GANKUTSUOU: THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

Wow, how did I miss those spaceships?



Review by: M.H. "Ate the Hatchis" Torringjan

Length: 24 episodes
Genre: Mystery, action
Watched: entire series, subbed

Pretty much the entire world has to read Alexendre Dumas's masterpiece novel (and you all know that I don't use the word "masterpiece" lightly) at some point during their secondary education, so most people are at least somehow familiar with the story told in its pages. Even the abridged version (which is nowhere near as interesting as the unabridged version) communicates the story with little confusion of vengeance with no moral apology, the prototype for many modern badasses. The heroic villain (or is it villainous hero?) and the complexity of the plot are enough to keep people reading it, even when it's not for a grade. But how will it translate when the story is modernized? And when I say modernized, I mean set about 3000 years in the future. Watch and see.

Plot: Albert de Morcerf and Franz d'Epinay are a pair of children of the aristocracy in Paris and on vacation on Luna at Festival time, hen they meet a mysterious character at the opera, named the Count of Monte Cristo. The dark gentleman immediately becomes their benefactor by loaning them his carriage and the use of his quarters during festival time, and even saving Albert's life in return for being shown around Paris when he moves there. When he moves there, he quickly becomes the toast of the town, but at the same time, bad things begin to happen to Albert and his friends' families, delving deep into pasts that they don't want revealed. What does the Count have to do with any of this? (Hmmm, I wonder...)

Artwork: The most noticeable thing about this series is the original style of artwork. While other series choose to go with paper and pencil artwork or CG images, or even colored pencil and crayon, the artists of this series boldly chose to work with wallpaper. Yes, you read me right. Much of the character design, aside from skin, uses what appears to be wallpaper patterns, which don't move with the stencils that outline the sections. This leads to so much cognitive dissonance during the first episode or two that it's a good idea to have a bottle of Aspirin handy, just in case. The overall artwork is very colorful, and extremely imaginative, and the CG artwork blends very nicely and is very smooth. Overall, the visuals are very pleasing, even with the migraines.

Music: This is an area where many series falter, stumbling to mediocrity, and this series does pretty well. Some of the tracks are vivid, and appropriate, one of the few series where the symphonic tracks work well. It adds back to the classical feel of the story, much of which is lost in the transition to sci-fi setting. The end-track takes it right back to the techno-feel, however, with a loud techno-rock track with more acid-trip and action images flashing in the background. It's a stark contrast to the opening track, about which I have mixed feelings. The tune is nice, and the song itself is good, but the guy they have singing it sounds like a 50's crooner, and I never really liked Bing Crosby.

Characters: Anybody who's read the book should be familiar with most of these characters. The vast majority of them are exactly the same as in the book, the only difference is the focus. Albert de Morcerf is a young gentleman from a military family who wants to learn more about the world and become a man. He is betrothed to Eugenie Danglars, the daughter of Baron Danglars. She has become jaded over the years about her place in her family, where her father cares only for money and social status. Franz d'Epinay is Albert's childhood friend who suspects the count's motivations and the mystery surrounding him. Maximillien Morrel is a military officer originally from a shipping family. He wishes to marry Valentine de Villefort, who is betrothed to Franz (although Franz doesn't really feel much for her on account of the forced betrothal). Valentine's father is in the government, gained power during the galactic struggles of the past. Oh, yeah, and by some odd coincidence, all three families know each other. Not that that's important or anything. I really can't tell you much about the Count other than that he's a mysterious, manipulative badass without giving away the plot (for the three people who haven't read the book). There are also characters who have their roles expanded from the book, such as Peppo, the bandit girl-guy-thing who seduces Albert and ends up working in his house as a servant, and the Count's servants.

Plot: Anyone who read the book first and then watched the series will find the focus of the plot has changed from the Count and his story-line to the children of the family and the effect that the Count has on them. The story changes from a story of vengeance and justice to a coming-of-age story (with vengeance as the motivation). Many of the events follow the plot of the second half of the book exactly, (until about halfway through the series) but much of the plot is changed so that it's not exactly the same story. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed what they did with the plot; some of the new developments were done all right, but some of the plot points were done better in the book. And some of the plot devices they came up with just plain didn't work (an alien being possessing people? Come on!) Maybe I'm a purist, but I say, if they had a formula that would have worked, they should have stuck with it.

CHICKS!!! Since the focus of this series isn't on fan-service and hot chicks, it's kind of hard to find a really great chick. And with less than a mere swimsuit episode, it's difficult to even judge their physical appearance. But despair not, for the characters are given such depth that it more than makes up for the lack of cleavage! The main chick list addition is Eugenie, the daughter of the Danglars family. Her strength shows through in the tough times, as she struggles to come to grips with the misfortunes that befall her. Her devotion to the person she's forcedly betrothed to shows through as she's forced to be betrothed to a man she doesn't even know. Now, imagine how she'd feel about somebody she's marrying because she wants to! She has an artistic streak, in the form of piano, so I suspect she wouldn't be against a bit of classical music while you get it on.

Overall: While I didn't get what I was expecting in the series, a faithful translation of the plot of the Count of Monte Cristo, I did get an enjoyable series. This seems like as good of a place as any to point out that the acting was really great, and the writing was excellent as well. This will probably go down as one of the best series this year, even though it probably won't satisfy many literary purists. The technical aspects and practical aspects of the show come together very nicely to make for a well-made series.

In a nutshell:
+ Wonderful story
+ Beautiful artwork
+ Pretty faithful to original
+ Good classical feel
- Some cruddy plot devices
Final score: 9/10



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