This is another review I originally produced for a different site. At the time I wrote it, I was considerably less familiar with anime and anime subculture, so I have edited it to give (I hope) some better insights and context. At the time I originally watched it, the series was streaming on Crunchyroll. While no longer available on that service, it has found a home at Funimation.
Gosick, directed by Hitoshi Nanda. Starring Aoi Yuki, Takuya Eguchi, and Hidenof Kiuchi. Studio BONES, . 24 episodes 25 minutes (approx. ). Rated TV-MA.
An oddball anime with an oddball name, Gosic is a 24-episode series based on a set of light novels by Kazuki Sakuraba. Kalium at MegaTokyo described it back when it first appeared as more-or-less the best anime series of , and though it has some obvious flaws, it is overall quite good. Gosick is an attempt to blend four genres: Gothic horror, murder mystery, political thriller, and a more-or-less typical high-school romcom likely deriving inspiration from Toradora!
These four genres jostle each other on stage and frequently fail to get along, and the show’s well-meant attempt at Deep Meaning™ ultimately falls flat, but the visuals are consistently beautiful and Gosick succeeds exactly where it might be first expected to fail: Despite its use of shop-worn tropes, it is a well-crafted love story. Though weak in some ways, it accomplishes its main goal and does it with an unusual amount of class.
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