It's not so much an anime version of Monte Cristo as a sort of...arzuro wrote: I didn't know there was an anime version of the Count of Monte Cristo.
I'd compare it to a richly-decorated and tastefully exaggarated stage production more than to a film. It's very theatrical, takes place in the future, and uses a very sophisticated art style. Though it's a "bastardization" in the sense that it makes its own story out of Monte Cristo.
(I really recommend it by the way, easily the best series to come out in the last year. Check out tyler's Sweet Revenge video for reference).
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As far as Dantes, who is really the villain? What he's doing, all in all, is just revenge to people who've betrayed him and, for all purposes, counted him for dead 20 years prior. But "Gankutsuou" really elevates him to the role of villain and emphasizes the dilemma, since it's really set from the perspective of Albert, the son of the Count's main target. There's really some great drama of broken trust going on in the mid-late series. And of course, "Gankutsuou" puts what initially seems a seemingly absurd twist on the original story, but which really changes the whole idea of who the Count actually is (no spoilers, but it interprets who the Prisoner of Chateau d'If was in a rather interesting way).
