Gankutsuou, eps 1-10
Jul. 4th, 2006 03:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhGankutsuou, other than being the anime with the name I am least likely to remember how to spell, is a space opera retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo.
Most of what I know about The Count of Monte Cristo comes from the Wishbone episode on it (...does anyone else remember that show? It's really sad how much of my classical education comes from it), so I'm probably missing out on a lot of the more subtle changes to the original story. But there are plenty of big changes to notice: the point of view character has been changed to Albert, the son of Mercedes and the Count of Morcerf, which starts the show much later than the novel. It also leaves the Count's backstory unexplained, at least so far; viewers can see that he's obviously plotting something terrible, but they don't know why. Unless they know the story, of course.
It's a very neat idea, that twist in storytelling. I wonder if the Count seems a more sympathetic character if you know where he's come from all along, and can see the gradual development of his obsession with revenge, or if he starts off as a villain, and his backstory comes as a shock late in the plot. It changes the suspense too; instead of wondering if he'll really go through with it, now one wonders who he is and why he does what he does. I don't know if it works or not, if just because the story is so well known that I'm not sure how much of the audience will actually not know who the Count of Monte Cristo is. But for a new way of telling an old story, it's a very neat idea.
Having Albert as the main character also focuses the plot on his circle of friends, all children of Parisian aristocrats. I go back and forth between being sympathetic to their problems and thinking that they're all spoiled, self-centered brats. Either way, the mood of a story focusing on these poor little rich children is vastly different from the original (at least, um, as it was portrayed by a talking dog), and I wonder how that contrast will play out once their parent's stories are revealed.
The coolest thing about Gankutsuou is the style of animation. Character's clothes, hair, flowers, and walls are all formed of patterns that move separately from the characters'; their hair and clothes often have the appearance of being cut out to reveal a design that lies on a page underneath the character, so that when they move, the hair stays still. The look reminds me of a collage, deliberately unreal. Everything seems over-elaborate, which works well, I suppose, for the enormously wealthy and stylized world of these characters.
Gankutsuou is licensed by Geneon, or is available for download via bittorrent on Anime-Kraze.
Most of what I know about The Count of Monte Cristo comes from the Wishbone episode on it (...does anyone else remember that show? It's really sad how much of my classical education comes from it), so I'm probably missing out on a lot of the more subtle changes to the original story. But there are plenty of big changes to notice: the point of view character has been changed to Albert, the son of Mercedes and the Count of Morcerf, which starts the show much later than the novel. It also leaves the Count's backstory unexplained, at least so far; viewers can see that he's obviously plotting something terrible, but they don't know why. Unless they know the story, of course.
It's a very neat idea, that twist in storytelling. I wonder if the Count seems a more sympathetic character if you know where he's come from all along, and can see the gradual development of his obsession with revenge, or if he starts off as a villain, and his backstory comes as a shock late in the plot. It changes the suspense too; instead of wondering if he'll really go through with it, now one wonders who he is and why he does what he does. I don't know if it works or not, if just because the story is so well known that I'm not sure how much of the audience will actually not know who the Count of Monte Cristo is. But for a new way of telling an old story, it's a very neat idea.
Having Albert as the main character also focuses the plot on his circle of friends, all children of Parisian aristocrats. I go back and forth between being sympathetic to their problems and thinking that they're all spoiled, self-centered brats. Either way, the mood of a story focusing on these poor little rich children is vastly different from the original (at least, um, as it was portrayed by a talking dog), and I wonder how that contrast will play out once their parent's stories are revealed.
The coolest thing about Gankutsuou is the style of animation. Character's clothes, hair, flowers, and walls are all formed of patterns that move separately from the characters'; their hair and clothes often have the appearance of being cut out to reveal a design that lies on a page underneath the character, so that when they move, the hair stays still. The look reminds me of a collage, deliberately unreal. Everything seems over-elaborate, which works well, I suppose, for the enormously wealthy and stylized world of these characters.
Gankutsuou is licensed by Geneon, or is available for download via bittorrent on Anime-Kraze.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-07-04 08:19 pm (UTC)Wishbone! Wishbone the dog? Oh man. Wishbone was good times! :D
no subject
Date: 2006-07-04 08:20 pm (UTC)Anyways I am reading the Count right now and it's wonderful. The anime while pretty, I was not so impressed with. (But then I only watched the first disc.)
no subject
Date: 2006-07-04 09:47 pm (UTC)I.was.hooked.
After that first dvd, I had to download the rest of the episodes and finished the entire series over the course of two evenings.
The music is rapturous, the visuals stunning. The story is different than the original, and twists my heart apart in the best of ways. (Let me just say, I've not watched the complete series again since the first time through.)
While I'm in no hurry for this gem to develop a massive following, I couldn't help but squee to see one of my favorite authors picking up this anime. So...
*squee!* I hope you like it! =^.^=
no subject
Date: 2006-07-04 10:18 pm (UTC)Heee, fellow Wishbone fan! I have the fondest memories of the series, but I thought I was the only one to have watched it (I pretty much had no choice, as my father was translating it into Ukrainian, and I was his guinea pig).
Also, there was that computer game based on the Illyad ep; I return to it once a year, but couldn't complete the quest even once :).
no subject
Date: 2006-07-05 02:04 am (UTC)It is very good in my opinion, but I'll wait before saying more.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-05 08:57 am (UTC)Well, there's a piece of my childhood not yet defiled. Rock on.
I've had the first thirteen episodes of Gankutsuou lying around for awhile, but haven't had much inclination to watch, in spite of the pretty, for some reaosn I didn't feel hooked? I should give it another try, though, even just for the pretty.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-05 10:53 pm (UTC)Yep, Wishbone the dog! That was the best show.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-05 10:55 pm (UTC)You're reading it? Oh, that's cool, I'm impressed! I'd like to read it someday; it seems like it'd be very good.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-05 10:56 pm (UTC)*grins* Thank you! I don't know if I'll like it well enough to write anything, but it makes a very good show to watch before going to sleep at night.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-05 10:59 pm (UTC)Wishbone is awsome! And hee, I wonder if it was much different in Ukrainian.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-05 11:00 pm (UTC)And I need to read the novel someday, too.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-05 11:01 pm (UTC)I like it. I've been watching an episode or two a night on my laptop after I go to bed, and it makes a very nice way to relax.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-05 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-06 03:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-06 07:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-06 07:30 pm (UTC)