Gosick

Murder mysteries never looked so cute.


True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.
—Winston Churchill

Gosick (-ゴシック-, Goshikku, Gothic) is a Japanese Light Novel series written by Kazuki Sakuraba, illustrated by Hinata Takeda and published by Fujimi Shobo. The first novel was released on December 10, 2003. The ninth and final one was published on July 23, 2011. GosickS, a series of short stories set in this universe, released four collections total. Tokyo Pop licensed the novels in the United States and has released the first two.

The story is set in 1924, in the fictional European country of Sauville (also known as Saubure). At St. Marguerite Academy, a school where the students love to gossip about horror stories and urban legends, many real mysteries find their way into school lore. There, Kazuya Kujo, a Japanese transfer student and the third son of an Imperial soldier, meets Victorique, a strange girl who is so small and beautiful that she can easily be confused with a living bisque doll. Her intelligence and smoking habit, however, make her resemble Sherlock Holmes more than Shinku. She spends her days skipping class, reading multiple books at a time on the top floor of the library, and solving mysteries so difficult they have even the police stumped. As the series progresses, Kazuya and Victorique continue to get involved in strange cases, where they meet many kinds of people, both good and bad. Despite the moe-style art, its tone is rather serious.

A manga adaptation, illustrated by Amano Sakuya, runs in Monthly Dragon Age. A drama CD, based on the first volume of GosickS, was released on April 21, 2006. An 24 episode anime adaptation by Studio BONES began airing on January 7th, 2011.

Tropes used in Gosick include:
  • The Abridged Series: Here.
  • Adult Child: Cecile Lafitte, Kujo's teacher. Sophie could qualify as this as well.
  • All Asians Are Alike: It takes quite a few of the citizens of Sauville more than one go to correctly identify Kazuya's country of origin. Hardly surprising, given the relative lack of international travel at the time. Some people throughout the series call to him by saying, "Hey Chinese!" They either don't know his Japanese heritage or just don't care.
  • All Love Is Unrequited: Grevil has been in love with Jacqueline for years. Pity that she's (a) married and (b) completely oblivious. Also Avril's initial jealousy of Victorique over Kujo's clear fondness for her, though she seems to get over it.
  • Alternate Universe: Apart from the existence of the fictional country of Sauville, it seems that World War II starts in 1925 in this world.
  • Always Murder: Averted in the Jeantan and Leviathan cases, though the latter was a bit more complicated.
  • Amateur Sleuth
    • Victorique. Grevil could qualify as well, seeing as his inspector-status is due to his aristocratic position and not actual talent.
    • Grevil also acquired his position due to taking credit for solving cases which Victorique actually solved.
  • Arc Words: "The coming wind" or all other variants, which can be easily inferred to be World War II. Preparing for this is the reason Albert do Blois did everything he did.
  • Arrested for Heroism: Kazuya gets arrested when he reports a murder he witnessed to Grevil, who thinks the way it supposedly happened was impossible, and therefore Kazuya is lying to cover it up.
  • Art Shift: Most of the opening sequence is drawn and colored in an Art Nouveau style reminiscent of Alphonse Mucha, a renowned artist in the Art Nouveau movement.
  • Asshole Victim / Laser-Guided Karma: Roxanne the fortune teller turns out to be one, as does every single guest on the second Queen Berry who (a) isn't Kazuya or Victorique, and (b) isn't the person who set up the entire Death Course to begin with.
  • Audible Sharpness: The Hunting Dog's axe in Episode 3.
  • Auction of Evil: The girls that were being auctioned off in the Jeantan case.
  • Ax Crazy
    • Ned, who even goes berserk with an actual axe.
    • Harminia completely loses it after being outed as the true murderer of the village elder.
  • Badass Bookworm
    • When the bookworm starts beating the shit out of an axe-murderer with a pair of brass knuckles, one might imagine that he's not to be trifled with.
    • Or when the other bookworm drops books on the fake Avril.
  • Batman Gambit: In episode 22 Victorique uses one on Kujo (and the other students at the school to an extent) to make sure that when they take a gift from under the Christmas tree he gets the one she brought.
  • Battle Amongst the Flames
    • Kazuya and the true murderer face off on the ignited bridge leading into the village.
    • Episode 23: Cordelia and Albert de Blois' sword-fight takes place in this fashion after Brian blew up the entire building that surrounded them.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Episode 3. Kujo. Brass knuckles. That is all.
  • Bishounen
    • Inspector Blois is fairly attractive, if you can ignore his absurd haircut.
    • In Episode 11, we see him before he got his strange new hairstyle. No doubt the female fans were quite pleased.
    • In Episode 13, he shows up without his hairstyle and neither Kazuya nor Cecile recognize him. The latter swoons.
    • There'a also Brian Roscoe.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Fake Avril aka The Second Kuiaran.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Cordeila and the Brians are dead, Sabure is severely disrupted by war, but Kujo and Victorique are finally reunited and are assumed to be married and live happily after.
  • Blue Eyes: Avril
  • Bratty Half-Pint: Luigi
  • Breather Episode: Episode 12.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Several of the various legends and fairy-tales Kazuya and Victorique have to deal with are introduced several episodes before they become relevant, such as the Grey Wolves and Leviathan the Alchemist.
  • Children Forced to Kill: In episodes two and three of the anime adaptation, Victorique and Kujo discover information about an incident of this that happened 10 years ago.
  • Chocolate Baby: Turned up after Queen Coco Rose's affair with the African court alchemist Leviathan, with predictably messy consequences.
  • Clear My Name / Clear Their Name
    • Kazuya begs Victorique to help him when he is accused of murder.
    • This is also applied to Cordelia Gallo, Victorique's mother.
  • Compressed Hair: Averted. Mildred's hair looks like a Funny Afro.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Kazuya and Ms. Cecile.
  • Darkest Hour: Episode 22. Sauville is preparing for war. Marquis de Blois gets ready to make his move and Grevil has revealed himself to be his loyal dragon. Also Kujo has been kidnapped and is being used to blackmail Victorique.
  • Death Trap
    • The Queen Berry is a huge example of one of these.
    • Also the cause of the deaths in the school clock tower after an alchemist's hidden lair became a minor tourist site.
  • Detective Drama
  • Disney Villain Death / Karmic Death: The true murderer of the Village Elder dies this way.
  • Distant Finale: Showing how Kazuya and Victorique are reunited in Japan four years later, after the war is over.
  • Dual-Wielding: Cordelia fights with two blades.
  • Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Victorique has them in the flashbacks to her days living with the de Blois family.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Victorique and Kujo. Together.
  • Elaborate University High: St. Marguerite Academy
  • Elegant Gothic Lolita: Victorique. And her mother, complete with tiny hat.
  • Emotionless Girl
  • Evil Versus Evil: Whilst the series as a whole doesn't qualify, the background struggle between the Ministry of the Occult and Science Academy definitely does.
  • Eye Scream: Roxanne the Fortune Teller gets killed off this way.
  • Fair Play Whodunnit: Technically all clues to solve the mysteries are given, although Victorique often has to use very outlandish reasoning to piece them together. Which is awesome.
  • Fake Ultimate Detective: Grevil, thanks to taking all the credit for Victorique's deductions.
  • Faking the Dead
    • One of the "hares" from the first Queen Berry did this. He perfectly replicates this tactic on the second Queen Berry.
    • Also Queen Coco Rose's maid took the king's beating for bearing an illigitimate child for her leading to her own death. We see her once toward the episode where her escape is realized by Victorique. Suprisingly The king didn't realize it wasn't her that he killed.
  • Fictional Country: Gosick is set in Sauville. Which was likely based on the historical country of Savoy (same location and very similar name).
  • Foreshadowing: One notable point in the anime's opening is when it shows Brian Roscoe. When the spotlights hit him he casts two shadows.
  • Fortune Teller: Roxanne
  • Friend on the Force: Grevil, though it's more like Brother On The Force. Who takes the credit for your hard work.
  • Food as Bribe: Kazuya gives Victorique various Japanese snacks in exchange for her help.
