Once again I refer to an anime I began watching in anime club for my eleventh anime-related thing I’ll remember from 2007 but then again it’s been that kind of a year for me with regards to watching stuff. The loose reimagining of Romeo and Juliet by Gonzo is better in some parts than the original and worse in others but it has been entertaining to watch so far for the first eight episodes, something that might not last long considering it’s Gonzo.

The first main difference is the strength of Juliet, who fights for the people as the Crimson Whirlwird (akai kaze), and is undercover as the male Odin during the day. I consider this to be an improvement over the original as this Juliet isn’t a damsel held away from Romeo in her family’s castle. Instead, she is the only survivor of the Capulets and lives a more peasant life. When she accepts her identity as the daughter of the Capulet movement, she struggles to kill a corrupt priest so she holds some anti-killing morals. Romeo came off as weaker than Shakespeare’s at first but his defiance of his father and willingness to help the Whirlwind before he knew who was under the mask shows his heroism.

Tybalt is bad-ass in his black cape and black flying steed.

Secondly, there are bishounen character designs for not only Francisco and Curio, the immediate protectors of Juliet, but also Tybalt (seen above) - all of whom are very skilled in combat. Thirdly, it takes place on the FLOATING island of NEO Verona and that there are flying horses. Dude, the horses have WINGS and thus can facilitate AIR ATTACKS!

Unfortunately, this is a Gonzo-produced title, a fact that brings with it a substantial fear that the story will take crappy turns later on. Hopefully it won’t turn out too horribly but Star Crossed’s rating of 56 out of 100 doesn’t leave me very optimistic. *sigh* At least we can make fun of the twists and angsting during the showings, since that’s half the fun of anime club.

Related posts based on tags:

• Upcoming “12 Days of Xmas” Reflection Series (2)
• FUNimation, Gonzo, and The Relationship Between Them (3)
• 12 Days of Xmas: Day 12 - Lucky Star’s Breadth of Conversations (1)
• 12 Days of Xmas - Day 9: Piecing Together Akira Kogami’s Backstory (3)
• 12 Days of Xmas - Day 8: Bokura Ga Ita’s Awkward Moments (1)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 25th, 2007 at 2:33 am and is filed under Specials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.