Story: Yes, it is an "adaptation." It strays way, far away from the original work. But the basic premises remains the same. Friendship. Love. Betrayal. Revenge. Hope. Everything you loved about the original Count of Monte Cristo is still there; but with a futuristic twist. In my opinion, they left in the best of the best.
Art: For me, this was the only thing that brought my score down. As someone else had mentioned, the character designs were dull. The over-the-top backgrounds and unique way of animating the clothing and hair of the characters really took a lot of getting used to. Half-way through the series, it was still uncomfortable for me, but it did grow on me. The only reason, for me, that it brings the anime down at all, is because it is so distracting. I found myself concentrating on the patterns of the clothing and sometimes forgot to listen to what the characters were saying.
Sound: Beautiful OP. Absolutely gorgeous. Among my favorites. The ED was good, but for me, nothing mind-blowing. Overall with the opening, the beautiful operatic scenes as well as Eugenia's piano playing made the sound of this series "pop" to me and capture me more, I think than any other series.
Character: The character development in this series, for me, was outstanding. To watch Albert grow from the sniveling naive young boy at the beginning of the series, to the mature young man by the end (although he was still sniveling) made the series worthwhile. I also loved how they advanced his realization of his feelings for Eugenie. And Franz, probably my favorite character, gave me probably some of my favorite moments of the series. His love (whether it be a friendship type love or the romantic love that was hinted at through the entire series) for Albert pulled at my heartstrings every time.
Enjoyment: As a fan of the original work, I surprisingly found myself really enjoying this adaptation. And I couldn't wait, episode to episode, to see how they were going to "change" or "keep" certain aspects of the story. It was difficult for me to take breaks between episodes.
Overall: Almost a masterpiece. This part probably would have rated a perfect 10 from me, as would have the series, if I wasn't so uncomfortable with the art style. Fair? Maybe not. But this is my review and my opinion. I honestly do think I would have enjoyed it more, if they would have concentrated more on the character design and less on the flashy animation of the backgrounds and the clothing. But it was not enough of a let-down or a distraction from enjoying the truly unique telling of this story and the fantastic character development. So overall, this series gets a 9/10 from me.
