Le Chevalier D'Eon
Encyclopedia
is a 24-episode anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 TV series produced by Production I.G based on an original story by Tow Ubukata
Tow Ubukata
is a Japanese science fiction light novel, manga and anime creator. He spent ages four to nine of his childhood in Singapore and ages 10 to 14 in Nepal. In Nepal, Ubukata made great effort to maintain his Japanese heritage and language abilities; he read dictionaries to keep in touch with his...

. The anime originally aired in Japan on WOWOW
WOWOW
WOWOW was the first private satellite broadcasting and pay TV station in Japan. It has its headquarters on the 21st floor of the Akasaka Park Building in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo...

 from August 19, 2006 to February 2, 2007. The story has also been adapted into a manga series written by Tow Ubukata and illustrated by Kiriko Yumeji, which was first published in 2005. The titular character is loosely based on the historical figure Chevalier d'Eon
Chevalier d'Eon
Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d'Éon de Beaumont , usually known as the Chevalier d'Éon, was a French diplomat, spy, soldier and Freemason whose first 49 years were spent as a man, and whose last 33 years were spent as a woman...

, who lived in the middle of 18th century, pre-Revolutionary France under the reign of Louis XV.

Le Chevalier D'Eon was originally licensed to the North American market by ADV Films, but it became one of over thirty titles transferred from ADV to Funimation Entertainment
Funimation Entertainment
Funimation is an American entertainment company. Originally founded in 1994 by Gen Fukunaga, the company became a subsidiary of Navarre Corporation on May 11, 2005...

 in 2008.

Plot

The story begins in Paris 1753, when the body of a woman named Lia de Beaumont is found in a casket floating along the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...

. The only clue regarding her death is the word "Psalms", which is written in blood on the lid of the casket. D'Eon de Beaumont, Lia's younger brother and a knight in service of King Louis XV, takes it upon himself to investigate his sister's mysterious death, along with the strange disappearances of a number of French women. In his journey he comes across three companions to help him.

Themes

The series' themes center around 18th century France, which Ubukata believes to have resulted in a new set of cultural traditions as well as several tragedies. According to him, "the problems stemmed from the fact that no one knew exactly which ideas would lead to greater happiness. In a word, they were forced to live under the burden of contradiction." This is what made Chevalier D'Eon "fitting figure to cast as protagonist" because he embodied all of the contradictions of that time period, which Ubukata lists as "Wealth and poverty, faith and heresy, diplomacy and conspiracy, king and commoner, even the devastation of war and the flowering of culture." Ubukata also used this theme in conceptualizing the use of psalms as "dark magic". He said that he "hoped that the irony of using the abstract idea of 'prayers to God' to describe evil would be seen as equally tragic by people of many different faiths and religions."

Writing

Scriptwriter Shotaro Suga was contacted by Tetsuya Nakatake at the beginning of the project, and agreed to work with them when he was informed that Tow Ubukata and Kazuhiro Furuhashi
Kazuhiro Furuhashi
is a Japanese anime director and supervisor, born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. He is amongst anime's most foremost directors, having directed and helmed the entire Rurouni Kenshin series , the You're Under Arrest series, GetBackers, Hunter x Hunter, Zipang, Le Chevalier D'Eon,...

 were taking part in the production. He was unable to work on the project immediately, as he was also working on Eureka Seven
Eureka Seven
Eureka Seven, known in Japan as , is a mecha anime TV series by Bones. Eureka Seven tells the story of Renton Thurston and the outlaw group Gekkostate, his relationship with the enigmatic mecha pilot Eureka, and the mystery of the Coralians....

at the time. Suga admitted to being nervous about working with Furuhashi, whom he described as an "experienced director" because the other series he worked on (such as Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
is an anime television series produced by Production I.G and based on Masamune Shirow's manga Ghost in the Shell. It was written and directed by Kenji Kamiyama, with original character design by Hajime Shimomura and a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno...

, Blood+
Blood+
Blood+, pronounced as "Blood Plus", is an anime series produced by Production I.G and Aniplex and directed by Junichi Fujisaku. The series premiered in Japan on Sony's anime satellite channel, Animax, as well as on terrestrial networks such as MBS, TBS, and RKB on October 8, 2005. The final episode...

