Moé Moé Rabu

Opening Sequence:

OP: 「Inori ~You Raise Me Up」 by Lena Park

One night Montague kills the entire Capulet family except for their daughter and servant Cordelia, who was saved by some fellow loyal knights. 14 years later, a girl is being accused of being the last Capulet but is saved however but a masked man known as the Red Whirlwind. Running along, the Red Whirlwind notices Cordelia and takes her along with him. Reaching to and end, the Red Whirlwind falls off an edge but is saved by a man named Romeo, who was watching from afar, with his friend Benvolio saving Cordelia. Once in a safe place, Red Whirlwind started to leave but Romeo tries to stop him. Eventually Red Whirlwind gives him his thanks and leaves with Cordelia.

Red Wirlwind, who is actually a boy named Odin, returns home to a theater with Cordelia but when changing clothes, his mind dwells on Romeo. Odin doesn’t remember his past very well, but Cordelia tells him that he’ll understand everything tomorrow when he turns 16. Cordelia removes a wig on Odin to reveal a head full of long hair, and it turns out that Odin is actually a girl called Juliet.

Meanwhile Romeo returns to his father and gets lectured. His father also wants him to dance with Hermione at the ball that night, but Romeo admits to Bonvolio that Hermione is pretty, yet he feels no love for her. Asking what love is, Benvolio tells him that’s its a feeling where you’re willing to die for someone. Juliet asks the same to William and he answers that it’s something you don’t mind risking your life for. Later that night, Emilia is getting ready for the ball but wants Juliet to accompany her. So Juliet puts on a dress whilst Emilia looks for a hat, but a noble arrives and takes Juliet by accident.

Upon arriving at the ball, Juliet recognises the surrounds and has a flashback of when she was two, then sees Montague’s face. Dropping her rose and mask, she runs out to a fountain outside. She sees the flowers and picks up one to smell it. But suddenly a male’s voice comes from behind and she is shocked to see that it is Romeo.

Ending Sequence:

ED: 「Cyclone」 by 12012

Impressions

Romeo and Juliet is one of the very few Shakespeare plays that I enjoyed and I had high expectations of this, and after watching the first episode, my expectations have been met. Just after two minutes into the episode we see plenty of action, even with the deaths of the Capulets making this show really different to the original, and that is what has gotten me hooked on this. I wasn’t too sure how GONZO were going to take an all time classic and make it into an anime, but with the changes made to the story it makes it very interesting. Though some changes are a but WTF, mainly like Juliet being a Zorro kind of character, although that means we’ll be seeing plenty of Juliet action later in the series. One other part is the flying horses, which are probably the bigger WTF element in this show.

The music is just so beautiful and it’s very befitting for a Shakespearian play in which in matches both the setting as well as how everything is played out. The opening I’m loving a lot and the ending is just as good, though the ending is a bit more rockish and gives a different feel to the over tone of the show. The animation is was just excellent and I can see GONZO putting a lot of work into this one. I just hope that GONZO don’t go downhill with the animation in this as really, for a Romeo and Juliet anime, it should be top notch throughout.

Definitely will be enjoying this as I said before that Romeo and Juliet is one of my more favourite Shakespeare plays, unlike Hamlet which I hate with a passion due to watching Kenneth Branagh’s long version 6 times during high school. Although the ending of this is pretty much set in stone, it will be interesting to see how GONZO will get to that stage and that is what has me excited about this show. So a definite on the watch list, but probably not something I want to blog.

Preview: