Gankutsuou, my favourite anime series. I enjoyed it enough to read the 1250 page modern it’s based on (The Count of Monte Cristo) after finishing the series, and I’m far from an avid reader. In the waste, not only did Gankutsuou become my favourite anime, it also helped me catch my favourite book.

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I decided to initiate collecting the series after watching it. It wasn’t an easy task to attain with me living in the UK and Geneon being boring in the water, but I’ll attach you the details and simply say that I’m now the jubilant owner of the art box and all 6 volumes of this truly astonishing series.

Plot: 9.7/10

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Not having read the original prior to starting this, I had no thought what to inquire of. I knew about definite vague details, such as a young man becoming fascinated with the Count of Monte Cristo, but that’s all. But, as a result of having no expectations, I was blown away by the epic of Edmond Dantes; The Count of Monte Cristo.

In a nutshell, Gankutsuou is a fairly simple revenge epic that’s executed extremely well: a young man called Edmond Dantes loses his freedom, his worship and almost his life because of the greed, jealousy and pride of three men. Then, after many years, he returns, posing as the Count of Monte Cristo – a rich ‘noble’ who appears out of nowhere and sends shockwaves through Paris with his riches – and puts into action his understanding to procure the ultimate revenge on the men who destroyed his life. After spending many years suffering, he doesn’t simply want to waste them: he wants to waste them, throwing them in the pits of despair.

In order to add mystery to Edmond’s character, the anecdote is not told from his perspective (unlike in the book) . Instead, the epic is told from the perspective of Albert, a young ample and son of Fernand de Morcerf; a general and one of the three Edmond wants revenge against. This brings both awful and trustworthy points – the great being the added mystery and a different angle on the sage, the poor being Albert having the IQ of a dog. I wanted to waste him when he failed to work out that it was in fact Edmond pulling the strings leisurely the dreadful sequence of events unfolding around him for the 10th time.

The setting was quite a shock at first, with the legend taking region in the year 5053, where as the recent takes area during the 1800’s. It was a further surprise to glimpse the account starts during the Rome section of the current, the only inequity being that the writers replaced Rome with a city on the moon. I do kinda wish the sage had been told in the 1800’s instead since very few details are given about the futuristic universe and the setting becomes more of a distraction than anything.

If you ignore the fact that the tale isn’t told with the events occurring in chronological order (like in the recent), one of two things that might upset purists is how the fable goes in a different direction than the fresh at around episode 18. With Edmond’s character being key to the fable, Edmond only caring about revenge in the anime was the reason unhurried the change of direction towards the demolish. In the new Edmond was persuaded by Mercédès to alter his plans, yet in the anime Edmond turned a deaf ear to her and continued… This one seemingly minor change had a vast impact on how the epic progressed beyond that point. Thankfully, Gonzo handled the changes very well, making the finale titillating for people who have read the unusual since, if like me, those people would gather themselves fascinated by the recent angle on Edmond’s character.

All in all, the yarn was a fantastic sprint. An adaptation of a timeless classic with artistic differences, it was executed excellently, at times perfectly. You do have to wait for the ‘main event’ before you behold impartial how amazingly well told the epic is, the first half in particular being nearly all form up, but I serene felt compelled to withhold watching even without any major twists/events occurring.

Characters: 9.7/10

I liked pleasing considerable the entire cast…apart from the main character, Albert. Although I knew he had to be made rather wearisome for the sake of the position, his stupidity and inability to examine the sure became very annoying after awhile. You’d consider he’d be able to keep two and two together when Edmond fair randomly kept appearing and Edmond himself had told Albert that there were no coincidences!

After reading the book, it became even more sure how dull Albert had been made in Gankutsuou in order for the fable to be told from his perspective. Although Albert was quite impulsive in the book, dead was not one of the words that entered into my mind whilst reading… If anything he came across as a rather radiant and likeable character. Absorb me when I say that Albert was neither a crybaby nor an idiot in the modern.

Franz, Albert’s childhood friend in Gankutsuou (they aren’t that end in the original), shares a halt relationship with Albert, the two being advance enough inseparable. Unlike in the book, there are clear homosexual overtones, Franz obviously viewing Albert as more than a friend and Albert unable to perceive it. Franz, like in the book, is a detached and very intellectual character, in many ways being the true opposite of Albert in the anime. Albert and Franz tumble out many times in the anime over Edmond after Franz tries to warn humdrum Albert on various occasions about Edmond not being all he seems.

