While the anime "Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet" a.k.a. "Boarding School Juliet" is a romance story similar in some ways to the classic Romeo and Juliet, it is not a completely sad story, being more about how you meet obstacles in life and it can be entirely up to you and the effort you put in overcoming them.
Story & Characters
The story is about a guy Romio INUZUKA, belonging to the "Black Dogs" faction, who was secretly admiring a girl Juliet PERSIA, belonging to the "White Cats" faction. As their factions are rivals, he was never able to express his feelings towards her as it would spell betrayal to fall in love with the enemy, not only for him, but for her as well if she were to accept his feelings. The only way they could ever have a relationship is if they keep it secret, but obviously that brings lots of issues with it, and there is no way it could be future-proof, unless they have the power to change the world.
The characters are not really that complex, although some of them come with a twist, but you can figure them out rather fast and I would've preffered to see more growth in them. Because of this, their progress towards their actual goal felt rather stagnant. There is not much to be shown in their developement and until the last few episodes, as most of the shown story is about them trying to figure out how to be together, rather than actually working towards their goal. While they do overcome hurdles, and while some of those do take an important role in their initial goal, it still feels like the progress towards it is lacking. Maybe a second season would cover that up and focus more on their personal growth towards accomplishing their ideals, rather than accomplishing their love desires (no, not that kind of "love desires").
Animation & Sound
In the department of sound and animation it is what you would expect from your average anime. Nothing in particular to be bothered with, but nothing revolutionary either. Although the sound sometimes felt off for the scene, I don't think it's a big deal.
Overall
It looked to me like it was a comedy with a (forbidden) love theme rather than a love story, as things are seldom treated seriously, but there are scenes that do leave an impact if you get into the story. While it has its fun moments that distract you from their actually sad situation, when it comes down to it, it can bring out the right feelings. It was rather enjoyable and somewhat relatable, however this can be only said subjectively. You should give it a try if you're into love stories with a touch of comedy... or maybe comedies with a touch of love and drama? Either way, I think it was a decent anime regardless of the genre confusion.
Screenshots
