Gosick - Episode 4

It's time for Gosick to involve itself in a new story arc, and it certainly wastes no time in doing this as episode four begins, with Kujo finding himself arrested mere seconds into this instalment.

Of course, Mujo is no murderer, and after recounting his memory and thoughts at the time of the odd goings-on that caused this chain of events, Victorique is quick to de-construct them and reveal the truth of the crime at hand as she is want to do.  To be honest, it didn't really take a genius-level intellect to figure this one out, but regardless it racks up as another crime solved by Victorique as the perpetrator is seemingly caught quickly enough.

Away from all of this however, Kujo's reputation isn't exactly being bolstered by this constant involvement either with grisly murder cases or Victorique, with his status as the "Dark Reaper" seemingly now reinforced without any hope of it ever being diminished.  Still, it isn't all bad, as Kujo's class is soon introduced to another new transfer student - a blonde British girl named Avril, who seems nice enough yet she also seems to have an injured hand just like the murderer in the "headless rider" case Kujo was previously caught up with.  Certainly, there is something rather odd about Avril's behaviour from time to time, no more so than when a favour performed by Kujo to open up the academy's crypt (because all schools have their own crypt, right?) reveals a decomposed, mummified body dressed as a knight.  Again, this isn't exactly an everyday crime scene, yet Victorique sees the truth about the case through this chaos in no time at all; a truth which still leaves Avril's role (if any) and behaviour very much in question.

Even four episodes in, I still can't really get to grips with my feelings for Gosick thus far.  Its murder mystery elements still entertain me even if some of them are overly simple in the extreme, yet they're often over so quickly that there really isn't much time for me to enjoy the whole process before it's all over.  Indeed, this is probably an accusation I can label at the series so far as a whole - it seems to feel the need to rush through things at a break-neck speed, never taking any time to allow a moment of horror, importance or insight sink in before moving on to the next items on its agenda.  While this is fine for some series, it undermines Gosick's murder mystery roots, as there's no time to wallow in the enjoyment of attempting to figure out an impossible case for yourself and then marvel in the eventual answer when it's presented to you.  In a way, Gosick is increasingly feeling like you've just read the first chapter of a murder thriller, then skipped straight to the final chapter to find out who did it and how - without all of the exposition in the middle, it's little more than a clinical explanation of the intricacies of a given situation.  If it can just learn to slow down a little, I get the feeling there's a far more compelling series lurking underneath.