Summary:

Since Francisco, Curio, and Conrad aren’t sure what’s going on, Tybalt fills them in on how only Romeo and Juliet can save the world. At this moment, however, Ophelia is telling Romeo that she gave Juliet the kiss of death as a sign of the contract with the tree Escalus. She claims that Juliet won’t wake up any longer, but since Romeo insists on saving her, she uses the tree roots to keep him tied up while she has Escalus swallow Juliet up into its trunk. Immediately after this happens, the entire continent starts shaking violently as giant roots spring from the ground. Once things settle down again, Romeo declares that this fate for Juliet is wrong since she alone shouldn’t bear the sins. Ophelia corrects him because it’s not just Juliet – Escalus and Neo Verona have been saved by the blood of many Capulets. She also questions if Romeo would be fine with the land being destroyed, and he replies by saying that if that’s the path, he would accept it because of his oath to walk together with her.

Calling him foolish, Ophelia flies down right in front of Romeo and is about to strike him down when she suddenly gets an arrow shot through her hand. That arrow came from Francisco who has found his way into the chamber along with Tybalt and Curio, and Tybalt quickly frees Romeo from the roots holding him down. While the others keep Ophelia busy, Romeo gets a ride up to the top of the tree and starts hacking his way towards Juliet. Unfortunately, Ophelia then declares that she won’t permit them to touch Escalus, and she knocks down both Curio and Francisco. When Tybalt attempts to attack her directly, he finds himself hitting an invisible barrier around her, and he gets knocked back too. Romeo almost reaches the center of the tree where Juliet is being held, but Ophelia stops him by pulling him back with the branches. Despite this, Romeo uses all his strength to stand his ground because he wants to save Juliet, and his crying out of her name finally awakens her. This also causes the top of the tree to explode, and it turns Ophelia almost entirely into wood.

With white petals floating down all around, Juliet wakes up to see Romeo watching over her, and he tells her that she’s free. At his urging, Juliet falls asleep again, but Ophelia then rises up to say that there is consider might of Escalus’ in the world, and she won’t let its unique and precious existence be destroyed. In response, Romeo points his sword at her and declares that the most precious existence in this world are the people who live on it. When Ophelia fires a tree branch at him, Romeo cuts through it and charges straight through her, shattering her. This leads to more of the continent breaking up, though things are calm again when Juliet reawakens. The first thing she sees, however, is Romeo with a branch piercing through his armor, so she rushes over to him. Speaking slowly, Romeo says that it was thanks to her that he felt the joys of loving someone for the first time. He was happy to live in the world with her, but he knows that he can’t call her name or see her anymore. Romeo then leans in as if to get a final kiss, but his body falls limp before it can happen.

Though Juliet is still grieving over Romeo, Tybalt urges her to get on his winged horse because the tree is about to crumble. Juliet, however, asks Romeo to say her name and touches his lips as if that would help. In trying to comfort her, Tybalt tells her that Romeo shouldered everything himself because he loved her. Remembering their oath to each other about being together through life and death, Juliet realizes that Romeo kept it until the very end, and she decides that she will too. She came to save the world, and she knows that Escalus still lives because she can feel its life inside of her. Activating her wings, Juliet tells Romeo that she loves him and, after putting his hand on her cheek, she feels that they’ll be together for eternity. She then asks Escalus to grant her prayer, and her wings multiply and grow huge in size. It is through these wings that the continent’s descent down to the planet is slowed, and it splashes safely into the water below.

In the aftermath, William recounts how they didn’t know that Escalus supported the world and that Neo Verona was floating in the air. Elsewhere in the city, Hermione carries both an iris and a rose, and she wonders if Romeo and Juliet are happy together. She feels that she’ll definitely become happy too someday. As for the rest of the Capulet group, Francisco is now a part of the parliament of Neo Verona, and Vittorio is once again the mayor. Curio has his own vegetable store, and Benvolio and Cordelia have a baby. Tending to a row of iris flowers in front of a carving of the goddess, Conrad feels that he had been wrong, but a grown up Antonio tells him that Juliet wouldn’t want him to be sad. In the countryside, Tybalt is giving a ride to Petruchio’s siblings on a white winged horse, and when they say that this horse is pretty, Tybalt admits that it’s actually his little brother’s. William meanwhile thinks about how strife, hatred, sadness, and pain can all be ended by love. The joy of love is what Romeo and Juliet taught him.

