Gankutsuou
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Gankutsuou (Japanese: 巌窟王 Gankutsuō), meaning the "The Ruler of the Cave", is the Japanese name given for Alexandre Dumas's novel The Count of Monte Cristo.
An anachronic anime TV series loosely based on the novel, produced by Studio GONZO, renowned for their work on Blue Submarine No. 6, Hellsing and Last Exile, and authored by Mahiro Maeda, one of the animation directors for the Animatrix.
What set this series aside from other adaptations was its far future setting, cutting-edge visual style - it was one of the first anime to really take advantage of the potential of Photoshop textures and layering in digital animation - and a heavy dose of added sci-fi and fantasy and abstract elements.
The textures and patterns for the characters' clothing in the final episode were created by fashion designer Anna Sui.
A manga serialization also written by Mahiro Maeda began running in Kodansha's Afternoon Magazine in May of 2005.
In April 2005, it was announced that Geneon had acquired the North American release rights for Gankutsuou, which will be released under the title The Count of Monte Cristo.
External links
- Official website (http://www.gankutsuou.com/)
- AniDB entry (http://anidb.info/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=1868)
