a traditional handdrawn style rather than emulating the anime's artstyle, a decision made by Maeda. 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. Maeda commented that he would have stopped the manga project quite early without the support of staff from both the anime and the manga. The manga was published in three volumes between December 2005 and July 2008 by Kodansha. The three volumes were published in English by Del Rey Manga, an imprint of Random House, between November 2008 and August 2009. A trilogy of novelizations was released between December 25, 2004 and May 25, 2005. The novels were written by Kouyama, with cover illustrations by Matsubara. A CD drama was published in November 2005 by Victor Entertainment. The drama covers events supplementary to the anime relating to the Count's past and the backstories of various characters. A stage play adaptation was announced in August 2019 and ran from December 20-28, 2019. The play directed and written by Yū Murai. Anime co-creator and director Mahiro Maeda collaborated on the stage production with Taichi Hashimoto, and Chūji Mikasano is the play's dramaturge. The play stars Shohei Hashimoto as Albert de Morcef, Masashi Taniguchi as the Count of Monte Cristo, and Junon Superboy Anothers member Yō Maejima as Franz d'Epinay. Reception Gankutsuou was praised when released in North America, with sources such as Anime Insider, DVDTalk, Newsarama.com, Animeondvd.com and Anime News Network judging it to be among the best releases of the year. Reviews have generally been extremely positive. Reviews mainly focused on the visual effects of the show, both to its benefit and its detriment. Stig Høgset of THEM Anime Reviews commented, "the show is beautiful most of the time." Theron Martin of Anime News Network awarded Gankutsuou Series of the Year. It also won the Best TV Series award at the 10th Animation Kobe Fair. Helen McCarthy in 500 Essential Anime Movies praised its "dazzling visual inventiveness". Notes and references Notes Citations External links Official Gankutsuou website Madman Entertainment's official Gankutsuou website 2004 anime television series debuts Del Rey Manga Funimation Geneon USA Gonzo (company) Jean-Jacques Burnel albums Kodansha manga MF Bunko J Odex Anime and manga about revenge Science fiction anime and manga Seinen manga Television shows