About the Mangaka

This is a collaboration work between Ubukata Tou, who wrote the original story, and Yumeji Kiriko who drew the art. This appears to be Yumeji-sensei’s first foray into manga, and she did a mind blowing job on the art. Ubukata-sensei however is no stranger, being the mind behind some large productions, including Heroic Age and Sokyuu no Fafner.

About the Manga

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This is a series that’s getting better and better as the volumes come out!! I had hoped to include volume six in this post, but it hasn’t arrived yet *throws tantrum*

Anyways, I love this series and feel the manga blows the anime away completely. The story really picks up in these two volumes, with a lot more delicious art to drool over.

Loli fans get a treat in the form of Emma and Ange, the loli poets, including skimpy frilly gothic outfit and weird blades. You have to love the way that Kiriko takes the normal outfit of early France, and turns them into a sexy outfit. That said it is a bit creepy when it’s d’Eon here we have a guy who changes into a total babe with ultra frilly dress, big breasts, a killers sword and eerie eyes :)

Kiriko’s art is some of the richest and most divine looking I’ve ever seen in a manga, and to be honest I find it very hard to believe this is her first foray into manga. Her cover art designs alone are some of the most breath taking I’ve seen of late.

She does have a habit of having to much going on at times however. This gives the panels and pages a bit of a cluttered feel. While it does add a bit to the atmosphere that Tou was trying to create, it makes it a bit hard to follow at times.

However her character designs really make up for it in my mind. I do wonder what it is with her designs though, almost all of the girls could fall into the loli category, even the supposed adults, such as Madame de Pompadour. The other characters that have been introduced are equally as unique. I especially like Jean le Rond d’Alembert, whose design puts me in mind of the Joker from Batman.

Volume six looks like we’re going to get an even kinkier character design, in the form of a skimpily clad pirate outfit >.<

Tou’s story is really starting to come out now as well, and boy what a story it is. As truths become revealed my understanding of what’s going on is being changed. Thing’s I had thought of as fact are suddenly proven false. Volume five was the biggest changes for me, as things that were hidden are brought to light and d’Eon is forced to make the final choice.

I really wish someone would license the novels of this series, as this is a story that needs to be told in it’s entirety. The anime fails IMO, and the manga while amazing, feels as though there’s more to be told. Though I guess since I know there’s a novel, I suppose that’s to be expected.

Oddly there’s been a lot of criticism over this series, usually saying the characters are flat. I don’t really see it that way. The character development isn’t in you’re face style like most manga are. Rather it’s subtle and slow to come out, which contrasts really well with the fast pace of the actual story. Actually, to be honest, I find the development all the better because of the way Tou handles it.

I have to admit I love Del Rey’s handling of this title, they really do a awesome job on the series. I’ve yet to find anything that hints to a re-write. Though I do wish they’d use a higher paper quality, and a whiter one. I think the art would look all the better on white paper.

There is one other problem that this series suffers badly, and that’s guttering. Everyone of the volumes has some extremely bad guttering. I find I’m having to bend the book back half a dozen times a volume, which is very bad for the books spine.

This title is easily deserving of being on my Essential Read list, in fact I think it’s safe to say it’s up there in my top 5 all time favourite series. It’s also one of the titles I frequently reread.

Where to Buy

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