Review -- Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds

The way I've been picking series to review is to put my anime playlist on shuffle and review whatever show's theme song plays. The winner tonight is "Freedom" by Ozone, the 3rd opening theme for Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds.

5Ds is an odd series for me to review. Well, not so odd if you know me. But an odd series to get any serious attention. "Card games on motorcycles", right? Yes and no. The concept of the show is ridiculous. Somehow, they pull it off. I think it has to do a lot with just how much of the world relates to Duel Monsters. It's silly when the world is exactly as we know it, only children's card games are as popular as the World Cup. It's much less silly when the card games have more to do with everyday life--the security guards use the cards, for example, to catch criminals on D-Wheels, (Duel Runners in the dub) which are the motorcycles capable of playing Duel Monsters. (There's an auto-pilot for all of you out there who can't suspend disbelief quite that much)

5Ds is the most serious of all the Yu-Gi-Oh! series. Our protagonist, Yusei Fudo, lives in a ghetto called Satellite. The upper class lives on the mainland in Neo Domino City, but the lower class is stuck on the island that processes Domino's trash. Eventually it turns out that Yusei is a city-born, while the King of Duelists, Jack Atlas, is native to Satellite. Yusei and Jack once were good friends, but then Jack betrayed Yusei, stole his D-Wheel and Stardust Dragon, and escaped to the city, where he became the King of Duelists. Now, Yusei has built himself a new D-Wheel and goes to the city to confront Jack. He out-duels familiar-looking Security guards, and faces off against Jack. Their duel causes a gigantic crimson dragon to appear. Security finds them and arrests Yusei.

In jail, Yusei learns that he is one of 5 legendary "Signers"--guardians and servants of the Crimson Dragon, reincarnated from ancient Peruvians. Jack, too, is a Signer. Yusei gets out of jail, and finds two more Signers: Ruka, (Luna in the dub) an adorable 11-year old girl with a hyperactive and equally adorable twin brother Rua (Leo in the dub); and Aki Izayoi, (Akiza Izinski in the dub) known as the "Black Rose Witch". Aki is a psychic duelist, which means the cards she plays become real, and people hate her for the destruction she wreaks. Divine (Sayer in the dub) protects Aki, but feeds her lies about the world hating her so that she will fight for him and the Arcadia Movement, a group of Psychic Duelists. Yusei has a mysterious charming way about him that bonds everyone together. Which is a pun, of course, because his name has something to do with "bonds", and the first opening theme is "Kizuna", literally, "bonds". He will eventually wins Aki over with these bonds, as he wins over everyone in the series.

Rex Goodwin, Director of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau (Sector Security in the dub) organizes the Fortune Cup to gather all the Signers together and gauge their power. The Fortune Cup ties together the 1st season, and takes place in episodes 15-26. No duel in the first season takes more than 2 episodes, not even the long-anticipated showdown between Yusei and Jack. The 2nd season breaks this rule, but only a couple times, so it's forgivable. Because of the length of duels, the Fortune Cup is enjoyable. Not all duels are on motorcycle, as 11-year olds (and girls, until season 3) obviously can't ride D-Wheels. Don't feel too bad for Aki or the twins, though--they're awesome enough without motorcycles.

Season 2 is my favorite, the Dark Signer arc. If you've seen the original Yu-Gi-Oh!, (from hereon referred to as "DM") it's basically a better version of the Doma/Doom/Orichalcos/Waking the Dragons story arc. The Dark Signers are set up to fight all the Signers. Alliances change, awesome new characters--Carly and Crow!!!--emerge, romances bloom, people actually literally die, in both languages! Or at least they almost die in the dub. Everyone gets wonderful lovely character development, the twins get a 4-part duel, someone says "I love you". Though it's "daisuki", which can also be translated as a really strong like (see, original series, episode 78: "Attack Me! The Fatal Last Turn") and not "aishiteru" or another word for love.

