Romeo x Juliet
I really like Romeo x Juliet. It doesn’t radiate sheer awesomeness like Lucky Star, neither does it produce the level of stylistic impact that Claymore delivers. It can be quite accurately described as fluff and honestly speaking it contains almost zero suspense, unpredictability and excitement. But I can’t help but watch on.
So why do I like it? I can’t really say for sure, but it’s entirely possible that maybe I’m just a huge idiot sentimentalist. That’s medical jargon for a type of fatal heart disease.
Romeo x Juliet is Gonzo‘s latest attempt at making famous dead people spin in their graves. Similar to Gankutsuou, it is an adaptation of a classic story reinvented with an anime twist. Or in other words, Gonzo is saving money on story writers again. Good thing William Shakespeare forgot to renew his copyright.
The story is about Romeo and… Juliet. Surprise! What an unexpected twist. Anyway, Romeo is the successor in line of the Montague family, a house that rules over the city of Neo Verona, an aerial city that defies physics. Juliet is the sole survivor of the Capulet bloodline, the previous rulers of Neo Verona who were murdered by Romeo’s father in a bloody coup.
How the heck does she stuff all that hair in?
Under the protection of Capulet loyalists, Juliet was kept in the dark about her terrible past. She was made to dressed like a boy in order to hide from the soldiers of Montague. One day, she met Romeo by chance, resulting in much homoerotic tensions due to her disguise, and eventually the two of them fell in love (no, like duh), blissfully oblivious to their families’ entwined history. And they lived happily ever after. Not.
On her sixteenth birthday, Juliet’s past was finally revealed to her and she found herself torn between lust love and revenge. Sweet ironies of life. Teenage angst ensues.
Frankly, the entire courtship was quite undeveloped. They more or less fell in love at first sight. While I’m sure no one is expecting anything otherwise, it wouldn’t have hurt for Gonzo to at least make a little more effort. And while it is campy and clichéd, I do like the use of iris flowers as a plot device that links Romeo to Juliet.
Perhaps the best part of the entire series has got to be the opening theme. “Inori ~You Raise Me Up~” by Lena Park is a Japanese recording of the inspirational piece “You Raise Me Up“. A sample clip is on her website. It’s a very soothing song and Lena’s voice has a rough edge that makes it really beautiful and sincere. In episode 7, she also sang it with the original English lyrics as an insert song. Brilliant. I’m getting the single off Amazon.
One funny thing to note is that for the first few episodes, the opening credits misspelled Shakespeare’s name as “Whilliam”.
There’s also a supporting character called William in the story. He’s a budding playwright and mostly fills in as comedic relief. (Do you hear that? It’s the sound of a coffin spinning at 400 revolutions a sound.)
So anyway, if you are looking for an interesting plot, excitement or profound philosophical themes, go elsewhere. But if mushy shoujo romance is your can of mushroom soup, then look no further than Romeo x Juliet.
P.S. Almost forgot to mention. There are flying horses in Neo Verona! ZOMG!
May 27th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
I can’t get enough of this series, I may even go as far to say it’s my best series of the season… although their are a few that can still compete, I guess I’ll need to see the ending to a before I make any rash decisions. ;P
May 27th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
I must agree this series is one that i look forward to every week
May 27th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
That’s the thing about this show – sure, it’s fluffy and clichéd (heck, it even deployed the “Whoops! I fell on top of you naked!” trope), but somehow it gets away with it. I still don’t quite know why. However they’re doing it, Gonzo have managed to come up with something that’s just so utterly fun to watch that you no longer care.
My theory: Romeo x Juliet is the Spinal Tap of anime. Everything goes up to 11. Moustache-twirling villain? Watch as Montague chews scenery like Alan Rickman in a bad mood! Teenage angst? With flying horses! On fire! Romance? Have another screen-full of flower petals! And some fireworks! Shoujo hair porn? Eat Juliet, fanboys! Bishounen? We’ve got rampantly homoerotic ones! With swords!
I swear, there will be GIANT ROBOTS in the near future. And we’ll like it.
May 27th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
I guess a dose of concentrated fluff can be good sometimes.
May 27th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Gurren Lagann is better than this pussy shit.
That said it’s not a bad show.
May 28th, 2007 at 12:36 am
If you thought how they developed their romance in this one is bad, how Shakespeare developed their romance in the original was 10 times worse, and that’s being generous. Then again, this is in retrospect rather than looking at it from the times.
May 28th, 2007 at 1:20 am
I’m still confused as to how Juliet stuffs her hair under that wig. You’d think the wig would be more poofed up with a mountain of hair under it, but somehow it isn’t..
May 28th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Didn’t dare to watch this anime for 2 reasons:
1) I failed enough Literature in my secondary school years to have a phobia of R&J ( R&J was part of my O levels, and that is the only sub i failed.)
2) AVPAS and IPOS on the watch…….
May 29th, 2007 at 1:30 am
I’m truly enjoying this show so far. Can’t really explain it myself.
But I have this sneaky suspicion that they are going to totally screw with the original ending like they did with Gankutsuou.
May 29th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
I love R X J. Theres something about it that keeps the user glued to the screen throughout each ep.
Juliet being a cutie is a bonus too.
June 4th, 2007 at 6:41 am
well actually…i have a friend who has waist-length hair and she can easily stuff her hair into an odin-sized wig. just sayin :)
but yeah i’m liking this show so far :P
June 10th, 2007 at 12:07 am
“One funny thing to note is that for the first few episodes, the opening credits misspelled Shakespeare’s name as “Whilliam”.”
So did William Shakespare. At that time there was not any formal rules for spelling so the way he spells his own name actually differs from script to script.
June 10th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
I love the series. Is the maker of R x J a HE or SHE?
When is ep 10(last episode?) coming out ?
June 25th, 2007 at 3:33 am
if you guys could help i realy need a site to download it english
June 28th, 2007 at 11:42 am
they have eleven episodes on crunchyroll.com, just type romeo x juliet in the search box in the upper right
July 28th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Please help me! Where can I find episodes of this anime sub in English?