Gosick – 05
Predictable ending to a boring arc. Spoilers, if that’s even possible here.
None of you probably know this, but I’m one of those types who always wear earphones and listens to music. You know those people whose attention you can never get because they’re too busy listening to something more important than you on their iPod? Yeah, that’s me. Anyway, the point is I spent a lot of time this week between classes listening to albums like hide and seek, Metamerism, Railgun Archives, and even a few Shugo Chara songs even though I have nothing to do with that anime. That’s right, I’m trying to get my Itou Kanae fix because she’s nowhere to be found this season! Actually, she’s in that Kyou, Koi whatever OVA and that Time Paladin thing, but did anyone actually watch those? Arghh she’ll be back in April for things like Kami Nomi II and Hana-Saku Iroha, but that’s two months from now, and the time before I snap is starting to dwindle! Someone help me!
So I’m turning to my new backup in the meantime, Hanazawa Kana, to help me keep my sanity. Unfortunately, she’s in Infinite Stratos and .hack//Quantum, neither of which I have or plan to pick up, so it’s time to catch up on Fractale when I have time (ie. never).
Now that’s enough of my personal predicament, so let’s have a look at Kujo’s problems, which, while things like his annoying personality and fail IQ are very serious, are nothing compared to my Itou Kanae withdrawal.
Episode 4 ended with Victorique dashing down the stairs to, as you should have been able to deduce, find the notebook that Avril planted in the forest of books. As expected of any mystery, the random detail of Avril’s ramblings of various ghost stories from the previous episode drives the solution. The notebook is found on the 13th step, revealing a postcard addressed to Avril Bradley from her late grandfather.
After getting kicked out of the library by Victorique, Kujo fatefully runs into Grevil, revealing the clue that probably should have come in the last episode: Kaito Kid Kuiaran (so freaking weird to pronounce) was rumored to have been targeting this town. Hey guys, I wonder who Kuiaran could be? But seriously, by now all kinds alarms should be going off in your head. I know I said I expected that certain character to end up good, but that was before this clue was revealed. The fact is, there’s now a possible antagonist introduced, and there’s only one suspicious character in town.
And this is further reinforced by Kujo getting knocked out upon inspecting the abandoned storehouse and waking up in the presence of you-know-who. Who, by the way, is totally not acting suspicious at all. Right, let’s just watch the rest of the episode for giggles.
In case you still had any doubts left.
Ah, sexy Cecile shows up again. Not gonna lie, Kujo x Cecile is the best pairing in this anime. They go to the abandoned storehouse to make out or something when they hear the sound of a SCARY GHOST asking for help and run like cowards. Cowards, I say! I don’t know about you, but I would totally want to investigate a ghost voice. Anyway, Avril is acting suspicious again, and apparently she went through puberty because she now sounds like a feminine man.
Victorique finally explains the whole story. Maxim (the dead knight) was the first Kuiaran, Avril is the second Kuiaran, and she came to collect Maxim’s last articles. Okay, nothing surprising here, two suspicious characters turn out to be thieves. Oh yeah, and the real Avril is locked in the storehouse. Ehhhh?
For those of you that liked MM!…
It’s true! What the hell.
Kujo has nothing on Kyousuke, the manliest man in the maniverse.
So Kujo has a showdown with Kuiaran where Kuiaran plays mind tricks with Kujo insisting that Victorique is just an illusion and, in a stunning display of strength, Kujo takes a heavy beating before Victorique saves the day. Good job, Kujo!
At the end, Kujo gets a new girlfriend, the real Avril Bradley. She’s basically the same as the old one except less creepy. Also, Victorique can fit in a box.
MORE PICS
“Don’t worry, I brought protection.”
Help save water!
What is… art?
END THOUGHTS
Okay, I’ll start with the most glaring failure of this arc: Avril was portrayed as the suspicious character with hidden, likely evil, motives from the very beginning. Everything was practically screaming that Avril was the culprit, even before we even knew what the freaking crime was. And tada! She turned out to be the culprit in the end, surprising nobody. This is just the wrong way to develop a mystery. To reinforce these, we didn’t even have other suspects, unless you want to count Grevil or Cecile. Or Victorique.
By the way, I mentioned a crime, but was there actually a crime in this arc? Yes, there was. A motorcyclist was decapitated last episode, and I was certain that this would have some relevance. It didn’t. There was a second crime, the murder of Maxim. Relatively irrelevant. The third crime, the impersonation of Avril Bradley, wasn’t even revealed until the very end. That’s right, the dramatic conclusion to this arc was the discovery of the crime. The first two cases introduced the crime first, but Victorique solved them before you even had a chance to collect your thoughts. The last case was indeed the climax, but there was a noticeable lack of information about what was even going on. I don’t think there was any significant reason for anyone to think that Avril was being impersonated until the revelation about Kuiaran’s existence, which happened in the same episode. Maybe I’m just being picky, but it just feels like improper mystery writing to me.
