Gosick (ゴシック) is a Japanese light novel series written by Kazuki Sakuraba, with illustrations by Hinata Takeda. The series includes 13 novels published by Fujimi Shobo between December 2003 and July 2011. Set in a fictional European country in 1924, a Japanese exchange student meets a mysterious, brilliant girl who only leaves the library to sleep. Her brother, a detective, relies on her exceptional mind to solve difficult mysteries. Tokyopop released the first two novels in English in North America. A manga adaptation drawn by Sakuya Amano was serialized in Fujimi Shobo's Monthly Dragon Age magazine. A 24-episode anime adaptation by Bones aired between January and July 2011. A collection of side stories titled GosickS was published between 2005 and 2011, while a sequel novel series named Gosick New Continent was released in between 2013 and 2016.
Plot and settings
Gosick takes place in 1924 in a small, French-speaking fictional European country; which stretches from Switzerland, through the Alps between France and Italy, to the Mediterranean Sea. The country is called "Sauville" (ソヴュール王国) in the light novels and "Saubureme" (ソヴレム) is Sauville's capital in the anime adaptation. The story centers on Kazuya Kujo, the third son of a high-ranking officer of the Imperial Japanese Army, who is a transfer student to St. Marguerite Academy, where urban legends and horror stories are popular. There he meets Victorique de Blois, a mysterious yet beautiful and brilliant girl who never comes to class and spends her days reading the entire contents of the library or solving mysteries that even detectives can not solve.