STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: SERIES - “Romeo × Juliet”
Retelling a Shakespeare play is nothing new. It has been told and retold all over the world either in its traditional text and setting, or with a contemporary version of it. These stories so easily accessible are the themes they dive into. One of, if not THE most famous of these plays, is Romeo and Juliet, a topic that has been previously explored with After Juliet.
So what kind of adaptation of this story are we in for? Well, it’s anime, so that should give you a big clue.
Directed by Fumitoshi Oizaki, and written by Reiko Yoshida, Romeo × Juliet is an epic fantasy set on the floating island of Neo Verona. The prologue shows a coup d'état taking place led by Lord Leontes Van De Montague, who assassinates the current ruler of Neo Verona, Lord Capulet. His daughter, Juliet Fiammata Arst De Capulet, and a faction of surviving Capulet members and loyalists successfully flee, and go into hiding from Montague’s tyrannical reign.
For the past fourteen years, Juliet has been instructed to dress as a boy named Odin, being told that all will be explained why when she turns sixteen. As a boy, she also masquerades as a masked vigilante named the Red Whirlwind who saves the citizens of Neo Verona from Montague’s manhunt of the remaining Capulet members.
It is one of these missions where Juliet is saved by kind nobleman Romeo Candore De Montague, Lord Montague’s son. And it won’t be the first time they encounter each other.
From here, we get some epic storytelling revolving around Romeo and Juliet’s love, saving Neo Verona by retaking the throne from Lord Montague, Game of Thrones-style scheming and tactics among nobles, and the secret of Neo Verona itself, which involves something called Escalus.
While being a fantasy retelling of Romeo and Juliet, with characters being retooled to fit their story, the series also incorporates characters from other Shakespeare titles to fit the story, such as Lady Portia (The Merchant of Venice and Julius Caesar), Titus (Titus Andronicus), Emilia (Othello, The Winter's Tale, and The Two Noble Kinsmen).
There is even a tongue-in-cheek character named William, a playwright whom Juliet and her comrades are friends with. When we first meet him, he is in rehearsal for a play titled Otello. As expected, he is inspired to write a play based on Romeo and Juliet’s experiences.
The romance between the star-crossed lovers is also portrayed really well. Juliet is torn between her duty as a Capulet and her love for Romeo; the same goes for Romeo. Even though he is his father’s son, he is disillusioned by his rule, and very much sympathizes with the Red Whirlwind’s mission. Luckily, their friends are very supportive of their relationship, even if they weren’t at first.
Where the story can be considered “jumping the shark” is the revelation of Escalus. In the original play, Escalus is the actual prince of Verona. Here… well, let’s just say Escalus is VERY important for Neo Verona’s survival, and if you’ve played Tales of Symphonia, you’re about to get flashbacks.
I’m not a huge fan of Shakespeare in general, but I absolutely love the premise of this series. I love watching classic stories taking place a more genre-specific setting, like sci-fi or fantasy. That’s really the only reason why I bought this series.
One thing I have to praise is the script for the English dub for the series. While the Japanese script (I’m assuming based on the subtitles) is written in contemporary dialogue, the English language adaptation has the characters speak in Shakespearean dialogue, with some of lines inspired from the famous lines from Romeo and Juliet.
It’s already a difficult job to write a script that tells the same story and matching the lip flaps, but head writer Taliesin Jaffe and the other script writers do an amazing job of writing an easily accessible and comprehensible script that gives the audience a similar experience of watching one of Shakespeare’s plays.
Romeo × Juliet is probably not a series that will please Shakespeare fans, but for fans of anime and epic fantasy, it is one to watch. It’s a story that shows that no matter what your destiny is love will help you through it, and you won’t be alone going through it.
As of the writing of this post, you can watch the first four episodes of the English dub, the second episode having a majority of the Shakespeare-inspired dialogue, and all 24 episodes in Japanese, English subbed on Funimation’s official YouTube page.
Take flight on a Dragon Steed and check it out.