Edmond, the Count of Monte Cristo himself, remains a mystery for most of the series. He acts kind, yet you can exclaim that underneath he’s hiding something; wearing a hide to fool those around him. His character differs considerably from the character you peek in the book because, where as Edmond views himself as a servant of God in the book, Edmond views himself as a demon of revenge in the anime adaptation. Gankutsuou’s Edmond is certainly an engrossing pick on a eminent character, one that I’m definite would likely have created more discussion had more people read the recent Gankutsuou is based on.

The one glaring omission from the anime cast is one of the most well-known characters in the book: Abbé Faria. In the original, Faria saved Edmond from killing himself after he had spent many years alone in the prison of Château d’If, giving him renewed hope and someone to declare with. Faria soon become a sort of mentor to Edmond, giving him the great amounts of knowledge he had inside his elderly mind, ending up changing Edmond from a comic boy to a valid man. Faria also ended up leading Edmond to fortune by telling him about the love hidden on the island of Monte Cristo on his death bed.

In the anime, no explanation whatsoever was given for how Edmond transformed from a naive boy to the charismatic man you inspect as The Count of Monte Cristo. He doesn’t even go to the island of Monte Cristo in the anime, his cave of wonders being moved to underneath his house in France. Although this does work and goes with the changes made to Edmond’s character (demon of revenge; not the servant of God he believes himself to be in the unique), Gankutsuou would’ve had more depth if Faria had at least been shown.

Overall, Gankutsuou has an astounding cast of characters. I do recommend you read the modern if you wish to understand them fully, though – a 24 episode anime can only fit in so great.

Art / Animation: 9.7/10

The first thing that hits you about Gankutsuou is the rather bizarre CG enact clothing and hair has. The attain is hard to save into words; it’s as if the characters clothing and hair are reflective. It takes a few episodes to pick up conventional to it. If nothing else, you have to praise the studio slow Gankutsuou (Gonzo) for the broad amount of wretchedness they keep in.

The second thing to hit you is the luminous range of colours veteran. If, like me, you went into Gankutsuou expecting to discover shadowy and lifeless colours, the sort fitting for a chronicle residence in the 1800’s, you’d be completely heinous since the colours are anything but dead, vibrant being a mighty better description.

As expected of a Gonzo production, Gankutsuou also has a splendid amount of CG outside of the clothing/hair do, including some chronicle mecha fights. The CG is magnificent at times, almost jaw dropping for a TV series.

Overall, Gankutsuou is a joy to notice…once you net weak to the novel animation do. Production values were clearly not indecent here.

Sound: 9.5/10

First of all, let me say that I didn’t reflect very worthy of the opening (OP) song. The OP, while fitting, was so uninteresting and listless I had to skip it after watching it once. The ending (ED) song, on the other hand, I did like, the lyrics fitting the point to perfectly and the song being snappy paced. I feel the ED song would’ve worked better if it had been old-fashioned for the OP.

The soundtrack is very high quality, as you’d query. There aren’t too many tracks I’d listen to outside of the series (although there is one Astonishing track), but the music fitted the indicate like a glove and helped maintain the narrative record. I also loved how classical music was chosen – it made the experience feel even more special to hear both unedited and edited versions of some of the most notorious classical music in existence playing alongside the animation.

I have to mention track 18, one of the best pieces of music I’ve ever listened to. It was cheek-tinglingly blooming to listen to when it played during the best episode in the series (strangely enough, episode 18!!!), making the sequence even more thrilling than it was already.

The selection of classical music (some remixed for the anime), favorable newly created music and one the most fitting ED songs of all time get 9.5/10 a shapely acquire.

Total: 9.7/10

Having watched a exquisite amount of anime, I’m hard to please. Gankutsuou cheerful me, with every region surpassing my expectations. It’s a rare, rare feeling to demolish anything and feel advance enough completely ecstatic, and I can’t gaze me enjoying another anime as powerful for a long time.

I recommend this series to everyone: those who have read the fresh and those who haven’t. My only suggestion is to ogle the anime before reading the unusual if possible since we all know how people can be picky when it comes to adaptations.

Never let it be said that unusual anime is particular about where it draws its inspiration. The idea of creating a series based on a new written in 1844 then setting it in the year 5053 sounds like a far stretch for any production staff and yet somehow, someway Mahiro Maeda (the director of Blue Submarine No. 6) manages to pull it off in Gankutsuou with style. The modern of course is none other than Three-Musketeer’s author, Alexandre Dumas’ Count of Monte Cristo (in case you somehow missed this series’ title) .

