What happens when East meets West?
Anime is the embodiment of Japanese culture, but many of its creators have been inspired by European literature and history.
Let's recall some such works: both accurate adaptations and free fantasies that, for example, turned Shakespeare into techno-sci-fi.
1. Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, 2004
The project premiered in 2004 under the direction of Mahiro Maeda, who worked on Miyazaki's Porco Rosso. The special feature of this anime is its hypnotic style, full of strange, alien structures.
The action of Gankutsuou takes place in the future, where space flights are normal vacations and the Chateau d'If is not an island near Marseille, but a huge space prison.
The mysterious Gankutsuou is a ghost who lives in this prison. Instead of Abbe Faria, he allows the unjustly convicted Edmond Dantes to take revenge on his tormentors, but kills him in the process.
The main character is the young and naive Albert Morcerf. Through his eyes we see the mysterious Count and the retribution he sows in Paris. The familiar plot unfolds, raising important issues of love, loyalty, memory and inequality.
2. Les Miserables: Shoujo Cosette, 2007
In 2007, Nippon Animation created an anime about the adventures of the charming little Cosette – and in doing so, made a full-fledged adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel.
The 52 episodes tell the entire tragic story of Jean Valjean, Javert and other characters from Les Miserables. There are no magical assumptions or alternate histories – director Hiroaki Sakurai treated the retelling of the original carefully.
The anime tried to make it understandable for children, so we see the story through the eyes of young Cosette. Through her naivety and purity, we see good people like Jean Valjean and monstrous criminals like Thenardier, who "took care" of her, and the whole burden of life in France at that time.
3. Romio x Jurietto, 2007
William Shakespeare borrowed the story of Romeo and Juliet's doomed love from the Italian writer Matteo Bandello and made it immortal, and then the plot was taken up and developed in an endless number of interpretations.
In 2007, Gonzo Studio presented its version. It turned out to be dramatic and charming, in the best tradition of Shakespeare with a dash of Japanese drama and plot twists.
The action of the 24-episode anime takes place in Neo Verona – on an island floating in the sky. Here, the Montagues and Capulets are respected families of unequal power who cannot share the territory. The Duke of Montague destroyed the Capulets in the past and received Verona at his complete disposal.
But not all the Capulets died. The girl Juliet, the heiress, survived. And so did a whole clan of conspirators who dreamed of revenge, toppling the Montagues from the throne and restoring their good name.