Cover Image: Manga Classics: Romeo and Juliet

Manga Classics: Romeo and Juliet

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

Although this book was quite hard to read - because, after all, it's still an original Shakespeare's text - I've read it really quickly. This adaptation makes the old story of Romeo and Juliet so much more accessible and entertaining. I think that manga format really works well for dramas.
I was surprised at how attached I got to the characters and how invested in the story I was even though I knew some main events in it and how it ends. The story wasn't rushed and it was sprinkled with a bit more humor than I expected.
I honestly wasn't planning on reading Shakespeare's works anytime soon so I'm glad that I found this amazing adaptations to familiarize myself with this classic stories!

Was this review helpful?

I would give Manga Classics: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare a 5 star review because, its a lovely adaption of the classic Romeo and Juliet but with amazing art while staying true to the original.

Was this review helpful?

I received this book from NetGalley and am giving it an honest review. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity.

This was absolutely beautiful and well done. I love that they kept with the original words of the story as well gave some flairs of humor to it. The story kept to being well paced and not rushed in the slightest.

Was this review helpful?

The graphic novel format on my tiny phone screen just wasn’t working for me. I wasn’t able to download to my kindle, which would’ve made it easier to read. So I wasn’t able to finish this.

Was this review helpful?

I LIVED THIS MANGA RETELLING THE MOST OF ALL AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! I adore manga and the classics so mixing them together is a brilliant plan!

Was this review helpful?

The illustrations are so beautiful. This follows the original exactly. This is my favorite classic novel and this brings it to life beautifully!

Was this review helpful?

Shakespeare's greatest love cum tragedy story is beautifully envisioned and presented as a Manga Classics. By now it is obvious that I am in love with Manga Classics and getting to read Romeo + Juliet was in my bucket list.

The story is adapted from Shakespeare's work, the complete play and the language of the play - the dialogues - are in Old English. This makes reading the manga slightly difficult as I am not comfortable with Old English and English is my third language. So I followed the illustrations and read in between to understand the story. Thankfully I head read a middle grade version of the book and I didn't find following the flow of the story difficult.

Suggestion would be if the language could be in simple English so readers like me wouldn't find it tedious to read. I hope Manga classics can adpat more classical books with easier language as this would be simple to pick for readers who are getting into reading classics or getting into reading altogether.

Thank you Netgalley and Udon Entertainment for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

O mangá é lindo, a história clássica de Romeu e Julieta nesse formato é maravilhoso. O final trágico me deixou ainda mais emocionada.

Was this review helpful?

My first time to read a manga and it is an ARC. I had to read it using Adobe. The drawings were good and the characters (caricature) were funny at times. I actually read it from the end and finished with the beginning of the story. This is a long story. I think I would have appreciated it more having it on an actual comic book. Since I read this using Adobe, I sometimes unintentionally fast forward the pages, so I got confused slightly with the story.
Overall I feel it captured the particulars of this tragic story

Was this review helpful?

I haven’t read the original because it was difficult to read and even though this adaptation follows the same dialogue but it made it easier to get through. Now i can finally say ive read Romeo and Juliet. This is perfect for people like me.

Was this review helpful?

Loved it. Loved the artwork! I was always thinking of reading Romeo and Juliet by never had the chance but this manga made it happen! Loved it alot.

Was this review helpful?

This is a classic story that I read when I was young but this manga twist gave me a pleasure that I didn't remember having the first time (probably because I felt like it was an obligation to read it.
The drawing style is beautiful, the author uses the original things the characters say what's still maintaining the story in its original state.
I would really recommend it for teenagers who want visual stimulation with the text.

Was this review helpful?

I haven’t read any of Shakespeare’s plays before, so I was intrigued to try this version of Romeo and Juliet. The art was very nice and helped visualize parts of the story, but somehow this manga didn’t really work for me. Maybe the contrast between Shakespearian language and the manga format was too jarring, or perhaps the dialogue was just too convoluted for my poor brain to follow.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

I requested this manga because the cover is gorgeous and I love the story of Romeo and Juliet. I believed it would be interesting to read as a manga and I was correct.

I have to admit that I expected this to be modernized for some reason and the classic play with Shakespeare's original words caught me off guard. I enjoyed the art, however, and feel it definitely helped tell the story, adding more emotion to the tragedy and making me laugh more at the comedic aspects.

The tale of two young lovers bringing tragedy to their families' lives before deciding they'd rather die than live without the other was much more believing in a manga than a play. It made me smile to see the characters being dramatic and having the art match their words. I wish we could have read this instead of the play in our textbooks back when I was in high school.

3.5/ 5 stars

Was this review helpful?

Special thanks to NetGalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review

First of all, that cover is so freaking pretty!!

Second of all, I don't know why, but I was caught off guard that this was the original play as Shakespeare wrote it. I thought for some reason it was gonna be modernized.

Third of all, I don't know if it's because I'm older now or if it's because it's the play with pictures, but I understood this a whole hell of a lot more now than I did when I read this at 13 for school lol

So all in all, I'm pleasantly surprised by my reading experience here. I really liked having the visual element added to the text. It made funny things funnier and sad things sadder.

Definitely going to read more from this series

Was this review helpful?

We’ve all watched, read, and heard the tale of Romeo & Juliet. When I saw there was a manga with a similar If not same story I was all in!

A lot of the “signature” scenes from the play are in the manga, it’s about 400 pages but covered the entire story! The manga stayed true to the play and original script. So if you love manga and also classic stories , this is a great read !

Thank you to NetGalley and the amazing publishers/authors for giving me a chance to read & review such a wonderful story.

Was this review helpful?

I was not a big fan of this classic manga. I am always a fan when it comes to classics and also manga but this one just didn't hit home with me.

Was this review helpful?

I've always had a hard time with Shakespeare (especially with the outdated 400 year-old English) so having pictures accompany the words really helped... however it wasn't enough to make me enjoy the story.

Was this review helpful?

I received an eARC of this book in return for an honest review; thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity.

This was my first time reading a manga adaptation of classic literature and I enjoyed it greatly. In particular the visualizations created to demonstrate the emotions and subjects were very well done. The fight scenes were also very well done, and the picture of the nurse was amazing.

I have read and watched many adaptations of the original work, and I must admit that I have a hard time reading the straight text of the original play. While I would definitely have preferred that they update this with modern language, the incredibly well done illustrations really brought the story to life and I would recommend this format to anyone who enjoys this play, manga, or anyone having a hard time connecting with the original work.

Was this review helpful?

These thoughts will also be shared on my Youtube channel! Subscribe to my channel: Pam's Shenanigans!

"For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

I really appreciate the intent and the effort that goes into adapting classics like Shakespeare's works. The amount of research and the art engineering that are put into something like this is admirable. However, my only comment is that maybe they create an even more accessible version where the text uses modern English (a la SparkNotes), especially if the goal is to make classics like this accessible to non-English natives and/or those who aren't familiar with old English that much.

I fairly enjoyed this one because I already read it before and had a full context before jumping in.

Was this review helpful?