Anime: Gankutsuou FST
Gankutsuou (The King of the Cave) is a sci-fi story based heavily on Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. I vaguely remember reading that during high school, so the idea sounded interesting, at least. And then I saw the first episode, and my eyeballs exploded. Gankutsuou has a unique visual style; instead of solid colors, elaborate static patterns are used to fill in the artwork. Once your brain stabilizes, it's actually really fun to watch.
As for the story, it starts off about a third of the way into the novel. Two teenage aristocrats, Albert and Franz, are visiting a carnival on the Moon. While there, they hear rumors of the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo, a fabulously wealthy and reclusive gentleman who had arrived from the farthest depths of the Solar System. They catch sight of him at an opera, where the Count drops his watch conveniently so that Albert can pick it up. The next day, the Count invites the two boys to dinner in gratitude for finding his watch, and Albert is fascinated by this mysterious gentleman, even though his hands are as cold as death and he never eats while they're watching. (One of the rumors going around is that he's an alien or a vampire.) Albert, as it becomes increasingly clear, is painfully naive and good-hearted, and doesn't question the amazing coincidences that seem to pile up where the Count is involved.
The Count invites the two boys to watch a public execution with him, and the two become increasingly uncomfortable watching the pleading of the condemned and the shrieking crowd, the Count lays down three playing cards and tells Albert to choose one. The Count has one pardon, and the man whose name is on the card Albert picks will have his life spared. Franz, sensing that this is the sort of decision that an innocent person like Albert shouldn't have to make, tries to stop him, but the Count tells them that life and death are just a random game, since everyone will die eventually. Doesn't possessing the power to save someone's life make you like God, even for a minute?
Eventually, Albert's idol-worship of the Count prompts him to invite the Count to join him in Paris on Earth, where he can introduce the Count to all the fashionable circles. The Count feigns surprise and gratitude, but it's clear that he's been manipulating Albert evey step of the way towards this very end, and is already well-acquainted with Albert's parents and many of his friends. (He knows them, but nobody recognizes him, of course.) The Count's arrival on Earth throws Albert's peaceful, idle life into chaos, and the rest of the series is mostly a race to see if Albert will figure out that he's being used before the Count completely destroys him.
Anyways, so keeping all that in mind, here's the FST. The structure and feel of the anime and that of the original novel are slightly different, so the music I picked may or may not go with the original novel. But humor me, okay? Most of the music is very melancholy because, hell, this is a classic story of revenge and betrayal and lost love and all that good stuff. And when it's violent, it can even make me (a survival horror gamer and callous sort of wench in general) recoil. I'll just cover the amount of the story that I've seen so far, which is up to episode 19. The anime has made some creative adjustments to the plotline so I can't say exactly how it'll end.
No cover art; I never quite got the point of that. But here's one picture so you can see how seizure-inducing the colors and patterns can be at times:
The songs will stay up until I run out of bandwidth or the end of the month, whichever comes first. I'm doing some other FSTs so let's see how long this lasts! (Unlike my other FSTs, this should probably be played in the following order.)
EDIT 03/24: Files taken down; thanks so much for downloading and listening! I'm really glad I could introduce the series to you guys and that you all seemed to get out of the FST what I had intended you to get. :) If anyone wants it put back up, I can do that easily; just drop a comment.
1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Requiem (Introitus) [ lyrics and translation ]
2. Beck - Lazy Flies [lyrics ]
3. Bent - Stay the Same
4. Tricky - Aftermath [lyrics ]
5. Laika - Girls Without Hands [lyrics ]
6. Suede - Everything Will Flow [lyrics ]
7. Brand New Idol - The Notorious Gentleman [ lyrics ]
8. UA - 記憶喪失 (Amnesia)
9. Eurythmics - Regrets [ lyrics ]
10. Joy Division - A Means To An End [ lyrics ]
11. Yoko Kanno - Shadow Of Doubt
12. Bjork - Where Is The Line [ lyrics ]
13. The Stranglers - Don't Bring Harry [ lyrics ]
14. The The - Uncertain Smile [ lyrics ]
15. Ministry - The Angel [ lyrics ]
16.Iggy Pop - Baby [ lyrics ]
17. Cat Power - Wild Is The Wind [ lyrics ]
18. Nick Drake - Cello Song [ lyrics ]
I'll just comment on a few of the songs. ;;^^ Lazy Flies struck me because of its combination of sci-fi and decaying, organic imagery. (Wow, that sounded really pretentious, but read the lyrics and you'll see what I mean.) The worlds of the rich and poor are contrasted in an early episode; the kids like to go to the edge of their lavish high-tech world and look down at the slums below. It reminds me a bit of Metropolis. Everything Will Flow has a similar feel, but that's really my pick for Eugenie.
Stay The Same I guess made me think of Albert; it's cheesy and synthy and romantic, and Albert is sort of a dumb puppy, so hey! Plus, there's the sentiment that people shouldn't change...
Girls Without Hands is for Haydee, the Count's slavegirl/mistress/pawn.
And for everyone's favorite foppish little psycho, Andrea Caval'canti, we have The Notorious Gentleman.
The middle part of the FST is when the paranoia and suspicion and revenge starts to creep in; the music reflects that. (Don't Bring Harry is probably about smack, as many of the Stranglers' songs were, but what the hell, why not.)
The last few songs deal with Albert's final disillusionment, at a pretty painful cost (as of episode 19, there is; it'll just get worse if it follows the novel.) But at least someone secretly likes him, and that's the deal with Uncertain Smile and The Angel. (I'm a saaaaaaap~)
And, since calintz requested this FST and she also insisted on this omake:
The Smurfs Theme - Happy Hardcore remix
Don't blame me! Blame her! It's not my fault that the Count is blue!
