As a kid I spent a lot of time reading Sherlock Holmes. I am a HUGE fan of mystery in general. I am also a huge fan of romance, drama, history and everything foreign. So taking this all into account, this anime immediately caught my attention. This anime takes place in an alternate universe, but I believe it was inspired by architecture near the Swiss and French border. I am honestly a diehard fan of Gosick, my review may seem biased but I genuinely believe this is one of the best anime ever created (I also score things rather high). There is a lot to decompress about this series because, a lot happens over the course of 24 episodes so I will try my best to summarize it.
(spoilers ahead)
Summary: (you don't have to read this, scroll down for my scores)
In what seems to be inspired by pre WWI, a Japanese exchange student Named Kujo comes to Sauville to attend an Academy where many horror stories and tales unfold. He meets a beautiful doll-like girl name Victorique, who is indeed a tsundere but she is a tsundere done correctly, as it is rare you see a tsundere character created, and developed so well. She is extremely smart, and basically through events the two of them solve some mysteries together. They first get stuck on some type of murder mystery ship, and they solve the mystery together and get closer through certain events. The next mystery is a biker getting their head chopped off mysteriously, and Kujo is blamed for the murder. Through events Victorique clears his name and points towards the real culprit (much like in Sherlock Holmes stories). Shortly after, Kujo meets a girl named Avril, and he suspects there is something ominous about her. He asks Victorique to find him a book, (she's a heavy bookworm). Then Kujo is knocked out and mysteriously disappears, while Victorique learns that Avril is actually the daughter of a legendary thief, but is an imposter and the real Avril is being hidden somewhere. After this mystery is solved we go into a character background arc for Victorique. The two go to a small, ancient village named Horovitz, also called village of the Grey Wolves. Victorique goes there to clear her mother's name, who was falsely accused for murder and ostracized from the village for it. This arc is probably the most important arc, because through this mystery Victorique uncovers the murderer in the village, and this murderer escapes and sets the village ablaze. Because there is one exit from the village, Kujo finds himself trapped and must protect Victorique with his life on the line. In the Murder Mystery ship arc, a similar thing happened. Through these events Victorique and Kujo start getting closer and begin to fall in love with each other from this point on. The next arc is a short one, as Victorique falls ill, and Kujo goes into town and attempts to solve a case to help the police. He ends up having to go to Victorique to get help, when he discovers she has already mostly solved it. The next arc is about Victorique reading a book about an Alchemist's tower, and decides to solve the mystery about it. When she goes to the tower, she meets a man named Brian, an acquaintance of Victorique's mother, and he warns Kujo that he should be careful of her father. In the next episode, Victorique's father takes her to a convent in Lithuania and locks her into a room there. Kujo, the almighty hero, of course comes to rescue her with the help of Victorique's mother. Victorique's father then demands that Kujo return Victorique to him, but Kujo refuses and the two barely escape from her father's clutches. The next arc Kujo is away in a nearby town to the school, but Victorique is abducted by her father to solve the greatest mystery of the country. Kujo tries to rescue her and fails, so he helps to solve the case instead. Victorique was not able to solve the case, and is sent back to her tower in the school campus. Shortly after, Kujo is taken out of the country as the king demanded all foreign citizens to be removed. Kujo escapes back, and goes back to rescue Victorique, just to find himself hostage by Victorique's father and is used as a pawn to get Victorique to do what he wants. Kujo then got deported, and Victorique was held in an underground prison. Victorique is one day going to be used by her father to show his power in Sauville for political gain, and her mother switches places with her and exposes Victorique's father's crimes to Sauville. Brian Roscoe then kills the father, and Brian's twin escapes with Victorique and attempts to kill her, but falls off a cliff instead. Then when the war ends, Kujo returns safely to Victorique and they get married happily ever after if you've read a little bit of the light novel
Now for my scores:
Characters- 10
Honestly the character designs are actually breathtaking, Victorique's long flowing dresses and the tailored men's suits of the 1920s are very appeasing to the eyes. The characters themselves have plenty of depth. The two main characters are Kujo and Victorique and their characters are just done so amazingly. There are plenty of side characters too, and they are usually involved in cases and their actions are flawlessly explained and everything makes perfect sense by the end of each arc.
Story- 9.5
IT'S LIKE SHERLOCK HOLMES MEETS TORADORA, or something like that. If you cannot understand the story then you must've missed something, because Victorique explains everything very clearly and concisely. If you like romance, this might take you a bit to warm up to, because it takes about 7-10 episodes for the romance to really start showing. If you like mystery, well there's plenty of it. The romance is not overdone, and it doesn't take away from the main story. The reason i give it a 9.5 is because, I don't think a lot of it was explained in a simple manner, it could take a bit of thinking to understand the plot but it is something you get used to.
Animation/art- 10
People look at animation for the characters usually, but for Gosick I must say everything in the background is what makes it so amazing. I have never seen Europe portrayed so well in an anime it's seriously something special. Also don't forget about the details put into each of the characters' clothes, it's amazingly done.
Music/OP/ED- 9
The music is pretty good, not my thing but the OP and ED are really well done. They don't spoil much of any of the plot and are super cute
All in all, I believe Gosick is a genre defining and a genuinely beautiful piece of art. You must watch until the end, as the series only just gets better episode by episode. 97/100
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