So, I watch a lot of anime. With this, I’m only two reviews away from my 700th review on this site, and I really try to watch as much anime as possible. So with that in mind, I do not make the following statement lightly: Gankutsuou is my favourite series of all of the anime I’ve watched during the past year and a half, and perhaps even longer. It’s often referred to as one of Gonzo’s masterpieces, and I wholeheartedly agree. This is everything that I look for in an anime, and then some.
Good Gonzo has always stood out with how damn innovating they kept trying to be. Gankutsuou is a fantastic example of this, but that’s far from everything about this series. Aside from being consistently experimental, it’s also extremely well executed.
I have not read the story of the original Count of Monte Cristo, but regardless, the creators did a fantastic job of converting it into a story that fits perfectly into 24 episodes. They took the entire setting and turned it into a futuristic setting that at the same time retained the atmosphere of France of more than two hundred years and the aristocratic culture of the days before the french revolution. It’s completely fiction and even through the weird graphics style, it feels strangely authentic. The setting here is really solid, and yet it’s the part of this show that impressed me the least.
Instead, we have some fantastic acting from the cast of characters that really brings them to life. There is a ton of character development in this series, and the creators even managed to make an often whining teenaged lead into a compelling character (though granted, before his development he does not stand out as the strongest member of this cast). The characters in this series all have a ton of flaws, and this series uses those brilliantly. The entire plot weaves together all of the different characters and their backstories, and just about everyone gets his or her moment to really show off his or her character.
And the way in which this is done was a really emotionally resonating one. This series knows exactly when to be subtle, and when to release all brakes and go over the top. The delivery in this is just perfect, with creative poses and animation in which a lot his happening at the same time, yet the story remains focused on what it wants to show. It’s really well shown with a lot of detail in how the characters are reacting to each other.
And as for the graphics… they’re some of the best you can get if you don’t mind the intrusive CG. This series is full of excellent visual ideas. I mean, just about every shot is absolutely gorgeous and it’s ridiculous how creative the visuals can get. The creators really tried to stuff a ton of ideas into the visuals here, as long as they all fitted into the story. The result is a show that looks absolutely unlike anything else. The animation itself isn’t the most consistent, but when it delivers, it really delivers some amazing and hard hitting inbetween animation that combines perfectly with the storytelling. Gankutusou really was a show in which Gonzo could show off what it was able to do with its CG, and while this show is obviously heavy on the CG, it doesn’t feel out of place. Instead, the graphics create this gorgeous whole.
Overall, I found this series one heck of a ride, and Gankutsuou is very likely going to end up in my top 20 favourite anime, somewhere between #15 and #20. I absolutely adore these kinds of series that can get a huge emotional response out of me. It’s obviously not a show for everyone (and I did hear that this anime changed a ton of stuff from the original novel), but to me, Gankutusou took a while to build up, but as soon as it hit its stride just about everything fitted together perfectly.
| Storytelling: | 10/10 – Wonderfully paced and balanced, just about every episode significantly advances the plot and comes with new developments that are delivered strongly, knowing exactly when to be subtle and when to be over the top, all culimnating into an amazing ending. |
| Characters: | 9/10 – Excellent dialogue and acting with really dynamic characters. There are a few stereotypes like the angsty male lead, but even he is portrayed and developed wonderfully. |
| Production-Values: | 10/10 – Unique. Stuffed with tons of visual ideas, both in terms of art and animation. |
| Setting: | 9/10 – Takes France of centuries ago, and successfully transforms it into something futuristic and unique while still remaining authentic. |
Suggestions:
– Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette
– Mahou Shoujotai
– Casshern Sins
Lol, with the number of screenshots you included we practically don’t need to read the review since it’s clear you loved the show. And isn’t this your second highest review or such, I can’t remember the last time I saw you give something a 95.
Aah, that with the images was a bit overkill yeah. I reduced it to only eight screenshots now. ^^;
It’s indeed been a long while since I handed 95/100 to a series, the last time I did that was in 2009 with Strange Dawn and Birdy the Mighty Decode 02.
