For some reason, I always associate the Le Chevalier Robin with Robin from Batman. Sure, they’re both sidekicks, but while Batman Robin can actually fight, Le Chev Robin just kinda cowers in fear and waves his gun around…
DVD Blurb:
The politics of dancing have never been more deadly.
After meeting with the Russian royalty, D’Eon and his comrades find themselves in the Empress’ favor. Yet she has partners who want to cut in, cut them out, and cut her throat.
And as the tempo of this political waltz speeds up, darker and more dangerous missteps are made.
Secret sorcerers show their true faces. Powerful players make desperate moves. D’Eon, at last, comes face-to-face with the traitor to his cause and, quite possibly, the one responsible for his sister Lia’s demise.
Analysis:
I complained about volume 2 not having enough action and too much political blah blah blah. Luckily, volume 3 includes plenty of action (read: zombie punching) and the political drama that happens is actually somewhat interesting. There’s two (2) assassination attempts, with one being successful. If at first you don’t succeed…
There were still a few parts where I could have nodded off, but overall, I think each episode was fairly well balanced. The story is still moving awfully slow, but they did advance the plot a bit. D’eon and the others finally catch a glimpse of the Royal Psalms. And they look like… the DVD cover! I thought that was pretty sweet. I thought the villain was going to say something like “I have in my hands… volume 4! I know everything that will happen, and therefore, I can destroy you!” Kind of like that one scene in Spaceballs.
According to my calculations, the amount of zombie stabbing/slashing counteracted the political drama by a ratio of 7:5, which is definitely an improvement. Hopefully the gang’s zombie fighting adventures don’t let up when they arrive in England for the next volume.
Extras:
Did I mention how sweet it was that the Royal Psalms look like the DVD cover? I think I did. This volume has a bunch of commentary tracks by the English VAs. They’re sorta gimmicky, like one is with the VAs who play the Russians, another is by the VAs who do the Poets… I’d still rather listen to the two boring girls talk about translation and period France.
As with the last two volumes, there’s also a booklet with historical info, an interview with the Japanese VA of D’eon, and other stuff. Hey, I didn’t know D’eon’s voice was also Asakura Jun’ichi from Da Capo!
Conclusion:
Slowly, the mysteries behind the plot of Chevalier are beginning to surface. I’d say the plot is still going way too slowly, but at least it’s finally going somewhere. Plus, there’s a whole lot more zombies munching on people / zombies getting pwned by Le Chev. I think we can all stand behind that.
Many thanks to ADV for sending me a review copy of Le Chevalier d’Eon – Danse Macabre (Vol. 3)!
One reply on “Le Chevalier d’Eon – Danse Macabre (Vol. 3): Anime DVD Review”
Entirely appropriate for the Chevalier Robin. “Chevalier” in French is about the same as “Knight” in English. That leaves us with “Brave Sir Robin” as in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. A more appropriate role model than Batman’s sidekick, I’d say!