Yay or Nay?: Romeo x Juliet (Anime & Manga) (Reading Week Special)

In fair Verona where we lay our scene...

This review is so fitting. Literally, a week ago I was forced to write an essay response discussing the roles of marginalized characters in Shakespeare. For such an essay, I cried and then proceeded to try to explain how Ophelia and Thersites from Hamlet and Troilus and Cressida were essential characters to the story.

It did not go well. 

And this is me now. 

(Olga: I read that essay, kindly revised, and IT WAS WAY BETTER THAN MEGHAN SAYS. What a drama queen :-p )

Anyway, it got me thinking about this anime, one of the most underrated animes of all time. Literally. If you haven't seen Romeo x, Juliet, this is something you need to go see right away. It combines the best parts of Shakespeare into an epic-fantasy story about revenge, love, and redemption. 

So sit down, shut-up and let me tell you about this awesome piece of awesome which is the reason I start crying whenever I hear You Raise Me Up sung in Japanese or English. 

The Rose and the Iris. 

Spoilers Ahead!

The Story 

This is Romeo:

He's a sweet little cutie. (Olga thinks he's a communist) 

This is Juliet: 

A mutherfucking badass who kicks ass. 

Once upon a time...or rather, in fair Verona where we lay our scene, the floating island of "Neo-Verona" there was a coup d'état, wherein Leontes Montague came to the castle where the Duke and Duchess of Verona resided and killed the entire House of Capulet. He took the throne, and sixteen years later, the city of Neo-Verona lives in fear, all the while the Duke searches for the "lost Capulet girl", the sole survivor of House Capulet who was saved by supporters of the Capulets. 

Enter the Red Whirlwind (or in the manga he's referred to as the Crimson Whirlwind). 

The Vigilante who plays a Robin Hood-like figure, saving young maidens, and defending the innocents from the tyrant Montague. 

His name is Odin, but as the viewer will find out, he and Juliet are the same person (cue Twelfth Night reference).

She lives in a secret place inside the theatre of William Shakespeare (yes they make him a part of the show! And they have awesome references with him!). Juliet lives with her sister-like friend Cordelia, her twin-brother Francisco, and his friend Curio, and a former-knight of the House Capulet, Conrad and his grand-son Antonio. 

Francisco, Romeo, Juliet, and Curio

Juliet thinks not much of it, but she does wonder why she must dress as a boy to go out. On the night of her sixteenth birthday, she discovers she is Juliet Fiammata Ars dei Capulet, the sole survivor of the House, and heir to Neo-Verona. 

Little do her friends know that the night before, on an escapade with one of Shakespeare's actresses, Emelia, Juliet went to Montague's castle to attend the "Rose Ball", where she meets Romeo. She has met him earlier though, as he saved her when she was disguised as the Red Whirlwind. 

Now, she must learn to cope with this information while trying to take back Verona and deal with her growing relationship with Romeo.

There are more plotlines, however, I shan't spoil anymore! 

My Thoughts 

Well, I love this anime, and I love the manga too. They're incredibly similar in content, so whichever you read, you'll be getting a very similar story. 

The idea is fantastic too. To combine all of Shakespeare's best plays, so Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and I believe, Othello and A Midsummer Night's Dream are all jam-packed into this. And it works flawlessly. There are tons of references to each individual play, and the names of the characters all reflect different characters from Shakespeare. 

However, I suppose the best parts of this are the feelings. Rarely, an anime makes me feel this good about it, but my god, there are so many different emotions to feel. It's not just Romeo and Juliet, but it's the revenge tragedy, it's the redemption arc, it learning to become a leader and face up to one's challenges. 

Most of all, each character in this anime has a backstory and is developed incredibly well. This is only 20 or 24 episodes, but there are about 5 or 6 different plot threads sown in. Some of them have to do with love and loss, yes, but others are about taking revenge, and learning to grow. 

Romeo, although he takes on the more feminine role of the traditional Juliet, has some great development throughout the anime. He's a pampered royal, who doesn't understand, at first, Juliet's predicament. But later, he's forced to come out of that shell to understand, to the point where most things are taken from him. 

Ophelia 

Juliet, too, has to learn that she can't save everyone, and that building this world that she wants to live in with Romeo may not be possible without bloodshed. In the beginning, she's tough but idealistic. By the end, she understands the meaning of sacrifice and leadership. 

Even Lord Montague, who I swear is the craziest, most irredeemable son of a bitch that I've ever met, well, he'll always be irredeemable, but they show one thing to indicate that there's a reason he's become the monster that he is. And that revenge is cyclical. It comes to haunt him.

(Olga: Best character is Curio! That's my fave)

To be clear though, the Hamlet in the story is not Juliet, but someone else who will be nameless. 

The attention to detail shows in both the animation and in the English Dub. For this one, I would prefer watching the dub, although there's nothing wrong with the sub. However, the dub puts emphasis on speaking as Shakespeare did, through iambic pentameter (throwback to English classes eh?) while still retaining an easy-to-understand meaning. 

My favourite voice actor of all time (for English dubs anyway) is in this one. It's Eric Vale if you care, and he voices Francisco, who is also my favourite character because he reminds me of an elf, and...other reasons, but to do so would involve spoiling something huge. 

This was legit my phone screensaver for at least my entire first year of University.

There is a struggle in this anime, and it's never fully resolved, not at least until the end. But even then, some characters don't seem to have happy endings, and I can appreciate this for the reason that Shakespeare himself often liked to play with genre, and manipulate it in his own way.

And, I don't know, I think he might've appreciated it if he was alive today. I am not an expert on his scholarship, but, I think this is a clever manipulation of the greatest stories in British literature. That, and it doesn't necessarily follow the conventions of a typical anime either. 

The shift of focus is a huge aspect, but it also helps to carry along the story, for example, Tybalt's plot points are INCREDIBLY interesting and relevant to the story. He's a much more major character than he was in Shakespeare's play. He's integral to this story, and he develops as well in a great way. He's spiteful, hateful, and righteous, but you'll find out why if you watch it. 

Tybalt's first appearance. It is possibly, one of the best scenes I've ever watched. 

Pay attention to these characters. I wish this anime got more attention than it has. I was able to actually purchase the full series on DVD in both Japanese and English for about 20$ when other, more popular anime go for the 50-60$ range. 

But this one deserves so much attention! 

This is the best way I can describe it. It is a whirlwind of emotion, and I think if you hated reading Shakespeare, give this one a shot because it combines all the feelings his plays were meant to portray into a mega-edition of it. Even writing this I want to go back and watch my favourite episodes. 

It's not all hearts and roses, as I've said. It's heartbreak and tragedy as well. It's a conundrum in the best way. 

My Rating 

My rating is a full-out YAY! 

I loved this anime, and I would (as I've already mentioned) watch it many times over. It's one of my favourites, and it will always continue to be! 

Please, give it a try! 

~Meghan