I have handed this rating in the past to a few more series, though. Like Simoun, The Third, Bokurano, Kaiba and Utena.
You have no idea how happy this review made me. After I first watched it some months ago, I wondered why you hadn’t covered such an amazing anime, but I figured you would get to it. And I’m glad you enjoyed it so much!
Keep up the good work.
Whoa! 95/100!? I sure didn’t expect that! But we’re glad you liked it since practically everyone else does (forgive me since, alas, I have not watched it)! Now all that’s left for you to review is Futatsu no Spica (before you get to shows like Princess Tutu, Marco TV, Galactic Heroes, Rose of Versailles, etc.).
Gankutsuou has some really awesome characterization and a great story, so I had no doubt that psgels would like this series. A 95/100 though? I haven’t seen you give one of those out in ages o.o;
Gonzo has it’s few great series. It’s series such as Gankutsuou, Last Exile, and Welcome to the NHK that make me glad that Gonzo is starting back up this summer with the new Last Exile series.
How I stumbled upon this series was I found the Genon release at my library. I checked it out to tease my sister, as she had just finished Count of Monte Cristo, and I expected it to be pretty bad.
Boy was I wrong.
This is pretty close on my To Watch List, but now, I really have to watch this.
Fantastic anime. I think it’s enough close from the book (I’m French), execpt the futurist setting obviously.
The piano concert scene is engraved in my mind. That’s why gonzo stays as one of my top three studios.
Gankutsuou made a lot of changes to the story, but it’s still more faithful to the book than most TV and movie adaptations I saw.
The ending in particular is very different, but I think it fits the story better than the original ending.
Yes, despite the liberties they took, the series is remarkably faithful to the book. Inspired by the anime, I read the book (despite its length, it is wonderful). Gankutsuou is a magnificent series, one of anime’s best.
Can’t believe you didn’t mention Haydee’s dress in the opera episode! That was one of the most beautiful CG scenes I’ve seen in like… anything.
Gankutsuou is an example of anime storytelling at its best, and why I regard it so highly too. Glad you enjoyed it, and as always looking forward to more of your reviews. 🙂
I love Gankutsuou! I’m glad you enjoyed it as well. I was wondering when you would get around to watching this show since it is fantastic. Once the show got past the first few episodes I was literally glued to my seat the whole way through the series.
Glad you watched and enjoyed this series. This anime is arguably what made me see anime as something more than DBZ, Bleach and Naruto kids cartoons. The artwork, characters and story really show what anime is capable of.
You can’t give Cowboy Bebop 90/100 and than give this 95. You’re crazy!
This is a good show but no way is it better than Cowboy Bebop. I think you just got over excited because the latest anime seasons’ have been lacking in a mature/experimental show like this.
There are some anime which are a lot shorter than the legendary ones like Bebop, and are even underrated. Examples are ‘Steins Gate’ and ‘Shiki’, and this one too. You could also try Makoto Shinkai’s ‘Garden of Words’. They leave such an amazing impact that they tend to get higher scores based on the moment’s impression, and may not be able to keep up in the long run with legends like Bebop, FMAB, Bleach or FT, Naruto etc. But these in their own right are unique. Gankutsuou is one such anime. Kindly don’t compare it with the biggies.
Holy shit, you really did love it. That’s three people I know that have loved it so much. I gotta move this up higher on my list. :V
Also, Judoh:
I regret to inform you that Cowboy Bebop is not the invincible anime that cannot be beaten. Sorry.
Yes, yes it is better then Bebop. It does many things that although Bebop did well, it does better and with more maturity.
@ultama121
There is nothing invincible about Cowboy Bebop. I never said that, Although it’s influence is far superior and over reaching than Gankutsuou.
Gankutsuou is an underrated classic but it’s never in the top 10/20 lists on AnimeNewsNetwork or in Newtype magazine( or anywhere really) which are popular anime forums.
That is reserved for things like Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Full Metal Alchemist, Gundam ectera.