  • Girl in a Box: Kazuya finds one in episode 9.
  • Good Smoking, Evil Smoking
    • Victorique carries a pipe and enjoys smoking it in the novels.
    • It may be a bubble pipe in the anime; no smoke and no tobacco are visible. Possibly a case of No Smoking, as it's illegal to show underage people smoking or drinking alcohol on Japanese public television.
  • Gorgeous Period Dress: Even though the series is set in The Roaring Twenties, Victorique wears old-fashioned Elegant Gothic Lolita style dresses. Possibly explained in that Victorique is said to sound and act like an old woman, and tends to be given old hand-me-downs by her family rather than anything more modern due to her interesting parental issues.
  • Green Eyes: Victorique in the anime, though novel and manga illustrations vary from Green Eyes and Blue Eyes to Eyes of Gold. Grevil has them, too.
  • Gratuitous English: The title is supposed to be "Gothic" .
  • Guns Akimbo: During the assassination mission against the Marquis de Blois, the Roscoe guarding Cordelia's back wields a pair of submachineguns.
  • Hair of Gold
    • In the novels, Victorique's blond hair is mentioned a lot. Grevil and Avril have it, too.
    • In the anime she's almost certainly the legendary "Golden Fairy Of The Library" due to this.
    • All of the residents of the Seyrun village.
  • Heroic Bastard: Victorique is an illegitimate daughter of the de Blois family with a politically-troublesome mother, which is why she's spent most of her life isolated from the rest of society.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Cordelia (presumably) killing Albert
  • Hidden Elf Village: The Village of Gray Wolves a.k.a. Seyrun. Outsiders are welcome to visit, and residents -- even children of exiled residents -- can leave and return, but many of them are actually a Human Subspecies; pale, petite, green-eyed blondes with Super Intelligence, capable of Awesomeness By Analysis, and Sherlock Scans. The village Elders, meanwhile, are oracles. Non-cryptic ones! Though they do give the odd Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. And it really sucked for Cordelia Gallo when the Marquis de Blois realized she was a Grey Wolf.
  • Hime Cut: Victorique and Kazuya's sister.
  • Holding Hands: Happens a lot during Kazuya and Victorique's various Ship Tease moments.
  • Hollywood Tone Deaf
    • Victorique. When she sings in the bath, Kujo first thinks that she is screaming in pain or fear.
    • One of the CDs features her singing the song "Incertitude." It is absolutely painful to listen to. There's also a second version of the song included as a bonus track in which her VA sings properly. It's difficult to tell that it's even the same person.
  • Hyper Awareness: Unusually for this sort of series, largely averted.
    • Victorique is most used to solving mysteries second-hand, so while she does pick up on a fair amount while she's on-scene, most of it is pretty basic or relates to her personal experience. In fact, it's Kazuya who she tends to rely on to get the facts for her.
    • Luigi, however, has an amazing memory and once counted the money that fell out of Kazuya's pocket before it hit the floor.
  • Hypocrite: Both the Ministry of the Occult and the Science Academy. The former uses scientific principles in its work more than it does anything resembling magic, whilst the latter is led by one of the possibly-mystic Grey Wolves.
  • I Will Protect Her: Kazuya to Victorique. Which gets reversed on occasion.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The series makes an art form of this, with episode titles are all heavily metaphorical some you can get an idea what the episode is about just from the title ('Blue Roses Bloom in the Cannibal Department Store') other's only make sense after viewing the episode ('A Malicious Frill is Censuring the Farting Newt').
  • Improbable Hairstyle: Grevil, which Kazuya immediately points out and Victorique relentlessly mocks. Grevil mentions to Kazuya that it was Victorique's idea in exchange for her cooperation on a case, and was one of the reasons he doesn't like asking for her help directly.
  • Inexplicably Identical Individuals: There are an astonishing number of Sauvillian women who look very much like the late Queen Coco Rose. To make matters even weirder, she was not known for her plain, generic features (which might explain such a coincidence), but for being one of the country's most celebrated beauties. Given how much Coco Rose's inspiration Marie Antoinette influenced contemporary fashion, it meant that many women actually tried to look like her. That, a large enough sample size, and the usual stylization can explain the rest.
