Gankutsuou

Albert and Franz

Continuing with Gonzo's classic adaptations, we've been watching Mahiro Maeda's Gankutsuou, based on Alexandre Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo. This anime is got to be one of the most innovative pieces of animation ever done - it's one of the first anime series to take advantage of the potential of Photoshop textures and layering in digital animation. In addition, and as per Gonzo's usual style, lot of the backgrounds are rendered in 3D - it didn't work so well with Samurai 7, but works wonders here. The result is something completely unique and has an extremely distinct style I've never seen done in this scale before. It's difficult to describe what the series looks like - and the screenshots won't do it much justice. Basically there's very little traditional hand-drawn animation here - most of the surfaces are filled with textures: faces and skin are often the only parts that are ordinary animation, and then hair and clothes are filled with textures. It's impossible to see from static shots how stunning this actually looks like in action.

Count and Albert

And they've chosen a good setting to do this. Whereas Dumas' novel took place in the 1800s, this adaptation takes place in year 5053 - with number of parallels. For example, aristocracy is doing better than ever - which works perfectly with flamboyant costumes and lavish backgrounds on the animation. The anime follows the plotline of the original book surprisingly faithfully - there are of course new elements (like the mystical Gankutsuou that inhabits Dantes' body) but the basic story is pretty much intact. The story is still about revenge that a man formerly known as Edmond Dantes wants to take on his former friends that betrayed him and sent him to die in prison. Dantes comes back as the mysterious vampire-like Count of Monte Cristo and slides his way into the decadent and greedy Paris high society. But the main characters in the anime are naive Albert de Morcerf, son of Mercedes and the Count de Morcerf (Dantes' former fiance and best friend), his loyal friend Franz d'Epinay and their fiances and friends.

Count of Monte Cristo

The main themes of the story are of course friendship and revenge. In the original novel Edmond Dantes is almost in the mission from God - his anger and revenge are justified. The anime focuses much more on young Albert who is trying to fill his rich but seemingly empty life with the excitement of meeting the new mysterious friend, the Count of Monte Cristo. Albert has never doubted his privileges and heritage, has never doubted his parents word or commands - and the thought of disobeying them, like not going ahead with the arranged marriage to his childhood friend Eugenie, is alien to him. The Count seduces naive Albert with his charisma, his strange companions and his exotic adventures, and while everyone around Albert is warning him to stay away from the Count he disregards all advice and gets thrown in head first. Meanwhile the Count is starting the weave his web around the three men who betrayed him in his former life - but is Albert right about the Count's good heart and intentions, or will he go ahead with his terrible plans?

Flamboyant Count

When talking about Gankutsuou one of the first things one has to talk about is the look of the series. I know it might not be everyones cup of tea, but I absolutely adore the animation. The textures that fill the clothes and background are static while the animation is moving and it creates a strangely magical atmosphere. The CGI that is used for inanimate objects like trains and cars (and the Count has one of the coolest cars ever) stands out, but since there are so many textures on screen all the time it doesn't jump out. The mirror-surfaced space ships are futuristic and simply divine, and especially in space against a breathtaking starry sky it creates one of the most stunning sci-fi imaginary I've ever come across. Then on the end of the spectrum, against the very lavish interiors, Paris is sometimes ugly and plain - use of very rough CGI and crude surfaces sets even bigger contrast to the characters. My favourites have to be the costumes though - nobles have the most amazing "fabrics" while when going down the hierarchy the textures become more and more plain. Costume design is first rate, and they even got Anna Sui, a famous clothes designer, to design the costumes for the last episode.

Mercedes and Eugenie

Albert's parents

And it's the look of the series that first seduces the viewer - but there is substance to the series, too. The plot holds together very well, and I was left wondering how it would turn out until the very end. I'm a sucker for happy endings so I was hoping that the Count would find his humanity in the end and see that revenge is never the right way. It's enough of an adaptation though that although if you're familiar with the original material you can kind of see where it's going, you'll never know for sure. Personally I thought this was an excellent adaptation - something you need the distance to be able to approach a loved story like this one, and I seriously doubt anyone in the West would have had the balls to take this kind of an approach to Count of Monte Cristo. My favourite character was probably Haydee, the Count's companion who he saved from slavery and depravity - she is the voice of conscience for the Count when he starts to lose his humanity, and is the one who believes in him until the very end. I also really liked Franz, who in turn fulfills the same role for Albert - the loyal friend who will stand by with you no matter what.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this series to anyone, whether you like anime or not. Gankutsuou has also received multiple awards, including the "Best TV Series" title at the Animation Kobe in 2005. It's not typical anime in any sense, not with it's characters, storyline nor the look and feel - so it should be very accessible to wide audiences. The 24-episode series is licensed by Geneon and is now available on six DVDs.

If you want to try something completely different, a feast for eyes and a mysterious story with sympathetic characters - try Gankutsuou. Posted by kolibri at 24 September 22:00, 2006

You can't add any more comments, but if you wish you can email the author.