Art/ Animation:
Seriously, can you go wrong with a studio that produced something like Ghost In the Shell? The building designs, settings are marvelous, although I admit I\'m not familiar with the French architechture, it still managed to capture the western feel. Characters were designed to look realistic and thus, would not appeal to audiences who want either \'moe\' or extreme cuteness. The swordfights were perfect, they were swift and clean, wasting no time in trying to bring down the opponent, without any extreme visual moves or \'powering up\' like in shounen animes. It is what you\'d expect real fencing to be like, fast, graceful but brutal.
Another important thing to note, the 4 musketeers actually looked tired near the last half of the series! This showed how much care the animators put into this, just to show that, well...they are human as well and anyone would be exhausted after the amount of horrid times they had to go through
Sound:
The opening song gives the hint of bravery and patriotism. The ending was beautiful\', it gave a melancholic but also with determined feel, which describes Chevalier D\'Eon\'s character perfectly. Not to mention the visuals that came along with the theme, it was a great idea to put the characters with their names and lifespans just in case the viewers get drowned in the sea of complicated french names.
The atmosphere of the anime was further enhanced by the rich orchestral music, composed by none other than Michiru Ooshima, the man responsible for Full metal Alchemist.
Some tracks, especially the one in the opening of the 1st episode \'Owari ni Mata Kotoba Ariki\' was the one that gave the most impact.
The voice acting was good, well, at least I couldn\'t notice any flaws, all their voices fit the characters really well
Story
This was what attracted me to watch this anime. A spy that lived his life half as a man and half as a woman? and that he was only discovered to be a man after his death?That was what happened to the real Chevalier D\'Eon. Tow Ubakata took the concept but changed it into an action fantasy novel, where vampires were involved and spells which are casts by \'poets\' are the main elements of the story. Also, D\'Eon didn\'t dress up as a woman like what history implied, but he was possessed by his sister, Lia instead and sets out to seek revenge. What impressed me was that even though this turned into a supernatural flick, he still managed to retain the important facts and elements of the actual person\'s history, plus making it seem logical in a way.
Even then, the story is rather slowly paced, and with the heavy amount of dialogue, it is easy for most viewers to get bored.
There is a twist near the end though which unfortunately, did not surprise me due to the mistake of reading a spoiler posted by another person....
Still, it concluded pretty well
Character:
There are a lot of characters in this anime, each with rather complicated names which does cause confusion eventually. The 4 musketeers are the main characters along with er... D\'Eon\'s sister Lia.
There isn\'t much to say about D\'Eon himself apart from his love for the country and people around him. Other sub-characters like Durand, Robin and Robbespiere were more interesting due to their complex or mysterious characteristics they gave out. They showed more development than D\'Eon himself, although this cannot be blamed due to the fact that he had to share his screentime with his sister
There were some underdeveloped characters too, like his fiance, Queen Marie, Madame Pompordour and the duke, but they did not affect too much of the story.
Since this anime focuses mainly on the plot and storyline, the character development pales in comparison, but they still have their own significant characteristics
Overall, this series is definitely a keeper.
I might even rewatch this because of some confusion during the later episodes. Since this has a western setting, japanese voices do not sound that suitable as well, although I don\'t think I\'ll watch dubs too since most of those I watched had disappointed me.
Nevertheless, its an excellent anime worth watching if you like a unique plot. But not recommended for people who just want to watch it for action.
