Romeo x Juliet Collection [DVD]

This was a fun reimagining of the Romeo & Juliet story. The backgrounds were nice and an interesting setting. Many of Shakespeare's characters from other plays popped up and the amine creators' added fantasy world extras livened up the story. The animation itself was nothing special but watchable.

Romeo x Juliet, is a beautiful love story based on Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet. The anime takes it's backbone from the famous play and creates something quite amazing. Shakespeare himself appears as a character in the series and gives advice to the love struck Juliet on several occasions. It's your typical story of love at first sight and a love that cannot be.Juliet has lived as a boy for 16 years, in order to hide her identity from Lord Montague, who believes that all of the Capulet's were slaughtered, on his orders. Juliet's father had been King, but was killed by Lord Montague so that he could take control of the throne. Juliet remembers nothing of her time at the palace and has made it her mission to protect the people of Neo-verona, by inventing the red whirl wind. One day as she tries to escape capture, she is helped by Lord Montague's son Romeo, he tells her to give thanks for rescuing her and she grudgingly does so, it is clear that she was somewhat affected by the encounter.She returns home and is begged by her friend to attend a ball with her, the girl allows her to borrow one of her dresses Juliet is overjoyed by being able to attend a ball dressed as a girl. It is there that she meets Romeo again, though this time, dressed as a girl, Romeo falls in love with her and asks her name, his friend arrives to request his presence elsewhere and Juliet uses this chance to make her escape. This begins the story, as the two youngsters meet on several occasions, hoping to be together though they know their friends and family would forbid such a pairing. Juliet has revenge on her mind and with the help of those who remain of her court, she intends to overthrow Montague and to reclaim what is rightfully hers.This anime is for all those who like a good love story, though true to the original play, the ending is not a happy one, though both Romeo and Juliet are together in a sense. The voice acting is good and each voice fits the character well - I highly recommend this anime.

The title of this anime is 'RomeoXJuliet', and that's about where all similarity to the Shakespeare play ends. Forget households 'alike in dignity', in this show the Capulet family ruled over the floating continent of Neo Verona until the tyrannical Montague came, slaughtered them all, and took over as king. Unfortunately, he missed the then-toddler Juliet. Now 16 years old, she has been living in hiding (with a blond William Shakespeare, actually *groan*) and has had to disguise herself as a boy, defending her city as the Zorro-esque vigalante, Red Whirlwind. But then she meets Montague's only son, Romeo, and... you know how it goes. But with more flowers, dragonsteeds, cross-dressing, mine collapses and magical trees. Yes. Sound like fun? Sound ridiculous? This show is both of these things.I first came across this series on the FUNimation channel (youtube), and not reading the summary, expected a full adaptation of the play- an expectation that was killed in the first two minutes. However, this series surprisingly does earn it's name. As we know, 'a rose by any other name...'- well, in this case, it's not the name but the plot! Even so, the themes of vengance, of family, of love crossing borders, of forgiveness, of first love, true love, love at first sight, of confronting your past, of loyalties, of duty, of honour, of sacrifice; all the things that made the play great are present in this anime. Coupled with frankly beautiful art and music, with intricately designed backgrounds in subdued and realistic colours and subtle background music that just sometimes rises to make the scene, the exploration of these themes is done well and pretty to watch. Sadly, the fantasy element is a little tired and cliché even in it's attempt to be original. (Spoiler follows in these brackets----- Magical tree holding the world together that requires a sacrifice to keep going----) Luckily this takes a back seat while having all the staple ingredients of a fantasy series, meaning it can be enjoyed by fantasy fans and non-fans such as myself alike.In terms of the acting, I'm very neutral about what language anime should be watched in. I'm happy to watch a Japanese with subs or an English language version, depending on which is better. For this show, I'm going to have to join what seems to be popular opinion and say the dub. It was worth buying the DVDs just for that! I first saw this series subtitled, and while the performances themselves weren't without merit,the voices were fairly bland and forgettable. I imagine it was also the direction because the acting in the sub was all done very seriously, with dramatic and tragic flair. It was even done well- but certainly for me it's hard to assume you're meant to be taking something completely seriously when it's Juliet running round sword fighting and somehow missing the fact she's a Capulet for 14 years. On the other hand, I wasn't immediately blown away by the dub in the first episode either. Some of the characters (Mercutio in particular) seem to have moments where the tone of voice doesn't match the expression. However, as a greater range of emotions appear for each character, you can see why they were chosen! It was also refreshing to have relative unknowns as Romeo and Juliet as I didn't spend the whole time playing 'spot the FUNimation voice actor'. Vic fans, don't bother! Even if he would have been perfect for Fransico. Two small touches I loved in the dub were that first, Juliet had a voice where you could accept people would believe she was male, and the fact it was peppered with Shakespeare quotes and misquotes. In addition to that, the rest of the dialouge was made more elegant and formal to try and match. It does make the script seem a little goofy, but have you seen the premise? I just felt that the style of the dub matched the fun-loving mood of the anime more closely than the original Japanese. True, the finale was a little more emotional watching in Japanese, but the dub did a bang up job too. In my opinion, one of FUNimation's best adaptations- after the blip that was Ouran Host Club!In terms of the set itself, to be honest, it's nothing to write home about. The box art is just a standard image with nothing inside, and even the DVDs have no real art as such, just each family's crest. Nor are there any really interesting extras- but then, I'm not a huge watcher of extras anyway and it will take more than a gallery or commentary to interest me, so perhaps i'm not the best judge! If nice box art is important to you, you'd be better off buying the two halves of the series separately or seeking a Region 1 copy. However, 'the price is right' and this is a series well worth checking out!I've been very much geared towards anime fans so far, but in truth I think this series is accessible to almost anyone, particularly as the dub is so well put together. Like pretty animation? Come and see some of the spectacular backgrounds. Music? Ignore the 'filler' pieces and you'll find hidden gems of a beautiful score. Want a watchable series that stays dramatic without killing the adventure? People die, without the excessive emo. Love Shakespeare? While not a retelling, one of the most creative and well-executed variations on the theme I've seen. I think a geniune love for the play is evident, and the idea that love conquers all.

Nice anime based on the story but has it own as well very well detailed and a great romance.

Brilliant

really enjoyed this series which I thought to be too "youthful" at first. Turns out better than I expected. Lots of cliches but love the theme music and though it's a well known one, the directors do know how to use it to bring out the effect throughout the series. The fact that "william" existed in the series was a bit tongue in cheek. Also like the ending, the unexpected twist in the end was quite thought provoking.