Please don’t get nice visuals confused with a great anime. It’s the same as psgels giving Casshern Sins 90/100; the same as Bebop. That anime is terrible. Once again nice visuals, great first 12 episodes but then morphs into this tedious cliched viewing experience.
95 is too close to 100. Which as psgels said is the perfect anime, which he is yet to encouter. Gankutsuou is not at all close to the perfect anime.
@Judoh:
Then I think you’re under-estimating Gankutsuou. Just because it hasn’t been ranked high in popular anime magazines and forums doesn’t mean it’s not necessarily a good or better anime than some of the more popular series out there. And this is WAY more than just great visuals. If that’s all you can take away from this, then I really don’t think you were paying much attention to the series at all.
I don’t see how you got a “tedious cliched viewing experience,” when this is in no way cliched. It has a very compelling plot and it handles its story extremely well. It’s very different than most anime you see, and while some of the characters themselves and their backgrounds may be predictable or done before, it’s they way that this show carries them with such grace that makes it close to a “perfect anime.”
Do I think it’s the best? Out of everything that I’ve seen (and I haven’t seen as much as Psgels, who as watched a good deal of anime)–yes, it’s the best. Does that make it perfect? No. Nothing can ever be “perfect”, but it can come darn well close.
So I think the rating is appropriate. 😛
But psgels does have his own personal way of grading series and not all of us have to agree with all of his ratings or arguments. That should be clear by now. We certainly don’t have to share the same form of thinking among ourselves either.
For example, just because I do love Gankutsuou myself that doesn’t mean it is flawless in terms of storytelling. I would give it a 9 in that category.
The ending has a lot of positives and the epilogue is very good, to be sure, but I found that it stopped short of greatness because of a certain annoying loose thread or two. Honestly, I was a little underwhelmed in a sense, since the ending of the book had a different bent.
So you could say I thought the best part of the show, outside of the unique art style, was the core story and its wonderful antagonist (which, of course, isn’t original at all).
Naturally, this is an excellent adaptation with a fair amount of worthwhile experimentation, to be truthful, but there is a lot of room for discussing the finer details.
@Vanilla
I meant Casshern was tedious not Gankutsuou. Although I loved Casshern Sins it just wasn’t meant to be…
It seems because Gankutsuou is considered the best anime you have seen you must be looking at it through ‘rose-tinted glasses’. The reason It’s not on those lists is because it got recognized for what it was. Naturally Evangelion could have been in the same situation but the more people that saw Evangelion, the more praise it received. Where as Gankutsuou just couldn’t take off in the same way.
I’m not under-estimating it either. I already said it was an underrated classic. Did you even read my comment?
~”It’s very different than most anime you see,”
So is Le Chevalier D’Eon but that doesn’t mean it gets a 95/100.
Anyway in conclusion if this is your favorite anime… thats fine. It is good. Although you really should watch more anime if you think it is the best. But isn’t ‘best’ just another way of saying it’s your favorite? The meaning/distinction is gone between them
“It’s my favorite anime”…
“It’s the best anime”…
Lol, Judoh. I think psgels has watched enough anime to claim what he thinks is good 8D. He never did describe it as the best, but a top 20 favourite, so hold your horses
My comment got cut short, why D8? But yeah, psgels. Glad you enjoyed a beaut of anime o3o!
@Amy
Your comment got cut short because it wasn’t worthy of the debate 😛
It doesn’t matter how much anime you watch. Just because an editor at rollingstone.com has to review every pop record from Lady Gaga to Greenday doesn’t mean his opinion on music is anymore educated than the general music lover.
John over at animenation.com has been watching anime for 30 years and he has seen way more than psgels but that doesn’t mean his opinion is any more important than mine or psgels.
All I said is that IN MY OPINION, the score of 95 was not an ideal score for this show. Once again just as 95 is psgel’s opinion my opinion was that I don’t think it’s worth a 95.
Anyways I’m done now. This area is swarming with fiends a.k.a Master Trolls. I can see them gathering underneath a bridge holding copies of Gankutsuou…..XD
@Judoh:
Heh. x) No offense with my earlier comment. Just felt I had to throw in my two cents.
