Everything ahead is my own personal opinion, written on little sleep. Do not take anything as 100% perfect, and please try to work through parts that don't make complete sense.
Gosick is, to be honest, a very strange anime. Not strange as in weird or creepy, like Madoka, or even something you may have to watch multiple time, like FLCL, but it's strange because not every part of it necessarily fits together. And that's going to turn some people off.
Story: 7
I'm sort of torn on the story. If you were to summarize the story into one sentence, it would probably go something like: "Gosick is about
...
an extremely smart young girl and a Japanese boy who solve mysteries using science," or something. Now, this is all fine and dandy, even if it is a bit absurd. Many of the cases tackled are solved using a string of logic, meshing the small bits of evidence together to solve the case. It's not a particularly bad way to do it, but it's not particularly good either, as some of the cases can become pretty confusing if you're not paying attention well enough. The small bits of evidence also don't hold up as well as the bits of evidence in say, Phoenix Write or similar more-standard detective/mystery stories. However, the cases are relatively enjoyable, even if you can see the end (or parts of the end) to some of them. However, being able to guess the end of a case is not a bad thing, as it makes everything a little more believable.
However, it quickly takes the turn of becoming a romance anime, again, something which isn't necessarily bad. I personally didn't mind it, though most of the romance is very stereotypical. Just be warned, though, if you don't like romance in your mystery, do NOT watch Gosick.
At its end it is a romance anime, not a mystery anime, which, as I said before, may turn people off. However, if you take off the last episode, you have a mystery ending. While it doesn't make the cop-out of "all these cases were one huge conspiracy!", the cases themselves aren't connected all that much, save the end two. Each could probably exist separately, and it wouldn't have made a lick of difference.
Art: 8
Honestly, there's not much to say. It's not a particularly good looking anime, but it certainly isn't ugly. There seems to be a focus on shiny and glass things, most of which look pretty good. I also really love the bright, vibrant eyes of some of the characters, but I'm a weird person, so take that as you will.
Sound: 8
Again, not a whole lot to say. The sound itself is pretty standard. The music is decent, though I prefer the first OP/ED to the second. However, the game takes place in a French-speaking country, but the anime is in Japanese, of course. Normally, this wouldn't be a huge problem (like with anime that take place in English-speaking places), but there are a few times where the main character's Japanese heritage and language are referenced, which make the whole thing feel slightly awkward. Of course, I can't think of a way to fix this without changing the whole thing, so I won't be too harsh in score about it.
Characters: 7
If you've read some of the more negative reviews on MAL, they mention how absurd the main female character (Victorique) is. How preposterous it is that a 12-year-old is outwitting practically an entire country's police force. However, it's not particularly "magical," nor is it particularly absurd. If you take a sliding scale from "average" people to, say, savants, Victorique would be less "average" and more "savant." While she doesn't particularly lack many social skills, she does possess a very high intelligence, which isn't really all that strange. She simply follows a better string of logic, and is better at finding clues and relevant information than most of the characters in the story. That's all there is to it. No magic. No weirdness, and actually sort of grounded and reality. I found it pretty believable, in that respect.
Now, on to the rest of them. This is probably my biggest problem with the show. Every main character (and even the side characters) have personalities more fitting to a modern-day setting. I'm not saying ditzy klutz teachers and egotistical drill-hair detectives didn't exist in the early 1900s, but they just seem unfitting. However, I do get that historical accuracy does sometimes need to be sacrificed to make the characters interesting, but I think it could have been done a little more gracefully.
Enjoyment/overall:
Overall, I really enjoyed watching Gosick. Before I knew it, it was over. It's a mystery anime that shifts to a love story. The filler episodes are a bit more slice-of-life, which provide a good lift from the sometimes creepy and gruesome scenarios in the main story. I think it has enough for most people to enjoy some part of it. So, as with anything, try it for a few episodes. If you end up not loving it, and find it a drag to keep watching, you don't have to finish it. We're not going to cut off your head or burn you alive or anything.
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Jan 26, 2012
Everything ahead is my own personal opinion, written on little sleep. Do not take anything as 100% perfect, and please try to work through parts that don't make complete sense.
Gosick is, to be honest, a very strange anime. Not strange as in weird or creepy, like Madoka, or even something you may have to watch multiple time, like FLCL, but it's strange because not every part of it necessarily fits together. And that's going to turn some people off. Story: 7 I'm sort of torn on the story. If you were to summarize the story into one sentence, it would probably go something like: "Gosick is about ... 
Jan 21, 2012
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What to say... The show is good. The story is relatively interesting, even if you can tell what's going to happen about halfway through, when things go to hell. That being said, it is a clumsy excuse for a Harem anime. I haven't played the game, but it feels like they wanted to go a harem route and chose the worst possible way to do it. Most of the characters are stupid to the point they're frustrating, but there are a few "normal" characters I personally would have liked to see played out more.
This anime is the definition of "drama," like a telenovela, except they ... |
