Gosick

[Kraco]

Avril is pretty childish, especially when it comes to her feelings for Kujou. She should just grow up and give up. There is NO way she can defeat that spring of BAAAWHHH.

It's a bit sad to watch her waste her efforts on Kujou who sees nobody but Victorica in the end. Avril might have called herself dense, but she's not so dense she wouldn't notice it. But I guess it's not so easy to let go of your love.

Well, no matter how unlucky Victorica has been in life otherwise, at least she can be thankful for her cuteness that keeps Kujou coming back to her, despite her obnoxious manners.

[Buffalobiian]

Victorique - Episode 15

[Kraco]

This wasn't a bad conclusion to the arc at all in my opinion. Even if the amount of gold was ridiculous. One real thing that bothered me a bit was that the whole Gray Wolf thing still wasn't explained at all. Why did Leviathan tell the noble dude what he did with his last breath? Had he actually found out about the mysterious women before and then just thought to make amends by revealing that information? I guess that would make sense in the bigger picture since this whole show is about turning mysterious and/or supernatural looking cases into mundane ones. If his only goal was to save his African country, maybe he sympathised with the other man trying to save his. It would have been a bit strange coincidence if he meant nothing with it but only told it as a last joke or some general, cultural thing.

Well, at least Kujou scored a couple of Victorica points...

[Buffalobiian]

I have no idea what it was about neither. Was it a last ditch effort to say something random? The other thing that was left unanswered was the purpose of Brian Roscoe(?) showing up. Monster Hunting, he said he was here for.

???

He believes alchemy and thinks Victorique's going to play some key role here too?

[Buffalobiian]

Victorique - Episode 16

[Buffalobiian]

Victorique - Episode 17


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Well while this was a nice arc that was pretty intense towards the end (and overall pretty much so as well), it was a bit weird. I'm not really sure what it was trying to accomplish. Moving Victorique was supposed to lure out Cordellia, but why only expect her on the train? It makes more sense to be alert for her in the facility's grounds as well since she's sure to be active there as opposed to on the train.

Brian Roscoe's always in the dark. Is he Occult or Science? And the guy who was sneeking around with engine oil on his hand seemed to be significant, but now that he's dead and all evidence's washed away, his part of the story seemes unlikely to be solved.

While it's a good arc emotionally, it's an incomplete one.

[Buffalobiian]

Victorique - Episode 18

[Ryllharu]

I'm not sure which is more amazing, that Victorica could fire a gun one-handed without it smacking her in the face on the recoil, or that the train crew had a maid outfit (much less boots!) in her size. Probably the latter.

This was an entertaining episode, even if it wasn't very clear where this fits into the whole story. I enjoyed the inherent deceptiveness of the two organizations quietly fighting each other (not so quietly at the end though). Kujo got to be a little bit cool too. He's still got a ways to go, but he'll become a decent knight for Victorica yet.

Also, I love Yuuki Aoi's assertive voice. She used to get all shrieky, but what she's using now is strangely alluring. :3

@Buff: Brian works for neither. He used to work for the Academy of Science on occasion, but now he claims to work for the Ministry of the Occult. In truth, he works for independently as a Grey Wolf (with Cordelia). Their goal is to counter Albert de Blois and his schemes. To what end, we don't yet know. Albert wants to use Victorica so he can come out of the upcoming storm (WWII) on top, keeping Sauville safe only for his own ends. It sounds like have those in power, stay in power after it ends. What Cordelia and Brian get out of overthrowing this hierarchy is beyond me. Cordelia's additional motive is more clear, she wants to prevent Victorica's life from being ruined.

[Buffalobiian]

Yeah, I have to take my words back. They finished up what that whole trip was about for everybody AND solved that guy's murder.

I totally forgot that Victorique shouldn't have been able to fire a gun so well. Now that you mention it, I would have liked it even better if she tried the first time, got hurt ( T.T ), but insisted on doing it herself (with Kujo lending a pair of hands). It would have demonstrated her resolve better, as well as showing the need for the two to work together. If Victorique could fire a gun so well already, Kujo really wasn't needed in that final scene.

[Kraco]

Bah, anybody can fire a handgun of that size. However, hitting anything smaller than a barn door with it is another matter. That's why I'm happy with them waiting until they had almost reached the device before spending the last bullet. It's also likely Kujo might have some expertice in the matter, being the son of a militarist soldier.

Kujo was certainly out of it in this episode. He had no idea what's going on. Fortunately he at least attempted to act. Maybe there's still hope left for him like Ryll believes.