If you have a comment on the music or the series, I'd love to hear it. But if you just grab one or two songs, it's not a big deal. (But you should listen to it all~ trust me~)
As for the story, it starts off about a third of the way into the novel. Two teenage aristocrats, Albert and Franz, are visiting a carnival on the Moon. While there, they hear rumors of the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo, a fabulously wealthy and reclusive gentleman who had arrived from the farthest depths of the Solar System. They catch sight of him at an opera, where the Count drops his watch conveniently so that Albert can pick it up. The next day, the Count invites the two boys to dinner in gratitude for finding his watch, and Albert is fascinated by this mysterious gentleman, even though his hands are as cold as death and he never eats while they're watching. (One of the rumors going around is that he's an alien or a vampire.) Albert, as it becomes increasingly clear, is painfully naive and good-hearted, and doesn't question the amazing coincidences that seem to pile up where the Count is involved.
The Count invites the two boys to watch a public execution with him, and the two become increasingly uncomfortable watching the pleading of the condemned and the shrieking crowd, the Count lays down three playing cards and tells Albert to choose one. The Count has one pardon, and the man whose name is on the card Albert picks will have his life spared. Franz, sensing that this is the sort of decision that an innocent person like Albert shouldn't have to make, tries to stop him, but the Count tells them that life and death are just a random game, since everyone will die eventually. Doesn't possessing the power to save someone's life make you like God, even for a minute?
Eventually, Albert's idol-worship of the Count prompts him to invite the Count to join him in Paris on Earth, where he can introduce the Count to all the fashionable circles. The Count feigns surprise and gratitude, but it's clear that he's been manipulating Albert evey step of the way towards this very end, and is already well-acquainted with Albert's parents and many of his friends. (He knows them, but nobody recognizes him, of course.) The Count's arrival on Earth throws Albert's peaceful, idle life into chaos, and the rest of the series is mostly a race to see if Albert will figure out that he's being used before the Count completely destroys him.
Anyways, so keeping all that in mind, here's the FST. The structure and feel of the anime and that of the original novel are slightly different, so the music I picked may or may not go with the original novel. But humor me, okay? Most of the music is very melancholy because, hell, this is a classic story of revenge and betrayal and lost love and all that good stuff. And when it's violent, it can even make me (a survival horror gamer and callous sort of wench in general) recoil. I'll just cover the amount of the story that I've seen so far, which is up to episode 19. The anime has made some creative adjustments to the plotline so I can't say exactly how it'll end.
No cover art; I never quite got the point of that. But here's one picture so you can see how seizure-inducing the colors and patterns can be at times:
The songs will stay up until I run out of bandwidth or the end of the month, whichever comes first. I'm doing some other FSTs so let's see how long this lasts! (Unlike my other FSTs, this should probably be played in the following order.)
EDIT 03/24: Files taken down; thanks so much for downloading and listening! I'm really glad I could introduce the series to you guys and that you all seemed to get out of the FST what I had intended you to get. :) If anyone wants it put back up, I can do that easily; just drop a comment.
1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Requiem (Introitus) [ lyrics and translation ]
2. Beck - Lazy Flies [lyrics ]
3. Bent - Stay the Same
4. Tricky - Aftermath [lyrics ]
5. Laika - Girls Without Hands [lyrics ]
6. Suede - Everything Will Flow [lyrics ]
7. Brand New Idol - The Notorious Gentleman [ lyrics ]
8. UA - 記憶喪失 (Amnesia)
9. Eurythmics - Regrets [ lyrics ]
10. Joy Division - A Means To An End [ lyrics ]
11. Yoko Kanno - Shadow Of Doubt
12. Bjork - Where Is The Line [ lyrics ]
13. The Stranglers - Don't Bring Harry [ lyrics ]
14. The The - Uncertain Smile [ lyrics ]
15. Ministry - The Angel [ lyrics ]
16.Iggy Pop - Baby [ lyrics ]
17. Cat Power - Wild Is The Wind [ lyrics ]
18. Nick Drake - Cello Song [ lyrics ]
I'll just comment on a few of the songs. ;;^^ Lazy Flies struck me because of its combination of sci-fi and decaying, organic imagery. (Wow, that sounded really pretentious, but read the lyrics and you'll see what I mean.) The worlds of the rich and poor are contrasted in an early episode; the kids like to go to the edge of their lavish high-tech world and look down at the slums below. It reminds me a bit of Metropolis. Everything Will Flow has a similar feel, but that's really my pick for Eugenie.
Stay The Same I guess made me think of Albert; it's cheesy and synthy and romantic, and Albert is sort of a dumb puppy, so hey! Plus, there's the sentiment that people shouldn't change...
Girls Without Hands is for Haydee, the Count's slavegirl/mistress/pawn.
And for everyone's favorite foppish little psycho, Andrea Caval'canti, we have The Notorious Gentleman.
The middle part of the FST is when the paranoia and suspicion and revenge starts to creep in; the music reflects that. (Don't Bring Harry is probably about smack, as many of the Stranglers' songs were, but what the hell, why not.)
The last few songs deal with Albert's final disillusionment, at a pretty painful cost (as of episode 19, there is; it'll just get worse if it follows the novel.) But at least someone secretly likes him, and that's the deal with Uncertain Smile and The Angel. (I'm a saaaaaaap~)
And, since calintz requested this FST and she also insisted on this omake:
The Smurfs Theme - Happy Hardcore remix
Don't blame me! Blame her! It's not my fault that the Count is blue!
If you have a comment on the music or the series, I'd love to hear it. But if you just grab one or two songs, it's not a big deal. (But you should listen to it all~ trust me~)