Gosick Spoilertastic Discussion Thread

[DiGiKerot]

I'm imagining interest for this thread will die out after a dozen episodes, but for the sake of not ruining the enjoyment of the rest of the forum, let's separate out the discussion for those who are familiar with the original work. Assuming the mods don't mind, that is...

First, the bit from the other thread...

Based on the Kazuki Sakuraba novel series of the same name and produced by Studio BONES. Crunchyroll will stream the first episode on January 7.

ANN Encyclopedia Entry (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=11759)
Official Site (http://www.gosick.tv/)
Crunchyroll page (http://www.crunchyroll.com/gosick)


As usual, please try to follow these three easy forum courtesy habits when replying:
1) If you're the first person to post about an episode in any given week, please respond to the root post (this post) and indicate in the subject line which episode you're posting about.
2) If someone has already posted about an episode before you, please respond to that post (or a relevant reply to that post). Keep in the right subthread.
3) Don't use the blue "Post Reply" button because it causes your reply not to correctly inherit the subject line of the post you're replying to. Just click "Quote" to the post you want to reply to.

Also, please try to refrain from posting spoilers of potential and/or future plotlines, especially if you are reading/have read the manga. If you want to compare the anime to the manga, that's fine, but try to keep the spoilers away. I don't want you to learn your lesson the hard way like I did :sweat: .

With that out the way, let's totally ignore that last part and set another rule - unlike the other thread, anything from the first two novels (as in, the two Tokyopop released in the US) is fair game. I think that content is only relevant in it's own story arcs for the most part anyway. If anyone does want to bring up any content from the other books, I'm not going to dissuade you, but if you can spoiler tag it (and clearly identify it's for later arcs) at least until those story arcs start, I'd appreciate it.

Otherwise, feel free to complain away!

[DiGiKerot]

And with that said, I'm curious to see how they manage the difference between the two time periods in the first book. If they aren't really subtle about that in some regards, they'll totally blow it almost immediately.

[Westlo]

Bones put out the following in a PR package for the media...

The series will be 24 episodes in total. This is the novel material it will adapt:

Ep1-3: Gosick
Ep4-5: Gosicks: The Reaper Comes in the Spring
Ep6-8: Gosick II: The Crime is Nowhere
Ep9-10: Gosick III: Beneath the Blue Rose
Ep11: First Love (from Gosicks II: Summer from the Disappearing Train)
Ep12: Pony Puzzle (from Gosicks II: Summer from the Disappearing Train)
Ep13-15: Gosick IV: A Fool Represents the Case
Ep16-17: Gosick V: Beelzebub's Skull
Ep18: Gosick VI: Night of the Masquerade
Ep19: Chastity ~Tale of the White Rose~ (from Gosicks III: Memories of an Autumn Flower)
Ep20-24: Material currently being serialized

Looks like it will be very faithful.. just like with Scrapped Princess the only other LN they have adapted.

[einhorn303]

And with that said, I'm curious to see how they manage the difference between the two time periods in the first book. If they aren't really subtle about that in some regards, they'll totally blow it almost immediately.

In terms of a character from the flashback scenes being a character from the present time period?

If they're too blatant about concealing Ree's appearance, that will also be suspicious and give it away.

[DiGiKerot]

If they're too blatant about concealing Ree's appearance, that will also be suspicious and give it away.

Either that or they'll go too far and it'll not make much sense at all.

[einhorn303]

It seems the main difference with this episode is the lack of Avril. Who is still in the OP. And so Kazuya first gets foreshadowed on the Queen Berry from a book instead of her.

- "A talking walf, huh? Now there's a creature I wouldn't mind getting to know." Ah, what irony.

[DiGiKerot]

It seems the main difference with this episode is the lack of Avril. Who is still in the OP. And so Kazuya first gets foreshadowed on the Queen Berry from a book instead of her.


Well, judging from that book to episode conversion list (assuming it proves correct), it sounds like they're going to do the prequel story between this arc and the second book. I've no idea what happens there, but I'd assume they decided that the characters first meeting would prove a better place to introduce her than perhaps over-complicating matters here.

[Razzuel]

I don't know; I thought it was all wrong, haha. I guess I'll make a list of everything that bothered me.



The structural similarities to Sherlock Holmes are gone.
Kazuya already received the letter from his brother, which doesn't happen until the second novel.
Avril is no where to be found.
Kazuya doesn't meet Victorique like that in the book.
Kazuya doesn't meet Greville like that in the book.
There was never any white smoke coming out of Victorique's pipe.
Where is Greville's pipe?
Greville acts like an idiot instead of a pompous detective.
Greville kept calling Kazuya a squirrel? What the hell?
Greville wasn't ignoring Victorique like he should have been when they were discussing Roxanne's murder.
Victorique didn't act as exasperated and discontent as she should have when she was bored.
Where are Greville's assistants?
The reveal of the Queen Berry wasn't as powerful as in the book.