, Eureka Seven, and Casshern
Casshern
is a 2004 Japanese tokusatsu film adaptation of the anime series of the same name. It was written and directed by Kazuaki Kiriya. It stars Yusuke Iseya as Tetsuya Azuma/Casshern, Kumiko Aso as Luna Kozuki, Toshiaki Karasawa as Burai, Mayumi Sada as Saguree, and Jun Kaname as Barashin.-Plot:A...

) were by first-time directors. He described the script readings for Le Chevalier D'Eon as "ever more intense" than his previous projects, and that they all "kept on debating to scrutinize each and every detail." Chief writer Yasuyuki Muto noted that their script meetings lasted as long as twelve hours.

Muto was in charge of the script for eleven out of the twenty-four episodes. Ubukata and Furuhashi provided the ideas for the episodes, which the writing staff then adapted into the scripts. "Director Furuhashi as well as Ubukata-san, who is a novelist, both put a lot of weight on the dialogues", Muto said. Suga commented that "[c]ompared to other works, the script for Le Chevalier D'Eon is enormous", noting that one episode had a one hundred-page script. Muto noted that their main focus while writing was the "...'emotion' of each character". Muto was present during the productions' post-recording sessions, primarily because he believed that it would be easier for the staff to have a writer on-hand in case problems arose during recordings.

According to Furuhashi, the script for the series took about roughly ten months to complete, and that thanks to their collaboration with a novelist (Ubukata), the script contained 30 to 40 percent more information than a regular television script.

Design and animation

Art director Hiroshi Ono stated that he initially could not make up his mind whether to work on this project or not, saying "The information they gave me was enough to see that this was not going to be a straightforward job. The story takes place in Versailles and stretches from France to Russia and England. This means that you can't reuse the same background elements throughout the series, and instead you have to create new ones for each episode. Traveling stories are always the most difficult projects of all." Ono was responsible for the background designs used in the series, and he used photographs and classical paintings as references. 3D CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...

 was used in the creation of certain backgrounds and settings for the series, such as the Hall of Mirrors
Hall of Mirrors (Palace of Versailles)
The Hall of Mirrors is the central gallery of the Palace of Versailles and is renowned as being one of the most famous rooms in the world.As the principal and most remarkable feature of King Louis XIV of France's third building campaign of the Palace of Versailles , construction of the Hall of...

.

toi8 of Studio 4°C
Studio 4°C
is a Japanese animation studio founded by Eiko Tanaka in 1986. The name comes from the temperature at which water is most dense.-History:STUDIO4°C has produced numerous feature films, OVAs, and shorts. Early film titles include; Memories , Spriggan and Princess Arete...

 took on the role of designing the weapons and props for the series. He utilized different reference materials for his designs, saying that he "relied on images in books and on the web" as well as films such as Fanfan la Tulipe
Fanfan la Tulipe
Fanfan la Tulipe is a 1952 French comedy adventure film directed by Christian-Jaque. It has also been categorized under swashbuckler films. The film starred Gérard Philipe and Gina Lollobrigida. The film was remade in 2003 with Penélope Cruz in Lollobrigida's role.-Plot summary:The film is set in...

and The Affair of the Necklace
The Affair of the Necklace
The Affair of the Necklace is a 2001 American historical drama film directed by Charles Shyer. The screenplay by John Sweet is based on what became known as the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, an incident that helped fuel the French populace's disillusionment with the monarchy and, among other...

. toi8 was initially asked to work on the series' character designs, but the job was passed on to Tomomi Ozaki due to time constraints.

Ozaki noted that Furuhashi requested that the characters "should not look like manga characters or too real; and not too anime-like," and that he wanted the designs to be faithful to historical details. She said that she sometimes referred to historical portraits from the series' time period as reference for her designs, and also cited specific sources for her designs. "For Anna's hair, I imaged Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot is a French former fashion model, actress, singer and animal rights activist. She was one of the best-known sex-symbols of the 1960s.In her early life, Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer...

's hairstyles. For Count Guercy, I chose Jack Black
Jack Black
Jack Black , is an American actor and musician, notably of Tenacious D.Jack Black may also refer to:* Jack Black , late 19th - early 20th Century author and hobo* Jack Black , drummer for 1970s UK punk band The Boys...

 in School of Rock
School of Rock
School of Rock, also called The School of Rock, is a 2003 American musical comedy film directed by Richard Linklater, written by Mike White, and starring Jack Black...

