I Found a New Anime!

     Ever wondered what you would get if you combined sherlock holmes and toradora!?    What, you didn't??  And you don't know what toradora! is??  I'll need to tell you about it sometime.  Oh well, considering how little most of you probably know about anime, I won't use random anime titles to describe this one.  In short, you get Gosick-- a story about a Japanese boy who goes to the fictional country of Saubure(or something?) in 1924ish to study abroad and meets a girl with a dark history and an obsession with mystery.  The boy, Kujo, has the horrible habit of stumbling on the scene of gruesome murders...every episode... and was dubbed the Dark Reaper by his classmates for his bad luck.  The girl he meets is Victorique-- a girl who spends most of her time confined to the school's expansive library reading the books there literally wall-to-wall.  She also seems to (unententionally) channel Sherlock Holmes most of the time, being able to see the importance in even the smallest details, and she even carries a pipe (that she pops in her mouth whenever she makes a point)!  Kujo has a fairly polite, inobtrusive personality, and Victorique is blunt and has the vocabulary and mannerisms of an adult.  Despite their oposite personalities, Kujo's honest personality cracks Victorique's shell, and, combined with their joint interest in mystery, they become friends.  
    I actually started on Episode 2, because I couldn't find Ep 1 on youtube, but it doesn't hurt the experience very much.  The main focus of the show are the mysteries, so you don't need a deep understanding of the background-- rather, the background isn't really explored until later anyway.   Epsiode two hits the ground running-- setting the heroes on a cruise with a lot of suspicious high-class gentlemen and women.  Right off the bat you can tell things are not going to go well (the ship is practically screaming "closed circle!!!1!!one!!" at you, and unsuprisingly, things quickly degrade from there.  Its here that I'll tell you, this story is a Mystery/Romance/HORROR, so watch out for some creepy stuff.  None of its really bloody, though, so its suitable for anyone over thirteen.  Honestly, the mystery isn't all that deep-- frustrated by the fact that most of the facts and clues aren't revealed UNTIL Victorique's who dunit monologue.  This isn't a big deal, but you have to think of it almost more as an action than a mystery as you're watching, because there's little hope you'll really figure much out beforehand.  Despite the slight weakness to the mysteries, the over-arching questions a lot of things raise about what's going on with all of the murders and with Victorique's past are intriguing.  Overall, though, what draws me to the series is its unique charm, that sets it apart from a lot of other anime like it.  The main hero is a bit of the stereotypical shy, pushover guy that's often paired with girls like Victorique in these shows, but quite often he shows he's actually pretty tough-- going so far as punching a crazed ax murderer in the face.  Its bravery like that that makes him a legitimate character in my eyes.  On the other side, Victorique looks like she's going to be the typically brash, abusive tsundere character, but she ends up being quite the opposite.  Time'll tell if they remain human characters, or if they fall into the stereotypes they've generally subverted.   
  Tl;dr-- bottom line: go watch it!  Its quite good so far.  I can definitely say I'll be following it as the plot marches forward.  
  LINK to episode 1...  http://www.animeultima.tv/gosick-episode-1-english-subbed-video-mirror-128091-myspace/