Gosick (stylized as GOSICK) is a story about stories. Ghost stories to be specific. The story revolves around the Dark Shinigami, Kazuya Kujo, and the Golden Fairy of the Library, Victorique and their constant involvement in solving bizarre occurances for the inspector Graviel de Blois. Throughout the story, the Dark Shinigami begins to unravel the countless mysteries that surround his newfound friend Victorique. However, with each answer several more mysteries pop up. Just who is the Victorique and what is the truth behind the story of the Golden Fairy of the Library?
Characters:
The characters in Gosick all have a little quirk to them. Beginning with Kazuya Kujo, an exchange student from Japan. He's known throughout the school as the Dark Shinigami because of his 'black eyes that swallow up the darkness'. His name came from the ghost story 'The Springtime Shinigami'. He thought that Victorique was a doll on their first meeting and that he had dreamt the entire thing until his homeroom teacher confirmed Victorique's existence as a student of the Academy. As a protagonist, he is just and believes in protecting Victorique from danger. Victorique on the other hand, reminds me of Shinku from Rozen Maiden with a combination of her and Zero no Tsukaima's Louise de la Valliere's personalities minus the physical abuse. She is sarcastic and speaks to him the way one would speak to a servant yet still blushing when he says something the typical protagonist would say. The rest of the characters are just delightfully eccentric; from the overenthusiastic homeroom teacher to Inspector de Blois and his splendidly animated YuGiOh hairstyle, there's sure to be someone for everyone to love.
Art & Graphics:
The art is done generally well. That I attribute to the time and the availability of resources to make a scene look picturesque. It's enough for you to be interested but not enough to potentially wow you. The characters are also, generally well done with my only...problem for want of a better word being with the plainness of Kujo's design. He definitely looks like the author spent the majority of the time developing our lovely loli's design over his. The most interesting design is by far Inspector de Blois and his hair. I just can't get enough of that hairstyle. I think that special mention should be made of the animation during the OP and ED sequence as they seemed to be a slightly more developed than the backgrounds themselves.
Music & Sound:
My favorite part of this is the music. BY FAR. The music was organised by Nakagawa Koutarou who did the soundtracks for other note worthy series such as Code Geass, Hayate the Combat Butler and 07 Ghost. The main roles of Kujo and Victorique are voiced by Eguchi Takuya and Yuuki Aoi respectively. The role of Kujo is Eguchi's first main role which based on reception from fans, he seems to pull of well. Yuuki on the other hand is no stranger to main roles such as Kishitani Shinra from Durarara!!, Yagyuu Jubei from the fall 2010 anime Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls and most recently as Kaname Madoka from the popular mahou shoujo anime, Puella Magi Magica Madoka. For me, the sound of this anime gets a perfect score.
Enjoyment:
I sat to watch this anime after a stressful day of school and before I knew it, it was dark and I was 7 episodes in. I don't remember the last time I'd watched so many episodes of an anime that was not a typical shounen like One Piece without falling asleep. I had heard good things about the GOSICK novel and that the anime was just a little shy of its original's reputation but it seems to surprising me in all kinds of ways. I look forward to seeing more of Gosick in the near future.