  • In-Series Nickname: The students of St. Marguerite call Kazuya "The Black/Dark Reaper" or "The Reaper Who Comes In Spring." They also call Victorique "The Golden Fairy of the Library."
  • Knight of Cerebus: Things get considerably darker once the Marquis de Blois takes an active role in proceedings.
  • Large Ham: Grevil, who even has hammy, over-exaggerated hair. According to his childhood friend -- who married someone else -- he used to behave differently before he got the hair. Which means that he decided to become a ham in order to live up to his hair.
  • Last-Name Basis: Victorique always calls Kazuya by his last name, "Kujo".
  • Little Girls Kick Shins: When Victorique is particularly annoyed/bored, she invariably expresses her annoyance with a kick to Kujo's shin.
  • Little Miss Snarker: Victorique
  • Locked Room Mystery: Episode 1 has one of these. In fact, the lock itself turns out to be instrumental to the murder method.
  • Magical Realism: Despite the down-to-earth explanations for most of the strange occurrences in the story, some apparently genuine supernatural elements (such as highly accurate prophecies and the Grey Wolves' possibly-superhuman mental faculties) do appear to exist.
  • Magic Versus Science: The heart of the Secret War between the Science Academy and the Ministry of the Occult. Whilst the Academy has the advantage of far more empirical evidence on its side (and of not being run by the Marquis de Blois), both factions fight so dirty that it's impossible to call either one the good guys.
  • The Maid Did It: Two cases:
    • In the Queen Berry case it was the Arabian Maid who killed Roxanne.
    • In the Seyrun village case it was Harminia, who successfully framed Cordelia.
  • Meido: Victorique has to borrow a change of clothes from the train staff in episode 18 having been soaked at the climax of the previous episode and somehow they find a maid's uniform that fits a very short 13-14 year old girl who looks like 10 or 12. Maids tended to start out at that age in the period, so it's not out of place.
  • Micro Monarchy: Sauville
  • The Mole: The English boy Ned on the first Queen Berry.
  • Moral Event Horizon: The in-universe reaction of just about everyone to Victorique's mother, Cordelia, apparently murdering her village's elder, a highly revered prophet. Among other things, it resulted in her being banished from her home, losing her prospective husband, and having her daughter locked away from society for most of the rest of her life. Although, as it turned out, the husband-and-daughter thing was really more of an excuse told to the rest of the world to cover up something far nastier.
  • Mystery of the Week
  • Mystery Magnet: Kazuya is starting to get an in-series reputation for tripping over gruesome murders wherever he goes, and it's not without reason. Hence the name The Black Reaper.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Beelzebub's Skull.
  • Nasty Party: Everyone invited to the Miniature Garden Box Evening is there so that one of the "hares" from the first Queen Berry (Julie) can have their revenge for what happened 10 years before.
  • New Transfer Student: Kazuya transfers to St. Marguerite Academy before the start of the series, and Avril Bradley transfers in some time later.
  • Nice Guy: Kazuya, which helps a lot with putting up with Victorique.
  • Nice Hat
    • Kazuya. It's not often you see a 15-year-old wear a hat like that.
    • Victorique usually wears a frilly bonnet. In episode 6 they briefly wore a jewelled turban, though it looked silly on her.
    • In episode 21 Victorique tries on a crown (it's prop, not a real one). It's much too big and actually covers her entire face when she's not holding it up. Her whole purpose in trying it on was to make certain that it could contain an entire human head of specific size.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Kujo is on the receiving end of one in Episode 23 from a Drill Sergeant Nasty who even kicks him for good measure.
  • No Social Skills: Victorique never really had a chance to develop them, resulting in her characteristic bluntness and making such things as her attempts at polite laughter a... memorable experience for all present.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Pulled off by Grevil, of all people, in Episode 10. If Episode 11 is any indication, Grevil has always been fairly bright... just not as bright as Victorique. He's still quite dumb with various weird conclusions he makes. He's smart in very narrow fields, and police work is not one of them, despite his good eye for detail -- when he bothers looking in the first place.
