Tweekums

As one would expect from a product of Studio Bones 'Gosick' looks fantastic; the characters look great and the backgrounds are rich in detail. Of course it takes more than looking good to make a good series; it needs an interesting story and characters with interesting personalities... thankfully this series has both. The protagonist is Kazuya Kujo; a Japanese student who has been sent abroad to study at a school in the fictional European country of Sauville during the 1920s. One day while exploring the library he discovers Victorique (Victorica), a girl who is meant to be in his class but never attends lessons. She spends her days reading books but is bored; she does however enjoy a good mystery and frequently solves 'unsolvable' crimes for her policeman brother. Kujo is not impressed that her brother keeps taking the credit but she doesn't seem to mind. We soon learn that she is not permitted to leave the school grounds without her brother so she is happy to go out solving his mysteries. As one would expect from such a series this frequently leads her and Kujo into dangerous situations. At first it seems as if the series will just be one unconnected mystery after another but later on we learn that many events are connected and that Victorique is in danger from her father; a man who had her with a sinister intention in mind from the start.I really enjoyed this series even though it turned out to be much darker than I expected; we learn that Victorique's mother had been kidnapped, raped and held captive to give her father the child he needed and that Victorique had been held captive for much of her life! Kujo is a good protagonist; holding the story together well but Victorique is the most interesting character; she is constantly insulting Kujo but it is clear that she misses him whenever he isn't around. While the animation looks cute the subject matter frequently isn't; the murders don't happen off screen and there is often plenty of blood spilt, also not every 'good' character makes it to the end so the viewer must expect some sadness.This series can currently be watched legally on Crunchyroll; in Japanese with English subtitles. If it should get a DVD release here I would certainly consider purchasing it.

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joelherro

it had nice animation, interesting characters and an engaging detective/mystery storyline, but it just didn't have enough depth or anything special to really hook me...Kujo is an exchange student at an elite academy in a fictional European country in the 1920's. There he meets an enigmatic young girl named Victorique (pronounced 'Victorica') who never attends class, but prefers to read alone in the botanical garden on the roof of the library. Together, the two of them roam around solving riddles and mysteries that her brother, the local detective, ends up getting all the credit for...this is the first time I've seen an anime like this, so i guess it has originality on its side (for me at least). Overall, it was enjoyable enough, but nothing extraordinary...

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