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| One word: cheesy. |
| great climax, also a big mix of emotions, i like the idea of another episode. |
| The fuck? I dont even know where to begin. Really not looking to taking another point away from this title. Let's see if the last epi can cancel this out. |
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| Albert saving Edmond Dantes with THE POWER OF LOVE!!! was slightly disappointing, yes, and cheesy. Like AironicallyHuman posted on the first page, Mercedes would have been a better choice here. Being saved by love and friendship is cheesy enough, but by having Albert hug and even kiss him on the cheek made it much worse. Mercedes, at the very least, would have been kind of poetic and touching. Yeah, yeah, Albert the main character and stuff, but still... Anyway, I just found that to be way too over-the-top for this series, especially when it's such a pivotal moment. No subtlety at all. Also, Fernand is a confusing fellow. He went batshit insane last episode, almost going so far as to kill his own wife and son. This episode? He suddenly cares for Albert again. Was it a temporary loss of sanity last episode? I don't know. In any case, it could have been handled better. And, was I the only one disappointed with Mercedes' fake-out death? I could have sworn she was dead. Ah, well. Strangely enough, despite my complaints, I liked this episode, and the whole anime has been quite a ride. |
MormegilFeb 9, 2012 9:46 PM
| He kissed...him? |
| Even when I was in crowd, I was always alone |
| A hug? really disappointed. |
| this episode really ruined the masterpiece of this anime :[ |
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| Admittedly I know that this is a very old thread, but I must make something very clear. All of you who are saying that it's 'cheesey' and 'it's a bad episode' are forgetting some very important things. Like someone said in an earlier post, it was Albert's willpower that was able to get through to the Count. The 'hug' was him showing that he would overcome any fear he had and that he would no longer run away, even if it was his life on the line. Also, there's the matter of the 'kiss on the cheek' that everyone is talking about. While yes, some may mistake it as yaoi (admittedly, I did as well when I watched someone's YouTube countdown that included the Count), but I was mistaken. That was no 'kiss on the cheek'. What Albert did was completely different. Thinking back to an earlier episode, episode 15 I believe, the Count asked Albert if he would still think highly of him no matter what, to which Albert said that he would. Come episode 23, I rewatched it and saw that Albert's lips were closer to the Count's ear than his cheek. What I got from what Albert did is that, while the 'hug of willpower' might not have been enough to break the Count free from Gankutsuou's control, Albert whispered to the Count that he still thought highly of him, even with all of the events that had happened. That is all. Thank you for taking your time to read my humble comment. I hope you all have a pleasant day, and may the memory of the Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantes, never fade. But be warned... he might not truly be gone. He might just be... waiting and watching. |
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| Loved this show. Fucking awesome. However I am pissed that the Count had to die. |
 "We are the Fury"- House Baratheon |
| Good that they're alive, epic mech fight, I still find the concept rather strange of having the nerves of the robot be linked to the actual human... why would the pilot suffer from the damage of the robot? But damn epic face of the count! But why did she interfered and got captured :/ stupid woman but good that Albert's father still cares somewhat for him... But didn't expect to one of the counts servants to actually cover up for Albert. But lol what's up with that kiss defeating or temporary disabling Gankutsuou, still quite epic that the piece of blade that Frans put in it still managed to kill him! That ending, I still wonder if he really died there... everything going in despair and braking down... well lets go to the final episode, I wonder what they'll show us, I do hope it will be an epic ending! |
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| JuiciaDeGardiaan hit the nail right on the head. Gankutsuou was not destroyed by the "power of love" or some bullshit like that just because Albert hugged and seemingly kissed him on the cheek. He was defeated because he failed to achieve his goal - to create hatred and eternal suffering. Think about everything the Count did to Albert. He killed his best friend, ruined his marriage with the woman he loved, completely tore his family apart and left the city of Paris in ruins. It would be natural, at this point, for Albert to be an absolute emotional wreck and completely despise the Count. That is what Gankutsuou hoped for, because he exists only for that sole purpose. Instead, Albert chose to forgive the Count and I agree with JuiciaDeGardiaan that Albert actually whispered in his ear that he still thought highly of him even after all that had happened. Gankutsuou failed to corrupt the mind of an innocent and naive young man, something that would normally be extremely easy to do given his intelligence and manipulative abilities. This is why he was defeated and lost control of Edmond Dantès' body. |