  • Of Corset Hurts: Victorique runs afoul of an antique one in episode 22.
  • Official Couple: Kazuya and Victorique, natch.
  • Off with His Head: The victim in episode 5.
  • Older Than They Look: Grey Wolves tend towards this, thanks to their short stature and childlike frames.
  • Open Says Me: Avril kicks open a couple of doors in the clock tower. Each time afterwards, she hops around in pain for a bit.
  • Outrunning The Floodwater: Kujo while carrying Victorique in episode 17.
  • Parental Abandonment: Victorique's mother was forcefully separated from her after birth. Her father, meanwhile, took this to the point of actual abuse until Grevil stepped in.
  • Phantom Thief: The Second Kuiaran.
  • Phone-in Detective: Very common for Victorique, due to the restrictions her family have placed on her movements. In fact, it's implied to be the exclusive method by which she helped out Grevil before Kazuya came along. She's literally this in the Jeantan case, due to being bedridden with sickness.
  • Ping-Pong Naivete: Victorique is solving a complex crime with second-hand information one moment, and not knowing that one can get a carriage for hire the next.
  • Police Are Useless: Not helped by having an Upper Class Twit as their acclaimed chief investigator. Averted in the Jeantan case.
  • Prophet Eyes: Used, naturally, whenever someone's making a prophecy, though it's really more of a case of their eyes rolling up in their heads.
  • Rape as Backstory: Cordelia, Victorique's mother, was kidnapped by the Marquis de Blois and forced to bear his child once he found out that she was a Grey Wolf.
  • Rapunzel Hair
    • Victorique's hair reaches her ankles.
    • Many of the residents of Seyrun.
    • Including Cordelia, Victorique's mother.
  • Red Herring
    • The fake Avril's injured hand. It was, in fact, evidence of a crime, but not the one Kazuya was thinking of.
    • Also, Cordelia's murder charges. Those were the reason her child's father wants nothing to do with her any more, right? Wr-ong!
  • Say My Name: Kujo has the tendency to shout Victorique's name about ten times an episode.
  • Scary Black Man: Leviathan the Alchemist is shown to be this, although it had nothing to do with his being African, but with the fear people had of the mystery of his mask and his alchemy, which was revealed by Victorique to be false. The clothes he donned and the ruse he perpetrated to try to discourage further exploitation of his home country by Saubre's royalty.
  • Schedule Slip: Episode 10 was delayed a week, and episode 11 was delayed until the 1st of April because of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in the Tôhoku region of Japan.
  • Screaming Birth: Victorique's. Highly justified, given that the birth in question was an obstetrician's nightmare.
  • Secret War: Between the Ministry of the Occult and the Science Academy, two powerful political factions battling over control of the government.
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Harminia's motivation for murdering the Elder of Seyrun and later attempting to destroy the tiny city-state was to prevent her own foretold death at age 26. Naturally, the plan went wrong and eventually ended up causing her demise just as the elder had predicted.
  • Sherlock Scan: Victorique is very good at this, though her tendency to rely on second-hand information means that she lacks much of the corresponding Hyper Awareness when she's on the scene herself.
  • Ship Tease
    • Scads thereof between Kazuya and Victorique. It helps that despite her appearance, they're actually about the same age.
    • Looks like Avril now has a thing for Kazuya according to Episode 13
  • Shorter Means Smarter: Victorique and Luigi.
  • Shout-Out
    • A girl with long golden hair trapped at the top of a tower by the person who raised her until a boy stumbles upon her. Remind you of anything?
    • Victorique uses a pipe when she's thinking in a way similar to the popular conception of Sherlock Holmes, although in the anime she just holds it in her mouth instead of actually smoking anything.
  • Shrouded in Myth: The Grey Wolves, a legendary European bloodline known for their short stature, golden hair, and vast intellect, are the source of several local legends and a great deal of general superstition.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: Grevil
  • Spanner in the Works: Kazuya and Victorique to the Queen Berry murder plot. It didn't help that the culprit, being a Sympathetic Murderer, didn't want to see two innocent children die in the gigantic Death Course they'd set up, and so had to expose themselves more than they would have otherwise wished to in order to keep them safe.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": There is some contention on how to romanize various names in the series, including those of the main heroine, the police inspector, and the fictional country they live in.
