The show is loosely based on "The Count of Monte Cristo" - but transformed to a science fiction version. It plays in aristocratic French baroque mega-cities. With many patterns, styles and habits directly taken from that time. In this scenery a dramatic tale of revenge, love, power and friendship unfolds.
Art:
Let me start with maybe the most prominent innovation of the show. The art style. It does not feature the usual watercolor-like backgrounds, but is a mix of 3D images with digital composition. You'll notice photos mixed and repeated - drawn elements, rendered images and lots of colorful effects. It is close to a psychedelic experience.
Overall the backgrounds are sometimes iffy. Especially if you know digital art yourself, you'll notice many artifacts. Like badly tiling textures, obviously repeating photos, cheap rendering techniques ... and seriously: One can overdo it with lens flares.
The characters itself are drawn in a more common style, in great quality and are then overlayed with moving patterns of the baroque epoch. Great care has been given to the costumes. They are changing constantly - a fact I greatly appreciate. I'm often bugged when in some shows characters are dressed every day in the exact same dress for several years.
So overall - it is art like you've not seen it before. And while they sometimes went a bit too far it is very high quality art with a very refreshing feel to it. The art alone makes this show worth watching.
8/10
Story:
I consider the story innovative too. It is one strong overarching storyline that goes through every episode. No fillers and no unnecessary stretching. Running at a very nice pace, keeping you always wanting to see what's up next. That being said: While there are some mysteries at the beginning, there is never really any big surprise. One knows the rough idea from the beginning - and it never goes to the depth of the original Monte Cristo. Maybe that's the price for the fast storytelling. It just constantly jumps from dramatic scene to the next, never with the time to explain some backgrounds...
6/10
Characters:
...which leads to the real weakness of the show in my opinion. None of the characters is truly believable - it is never quite clear why they do the things they do. I think the writers just let the characters do whatever is needed to go from one overly dramatic scene to the next. Love, revenge, friendship, hate. It's all there, but changes randomly from one to the other. Pretty much everyone constantly wants to give his life for whatever he sees in front of him. It goes a bit like: "Look at this fork - take my life, but you may never hurt this beautiful fork... oh look a spoon, I will now commit suicide for this magnificent spoon... oh wow, a plate..."
No one ever explains why the Count is loved unconditionally by his helpers and the hero. Since this is the main theme of the show, it makes it hard to really go along with any of the characters motivations.
5/10
Music/Sound:
It's one of the really rare cases where I watched every intro and outro in full length. The title songs are very nice and fitting - and the art to it is beautiful. The background score is dramatic as to be expected, and carries the show very well. The voices are excellent, with the Count clearly being a highlight.
9/10
Enjoyment:
What can I say - I am easily bugged by anime-logic. Overly dramatic scenes can be a turn off. But it is an entirely enjoyable show for every minute of it. The quality level is consistently very high. You can't go wrong with watching it.
9/10
Overall:
And if you want fresh approaches to the anime genre, then this is the series for you. I am sure that the innovations will pop up again in new shows. Maybe more polished then, but you've seen it here first.
If I average all the ratings I gave, its a 7.4 - but the innovation bonus bumps it up to a nice and round:
8/10
