Zel-kun’s Words

Labor Day Weekend.

Nothing quite like three days off.  Especially since I was actually able to relax this time.  I spent Saturday doing as little as possible (mainly playing Castlevania: Curse of Darkness), and Sunday having a nice dinner at my mother’s house.  Labor day I spent playing Star Ocean, an RPG I’ve had sitting on my shelf for ages, and I’m almost at the part I was before I put the thing down in the first place.

And, for the first time in ages, I sat down and watched some anime.  It was an interesting little series entitled Chevalier d’Eon (I had to look up how to spell that).  It definitely gets points for creativity.  Unlike 99.9% of anime (pulled that number out of my Astounding Statistic Synthesizer), it does not take place in Japan or China.  No, it takes place in France, not long before the French Revolution (the time of Louis XV).  Its also very well-studied, the names and places, even most of the characters, are historically accurate (with a few liberties taken to make the story interesting, of course).

The anime details the story of D’Eon Beaumont, a Dragoon and member of the King’s secret police, as he attempts to unravel the mystery behind his sister’s murder.  It is a story of political intrigue, swordfights, with some sorcery thrown in for good measure.  The characters are interesting, and the plot is involving, the series succeeds in almost every way.

Sorta-Spoiler (you find this out in the end of the first episode):

There is a completely unnessessary aspect of the series: his sister’s soul is trapped inside him.  So, whenever he gets in a fight, she takes over, and slices the enemy up, all the while the camera-work making him look like a woman.  The whole thing seems detrimental not only to the character of D’Eon, but to the series as well.  Luckily, this aspect isn’t used very often.  And who knows, maybe it’ll evolve into something interesting, I’m only on episode four.

I can’t really hold that against the series, though, considering the life of the historical D’Eon Beaumont.

So, I’ll see how that goes.

Zel-kun out.