Here in the United States, this is a re-release by Funimation of an earlier Geneon DVD release of basically the same name. Side note: Geneon typically labeled the indicate Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo while Funimation flips the order to The Count of Monte Cristo: Gankutsuou. Other than that the only contrast is that rather than spreading the 24 episodes across six discs, Funimation manages to do it in four (packaged in a pair of stunning thin packs within a subtle cardboard outer case) . The source material comes to us via the shining minds of Japanese anime studio Gonzo; who themselves bring a long list of fresh, thought-provoking titles to the table (such as their 2007 anime adaptation of Romeo and Juliet) .

This location, as has been the trend of leisurely, contains virtually no extras to negate of although the language options are thorough (English dub and unique Japanese with or without English subtitles) .

The narrative is setup to appeal to fans of the current work and those with no prior exposure alike as it retains all of the key situation points but adds a few unique elements and tells it from a totally different perspective (kind of like what John Gardener’s recent Grendel does to the classic Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf) .

The Count of Monte Cristo: Gankutsuou tells the myth sage of a wrongfully accused man’s intricate set of exacting revenge through the relatable doings of a fifteen-year-old aristocrat from Paris named Albert (pronounced “al-bear” in homage to the French author’s recent motif) . As stated above, the prove goes to grand lengths to set aside an atmosphere stunningly reminiscent of 19th century France while integrating fair enough technology to remind the viewer that this is, in fact, the future- and the very distant future at that.

Pacing is deliberately boring and thorough and really compliments that rather dry-nature of the source material. However, while this may be viewed as a negative with some shows, Gankutsuou turns the fable telling element into an art accomplish in and of itself. This is adult anime and not because of the usual pitfalls that eliminate younger viewers from the equation. Rather than sexual references, violence and language, Gankutsuou can be called frail on record of its sophistication and mood-appropriate visuals.

In fact it is nearly impossible to pick up a review of the exhibit that doesn’t hurry all over itself in praise for the artistic vision and original animation style. The best scheme to represent it is imagine reach photo-realistic textures layered late transparent character models. If that sounds weird to you, rest assured, it is but somehow it works. What makes the visuals so current is that the textures are static, meaning they don’t go even when the character boasting them does. It’s one of those traits so modern that you may go as far as to stamp it distracting early on yet it manages to become subdued as the viewer loses himself in the ever-thickening space. Even by the later episodes there are a few horrible examples of where texture-overloaded scenes advance off as overly busy or muddled but as a whole, the source material literally benefits from this fresh art style.

If there were a single complaint worth mentioning about the demonstrate it would have to be the simple reality that this isn’t hasten of the mill anime by any sense of the word. It’s gorgeous difficult to spot the exhibit into a genre in fact. The legend is, quite frankly, unlike any other seen in recent anime, which I thunder is to be expected when you remember that this is classic literature in arresting compose. Viewers expecting scantly clad women, characters with abnormally expansive and watery eyes, or slapstick of any kind need not apply. Being that the setting does acquire location in the distant future, there are a few robotic fight scenes (duels that wouldn’t stare out of set in Escaflowne) and some beautiful chilly region move concepts.

As a whole, though, it would be easy for viewers with a short attention span to become bored. There’s a real and proper coast to the situation that requires patience and a bit of maturity (or at the very least, an appreciation for radiant culture) .

When directly compared to the novel unusual, some may scoff at the fact that there is a tiny supernatural angle that acts as the backdrop here. Without revealing too noteworthy of the sincere mystery presented within, let me objective comment on the character of Edmond Dantes allowing an insalubrious entity (Gankutsuou) possession of his body so as to run imprisonment and to realize his ambitions of revenge. A fan of the fresh work, it is a bit disappointing personally to effect that Edmond’s creativity in escaping his prison was omitted here. Worse quiet is that while the new can be viewed essentially as a cautionary chronicle in the dangers of allowing vengeance to overtake one’s life, here the metaphor is perhaps taken a bit too literally. Otherwise, and especially right for those not tied to the beauty of the novel work, the supernatural elements do go a long blueprint in adding intrigue and creepiness to the formula.

The show’s music obtain is not only hauntingly appropriate; it’s at times, dare I say, catchy (especially the opening theme which is about as novel as they advance) . Throughout are rich piano scores and solid symphonic pieces.

In all, Gankutsuou: the Count of Monte Cristo is one of the most recent properties of all time to grace anime ideology. With a timeless epic, novel art style, and underlining themes that nearly anyone can relieve from in their acquire lives, Gankutsuou reminds us all that original art is far from dead; if even only the result of rejuvenating the classics as the case may be.
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