Anime Chevalier (Le Chevalier D'Eon)

[Raiyuu]

[FONT=Trebuchet MS]It's set in France during the reign of Louis XV (or Louis Thereabouts, anyway). But it's got zombies, alchemy, secret organisations, conspiracies and a conveniently effeminate lead character possessed by the wandering soul of his sister! Not your average period drama.

I needed a decent supernatural epic to fill the void left by [i]Blood+[/i] and this pretty much fits the bill. Basic plot: D'Eon de Beaumont is a French knight, and we join him just as his sister, Lia, washes up on the banks of the Seine, dead, pumped full of mercury and floating in a coffin with the word "Psalms" written on the lid in blood. It becomes clear quite quickly that Lia was involved in some huge conspiracy, which presumably has something to do with the mercury-filled zombie "Gargoyles" that keep trying to kill D'Eon and company.

The first episode moved a little quickly for my taste - Production IG had clearly decided on the ending cliffhanger, and rushed a little to get there in 25 minutes. And some of the characters seem a little underdeveloped, but I'm only six episodes in - and it's certainly good fun, with some excellent imagery and good creepy villainy. It's not afraid to be brutal or macabre, which is a plus point in my book. And the swordfighting choreography is quite pretty most of the time.

This is up there with the [i]Death Note[/i] TV as one of my favourites of the new season. What about the rest of you?[/font]

[Dagger]

I started watching the first disc today but decided to take a break after episodes 1 & 2. I actually had the opposite opinion about the first episode--to me it felt like it kind of crawled toward the ending cliffhanger (which was, granted, an effective hook). Much of the plot so far would all be Greek to me if I didn't have some basic familiarity with [strike]faux Japanese[/strike] French history. :animeswea

They're going to have to work very hard to make me care about d'Eon as much as Lia... with her it was, for obvious reasons, love at first sight. I adore Tow Ubakata, though, and he's the one responsible for the story, so I have massive amounts of faith in this show despite the fact that it'll probably take a little while to rise above the level of vaguely historical eye candy.

(If Chevalier has gotten anyone else interested in Ubakata's work, check out Fafner--he essentially rescued the series in its second half, and the transformation in writing is astonishing. He's even more involved in this upcoming mecha show called Heroic Age.)

The zombies remind me a lot of the monsters in Red Garden, although the comparison should go the other way around.

~Dagger~

[Veritas]

[size=1][color=gray]I watched the first episode the other night and it seemed rather interesting. As Raiyuu already stated the Sword Fighting very pretty, emphasized with odd camera angles. I feel more like Dagger, that it crawled to the cliffhanger ending.[/color][/size]
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[size=1][color=gray]One of the first things that caught my attention about the show, is how they use a First Person View alot of the times, when d'Eon is traveling places. An interesting touch in my opinion. [/color][/size]
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[size=1][color=gray]I was very impressed by the backround art, especially the opening scene, although I'm not quite sure if I like the character art. They just seem a little off for me, but we'll see how I feel after a few more episodes.[/color][/size]

[Rachmaninoff]

I only just caught the first episode the other night in the on demand section of my cable, and even though it felt like it was rushed to get to the cliffhanger ending of the first episode, it definitely has caught my interest.

I rather liked the First Person View when d'Eon is traveling as well. And the way it was building up the whole conspiracy behind what was really happening was quite interesting as well as the aspect of the lead character being possessed by the soul of his wandering sister.

I liked it well enough that I plan on picking up the first DVD when I get a chance as having only seen one episode I find I want to see more.

[MillenniumChaos]

I watched the first episode a few weeks ago, and I've been prodding everyone I know to watch it since (though nobody has, as far as I know...sigh). It's hard to say what really hooked me. I think a lot of it was the art. I'm a sucker for pretty things (though, the music isn't too shabby either). But, aside from that, the plot turned out to be enjoyable and not nearly as intimidating as I thought. The best thing it has going, in my opinion, is that it manages to encompass a lot of different interests. It has the historical setting, but it also has action, mystery, and the supernatural going for it. I do feel as though I'm missing out on a bit since I don't know very much about French history or the specifics of Catholicism, but it's easy enough to follow even on limited (or in my case, next to no) knowledge.

