History Anime / Gankutsuou

** Early in the novel, Albert is lured into the clutches of bandits by a young woman who turns out to be a young male bandit in disguise. The young bandit doesn't appear again in the novel, but in the anime she (the character is [[GenderFlip GenderFlip]] into a trans woman, not a cis boy in disguise) goes on to join Albert's household staff (as a maid) and play a supporting role throughout the series. Interestingly, Peppo was originally meant to be a marginal character like in the novel, however in the end the writers thought she was too much fun not to keep around.

** Early in the novel, Albert is lured into the clutches of bandits by a young woman who turns out to be a young male bandit in disguise. The young bandit doesn't appear again in the novel, but in the anime he goes on to join Albert's household staff (as a maid) and play a supporting role throughout the series. Interestingly, Peppo was originally meant to be a marginal character like in the novel, however in the end the writers thought he was too much fun not to keep around.

[[caption-width-right:212:When Escher met Klimt]]

* RecycledWithAGimmick: Duels are fought not just with pistols or swords, but with six-foot long swords wielded by HumongousMecha, as seen after Albert challenges the Count to a duel, and again in the showdown between the Count and Mondego.

''Gankutsuou'' is a 24-episode paraphrased POVSequel of Creator/AlexandreDumas' famous novel, ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'', set far into the future (thus also sharing some similarities with Alfred Bester's ''Literature/TheStarsMyDestination'') and viewed through an anime-and-LSD filter. Because it's based on a work of Western Literature, it has an unusual pace and plot for an anime, choosing to ignore many of the most common tropes that one tends to find in that medium. It also has a weird visual style with fantastically rendered CG backgrounds and characters with elaborate clothing patterns that [[UnmovingPlaid remain stationary as the clothing and characters themselves move]]. Some viewers are awed by this aesthetic, while others are so put off by it that they stop watching the show. (You'll know about five minutes in what kind of viewer ''you'' are.)

* POVSequel: ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' seen through Albert's eyes.
** According to WordOfGod, one of the reasons Albert was chosen as the viewpoint character instead of the Count was to put the focus on the ''consequences'' of revenge rather than the satisfaction of it, as the creators worried about glorifying revenge.

* {{Gainaxing}}: Haydée in her opera outfit. A rather odd case, especially in how exaggerated it is, considering that Haydée is relatively modestly endowed, and not intended as a sex symbol.

* CourtroomAntic: Lots of these occur in the last part of the series, which include [[TheReveal reveal]]-tacular {{Penultimate Outburst}}s by and about various characters.

* IllGirl: Valentine is a very moody, sickly girl who tends to stay indoors and tend to her wheelchair-bound grandfather. [[spoiler: It turns out she's being poisoned by her stepmother.]]

** This is carried over from the novel, where the Count is compared to a vampire by the Countess G---. It's just dialed UpToEleven by giving him a vampire's ''magical'' properties instead of just being a guy who fits the traditional suave vampire archetype.

* ArtsyMoon: Justified by the fact that it is colonized, thus having its surface altered, the moon sports a creepy skull-like face.

%%* WeirdMoon

* AdultFear: What the Count inflicts on a number of his enemies either directly or indirectly. A few examples include [[spoiler: Noirtier de Villefort having to watch as his granddaughter Valentine writhes in agony from poison and being unable to even speak out, Mercedes seeing as the Count (the man she loved years ago) cuts down her son in a duel (though it was actually Franz), and coming close to having Albert murdered in front of his own father. Such actions are meant to emphasize the loss of the Count's humanity and how he's become no better than the men who wronged him.]]

* LikeThatShowButWithMecha: Duels are fought not just with pistols or swords, but with six-foot long swords wielded by HumongousMecha, as seen after Albert challenges the Count to a duel, and again in the showdown between the Count and Mondego.

* RecycledINSPACE: To the point where characters that were from the orient in ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' are from ''eastern space'' in Gankutsuou.

* TruerToTheText: Despite the [[RecycledInSpace sci-fi setting]], this is thematically the closest to Dumas' story than any other modern interpretation. While most modern takes on the story paint it as an adventure tale with the Count as an antihero who's justified in his actions, this show presents the count squarely as a villain with a FreudianExcuse, calling to light how his revenge overreached "justifiable" by [[MoralEventHorizon utterly destroying the lives of his enemies' children and their friends]].
** The original Dumas text notes that Edmond, as The Count, bears a resemblance to [[Literature/TheVampyre Lord Ruthven]]. The anime, in accordance, makes him a literal [[RecycledInSpace Space Vampire]].

