Woot, with the second half of Gosick we have a new ED. We get so few multi-cour series nowadays that I forget about OP/ED changes. In any case, I liked the new one quite a bit – the song is pretty good, a sort of “Greensleeves”-ish medieval sounding ballad – but I like the animation even more. Full of all sorts of great Victorique and Kujo images.
As for the episode, it’s more or less a return to the mystery of the moment format, but with a couple of twists. The initial part of the episode takes another stab at developing Avril as the third corner of a love triangle. As she drags Kujo around town on a date he doesn’t know is a date and frets about Victorique being better looking than she is, it couldn’t be more obvious that she has it bad for him. Problem is he has no idea – male lead syndrome, I suppose – and even more of a problem is that it’s clear his head is in the clouds with his library girl even when he’s physically with Avril. She’s cute, but she doesn’t stand a chance.
As for the mystery itself, it looks to be one of the more interesting we’ve seen so far. BONES is full of self-referential stuff with this one – the mystery surrounds an alchemist, a philosopher’s stone and equivalent exchange. The alchemist, Leviathan, supposedly died twenty years earlier but there are rumors his soul haunts a clock tower in town that happens to resemble the one in the movie Avril dragged Kujo to (is that a coincidence, or will it pay off later?). Leviathan issued a challenge in the form of, of all things, a pop-up book – one Victorique has at the library and which goads her into the case. In his book the alchemist pleads for the reader to solve his puzzle and free his soul, still wandering and killing, unable to rest after murdering an innocent boy at the end of the 19th Century.
Of note here as well are the first “real time” appearance of Grevil without the drill – neither Avril or Kujo recognized him – and the reappearance of Brian Roscoe, who showed up in town in the company of a “Mister Wong” who was later found by Kujo in the clock tower, and died on the spot. Roscoe has hovered like a wraith at the edge of the story for an entire cour now, occasionally popping into view out of the corner of our eye but never sticking around long enough to give meaning to his presence. Will this finally be the exception – is he tied in to Leviathan the Alchemist, and his murder? While the episode overall wasn’t as rewarding as last week’s character-driven corker, I do find myself more involved in a mystery cliffhanger than I’ve been since the visit to Victorique’s (and Roscoe’s) village.
