Take A Pick Tuesday- Gosick

Take A Pick Tuesday: Gosick

 

There’s been a couple of immensely popular mystery anime shows making waves at the moment. Which is nice to see, a genre that anime has done so many great things with taking the forefront always puts a smile on my face. It brings to mind a terrific show that has had fans longing for it to get a North American release for a long time. A show that had quite a bit of exposure over here when it first premiered.  Gosick is more than a shining example of its genre, it’s a love story that proves no one has to be alone in the world. We find people that come to understand each other can come from any place.

 

       Based on a series of light novels, Gosick follows Kazuya Kujo who transfers to Saint Marguerite Academy from Japan. the school is full of myths and legends and soon he gets labeled as one of them, The Dark Reaper which is also based on his appearance having come from Japan. He stands out in the small European country Sauville. One day he meets someone else, called The Golden Fairy of The Library. Victorique is a short girl his age who happens to be the missing student in his class. She seems to remain in the library surrounded by books though it becomes clear very early on that it’s a little more complicated than that.

  

      What leads them to understand each other better are the seemingly unsolvable mysteries which Victorique is drawn in to solve, a talent exploited by Inspector Grevile De Blois.  After all Victorique is pretty much a Sherlock Holmes in a little girl’s body. One thing becomes clear right away, despite her love for sweets, her lack of tolerance for insolence, Kujo still feels the strong urge to protect her and he is also the key to her seeing the outside world, something she had been prevented from until they meet. Suddenly she's a different girl, seeing all these things on the outside that others take for granted. One of those responsible for enforcing her to live this sort of life, is her brother (yes ol drill hair is actually her brother) Inspector De Blois who also takes credit for every mystery she solves. Much to Kujo’s displeasure.

 

     So while Victorique and Kujo go toe to toe in arguments, he’s also the faithful guardian she’s always secretly hoped for but never was entirely sure existed. Kujo was from a military family, one with older brothers who he felt he lived in the shadow of, a father that was never pleased with him and a mother that tried desperately to protect him,  a life that he couldn’t completely understand. For all their dangerous mysteries it does feel like Victorique understands him and his worth far better than anyone else. These bonds grow through the series and stubbornness aside, you can tell a real affection exists as Victorique gets a jealousy for other characters that appear later on, such as Avil Bradley. Probably one of the few that Victorique can tolerate is there teacher, who looks as young as them, Cecile Lafitte. Well besides Sophie I guess.  As the times are shifting and war seems to be on the horizon their bonds will be put to the test like no mystery before them.

 

     The feeling within offers a certain shade to Gosick and it definitely unfolds it’s mysteries in elaborate, captivating, even literary ways. These murders tend to be brutal expamples of human behavior with the motives being just as cruel. How about a group of gentlemen that kidnap kids of all nationality and see who will survive among them if they place enough situations and provide weapons for them to murder each other. All to predict a coming war. Those are some of the mysteries that the duo explore and at times seem to play into their own personal predicaments as well as their futures.

 

        These mysteries never grow to a height without enwrapping the characters. Gosick accomplishes this while still being fun, sweet, endearing and an absolute joy to watch. They leave us with all these underlining mysteries but do it in a way that seems to be effortless for them, who are the grey wolves, why is Victorique practically a prisoner, what dark shadows are brooding behind the scenes as the world changes and how come she manages to own that look with the pipe when she’s thinking? Reconstructing pieces of a mystery might be the only way to find out or at least watching Victorique do it.  

The End? How To Watch It

One noteworthy thing to say about the series which can’t always be said is the ending of the series of course but also how much the series really covers from the light novel series. Anime is something that we often come to expect something of a cliff hanger, obviously there are conclusions, if every show was like that we’d go nuts but a good portion make us wonder what happens afterwards until we pick up the manga.

       Gosick covers a lot to allow us to be satisfied and it shows us through all the mysteries and all the situations the greatest force to shake the world has to contend with the relationship of Kujo and Victorique. So the series seems impossible to enjoy now because it’s not available here but when it was airing, a good portion of the world had a chance to fall in love with it through Crunchyroll. There was plans for it to be released, particularly in North America when Bandai had changed their focus and no longer would be releasing anime in the states. Which is a shame because it’s such a gem and having personally watched it several times was ready to have it on my shelf in physical form.

 

     That hasn’t stopped Gosick from continuing, there was of course the light novel series, the short stories call GosickS. The manga adaptions which we got a couple of volumes of here in the United States and in 2013 a new announced novel called Gosick Red, to celebrate ten years of the series. Perhaps will get those light novels sooner than the show, who can say? Shows come and disappear all the time, it doesn’t necessarily count it out forever, shows that have never been to the United States are now here so anything is possible. More importantly fans keep theses series alive, by eating up the merchandise here and by forking over for imports but more so with the fan art, with the constant questions and demands, there’s power there to hope it will be listened to. Loving a series keeps it alive and that's one thing fans certainly do. So much so that we get to see certain shows return. When the chance comes I recommend you take that week and devote it to a show that proves that connections know no bound and understanding can come in the most unexpected places.