Boy, what a trip! This classic story of revenge and lust for power really came to life with all of the excellent artwork. Macbeth, the ambitious thane of Cawdor, starts out loyal to his king, Duncan of Scotland. But when three witches show up and tell him that he will amount to greatness, even become king, Macbeth seizes the chance to get a hold on power.
While Macbeth is successful, his reign comes at a very heavy price. One that both he and his wife must pay throughout the story.
Manga Classics keeps all of the original, excellent prose the characters speak throughout the play, preserving Shakespeare’s lyrical, almost ballad-like way of writing. This epic tragedy had me invested from the moment the witches appeared to plan their wicked plots, all the way to the end when the rightful king takes the throne.
I would recommend this book for all lovers of Shakespeare and classic literature, as well as manga comics and stories with tragic heroes.

Long story short? It was better that I could ever imagine! A classic through the perspective of a japanese cartoon a.k.a a manga edition. Pretty short and schematic, but still worth it!

This book contains the full text of Shakespeare's Macbeth alongside manga artwork.

I found it very difficult to follow the plot of this story as the characters felt as though they were drawn very similarly (I don't know if the final version is full colour and it was easier to tell the difference) so I could not tell Duncan from Banquo from Fleance from MacDuff.

The artwork is stunning if a little on the nose in places so it is enjoyable even if you can't really follow the story! To be honest, most people are familiar with Macbeth so this book simply provides a novel way to enjoy a story you already know.

Manga Classics: Macbeth is a lovely adaption of the Shakespeare classic that translates the work well into a more modern take.

I think the best way to use this book is as a supplement for mandatory school readings or for introductions into Shakespeare. Nothing can quite replicate the original (or a live take on the play), but this sure makes the story easier to follow. If this would have been used as a supplement in my Grade 11 class, I think we would have found learning way more enjoyable.

The manga was a lovely addition to this story, and is probably the biggest takeaway for me. If you haven't seen the play, you can't always imagine what's going on in the story. Seeing it in picture form was a great way to show the story. Major points for that. I didn't like that some of the metaphors were illustrated exactly as they are written, but that's me as a Shakespeare lover. I understood the metaphor, I didn't need to see it to.

Beautiful..

I love the manga classics series and this was a great one.

Can't wait to read more.

Manga Classics does a great job of matching the tone of each piece with the art style. Macbeth is dark, dramatic, brooding, and that practically oozes from the pages. As always, dialogue is taken directly from the play. I wonder which is better for studying, this or Cliff notes?

Macbeth (Manga Classics) art by Julien Choy, 329 pages. GRAPHIC NOVEL
Udon Entertainment, 2018. $26.
Language: PG (3 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
On their way back from battle, the victorious Macbeth and Banquo run into three witches prophesying of greatness in their futures. The two heroes laugh off the impossible predictions until the first shocking fortune proves true. Is everything the witches said true? Macbeth takes matters into his own hands to ensure it is so.
Choy’s illustrations are impressive as they echo Macbeth’s gradual transformation through the story. While these visuals certainly assisted reading comprehension, I don’t think this adaptation is as effective as other Manga Classics in helping readers understand the old English used by Shakespeare. The mature content is for partial nudity and innuendo; the violence rating is for gore and murder.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

I didn't enjoy this at all. I was really hoping I would be able to enjoy William Shakespeare in this version but I still hated the story.

As always, beautiful artwork but I just can't finish the story.

A good visual of the play if just the written is confusing or can't go see it live. Visual introduction to the characters at the start. Get to see how the lines would be delivered. Good for those who like manga.

My Rating : 4🌟

Manga style graphic novels has recently really captured my interest and I was really excited to find the classic in this version! I absolutely love the artwork and especially the style of reading. It might be slightly confusing if it's your first time reading a manga, but it's absolutely amazing. I definitely recommend reading this classic in this style and I definitely enjoyed this a lot !!

Overall:
4 out of 5, would recommend for manga fans or students who find reading older works tedious.

Writing/Adaptation:
Pretty darn faithful. I was pleasantly surprised that they kept the original language. I went into this assuming that they would adapt the story but ditch the thee's and thou's, I was wrong! It's good to wrong sometimes.

Keeping the book broken up into acts and scenes helps with the pacing which, when paired with the art, emphasizes parts of the story that may have been overlooked otherwise. For example, Act 1, Scene 2 is basically a couple of dudes on stage talking about how awesome in battle an unseen comrade is. With the manga illustrating Macbeth's feats in battle, the audience is given a greater understanding of why he is well liked in the beginning.

Art:
This is part of what sells this book. When adapting a well known property, you have to have something that sets you a part. Making a comic is a good concept but one that could go very wrong if the art is bad or does not mesh well with the dialogue. The art in this enhances the story, taking old time metaphors and making them understandable by visualizing them.

If this is what the rest of these books are like, then I have nothing but high hopes for the Manga Classics series

I read Macbeth in high school many years ago. I don’t remember all the details of it, so I wanted to read this Manga Classic graphic novel as a refresher. It was a great adaptation.

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s madness was illustrated very well in this graphic novel. Macbeth start out as a fairly good, ambitious character. As he grows in status and kills people, he developed shadows on his face and aged a lot. I liked the way his madness changed his appearance.

I also liked the way the metaphors were illustrated in the pictures. There were many animal metaphors, including snakes and bears. When they were mentioned in dialogue, they were accompanied by an image of the animal. This reinforced the written text.

I love these Manga Classics! They are great adaptations of classic plays and novels!

