Le Chevalier D’Eon v1 — Psalm of Vengeance

Le Chevalier D’Eon takes the story of a famous spy and tips the glass sideways to spill magic and gargoyles onto pre-revolutionary France. It is a France where power grabbing aristocrats play deadly games with each other at the expense of the citizenry, and on occaision, turns them into puppets to attack.

The intrigue, mystical, and historical elements makes this is a good anime for those interested in a story where part of the fun is speculation or for those who just want something different from their anime from time to time. People who simply enjoy things that are done well will probably find this dvd interesting as well. At least, that’s why I liked it.

Image property of Production IG/Project Chevalier
Yes, everyone uses this image, because it’s hot.

D’Eon opens a box that was floating down the River Seine. That box is a coffin containing the body of his dead sister, Lia, who is marked with strange letters and has mercury in her veins. Opening the coffin is a pandora’s box that changes d’Eon and is the start of the story.

According to the DVD notes, d’Eon was a famous cross-dressing spy. Instead of simply incorporating the famed wardrobe preference of this historical figure, the script writers created a sister that he never actually had to replace the cross-dressing with a transfiguring possession. This move to posession, I think, strengthens the character of d’Eon in this story, as posession needs less explanation to sell a character than cross-dressing. In the first four episodes, Lia only takes posession for about thirty-seconds of each episode, so it’s more icing than it is cake. She actually plays a more important role when she’s off-screen, at least so far.

Visuals
Production IG made the show with good animation and art direction. Really, the production values are top-notch. Character designs tend to lean realistic and the costuming and sets look great. For the most part the characters seem less glamorous than in other anime, but Lia looks like a glam princess.

The English Dub
Steven Foster directs a strong English dub for Le Chevalier D’Eon. Foster does so many things well as a director, but one thing I definitely like is he gets actors who don’t do a lot of anime into the shows he directs. A lot of the directors at ADV like to go to the same group of actors (which has been compounded by Funi tapping into the same pool), but Foster doesn’t mind going outside the pool. If he does use the well known pool, he uses them a little differently than the other directors do. I like not knowing beforehand how the main cast will sound.

Dave Matranga plays the lead, d’Eon de Beauxmont. Matranga sounds like a young man who has stepped into something huge and is dealing with it without sounding too whiney. This is the first major role I’ve heard him in. The rest of the cast feels solid, in particular Tyler Galindo (Robin) who is an actual teenager playing a teenager. The actual youth provides a good contrast to some of the older characters.

The only casting choice that took me out of the show, was Hilary Haag, who ordinarily I just love. Steven Foster has a habit of using Haag in ways other directors don’t and this time he makes her super creepy. This was awesome when he used her that way in Gilgamesh, but it feels a little too similar too soon.