 
 
 
Unlike today’s Claymore finale, Romeo and Juliet actually had what I thought was a pretty good ending. I say “good” in the sense that the story got wrapped up nicely with some of the best animation quality I’ve seen for this show since the first episode. I particularly liked William’s last couple of lines which I don’t think are actually from any of Shakespeare’s real works, but they still concluded the show on a high note. Hearing Tybalt refer to Romeo as his little brother was a nice touch too.
Romeo and Juliet died as expected, but Romeo didn’t become the second tree or anything like I thought he would based on what the old man had told him to do. Instead, he was mortally wounded fighting Ophelia, and Juliet was the only one who sacrificed herself to become the tree. The main thing I didn’t understand here was why they had to make Ophelia a bad guy. Unless they really just needed an antagonist (which is very possible), it seemed like Ophelia’s goals and what Juliet ended up doing were the same, so it makes me wonder if a lot of the stuff that happened was unnecessary – like Romeo dying. That and the fact that we were never told who the old man was.

Final Thoughts: I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I started watching this series, and when the first episode turned out to be one of the best I had seen in a long time, I was instantly hooked on the show. The amazing opening song probably had a lot to do with that. 😀 Unfortunately, I thought that several of the middle episodes were rather boring, and some of the characters felt wasted (Hermione for example). Things came together again by the end though, so I’d say it was overall a good series. It’d be interesting to see more of Shakespeare’s works adapted like this, but I’m not sure if any of the others have as well known characters or themes as this did.

124 Comments

  1. I absolutely hated the way Romeo died. He died way too easily ._. I do liked his last words, it was so sad ;_; There were alot of thinks I wasn’t happy about, but I still got very teary at the end. I loved how they symbolized Romeo and Juliet at the end with Hermione holding an Iris (Romeo’s fav flower) and a rose (Juliet’s fav flower) and the iris and the rose at the grave. I sooo cried at the very last scene with Romeo and Juliet holding hands ;___; pwz come backkkk. And awww, Cordelia and Benvolio have a little baby

    Mayuna
  2. I think I’m going to start crying once I see this episode XD
    No doubt me and my friend will be huddled over a tissue box screaming “WHY!!!”
    The animation does like rather nice this episode. I’m happy that it seems to show the conclusions for the other characters too! (Fransisco, smexy~)
    I’m just wondering…why did Ophelia turn into bark :3

    Miso and Soup
  3. Argh, some things I wrote are gone :/
    I totally laughed at teenage Antonio’s voice; it’s the same female voice XDDD I thought he would have a very low voice like Curio LOL. Oh, speaking of Curio, WTF are you doing??? XD I think he has gone totally mad after Juliet’s death and decided to dedicate his life to veggies…
    Tybalt’s so cute when he smiles….but I sooo cried when he said ‘No, this is my little brother’s Ryuuba’. ;_; Oh, and my prediction was treu; Cielo did get little Ryuuba’s!!! Yey, so cute XD
    Argh, I cry every time I see the last scene with Romeo and Juliet holding hands ;_; Come baaaack!!!

    Mayuna
  4. …yeah it’s GONZO alright…

    …and thus ends the trashy NIPPON interpretation of the trashiest play that most people fool themselves into believing to actually have literary merit…

    …*sigh*…

    Zzz...
  5. They totally screwed this up.Shakespeare is rolling in his grave because of this. When I heard they were making a R&J anime I was happpy since I watched both movies old and new and read it. But I read nor seen any of this supernatural stuff in it. Which was what totally screwed it up plus they were surpost to kill themselves in the end. I can rant about it all day but I got better things to do.

    Tokki
  6. OMG, after all this, some people still refuse to register the word “adaptation” into their f*ckin’ brains. Rather than stop watching after 1 episode, they endure the whole thing and b*tch about it in the end. