TW// a little bit of sexism, murder, suicide

There’s two versions of the Manga Classics: Romeo and Juliet. There’s this one (the full text version) and the Modern English version. Had I known that there was two versions before requesting this one on NetGalley, I would’ve not requested this one and instead bought the Modern English version. Shakespeare’s old English writing style and me don’t get along. It’s so confusing for literally no reason. I was glad that I had studied the play back in high school so that I generally knew the plot because if I hadn’t, this manga would’ve been even more confusing to me. The artistic features that a manga format allows for lets there be panels where a metaphor comes to life, but if you don’t understand the metaphor in the text, then the drawings will confuse you even more than the text.

I did find the artwork to be really beautiful though. I particularly loved how Juliet, Mercutio, and Benvolio were drawn. The illustrations also made an attempt to appeal this story to a younger audience by using modern humor that teens would enjoy. If it weren’t for the stunning drawings, I would’ve struggled even more with this manga.

This is probably one of my favorite Shakespeare plays and I think everyone should read (or watch) this story in some format. It’s one of the earliest works of forbidden love, insta-love, and the miscommunication trope. The influence that this story has on pop culture will never be forgotten, but I just didn’t find this version of the story to be super interesting. I’m going to read the Modern English version of this manga at some point in the future and hopefully I’ll have more luck with that version.

This book has the same problems as the original play with the added bonus that it's not using the art in its favor.

Some people might love that this manga uses the dialogues from the play word by word, to me, it was a disadvantage.
We could have a very dynamic book that shows more than tells, but unfortunately, that's not the case.

On the bright side, the art has its high points -even if I felt it was very still at times-. But every character is very recognizable, there is a diversity of faces and hairstyles to help that. Also, some action pages were interesting which really made me wish once again that this could be a different type of adaptation.

I found the pacing a little weird, some scenes are super quickly with a few panels but certain conversations take up pages of just characters standing around.
At some point, some panels are in chibi style, and... that didn't suit the story at all.

Overall, it's a nice manga to look at but has so much text that makes the experience convoluted. I frankly don't think this play works as a manga if you are going to carbon copy the original source.

A little off-topic: the format in which Netgalley provides the copy it's not doing the book any favors either.

Much of my rating is based on the artwork, which is gorgeous. There is so much attention to detail in everything, and it's clear that a lot of thought was put into character design, costuming, expressions, background scenery, and how to convey the gestalt of certain things. The dramatics of Romeo & Juliet lend very well to the manga format, and this book took to that very well with the full-page illustrations.

All that said, I'm not sure how well a Shakespearean classic translates to manga. Having read other Manga Classics, I understand that the purpose is to stay as true to the original text as possible, but in this way this book kind of shoots itself in the foot because a more enjoyable/immersive read would be an adaptation rather than a reproduction: in other words, retelling the tale as a rewrite. Such rewrites have been done many times before, ranging in degrees of faithfulness to the original context, so in light of that fact and in keeping with their pattern, I can see why Manga Classics took the approach that it did for Romeo and Juliet. It does however, in my opinion, result in a weaker work despite the artists' extreme diligence and competence.

Another Manga Classic I really loved. I read Romeo and Juliet before and really liked the story.
But now with these beautiful drawings I enjoyed it even more.
For me these Mangas are simply a perfect way to enjoy classics.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Manga Classics: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a stunning new manga adaptation of a classic work of literature. This book is literally tailor-made for classroom use. The classic work of literature is here in a trimmed-down form that will hold the student's interest while maintaining the integrity of the plot. Meanwhile, the cool and stylish manga-style artwork is sure to attract the attention of reluctant readers.

As a teacher myself, I am definitely happy to see this book and this series in general. I often have to teach classic works of literature to students who are reading below grade level, who are still learning English, or who have no interest in reading books without pictures. These books are a life-saver for teachers like me. If you're intrigued by the description, or if you're a fan of manga, I highly recommend that you check out this book, which is available now!

The reason I wanted to read the manga version of Romeo and Juliet, is because I hated the original. Not the actual story, but the format. So when I saw this, I knew I needed to try it and see if the story could be told in a way that I actually find interesting.
It did not disappoint.
If you’re also someone who had to read the original play for school and hated it, then I recommend trying it in a fun format like this, because it might change your opinion about it!

First I got a bit disappointed with this ARC because I had to open it on NetGalley shelf and I don’t really know how to use the app, I am much more used to open manga’s and comics with my pdf reader one that I know all the commands to use and easily scroll, this manga requested me to go to the end and then read in the usual manga way but from the end of the file to the beginning, and in a fashion from left to right, and then down the page, since I didn’t know the controls in the app (still don’t know) I got a bit lost and had to scroll down the 300 plus pages and of course closing the app a couple of times while doing this… and that was a bit troublesome for me….

Complaining’s aside, I did love the drawing in this manga, Romeo had such a gorgeous drawing that he looked like black-haired howl, the text was quite close to the original, it was a gorgeous adaptation of Romeo and Juliet to a manga format, and it will without doubt bring new readers to the classic works, but younger teens may have a bit of trouble with the ancient English, like I said, its closer to the original.

I got a free ARC of this manga classic through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank You Netgalley and publisher for this review copy! Please note that this does not affect my review in any way.

I've never read manga's before so it took a while for me to get the hang of reading right to left instead of the usual left to right but I got the hang of it after a while.
This seems like a great way to reread your favourite classics with some beautiful artwork.
I personally couldn't understand some of the dialogue as shakesphere's work can be hard to read and I sadly didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would've

The artwork was pretty and I'm familiar with Romeo and Juliet, but it didn't capture my full attention. However, it'd be a great one to give to someone unfamiliar with the play/story.

This is a great way to read Romeo and Juliet or re-read it even. The artwork is lovely and the story is classic.

I just reviewed Manga Classics: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. #RomeoAndJulietMangaclassics #NetGalley

I love manga, and I love Shakespeare, so I really needed to read this book. And I'm glad I did so. I think that turning classic literature pieces into manga is a really nice way of attracting younger readers to them. You read the classic as in the traditional way, but you can also follow the story via the pictures, so it is easier to understand for those that are not familiar with the story, for those that are not into plays, or for those that get lost easily while reading this kind of books. It has been a really enjoyable read and I totally recommend it.

Romeo & Juliet is one of my favorite works by Shakespeare, and I really enjoyed this manga classics edition of it. The artwork is super pretty, and I enjoyed the fresh, young depiction of the characters.

Wow, this is the first Manga Classics I've ever read. I'll be honest that Romeo & Juliet was not my favorite Shakespeare story, but this medium made it so fun to read! The art is beautiful and is engaging, so it matches very well with the overall story. It's a perfect mix for the manga fans and classics fans out there.

As someone who loves classic plays and manga, this is a win. It preserves the original story while making it more enjoyable. I love getting to see a story I already love in this medium. Of course the story needs no improvement, but the art is gorgeous and such a fun take. I very much enjoyed this adaptation.

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, in Manga format. This was absolutely fantastic. From what I could tell, it was the entire play unabridged, though I'd have to double check on that. I think it would make a great curriculum supplement or classroom/library addition, and students might enjoy reading on their own after a unit study as well. The art is great, and punctuates the scenes perfectly. I have nothing but praise for this book, and I look forward to checking out the others in the series.

Great artwork. Sticks to the overall plot. Would definitely give to kids studying Romeo and Juliet.

Thanks to NetGalley and Udon Entertainment for the ARC.

I love reading manga's and this is my first manga classic I've ever read. The illustration was creative and it makes the story more interesting and fun, hoping to have more manga adaptations like these. I recommend this as a great place to start someone reading Shakespeare.

I really liked the art style in this Manga and the drama was much more prevalent in this version due to the facial expressions, mood and tone of the manga version

Romeo and Juliet is probably one of my favorite retellings. And I appreciated the anime version of this classic. It has many of the aspects of what makes Romeo and Juliet a class, but you can definitely see the anime influence in here. When I was reading, I could picture every scene as a moving animation, which goes to show how well the scenes are written out and how detailed the drawings are. Even though the original story of Romeo and Juliet is quite dry in my opinion, reading this anime version made me laugh and chuckle many times.

I would say my only real critique is the English. From my understanding, it seems that publisher wanted to keep the dialogue the same as the original, which makes sense. Even as someone who has read and analyzed plenty of William Shakespeare in the past for school, some of the conversations were a bit hard to read/understand. Perhaps, the publishers could have "modernized" it a bit in order to make it more accessible for other readings.

But overall, enjoyable read!

Classics being written as manga?? YES PLEASE! i loved reading this, romeo and juliet is such a timely classic, im every few years i love to watch the movie and i’m
not the biggest fan of the book so the manga was perfect! i loved the artwork especially!!