Animation on this series is better than DM so far. From what I've seen of GX, it appears to be the best animated. Poor Yu-Gi-Oh always suffers from noticeably different animation directors. Kenichi Hara is the best, and is recognized for the close-up of a pointing finger that originated in Yu-Gi-Oh! His episodes are always shiny and fluid and actually proportional. I could pull up examples of the poorly animated episodes, but I will refrain. You will discover them as the series wears on. DM had disgusting episodes in the late 3rd, 4th, and 5th seasons. They are the worst animated professional things I have ever seen. 5Ds even gets some obvious!CG, which becomes less obvious as time goes on. It is also used only when needed to create really cool angles of Riding Duels, so it's forgivable that it's obvious. Romeo x Juliet used CG just for some waving flags. I thought that was kind of lazy.

Voice acting isn't too bad in the dub. Frank Frankson, who voices Tristan in DM takes the lead role of Yusei, and handles it very well. Everyone is over-the-top, but that's the way they're forced to act. Jack is... very odd, but stuck-up as he should be. I like his deep Japanese voice better, but his British-Australian-foreign mix is less annoying than I thought it could be, because Ted Lewis is one of the better VAs on the 4kids payroll. Bella Hudson, replacement for Megan Hollingshead's wonderful Mai in DM, voices Akiza. I am prejudiced against her for being the second voice of Mai, but Akiza's not too bad. The voice does fit Aki, which is more than I can say for Hudson's Mai. The twins are my biggest complaint. Their voices are grating, especially Leo's. Their scripts are annoying and a little offensive. The twins are basically the target audience of the show. Let's not put the kids down by throwing in "like" every other word. Dan Green, both Yugis in DM, reprises his role as Trudge (Ushio), and has one of the best performances. His is about the only voice anywhere close to its original timbre. Whoops, it's Trudge's love interest Mina that is my biggest complaint. She has a completely different personality than Mikage. The acting isn't bad, but the new character is unlikable. I wish Sayer really would kill her. Sayer! He's a gravelly Marc Thompson, also DM veteran of FOUR roles--Duke, Rafael, Valon, and Jean-Claude Magnum. It's a stretch, but Thompson pulls it off. He also voices Lazar, and nails everything except the laugh. Goodwin, Crow, and the rest of the main cast are pretty well cast. Crow's is actually spot-on with the way his Japanese voice sounded.

The biggest name in the voice acting is Veronica Taylor. I did a double-take the first time I read the credit. She is famously known for the original Ash Ketchum, as well as a host of other, much more respectable roles. (no offense, Ash, but... 4kids) She comes back to 4kids to play Carly, a reporter who winds up housing Jack Atlas after helping him duel and then escape from a hospital. She gets a little too involved with the Dark Signers, despite Jack's best efforts, and things play out from there. Carly is a very emotional character, and Taylor handles the range very well. That's saying something, because Carly's one of my favorite characters on this show, with Aki, the twins, and Crow.

A special mention to the theme songs, all of which I like. Even the ending themes are good, and I hate ending themes. Kizuna is better than LAST TRAIN because it gives more information about the series. The first 30 seconds with the bike, the main characters, Yusei on the junk, and Yusei walking through Satellite, the city, and Tops give you the entire premise of the series. Despite this superior storytelling, LAST TRAIN is my favorite. I don't think too much about Freedom or Believe in Nexus, but they're both good. As I said in my Theme Song post, "Close to You" is just about my favorite ending theme ever. Even better than the Japanese theme songs being good, the English theme song is good. 4kids had a contest to pick a theme song, and being a dork, I participated. To my surprise, my favorite theme, Hyper Drive, won! It's catchy, and doesn't lend itself to jokes as much as stuttering D-d-d-d-d-duel! Linked above is the second version, because the first version doesn't have Aki(za).

