Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (manga)

Gankutsuou
Writer	Mahiro Maeda
Illustrator	Mahiro Maeda Yura Ariwara (additional story elements)
Magazine	Monthly Afternoon
Publisher	Kodansha
Original Run	May of 2005, to May of 2008 (magazines) November 2005 to August 2009 (volumes)
Volumes	3

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (巌窟王,, Gankutsuō) is a short, Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mahiro Maeda, with an additional story element by Yura Ariwara, and was based upon an anime of the same title.

With a total of three volumes released in the span of three years, Gankutsuou ran in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine from May of 2005, to May of 2008. It was made a year after the anime had finished, making its first appearance on Afternoon Issue #245.

Story

A wealthy Parisian youth named Albert de Morcerf travels to Luna with his best friend Franz d'Epinay to join a massive party so as to take his mind off the "boring" lifestyle he leads back at his mansion in Paris. After being tricked by a potential concubine and taken hostage by the notorious Luigi Vampa gang, his friend Franz is forced to ask for the assistance of their recent acquaintance, the fabulously wealthy "Count of Monte Cristo".

After easily freeing Albert from the clutches of the bandits, the Count is invited into Parisian high society. Little does the starstruck youth know, the Count has already formed plans far beyond the comprehension of Albert or his friends and relatives to utterly destroy everything that they hold dear.

Profile

The manga was published by Kodansha and lasted 3 volumes. It ran in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon issue, lasting from May of 2005 to May of 2008, while the tankōbon volumes published by Kodansha lasted from December of 2005 to July 2008. The three volumes were published in English by Del Rey Manga, an imprint of Random House, between November 11 of 2008 and August 2009.

While Maeda was making the anime, he was approached by a manga editor who asked him if he has any interests on turning Gankutsuou into a manga series, to which, he then thought it was a good idea- so he agreed to do so. He thought it was a good opportunity to introduce more people in the series. It then was decided that manga should use a traditional hand-drawn style rather than emulating the anime's art style, a decision made by Maeda. Maeda commented that he would have stopped the manga project quite early without the support of staff from both the anime and the manga.

While the anime focused on the young characters of Albert and Franz, Maeda focused the manga on the machinations and inner workings of the Count himself, expanding upon events either briefly mentioned or left out of the anime. The manga is also dramatically darker and more grotesque than the anime, suggesting a far different and much more depraved and violent ending for Villefort.

Volume Guide

Volume 1
ISBN 978-4-06-314399-7 (JA)	ISBN 978-0345505200 (NA)
Chapitre 1: "At Journey's End, We Meet" (旅の終わりに僕らは出会う,, Tabi no Owari ni Bokura wa Deau) Chapitre 2: "The Public Execution" (公開処刑,, Kōkai Shokei) Chapitre 3: "Ominous News" (不吉な知らせ,, Fukitsuna Shirase) Chapitre 4: "Chateau d'If" (シャトー・ディフ,, Shatō Difu) Chapitre 5: "The Avenging Angel of the East" (東方より来たりし復讐鬼,, Tōhō Yori Ki Tari Shi Fukushū Oni)	Pages: 224 Cover Character(s): The Count of Monte Cristo	Front Back
Summary: While vacationing on the moon, Albert de Morcerf, a young Parisian nobleman, meets the Count of Monte Cristo, a fabulously rich aristocrat from the far reaches of the galaxy. Fascinated by the count’s sophistication and intelligence, Albert is unaware of the older man’s dark purpose: to enact revenge for a terrible act of betrayal committed against him twenty-five years ago. Soon, all of Paris, including Albert’s own mother and father, will feel the terror of the count’s vengeance.

Volume 2
ISBN 978-4-06-314422-2 (JA)	ISBN 978-0345505545 (NA)
Chapitre 6: "Héloïse Ambition (1)" (エロイーズの野望 (1),, Eroīzu no Yabō 3) Chapitre 7: "Héloïse Ambition (2)" (エロイーズの野望 (2),, Eroīzu no Yabō 2) Chapitre 8: "Gérard de Villefort" (ジェラール・ド・ヴィルフォール,, Jerāru do Vuirufōru) Chapitre 9: "The Mysterious Marquise" (謎の侯爵夫人,, Nazo no Kōshaku Fujin) Chapitre 10: "A New Dress" (新しいドレス,, Atarashī Doresu) Chapitre 11: "Château de Cremieux" (シャトー・ド・クラマイユ,, Shatō do Kuramaiyu)	Pages: 200 Cover Character(s): The Count of Monte Cristo	Front Back
Summary: The Count of Monte Cristo, a fabulously wealthy aristocrat from the far reaches of the galaxy, has returned to Paris on a secret mission of revenge. His first target is Gérard de Villefort, the prosecutor who falsely sentenced him to life imprisonment twenty-five years ago. His pawns are Villefort’s family—a dissatisfied young wife, a withdrawn daughter, and a pampered son. From a single drop of poison spreads a pool of lust and horror that none may escape.

Volume 3
ISBN 978-4-06-314516-8 (JA)	ISBN 978-4063145168 (NA)
Chapitre 12: "Family Games" (家族ゲーム,, Kazoku Gēmu) Chapitre 13: "Interrogation" (尋問,, Jinmon) Chapitre 14: "Honesty" (良心,, Ryōshin) Chapitre 15: "Paradise" (楽園のごとく,, Rakuen Nogotoku) Chapitre 16: "Escape" (脱出,, Dasshutsu) Chapitre 17: "The King of the Cavern" (巌窟王,, Gankutsuō)	Pages: 226 Cover Character(s): The Count of Monte Cristo Haydée Tebelin Giovanni Bertuccio Baptistin	Front Back
Summary: Searching for his missing daughter and a woman who may be his lost wife, Crown Prosecutor Gérard de Villefort enters the dark mansion of the mysterious Marquise de Cremieux. What he finds there is a hell beyond imagining. And the master of this hell is the Count of Monte Cristo, who seeks retribution for a crime Villefort and his comrades committed many years ago, when the count was a mortal man named Edmond Dantes. As this thrilling tale reaches its shattering climax, the origin of the count–and of the strange entity called The King of the Cavern–is finally revealed.

See Also

🠪Kodansha
🠪Monthly Afternoon