8/10
This anime has various different elements to its story, each to different sides of the story. It is the story of vengeance of the Count of Monte Cristo, as he is observed by french noble, Albert Morcerf.
To the drama aspect of this, it is executed perfectly. Drama, for me, is usually quite hard to get through, since I don't usually connect with the cast enough to be able to be affected by it. That said, this anime definitely had its dramatic moments executed perfectly. Nothing was too exagerrated, no reactions were unexpected, yet the simple way it was all orchestrated as more and more of the elements of the story were revealed and the plot twists happened, the characters just acted as anybody else would.
To the mistery aspect of this, it was also pretty much amazing. Since you're seeing this through eyes of Albert Morcerf, who knows nothing about the relatioship of the Count and everyone around him, one is left wondering why or what was going on. The revelations are done very calmly and the most important ones have a lot of foreshadowing behind. As we find out about the character's backstories, only then we can say just what was happening.
The thriller aspect, however, wasn't as good as one would want it to be. Most of the times, I wasn't left wondering the answers to what was happening. As the mistery did have some clues behind, you can pretty much guess what happened, taking away some of the thrill of the anime. Not to say that this anime wasn't thrilling, as it had a lot of good and well-done plot twists, but these twists were so few and far between, which didn't really affect the story, but my personal enjoyment, but we'll get to that later.
There was also the sci-fi aspect of this. While it doesn't affect the story itself all that much, it certainly wasn't a bad thing to see all these intricate machines flying around. This also made up for some interesting mecha battles. Yes, mecha battles. A dramatic mistery that has mecha battles. Again, they didn't harm the story in any way, but they weren't exactly necessary for what was happening.
The last aspect is the supernatural theme it had. While talking about this would be spoilers for the most part, this supernatural was what put down the story from being a 10/10, specifically because of the ending of the anime. This ending seemed that it would work quite well in a normal setting, I found it cliche'd in the supernatural setting.
Character
10/10
The cast from this anime is nothing short of amazing. Be it the supporting cast, the main cast, the antagonists, the protagonists, everyone was amazingly written.
The main character, Albert Morcerf, is a pretty normal guy with pretty normal friends, facing the struggles of living in the nobility, mostly arranged marriages than anything else. When the Count comes along and the story actually starts, these normal friends undergo through different situations because of the Count's plans, and they start their own character development. They face each of their problems in their own way, and everyone ends up being wonderfully developed by the end of the anime.
That said, the main character is still only an observant to the Count's true targets. Now for this Count, he is the star of the show and the story basically revolves around him. The Count of Monte Cristo's backstory is not exactly complex, might even say it is the opposite. What I mean by this is that, while the supernatural factor might have been a bit off, the feelings behind what happened to him are all pretty known. This is his beginning in his quest for revenge, so the simplicity of it was pretty much needed for the audience and the main character to understand his motives.
Another thing worth notice is the Count's ability to manipulate everyone, as he made up some impressively complex plan that took into account all the details of the cast's personality. He will basically give you a necklace that will lead you on your quest to murdering people for gold. He does this unnoticeable changes in the characters that makes them do everything he wanted for his plan.
Last thing about the cast is the way there really isn't a 'bad guy'. While you may argue that the Count was that bad guy that needed to be defeated, you can just as easily blame the people he is taking vengeance on. The main character, being only an outsider to everything that's happening around him, he himself can't decide which one he wants to come out as a victor, on being able to ultimately decide at the end. One is left wondering whether or not the Count was a good guy.
Art & Animation
8/10
The art of this anime was pretty much incredible. From character design to scenery, everything was beautiful and one of the most colourful anime I ever watched.
Though with such an incredibly art, came a crappy animation. While I wouldn't say that it was completely bad, seeing as the fast moving scenes were really good, but the slow scenes, where the characters were just moving as normal was kind of off-putting. The character's seemed to be wearing green screen, and while it was beautiful when the video was paused, watching them move, as the clothes just changed patterns, was kind of bad.
Enjoyment
7/10
This is where I say how I felt while I was watching, and I have to say that, while there were some moments that left me hanging on my seat expectantly, it was more often when I was waiting more the Hulu commercials to come. It was very hard for my attention span to handle more than three episodes, since the thrill of the story, as I mentioned above, wasn't enough to keep me invested in it.
Overall: 8.7/10 = 9/10
