Gankutsuou

[Dodie16]

Just got finished watching this series a few moments ago, and I gotta say it's pretty good. Yeah, I have some complaints about it, but overall, it's an enjoyable anime and an interesting take on a classic novel.

For those of you who don't know, Gankutsuou is loosely based of The Count of Monte Cristo. The anime mostly takes place in Paris, France, but in a more futuristic and sci-fi/fantasy setting that's juxtapositioned with the old 1800's feel and culture as well. Hope that made sense. Anyway, the meat of the story focuses on Albert de Morcerf and his encounters with the Count of Monte Cristo, but also has pretty good side story elements of Albert's interactions with his friends and family. The latter of which really makes the protagonist and other major characters become fleshed out pretty well.

The story really is a tale of revenge, and it gets pretty heavy, but stays consistently interesting throughout. I will say that the resolution to the story seemed rather rushed though... I suppose it's to be expected when so much needs to get resolved and there's not many episodes to do it in. Despite all that, there are many scenes that do have a lot of heart, and can tug at your emotions. Probably the most memorable for me was when...

SPOILER!!:

Franz took Albert's place when Albert challenged the Count to a duel. Franz ends up losing his life, but he did it to save his friend.

This is probably the most emotional scene in the series, and I definitely had tears welling up in my eyes when it was happening. Not to mention, I thought that

SPOILER!!:

Franz

was the best character in the show, so it was extra sad for me.

This anime also has a pretty cool artstyle, in that it used textures in place of many areas where there would be just a normal solid color. Makes for a cool effect, but it also gets a bit confusing at times. There was more than a couple of instances where I was wondering exactly what the heck it was supposed to be that I was looking at, because the textures used made it pretty difficult to focus on the actual object.

Anyway, has anyone else seen this anime, or think you might be interested in watching it? Tell me what you think.

[Treize]

I just finished watching this anime recently too. I thought that it was pretty good. It was kind of strange trying to combine an 18th century plot with sci-fi and mecha elements, but I guess it worked out the best that it could have. I think I might have liked it more if it was a more faithful adaption, but it's still good in my opinion.

The art seemed pretty cool at first, but it did get annoying after a while. I also thought that it started off pretty slow and confusing, but eventually it started to pick up, and I couldn't stop watching it. The main characters seemed to be developed pretty well. There were so many times where I really hated Albert and the way he acted, but he turned out to be alright in the end.

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that adding the mecha and sci-fi made the anime less impactful?

[Dodie16]

You know, I read that post of yours in the "Last anime you watched" thread where you mentioned the mechs, and I thought to myself, "Mechs? Really? I haven't seen those yet...". That was about the time I was only about 5 episodes in, and there wasn't any mention of any mech suits by any of the characters. I think they first appear in episode 17 or 18...and that's pretty late in the series for something like that to be introduced, especially when there's only 24 episodes in the series. It didn't really bother me, but it was sort of odd seeing them.

As for the sci-fi stuff, I thought it was an interesting twist on the concept, and I liked it, but I can see where you're coming from on that. And I agree about Albert... I thought he was too naive for his own good, but he does start to get some sense of how the real world is and starts to act more mature, so he becomes less annoying.

[Treize]

You know, I read that post of yours in the "Last anime you watched" thread where you mentioned the mechs, and I thought to myself, "Mechs? Really? I haven't seen those yet...". That was about the time I was only about 5 episodes in, and there wasn't any mention of any mech suits by any of the characters. I think they first appear in episode 17 or 18...and that's pretty late in the series for something like that to be introduced, especially when there's only 24 episodes in the series. It didn't really bother me, but it was sort of odd seeing them.

Yeah, I thought it was so strange when the mecha started to come in. I thought it was going to be a somewhat normal duel at first, but then all of a sudden this statue thing became a mech. I was surprised, but then again, I guess anything can happen in anime. lol

Also, is it just me or did the anime make it seem like Paris and the towns around it was all of earth? It seemed kind of strange how Paris decided everything for the earth...

Finally, I don't know if I just wasn't paying enough attention, but do you remember how the count gained his wealth. I'm still a little confused on that part. He seemed to be richer than just about everyone else in Paris combined, but I do not remember an explanation on where he got such wealth. It seems a little unrealistic for him to gain such wealth in only a few years.

[Dodie16]

Hah.. About the comment you made about how the Count got all his wealth, I actually couldn't remember if they said anything about how he got that rich either, so I skimmed over a few episodes to see if anything was ever said about it. Couldn't find any information that directly states how he got so rich. I know that the book goes into a lot more detail about where he got it, and the anime focused more on Albert than the Count, so maybe that information was deemed not important enough to show the viewers?

Or maybe it's one of those "Don't question it, just roll with it" type of things.