So, overall? This is very hard to be to objectively review. As I type this, I wait for subbed episode 115 to show up on youtube. Original Yu-Gi-Oh wins the honor of getting me into anime, and will always hold a special place in my heart. (Fullmetal Alchemist is still my favorite, based on quality, though) 5Ds was a bunch of things I liked about the original series thrown together with motorcycles and more interesting card games. I skipped reviewing season 3 both because it's not out in America, and because it's been mostly pretty awful. (as awful as you probably expect any Yu-Gi-Oh! spinoff to be)

But, to make this easy, let's go by only up to episode 64, the end of the Dark Signer arc. First, watch it in Japanese. The dub is better than it was for late DM, but you still get "don't worry, that boy isn't being tortured, he's actually producing the painful electric field", purple-fog-of-falling-off-a-building-doom, and more awful one-liners than you thought could exist. Voice acting is good, characters are likable, villains are freaking sweet. Divine is the coolest duelist to ever rock a white tie. The writing staff went to much effort to tie Divine and Aki into some sort of alchemical mythos about the Green Dragon and the Lady of Roses. Everyone gets great character development. However, they're playing children's card games. It can get old. Characters get dropped when they're cumbersome to the plot, even if they're cool characters. Animation suffers when the budget doesn't permit a good director or it's not a plot-important episode. Plot is great, however, and effort was put into researching Peruvian mythology for the Dark Signer arc.

Overall: Ah, a C- for the whole thing because season 3 plot really is that bad, but a B up to season 2 because it's pretty unique.

(Dub, however, is a solid D-. It's only good for lolz)

+Great characters, lots of effort put into some of the things characters are based on, sociological commentary, interesting plot, good opening and ending themes, card games on motorcycles are actually kind of cool. You've definitely never watched an anime like this before.

-Too long, focuses on card games, so very hit-or-miss. Drops the characters that aren't great so you don't notice how boring they are. Stretches suspension of disbelief. Animation is inconsistent. Season 3 plots are really awful. Characterizations are worse.

Review -- Soul Eater

People had been telling me to watch this series ever since it came out in Japan. I finally got around to it in February, and I watched the entire 51-episode series in about 3 weeks. That's how much I liked it. Granted, Soul Eater starts off much stronger than it finishes. If you stop after the Kishin arc, you'd be just fine. The end of the series isn't bad, exactly, but it's not the same as the beginning, and it's a rushed ending because the manga is still going.

The first thing you notice when watching Soul Eater is it's absolutely stunning art. Tim Burton is the usual comparison, which shows you that we need to get more filmmakers out there with something remotely Burton-esque, or else he'll dominate the genre forever. I'm not quite sure what that genre is, but there's other people out there with similar visions. Atushi Okubo (author) and Takuya Igarashi (director) appear to be some of them. The first opening theme, which I just included in my list of favorite opening themes, will give you a perfect idea of what the rest of the series looks like. The art is incredibly unique. You'll never confuse Soul Eater for anything else. The cities are all deliciously old-fashioned, with cobblestone streets, candle lanterns, bricks, clock towers, Gothic churches, and more. The first scene of episode one makes for a perfect example. The character designs are my favorite part of this show. Everyone is distinct, without being over-the-top, or having to resort to stupid accessories. Their costumes all are uniquely their personality, and are also clothes that people would actually wear. Series like Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist are praised for character design, and rightly so. They struggle with half of their characters having the exact same costume, however. Everyone from Maka down to Ox Ford, Free, Sid, all get main-character worthy character designs.

The story, for the first 26 episodes, is pretty solid. The manga was originally 3 one-shots that turned into a full story, so the first 3 episodes are stand-alone stories about the 3 main groups of protagonists: Maka and Soul Eater; Black☆Star and Tsubaki; and Death the Kid, Patty, and Liz. Maka, Black Star, and Death the Kid are Meisters, while Soul, Tsubaki, Liz, and Patty are weapons. The latter transform into, well, weapons, and the meisters use them to fight people with souls that have become "kishin eggs". These eggs have the chance to turn into a full-fledged kishin, a big giant demon thingy. The meisters are also trying to feed their weapons 99 kishin egg souls and 1 witch soul, which will turn the weapon into a Death Scythe. (the name applies no matter what kind of weapon it is) These particular meisters and weapons, by episode 5, are all students at the Death Weapon Meister Academy, or DWMA for short.