Thank you Udon Entertainment for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Manga Classics: Macbeth by Crystal S. Chan – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Let me put it this way: I got a free digital copy for review, and it was so good that before I’d even finished it I had bought the print version to finish it on. 😍😍😍 Just brought so much depth to the story, even I caught some new details! Absolutely loved this adaptation!

Recommended: Yes!!
For teachers looking for ways to make Macbeth clearer for students while still using the original language, for those who love a badass graphic novel, for an interesting and faithful illustrated interpretation of Macbeth.

Thoughts:
As an avid reader and someone who majored in English and English Education in college, I’ve read Macbeth a good number of times. I even did a thesis on it and created a website around it at one point! I have some pretty solid theories around the 3rd murderer and Hecate’s role in everything. And yet, despite my familiarity, there were still details I had never fully understood before that the manga version of Macbeth revealed to me.

One that sticks in my head is when Duncan’s crew comments on how the air is nice where they are, then spot a a certain kind of bird and say it makes sense to see one since will only live where the air is really nice. I still have no idea what “nice air” is all about, but the at least now I know what they were saying!

Point being, this was an amazing blend of modernity, through the manga illustrations, with the classic language of Shakespeare. What a powerful combo! I loved the way foreground through background was leveraged for metaphorical imagery. That’s one aspect that I think is particularly well done and powerful in conveying meaning in some of the lesser-known phrases they use. Would be SUPER helpful for students to see! It doesn’t have the explanation of words in text (ie. ‘cuckold: a man who’s been cheated on’) but it does the same through images, making it a lot more natural and still allowing readers to remain immersed and use those context clues to find meaning. Facial expressions on the characters are great at conveying the emotion and tone that can be hard to find in the text alone, as well.

The art! It’s SO GOOD! The way they slowly change Macbeth’s appearance through the story is so cleverly done and a beautiful mirror to his growth. Also, Hecate is just a straight up badass. I adore her, so seeing her look so awesome was awesome. It’s truly gorgeous, and this has immediately become a yearly re-read for me, if not more often! Macbeth is a dark and gripping story, and the manga version makes it more accessible while keeping the cleverness of the original language.

Thanks to NetGalley and Udon Entertainment for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free manga.*

I am not the most eager manga reader, but I do enjoy it from time to time. Macbeth as a manga sounded fun as it is really bloody and might thus be entertainning.

Yet, I am sorry to say, I did not really enjoy this Manga Classic. Somehow I missed a sense of place and individuality in connection to the characters. Macbeth looks like a 90s Rock Star with that hair, all the others are equally blunt.

The story, as you might expect, is quite dark, but I couldn't really feel the darkness. The Witches were cool though!

2,5 stars

*~.Book Analysis.~*
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader :)

Rating: 3 stars
Reading period: Sept. 27th, 2019
Format: ebook
Source: NetGalley – I have received this copy in exchange for an honest review.
Release date: Oct. 11th, 2018

PROS
The point of adapting classic books into mangas are precisely to smooth the generational transition in many cases. I myself gave a shot to several classics through their manga adaptations, books in which I probably wouldn't read anytime soon. Considering this scenery, this manga does a good job: it presents Macbeth to a larger group of readers in a softer way.

CONS
It was a shame I found out I don't really like Macbeth.

COVER ANALYSIS
This cover isn't the best among other manga adaptations that I have read from the same publisher, but I guess I'm negatively biased as an overall. It just doesn't stand out for me.

RECOMMENDED FOR
Manga, Comics and Classic lovers!

I really participate the manga classics. The artwork and the layout of the classical story is such a treat; either as a guide before the original read, or as a nice recap afterwards. With this manga I have read the classic play of William Shakespeare and this was such a wonderful retelling. The manga brought the play to another level with the art design. This adaptation is very faithful to the original play.
The play Macbeth is about a brave Scottish general who has gotten word of a prophecy claiming he will one day become the King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and then becoming devoured by guilt from committing several crimes, Macbeth transpires into madness and paranoia.

I'm a new fan of this series. I bought The Scarlet Letter for our homeschool and soon we realized that we were going to need the entire collection! Macbeth, made reading Shakespeare doable!

Oh, wow. I really liked this one. I like all the manga classic really. They make for great quick refreshers and sometimes even let you view the story in a different way, or see facets of it that weren't as obvious in the original texts. I can even get my kids to read these without a fight, and it breaks it down in a way that's much more understandable for kids than the original versions are. I really hope they continue to make more.

I read Macbeth in high school, and have been wanting to read it again for some time.

I saw this and thought, I'll give it a go.

While the art work is really well done, the manga style took away the series edge and made what is dark and claustrophobic fill feel anything but. It gave a light almost happy feel to the look that killed right away any want to continue on past the first page.

If you think that is harsh, it isn't. The copy I received breaks down each character (with sketches) and talks about the adaptation process. You see what everyone and everything is going to look like before the story even starts. So by the time it does, you're either stoked, or like me, put out.

I couldn't take it seriously.

When I received my copy of Manga Classics: Macbeth, I didn’t know what to think. I’m a fan of manga, and I’m a fan of the classics and have read most of Shakespeare’s work. I never envisioned the two genres combined, and I definitely didn’t think they would work well together, but I was so wrong. The story of Macbeth is a classic, and a phenomenal story that has been retold and retooled countless times by Hollywood and authors alike. This version of Macbeth was my favorite experience with the original play yet. I loved the author’s illustrations and felt this medium brought Macbeth to life in a way a play on stage never could. I highly recommend you check out this book, and if not this one then one of the many other Manga classics. I intend to read many more myself.