「クリスマス・キャロルは窓辺の幸いを飾る」 (Kurisumasu Kyaroru wa Madobe no Saiwai o Kazaru)
“A Christmas Carol Decorates the Windowsill’s Happiness”

The inevitable separation expected to occur last time unexpectedly occurs this week, with nary a mystery in sight. Despite the lack of one, GOSICK still does its typical “introduce a concept that will be conveniently used later this episode”. Let’s just say it was never an impressive show of writing. In this case, it’s “Monstre Charmant”, a term that admittedly was used by Roscoe (among others) earlier in the show, but did not have further explanation. The parallels to our duo were made very clear when it is first explained, but one has to wonder, “isn’t it a little too obvious that the tale was tailored as a plot device?” The believability of the rabbit and the monster being an actual tale of Saubure which coincidentally matches our duo is just not there. Though if I’m going to talk about believability, the logic behind Victorique hanging her little black present on the tree to inevitably be taken by Kujou is just as well, a problem. Luckily for them, in a gigantic academy of individuals, not one happened to think, “you know, I want a small present today. A black laced, small present.”

Apparently the “war” may not be referring to WWII, but between the “rabbits” and soldiers over Monstre Charmant. If so, what a cheap red herring. How can such a small little war in Saubure even be comparable to be called the “second gale” relative to the “first gale” being WWI? I’m not even exactly sure what the rabbits are fighting for. If they’re complaining that the Charmant is looking for sinners’ blood (criminals), then what kind of people would defend criminals if not criminals? And there’s that many criminals to even have a war? It feels more likely that the Occult versus the Academy would instigate a civil war regarding the entire country, but it doesn’t appear to be that way yet. Aside from that, the strategy shifts to holding Kujou hostage to control Victorique instead, and while Roget was initially trying to keep them apart for safety, Kujou runs right into the Occult’s arms. It’s too bad Luigi wasn’t smart enough to figure out that Kujou should’ve stayed with him when he had him, but it’s even more of a pity Kujou didn’t realize it at all. Useless Kujou will stay useless perhaps. Questionably, Victorique would apparently kill herself and leave behind Kujou, rather than be miserable and have Kujou dead. A little selfish, maybe. The heart cannot beat with purpose without a body to beat for.

Yuuki Aoi’s crying is one of those things on Earth that simply pierces the soul, like hearing kittens drown or the like (some may say her crying literally sounds like kittens drowning). I didn’t expect Victorique to break down simply due to Kujou’s disappearance, despite Grevil’s promise of safety, but it became clear that it was a cry of her false tough exterior finally crumbling after countless bashes against it over the last few arcs. Grevil looks back with a face of surprise, probably never seeing his little sister cry so pitifully, and he finally sees the realization of his father’s goal. Victorique has become human.

 

Preview

29 Comments

  1. Yes. That cry destroyed me. It almost made me cry, which Ano Hana hasn’t been doing. :O
    Anyways, I agree that the whole rabbits and soldiers things didn’t really make sense. And the black present logic. I don’t know how the series will end from here, but I”m looking forward to it. Is there a 2nd season?

    Kevin
      1. That’s because this is a heartwarming sadness, while Anohana has that disturbing sadness because everyone in Anohana has serious issues. :/ I don’t think I could ever cry for that kind of behavioral problem… I’d more likely feel pity, heh.

        I’m just glad I haven’t seen a show as depressing as last season’s gem.

        Luxorcist
      2. I second that. I had my heart pierced, and wanted Kujo to magically teleport to snuggle her up, but.. he didn’t and there’s still another episode to see things end on a happy note if they do. (*wants to see a kiss already*)

        @Luxorcist:
        Watch out for the next season, we could have a big one..!

    1. I always cry in AnoHana! I just cringed when she started crying, no one likes to hear kittens drowning… but then again i have heard a cat drown and it didnt quite sound the same…

      Quong
  2. Hmm…regarding the whole WW2 aspect that was heavily hinted at, I read on UTW’s website (the guys who do Victorique Subs) that there is a timeskip of 15 years all the way to the beginning of the war. So….there’s that.

    I’m more concerned about the fact that the final two novels are being condensed into the final two episodes. I have absolutely no idea how that would work or if the plot would even make sense. At the very least, I had hoped this would have been a 26 episode series. Two novels over four episodes would have been much more reasonable. Even a show like Index 2 needed a minimum of two episodes for one novel (referring to the Kuroku-centric pair of episodes early on). Of course, I have no idea of how the lengths of a novel differs between these two particular series. After all, Bakemonogatari had a massive amount of pages for a single volume compared to most light novels.

    As for the episode itself, I thought Grevil seemed a bit cruel despite having his moral revelation at the end. I am fairly sure that he already knew his father’s plans for Victorique for a while and still obeyed him. Perhaps this was the final straw? And shouldn’t Kujou have known this too? I thought he knew that the entire de Blois family was involved in shady dealings, especially when it comes to the fate of Victorique, the centerpiece of the entire plot. So I was disappointed when I saw that he sought out Grevil for assistance.

    Well, I am looking forward to the end and hope it is executed in a proper manner and is resolved satisfactorily.

    longtimefirsttime
  3. Is Grevil secretly plotting something to overthrow the Ministry of Occult?
    Roscoe versus Albert next week, that should be interesting

    Subpar writing on the build-up, but I’m still looking forward to an epic ending

    Seishun Otoko
    1. Victorique’s cry was heart touching… T,T
      Can we kill Albert already, please? And why is Grevil following Albert’s orders, if he knows that he will harm Victorique by doing so? He is her damn brother after all!!!

      If someone harms the rabbit, the Monster Charmant will die, huh?

      I do agree, that Victorique’s logic was not appealing to me(in that present case) but;
      I don’t think that Albert’s goal was to make Victorique “human”… if that was so, why the heck didn’t he make her live a good life from start? At least not in a prison.

  4. I’m kinda getting tired of the whole “damsel in distress” theme. The past few episodes someones captured and off to the exaggerated rescue they go. Kujo screaming every time this happens, you think he’d get used to these hostage situations by now.

    Bored Person
  5. well, from what I get I think the war might be WWII after all……….disaster is another name of opportunity & that’s what the ministry of occult & the ministry of science r trying 2 seize……..1 in a aggressive manner (occult, by instigating it more, may b trying 2 prove themselves or something like that), another in a passive manner (science, by making sure they can avoid the war @ any cost that 2 would b useful)………& kujo is an idiot so it wasn’t that unexpected if u ask me…………lets just hope they’ll b able 2 end it well, I mean @ least make it better than my little pony……….

    gwyllgi
  6. Since I tend to watch like 4-5 episodes a time it was really apparent in the last 2 episodes that Victorique has done a full 180 on Kujo.
    While there were of course signs of it before it was never at such a high level as the most recent outings, not that I mind.

    I do feel sorry for Avril though, the short haired fairy <3

    Morridin

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