** The original Dumas text notes that Edmond, as The Count, bears a resemblance to [[TheVampyre Lord Ruthven]]. The anime, in accordance, makes him a literal [[RecycledInSpace Space Vampire]].

* NotSoDifferent: In his pursuit of revenge, the Count has become just as cruel as if not more so than the people who ruined him. This is explicitly spelled out in the end [[spoiler:whereupon Fernand holds Haydée hostage, the Count orders Bertuccio to just kill Albert regardless of what happens to Haydée. Thankfully, it's also at this point that Baptistan and Bertuccio disobey the Count for the first time. Gankutsuou is more than happy to just walk away once the Count's soul is in its possession. It was the Count who did all the plotting to destroy those one wronged him.]]

* ThemeTuneCameo: The opening theme song appears in other forms several times during the action of the show.

* {{Gainaxing}}: Haydée in her opera outfit, combined with ConspicuousCG. A rather odd case, especially in how exaggerated it is, considering that Haydée is relatively modestly endowed, and not intended as a sex symbol.

* ConspicuousCG: Most of the backgrounds are fantastically rendered in 3-D. It's used so much in this production that it is the ''non-CG'' stuff -- e.g., the character's faces -- that are conspicuous.

* SymbolicBlood: Shed in large quantities by the mechas during the duel scenes. It would actually be very gory if it weren't for them being mechanical.

* {{Melodrama}}: Of the Highest Order. TropesAreNotBad.

* BringOutYourGayDead: Averted. Despite [[spoiler:the death of Franz d'Epinay]] The show is far from being homophobic with all that HoYay.
* BrotherSisterIncest: It's non-consensual, which makes it even ''more'' [[{{Squick}} squicky]].

** Interview with the creators reveal that [[spoiler:Peppo's role ''was'' supposed to be over in episode two, but the writers decided she was too good to waste on only two episodes.]]
* TheChessmaster: The Count. {{Lampshade}}d in an episode in which he plays chess against an AI and ''wins'', and also proclaims to a desperate Haydée that he will "throw away the useless pieces that stand in the way of revenge."

* DistressedDamsel:
** Valentine's poisoning.
** Eugénie's rush to the altar.

** It can be assumed that everybody speaks French, but is [[TranslationConvention dubbed in Japanese for convenience.]]

* HideYourGays: Strangely for an anime with so much HoYay in it, it drops the suggestion from the novel that Eugénie is a lesbian.

* IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight: Albert and the Count. [[spoiler:In the act of turning back into a human, the Count suddenly becomes vulnerable to a wound he received earlier which now kills him.]]

* [[MechanicalHorse Mechanical Horses]]: Pulling a hovercraft carriage no less.

* UnsettlingGenderReveal: Happens to Albert. Then [[spoiler: Peppo (the 'lady')]] uses it to wind him up for the rest of the series. It's implied that [[spoiler: Peppo is truly is a man since in the epilogue, Baptistin sees Peppo has become a model and is weirded out by it (if Peppo is a girl, that would not be too surprising).]] Peppo is confirmed to be male by the manga adaptation, as well as originally being a boy crossdressing as a girl to seduce Albert in the novel.

* DiegeticShift: In the final scene of the series, Eugénie is playing on the piano. The music she plays is the piano accompaniment of the show's theme song, and then the credits start appearing and the rest of the theme song joins in.

* JerkassHasAPoint: For all that Baron de Danglars is generally an irredeemable, controlling, [[Greed money-grubbing]] {{jerkass}}, he actually does has a point when [[spoiler: he stops Eugénie from leaving their home following the breaking of the Morcerf scandal, pointing out that the journalists will eat her alive.]]

* JerkassHasAPoint: For all that Baron de Danglars is generally an irredeemable, controlling, [[MoneyFetish money-grubbing]] {{jerkass}}, he actually does has a point when [[spoiler: he stops Eugénie from leaving their home following the breaking of the Morcerf scandal, pointing out that the journalists will eat her alive.]]

* JerkassHasAPoint: For all that Baron de Danglars is generally an irredeemable, controlling, money-grubbing {{jerkass}}, he actually does has a point when [[spoiler: he stops Eugénie from leaving their home following the breaking of the Morcerf scandal, pointing out that the journalists will eat her alive.]]

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Eduord, Valentine's younger half-brother, initially comes off as a SpoiledBrat, the product of [[MyBelovedSmother an overly doting mother]] and [[HangingJudge cruel, uninvolved father]]. However, it becomes quite clear later that there's just something ''wrong'' about Eduord, when he and his mother hear a thumping noise, and when his mother proposits the theory that grandfather has fallen from his wheelchair again and is in need of help, Eduord just starts laughing at the prospect of the old man suffering.