Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
I was a wee little girl when I became fascinated with Alexandra Dumas’ The Three Musketeers. I thought the friendship the four main characters shared was romantic and epic. In stark contrast to the Three Musketeers is Dumas’ revenge novel, The Comte du Monte Cristo aka The Count of Monte Cristo. No happy camaraderie there, as evident by the fact that it is a revenge novel and everything that entails.
When the studio started production on the anime adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo, the title being Gankutsuo in Japanese, they set their sights pretty high and hit the mark perfectly. The production value poured into this series is absolutely fantastic and words cannot describe the visual impact the style they used had. I was unsure of how the chosen unique style would have when it was animated but it matched the story’s feeling with amazing accuracy.
The character and set designs are ones never seen before in anime, almost the entire style being one of applique paper and textile designs in lieu of traditional cell painting. The overall feel is opulent and rich, which like I said, goes well with the story set in a hedonistic and futuristic Paris.
Story-wise, the adaptation set in the far future is fairly true to the novel, taking only a few liberties to make it fit with the time and place it was set. To be brief:
Plot Summary
Gankustuo
The young hero of the series is a spoiled and naive aristocrat by the name of Albert who in his boredom takes a trip to a colonized Luna (Moon) with his childhood chum Franz. While on Luna, Albert meets the mysterious and handsome Count of Monte Cristo and becomes utterly enthralled by his elegant airs.
When Albert gets in a bit of a bind, the Count rescues him and Albert is even more smitten with the Count whom Franz has taken a serious dislike to. The Count then decides to take up residence in Paris on Earth and asks Albert to assist in his debut with Parisian high society.
What follows is one tragedy after another for the spoiled and unsuspecting nobility. Albert is the key to all these downfalls and is an unwitting tool of the Count who is the master mind behind them all. The Count who has been greatly wronged by each of the victims seeks revenge for a past he can never regain.
Review
Character Development
The viewer is drawn almost immediately into the story by the character development which is superb. You feel a bond to the Count and want to like him and cheer him on but at the same time you want to loathe him for his dirty and underhanded way he metes out his revenge.
Franz et Albert
The aristocrats and their children who are the main characters on the other hand don’t get any sympathy from the viewer at first as they are spoiled, self-centered and utterly clueless to the less fortunate around them. Later in the story, you begin to feel sympathy for the young aristocrats who are products of their environments and who are were not at all involved with their parents schemings.
Albert’s whining, lack of a spine, and naivety is reminiscent of Shinji from Evangelion and that actually made me root for the Count at the beginning. Then, as Albert becomes more aware of his parents’ traitorous past and how his actions and inactions hurt those he loves, he finally starts to get a clue. After that you begin to despise the Count for getting innocents involved with his revenge.
I liked the story because of its depth and intricacy, but some people may not appreciate the way the story slowly leads up to the finale of the Count’s revenge. Each episode lays down a strand in the Count’s web and pays careful attention to the characters and their interactions. Though there wasn’t much action, the story for me more than held my attention for all 24 episodes.
Voice Acting
The voice cast was better in Japanese then it was in English, but both are good in my opinion so fans of either sub or dub can walk away happy.
Music
The music was excellent throughout the series and the end-credit song was great, but do yourself a favor and fast forward through the OP, as the opening song is really, really bad, and sung completely off-key.
Overall, this series was amazing visually and story-wise, making it worth owning and watching over and over again.
Rating
Gankutsuou gets 4 outta 4 Hammies!
I’m glad to hear that a fan of the original novel also enjoyed this series, as I love the way it was handled, but have never read the source material. (I’m looking into it, currently ;3)
As an artist, this series is simply mindblowing visually and in storytelling method. It’s clear what kind of shortcuts they had to take in order to achieve the level of detail in each of the characters, but it completely restored my hope that modern digital anime can achieve the same feeling of substance as traditional animation.
In a world where Naruto and Bleach are the epitome of storytelling, it makes me so glad to see something this unique and well done. I found myself feeling restored and hopeful after watching this wonderful visual novel.
One note- Albert’s pretty naive, but he’s not so bad. I liked him and rooted for his idealistic, hopeful view of the world, even if it was an uninformed hope. (Then again, I liked Shinji too, despite what a lousy person he so often was!)
;P
Eye – I agree with you on Albert not being so bad. I rooted for him too! Some of the stupid things he does make you want to yell at the screen. But that means the creators have done their job – created a character worth caring about!
Evangelion’s Shinji was the same way in many cases – although I am a little bit less sympathetic for him. Probably because he ran away a few more times than Albert did.
I THOUGHT THE INTRO SONG WAS GRATE! HE DIDN’T SING OFF KEY! >.
@Da Sax Man, I’m sorry, but I thought the intro was baaad. I’d like to think that I have an ear for tonality, but that’s 8 years of music theory 14 years ago. I’m glad you liked the song.
It sucks, i had quite a large comment, but for some reason only the 1st line posted! >
@Da Sax Man, I found out the hard way that < and > is code lingo for stop/ start. That’s why your comment was cut short; Wordpress thought you were telling it to cut the line off after you made the frustrated emoticon (that’s a simplistic way of putting it). Sorry ’bout that.
i am up to ep 10 and so far it is great. i have read half the source material and it matches pretty well. i want to complete it but i am reading the unabridged edition which is 1248 pages in length so it is quite the undertaking. i am taking a hiatus for now but i will take it up again after the book i am currently reading. oh and you are right the intro is really off key but it still has its merits to listen to every once in awhile. if you guys follow the lyrics though you will find that both the intro and the ending songs seem to have been crafted for the anime and are not some random picking like most animes i have seen. the words match the story completely.
@lancaster, so you’re reading the Comte de Monte Cristo by Dumas? Dumas is good at revenge stories.
Hmmmm, never noticed the lyrics for the OP; I was too busy sticking my fingers in my ears to block out the off key singing…
to rachel, yeah i am reading it but it is definitely not a light read. the huge amount of details in it make it quite hard to chew if you get my metaphor. it is one of my goals in life to finish it. i am just glad the anime didn’t butcher it like the film did.