Anime: Romeo X Juliet
Over at Kineska, I comment on possible outcomes of the anime based on Shakespeare’s tragedy.
This will not make sense if you are not watching the series, currently on TV in Japan, and in fansub here in the U.S, plus it contains spoilers and speculation, and includes an atrocious pun, so it’s below the fold:
The big difference between “X” and “And” is the extra political baggage of “X”. In other words, Romeo and Juliet can’t just die for each other’s sake, because that wouldn’t end the Duke’s tyranny.
If Romeo and Juliet die here, they have to die for the cause. Perhaps, acting in concert, they kill the Duke in such a way that they die as well (trapping him in a burning building, for instance). If the Duke publicly executes them, that might spark a popular uprising, but dramatically that would suck, because there’d have to be another one or two episodes after the protagonists die. Another possibility is that they sacrifice themselves to restore Escalus, that big tree the Duke visited an episode or so ago. (I’m not sure what role Escalus plays, though. Is it connected to the emotions of the people, or just to the current ruler?)
One consequence of their death would be that Juliet’s house would be de-Capulated, and Romeo’s would also lose its head. While this could result in the fall of the class structure, that seems unlikely in the short term, and again, would mean that important issues would need to be resolved in extra episodes.
Anyway, mutual suicide based on bad timing and misinformed teenage angst simply won’t do here. It’s hard to see how the story can end with their deaths.
Accordingly, the most satisfying ending (for me, anyway) would be that the Duke dies, and Romeo and Juliet take up joint leadership, instituting social and political reforms that would lull the commons into accepting the rule of the nobles for a few more generations.
Well, OK, maybe that last part would also require extra eps….nevermind. Let’s just have the whole society collapse in fiery chaos, and be done with it.
I think I should go now….