. Durand comes from Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

, and Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...

 in Mask of Zorro was my model for Teillagory", she said.

The color schemes for the characters were decided upon by color designer Idumi Hirose. Due to the constant changes in time and location throughout the series, Hirose said that they sometimes had to use 20 to 30 different color schemes for each character in a single episode. Furuhashi requested that the "color trace" method, a coloring method wherein the solid black outlines are replaced by colored outlines, be used on the clothing of aristocratic female characters.

Music

Composer Michiru Oshima
Michiru Oshima
, is a Japanese composer who has worked on several video game, movie, and television titles. Her works include composition for the video games Genghis Khan II: Clan of the Gray Wolf for Super Nintendo, Ico for PlayStation 2, Legend of Legaia for the PlayStation , is a Japanese composer who has...

 stated that this is "the first time in years" that she was given the chance to compose pieces that were "very classical". She stated that while she was composing the music for the series, she was "consciously trying to add depth that's typical of European classical music", and that she believed that orchestral pieces suited the series well because the characters "are all serious and weighty."

The song "BORN", composed and performed by Miwako Okuda
Miwako Okuda
is a Japanese solo ballad, pop, and rock singer signed to BMG JAPAN INC.Miwako started singing when she was a child and has always expressed a passion to become a singer. After graduating from junior high, Miwako was discovered at a live performance with her friend's band and traveled to Tokyo to...

, is used as the series' opening theme for all twenty-four episodes. The series' ending theme ("OVER NIGHT" by Aya), which is also used for all twenty-four episodes, was specially composed for the project. Aya stated that she drew inspiration from the first illustration she was shown, which was of "D'Eon, splattered with the blood of his victim, [walking] in the burning city of Paris holding Lia's hands."

Media

Le Chevalier D'Eon was initially developed as a cross-media project that would be simultaneously released in novel, manga, and anime format. The three different mediums each presented a different interpretation of the Ubukata's story and protagonist, but he said that "each version complements the others."

Releases

Le Chevalier D'Eon aired in Japan on WOWOW
WOWOW
WOWOW was the first private satellite broadcasting and pay TV station in Japan. It has its headquarters on the 21st floor of the Akasaka Park Building in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo...

 from August 19, 2006 to February 2, 2007. Animax
Animax
is a Japanese anime satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. A subsidiary of Japanese media conglomerate Sony, it is headquartered in in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with its co-founders and shareholders including Sony Pictures Entertainment and the noted anime studios...

 also aired the series in Japan as well as its respective networks worldwide, including its English language networks in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

 and India. The first episode of the series was also screened at the Ottawa International Animation Festival
Ottawa International Animation Festival
-History:In 1976, the Canadian Film Institute founded the biennial Ottawa International Animation Festival . First held August 10 to 15, 1976, the OIAF created a gathering place for North American animation professionals and enthusiasts to ponder the craft and business of animation...

 in September 2006.

As of October 2007, Media Factory
Media Factory
is a Japanese publisher. It was founded on December 1, 1986, and its headquarters are situated in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Recruit Co., Ltd...

 released the series in DVD format in Japan with twelve volumes that contained two episodes each. The series was originally licensed in North America by ADV Films, but the rights to the series were transferred over to Funimation in 2008, along with the rights to several other anime series. ADV Films released the series in six DVD volumes with four episodes as of December 2007. In December 2008, Funimation released a complete box set of the series DVDs, which contains all the episodes in four discs. The first two discs contain commentaries along with some of the series' episodes, and an additional disc with exra content such as promotional videos and interviews with the original Japanese cast is also included. On December 1, 2009, Funimation released a DVD set containing all 24 episodes in the North America.

Manga

The manga, illustrated by Kiriko Yumeji and written by Tow Ubukata
Tow Ubukata
is a Japanese science fiction light novel, manga and anime creator. He spent ages four to nine of his childhood in Singapore and ages 10 to 14 in Nepal. In Nepal, Ubukata made great effort to maintain his Japanese heritage and language abilities; he read dictionaries to keep in touch with his...

