Review: Gosick

Episodes: 24
Genre: Action, Adventure, Detective, Drama, Mystery, Novel, Romance, Violence
Release Date: 27.12.2010 - 02.07.2011
Studio: Bones
Author: Sakuraba Kazuki


Summary: Gosick takes place in 1924 in a small, made-up European country of Saubure. The story centres on Kujou Kazuya, the third son of a Japanese Imperial soldier, who is a transfer student to St. Marguerite Academy, where urban legends and horror stories are all the rage. There he meets Victorique, a mysterious yet beautiful and brilliant girl who never comes to class and spends her days reading the entire content of the library or solving mysteries that even detectives can't solve. The series mostly focuses on Kazuya and Victorique getting involved in different mystery cases and their struggle to solve them, at the same time forming important bonds with different people.

The year 2011 began pretty well. I can count on my fingers how many shows were really worth watching. Gosick is just one of them, and if the anime shows from this year will remain the same I think this will be the best show without a doubt.

Gosick is set during a fictional time immediately after the end of the First World War. It is set in the country of Saubure. Apparently Saubure is just a fictional location, located somewhere between France, Switzerland and Italy. It is centered around two high school students, a japanese one Kujou Kazuya and a mysterious girl, Victorique.

Both leads teamed up to solve mysteries and cases that could not be solved by the authorities. Throughout these events, the bond between the main protagonists will start to get deeper and they will be acquainted with several other characters that later will have a big influence in the development on the story.

A thing that I noticed while I was watching Gosick is that unlike most of the mystery/detective anime, it does not have only a dark ambience and grim all over, but it has it's own sweet demeanour and some flashy points. Probably because this is not quite the grown-up mystery show that we are used to but that does not mean that the events that they main leads encounter are not serious.

Story-wise and character-wise this anime is perfect. The story is developed pretty well and at the end of it you will find out that there is not question left without an answer. Other than the main two leads, the side characters will also fulfill their roles and will get a decent development until the end as well.

As for animation, I am actually a fan of Bonds works, especially when it enters in this kind of category. Splendid visuals and character designs. Impressive was also the background of the show, a very nice insight of the European architecture.

Sound-wise, this anime does not lack it at all. While not on my taste, the opening and the ending were pretty much enjoyable, as an introduction and conclusion for each episode. Also, the background soundtracks were adjusted to the atmosphere of every scene.

As an overall, I think that fans of this kind of anime will be surely pleased with it (the ending is also something that everyone should be looking forward to). If I had to say that this anime suits all tastes, from my objectivity I would not go that far. Even though most of the time this anime is light on the horror side, it has its own dose of cruelty and its own gory scenes and psychological impacts. However, these elements makes Gosick a show that does not make compromises in order to appeal to any kind of fan-base and to attracted loads of money.
 

Story: 10
Sound: 8
Animation: 9
Characters: 10
Delight: 10

Overall: 9.4

"Even if we're apart, our hearts are still connected"