Romeo X Juliet Volume 1

‘Is this truly a love that can never be?’

The aerial city of Neo Verona is governed by the harsh Lord Montague; his carabinieri bully and persecute the citizens, while the nobles enjoy a life of luxury, racing their dragon steeds. Montague came to power fourteen years ago, after slaughtering the ruling House of Capulet. Now only the dashing Red Whirlwind, a masked avenger, comes to the aid of the citizens when Montague’s brutal soldiers start causing trouble.

Young Romeo, Lord Montague’s sixteen-year-old son, is out on his winged dragon steed Cielo when he spies the Red Whirlwind desperately fleeing – and rescues him. Of course, Romeo doesn’t know that the one he’s rescued is none other than Juliet, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the House of Capulet, who miraculously survived the massacre of her family. She’s been reared in secret, hidden away at the playhouse, and disguised as a boy, using the name of Odin. 

It’s the night of the Rose Ball and Lord Montague announces his son Romeo’s engagement to the beautiful Lady Hermione. But that same evening, Romeo encounters a red-haired girl (Juliet, of course, who has come to the ball by a series of misadventures) and both realize that they are very strongly attracted to each other.

The duke, angered by the Red Whirlwind’s defiance, orders his men to coerce the citizens into handing over the rebel. As the soldiers impose their brutal reign of terror on the city, Juliet learns her true identity as heir to the House of Capulet – and realizes how impossible her love for Romeo is; he is the son of the man who murdered her parents. As Lord Montague’s paranoia increases, anyone, even the nobles, who dare to oppose his views, finds themselves in mortal danger. Juliet (the Red Whirlwind) now totally smitten by Romeo, is rescued by him once again – and, seeking shelter from the pouring rain which frequently falls on Neo Verona, she inadvertently reveals her secret. Not yet, of course, that she is a Capulet – but that the Red Whirlwind is a girl.

Everyone – well, just about everyone – has seen Shakespeare’s tale of two star-crossed lovers ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in one version or another, whether in Baz Luhrman’s film, Kenneth Macmillan’s ballet, or even ‘West Side Story.’ Most of us studied it at school. So, my advice, if you’re familiar with the original, is to put it right out of your mind before you sit down to watch ‘Romeo x Juliet.’ Because once I’d stopped trying to work out how the series relates to the original play, I began to enjoy it for what it really is: a swashbuckling romantic fantasy adventure set in an alternate world. The allusions to Shakespeare are hard to ignore – but they often confuse and complicate matters; the writers must have used a pick n’mix technique from all the plays to choose names for the characters. Thus we have Portia (Romeo’s mother) Lancelot (a doctor) Lady Ariel etc. To add to the confusion, Juliet’s name when in masculine attire is ‘Odin.’ Odin!? A Viking name? Why not one of Shakespeare’s very own girl/boy names like Cesario?

Then there’s the playful – though not entirely convincing – conceit of inserting a struggling playwright called William into the action, so that he can advise Juliet on the heartache of first love. Other little nudges include using Prokofiev’s music for ‘Romeo and Juliet’ for the Rose Ball scene where the two young people meet again…

The original concept of ‘two houses’ is significantly altered here too. In Shakespeare, the Montagues and the Capulets are equally matched and neither house controls Verona (which is ruled over by Prince Escalus.) In making Juliet the only surviving member of the noble Capulet family, raised in secrecy as a ‘boy’ by the few surviving retainers faithful to her murdered family, Fumitoshi Oisaki has created a very different kind of revenge drama. Here Juliet acts the role of a masked and caped crusader (Robin Hood, Zorro etc.), combating injustice, disguised as the Red Whirlwind.

Neo Verona is almost a character in its own right: a renaissance city, filled with high towers, bridges, even a Venetian-style series of canals, it’s beautifully drawn, and reminiscent of the architecturally elaborate European-style cities portrayed by Hayao Miyazaki in ‘Kiki,’ and ‘Howl’s Moving Castle.’ The designers have opted for a softly muted palette of colours throughout, perhaps to emphasize the fact that Neo Verona is constantly under cloudy skies, rain, or fog.

The writers at Funimation have always been bold in reversioning (as they call it!) the original Japanese scripts – and Taliesin Jaffe has excelled himself, inserting quotations from the Bard of Avon himself, which lends an authentically Shakespearean ring to the dub. Does this work? It depends a great deal on the talents of the voice actors: J. Michael Tatum as William and Brina Palencia as Juliet/Odin are particularly good. Whether it will ultimately prove more distracting than engaging, only the next episodes will tell.

In Summary

The first six episodes of ‘Romeo x Juliet’ present a fast-paced, engaging fantasy tale of star-crossed lovers – just don’t use it to revise for that Eng. Lit essay!