Book Review

Title: Manga Classics: Macbeth

Author: Crystal S. Chan (Adapted by), William Shakespeare & Julien Choy (Illustrations)

Genre: Manga

Rating: *****

Review: So, from all the manga classics I have read all stick very close to the original source material so I won’t be going in-depth into the story as most people have read Macbeth at some point in the educational lives or they are familiar with the source material. When I read Macbeth in Comprehensive school, I found it to be a very raw, gritty and visceral story so I was excited to see how the story would translate to a more visual format.

To summarize Macbeth: A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia. I was correct about this particular play translating well into manga as it opens with a bang and Macbeth makes a great entrance into the story and from the moment, he meets the witches we can see his path laid before him.

One thing I love about Macbeth is a lot of the key scene are foreshadowed in earlier scenes, for example, when the witches first meet Macbeth, they reveal that he will someday be king, but they do not specify that he will obtain that position by murdering Duncan.

There is an astounding amount of the original information from the play in this manga, but most aren’t in dialogue although this manga does contain far more dialogue than there is in traditional manga. I found the way the manga was drawn really allowed the bloody and grim nature of the play to blossom in a way the original material doesn’t. However, I did find that much of the tension and suspense found in the original play are lost be seen a visual representation.

Overall, I really loved the version of Macbeth and seeing both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s decent in madness and eventual death and I highly recommend all the manga classics series, however, there is a fair amount of dialogue in all of them which isn’t common in manga.

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I know I’ve said this time and time again, but I sincerely adore the concept behind Manga Classics. I love that it gives me a new perspective on many of the classics I know and love. And for those I haven’t read it gives me an excuse to try them out and not be quite so intimidated (we’ve all come across that one classic that was so large it was impossible not to be intimidated by it).
I think it’s great that they’re working so hard to help expose more people to the classics by making them more approachable. Plus it’s fun seeing something so well known turned into a different medium (after all, that’s why movie and TV adaptations are so popular, right? Well, one of the reasons at least).
I can’t get enough of the Manga Classics, truth be told. It felt like I waited a year for the next one to come out, when it was really only a few months (which is a very fast turnaround time, I’d like to point out).
I’ve been hoping for a while now that they would do a manga version of Macbeth, and it looks like I finally got my wish! I’ll admit that even though I was looking forward to it, I was shocked by just how well it adapted into manga form.
It’s always interesting to see how these classic characters would translate into manga characters. I was a bit surprise by Macbeth’s, but I think that has more to do with how I picture him versus how he was described. I adored the representation of almost all of the characters, but some of the side characters in particular really stood out to me as being amazingly accurate (and no, I’m not really sure why they stood out to me in particular). I love the more stylized manner in which the witches were drawn as well. It really suited their more ethereal nature, and frankly it made them look creepier, so it was a brilliant choice all around.
The artist’s choice of including imagery in the background during specific scenes (usually the ones with more dialogue than most) was brilliant. It helped convey the deeper meaning and implications of the words, while not disrupting the immersion.
Overall I really loved this adaptation. It was everything I could have hoped for and more. And the best part? In the back of the book they listed the upcoming classics, and A Midsummer’s Night Dream is shown! All of my wishes and dreams have come true! I’m the happiest girl ever. Now I just have to be patient and wait for its release!

I read some of this but I just couldn't get into it. That's definitely more my problem than any problem with the book itself. I often have trouble getting into Shakespeare and understanding the language and I thought the manga format might help me with this particular title. Unfortunately it didn't really work for me, but it looks like a pretty good adaptation and I'm sure this will be very enjoyable for a lot of people.

<i><b> But 'tis strange:
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray's
In deepest consequence.</i></b>


I read “Macbeth” two years ago, and I did not understand it. I took the opportunity this year to reread it, first in original and then in manga format. I discovered an unexpected beauty.


I believe that many know the story of Macbeth, his fall in the abyss and in wickedness, a fall helped by the Mephistophelian lady Macbeth. Few know, however, that the world of manga can make a very high contribution to this text. Shakespeare often speaks for metaphors and images: the format of the manga can give the opportunity to create real works of art within the narration, as evidenced by the other volume of the Udon Manga Classics, “Romeo and Juliet”. Truly an excellent choice, that of re-enacting Shakespearean tragedies in manga style.
Good good good. The drawings related to the scenes with lady Macbeth transmit all the madness and the wickedness of the woman, her cold blood and her bravado.

Even “portraiture” plays a fundamental role: Macbeth changes face in the course of the story, as well as the authors of the manga at the end / beginning of the book explain. They also did An excellent job in the reconstruction of clothes and settings, about which little we known. And now we come to a brief description of the story, just to end the review in the best way.

Frequently represented and readjusted over the centuries, Macbeth has become the archetype excellence of the show for unbridled power and its dangers. For the plot Shakespeare freely inspired the historical account of “King Macbeth of Scotland” by Raphael Holinshed and that of the Scottish philosopher Ettore Boezio. Also very popular is the opera version of this tragedy, music by Verdi with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave.

The tragedy opens in a gloomy Scotland of early Middle Ages, in an atmosphere of lightning and thunder; three Witches decide that their next meeting will have, as a guest, Macbeth, to whom they will make a prophecy.
Personal note: I loved the scenes with the witches, really dark and Halloween.

Macbeth writes to his wife about the prophecies of the three witches. When Duncan king of Scotland decides to stay at Macbeth's castle in Inverness, Lady Macbeth devises a plan to kill him and secure the throne to her husband. Although Macbeth shows concern at the idea of ​​a regicide, Lady Macbeth eventually persuades him to follow her plan.

Macbeth is not discovered after the regicide, but he remains very shocked. According to Lady Macbeth plan, he directs suspicions about the king's guards. the morning after the killing , and the Castle arrive arrive Lennox, a Scottish nobleman, and MacDuff, the loyal baron of Fife. The doorman opens the door and Macbeth leads them to the king's room where MacDuff discovers Duncan's body. In a simulated rage, Macbeth kills the three guards before they can claim their innocence.

Fearing for their lives, the sons of Duncan escape, but this make them suspicious. Macbeth ascends to the throne of Scotland as the heir of the former murdered king.

Macbeth continues to see enemies everywhere, so much that he sends assassins to kill MacDuff's wife and children. Lady Macbeth begins to be tormented by the weight of the murders: there is a scene in which Lady Macbeth walks in her sleep and tries to wash away the imaginary bloodstain from her hands. I can say with total confidence that this is one of the best scenes in the manga.

In order not to make spoilers, I will not write the end of the tragedy: it is all to be enjoyed.

This is a bloody tragedy, in which evil dominates and in which the characters are complex and ambiguous. Lady Macbeth, the personification of evil, is animated by ambition and wants more power: it is she who persuades her husband, often undecided, to commit the regicide. The supernatural is present with apparitions of ghosts, witches and they represent he absurd in the real life.

As always, manga editor and drawer make a wonderful job with this play. Characters and settings are phenomenal and just perfect. The scenes are well described and well executed. It was a pleasure reading this manga during a stormy night. Hope you’ll enjoy the reading as much as I did.

Another great manga classic. Wasn't sure how the Shakespeare would translate but I think it worked really well. A great graphic novel series.

I love the graphic and everything but it’s quite hard to understand the story and it’s not the mangaka’s fault
It’s just me and classic I suppose 😭

This is my first contact with Shakespeare and I had a bit of a hard time with it. This is my third manga classic and my least favorite, only because I couldn't get into the shakesperean writing style. The artwork is still gorgeous and it helps a lot to see what's going on.
Just not a big fan of Shakespeare literature.

It's been a long time since I've read a manga or a Shakespeare play so the combination of the two was amazing! Macbeth has always been a favorite out of Shakespeare's works so being able to essentially get a crash course through the story was a lot of fun. The artwork is beautiful and just really brings the story to life. Highly recommend!

As usual, Udon Entertainment brings classics to life in the beautifully drawn manga. This genre allows readers to really see what is going on. This helps a lot when many older classics are overrun with wordiness that makes it easier to get lost. Macbeth is teh same: the art beautiful portrays wahat's going whic is very helpful for a play since it is a visual medium. The only issue is that it is still in the old language which is always what confuses me. But thanks to the gorgeous illustrations I was able to follo3w along and truly understand what was going on with characters. I loved their version of Lady Macbeth in particular.

One more incredible manga rendition of a great classic, a Shakesperean tragedy of epic proportion that still addresses raw human emotions like greed, ambition, regret, loyalty. Macbeth's rise to power and following downfall are depicted in powerful strokes and the text is true to the original play. It is not one of the easiest or most entertaining works of Shakespeare, but it is a classic you should not miss even in its manga form.

It was a little bit strange to read a manga written in Shakespeare's English, but still, if you want to read a good story or if you want your kid to read Macbeth without complaining, this seems to me a good compromise..

Era un po' strano leggere un manga nell'inglese di Shakespeare, ma tutto sommato se volete rileggere una bella storia o se vostro figlio deve leggere Macbeth, ma non ne ha voglia, questo mi sembra un giusto compromesso.

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

Another brilliant re-edition of a great work of literature, Macbeth manga stays true to the original play. Accompanied by beautiful and inventive illustrations, it is difficult not to love this edition. Strongly recommended to fans of mangas, but also to fans of Shakespeare.

I've never read Macbeth but I really enjoyed this adaptation and the artwork was nice enough. However, I didn't like the way this ARC was made. I've read a lot of digital manga and this is the first time I've actually had to go to the end of the file to find the first page.

Yet another worthwhile rendition of a classic work from this publisher. Reluctant readers I have worked with love these books.

It's no secret that I really like the Manga Classics series. Chan and artist Julien Choy did a great job with Romeo & Juliet and The Jungle Book, and now they've done great work again in this rendition of Macbeth.

I was a little skeptical going into it because, as with most Shakespeare but maybe more so with Macbeth, the real drama to me is not so much in what the characters are saying but how they're saying it. But I wasn't disappointed at all. The art adds a dimension to the story that isn't so simple to pull off in a theater or even in a movie. And I especially like how Choy drew Macbeth and his insanity - very well done.