Gosick [Anime Review]

Brittany Vincent October 7, 2017

Plenty of dark material, tsundere, and mystery

Gosick

Gosick may be cut from a different cloth than your typical anime drama, but it’s all the better for it. Set in 1924, it’s a mysterious narrative wrapped around high school student Kazuya Kujo, who’s just been transplanted into the European country of Saubure. While attending his new (very old) high school, he starts to explore the school library, which can be found up an extremely long flight of stairs, and meets with a young gothic lolita named Victorique de Blois. Kazuya soon finds that while Victorique is an interesting (and extremely tsundere) young woman, she hides a bizarre secret: She’s never allowed to leave the school, no matter what.

Victorique enlists Kazuya’s help to solve a specific mystery, and things really kick off from there. This becomes an important crutch the show hangs its hat on, as you watch the pair solve several different dilemmas that have some particularly interesting answers.

Gosick

This show knows how to grab and hold your attention, and that is its greatest strength along with its gorgeous animation and even pace. Victorique can be a little much, especially when all she does is force Kazuya into doing whateow wears on. The two make for an intriguing pair for some decidedly lighthearted fare throughout most of the show, but near the end things take a decidedly dark turn.

As it turns out there are several reasons for Victorique’s behavior, especially the way she treats Kazuya, so if you pick up the show looking for some Scooby and the Gang mystery solving and tsundere love, you might be very surprised when you start nearing the end and find some very mature and violent themes blossoming into view. While they’re entertaining plot threads, they may prove to be a bit over the top for some viewers, especially considering the delicate subject matter.

Gosick

For everyone else, though, Gosick is a beautifully drawn and animated series that hides an intriguing narrative that’s unlike most of the rest of the genre. It does have some tired tropes that you’ll have seen several times over, but for the most part it does a good job of bringing inventive and interesting twists to the table. Try Gosick for a unique weekend watch with plenty of dark material, tsundere, and mystery.

Studio/company: FUNimation
available: Now
rating: 17+

This story appears in the August 2017 issue of Otaku USA Magazine. Click here to get a print copy.