Le Chevalier d'Eon Vol. #1
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September 02, 2007
by: Michael Bartholow
18th Century France is overrunning with Gargoyles!
Manga Description: A mysterious cult is sacrificing beautiful young women to a demonic force that has promised them the kingdom of France in return for the blood of their victims. Only one man can save Paris from chaos and terror–the Chevalier d’Eon!
Content: (This section may include spoilers).
Le Chevalier d'Eon is a story by author Tou Ubukata, and written & drawn by Kiriko Yumeji, and published in North America, courtesy of Del Rey Manga. The lead character of D'Eon de Beaumont is based on a real-life 18th Century Frenchman, known equally for his fantastic sword-skills and gender-bending tendancies. According to his Wikipedia entry, he "lived the first half of his life as a man and the second half as a woman," a biography that would surely be infinitely more interesting than any adaption could surmise. And who would want to read a novel/manga/anime series so very steeped in Roccoco French design, right? Wrong! "Le Chevalier d'Eon" is actually a hugely entertaining and lavishly visual series across all of its forms of execution.
The story goes something like this: Right before the French Revolution a cult begins a bloody, possibly biblically-inspired rampage. The first victim is Lia de Beaumont, sister to a member of the King's secret police. Her body is discovered in a casket with "PSAMLS" scrawled on the lid in plasma.
Everyone in town knows D'Eon as a bit of a bumbling putz. Is it a clever act of distraction? Well...yes and no. His swordsmanship and loyalty are to be taken seriously though, and the King never forgets that. D'Eon is put onto the cult case in hopes of unravelling their creepy, literate web of murder. Things get stickier as it's discovered that the cult is creating 1/2 corpse/zombie beings called "Gargoyles" using recitation and the the replacement of the victim's blood with mercury. +2 Alchemy!
All would normally be for naught, but D'Eon has a trick up his sleeve. It seems that Lia's soul entered his body after her death and that she now occupies a strange, nursery-themed room in his mind. When she unlocks herself, D'Eon morphs into his dead sister, who is now all grown up, wielding a rapier, and ready to disseminate any and all unfriendly cult members.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first volume of the manga, and found it to be sufficiently different in terms of style and plot to separate it just a tad from the amazing anime series (A 2007 MUST WATCH!).
 Click on the image for more examples of Le Chevalier d'Eon's art, courtesy of Del Rey Manga.
Le Chevalier d'Eon © 2005 Tou Ubukata and Kiriko Yumeji / KODANSHA LTD. All rights reserved.
Art: While the Chevalier anime has a very clean, sterile look of technical achievement, the manga presents a gritty, wildly sketched franticness that is both hectic and engrossing. It's a book that is almost meant to be speed-read. The anime series' attention to architecture and the sweeping grandiosity of decadent 18th Century France is definately scaled down in favor of blowing character costuming and dark moodiness. The manga is by no means "Chev" light (haha, French goat cheese joke anyone? I'll stop now), but rather presents the series up-close and personal, compared to the amazing over-verse of the animated show. And, as mentioned, Yumeji's character designs are pretty amazing. Everything is interesting to look at and there's a real sense of urgency in the lines.
Del Rey went with a snazzy matte cover art for the first volume that nails the reader with a high-color, deep purple look at Lia in attack mode over a messy, block-print and blood-stained white/silver background. Tre cool.
Translation: No spelling nor grammatical mistakes were found on the first read-through of the manga, and sound effects were translated in a legible and unobtrusive way. The in-depth translation notes in the rear of the book provide some background on a few of the story's more confusing points, such as the evil cult's symbology and biblical references. Notes from the author, an overview of the series by story creator Ubukata, and tidbits about 18th Century France round out the bonus features.
The Bottom Line: Rarely do we find that book or series that defies nitpicking. As reviewers, we're all essentially looking for the negatives in a given product. Del Rey's Le Chevalier d'Eon is quite close to flawless, making a truly accurate assessment difficult. The book is rated 16+ for it's violent content, but more so, I find that the work would best be savored by those with a lean towards historical fiction, novelizations, and other literary persuasions. There is just a little bit of a "barrier of entry" for Joe Buy-Some-Manga, but once in the door, I wager that he'll have a good time either decoding the bad guys' weird, poetry-based cult manifesto or taking in the flashing swordplay. I enjoyed both.
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Content |
History, decadence, and zombies. This book has it all. |
9.7 |
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Art |
Wild and inspired. So worth it to flip-through at the bookstore! |
9.2 |
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Translation |
Nice historical additions push down the learning curve. |
8.5 |
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Verdict
Hard to do much better for $11 worth of black and white Japanese comic. Highly enjoyable for those that like frilly costumes, long-names, and oddball cults.
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9.2
[not an average]
+ Super Art! Samurai Sword style meets French-Pomp
+ Come on, historical zombies.
- I turned the pages too quickly, paper-cut central!
- Not as mind-blowing as the titular animated show.
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