Oct 10, 2009 1:38 PM
Gankutsuou 9-12 V.S. The Count of Monte Cristo
Anime Relations:
Gankutsuou
-As I mentioned in my previous posting, the events at the house at Auteuil worked out a bit differently in the Count of Monte Cristo, and Villefort never personally confronted the Count (with a pistol) as he does in Gankutsuou. The watchful eyes of the other dinner guests protected the Count from Villefort’s emotions. (Also perhaps worth mentioning is the fact that in the novel there are few, if any, handguns present. Carbines seem to be the most common firearm.)
-Factual error: Danglars shouts “Victoria! Victoria!” when he runs in to check on his wife. In the novel his wife’s name was Hermine. Other than that, and mistranslations [Beppo/Peppo, Barrois/Valois] all the other characters' names have carried over correctly including Heloise de Villefort.)
-Franz, still being in Venice until the very end of the novel, does not advise Maximilian to be persistent in his love for Valentine as he does in Gankutsuou. In this way, he and Albert are both much more child-like in their beliefs in Gankutsuou than in the novel.
-Monsieur de Boville is a high ranking police officer. Why Gonzo has decided to portray him as a filthy man with a glass eye, I’m not really sure…
-Valentine wasn’t poisoned by the lemonade in the novel, and Albert was nowhere near any of the poisonings when they occurred. Valentine’s father and the family doctor actually suspected her of possibly being the culprit at one point. Also, Edward, the Villeforts’ son, was not a witness to the poisonings. His mother was committing them solely for his eventual benefit, and she probably wouldn’t have wanted him to know what she was doing.
-In the novel it was Maximilian, not Albert, who decided to seek the Count’s help to save Valentine from the poisonings. Valentine’s poisoning happened in the closing chapters of the book, and Albert and his mother had already fled from Paris by that time.
-In the novel, Monsieur de Boville’s investigation turned up nothing revealing for Villefort. All that was discovered were the fictional backgrounds the Count had created for the three different aliases the Count maintained by renting houses and banking in different cities and countries. Since Edmond's life was thoroughly ruined by the betrayal - there really wasn't anything to link the wealthy, intelligent Count with the lowly sailor Edmond Dantes. Since Boville discovered nothing significant, the investigation ended and Villefort pretty much forgot about the bedroom incident. Boville, for his part, was not killed by the Count in the novel. The Count didn't kill anybody by his own hand.
-In the novel the Count never wrote the letters to his betrayers under his real name. Everything he did in the novel was under the guise of the Count of Monte Cristo, Lord Wilmore of England, and the Abbe Busoni of Italy. He only revealed his true identity, in person, one at a time, as his revenge against each of his betrayers was completed and they were left disgraced in society and ruined professionally. Revealing himself to all of them at once as he did in Gankutsuou was reckless, because if they all realize that he's still alive and has a hand in the misfortunes they've been experiencing, it would only give them an opportunity to catch him, or leave town and flee his wrath.
-Caderousse’s introduction in Gankutsuou is nothing at all like it was in the Count of Monte Cristo. Again, there were no letters from Edmond in the novel to bring the conspirators back together. Caderousse came back into the story as an unwelcome accomplice of Andrea/Benedetto. Benedetto and Caderousse had broken out of prison together, and when Caderousse found Benedetto again and realized Benedetto was making a significant amount of money from the Count of Monte Cristo, Caderousse's greedy nature pushed him to guilt Benedetto into sharing the wealth.
-The original novel handled Valentine’s poisoning, and the revenge on the Villeforts in general, in a very different way from Gankutsuou: After Maximilian confessed to the Count that he loved Valentine, the Count rented a room next door that gave him an opportunity to sneak into Valentine’s bedroom. The night she was to receive the fatal dose of poison, he hid in her room watching over her, and instead of the poison gave her some kind of sleeping drug similar to the one Romeo buys from the apothecary at the conclusion of Romeo and Juliet. The family believes Valentine is dead, and has her interned in the family tomb, which the Count eventually recovers her from. Meanwhile, with her supposed death, it being the fourth poisoning death in the Villefort household, Monsieur de Villefort realizes his wife has to be the poisoness. He confronts her threateningly, saying that by the time he got home from a trip to court he expected her to have repented for her crimes and used the drug on herself, otherwise, for killing four members of the household and bringing shame upon the Villefort name, he himself would bring the full force of the law down on her. Other major events in the story occur, and Villefort returns home later that day to find his wife and son poisoned to death by her hand.
-Monsieur Noirtier, Villefort’s father, was completely paralyzed in the novel and could not move even the single finger he moved in Gankutsuou. He communicated with his loved ones through a complex system of eye movements that Valentine taught to Maximilian during their secret rendezvouses.
-In episode 12, Caderousse is shown trying to extort the Count de Morcerf, but in the novel Morcerf isn’t nearly as wealthy as Danglars or the Count of Monte Cristo. The effects of the Count’s revenge on Morcerf are personal, not financial.
-As mentioned previously, neither Eugenie nor Albert were looking forward to their engagement in the original story. Eugenie was a dyke, and besides that Albert didn’t want a woman as self-actualizing as her. When Andrea stepped in and took her from Albert, for him at least it was a relief, not a disappointment as it was in Gankutsuou. The anime version pretty much turns the nature of their relationship around 180 degrees.
-Eugenie aspired to the ranks of the opera in the Count of Monte Cristo, but never got far enough in her studies to actually do a public performance like the one in Gankutsuou.
