「漆黒の列車はいくつかの嘘を運ぶ」 (Shikkoku no Ressha wa Ikutsu ka no Uso o Hakobu)
“The Jet-Black Train Carries Several Lies”

Well, now that this whole arc has ended, I suppose it’s time to gather the facts again before we head into the final few arcs. So after reviewing THE ENTIRE SERIES, I’ve attempted to piece together the “chaos” that is GOSICK, so hopefully this may prove enlightening.

The main artifact that was made to be all the hubbub this arc was a mysterious “box.” We knew this box was important and that everyone wanted it, but only through this episode do we learn that this box is of Jupiter Roget’s, with information containing that he is also a gray wolf. This information would undermine his authority over his Science Academy, which makes it kind of an old-fashioned enemy intel, which is why they desperately want it back. Of course, the Occult wants it for themselves, and Roscoe wants it for himself, making three opposing forces.

Now, in 1914, Roscoe sought to help Roget after WWI had already started at Beelzebub, providing the devices he had such as the one capable of projecting a mirage in the sky. In episode 06, Victorique mentions that Cordelia “escaped” from the encapturement of Albert de Blois before the first war began, so it can be inferred that when Roscoe went to help Roget in 1914, he had already teamed up with Cordelia. So what’s the real reason he busted out Cordelia? Probably because he wanted to know the location of the memento, and Cordelia knew exactly where it was. According to Mildred the afro nun back in episode 07, Roscoe invested in the village “10 years ago,” which also happens to be 1914 considering their current year is 1924. The investment gained him access to Cordelia’s house, where he was then able to take Roget’s memento box, and for some reason, chose to aid him in the war afterwards, perhaps as part of a promise to Cordelia. For example, he exchanged the info of the box for revenge against Albert, and his words of, “I’ll never forgive Albert de Blois” may just be Cordelia’s. I’m not sure why I thought Roscoe was a halfling, because he’s definitely full gray wolf as well, so he could just be compassionate about how Albert used Cordelia.

So fast forward ten years, the box is still at Beelzebub, and all three opposing forces head there to retrieve it. Before Roscoe’s team can get it, the Academy grabs it first, which consists of the Orphan, and the Knight, who only appeared this episode. While Hunt did work for Albert, he was also killed by his granny cronies, either due to him already fulfilling his purpose of setting up the bomb to the water gates, or because he was too much of a lover of science. Regardless, the Orphan possessed the box first, but during a timed blackout, Scarecrow from the Occult stole it, but the Knight went and took it back. Woodcutter, who was blackmailed to work for the Occult by the kidnapping of his sister, poisons the Orphan to retrieve the box, but is met with retaliation. Orphan heads up to the engine to foil any attempts of stopping the train so they can suicide bomb over the bridge and destroy the box along with them, but eventually dies due to the poison. Maybe I’m missing some huge connection here, but her “code” words about her being an orphan may have been true, and her adamant nature on “no one getting the box” was the only purpose she had left after failing to find what she wanted at Phantasmagoria.

“Solve the riddle, then demonstrate your power so that you may live.” Considering the whole gun scene, maybe the power is the ability to do anything by simply understanding it. Maybe it’s that “wellspring of wisdom” that’s actually just super intelligence, but the inner workings behind it is “an ancient power of the lands.” As for the riddle, the answer is that Roget is a gray wolf, and with the dialogue between Cordelia and Roscoe, that information is apparently the trump card in the upcoming war to keep Victorique safe. While she did give back the memento, she kept the proof of Roget’s true origins, which implies that the Occult have no idea what it actually contained, and that means, neither does Albert de Blois. So why did Roget turn his back on his brethren to pursue science? Probably one of mankind’s prime weaknesses. Failure in the possession of love. D’oh!

And thus ends my reconstruction. I’m glad I did this, because now everything that will happen from now on will actually mean a lot more to me (and now, you too!). But holy hell, GOSICK does not make it easy to understand everything when important facts are only spoken ONCE and never again until a finale. You’d seriously have to take notes and review them before a new episode or spend about an hour piecing together info like I just did. I guess that’s the result of cramming in nine novels worth of story into 24 episodes. The next episode feels like a change of pace, and I actually miss the rest of the cast after being surrounded by murderers for the past few episodes. With only about six episodes left, I don’t expect development to slow down, and I’m sure as hell curious about the finale now.

 

Preview

36 Comments

  1. Thanks for reconstructing the chaos for us, Kiiragi
    It’s still not entirely clear what the Occult Ministry is trying to achieve though
    So Albert is obsessed with the supernatural and he’s fathered Victorique who possesses an unusual bloodline to save Sauville from an imminent war?

