The show begins on the moon-based city of Luna, a culturally-rich metropolis, where our protagonist, Albert de Morcerf, meets a strange man calling himself The Count Of Monte Cristo. After he winds up owing his life to The Count, he helps him to integrate into Parisian society in return. However, it quickly becomes quite apparent that The Count has an ulterior motive in coming to Paris...
Now, if I don't get this out of the way now, i'll spend most of this review gushing over him, but I really can't stress enough how good of a character The Count actually is. The entire show hinges on his worth as a character, and he absolutely delivers. Complex, yet instantly loveable, and with charisma in spades, he makes the show what it is: fantastic.
While it does take a few episodes to really pull you in, once you're there, you'll be glued to this show. The ever-deepening mystery of who The Count really is, and what he's after, grows with every episode, and makes for some of the best dramatic tension ever committed to film. As his plan begins to unfold, a stunning rampage unfolds... while I would like to explain more, I don't want to spoil anyone. This is something everyone should really experience for themselves.
Now, at this point, this may sound like flawless material, but sadly it has some setbacks that really damage an otherwise amazing show. The first, and by far the most obvious, is the art. It's an incredibly dodgy, alienating use of textured backgrounds and colouring, all of which stay in place while everything they're attached to move around. Usually, this means that the shading on somebody's clothes will stay in place while they move. It can easily be argued that this is for the sake of art, but this argument is devalued by the fact that the idiosyncrasies with the art extend far past the colouring, and notably by the fact that it is produced by Studio GONZO, who are infamous for poor animation.
The second, however, and by far the most significant, is that almost every character is incredibly unlikeable. With the obvious exception of The Count, most of the characters are greedy, selfish bastards, motivated only by money and personal gain. To make things worse, the absolute nadir of the main cast is probably our protagonist Albert himself. The fact that we're supposed to sympathize with a character who does nothing but whine all the time, and cry to a clearly villainous man for help, makes it really hard to enjoy the show at times. On top of that, the homoerotic subtext between the two can be really offputting... I mean, at one point, he actually says the line "I'm just so frustrated!" whilst crying into The Count's chest.
I really wish I was making that part up.
Aside from the art, though, everything else from a technical standpoint is well-made. The soundtrack is great, barring a lacklustre OP and a somewhat dated-sounding ED. The dub, though, makes it inexplicable Jamieson Price only has a few roles in anime, because is his performance as the Count is nothing short of stunning. The voice suits him so well that you couldn't possibly imagine him being voiced by anyone else, and unlike so many other dub actors, he can actually act, something he proves on numerous occasions. While the rest of the dub is non-stellar, if not terrible, Price alone makes the dub a better bet than the sub.
But I digress... despite my grievances, the show has a lot more to its credit than it does to its detraction. The problems this show has would kill a lesser anime in its tracks (i'm looking at you, Eureka Seven), and while I can't explain too much about the positives without spoiling anyone who hasn't seen it, it's truly a must see... the presence of the Count alone makes it worth watching, let alone the fantastically-constructed plot.
Final Words: I've heard that the novel is significantly better, but it's shocking that anything could be significantly better than this.
Animation/Graphics: 2/10
Story/Plot: 9/10
Music/Background: 8/10
English Dub: 8/10
Overall: 9/10
