Gankutsuou (Season 1)

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (2004) is a Japanese anime series you can watch online on iFILM. Studio Gonzo lifted Alexandre Dumas' revenge epic and dropped it into the year 5053 — where aristocrats travel between planets, duels are fought in mechanised suits, and the streets of a neon Paris still run on old money and older grudges.

Young nobleman Albert de Morcerf meets the mysterious Count at a lunar carnival and immediately falls under his spell. The Count is generous, brilliant and impossible to read. Albert brings him back to Paris — not knowing he has just ushered in the man who spent years engineering the ruin of his own family. Voiced by Jun Fukuyama as Albert and Joji Nakata as the Count.

Gonzo used a signature visual technique here: static fabric-like textures layered over moving characters, turning every frame into something between animation and illustrated manuscript. Twenty-four episodes, and each one winds the spring of revenge a little tighter. Stream every episode of Gankutsuou online on iFILM.