Shakespeare

Shakespeare. Probably one of the most intimidating things to read in any high school English class. Whichever play it is, it’s always the same: you drudge through the script, and then maybe watch a film adaptation. I dreaded it in high school too, but for a different reason. Being a theater kid, I started acting with Shakespeare. I love his plays, but hate reading them.

They’re plays; they’re meant to be seen and heard. Just reading the text isn’t enough to fully enjoy them, especially for those who haven’t been taught how to read and understand the language. In a perfect world, every class would get to go see an actual, live production. But not everyone has a theater nearby who just happens to be putting on a production at the same time. So, how can you make Shakespeare more fun, as well as easier to follow and understand? Manga Classics has a solution: adapt it in the style of a manga!

In case you haven’t heard of them, Manga Classics is an American company that takes classic Western literature and adapts them into manga. They are true to the source material, with very little, but very careful, editing of the original text. They have several titles already under their belt, and now they are taking on the unique challenge of adapting their first Shakespeare play. And if you’re gonna do Shakespeare, you’ve gotta start big. What better title to start with than one of the most iconic: Romeo and Juliet.

What Light Through Yonder Panel Breaks

Just about everybody has heard of Romeo and Juliet, if not from the play itself, then one of the many, many, MANY adaptations. It is everywhere. There’s even an anime series called Romeo X Juliet that’s loosely based off the play. The Manga Classics version is a word-for-word adaptation of the original play, something lovers of any piece of classic literature will enjoy.

Like with any production of Shakespeare, this is an adaptation. One of the fun things about his plays is that they can be adapted any number of ways, either true to time and place or something entirely new. Manga Classics stuck to tradition and went with original time and place, which was the right choice in this case.

To help with setting and staging the scenes, the creative team actually went to Verona to learn about the history and architecture of the city. This attention and dedication to detail is very impressive, and it really helped bring out the atmosphere for the story, making it much easier for readers to slip into.

Show and Tell

The thing I love best about this manga adaptation is that the story and the medium suit each other surprisingly well. The story of Romeo and Juliet works really well as a shoujo manga, which is what I would call this adaptation. Shoujo manga are stories geared towards a teenage female reading demographic in Japan. The stories are usually about romance and relationships. It’s hard to get a more more iconic romance story than this one.

The art style of shoujo also tends to feature beautiful characters with pretty imagery in the background for some of the more dramatic moments. More comedic moments have a sillier character design. Story adapter Crystal S. Chan and artist Julien Choy used these elements to bring in a whole new way of presenting the rather unique use of language. For example, when Romeo spouts metaphor after metaphor, each moment is illustrated in quintessential manga fashion. We see him surrounded by thorns when he talks of his heartbreak over Rosaline, and we also see him imagining Juliet as an angel with wings and a halo as he espouses his love for her.

Each set of images were carefully planned to not only represent the metaphorical imagery, but visually explain the complex thoughts and feelings of the characters. This is something very special that only a manga adaptation can do. For novice readers, this is such a helpful and entertaining way to make sense of the numerous, antiquated metaphors Shakespeare is famous for.

Bringing Stories to Life

Understandably, classic texts are daunting to some readers because they seem too foreign or out of reach. It’s a shame, because they’re classic for a reason. You’ll get other adaptations that try to make these works more palatable by chopping them up, watering them down, or putting them in a more modern syntax. The problem with this is that readers are losing a lot in translation. Important historical context and the author’s unique writing style are lost, and those are important elements to understanding the story as a whole.

Manga Classics’ goal is to make famous works of Western literature more accessible to modern readers, and they have done so beautifully. Not only are they staying true to the original work, but they show their love and passion for their work with visuals that are not only stunning, but just what any new reader needs to guide them through the story with ease. Their first venture into the realm of Shakespeare is a rousing success. Not only is it an excellent book to show someone who is new to Shakespeare; it’s an enjoyable new experience for any veteran to the Bard and his work.

Every classroom that plans to teach Romeo and Juliet should have a copy of the Manga Classics version. If the goal is for the students to walk away with an understanding and/or appreciation of Shakespeare, this will get them much closer to that goal. More so than just handing them the plain text anyway. As a Shakespeare lover, manga fan, and classic lit enthusiast, I’m excited to see this visual novel adaptation that took such care with the text to produce something that any reader, student or no, can enjoy. Manga Classics has only just begun to delve into Shakespeare, with Macbeth coming this fall, and (my personal favorite) A Midsummer Night’s Dream next spring. This theater kid can’t wait!