| Well, that was disappointing to say the least. I'm confused by all the sudden hate for this episode though, when I feel that the show has been going downhill since around episode 16. |
| The way Fernard act is badly executed. The transition from composed power-crazy dictator to insane lovelorn murderer to reckless caring father to remorseful repenting sinner is too sudden. Why did he blackmail Count with Heidi? Why didn't he just shoot Heidi instead of all the provocation then? Why did they decide to just have him looked from left to right then went down on his knees to beg? Worse yet, it's wrong to bring back a character after a few minutes of being off screen just to have them look all cool and composed and yada yada stating they wanted to repent. Didn't he looked severely distressed just now? Why look so calm after watching what your son did? Tell us, director, tell us! Then there's the Count-come-Gankutsuou. Didn't you say you want Fernard to suffer, hence the shot at Albert? Why suddenly changed to 'the pact is complete' and wanted to ride your fancy ship? I won't comment on that hug/whisper scene since it's fine by anime standard. |
Kenjimax said: The way Fernard act is badly executed. The transition from composed power-crazy dictator to insane lovelorn murderer to reckless caring father to remorseful repenting sinner is too sudden. This. I'd love to give this anime 10 as I'm satisfied with how the story progressed, but this episode is just badly executed. The transition of Fernand's emotions was just too sudden my sympathy lagged behind. The powah of hug thing isn't really surprising because there have been lots of hugging and BFFs in this anime. Still, if only scenes like this were properly directed it wouldn't bother us so much. |
| How I understood what Franz learned about Gankutsuou, if he had any human emotion left, his heart would be vulnerable. This is why he was fine right up until the, uh, personal encounter with Albert. It stirred up a tiny bit of emotion in him, and then his heart was no longer invulnerable. I think I would have preferred a less cheesy ending than that. One where the Count was stopped by force, or just having Gankutsuou eat his soul after he successfully exacts his revenge. |
JuiciaDeGardiaan said: adamantine said: That was no 'kiss on the cheek' ... Albert whispered to the Count that he still thought highly of him, even with all of the events that had happened.I wonder what Albert told the Count to make him fall apart like that. I thought the same thing: Albert forgave the Count for what he'd done. Also, I think Franz had a big influence since he told Albert in the letter to not hate anyone for his death. Anyway, I guess I'm one of the few who enjoyed this episode. |
| Loving the music when and how it was played from the this and the last ep. |
| Feels like losing all five senses & Maybe not able to have thoughts, Enjoi... |
| Cheesy =( could have been better |
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JuiciaDeGardiaan said: That is all. Thank you for taking your time to read my humble comment. I hope you all have a pleasant day, and may the memory of the Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantes, never fade. But be warned... he might not truly be gone. He might just be... waiting and watching. I'll admit your post is equally as old, but I agree with it :p. Many people who are calling this cheesy or cliche or deus ex machina don't really understand the characters all that well. In addition to your points, I'd like to point out that Edmond Dantes was cursing Albert to his near dying breath. He was demanding that Betruccio fetch his sword so he could kill Albert - the man who just stole his conviction for revenge. But once he realized that it was futile, he resigned himself to his release from suffering - his death. I too noticed that Al's lips passed the Count's face, which led me to believe he did utter something to him. Then comes Fernand. I've seen some comments about him being inconsistent about his emotions, like how he shot Albert in one scene and then pleaded for his life in another. Let's be honest - this man was an emotional train wreck. He was losing everything and he would rather destroy them with his own hands than watch them fade away. Once he saw Albert again, he realized how there was still something in his life that he wanted to protect, that he valued more than his own life. Personally I thought Fernand's change of heart was very compelling. With that said though, I would have preferred a more dramatic conclusion to fit with the dark and grim build up to the climax. Everest89 said: What a stupid revenge, I'm disappointed ... I expected from Edmond to kill Mondego... Stupid, stupid, stupid END! You completely missed the point though, Edmond believed that death was a release from suffering. He didn't kill Villefort or Danglar because he wanted them to suffer and live in anguish and regret until the day they died. That's why he wanted to kill Albert so much - because it would leave Fernand in despair, where as killing him would be granting his dying wish. |
ZekkenshinSep 18, 2013 2:59 PM
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| Nooooooooooooo! R.I.P Edmond Dantes, you were one hell of a "villain" ;_; Now let's see how they end it. |