Meh, it’s not my type of show ~_~
Whoa, that’s a lot of comments. I do want to clarify something about my rating system, though:
When I rate an anime, I’m not asking myself “how flawless is this?” Instead, it’s more like “how good is this?” and “how well does this series do the things it does well?”. Heck, the series I have rated the highest out of all my reviews is Mahou Shoujotai, and that series also has its flaws. It’s because of this reason that I stopped submitting my reviews to sites like Anidb and Myanimelist: because I don’t agree with their rating systems.
My reviews are indeed very personal, so it’s obvious that some people will disagree with them. That’s fine, of course, because I don’t think that there exists a way to objectively determine the best anime ever anyway. It’s in the same way that I don’t really agree with Gundam being in the Top 10 of Animenation, for example.
NB. And yeah, obviously my opinion isn’t any more important than someone who just watched his first anime. 😉
One of my favorite series of all time. I haven’t finished the original novel, but it does seem like people are saying, it’s a lot more faithful than other adaptations. The visuals were beautiful and I really did have an emotional response to this series… it’s such a shame Gonzo has this much potential, but has been in trouble lately…
WOW a 95/100 i didn’t see that coming.
I read the book 1st so I was a bit disappointed with this anime because it wasn’t that faithful to the book (the book is a real masterpiece, this anime watered down many excelent aspects of the book, i can’t forgive GONZO for this!). But i do agree this anime made a great adaption of the book (i don’t think its easy to gather all the info from the book and adapt it into 24 epis only), but those who read the book before the anime will notice that some things could have been handled better.
Overral, I think a 87,5/100 or 90/100 would be just fine for this one.
I think a 95/100 for me is Mushishi, Monster, Tsuiokuhen, etc.
PS: Albert reminded me of Shinji from NGE(both are whiny as hell).
For those who haven’t read the book yet, watch the anime 1st (you’ll enjoy it more), then read the book.
Glad that you enjoyed it, its really a shame that this anime does not get more recognition in the anime world.
Despite the fact that there are quite a few things that were different from the book, this is IMO the best adaption of the book out there.
I just need to say thay i agree with your review, waiting for noir though, and the fact we need more anime like this, specially on the graphics and visual style done in this anime, i know there is a bad gonzo,but because i see some people mentioned in some blogs, but all the animes i watched from this company are rock solid, and yet i didnt watched anything that i can call bad (NHK, Ninja Basilisk, Solty rei, Gankatsuou, Last Exile, Samuray Seven, My bride is a mermaid, etc.. so gonzo please emply this technique(visual art/grapchis) on your future projects please
“so gonzo please emply this technique(visual art/grapchis) on your future projects please”
I meant Apply instead of emply, sorry english is not my first language 8D
This was a great watch, though I must say that it didn’t live up to the book for me. Anyone whose only exposure to Monte Cristo is an adaptation (of any kind) is really missing out. I was particularly dissapointed that the series skipped the parts of the book concerned with the imprisonment. These chapters served to put the reader in Edmond’s shoes and empathize with his motivations.
All of the supernatural (and sci-fi) bits felt really out of place too and undermined the overall maturity of the material for me. Though I suppose the series would be even less well-known than it is if it was more down-to-earth (pun intended).
SPOILERS AHEAD
@Ethereal
Completely agree with you. Gankutsuou was an awesome anime, but it would have been a masterpiece for me if they have used all the info from the book (it could have been longer, like 30 episodes long or something like that).
Here are my issues:
1)Albert was never supposed to be the protagonist (God, he is sooooo annoying/naive).
2)Where is the part when Edmond escapes from the Chateau d’If (the prison)? It was one of the best parts of the entire book! And they didn’t animated that =(.
3)Abbé Faria, a great support character from the book (prisoner of the Château d’If, helped Edmond to escape from prison), isn’t here ¬¬.
4)The last 5 or 6 eps are fillers (though they were really good to see).