Maka and Soul are the main characters. Maka is a bookworm, a serious student, and level-headed, though known to angry outbusts. Soul, instead of being the hotheaded partner he might sterotypically be, is instead very "cool". He transforms into a red-and-black scythe. Hothead goes instead to Black Star... though hothead is less apt than "complete idiot". Black Star is a ninja, but doesn't understand the ninja art of shutting up. He constantly proclaims his own greatness, even while sneaking up on enemies. Tsubaki, who can change into a number of ninja weapons, is quiet, humble, caring--the complete opposite of Black Star. Death the Kid is the most unique of the whole cast, suffering from OCD. Literally. He is obsessed with symmetry, which is why he has two weapons, twin guns. While they are identical in weapon form, he constantly laments that they are different heights, hair colors, and bra sizes. Kid commenting on the last one usually earns him a punch from Liz, the elder sister. Neither Liz or Patty is very bright, both having grown up on the streets... of New York, I think, though that makes me wonder about the cowboy hats.

After introducing the characters, the main plot appears: the witch Medusa has some sort of dastardly plot involving a young person named Crona, and experiments with black blood. She is joined by a really awesome, handsome werewolf named Free, and a few other witches. A kishin is thrown in the mix, and our heroes are charged with protecting the entirety of their school.

Besides our students, there's also:

Lord Death, headmaster of the school and protector of Death City. He's an even more-groovy Dumbledore. Death Scythe, whose name is Spirit, is Lord Death's weapon of choice, and Maka's father. She despises him, and he is very depressed by this. Vic Mignoga voices him, which surprises no one who knows he played Tamaki in Ouran High School Host Club. Dr. Franken Stein, Spirit's crazy ex-partner, and the greatest meister to graduate the DWMA. He is quite crazy, and constantly wants to experiment on people.

Medusa is one of my favorite anime villains of all-time. She's got an amazing, unique character design, which also carries over to her attacks. She is also crazy-powerful, wreaking unbelievable havoc with just herself, the werewolf Free, and a couple other witches. After Medusa and her small band of cronies, Arachne and her entire evil organization is a let-down, which is why I dislike the second half of the series.

Medusa also controls one of the most interesting characters I've ever seen: Crona. Crona is so unique because no one knows what gender Crona is, and it doesn't affect the plot one bit. Crona's so messed up from Medusa, the audience doesn't need to know Crona's gender. It's just useless information. It amuses me to see people giving Crona a specific gender in fics so they can pair Crona with Maka or Death the Kid. If Crona likes Maka or Kid, does it really matter what gender Crona is? Crona's character development is what kept me watching at the reckless pace I did. I got through 7 episodes in a night (a school night) so that I could end on a good Crona episode. (boy, howdy, did I ever. Episode 45. I can only imagine what my roommate would have thought if she could have seen my expressions)

Since Crona's the most interesting character, though, it's not always fun watching Maka, Soul, Black Star, and the rest. Maka can grate on the nerves with her mood swings and stubborn ways. Soul doesn't get enough backstory. In fact, no one gets enough backstory except Crona. That, and the letdown when Arachne becomes the main villain, are the main faults of the series.

The voice acting is good in both languages. I watched the series on FUNimation's youtube channel, so I watched the first four episodes in English, and the rest in Japanese. Black Star is a little too feminine in the dub, but appropriately over-the-top. The rest are pretty spot-on, though I haven't had the chance to hear Medusa or Crona. I have my doubts about Medusa. Laura Bailey makes an excellent Maka, but I'm not in a position to judge both languages. From what I've heard, I'll take her either way, but the emotional stuff comes much later in the series. Soul is equally good, that I know for sure. Also, his voice actor is Micah Solusod, not Johnny Bosch. I believed it was Bosch for a very long time.