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| trust me guys, Edmond did not remove the shard was precisely because of the fact that he is prepared to die along with the demon in him. He does not want another person who suffer the same fate as him no longer. |
| "If you reject me, I'll blast a hole in you!" Kanzaki H. Aria Just kidding.  |
| Wasn't the greatest of endings but wasn't the worst either. Fernand caring about his son mere moments after trying to kill him and believing he did so was really hard to accept. As far as the count himself goes, his demise is unfortunate but wasn't Ganketsuou saying his time was up anyways? I thought I also remember them saying that if his intentions were ever swayed from his revenge(aka caring for someone deeply enough again to distract you) then he'd also die. As for the punishment of the 3 main betrayers of Edmond I'd say their punishment wasn't as cruel and eternal as I was hoping. Sure they experienced loss but only one really has any sort of length to his suffering. The judge is practically another person at this point, completely bat shit insane due to the poison count gave him so who knows if he's in any way conscious of his circumstances. The banker had a decent punishment but without food or water to keep him alive in his floating golden space prison he won't last very long. The general had a similar punishment to the judge, watched all his work in the past 10 years and any future ambition ruined but didn't have to suffer any more than that, obviously being driven to suicide and murdering your own family in the process is quite a punishment but Edmond lost everything, his youth, his love and his friends and had to dwell on this loss and the utter hopelessness of it all for so long in a horrible environment. Which is why I don't think the punishment for each of these people was good enough. Overall this is a very good anime but the last 1/3rd is much weaker than the first. The allure of the mystery was more enjoyable to me and ever since we had the count's intentions revealed and Franz died I felt it never really recovered back to the high points of it all. It's not so much the reveal and the info along with it that made it worse just how the characters are forced to act due to the reveal and franz's death. Some if it was inevitable but I just don't think the punishment really paid off after the buildup for this epic revenge tale that we are expecting to be given. Perhaps it was intentional, it is a commonly said phrase that revenge is bittersweet. Whether or not that is intentional here is the question. "Therein lies the defect of revenge: it's all in the anticipation; the thing itself is a pain, not a pleasure; at least the pain is the biggest end of it." Edit: On a side note, I really enjoyed how the anime puts the viewer in the anime itself in a way. What I mean by that is we experience the same transfixed allure and interest in the count as all of the characters do. We are lured in by his charm, however eery it might be at times. To me at least, although Albert was a bit too angsty for me(albeit justifiable for a 15 year old in this bizarre circumstance). His ignorance and naivety were a nice projection of the viewer. The trip on Luna was his first trip into a new and dangerous world and the anime lets us experience it all along with him in a very similar mindset to myself. The kid was obviously in need of a father figure, desired knowledge and experience and is as gullible and trusting as I believe most of us are or have been at once. Despite being used and abused Albert's naive outlook on friendship motivates him to never give up on The Count, which I think is a tragic human trait that at least I myself think about having all too often. Sensing true intentions in something when it's really just our projection of what we want to feel or believe. |
PANDEMlCDec 10, 2013 2:18 AM
| So many great moments this episode. I wonder what Albert whispered to the count. On to the finale. |
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| That was great.. but I have just one qualm: Did Fernand forget that he had just tried to kill Albert himself? Why would he be so concerned about his supposed-to-be-dead son as a hostage? Eh, whatever, on to the finale! |
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| (rewatching) At least Fernand put up a better fight than Franz. This episode is just epic. |
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| Trainwreck *heartbroken* :( |
Kagami_Hiiragi said: Idc if you think its weird, I have a life and friends and an income of money. |
| It's just as Peppo said, yaoi makes everything right. Just kidding. On the note of a mere "hug" exorcising a being such as Gankutsuou; that is not entirely correct. It was the fact that Albert (who we can all agree as being pretty retarded...) despite having been betrayed by everything and everyone still wanted to save the count. This revenge began as love and turned into hate... and then reverted back to love (?!). Nevermind, I don't really know. Fernand regaining his sanity is another random thing. Maybe he was convinced that nothing would burden him any longer on his way for his own revenge on the count if his family was dead. Upon realizing his son survived, he simply did not want to have to bear losing absolutely everything again. Or maybe he's into BL/incest too and loved his son the "other" way. |