And for the love of god, the real Avril had better be Kujo’s love interest. She’s like a billion times better, and cuter, than Victorique. I absolutely hate gothic lolitas (Kuroneko included, Neighbor Girl Manami all the way), plus Victorique has that stupid attitude. I don’t think I can stomach anything between Kujo and Victorique. Better yet, Kujo should just stop getting close to any girls and we can focus on the mysteries.
In conclusion, this episode pisses me off. Your mileage may vary.
PREVIEW
Pretty sure I saw this scene earlier with a different blond girl.
I spy Avril. That red haired guy in the OP makes his appearance, so I bet he’s the next culprit. Har har I’m a genius.
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.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 107 comments
Yeah, I would have to agree that the mysteries are quite weak… In fact, when Vic reveals the answer, it just gives me a ‘huh, so that’s what happened?’ kind of feeling. It’s just too out of the blue and not well supported with evidence…. >.>
But I haven’t given up on this series yet. >.< Hope it gets better soon. 😀
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 234 comments
I’m not getting my hopes up because the OP shows that the red haired guy in the next episode is a magician, and magicians are ALWAYS evil. Hey look, I solved the case before watching it!
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
….I am dumbfounded they actually made Avril the culprit when literally every piece of evidence pointed at her from the beginning. That wasn’t even a mystery, that’s just a crime that someone happened to solve. I expected this mystery to go on longer and have more, I dunno, red herrings or something. I was too optimistic :B
Oh well. I’ll watch it for Victorique.
POWUH: 400-499 with 428 comments
And for the ED 😉
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 234 comments
I thought the ED was cool in the first episode, but it’s not really one of those songs that I can listen to over and over again. Now, Koi no Shirushi on the other hand…
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 234 comments
Why do people like Victorique 🙁
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
A couple of episodes like this and I’m dropping Gosick.. -___-
Come on, was it that hard for the creators to notice, that the mystery was a painful fail ??… bleh…
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 234 comments
I bet the mysteries would be a lot more challenging if you just watch the raws instead of the subs.
Unless you know Japanese. Then that’s just rough.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
Well…
That’s a good idea, but I would understand at least the half of it. But on the other hand….. that would be more mysterious than what we have here …. -____-‘
Come on, BONES, we need your epic-ness!!! ><"
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ and Vocaloid Fangirl with 363 comments
This episode was quite bland.. They basically told us everything that we had already guessed =w=
but I’ll still continue watching ‘coz of Victorique hehe.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 234 comments
Ahhh more Victorique love 🙁
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Critique with 1024 comments
This seems to be another one of those BONES shows that wants to look nice instead of making an engaging or ineresting story. They’ve been churning out a lot of them recently…what happened to the days when they were second to only Madhouse?
Srsly BONES, go back to being awesome. Please?
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 234 comments
Hey, they did FMA…
… yeah, I got nothing else, sorry bones LOL
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Critique with 1024 comments
I don’t count FMA cause it was a remake to something they’d already done xD
Wonder how long it will be before Darker than Black gets redone cause they’ve run out of ideas….
POWUH: 400-499 and Manly Russians lover with 401 comments
“She’s like a billion times better, and cuter, than Victorique.”
Wait, what?
“I absolutely hate gothic lolitas…”
Oooooh, right. I really don’t understand the hate for this show. I guess it’s a show made for dumb people to enjoy. Now I wouldn’t call myself dumb, but I’m enjoying it.
Also, about it the crimes.
It’s a crime, within a crime, within a crime.
*Inception bass*
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 234 comments
Lolicon
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 83 comments
Cecile-sensei is absolutely hilarious. Her exaggerated actions get me every time. xD
I agree with you, the interest level has gone downhill from episode 2. The first mystery, though many thought it was pretty simple, I quite enjoyed. This one, not so much. Although it did explain why the Avril in the OP was so different than the one we were shown in the beginning.
And yes, Kujo needs to grow some common sense, like Grevil and Ichika from IS. SOMEONE GO AND SLAP THEM (IS REFERENCE).
POWUH: 400-499 with 489 comments
LMAO i thought i was the only one that hated Victorique
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 75 comments
Am I the only one who noticed the amazing soundtrack?
There were sounds that we didn’t hear in the firsts chapters, and I Totally love them!
This is a strange kind of mystery.
In other series, Usually they show us what happened and then they find the criminal.
But Gosick it’s the opposite…, when the chapter start, they make very obvious who is the bad guy…
And then Victorique tell Us How it happens…
But I’m not dissapointed about the chapter
(Yes… I’m maybe a dumb)
Well, thanks for the post, and I’m sorry If I wrote something wrong.
I speak Spanish ;3
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 234 comments
The soundtrack is not bad, but it isn’t something I would like to listen to over and over again.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
WOooo another case solved! -throws confetti-
@Moni Chan Well I don’t hate her I just dislike her over powered brain! She is cute at least. But that’s all! >.>
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Critique with 1024 comments
I only really hate the fact she’s a shameless rip off of Shinku from Rozen Maiden, cause I damn love that series.
-shakefist-
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
I hate her because she’s such a bitch to Kujo. Yes, he’s a hopeless idiot, but he’s cuuuuuuuute~
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 234 comments
I hate her because she sucks…