Last night I revisited the Rococo era via Le Chevalier D’Eon, Volume Two. Alas, all was not as I hoped!
In this volume, D’Eon and company are still on the hunt for Lia’s, D’ Eon’s sword wielding sister, killer. Their query leads them to the doorstep of King Louis the XIV’s uncle, the Duke of Orléans. After confronting him, they tie him to a Russian Poet by the name of Vorontsov.
Poet’s in this tale are users of a particular brand of alchemical magic. They recite certain psalms and thereby bend nature to their will. They can infuse individuals with super strength, stealth, lightening quickness, and even the ability to remotely control a pack of vicious dogs. They can also create gargoyles; zombies fueled by mercury. Handy talent that, especially if you’re in the market for creating a Revolution.
D’Eon and his band are slowly discovering the telltale signs of this developing revolution. Vorontsov is a part of this development, but what role he plays is uncertain. In pursuit of Vorontsov, they travel to his homeland in order to bring him to justice. They also travel to Russia in hopes of recapturing the powerful Royal Psalms which were stolen from the palace. These particular psalms hold a strong magic which can tip the scales in favor of anyone who uses them.
When I first started this volume, the first thing that struck me foremost was the drop in animation quality. This was a disappointment for me since I had high hopes that the studio would be consistent throughout the series. This sort of thing happens a lot with American comic book series; a new series starts out with a famous or fantastic artist and 10 issues down the road, BAM!, they get a new artist who’s not so famous and usually, not so good. I didn’t expect this to happen with an anime series that started out so promising, nor did I expect it to happen so soon. However, the attention to detail was still present and the glints, highlights, and small touches went along way to make up for the slight dip in quality.
Also, I wasn’t riveted to my seat as I was previously with volume one. The story seemed to be progressing too slowly with too many detours into unnecessary territory. What might have needed only to be touched on briefly was given too much screen time. Perhaps this will play out further in the series, but it slowed down the story far too much for my taste. This story is slowly developing so I’ll give it the room it needs, for now. The fight scenes were riveting, in some instances. Best fight scene in this volume is Drag-Loli-D’Eon taking on any who want some.
What really, really cheesed me off was the introduction of Gothic Lolita D’Eon/Lia. What the hell people?! Yes, it was appropriate to the story to have drag D’Eon given the fact that his sister’s soul inhabits his body, but a damn loli? Nothing gets my goat more than a gratuitous anachronism. Keep the quasi Victorian era with quasi and Victorian eras and keep the Rococo era true to it’s grandiose self. LCD was doing so well with it’s true to life depiction of the period’s fashion, architecture, and opulent use of gold and pastels. Then up pops, not only an anachronism, but an annoying overused one that’s becoming more and more prevalent in anime. This saddened and annoyed me.
Aside from this deviation, I found no other anachronistic flaws or down right fallacies in terms of fashion and decoration (taking the liberty to bolster the image of Marie Antoinette’s character is creative license as far as I’m concerned). I’m a stickler for this when it comes to historical anime/ RL, especially when it comes to one of my fave art periods. Don’t mess with Rococo!
The music in this volume was the same as the first; not too terribly noticeable outside the OP/ED. However, I did notice that the English dub was sorta funny since many of the voices were so South Park-esque. I could almost imagine Trey Parker and Matt Stone doing the voices for King Louis and the Duke of Orléans. But we’re committed to the dub, so I’ll tough out the South Park moments which aren’t as numerous as I feared. *Note: If you’re unfamiliar with South Park, this isn’t even an issue, so disregard this remark if you’re not a South Park fan.
I’m praying that Le Chevalier D’Eon will progress more smoothly and with less hiccups in the following volumes than it’s had in this one. This is a truly fascinating story and it deserves the treatment it initially received in volume one of the series. I’m being rough with Volume Two since Volume One was so damn good. It always disappoints when something with potential doesn’t live up to itself. LCD has a long ways to go, so I feel that it’ll find it’s groove again.
I give Le Chevalier D’Eon, Volume Two:
outta possible four gummies.
Read my review of Le Chevalier D’Eon, Volume One.
Read my review of Le Chevalier D’Eon, Volume Three.
Thanks ADV for letting us screen Le Chevalier D’Eon, Volume Two!
