Chevalier D'eon - Anime Review

Overall Rating: B+

Synopsis: D'eon Beaumont is an attractive young nobleman whose normal days of hanging out at Versailles just ended - the story starts with his sister's body pumped full of mercury, floating in a coffin down the Seine River. D'eon falls into the dangers and intricacies of his sister's spy duties as her spirit inhabits his body and assists in searching for her killer.

Far superior to the American movie Marie Antoinette, this show immerses the viewer 18th century France Versailles, and keeps it interesting. D'eon's accomplices include Robin (gunslinging pageboy), Durand (seemingly shifty swordsman), and Teillagory (master swordsman). And, lest we forget, he is also accompanied by his sister's vengeful spirit, who occasionally takes over his body during crisis scenes and commits ultra-violence (it's a lot like he goes Saiyan - his voice gets high-pitched, glowing red text appears on his sword and he's suddenly a bad-ass).

Here are the reasons you should watch this animated series:
- Awesome animation
- Well-written
- Sword fights
- Mercury-filled zombie fights

I adore well-done mysteries, and this one involves zombies, possession and did I mention cross-dressing? There's cross-dressing.

Rating Reasoning: The show has some minor localization flaws. Some of the voice acting is sub-par (which I thought was a play on stuffy noblemen at first). One of the first mystery plot points involve the word "PSALMS" and the subsequent Bible verses. Devout upper-class Frenchmen were unfamiliar with popular biblical references and had to research to discover them. I imagine this was more for the Asian audiences.

Note: This story is also a manga. It is also loosely based on historical fact - Chevalier d'Eon was a French diplomat, spy, soldier and Freemason who lived the first half of his life as a man and the second half as a woman.