Hey guys, Christmas here. With the Winter season underway, I decided to select Gosick for my own blog. Get it? The YuleBlog? Because I’m Christmas. Never mind. I actually chose this one based on the fact that BONES was producing it. It’ll be a learning experience for all of us, so let’s jump right in!

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We start with what appears to be some sort of demonic/cult ritual. For some reason, the only way to stop some guy from dying, which by the way will turn the Earth to stone, is to release 11 hares into the wild to be slaughtered by hunting dogs… Yeah. Super happy fun time going on right here. And then in direct contrast, we have a very colorful opening animation. I rather like this OP song. But that’s not important.

Speaking of things that aren’t important, I guess that whole sequence wasn’t. It’s the first episode, so we can stand for a little exposition. We have this made-up country, Saubure, with this academy here. And here’s main character man, Kujo Kazuya. Nice looking fellow. Too bad the rest of the students seem to have the impression that he’s the “Dark Reaper”. No explanation for this one either? Okay, we’ll just move along.

Kujo’s just sitting in class, reading a letter from his brother, which tells him to hurry up with school so he can go home and be a family man, when the teacher, who seems way too happy all the time, tells him that he should read ghost stories. Not later on his free time, but apparently skipping class to go to the library to read ghost stories. Still following along? Could you help me out then, because I’m getting lost…

This is one impressive library. I don’t think the Pagemaster had a library this big. Look at all those stairs though. You mean to tell me that there’s no elevator in here. And what’s at the top I wonder. Oh good, Kujo’s gonna climb the stairs and find out for us. Taking one for the team, just like the family man his brother said he should be. Here we see some very nice botanical gardens, and a little girl. The girl proceeds to predict Kujo’s future, by saying that he’ll be back tomorrow. He runs away for some reason. Sure enough though, he comes back. Oh there’s the elevator. I knew there had to be one somewhere.

And out of the elevator comes Phallic-hair Man. They say his name is Grevil, but I will most likely call him Phallic-hair Man from this point on. It seems he’s a detective of some sort. Phallic-hair Man then tells out about some case, which apparently relates to the opening sequence. I should have known they’d tie it in. Well done Gosick, you have answered a few of my questions. After explaining the details, loli-girl then tells us that she has the “fountain of wisdom” inside of her, and with it she can solve this case. The plot thickens.

Loli-girl, who’s name is Victorique by the way, proceeds to elaborate on who the killer is. I won’t spoil any facts for you here, go watch it yourself. The next day, or whenever because it doesn’t really say, Kujo reads the paper and finds that Phallic-hair Man has taken the credit for Victorique’s flawless solving of the case. How dare he.

Kujo puts on his angry hat and goes to confront Phallic-hair Man. Phallic-hair Man says that to make up for it, he will take the two of them out on the little yacht he was given by the victim’s grandmother. We also learn that Victorique isn’t allowed to leave that room. Other things that people aren’t allowed to do include: Kujo using the elevator. Have fun taking the stairs all the time.

After some packing shenanigans, we get to see how sheltered Victorique really is. Insert “What’s that thing?” here. And now Phallic-hair Man is in a sailor suit. I guess weirder things have happened in this episode. While discussing a few things, a policeman tells the detective/sailor that the criminal from the case has escaped. Oh noez. Kujo and Victorique are free to check out the boat, just not ship off.

What do we have here? A suspicious letter? Seems there was still more to this case. I guess we’re off to go explore this big cruise ship in the next episode. I’m generally looking forward to this. But I still don’t get why he’s called a Reaper. Maybe we’ll find out next week. Probably not though.

The preview doesn’t show much, but the ending song is really beautiful. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens next week when it happens, so I’ll catch you guys then. Next episode: The Souls of the Dead Raise a Shipwreck. What long titles this show has.

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So there you have it. Just as I expected, this one looks like it’ll be good. Well done BONES, you have another winner in my book. Question time: what do you think of the series at a glance? Good, bad, whatever. Let me know what you think.

Hope you all enjoyed this, because even if you didn’t, there’ll be another next week anyway. Remember that Gosick, along with loads of other stuff is being simulcast this Winter on Crunchyroll, so make sure to check it out there!