  • Stage Magician: Several, including the Phantasmagoria troupe, though towering above them all is the legendary Brian Roscoe, whose stunts include using a magic lantern and a picture of the Virgin Mary to take out an entire German bomber squadron.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: Or whatever their relationship might actually be. The elder of Seyrun predicted that an event that will soon come will tear Kazuya and Victorique apart. With World War II coming up, it'll be no surprise, seeing as he's Japanese and she's (Allied) European. Then it actually happens, over a decade early, and they still get back together afterward.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: Victorique looks so much like Cordelia that even Kazuya and Grevil, her own brother, mistake the daughter for the mother and vice versa. Apparently Cordelia's hometown in filled with Inexplicably Identical Individuals. Her mother has noticably larger breasts (that is, any) than her daughter, even after the Time Skip where we see Victorique at around 18, but it's hard to tell under the frills.
  • Sugar and Ice Personality / Tsundere: Victorique occupies the middle ground between the two, being more cranky than the average Sugar and Ice Personality and more reserved than the average Tsundere.
  • Sympathetic Murderer: The surviving "hares" of the first Queen Berry, save for Ned.
  • Take My Hand: Victorique to Kazuya when the only bridge to the village collapses.
  • Ten Little Murder Victims: This happens at the Miniature Garden Box Evening.
  • Theme Tune Cameo: Near the end of Episode 17 the instrumental version of "Resuscitated Hope", the first Ending Theme, plays as Kujo and Victorique chase after the departing train while Beelzebub's Skull gets flooded. Also note the situation - for once it is Victorique who has broken down and it is only because of Kujo her hope is resuscitated.
  • Throw the Book At Them: Victorique's method of dealing with the fake Avril Bradley.
  • To the Tune Of: The OP "Destin Historie" sounds awfully similar to "Sorairo Days" and vice versa, as pointed out in these videos.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Avril and Victorique.
  • Together in Death: Cordelia and one of the Roscoes.
  • Town with a Dark Secret: The Village of the Wolves.
  • Translation Convention: In the final episode it can be assumed that most of the cast have been talking French the entire time as Kujo's sister says she doesn't speak enough of it to talk properly with Victorique when she arrives in Japan.
  • Tsurime Eyes: Victorique and Avril.
  • Unkempt Beauty: Mildred
  • Upper Class Twit: Grevil is one who happens to be in a position of actual authority. One can only imagine what state Sauville's criminal justice system would be in without Victorique around....
  • Vague Age: In episode 7 Victorique indirectly states that she's around ten to twelve years old, though later recollections by other characters place her as being around fifteen, which would fit with the tendency for Grey Wolves to be Older Than They Look and explain why she's in Kazuya's class at school. This is acknowledged in the Episode 24 description given to folks trying to capture Victorique as she runs as far away from Sauville - as was suggested - as she can get.
  • Vestigial Empire: Seyrun. Very, very vestigial.
  • Villainous Breakdown: A common fate for criminals outed by Kazuya and Victorique. Harminia is particularly notable for starting her breakdown before this - clearly, plotting to destroy the village that's been your home for most of your life is somewhat detrimental to one's mental wellbeing.
  • The Watson: Kazuya
  • "What the Hell?" Dad: Albert De Blois towards his son, Grevil. With his daughter, Victorique, though, things are considerably worse.
  • White-Haired Pretty Girl: Victorique as of the final episode.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Kujo, so far, demonstrates an admirable degree of restraint even in the face of likely death. When the lives or freedom of innocents hang on subduing a female villain, on the other hand...
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: After he'd had her provide him with a child, the Marquis de Blois dumped Cordelia in an asylum. Not, strictly speaking, a death sentence, but considering that this was the 1910s, close enough.
  • You Wake Up in a Room: The food at the Miniature Garden Box Evening was drugged, and when everyone wakes up, they've been moved to another room.
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