| Surprisingly cheesy yet satisfying. One thing that bugged me was that Fernand suddenly cared for Albert after nearly killing him only moments earlier. |
ChaoticSilence said: Surprisingly cheesy yet satisfying. One thing that bugged me was that Fernand suddenly cared for Albert after nearly killing him only moments earlier. It wasn't sudden. He always loved Albert, he never stopped caring about him; he shot him because he was backed into a horrible corner and wasn't mentally stable when he did it. Seeing Albert alive again shocked him back into his sense a bit. |
| I'm...confused. What happened to Gankutsuou? How did Albert hugging the Count really change anything? I'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt and agree with the people here who are saying Albert probably whispered something in the Count's ear that left some sort of impression on him, just because that makes more sense... But if so they could have been more clear about that, and I'm not sure what Albert could have said at this point that would have more of an effect than his earlier attempts at changing the Count. A counterargument to the above point: the Count was saying that he needed to kill "him" (I'm assuming he meant Fernand) and asking for his sword even after the whole Albert "defeating" Gankutsuou thing. So despite his appearance mostly changing back to normal and saying that his name was Edmond Dantes, he still hasn't let go of revenge? We never really did find out what Gankutsuou was or is meant to represent either... Before this episode I would have rated this anime a 10/10 but I'm deeply unsatisfied with this resolution. |
| Albert, after trying so hard, finally managed to become the Count's friend! Not the best ending, but not bad. |
| Magnificento ~ |
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| And so Edmond Dantès went to his grave cursing his enemies and craving vengeance with his last drops of life. That is without a doubt the most vehement death I could imagine, and it is the way a man such as he should have met his end. |
 ☩ Discord: the.path.to.pathos ☩ RateYourMusic ☩ last.fm |
| I knew Albert and his mother weren't dead!!! I can't believe The Count wanted Albert held hostage. Then tried to shoot him but his own man got in the way! D: Gankutsuou finally took over but not for long because all Edmond needed was a hug from his good friend Albert!!! The spell was broken but that also meant the sword from Franz that went in to his heart a few episodes ago finally penetrated and killed him!!! Awwwww ;________________________; I knew he liked Albert really! At least the Edmond part of him!!! I called it. Albert still loved him after everything he had done to him and his family and thus the spell was broken. I did wonder why the whole place suddenly started collapse around them though but at least they got away except Morcerf who went over to his old friend and shot himself D: That was a dazzlingly brilliant episode and great end but I wonder what will happen in the last episode now everything is finally over. I did think this seemed as though it should have been the last one. |
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| Am I the only one annoyed at the uselessness of Haidee? I mean, I don't see the point to even having her in the show anymore after she completed her role in the election episode. |
| Omg, Gankutsuou is like the Maleficent(2014) of anime. It even had the true luv's kiss to break the spell. |
| Satisfying penultimate episode. |
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| Beautiful episode very intense and emotional. At the end he didn't had to soil his hands by killing for his revenge but he managed to engrave his name into the heart of people he shares a bond with. Magnificent. |
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| Well, as other have said here the episode suffered from weak points, i won't write them as other have wrote them. The episode was very fun but it unfortunately suffered from some issues and inconsistencies. |
| Aw man rest in peace Edmond Dantes. Ironic that he dies in the place he spent a lot of his riches on |
| I'm Bruneian and I like anime. And Manchester United. And fat cats. |
| Kinda didn't like how Edmond and Mercedes couldn't see each other one last time. |
| The seemingly kiss scene really caught me off guard. I was like WTF when I was watching this ep. But I like JuiciaDeGardiaan's understanding above that it's related to the Count's question in ep#15. Albert probably whispered his answer to him atm. That's why the Gankutsuou was defeated by the willpower. The ending was certainly not my cup of tea, it neither made me hyped nor made me emotional. But I'm still glad I gave this show a try and it's a pretty good ride especially during the 1st half. Again, thanks to the Count's charm & Jouji-san's fantastic voicing, which is definitely the highlight of the show and my main motivation to finish it. Not sure if I'll rate it 8 or 9, will probably make the decision after watching the last ep. |
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| At least Mercedes is alive. Fernand's death wasn't enough, I wanted him to suffer. |
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