Continuing my Victorian anime kick after finishing Earl and Fairy, I decided to give Gosick a try. My first impressions of Gosick are fairly positive after the first three episodes, or the hunting of the hares mini-arc. I had zero expectations for Gosick as a detective series, which worked in its favor because the deductive trappings are pretty weak. I guessed the murderer in the first episode almost as soon as the crime happened, and in fact the mechanics of the murder were quickly explained a minute later. It becomes quickly apparent that Gosick is not a series that sticks to the conventional mystery framework of devoting whole episodes to discovering alibis, clues, motives, red herrings and so forth. You’d be sorely disappointed in Gosick if you go into it expecting something like Detective Conan. It’s really more appropriate to think of Gosick as a period drama that very loosely follows a mystery framework. The strength of this series lies in the art, which is no surprise from a Studio Bones production, as well as the budding relationship between Victorica and Kazuya. Not the mystery.

Anyways, I was tickled pink to see that the OP for Gosick was done in art nouveau! Bones has made some great OPs, but this one is just gorgeous. The screenshots don’t do the animation justice – you really have to see the art move to fully appreciate it!