With Dumas' Count of Monté Christo being one of my all time favourite reads, I have always been curious about an adaptation to the screen that does it justice. The majority of films cannot cut it for me; because of time constraints, all but the main subplot and are stripped out, killing the magic of Dumas' work. As a full series, Gankutsuou promised to maintain the complex sub-plots and philosophical musings of a man's highly elaborate, ten year quest for revenge.
Gankutsuou, for the most part does maintain the diverse and complex plot, like I had hoped, and I was not at all fazed by the futuristic setting or the Vampiric references that the anime added. What did bother me greatly however was the significant choice of protagonist and the rashly altered ending. Instead of using a character as rich and subtle as the Count to be the lead, the viewer is forced to see the events from a comparatively minor character, Albert, whom I found particularly frustrating. Albert is a particularly thick, naive and whiny cretin who follows the mysterious Count around like a bad smell. The plot is significantly changed (for the worse) so as to accommodate Albert, climaxing in a particularly soporific and corny ending.
The animation Style is perhaps unique in its appearance, with some kind of inventive layering technique. It is all very vibrant, if somewhat harsh on the eyes, but I enjoyed its application. The actual drawing itself however looks poor whilst some of the CGI elements stick out like a sore thumb. Another complaint would be the opening theme, which is by far the worst I have ever heard. Compared to the smorgasborg of lousy Anime tunes out there, this is quite some feat, which is strange because the rest of the anime's soundtrack is excellent, with it's eclectic combinations of Opera and techno.
Gankutsuou was a wasted opportunity, which although often true to the source material, ultimately does the novel little justice.
Gankutsuou, for the most part does maintain the diverse and complex plot, like I had hoped, and I was not at all fazed by the futuristic setting or the Vampiric references that the anime added. What did bother me greatly however was the significant choice of protagonist and the rashly altered ending. Instead of using a character as rich and subtle as the Count to be the lead, the viewer is forced to see the events from a comparatively minor character, Albert, whom I found particularly frustrating. Albert is a particularly thick, naive and whiny cretin who follows the mysterious Count around like a bad smell. The plot is significantly changed (for the worse) so as to accommodate Albert, climaxing in a particularly soporific and corny ending.
The animation Style is perhaps unique in its appearance, with some kind of inventive layering technique. It is all very vibrant, if somewhat harsh on the eyes, but I enjoyed its application. The actual drawing itself however looks poor whilst some of the CGI elements stick out like a sore thumb. Another complaint would be the opening theme, which is by far the worst I have ever heard. Compared to the smorgasborg of lousy Anime tunes out there, this is quite some feat, which is strange because the rest of the anime's soundtrack is excellent, with it's eclectic combinations of Opera and techno.
Gankutsuou was a wasted opportunity, which although often true to the source material, ultimately does the novel little justice.