Romeo X Juliet

Reviews
"... effectively dramatic, sometimes beautiful, and occasionally even emotional."
                  -Animenewsnetwork.com

Retail price: 35.99$
My purchase: 17.99$
DVD release date: 2007-07-27
Program run time: 600 minutes
Genres: Romance, Drama, Tragedy
Language watched in:                                                               English

Juliet the last survivor of the Capulet family falls madly in love with Romeo de Montague the son of the prince who murdered her entire family when she was but a child. Will she bring back her family name to power or forsake it all for the one she loves.

In this adapted version of William Shakespeare's  Romeo and Juliet, it is so very loosely based on the original story that although most would think that in its result would butcher the story, it actually made it all the more tragic. One of the major things that made this anime extremely enjoyable was the fact that I could name off which Shakespearian play the characters names derived from. When Lancelot died I clicked in to the fact that the name Lancelot came from the Merchant of Venice and not Romeo and Juliet. This is about the time I made of game of it, taking all the names that were mentioned and matching them to the play.

Although this story and the play have hardly anything in common it is just as much a tear jerker and a must have to anyone's collection. Have you ever done the "I'm going to cry face"? The one where you purse you lips in a way that contorts your face. Well my dear readers, I must have contorted my face in so many different shapes, especially on disc 4 during the last episode I let it out. To be specific 7 tears.

The fact that you experience this lovely tragedy by Juliet's side, instead of Romeo's makes it all the more appealing to me. Another thing I must point out is the fact that unlike the three day "Love, Marriage, Death" of the Shakespearian play, the anime has a longer timeline which to me makes it all the more desirable. Don't read into what I'm telling you too much, I love the original Romeo and Juliet story and am saying that Romeo  x Juliet is not better then the original. Considering all the differences between the two I say that the anime is in a league of it's own.

Originally I was going to rate Romeo x Juliet 4.5 stockings but I'm going to give it 5 stockings because it did it's job. They took a world wide known and put their personal twist to it, which brought hope and made me cheer on in hopes the outcome would differ.