In summary: ARTWORK! Animation, fight scenes, character designs, background designs, everything that is visual is gorgeous and unique. Medusa is a really cool villain. Stein is a really cool anti-hero. Crona is a really cool... whatever archetype Crona is. Other than that, the characters are pretty good, but need more development. The story takes a turn for the worse in the second half. I never really understood the black blood stuff. And the ending is hit-or-miss.

Overall: B+

+ Anything visual: characters, backgrounds, fight scenes, opening and ending themes. Female main character in a shonen series.

-The story is just another shonen fighting series, and lags in the second half. Main characters aren't likable enough.

Once again, watch it free and legally on FUNimation's youtube channel!

Anime #37--Theme Songs

Since I've started writing this blog, I've seen quite a few anime series. I think I've seen enough now to make a list of my favorite themes and have it be somewhat credible.

Let's kick things off with one of my earliest favorite anime series: Digimon Adventure. In the Digimon vs. Pokemon debate, I always sided with Digimon. The story is better. The characters are more interesting. The animation was better. It came

first--or so I thought. (In truth, Pokemon really did come before Digimon, which I discovered about 10 seconds ago) It always held a very special place in my heart. As such, it is fitting that I be so attached to Butterfly, the Japanese opening. The animation isn't spectacular, but it's a cut above other shows that came out at the time. It's the music that really gets me on this one. It's also considered to be a good theme song by the general anime fandom. Not only is it a fun, catchy song, it fits the show perfectly.

Butterfly - Digimon Adventure

Any theme song from Fullmetal Alchemist, really. "Ready Steady Go" is my favorite, but they're all quite good. Brotherhood themes actually don't appeal to me that much. They're fine, but I don't especially remember any of them. "Ready Steady Go" is my favorite song, but Rewrite's probably my favorite animation, for the cool camera moves at the beginning.

Ready Steady Go - Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist openings

Now to what is considered one of the best anime theme songs of all time: Cowboy Bebop's "Tank". It's one of the most unique openings ever, both musically and visually. Jazz and anime theme song don't often go together, but I can't imagine Bebop opening with anything else. Yoko Kanno is a famous anime composer, and it shows. Her soundtrack for the entire show, let alone the opening theme, is fabulous. Bebop is a must-see for any good anime fan, though it's a bit adult. I first saw it when I was 15, and waited a year before finishing it. Once you get to it, though, you'll never forget "Tank". 3, 2, 1, let's go.

Tank - Cowboy Bebop

To follow up Bebop, the closest thing you'll ever hear to "Tank" is "Gun's and Roses" from Baccano!. Baccano! is one of my new all-time favorite anime series, and I will review it soon. The jazzy opening theme actually fits the time period, unlike Bebop; Baccano! is set in America in the 1920s. The reason the two are compared is not only the fact that they're both jazz, but because they share the same exact bass line for the first 4 measures. I realized this when I would break into "Tank" every time I tried to hum "Gun's and Roses". Excellent music, great animation, and a handy character guide, all in one theme song!

Gun's and Roses - Baccano!

Eureka Seven is a great series, but the first two openings didn't do much for me. "Taiyou no Mannaka E" and "Sakura", however, make up for them. "Taiyou..." isn't as strong as other themes musically, but it's very unique. Instead of the usual shiny mishmash of characters cut to music, it's a single scene. I'm not sure I'm describing it very well, but when you see it, you'll get it. The animation also fits the music very well. "Sakura" is stunning and a joy to listen to, but there are parts that don't fit the pacing of the music. "Taiyou..." is catchy at first, but tires after a while. "Sakura" was a slow starter for me, but once I heard it a few times, I loved it. I still love it. Both do a beautiful job of depicting Eureka and Renton's relationship, especially when Renton tries to shield Eureka from The End in "Taiyou...". "Sakura" gets the pairing right at the beginning, when they're holding hands and look at Nirvash. But my favorite part of "Sakura" is actually Anemone and Dominic, and the split-second image of Renton reluctantly holding a gun, which captures his feelings so perfectly.

