pikachu203's avatar

pikachu203

  • USA
  • Joined Apr 11, 2013
  • 26 / F

Romeo x Juliet

Jun 4, 2013

I will start this off by saying I am a fan of Shakespeare and adaptations of his plays in various media.  For example, I love The Lion King, which is based off of Hamlet(It is!  Look it up...) and Kiss Me, Kate, based on The Taming of the Shrew.  Unfortunately, when it comes to Romeo and Juliet, certain versions of it in modern times have left me in tears, while I prefer to stay away from others.  When I watched this anime, I hoped it wasn't going to be a cheesy romance story, and to my happiness, it was not.  It was a great fantasy series and a fantastic adaptation of Shakespeare's masterpiece.

Story(9/10):

Usually, when I watch anime, I don't expect much out of the story.  There have been very few that I would consider amazing and unpredictable.  Unfortunately, I did find some things slightly predictable, as well as some episodes, while others were less predictible. It also seemed to repeat the 'just saved in the nick of time' scenario a bit.  Also, the ending is probably what you would expect it to be.

The premise is unique and entertaining, and very different from the play.  Wheras in the original Shakespearean work Romeo and Juliet the Montagues and the Capulets were feuding families in Verona, while in Romeo x Juliet the duke Montague murdered the Capulets in order to take over Neo Verona, leaving Juliet as the only survivor.  I enjoyed the differences between the original play and the anime, as it made it feel more like an adaptation then a copy of the play itself, and it did have quotes and places where the story was similar.  The series also did a good job of connecting certain events back to the play itself, like with Romeo and Juliet in the balcony beside the convent.

In a way, it felt like a more fanciful adaptation of the original, with pegasi and floating citites.  

The romance in the series between Romeo and Juliet is innocent and adorable, which happens to be the type of romance I like most.  While some people might prefer more intimate moments between the two romantic leads, but I liked it the way it was.  It's still enough to make a fangirl squeal.

Animation(7/10):

The animation in this series has it's good points and it's bad points.  So I'll start by listing some bad things I noticed/didn't enjoy.  

  • The character designs weren't my favorite on some of the characters, while I liked them on others.  
  • Rooms usually had very little detail or adornments.
  • There wasn't very much to look at other than well made buildings in Neo Verona, so while the backgrounds were pretty, they didn't really change that for the majority of the time in the city there was very little to detail.
  • It may be that I've watched a lot of anime with a certain style, but I'm not a huge fan of the way hair is drawn in this series.  However, that's just me nitpicking.

Now that I've pointed out some things that I did enjoy in the series.  

  • I liked how Romeo and Juliet's designs complimented one another in their colors.
  • Backgrounds, while minimalistic in certain areas and detailed in others, were beautiful and well done.   
  • The flowers!  I loved the way flowers were drawn in the series, especially the most important ones, irises.  They provided color and were a wonderful sight to see in certain scenes to brighten up areas.  In fact, all of the natural aspects of the anime, including trees, flowers, miscelaneous plants and animals, were very well done.
  • The attention to small details where they existed was very nice.

Sound (8/10):


Usually, when I'm watching an anime I watch it in Japanese and not English.  This is one of those select few that I would probably watch in English.  While the voice actors are fitting in both languages, the English cast not only did a very good job, but they highlight more quotes and references then the Japenese version does.  I would recomend watching the English version to people who would like to watch the anime because they enjoy Shakespeare and would love to hear most of these references, while people who usually prefer to watch it in Japanese should watch it in Japanese. 

In the music section, I realized some songs were taken from other places.  For example, when the opening happens, the song is a version of "You Raise Me Up" is sung in Japanese.  I know that song wasn't written by the creators/musical staff.  Another song that I recognized was "Lascia ch'io Pianga", a classical Italian aria, played during the scene in the church.  Both pieces fit nicely, though it was rather weird to hear the two of them(especially the second one!) playing in the background of an anime.  The only other problem I had with the music was the original ending.  It was a rock piece that didn't fit well with the mood of the anime.  I did, however like the second opening, which was more melodic and fit nicely.

Characters (8/10):

I'll start with the major characters.  I prefered Romeo to Juliet, and I think they were both flawed perfectly, making them good characters.  However, Juliet's personality did bother me occasionally. The two of them are both given a good amount of development.  However, the interesting secondary/minor characters really made the show.

There were some secondary characters/minor characters made the show more interesting.  I loved many of them, so I'll point out a few.  Antonio was adorable, and served as a good 'little brother' figure for Juliet, while Tybalt was hot and served as a great 'big brother' figure for Juliet.  I loved how Fransisco lightened the show's mood by being a flirt, and I just love characters like him for whatever reason.  He and Willy lightened up the show in certain areas, which was nice when it was grim and tragic.  Speaking of Willy...  He's hilarious, and I like how they incorperated him as an 'author'.  Obviously he was placed there as a character to be like Shakespeare himself, as you will find out later in the series.  I wish that the secondary characters had more time in the 'spotlight', so they could be given more backstory and depth, because they were very likeable.

Enough of the good characters, however.  I disliked a few of them.  I really didn't like Hermione or Emilia, mainly because of their personalities.

Overall (8/10):

Romeo x Juliet is a great anime that I would highly recomend to a romance lover or a fantasy lover.  Shakespeare fans who like modern adaptations of his work would also enjoy this.

Sorry for any errors: It's my first time writing a review. 

9/10 story
7/10 animation
8/10 sound
8/10 characters
8/10 overall

You must be logged in to leave comments. or

There are no comments - leave one to be the first!