she can be pretty hot-headed and irrational when it comes to the people she cares about most. Her extremely high intelligence causes her to be bored easily as long as she’s not dealing with some case or spending time with Kujou whose is like distraction and toy for her mainly at the beginning. Her character development is by far most radical as she is almost different person in the end of the story. Let me say I usually don’t like tsunderes, but Victorique has a special place in my heart.
Kujou is the lead role of Gosick. Unfortunatelly I didn’t find him much interesting in compare to other characters in Gosick. It’s not like he’s bad, but more likely other characters are that good and mysterious. Kujou is pretty much your average good-hearted Japanesse anime main hero and has every character trait like that. On the other hand it was really easy emphatize with him right from the beggining thanks to simplicity of his character. Still I think his role was fullfiled as a contrast with Victorique.
Honestly there wasn’t almost any side character which would be boring or useless and each of them fits their roles perfectly. Show focuses a lot on explaining the motives, personalities and pasts of major side roles and there are not just some meaningles flashback like some other animes have, but everything has a their own reason. Each of the villains or characters which should represent villain like figure (even though they don’t need to be quite completely) had mysterious almost supernatural touch. Incorporating tricks and "magic" as some character abilities was great choice and it perfectly corresponds with show atmosphere, especially Leviathan whose backstory with queen is breathtaking. There are little bit plainer characters like Cecil and Avril. On the other hand every character cannot be perfect, but they still can do their job and enrich the show. I would definitely point out Grevil which seemed like prick for most of the show, but he managed to redeemed himslef and changed the most after Victorique.
ART:9/10
Art style of characters and action scenes is for sure on more basic note which fits better than flashy and stylish animations ever would. Imagine if Gosick would be made 10 years after by using classic generic animations nowadays! Do you know what happened to Berserk? Yeah, I’m afraid it could be similar situation. Okay, that was a little bit extreme example, but still I prefer older and simple animations lot more in this piece. On the other hand every detail of dressing and interiors of buildings were so precise. Creators must studied fashion a lot before making, because such details takes a lot of skills and knowledge. Interior of buildings and background is almost as detail as dressing mainly library where Victorique spent most of her time. Also cities looks splendind and I loved how creators worked with materials and architecture used in that 1800s era where I guess most these buildings were build like all types of rocks and stuff, it looked really realistic.
SOUND:10/10
Let me say that Gosick first ending is one of my favourite anime songs to this day and I would give this a 10 just for this soundtrack. Luckily it isn’t that case and ending is not only thing to be praised in this category. All openings are great as well with dark and mysterious touch which is great addition to the show. It’s almost half a year since i watched Gosick, but I still remember that I never skiped any of these. Opening got me hyped on each episode as ending got me awaiting the next one. Singer of the ending song reminds me of Amy Lee from Evanescence little bit. Rest of the sounds and music throughout the show are also nice plus to the atmosphere, but not nearly as good as OPs.
ENJOYMENT:9/10
There was not any time of boredom for me. As story progressed I was able to predict some things, but that’s thanks to me being little bit of a nerd and spending quite some time by watching a lot of shows. More shows and movies you watch the more similarities you can find and more things predict. When I randomly started to watch Gosick i did so without expectating anything and even more so surprised I was. Believe me that Gosick authors knows perfectly how to build anticipation of audience which is like main plus for the dynamics of the show. First three episodes are slower and you need to fully commit to the show, but it’s worth the patience.
OVERALL:9/10
There are few pieces which I would put higher on my pedestal and that the is reason of my nine rating, but Gosick is undoubtedly show of a great qualities. Anime combines a wide range of themes, genres and other aspects that work well together which can attract wide range of audience. It’s not only mystery, romance, historical, drama or detective it’s all of it.
Give it a shot!
