The Count of Monte Cristo

I just finished watching the final episode of Gankutsuou (rougly pronounced /'gahn-koot-su-oh/), a 2004 anime retelling of Alexandre Dumas' classic, The Count of Monte Cristo.
One truly fantastic story, absolutely riveting with fitting music and a beautiful if unusual style of animation. (Though at times you feel like reaching in and belting out two tight slaps to the protagonist...)

Gankutsuou keeps the story as its central focus, delivering a concise 24-episode tale of love and loyalty, deceit and betrayal, darkness and revenge. I've not read the original novel - a mistake I hope to correct in the near future - but other reviews have pointed out that the plot stays mostly faithful to the text, apart from being set in an unbelievably retro-modern futuristic era. Quite unlike its Hollywood-made travesty of a cousin.

I absolutely have to recommend this anime. Don't be deceived by the first ten minutes of the first episode, it just keeps getting better.