Plot
As the festival starts in the Town of the Gray Wolves it seems that everyone has an agenda. Victorique is desperately trying to uncover the truth behind her mother’s exile. Kazuya is trying to protect Victorique from the dangers that hide in the shadows. The other guests in the town have their own secretive plans. And the townspeople are downright peculiar. What is everyone’s true goals? Are they willing to resort to murder to make sure the truth remains buried?
The Case
Having dual cases makes this mystery a bit more fun; just as Victorique figures out the answer to her mother’s innocence, new bodies start showing up! I don’t think we’ve had much of a chance to know these people nor the village so it is harder to figure out the answers without just plain guessing. But the most attractive quality of this arc is learning about Victorique and her mother. It is also terribly cute when Kazuya starts worrying over his future with Victorique or when he guards her door while she is bathing so fiercely!
The story behind Victorique mother and her later disappearance is clearly related to a greater mystery that will be explored in later stories. I am fairly certain that she will be involved in the last case in the series. I firmly remember a good deal more interaction with the other visitors in the town including read headed nun dancing on the table and some conversation with her, some conversation with the brothers, and conversation with the headmaster’s assistant. With out that to flesh them out no one really has any motives for anything they do. The interaction between Victorique and Kazuya and their individual development is still strong but I wish it were not at the expense of the mystery. At least the incident with the brothers at the church got enough weight to draw attention to its importance but not enough to make it obvious what was going on.
Final Thoughts
I’m getting tired of repeating that the execution needs to be cleaned up in Gosick. When we see our first victim, Kazuya and Victorique say they saw him walking around. Except the guy walking around CLEARLY had BLONDE hair. Are you guys kidding me, this is just sloppy. Mysteries are all in the details! Despite that I was glad to see they didn’t flash back to the old murder as in the books. And equally annoying in both book and anime is the maid who is the most suspicious person ever!
That is what happens when you hire drop-outs from the Kohaku Charm School for Psychotic Maids. I think the mystery is not supposed to be who the killer is but more how can Victorique definitively prove who committed a murder over a decade ago given the minor amount of evidence she is able to gather despite how secretive the villagers are. I also think you were not supposed to notice that the man you see from behind was blond and then only notice it in retrospect. The problem is it is SO obvious unless you were just not paying attention. Or giving the anime the benefit of the doubt you are supposed to see that the person is blond but since everyone in the village in blond you are supposed to try to deduce which blond person it was. Still it was another matter that could have been handled with a little more care to persevere the mystery that was created in the books. Hitoshi Nanba you were almost doing this right. Almost. I have a feeling sadly more important details are going to get cut again but lets see how well you can pull this all together next episode.
Reverse Thieves 
I noticed the hair color thing, but thought of it a different way. Alan had light brown, but not quite blonde, hair in the card-game scene. I thought of two possibilities: (1) imprecise coloring; (2) a local pretending to be Alan. Not having read the novels, I have no idea which if either of these is true, but I was not ready to jump on the show for impreciseness…yet.
I think these last two episodes have been excellent, and the show as a whole is rising in my estimation. I hve even watched all the episodes again, with pleasure.
I find it hard to believe that Victorique wouldn’t notice it.
-Narutaki
Yeaps, I agree that this time around it isn’t so much as to find who’s the culprit but to prove that Victorique’s mother is innocent. I noticed that I’m not really that interested in finding out who killed Elder Theodore but rather, I ‘m more interested in what’s the real reason behind Victorique’s mother being the scapegoat.
As for Alan spotted in blonde hair, I’m pretty sure Victorique noticed this. Perhaps like the Queen Berry case she didn’t tell the whole story till the very end. If I remember correctly, she didn’t say or agree that that person was Alan. Correct me if I’m wrong.
And yeah – the maid is very annoying. Plus, Victorique’s singing is terrible. Haha.
The motive is another big piece of the puzzle that has yet to be revealed. A few piece of the motive has been dropped but not all of them.
Well she definitely noticed the little nuts that were being thrown and if I remember correctly those are also an important clue she has yet to mention.
Well if you are going to be a crazy maid you have to be Kohaku style crazy. ;)
– Hisui