Gosick – 04

Victorique solves mysteries while Kujo daydreams… but you knew that already.

I’m totally into mystery stuff right now. Zaregoto is pretty sweet, Gosick is starting to get more interesting, and I also need to figure out who ate the last slice of cheesecake. It’s tough to fit in my triple life as a detective in with aniblogging and my busy school life, but you find time to do the things you love. So without further ado, the next arc of Gosick.

The culprit is you!

We begin the episode with the mystery already solved. Kujo finally snapped and killed someone, earning his title of “dark shinigami.” Gee, that was a fast case, see you guys next week.

Moving on seriously, Kujo actually just witnessed a guy on a motorcycle getting decapitated. Grevil assumed he was the culprit since there was nobody else nearby, despite the fact that Kujo himself was the one who reported the homicide in the first place. I guess Grevil figured that Kujo was using that fact to clear himself and was trying to stay one step ahead a la Light vs. L nonsense – “He knows that I know that he knows that I know that he knows… so I’ll take a potato chip… and eat it!”

Anyway, the big picture above happens to be a single frame from when Kujo witnesses the death, so if you can notice it fast enough, you’ll already know the answer before Victorique even starts.

Victorique briefly explains the very complicated idea of using a taut metal wire strung across the road to decapitate someone moving fast, like on a motorcycle. In case you aren’t aware of Newton’s 3rd law, this does work for the same reason that getting shot by a nail gun and slamming your hand down on a nail both hurt. Don’t test it. Victorique also adds that the culprit was probably the girl that Kujo was daydreaming about. They catch her, and the story moves on.

We are introduced to a transfer student named Avril Bradley. She’s a girl. These two facts are important, guys, so make sure you’re paying attention.

Avril takes a strange liking to Kujo and forces him to show her around the school. After a while, they’re recruited by the teacher to help out at the nearby crypt, where they’re greeted very warmly by a dead knight. During the chaos, Avril runs in and grabs a notebook with the words La fée dorée de la haute tour written on the cover. If you don’t know French, then a quick Google translate will tell you who/what this is referring to. Ominous, isn’t it?

You guys… know what a yandere is, right?

Naturally, since someone is dead, they need to investigate this, so Grevil does what he does best and asks Victorique for the answer. I don’t think any of us even had a chance to solve this one because they didn’t reveal the important details until the last second. Basically, some girl was dying, so she drugged her favorite guy, dressed him as a knight, and hid him in the crypt so that he would be trapped there when she was buried. How the knight could stay asleep long enough for the girl to die and have a funeral is beyond me – those must be some pretty powerful sleeping drugs. Motivation? Eternal love. Probably. Damn girls are so psychotic. Yes… that includes you.

At the end, Kujo mentions that Avril was seen leaving the library, and Victorique suddenly dashes down the stairs. Why? This is easy, guys. My hint for this week is going to be in the form of a list:

1. The ghost in the abandoned storehouse
2. The curse of the 13th step
3. The golden fairy of the library
4. The dark reaper that comes in the spring

These are the four ghost stories that Avril mentions when she first meets Kujo. This is based off a light novel, so everything is relevant.

MORE PICS

Anyone else keep expecting Cecile to have Yui Horie’s voice? Just me? Okay, nevermind.

The galaxy is in the Eye of God.

Note to self: get a fly swatter.

END THOUGHTS

It feels like a whole lot of things are going on at once in this episode. We get a decapitated motorcyclist and a young female murderer, but neither of their identities is explicitly revealed. It seems a little irrelevant to the second half of the episode with Avril, but as I said before, this is based on a light novel, so everything is relevant. The only question here is how the motorcyclist is related to Avril because there is obviously some kind of connection. We also get the enigmatic Avril with a bandaged hand. I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that the bandages aren’t covering a wound since that’s usually how these things play out, but what? Her father must play a role in the upcoming arc as well, likely as the primary motivating factor for Avril. Finally, we get the dead knight Maxim, who, as you might recall from the episode, came back to the school every year after graduating. This was kind of shrugged off during the episode, but it’s very likely that it’ll be important later with respect to his identity and why he was really killed. There’s also the notebook that interested Avril and had a title clearly referring to Victorique. It was probably carried by Maxim. Everything’s all mushed together, isn’t it?

Even though it’s a little confusing in this episode, I’m glad that Gosick is starting to paint a bigger picture of what’s going on behind the scenes in the world. The fact that the school is riddled with ghost stories must be no coincidence, as is Victorique’s illegitimate origin. I have a feeling that all these bits and pieces of various mysteries are eventually going to come together to explain some kind of dark or sinister secret. This is good! This is how mysteries should be!

Avril’s a little difficult to ascertain at the moment since they seem to basically be forcing you to expect her to be a villain. From the very start, she had those suspicious bandages, and her liking for Kujo is likely not without a hidden motive. Plus, she has those sinister close-ups every now and then, and there’s also the whole thing with the notebook she picked up (which I’m guessing has to do with her father). For the time being, I’ll go along with it, but I’d say there’s about a 95% chance that she turns out to be good in the end.

There isn’t really anything to solve at the moment, though, so we’ll have to wait until next time to get sleuthing.

PREVIEW

What I’m not evil at all.

A mysterious ghost in the abandoned storehouse, it says. Don’t know what the situation is yet (most likely a fake haunting), but Avril is probably the culprit. Because she’s a female transfer student and the only new character. My logic is infallible.

About sassy

Follower of both dark and mysterious horrors and funny and pointless comedies. Fascinated with ghosts and the supernatural. Friendly and talkative, but I will kill you if you get between me and Itou Kanae.