Gosick 19 – child of destiny

Tis the season to be jolly!

Gosick 19 begins a new arc, and at first things look like the intensity of recent arcs has vanished, as we are presented with the beginnings of a Christmas-themed episode. Kujo is off to buy his girlfriend a present, and the city of Saubreme is full of holiday bustle. Of course these pleasant scenes don’t last long long.

Falala la la, la la, la, la.

In fact, Kujo really wants to buy Victorica a present because Christmas turns out to be her birthday. The streets of Saubreme are lined with merchants selling gifts and holiday wares, there is also a special performance of the Blue Rose, a story related to the royal family of Saubure, and a surprising number of soldiers.

Why lies He in such mean estate, Where ox and ass are feeding?

Through Cordelia’s flashbacks we get the story of Victorica’s birth, and it turns out to be extremely grim. As a young girl, Cordelia was abducted by Albert de Blois, and raped. When the child was due, she was chained up, and the child was removed as part of an occult ritual. Cordelia escaped later, with the help of Brian Roscoe, and eventually returned to give her daughter the locket she carried early in the series, to give her hope, and so that she would know of her mother’s love. As we already knew, Victorica was then raised in captivity by the Marquis de Blois.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife, The world hath suffered long; Beneath the angel-strain have rolled, Two thousand years of wrong; And man, at war with man, hears not, The love song which they bring: O hush the noise, ye men of strife, And hear the angels sing.

So what began seemingly as a pleasant Christmas-themed episode, becomes ever clearer a major arc, with all of the major actors in play. Cordelia sends a warning to her daughter that the winds of the Second Storm are picking up, and Victorica tries to locate Kujo, who we know has left the Academy to buy her a present in the city. Greville appears and takes Victorica away. Have Victorica and Kujo been separated for good?

O tidings of comfort and joy

For his part, Kujo seems to realize something is amiss. He sees the unusual number of soldiers, and seems to understand that to stay by Victorica’s side, he is fighting against fate. I still have hope that Victorica is being brought into town so the couple can reunite. The Marquis de Blois is orchestrating the Christmas performance of the Blue Rose, and is also the one who demanded Greville use Victorica to solve Saubure’s oldest unsolved crime (which is the story of the Blue Rose). I suspect we will get more detailed information about the Blue Rose (and possibly a sample of the performance) in the next episode. The setting of this crime, however, is described at one point as a country home, so I am not sure where Victorica is being brought.

With an expected 24 episode run, Gosick seems to have one more arc, beyond the resolution of this one, and yet this arc already has the feel of major importance. Details presented early only now reveal their full importance, or take on deeper meaning, all of the major characters are involved, the mystery at the center is directly related to the royal family, and the appearance of soldiers in the street is a clear foreshadowing of World War II. By this time, Mussolini and the fascists had already risen to power in Italy, and Hitler was writing Mein Kampf from his jail cell, following his first, failed, attempt to seize power. The winds of the Second Storm are, indeed blowing.