The characters within the anime have their own agendas and pasts, and though they cross paths with either Romeo or Juliet, in the end, all lines weave together to form the basis of a mediocre anime.
The downfall in the anime series isn’t the story, ironically. I believe the pitfalls for Romeo x Juliet starts at the title of the series. Once seeing Romeo x Juliet, Shakespeare’s popular play is associated with the anime. “Of course! It’s a series about Romeo and Juliet, and, oh, I know what type of story this is!” Once Shakespeare’s play and Romeo x Juliet is connected, the deviations from the original play become annoying. After all, the new plot within the anime isn’t written by Shakespeare at all, nor his understudy.
Despite the hanging pitfalls within Romeo x Juliet, there are several workable aspects of the anime worth noting. The animation in Romeo x Juliet is clear and colorful. FUNimation, the distributor for the 2-disc DVD set of Romeo x Juliet, certainly upgrades the animation with crisp subtitles for those watching the anime in Japanese and high-quality voice acting for the English-dubbed anime. The background music of every scene is well placed; the piano, violins, and various other instrumental music adds a brooding vibe to serious scenarios and upbeat feeling to the lighter scenes. Along with the animation and music, Romeo x Juliet makes use of imagery.
Imagery is used in many plays and novels to signify something of importance or foreshadowing in the story with symbols. In Romeo x Juliet’s case, the main symbol in the story was the lily flower. References to the lily was made or seen throughout the entire anime series, representing Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other. Unfortunately, after the umpteenth lily, eyes are bound to roll in exasperation.
Romeo x Juliet isn’t an anime that is for everybody. Anime fans with ga-ga eyes over love and mushy stuff—also known as shoujo fans or chick-flick types—Romeo x Juliet is a match made in heaven.
And for those planning to watch the anime series, don’t plan on popular Shakespeare scenes to come to life. The subtitled anime speaks in modern language.
Sorry, Romeo.
Rating: C
Anime 3000 reviews anime, manga, and games based on specific criteria designated by each medium's respective editor. Anime is reviewed on a scale from F to A+. Series or movies that receive a score of A- or above are considered outstanding, B- to B+ recommendable, C- to C+ average, D- to D+ unrecommended, and F terrible.
Bottom Line: You can buy it if you’re a Romeo and Juliet fan AND a Romeo x Juliet fan, but I would watch a few episodes first.
Jade: This type of anime isn’t my cup of tea.
