Since Albert opened his Pandora’s box of evil, the storm has begun and there is no turning back… Or is it?
Amidst the rabbits uprising for the anticipation of the so-called “Charming Monster,” Albert finds it as a good opportunity and executes his evil plans. He banishes the Science Academy, forced the king to join the war, made an alliance with Nazi Germany and brainwashed people for his use as pawns of the Occult. So essentially, the Leviathan, murder of Coco Rose and Beelzebub’s Skull was only a build up towards the plot against the king in order to take power, which Victorique unintentionally caused because she left a hidden hole completely unprotected with Jupiter’s oath for instance. Regardless the success of his plans, I was still baffled on how such a pocket country like Sauville could be brainwashed extremely easily. Even so, Albert needs to be killed or the country will seize to exist.
Under the gathering of support from the country, Cordelia finally gets her revenge with the help of Brian Roscoe #1 by swapping places with Victorique. I admit that Cordelia pulled off a great imitation of her daughter’s voice. Soon after, it was quite obvious after she revealed the truth about Albert’s plans of brainwashing and driving the country into ruins. As always, the battle between her and Albert was epic, especially her ninja-like techniques with her dual swords. Eventually, she manages to fatally stab him, but not at a cost of being stabbed by one of the old ladies that also got killed. While it’s tragic to see the death of Cordelia and possibly Brian #1, Albert’s death was significant for the sake of Victorique and the future of Sauville.
With World War II in full force and Kazuya completely separated from Victorique because of Grevil’s unethical decision, she is at the mercy of Brian #2 who hates her guts. Even if it looks like it could be the end for her and Kazuya, I have a good feeling that everything will be okay. Even if “unity” may suggest a sad ending from the overall feeling of the song, as the title of the song suggests, there might be a glimpse of hope. Not only that, they weld the trump cards to survive the storm, so what else could go wrong?
On a side note, I do agree with the aniblogosphere that Kazuya’s new hairstyle is now completely lame. I have always thought that Grevil’s pointy hair was very awkward, but Kazuya’s crew cut totally doesn’t fit his character and completely ruins it for me. Then again, it’s just hair and will grow back… eventually. ¶
On the haircut: that is something that military organizations do. The hair of everyone is cut the same, not only to simplify life under hard conditions, but also to destroy any sense of individuality. They often talk of “breaking” individuals in training camps, and tis is simply one technique.
Well this is actually the mystery of WWII in general. The rise to power of leaders like Mussolini and Hitler, why did people go along with it, when, in hindsight, they seem insane? In particular people have wondered about Germany, where Hitler’s power structure occasionally took on occult projects, and spouted a bizarre mythology that was eaten up by the masses.
That’s one very interesting part of Gosick, IMO, the story is an interesting commentary on the origins of WWII, while side-stepping the need to be historically accurate, by using the fictional country of Sauville.
Good observation… While the first couple of mysteries of Gosick were kind of bland at first, when they went into the alternative history stuff, it definitely made things interesting. Even if World War II was one of the devastating events in recent history, the alternative twist and the events causing it to happen decades earlier is a big twist. The brainwashing is inevitable and surprising considering how small a country Sauville is… but still guilty for the heavy use of propaganda as seen with rewriting history of the Grey Wolves. Of course, the Axis powers are not only guilty for that, but Soviet Union heavily brainwashed people with propaganda, probably more so than what Germany could do in a lifetime…
Besides from that, it will be interesting what Sauville’s fate will be after everything is done and over considering that they are a small country, it could be eaten up rather easily.