, features a story that is almost entirely different from the anime series. It is described by Ubukata as "a humorous attempt at combining d'Eon de Beaumont, eighteenth century France, and a superhero story." The story focuses on d'Eon de Beaumont, a police officer who is also a member of King Louis XV's Secret Police (Le Secret du Roi), and his dealings with a cult that sacrifices virgins for their rituals.

The manga is serialized in Kodansha
Kodansha
, the largest Japanese publisher, produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo...

's Magazine Z and has been released in eight tankōbon
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...

 volumes, with the first volume having been published in October 2005 and the latest volume in September 2008. Del Rey
Del Rey Manga
was the manga-publishing imprint of Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books, which in turn is part of Random House, the publishing division of Bertelsmann. It was formed as part of a cross-publishing relationship with Japanese publisher Kodansha. Some of the Del Rey titles, such as Tsubasa...

 published the first volume of the manga in the United States on June 26, 2007, and has released all eight volumes as of July 27, 2010.

Soundtrack

The series' soundtrack was released by BMG Japan (now known as Sony BMG) on November 22, 2006. The soundtrack features twenty-eight tracks of background music used in the series as well as the short versions of the opening and ending themes.

Critical reception

Critics praised Le Chevalier D'Eon for its art design and animation. Tasha Robinson of Sci Fi Weekly praised the details in the designs, but stated that "the characters all have a flat-faced samey look; their costumes get far more attention than their faces, and the results are pretty but bland." Theron Martin of Anime News Network
Anime News Network
Anime News Network is an anime industry news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, Japanese popular music and other otaku-related culture within North America, Australia and Japan. Additionally, it sometimes features similar happenings throughout the Anglosphere and elsewhere in the...

 said "Background art varies a little more, from slightly rough to stunningly gorgeous, with some CG-crafted shots of Versailles rivaling even the exquisite detail of Gonzo's best work. Though the series does use some still scenes, neither they nor any other short cuts can be found in the well-choreographed sword fights, where the attention to detail (especially in rare anime shots of critical footwork) and shifting perspectives more than makes up for slight failings elsewhere." Chris Beveridge of Mania.com said that the "detail and apparent accuracy in many scenes is just great to look at". Similarly, Brett D. Rogers of Frames Per Second
Fps magazine
fps magazine or frames per second magazine was a magazine specializing in animation, with reviews of animated films and other articles of interest to animation fans....

magazine praised the design and animation, saying that they are "beautifully rendered in rococo and gothic style to create the look and feel of 18th-century France", though also stating that the "CGI is used to good result in reproducing the vast, opulent spaces of Versailles, but the transitions between these effects and the main body of animation are a bit coarse." The series' storyline earned mixed reactions from critics. Robinson complained that most of the series' storyline "falls flat", saying that it was "delivered too rapidly and with little affect". She also compared Le Chevalier D'Eon to GONZO
GONZO
, stylized as GONZO, is a Japanese anime studio, owned by the company's corporate parent, the GDH group. In June 2006, it signed a long-term output deal with the anime television network, Animax, which saw Animax broadcasting all of Gonzo's anime titles across all of its networks around the world,...

's Gankutsuou, describing both series as "heavily talky yet fast-moving enough to be confusing." Martin praised the series' pacing, saying that it is "one of the true keys to the quality of this series".

External links

  • Chevalier on WOWOW
    WOWOW
    WOWOW was the first private satellite broadcasting and pay TV station in Japan. It has its headquarters on the 21st floor of the Akasaka Park Building in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo...

    's official site
  • Chevalier on the ANIMAX
    Animax
    is a Japanese anime satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. A subsidiary of Japanese media conglomerate Sony, it is headquartered in in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with its co-founders and shareholders including Sony Pictures Entertainment and the noted anime studios...

     official site
  • Le Chevalier D'eon on the ANIMAX ASIA
    Animax Asia
    Animax Asia is the Japanese anime TV network Animaxs English language feeds in Southeast Asia and South Asia, as well as its feeds across other regions of mainland Asia, including Hong Kong and Taiwan...

     official site
  • Chevalier on Clappa's official site
  • Production I.G official site
  • Production I.G official site
  • http://web.archive.org/web/20071229223957/http://www.chevalier-deon.com/Official website for the Le Chevalier d'Eon manga (Internet Archive
    Internet Archive
    The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...

     version)]
  • Official Le Chevalier D'Eon Website at Funimation
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