[Raiyuu]

[quote name='MilleniumChaos']I do feel as though I'm missing out on a bit since I don't know very much about French history or the specifics of Catholicism, but it's easy enough to follow even on limited (or in my case, next to no) knowledge.[/quote]I know nothing about French or Russian history either; [b]not[/b] knowing doesn't diminish the series, but I imagine [b]knowing[/b] would probably enhance it.

I did look up the Chevalier D'Eon on Wikipedia ... he was a French spy that was famous for arranging a meeting with the Russian Empress Elizabeth by dressing as a woman and calling himself Lia de Beaumont. So some of the series is grounded in fact, although I'd like to hope the zombies are fanciful.

[Rachmaninoff]

[quote name='Raiyuu]I know nothing about French or Russian history either; [b]not[/b] knowing doesn't diminish the series, but I imagine [b]knowing[/b'] would probably enhance it.[/quote]I don't know anything about the history either, but having finally picked up the first DVD and watched the next three episodes I don't mind it one bit.

I rather like how the characters are developing as its interesting to watch how d'Eon is having trouble [spoiler] accepting that it's really his sister's soul that posses him at times. [/spoiler]
I also like the addition of the character Durand, there's just something about his personality that's fun to watch in action. And the end of the fourth disk put everything in a whole new light with the involvement of the [spoiler] King and d'Eon being accepted into his service like his sister was before she was killed. [/spoiler]

It's a pity that the next disk isn't due to be released until April 17 as I'd like to watch some more of it.

[Ani_Freak]

[color=indigo]Basically for me, what got me interested at first was the visuals. The backgrounds are gorgeous, and I was eager to see Europe from a Japanese studio's point of view. Character designs, although simple, go very well with the show. It basically makes the visuals, the clothes and the overall atmosphere of the show stand out more.

Another thing I really like is how we know Lia through D'Eon. Even though brothers, they are entirely different, and a nice way to get to know Lia, or have an idea of her, even though she is dead.

Hopefully I'll explain a bit better later on, since I only saw the first DvD only once, and I like to do multiple viewings before posting anything on a title.[/color]

[hyuuga_hinata]

I sorta didn't get the story that much because we had it on the tv but it didn't have any english subtitles,but the plot interested me when I watched about 2-3 of its episodes.

[Dagger]

Volume 2 pressed a lot of my buttons. Okay, maybe just the haughty older woman & cross-dressing buttons, but it was still quite effective, leaving me a) in love with Empress Elizaveta and b) laughing in pure joy at the fact that the masquerade ball was femlib central. [spoiler]Robin makes a charming young lady. I'm just disappointed that Teillagory didn't dress up, mustache and all.[/spoiler]

~Dagger~

[Meggido]

I've seen the whole of this series and I must say that it was pretty good. I do have to say that the ending seemed a bit dry but the lead up was well worth it. and [spoiler]Maximilian Robespierre is such a pretty boy[/spoiler]

as for what raiyuu was talking about her's a link to the wikipedia article on the real D'eon de Beaumont. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevalier_d'Eon
Don't read if you don't want a few little spoilers, but it's quite entertaining anyway.

[Dagger]

Man, it's been a while. Just finished volume 4 and am hoping to have the rest of Chevalier on hand shortly.

I'm surprised at how much the series manages to defy prediction even at this point. I mean, the general direction is made obvious enough in the OP, but I have no idea [spoiler]how Robespierre or even Durand[/spoiler] are going to swing (to heighten the suspense, of course, I'm trying my best to erase all vestiges of French-history knowledge from my mind :p).

A few superficial observations:

- Lia's Psalm-reading voice is shiver-inducing. I'm so excited that the same seiyuu will be playing Claes (my favorite!) in the upcoming second season of Gunslinger Girl.
- The animators seem to draw Robespierre more carefully than anyone else, haha. I don't think I've seen him go off-model once.
- Why is Durand so much more attractive when [spoiler]he's stuck with one arm & being tortured[/spoiler]!?

~Dagger~