    Seishun Otoko
    1. This is anime my friend, you can’t really apply real world probability in a fictional world.

      It’s like questioning why Rambo can shoot an arrow through a helicopter but the minigunner cant land a single shot on him.

      Hrmmm
      1. @Fallenrock: Although i agree with you that the girl is really cute and would’ve been a nice pairing with Kujou or at least a rival again to Victorique and Avril. But just as Moondogg said, the best couple and is practically the whole show is the pairing of Kujou and Victorique. The two are just awesome together since ep.1! Love this couple!

        X
  2. This is a very good series. One thing I don’t like is how Victorique treats Kujo. He loves her and has saved her so many times and gone to hell and back for her and yet she still treats him poorly. She has moments of kindness but they are only moments.

    I know folks will say thats part of her charm or something similar but someone thats super smart like her should know she should not treat her only friend like shit, she should cherish them.

    Karmafan
  3. “Only the closest people to you can be the harshest” might be applicable, but I see what you mean.

    I just assume it’s because she’s not really in control of her emotions regardless of how smart she is, seeing as how she was in solitude for a long time.

    Hrmmm
  4. This really was one of those episodes that made me go “WTF?” It was full of twists that I wasn’t quite expecting. I knew last episode that the orphan was going to be of some relevance, seeing how she was focused on during the show. I simply have to learn to sit down and enjoy the ride rather than trying to figure it out.

    Also, next episode, more Avril vs Victorique!

  5. Wow, thanks for that reconstruction.

    This is a weird show, in that the episodic mysteries were really blah and easy to see through but the series-long one which has emerged is so subtle.

    Junk
  6. I guess that’s the result of cramming in nine novels worth of story into 24 episodes

    More like 12 Novels in 24 episodes. The next six episodes will be covering at least 3 novels, so we need to have our reconstructing skills at their sharpest, because there be a STORM coming!

    Pacing wise, that is 😛

    Arabesque
  7. Thanks Kii…the reviewing and reconstruction was definitely appreciated on my part. I sure as hell would never have recalled those single mentions in the earlier episodes, and being that the series was pretty mediocre to my tastes until the Leviathan arc rolled around its not something I would have graced with any re-watching.

    The second half has certainly been a lot more enjoyable and I’m looking forward to these final arcs. Its nice to see everything fitting together and actually be able to speculate on some things without having Victorique’s miraculous reconstructions and me facepalming from the zero information and chance of us viewers ever figuring anything out.

    Xin
  8. The girl was cute, too bad that she died.

    Anyway, thanks for putting the pieces together, I had a theory along the same lines with Roger and the Academy of Science etc, but I still think that this is not the only reason why they wanted that box.

    Anyway I’ll be looking forward to next weeks episode, we finally get to see Grevil again.

    ClementIV
  9. Thank you for putting that together. There was so much, and it was spread over so much of the series that I am quite astounded. The one thing you don’t mention: the perfume bottle. Who was Jupiter Roget’s love?

  10. Thanks for the reconstruction. I had a really hard time keeping up with all the terminology used in this episode. On a side note, the scene where Victorique fires the gun makes me think an epic shootout with Victorique going all heroic bloodshed-style guns akimbo would make an awesome finale.

    DreamerLegacy
  11. actually Kiiragi, this series covers all the 8 full length LN of Gosick w/ the final sets of episodes set to air along w/ the released of the final, Gosick VIII volume. the remaining 3 w/c is not included in the count are the GosickS volumes w/c are only short stories set bet. some of full length ones w/c i don’t know if they included in the anime.

    in short, an FMA:B stunt, coinciding the ending of the anime along w/ the release of the final volume of LN. and i think this episode covers all of volume VI.

    anyway, very nice reconstruction, thanks for that.

    Zwei
    1. Actually, the show has covered the GosickS volumes as well. Episodes 4,5,11,12 and 19 have been all episodes adapted from the side novels. The last GosickS volume (the fourth one, released with the 8th volume) might not be included due to there only 4 episodes left, but who knows, we might end up with an episode for the last GosickS as an epilogue.

      And yes, this episode did indeed cover an entire volume.

      Arabesque
  12. Thanks a lot for this reconstruction Kiiragi. Personally, I never cared for the mystery, only for Victorique, but after reading your analysis I’m actually impressed by the subtlety of Gosick in interweaving its overarching mystery.

    NanoNano

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *