_Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo_
The classic novel, but set in space.
I can confirm that this is streamable on Crunchroll. Rumor insists that it's also available on Hulu and Funimation, but I can't find it there.
The opening theme is in English. It's panning of black and white line-art on sepia-tone background with very little animation.
Arriving via convertible at the tail end of Carnival, are our boys, Franz and Albert. Despite looking like a cross between Mardi Gras and an acid trip, this is Luna, and this is a red carpet opera night.
A mysterious man throws a bouquet to the singer.
He calls himself a count, and has been the talk of the town for the last month or so.
Albert notices that he's dropped his pocket watch. It's engraved thus: Death is certain, its hour uncertain.
Before he can return it though, the count leaves.
Albert wants to use it as an excuse to meet the count. But before that can happen, he gets an invitation from the count anyway. It looks like they're staying at the same hotel.
Franz thinks he's probably a con man or something, not a real aristocrat.
They have dinner with the count. By which I mean they eat and he watches, eating only a few pills.
They discuss love. Albert has an arranged fiancée he doesn't care for.
His hands are cold. Is he a vampire?
He invites them to lunch the next day, to view the public executions.
Three men are to be killed: one claims he was framed, one forced by circumstance, on unrepentant.
The count has one letter of pardon. Would Albert like to draw a name at random to be spared?
He does.
The unrepentant man is freed.
Sickened by his part in the execution, Albert wanders off in a funk.
A girl tells him the last day of carnival is no time to be alone. Is this seduction?
No, it's a trap. She pulls a gun on him.
Albert is being held by Luigi Vampa, a major criminal. He want $5M by dawn, and Franz can't take money out of the bank because the connection is down due to solar winds.
Who can he turn to for a $5M loan at this time of night?
Well, there's always the Count.
The Count confronts Luigi and calls himself Gankutsuou, the King of the Cave.
Luigi stabs the Count, but he cannot be killed. He threatens Luigi with his own blade.
They spring Albert. In exchange, the Count asks for a simple favor: to introduce him to high society in Paris.
Peppo, the girl who entrapped Albert has a falling out with the rest of the bandits over torturing Albert. She ends up getting a serving job at Albert's house.
He's also actually a boy.
The Count comes and meets Albert's friends and parents.
The Count dissembles on where he's from and who he is. After all, they wouldn't even be interested if not for the mystery.
And speaking on mystery, why can't the count be captured on film or ave his voice recorded?
And what is his history with Albert's parents?
The Count stays for dinner. When Albert's mom notices he's not eating, he tries the soup. It reminds him of Marseilles, is she from there?
No, she has nothing to do with Marseilles. This sounds like a lie.
She and the Count may have a history.
On a visit to the count's house, the conversation turns to love (as it often does in this show.)
Maximilian is offended that aristocrats marry to preserve their fortunes and not for love.
Albert is so offended by this that they have a swordfight. The Count eggs them on.
The Count sows discord among he aristocracy. They don't really need help, what with the affairs and insider trading and all. A little nudge could bring the whole thing crashing down.
Maximilian is in love with Valentine. Valentine is engaged to Franz.
Valentine's stepmother grows poisonous plants. The count has seduced her and given her a Borgia's Ring with a hidden spike.
It's really not a matter of If, but When and How things fall apart.
The count invites all the others, both youth and adult to his villa.
This is a plot to let Victoria Danglars and Gerard Villefot know that he knows about their secret love child.
The count also reveals to Albert that he has contracted a degenerative disease.
Franz overhears a conversation with the Count and learns the name Gankutsuou.
Albert is accidentally poisoned. It was meant for Valentine, who is now in a bad way. We know it's her stepmother.
Andrea Cavalcanti, the Count's other protégé, implies things, mysteriously.
The three heads of household receive an invitation to a funeral. The sender is a man they had betrayed, who they thought was dead.
Their coconspirator in this was also invited.
The youths sneak Valentine out of her house, but are caught in the act.
Mrs. Villefort collapses, a victim of her own poison. They youths escape.
Mr. Villefort puts the clues together and has her committed.
Albert's fiancé, Eugenie, is set to play the piano at the opera house.
Her father wants to cancel their engagement.
Mr. Danglars throws Albert out of the opera house, but he sneaks in backstage to watch their performance.
It turns out that Cavalcanti arranged the performance and paid for all the tickets.
The Count is arrested on suspicion of poisoning.
