[there is a French boy sitting on the steps of the library, sipping at a mug of tea and looking through a neat stack of books beside him]


((Like the other posts, this post is open forever for anyone who wants to talk to Franz but doesn't see me around.))

Some people in IRC were curious about what was originally intended for Gankutsuou, such as, Eugenie being a lesbian and running off with Louise (like in the novel). They did plan to include this in the series (they even animated some of it), but for some reason had to change it, and Eugenie's character design ended up changing as well.

But Eugenie was not the only one to change! And to prove it, here are some screencaps of early trailers, including one with Eugenie and Louise.

( Now and Then )

If you want to see the original trailers, you can go here. (Don't ask why the old stuff is mixed in with the new -- I have no idea.)

Decided to dig up an old meme I'd always wanted to do.

Go here and look through random quotes until you find five that you think reflect who you are or what you believe.

No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently.
Agnes de Mille

Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.
Peter Ustinov

The important thing was to love rather than to be loved.
W. Somerset Maugham

If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.
E.M. Forster

They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.
Carl W. Buechner

Why I believe that, in canon, Franz is completely in love with Albert, and why I play him accordingly. Also, because I am incapable of not overthinking things, some thoughts on the nature of Franz's love and his own attitude towards it, such as why Being Uncle Franz and Babysitting Albert and Eugenie's Children Would Be Totally Okay. And, of course, some discussion on his attitude towards sex and women.

...actually, it just turned into a huge essay on Franz's Feelings About Things But Especially Albert and Love. SPOILERY AS HELL.

( Mine is the heart at your feet, that must love you to live. )

ALSO. Why should you buy the DVDs? The art is better. No lie. I capped the same exact moment from the sub, and used my camera to capture it from the DVD. Now, compare. Sub vs. DVD. Big difference, no?

It's about time I did one of these. Tell me what your characters think of Elphaba, Franz, and Washu, and I'll tell you what they think about yours!

...Franz needs a bigger social circle.

Character: Franz d'Epinay
Series: Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
Character Age: 15
Canon: SPOILERS ABOUND THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE APP.

Gankutsuou is often called an “anime punk opera”, bringing the tale of a man who seeks revenge on the families of those who betrayed him to a new setting in a futuristic Paris. Perhaps most importantly, it's very shiny. Right in the center of Paris' new drama is a young naive Viscount, Albert de Morcerf, and his longtime best friend, the Baron Franz d'Epinay. When the Count of Monte Cristo enters their lives and begins to quietly wreak havoc on their friends and families, Franz finds himself at odds with Albert, who has developed an infatuation with the Count. He desperately tries to make him see sense, but just ends up frustrated and lost as his love interest best friend continues to choose the Count's confidence over his. When the Count finally forces him to see the truth, Albert challenges him to a duel for deceiving him, because he's smart like that. Franz, unwilling to allow him to die and unable to change his mind, gets him drunk the night before and drugs his wine with sleeping pills. The next day, on the morning of Albert's 16th birthday, Franz goes to the duel and dies in his place.

Despite having been raised with wealth, Franz is remarkably selfless. He is intelligent, wary, and absolutely devoted to protecting Albert's happiness – even to the extent that Albert accuses him of acting like a girlfriend or a mother. He gladly breaks off his family-arranged engagement to allow his fiancée to go with a man he knows she'll be able to be happy with, and continuously puts himself at risk to help the people he cares about. His own happiness matters little to him, and he encourages other relationships while putting aside his own feelings. In the midst of the chaos surrounding the Count's revenge on Paris' upper class, Franz remained one of the only people someone could be sure they could trust.

...is this another of the “bad dreams”, Count? It certainly doesn't look anything like Paris, and we're both aware I was just there two minutes ago. I wouldn't put it past you – making me believe I had died in order to try and teach me some awful 'truth' about the universe and eventuality. Any minute now you're going to walk out, wearing that ridiculous gaudy coat with the sleeves looking less like they're on fire and more like they grew some sort of invasive luminescent mold. Maybe you use it to eat into the brains of your victims so they'll believe your lies, it would explain a lot.

And now I've reduced myself to petty insults. Wonderful.

Besides, Paris doesn't have any of the... er... animals that seem to be prolific around here. I don't think there are apes of that color anywhere on Earth, actually, and there can't be yet another new species. Scientists have been yearning for one for years, and I highly doubt they would be so lucky. One of the birds started an aria as I walked by, and I'm not sure I appreciate the attempt at culture – I'm still picking feathers out of my clothes, and I'm just lucky the beak didn't end up anywhere near me. I am also quite certain that the few trees left around the city don't try to touch you in uncomfortable places while you sit beneath them.

On second thought, despite the trees' bent toward molestation, this can't be any doing of the Count's. It doesn't sparkle enough, for one. The colors, while not the most pleasant, don't seem to be staging a war against each other, with the artistic casualties bleeding profusely all over everything else. For another, one can't possibly give speeches on the symbolism of articulate toucans in conjunction with a tentacle monster surrounded by buildings that are teeming with the clinically insane. Or perhaps you can – perhaps the carnivorous plants stand for the innate dangers in all surroundings that will inevitably bring down the unwary, and the “welcome” brochure that tried to snap off my hand is clearly a testament to how the pursuit of literary knowledge will only bring us pain due to a better understanding of our flawed human nature, and maybe this tiny little person squeaking on my foot shows how we ride upon the forces that could so easily flip us underneath their soles and crush us. And even the-

...

There is a tiny person on my foot. Jumping up and down rather cheerily for someone in such a vulnerable position, actually. For some reason, it didn't even occur to me to consider this strange until now. ...Maybe this is just death after all, and dying is in actuality endless insanity.

If that's the case, I suppose I am still in Paris.