Taiyou no Mannaka E - Eureka Seven

Sakura - Eureka Seven

Speaking of animation matching with music, my favorite example of this is Gurren Lagann's "Sora Iro Days". The link below is to the second version, because I couldn't find a good 1st version. Either of the first 2 is good, because those are the ones with Simon breaking through the surface. That shot alone puts the theme into my favorites.

Also from Gurren Lagann is a rarity, a favorite ending theme. I don't like ending themes. They're usually really boring. "Minna no Peace" is one of my favorite themes of anything, opening or ending. The song is catchy and fun, and the animation is cool to watch. I can't find it on youtube anywhere on its own, though, so you'll have to check out a full episode to see it. Sorry about that.

Sora Iro Days (version 2) - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Minna no Peace - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Last Episode and Some random other fandom version that at least gives you and idea of it

Soul Eater is known for its unique animation, and no part of the show is more unique than it's opening theme. "Resonance" is, without a doubt, my favorite opening theme animation. The camera moves over the city at night, and then around the street during the day are beautiful. It takes full advantage of what animation can do cinematically. No other opening theme does this so well. Not to mention the music is awesome.
"I Wanna Be" is an interesting ending theme. It's not the standard slow-boring-music ending theme fodder, and the animation isn't the standard spend-as-little-money-and-effort-as-possible. Both are far above the average ending theme, and even better than some opening themes I've seen. In fact, all the Soul Eater ending themes are very good, compared to the average, and are worth a look.
Resonance - Soul Eater (in HD!)

I Wanna Be - Soul Eater (sorry, spanish subs)

Now, I'm going to indulge myself a little. Here's a couple bonus themes that you may or may not want to check out because they come from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. The current season is pretty awful, but it's got a lovely ending theme that I'm very fond of. "Close to You" is an interesting mix of quiet ending theme and driving rock... well, pop-rock, but still rock-ish. The animation is solid, and gives us some cool stills as well as a really adorable group shot when they walk by the TV store.
"LAST TRAIN - Atarashii Asa" not only is a good theme, but the episodes it's paired with are good, too! Musically, it's currently my favorite opening theme. Animation's not bad, and it pairs up very well with the music. I love the shot of Carly in her car and Red Daemon's flies by. Mostly I just love singing it really loud. The heavy beat really pumps you up before the episode starts, and certainly fits a show about riding motorcycles.

Close to You - Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds (in 1080p AND with English subs!)
LAST TRAIN ~ Atarashii Asa - Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds


Other songs worth mentioning include: Sakura Kiss - Ouran High School Host Club, Bouken Desho Desho? - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and Obsession - .hack//sign. All of them very good themes, I just thought of them too late, and this post was long enough.

Review -- Romeo x Juliet

Hello, everyone! I'm back! To kick things off, I'm going to review a series I just finished this past April, Romeo x Juliet.

Not the usual subject matter for an anime series. The first thing I thought was Gonzo's Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. I'll get around to reviewing that soon, so I can properly compare the two without boring you now. It makes sense that Romeo x Juliet--yes, the "x" is part of the title, much like Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet--also comes from Gonzo.

From the very beginning, the series does a wonderful job of blending old and new, with my new favorite rendition of "You Raise Me Up" by Lena Park. The opening is in Japanese, but the series also uses the English version of the song as background music, most notably during one of the best anime kisses I've ever seen in episode 7. "Inori -You Raise Me Up" has solid animation, though a little less than one might expect from an opening theme. It seems to work well enough for this series, though, and I looked forward to watching it every episode.