But the Count has a character witness for his defense, right in his car: Mrs. Villefort. Would you like her testimony?
Oh, it looks like the Count won't be arrested today after all.
Franz looks into the meaning of Gankutsuou, but it's super-classified.
Villefort attempts to kill the Count and is arrested.
Eugenie is officially engaged to Cavalcanti, despite not caring for him.
A despondent Albert agrees to accompany the Count to space.
Albert's father is running for President. But his campaign comes to a screeching halt when Haydee reveals that his war heroics are actually war crimes. She was princess of a distant planet; Morcef killed her father and sold her into slavery.
Franz leans more about Gankutsuou.
The Count makes a full confession to Albert: he arranged everything. The chance meeting on Luna? His plan. The kidnapping? They work for him. Peppo has been reporting on his movements. The gold watch is bugged.
Albert challenges him to a duel.
They duel before dawn in full power armor. It's only once Albert is defeated and the Count has gotten out to land the killing blow that we realize it's not Albert in the suit.
Franz has drugged Albert and taken his place. Being defeated is all part of the plan.
He has learned Gankutsuou's weakness. It replaces the body of its host with crystalline structure. If there's any man left inside the Count, the heart will be the weak point, and Franz has a conventional sword inside the armor to strike when the Count is close enough.
Sadly, the Count's heart has already been transformed.
Albert wakes up and realizes what has happened. He races to the duel site, but is too late to stop it.
Franz dies in his arms.
The Count manipulates the stock market. Danglars' investments crash.
His only hope is to move up Eugenie's marriage so he can get access to Cavalcanti's fortune.
Eugenie tries to flee, but is stopped by Cavalcanti.
On the day of the wedding*, Albert sneaks in disguised as a servant and breaks Eugenie out. Cavalcanti is arrested for impersonating an aristocrat, among other crimes.
* it's technically a pre-wedding financial commitment ceremony that Danglars is using to reassure investors.
The Count confronts a fleeing Danglars and ruins him.
At Villefort's trial, Cavalcanti testifies that he's his son, then poisons him with a needle.
The Count tells Albert how he met and merged with Gankutsuou in prison.
Morcef stages a coup d'etat. His wife confronts him over his betrayal of Dantes. He shoots her and Albert, and almost shoots himself, but decides to confront the Count first.
Albert and his mother are saved by the Count's lackeys. Morcef and the Count fight until their mechs are destroyed, then continue without them.
Morcef stabs the Count through the heart, but it doesn't take.
Albert arrives and the Count uses him as a bargaining chip. Morcef surrenders to save Albert's life, but the Count doesn't want to kill him. Death is too easy.
Gankutsuou decides this is close enough and takes over the Count's body.
Albert confronts Gankutsuou and it retreats, leaving the Count mortal, and he now dies from his wounds.
He asks them to remember who he was.
Everyone but Morcef escapes.
Five years later, peace is breaking out across the galaxy. Is it because Haydee has returned home and restored things there? Is it Albert's stint as an assistant diplomat? Is it the lack of corrupt aristocrats in Paris?
Maybe it's just time healing wounds.
That's the show.
So, what's my takeaway?
Let's begin with the biggest shock: I was not expecting the Count to be Venom.
I mean, he did bond with an alien entity that made him nearly indestructible, I think that's a fair analogy.
The visuals are outrageous; instead of filling the characters hair and clothes with flat colors, they are windows to detailed backgrounds of their own. It's trippy.
The CGI for the mecha fights is... unimpressive. Luckily there isn't that much of it.
The main themes are love and revenge.
The Count is driven to get revenge for his betrayal, but part of the betrayal was because Morcef loved Dantes' fiancée, Mercedes. The question from early on was if she ever stopped loving him, or just moved on because he was gone.
Maximilian's disgust at aristocratic arranged marriages forces Albert to really dig deep into how he feels about Eugenie. The eventual conclusion is that he loves her, but it takes him a while to get there.
Maximilian is in love with Valentine, who is engaged to Franz. Franz gives this advice: there are other ways to show you love someone than marrying them.
Who does Franz love?
Albert, of course. He sacrifices himself to save his friend, but even before that it's clear.
(Up to you if this is submerged homosexuality or just bros who have each other's back.
Either interpretation works.)
Morcef used the money to buy himself a fake aristocratic title.
Edmond Dantes was sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit. Betrayed by his friends and fiancée.
Gankutsuou, the immortal man was also imprisoned.
Franz puts 2+2 together and figures out what's going on.