Romeo X Juliet: Volume 1 (Review)
Friday, 12th February 2010, 18:33

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Extras
You have a nice, easily navigable menu and your usual jacket picture, but for some bizarre reason, the episode titles differ from menu to actual programme.

The Making of Romeo X Juliet lasts 27 minutes, and is a preview show for the series. It’s presented by the voice actors for Cordelia and Antonio, Miyu Matsuki and Ryou Hirohashi, and they offer clips from the earlier episodes, a background to the story, and how the adaptation differs from the original play, a background to the world of Neo Verona, and plenty of interviews with the cast and the crew. It’s all rounded off with a trip to Australia, to see the orchestra record the show’s soundtrack.

There is an Art Gallery to scroll through, with 47 images, consisting of Japanese DVD covers, concept art, and line art.

You get the textless credits, and trailers for the Gravitation OVA, and Daphne in the Brilliant Blue.

Conclusion
Romeo X Juliet joins a rather rare breed of show in my library. Like Berserk, I find it to be a show that I am very reluctant to watch. It’s a chore to put a disc in my player, and an effort to press play, and I’ll procrastinate like crazy when it comes to actually starting an episode. This may be for a completely irrational reason, or it may have some genuine basis. With Berserk, it was the age of the anime, and animation style that kept repelling me, with Romeo X Juliet; I fear it’s that edutainment tag that still seems to persist. I feel that by watching something with the word Shakespeare associated with it, I ought to be bettering myself as a person. I say it’s a rare breed, as while there are many shows that I am reluctant to watch, this one, like Berserk is one where if I start watching it, I simply can’t tear myself away. MVM are surely onto a winner here, as it takes a monumental effort to balls up something as iconic as Romeo and Juliet. This has quality written all over it, and is probably the best show that they have released in two years, at least since Black Lagoon.

I think the story of the star-crossed lovers is so ingrained in British culture that it’s hardly worth going into the central story. But what Gonzo have done is really quite smart, in that they’ve taken this central story, and built a whole new structure around it, and by doing so gotten shot of those inconsistencies that would most likely not play too well to modern audiences. This is a whole new world, a whole new back-story, and a whole new direction for the tale. Montague is now the prince of Neo Verona, having deposed the Capulets and killed the family. In a parallel to the story of the Russian Royal Family, Juliet is now the equivalent of Anastasia, the sole survivor, and the ‘true’ heir to the throne, hidden and protected for fourteen years by her few surviving retainers. Of course she knows nothing of her family’s past. The Montagues are elevated to the leaders of Neo Verona, and the prince is a tyrannical leader indeed. His son Romeo is probably too young to know of the past, and other than his father’s continued search for the one Capulet that got away, he has no reason to hate them. So it’s actually a little more plausible for the two to meet and fall in love.

With the balance of power shifted, it becomes a story about an upright rebellion against a brutal tyranny, especially with Juliet donning the disguise of The Red Whirlwind and going out to fight for the common people. It becomes a tale of the state versus the freedom fighters. Montague is obsessed with garnering ever more power and maintaining his iron-fisted rule over the people. He elevates his toadies to nobility, and deals harshly with his critics, and passes ever more draconian laws to govern the citizenry. As the story progresses, we see the establishment becoming more and more arbitrary with the way it abuses its authority, we see spies within the populace, we see citizens paid to inform on their neighbours. Against such misrule, rebellious intent festers, and while at the heart of it, the Capulet family work to restore Juliet to the throne, gradually more and more figures in the populace turn to their cause.

Machiavellian machination and subversive politics are the rich backdrop against which the simple tale of two young people falling in love is told. It’s a quirky, poignant tale as well, as both Romeo and Juliet are portrayed as likeable characters. Romeo obviously realises his father’s excesses. He has a far greater sympathy for the people, and he’s obviously trying to escape from the atmosphere of fear that pervades the royal court. He may be betrothed to the daughter of an influential family, but he only really tolerates Hermione, whereas he’s first enthused by the heroics of the Red Whirlwind, and then entranced by the charms of Juliet. At the same time, Juliet has been raised all her life as a boy, told to hide her true identity, and to be wary of the world outside the theatre in which she has taken refuge. That she still stands up to tyranny, even if it is in the guise of the Red Whirlwind indicates the strength of her character, but it’s when she meets Romeo that her world begins to change. All of a sudden, this tomboyish ruffian begins to blossom as a young girl, and as well as discovering first love, it’s also as if she is discovering her true self for the first time. Of course the real world is never too far away, threatening to throw a spanner in the works.

If there is something that bugs me at this point, it’s the polarisation of character. The Capulets as the aggrieved party are whiter than white, and as Juliet’s protector exclaims, their purpose is not one so petty as simple revenge. They will right a wrong and bring peace back to the people of Neo Verona. Far more annoying to me is the portrayal of Prince Montague; an utter bastard of a villain if ever there was one, and how he manages to refrain from twirling his moustache is an enigma. If there is one thing I dislike, it’s villains who are villainous for no real reason. It seems that at any moment, he threatens to laugh maniacally and stroke a white cat, and that would be that. Fortunately, there are still eighteen episodes to go, eighteen episodes in which dimension and depth could be given to either side. I suppose this is the greatest distinction of all, one that truly separates it from the original play, and probably the change that will make the show most amenable to modern audience sensibilities. We young-uns like our good guys and bad guys so we know who to root for. And with such a drastic change so early on, maybe they’ve changed the ending as well… Naah, they wouldn’t do that… Still, if you are aggrieved by this departure from the original text, there is always Basilisk, also from Gonzo and MVM, which is a far more faithful retelling of Romeo and Juliet, albeit with ninjas.

Romeo X Juliet is a rousing start to 2010 when it comes to anime. Despite its flaws, it’s a rich and lush animation, a wonderful fantasy world brought to vivid life. The storytelling is sublime, it’s thrilling, enthralling, entertaining and enchanting. It promises to be an outstanding update of a classic love story, and judging by this first volume, it really should be on every anime collector’s shelf.

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