-Also mentioned previously, the Count has only the smallest, most indirect connection to the Villefort poisoning cases in the Count of Monte Cristo. At no point is he placed under arrest for in connection to them.
-Factual error: Danglars shouts “Victoria! Victoria!” when he runs in to check on his wife. In the novel his wife’s name was Hermine. Other than that, and mistranslations [Beppo/Peppo, Barrois/Valois] all the other characters' names have carried over correctly including Heloise de Villefort.)
-Franz, still being in Venice until the very end of the novel, does not advise Maximilian to be persistent in his love for Valentine as he does in Gankutsuou. In this way, he and Albert are both much more child-like in their beliefs in Gankutsuou than in the novel.
-Monsieur de Boville is a high ranking police officer. Why Gonzo has decided to portray him as a filthy man with a glass eye, I’m not really sure…
-Valentine wasn’t poisoned by the lemonade in the novel, and Albert was nowhere near any of the poisonings when they occurred. Valentine’s father and the family doctor actually suspected her of possibly being the culprit at one point. Also, Edward, the Villeforts’ son, was not a witness to the poisonings. His mother was committing them solely for his eventual benefit, and she probably wouldn’t have wanted him to know what she was doing.
-In the novel it was Maximilian, not Albert, who decided to seek the Count’s help to save Valentine from the poisonings. Valentine’s poisoning happened in the closing chapters of the book, and Albert and his mother had already fled from Paris by that time.
-In the novel, Monsieur de Boville’s investigation turned up nothing revealing for Villefort. All that was discovered were the fictional backgrounds the Count had created for the three different aliases the Count maintained by renting houses and banking in different cities and countries. Since Edmond's life was thoroughly ruined by the betrayal - there really wasn't anything to link the wealthy, intelligent Count with the lowly sailor Edmond Dantes. Since Boville discovered nothing significant, the investigation ended and Villefort pretty much forgot about the bedroom incident. Boville, for his part, was not killed by the Count in the novel. The Count didn't kill anybody by his own hand.
-In the novel the Count never wrote the letters to his betrayers under his real name. Everything he did in the novel was under the guise of the Count of Monte Cristo, Lord Wilmore of England, and the Abbe Busoni of Italy. He only revealed his true identity, in person, one at a time, as his revenge against each of his betrayers was completed and they were left disgraced in society and ruined professionally. Revealing himself to all of them at once as he did in Gankutsuou was reckless, because if they all realize that he's still alive and has a hand in the misfortunes they've been experiencing, it would only give them an opportunity to catch him, or leave town and flee his wrath.
-Caderousse’s introduction in Gankutsuou is nothing at all like it was in the Count of Monte Cristo. Again, there were no letters from Edmond in the novel to bring the conspirators back together. Caderousse came back into the story as an unwelcome accomplice of Andrea/Benedetto. Benedetto and Caderousse had broken out of prison together, and when Caderousse found Benedetto again and realized Benedetto was making a significant amount of money from the Count of Monte Cristo, Caderousse's greedy nature pushed him to guilt Benedetto into sharing the wealth.
-The original novel handled Valentine’s poisoning, and the revenge on the Villeforts in general, in a very different way from Gankutsuou: After Maximilian confessed to the Count that he loved Valentine, the Count rented a room next door that gave him an opportunity to sneak into Valentine’s bedroom. The night she was to receive the fatal dose of poison, he hid in her room watching over her, and instead of the poison gave her some kind of sleeping drug similar to the one Romeo buys from the apothecary at the conclusion of Romeo and Juliet. The family believes Valentine is dead, and has her interned in the family tomb, which the Count eventually recovers her from. Meanwhile, with her supposed death, it being the fourth poisoning death in the Villefort household, Monsieur de Villefort realizes his wife has to be the poisoness. He confronts her threateningly, saying that by the time he got home from a trip to court he expected her to have repented for her crimes and used the drug on herself, otherwise, for killing four members of the household and bringing shame upon the Villefort name, he himself would bring the full force of the law down on her. Other major events in the story occur, and Villefort returns home later that day to find his wife and son poisoned to death by her hand.
-Monsieur Noirtier, Villefort’s father, was completely paralyzed in the novel and could not move even the single finger he moved in Gankutsuou. He communicated with his loved ones through a complex system of eye movements that Valentine taught to Maximilian during their secret rendezvouses.
-In episode 12, Caderousse is shown trying to extort the Count de Morcerf, but in the novel Morcerf isn’t nearly as wealthy as Danglars or the Count of Monte Cristo. The effects of the Count’s revenge on Morcerf are personal, not financial.
-As mentioned previously, neither Eugenie nor Albert were looking forward to their engagement in the original story. Eugenie was a dyke, and besides that Albert didn’t want a woman as self-actualizing as her. When Andrea stepped in and took her from Albert, for him at least it was a relief, not a disappointment as it was in Gankutsuou. The anime version pretty much turns the nature of their relationship around 180 degrees.
-Eugenie aspired to the ranks of the opera in the Count of Monte Cristo, but never got far enough in her studies to actually do a public performance like the one in Gankutsuou.
-Also mentioned previously, the Count has only the smallest, most indirect connection to the Villefort poisoning cases in the Count of Monte Cristo. At no point is he placed under arrest for in connection to them.
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case649
| Oct 10, 2009 1:38 PM |
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