How so?

The main character is treated cruelly by his relatives, which results in the death of his parent, and he himself ends up in a distant place, where he gains strength. And then he faces his offenders in a new guise and restores justice.

Sounds interesting.

But how would Shoma' western counterpart be similar to Edmond Dantes? And what of his allies?

Lango Stomach counterpart is similar to Fernando Montego.

Edmond Dantes' motive was revenge though, not necessarily justice. Shouma just wants to make people happy while Dantes was more focused on enacting vengeance against those who wronged him. We don't see Shouma actively scheming against his crappy relatives.

Then would you go for the Man in the Iron Mask approach?

Dente was Abbe Faria in a way too.

Here it is a matter of cultural differences and different interpretations. I was most impressed by the Soviet-French "The Prisoner of the Chateau d'If" of 1989 (the best adaptation of the Count of Monte Cristo, without a doubt) and "Prince Favorsky" of 2005 (a variation on the theme of the Count of Monte Cristo in modern times). And there the actions of the character were interpreted precisely as just retribution and punishment for the sins of the scoundrels, and not a personal insult.I think this has to do with the greater importance of the concept of forgiveness in Orthodox culture than in Catholic culture, which is more focused on redemption.
Back to Gavv, we are talking about a western adaptation. Just judging by PR, they don't adapt the Red Ranger as an optimistic goofball, although this type is very popular in Super Sentai. And in Dragon Knight, Adam is much more serious than Shinji from the original. So I think Shouma's character was changed as well.

I've been seeing rumors of a Kabuto 20th anniversary. Is that true?

Not a clue. At most, we’ve seen a few cast members meeting with Ishida and one of them had what people thought were the Drake and TheBee suits in the background.

My remote's batteries died, so now I bite those too when I run out of snacks.

Suck no female rider in Gavv. I give up.

Will they ever continue to have female riders rise?