5)Gankutsuou’s nature is poorly explained on the anime, while the book explains to us with details how and why Edmond became “Gankutsuou”; and, of course,explains Gankutsuou’s nature as well.
6)The supernatural stuff was really out of place.
I may be a bit harsh here, but this anime is still a must-see if you’re looking for something well written, exciting and different, but this isn’t a masterpiece IMO. Still this is my favorite GONZO work, side to side with Welcome to NHK.
I waited YEARS for you to post a review on Gankutsuou! I’m so glad you enjoyed the anime. I am completely in love with it and it’s one of my top favourite animes (along with Mushishi, Aoi Bungaku,Baccano!, and others)
I love Chevalier D’Eon.
That is all. 8U.
@Guigas : Oh come on, you can’t pin getting albert as the main character as a fault, I thought it got an interesting angle on the story, although it became more of a coming of age story as a result (hence all the angst, but I think it was handled nicely).
I thought you’ve watched this already!!!
I’ve read the book years ago, but I almost forgot about it..but when i watched the anime, it’s like it’s all coming back to me…
Wahh, it’s definitely one of the greatest animes in history. ^_^
i cried. the intro song exemplified the the predominant theme of love and friendship with artistic beauty. them running on the beach with the chopped screenshots. one of the deepest and most touching anime’s i’ve ever seen. it dealt with strong theme of the morality of an aristocratic society, the meaning of life, and why forgiveness is essential in a short finite life. brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
I was completely turned off by the animation at first, but came to understand and appreciate it once the plot began to unfold. this show is not for the simple minded. one has had to of experienced deep hardship, and have a cultivated mind to fully appreciate this show. understanding geopolitics, and how egotism can drive only a handful of men to cause war and extreme wealth inequality helps you understand the depth of this show, because it is alluded to very nicely. i completely agree with the review. i think the reason why it’s isn’t given the full credit due is because the anime culture consists largely of people who wouldn’t appreciate or understand these themes. many anime’s touch on these things, but count of monte cristo does it with out trying too hard, mixing them into the story like sugar in tea
Can you make a review for Air Gear, please?
I have just finished this show and find it worth a watch, but yea, 95/100 is a bit too… personal for an anime ranking.
The graphics, despite being innovative and beautifully presented, hurt my eyes at some points. And yet for many reasons do this part serve the concept perfectly, something like, the extravagance of 19th century France (Pardon me but I can’t seem to ignore the fact that Haidee’s opera concert dress was a bit against her usual modesty).
A 9/10 for characters is far too high, for the Count, Franz and Peppino should have taken more than a half of these points. Eugenie first showed up to be the strong type yet she became much of a damsel in distress throughout the rest of the series – while Valentine appeared to be so as from her very first debut before leaping into a looooong coma. They both didn’t even have enough chances to talk, as there is a serious lack of character development for Eugenie. The trailer version of Eugenie was a lesbian – shown kissing her piano teacher who seemed much like a genderbent Albert – and her initial design is later used for Andrea. Her character was rewritten to be an entirely different person with a different role during the making of the anime, hence the lack of depths and what a real let-down to consider into the overall ranking of this show.
However, I do like the fact that many characters appear to be absolutely detestable at first and yet turned out to be much more dynamic and interesting towards the end of the anime. They’ve got reasons for every deed they were to commit, however those reasons themselves were pretty much based around one love triangle to another.
The essential theme for this series to have been developed upon is perhaps the ungoverned desires of the human hearts fueled with dramatic power and futuristic technology. That is why despite being a good series, this show is not all that ‘mature’ and underrated as many might have thought of it. Being much more than just enjoyable, but completely not on the same league with series like Evangelion or Cowboy Bebop. A true classic needs more a sense of philosophical originality rather than just visual or emotional.
And I am going to hate Albert forever because of Franz, my dear angel Franz ; ;
Therefore a 85~87/100 would probably be good enough.
Nice Review mate. I am a huge fan of the novel and also enjoyed the movie and anime adaptation of it as well. Also the ending of the book is different from the anime if you haven’t read it.
PS great LOGH, Monster and Mushishi review