[shinta|hikari]

I just wish he was a more capable fighter. I mean, he serves no purpose intellectually because Victorique has that completely covered, but he can't even fight and protect her well. At this rate, any other guy would do.

[Kraco]

He seems to love Victorica and I get the feeling Victorica isn't that far from loving him back. Being ignorant of love is the one thing her relatives keep reminding her of, so in that sense Kujo might provide the very thing she needs the most.

Not that I'd be happy with his performance elsewhere, though. But that's what I've been saying from (almost) the beginning...

[shinta|hikari]

What I mean is Kujou is nothing special, and he has done nothing special. This means that if any other decent guy replaced him from the start of the story, Victorique would like that guy all the same and fall in love with him too. I don't want to cheapen their relationship, but with Kujou like that, it is hard to think otherwise. I know it isn't supposed to be like that, and I bet the author wants us to feel that they were made for each other, but Kujou as depicted is not holding his end of the bargain too well.

The only time I remember Kujou being cool was when he used the knuckles against that guy on the ship.

[Xelbair]

[Victorique]_Gosick_-_19_[h264-720p][4272B1DB].mkv

[Ryllharu]

What I mean is Kujou is nothing special, and he has done nothing special. This means that if any other decent guy replaced him from the start of the story, Victorique would like that guy all the same and fall in love with him too. I don't want to cheapen their relationship, but with Kujou like that, it is hard to think otherwise.

Since I'm the only one who is ever willing to defend Kujo...I shall.

There is no way that Kujo could be replaced with just some other random person and it work out all the same. His background is the key to why the two of them work together so well. Kujo is a foreigner, an outcast, insignificant in his own country, subservient in his new one, but also worldly.

While Victorica is similarly an outcast, foreign in her own way, isolated and separated from her peers by special treatment at the school (not regularly attending classes, having her own private house and other perks), she in contrast has enormous significance in her own country, acts superior to everyone (except her father and mother), but knows very little outside of books.

Kujo is the prefect compliment to her because of his background. He is the fourth son (and youngest overall behind a sister) which makes him pointless in his own household. He isn't particularly skilled at anything. Yet his sister and mother are what made him caring instead of resentful about his status. In Sauville, he is an outcast, which allows him that opening with Victorica. She hid from all others before she met him, giving her her own school legend. But she let herself meet him because he is fairly non-threatening and intriguing in his own right. Being Japanese and a fourth son, he is also subservient enough that she can boss him around, which contrasts sharply with her natural frightened nature, giving her a needed boost to her social confidence. Before Kujo, it is heavily implied that the only person she talked to aside from her brother was Ms. Cecile, and now she even spars with Avril.

The most important part to her though, is Kujo's "worldly" nature. I suspect it is largely the same reason Avril is attracted to him. He doesn't compare to someone like Brian Roscoe, but Kujo has seen a great deal about the outside world that Victorica has only read about in books. She's (generally) forbidden from leaving the school and Kujo is her window and key to the outside world. He brings treats, new toys, and experiences (climbing a tree) for her to play with that she's never heard of or even thought about.

What he lacks in skill is made up in nerve. He protected Victorica without needing to think about it on the burning bridge despite being outclassed by Harminia. He was willing to do whatever it took on the train to save her before she demanded to be taken along. He faced off against Brian when he called her nothing but a tool (again outclassed), but he was not willing to give in. For someone who was called a weakling by his own father, someone who would never amount to anything had he stayed in Japan, Kujo's got guts. If he had the skills to match, he'd be fearsome indeed.

Sure, you could replace Kujo with another generic "more guts than skills" character, but without Kujo's distinct upbringing and background, the two would never have met in the first place, or Victorica would have lost interest long ago. She calls him boring, but she doesn't mean it. He's one of the only people in the country that can make her eyes sparkle with curiosity.

[shinta|hikari]

I know all that. Like I said,

...I know it isn't supposed to be like that, and I bet the author wants us to feel that they were made for each other, but Kujou as depicted is not holding his end of the bargain too well.

It is just that he has been disappointing, and it makes us forget his value.

[Buffalobiian]

So.. er, the guy just sees a loli gray wolf and rapes her?

He's more sick than I thought. I'm honestly surprised Cordelia's not more broken than she is (and she's barely broken at that).

[Kraco]

He was Leviathan's wannabe disciple, wasn't he? He has to be sick. But yeah, the story was even more cruel than I expected.

[Buffalobiian]

Victorique - episode 20

[shinta|hikari]

Finally, Kujo proves to be indispensable to Victorique. He understands how even she needs fragments in order to reconstruct anything, and seems to be a capable assistant even if purely by luck and instinct. Luck is still a rare asset after all.