Gosick

Kujou Kazuya is Saint Marguerite Academy's infamous reaper because of his black hair and black eyes. The only Japanese student in the prestigious school in Sauville, he has not made any friends until he met the doll-like Victorique de Blois who also has a nickname, the golden fairy. She rarely attends class and spends most of her time in the library where Kujou met her.

Don't let Victorique's looks deceive you into thinking it's just another romance anime. Gosick is one of the few decent detective series I have seen so far with a female as its lead character. Victorique has a talent for reconstructing chaos, her term for solving mysteries. A famous detective even visits her for her insights. Her curiosity however put her and Kujou in trouble when they board the Queen Berry ship that was rumored to have sunk years ago. That isn't the only case they got themselves involved in however. Most of the series focuses on Kujou and Victorique's adventures in the most bizarre cases. Cases which might also involve Victorique's past.

Victorique holds a pipe whenever she reconstructs chaos

Victorique's and Kujou's first case mystery at the Queen Berry

When I saw the artwork in this series I was hesitant to try it thinking it would be a lousy take on a detective series. For a genre that is supersaturated however, Gosick turned out just fine. Victorique has just the right characteristics to make her charming though not overly cute yet she could easily be one of the strong and decent female characters in any series. An intelligent girl, even a little lady like her, is never a bad taste. She's bossy and moody too, quite the opposite of Kujou who's always careful and composed.

Like all detective series however, the plot and characters are predictable. Victorique does have admirable skills, but that is something you'd expect from a lead character in this genre. Kujou's role however is slightly different. He does not possess a sidekick's usual physical skills nor deductive reasoning. If anything, Kujou is an average guy.

The romance part was to be expected from two young people. The only thing I find unusual were the multiple twists in Victorique's family background. Overall, the series is pretty decent.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10