The story itself varies greatly from the source material, as it does in The Count of Monte Cristo. Verona becomes "Neo Verona", animated beautifully as a 16th century Italian city, albeit one with flying horses. That, some floating islands in the sky, and a magical tree, are about as far as the sci-fi goes. The focus is squarely on the lovers' star-crossed romance and the fight against Montague. Juliet is the last living member of the Capulet family, and the tyrant Montague rules over Neo Verona with an iron fist. The people are oppressed, poor, and starving, while the nobles live in comfort, erecting a ridiculous golden statue for no reason whatsoever. As those loyal to Capulet are in hiding,Juliet's caretakers force her to dress as a man, which is how she is still alive at the age of 16. She uses this male identity to also become a vigilante, the Red Whirlwind, and win small justices for the citizens of Neo Verona.

While flying around the city on his dragonhorse, or pegasus, depending on your language, Romeo finds and rescues the Red Whirlwind. Juliet is not pleased with the noble boy at first, but then they meet again, when Juliet implausibly-but-we-believe-it-because-it's-anime winds up at the nobles' ball, dressed as a woman. They fall in love, and meet in various other places before the plot really gets going. Episode 7 cements the relationship. (as do episodes 10 and 11)

Meanwhile, Juliet turns 16 and Conrad, the former Capulet captain of the guard and her caretaker, reveals that she is in fact the Capulet heiress. All the living Capulet supporters swear loyalty to her. She becomes their banner, and with little choice, must fight. She does so, but it takes most of the series for her to figure out just how she wants to do it.

The series keeps a nice balance between romance and the fight for Neo Verona, but the two are almost completely separate. Juliet does inspire Romeo to stop being so useless, and Romeo leads Juliet to find a new way to fight, but most of the series' events would take place without the romance. The characters must stop their plot-significant actions to make time for romance. Even the ending would be the same if they were not lovers. Perhaps that is its point, that there is fate, and only a little room to work within that fate. After all, the lovers were starcross'd; fated to never be together. The events of the series would have little meaning to a viewer, or to the title characters, without the romance. But it could be tied together a little more tightly.

More interesting than the romance, is Juliet's struggle with her identity as a Capulet. Conrad and the Capulet supporters do wait for her to take up the mantle herself--Conrad rejoices when Juliet asks him for her father's sword--but when an entire house of wanted soldiers swears their loyalty to her, what choice does she have? All these people she has never met thrust their revenge onto her, and she's supposed to just go ahead and take down Montague. Her final decision is a beautiful one, though the awkward writing at the end of the series nulls it to some degree.

As in Shakespeare's original, Juliet is the most interesting part of this story. Romeo's story is of a rich brat trying to become someone who knows how to do something useful. While he does develop, it takes a while, and rich-brats-trying-to-not-be-brats is a difficult plot to work with because we generally don't like the rich brat. While it's noble of Romeo to save the Red Whirlwind on so many occasions, it's also a little insulting, because he has no idea what his father is doing. The Red Whirlwind could be a real villain for all he knows. It's like he's doing it for fun.

The animation is pretty even quality throughout. Character designs are excellent, especially our title characters. Montagues are in blue, Capulets in red, but the colors never feel like uniforms or shortcuts for the character designers. Each character is distinguishable without relying on their side's colors. As mentioned before, the city is gorgeous, as is the countryside, the church, and just about all the locations. The CG-flags are obviously CG, but anime is still working to integrate that in better. I've seen worse CG. (which I will get to in the next couple of reviews)

Japanese dub is what we watched in anime club and it's my favorite, but only because I happened to stumble across a scene in the dub where Romeo doesn't sound very good. I wasn't inclined to listen to more, though the script is very interesting, and is worth a listen just to hear it. They work in much more Shakespearean dialogue into the English than the Japanese. Here's a couple clips with excellent voice acting and script, courtesy of FUNimation.

I must conclude by mentioning William Shakespeare--not the author, but the character. Willy is a character himself, and a playwright. He hides the Capulets, is generally hilarious, and records the lovers' story. It was a wonderful way to work comedy into an otherwise very serious series.

Overall: B+

+Animation, opening theme, character designs, interesting story

-Balances romance and action, but doesn't tie them together as well as it could. Some characters ineffectual and not likable.

But, hey, don't just take my word for it! Watch the trailer, also courtesy of FUNimation!