If that outline is correct, then the first book is only going to be three episodes long; it seems like they're rushing things.

[einhorn303]

I don't know; I thought it was all wrong, haha. I guess I'll make a list of everything that bothered me.


I agree that it was certainly different, but I wouldn't quite go as far to say it's all wrong. Writing and anime are different mediums, so in adapting one to the other you have to make changes.

For example: anime has less time to tell a story, so they have to cut out the less important elements. Avril is a cute character, but she doesn't really add anything to the main plot of the first novel besides mentioning the Queen Berry legend. This episode manages to mention that off-handedly in a few seconds, saving an entire scene's worth of time. Greville's assistants, also, are just mild comic-relief characters who don't add anything to the plot.

Regarding how Kazuya and Victorique first met: Anime is a medium that demands more dramatic, striking visuals. So I don't think this was a bad way to put it in the anime.

I don't think it's entirely fair to complain that an adaption doesn't completely meet how you imagined scenes while reading them. And, I always thought Greville was a bit of an idiot...alongside also being a pompous detective.

If there's one (minor) thing I would critique the episode on, it's not more explicitly explaining the "Reaper" rumor. Because I've seen people in other forums confused by it. Possibly the anime team thought the sentiment of "We're scared of him because he's an Asian foreigner!" was slightly offensive.

[Razzuel]

Yeah, I know they're different mediums, but it feels like they're changing aspects of the story that didn't need to be changed in the first place. When I was reading the first novel, the reveal of Kazuya and Victorique boarding the Queen Berry was a huge moment — when I read that I was thinking, "Holy shit, they just got on the haunted boat." Since Avril's tale of the Queen Berry is missing, and the Queen Berry is only mentioned off-hand, the reveal of the Queen Berry in the anime is powerless.

Also, I thought it would have been awesome if the show kept the structural similarities to Sherlock Holmes. When I was reading the second book, I was noticing that the structure was exactly the same as the first book, and it dawned on me that this structure is exactly like the Sherlock Holmes' stories. I already noticed similarities with the characters, but the structural similarities made me realize that these books are inspired by Sherlock Holmes, and I think that's really darn cool.

Yeah, I thought it was a misstep to not explain why Kazuya is nicknamed Reaper, and the students never feared him in the book like he's feared in the anime; the students that believed in the adage avoided or ignored him.

I loved the opening animation though; I wish the whole show was animated in the same style — it really would have made the show even more special.

[DiGiKerot]

Regarding how Kazuya and Victorique first met: Anime is a medium that demands more dramatic, striking visuals. So I don't think this was a bad way to put it in the anime.


Actually, a certain amount of character assassination for Kujo aside, this is the only change that kind of bugged me about it. Having this be Kujo and Victoriques first meeting makes a whole lot of what transpires seem incredibly out-of-character, particularly for Victorique. That she goes from freaking out about him touching her necklace to allowing him to mess around with her luggage in such a short period of time stretches plausibility a little.

[DiGiKerot]

Still continuing on at a break-neck pace with some really odd adaptation changes, most of which aren't really an issue.

I do kind of wonder why they decided to make Maurice seem like something of a slightly more sympathetic character rather than an outright jerk. Dropping his casual classism and racism kind of robs the show of something of the tone of the period.

Also kind of peculiar that they did absolutely nothing to set Ned up as being a sympathetic character. It's not like it causes a coherency issue or anything, but it doesn't do much to muddy the waters a little in terms of building a mystery.

[Sly05]

Who's who in the flashback sequence to the original game is really obvious when you can see the characters. It would have been smarter to leave those out as it doesn't leave a whole lot of mystery to this arc.

[DiGiKerot]

Yeah, re-ordering these two stories made some of the sequences really, really weird, particularly that scene where Kujo almost seems to buy that Victorique is a figment of his imagination.

Still, this episode explains why my impression of Avril from the novels was completely off how she actually appeared in the show last week:sd:

[Sly05]

Still, this episode explains why my impression of Avril from the novels was completely off how she actually appeared in the show last week:sd:
I felt the same way last episode. I thought the choice of voice for Avril was rather husky for the airy personality she has in the novels, but this episode cleared that up.

[einhorn303]

Yeah, re-ordering these two stories made some of the sequences really, really weird, particularly that scene where Kujo almost seems to buy that Victorique is a figment of his imagination.

Still, this episode explains why my impression of Avril from the novels was completely off how she actually appeared in the show last week:sd:

It also explains why Avril was removed from the Queen Berry arc, since if she had the same role there as she had in the novels it would create the same confusion for the anime-only watchers.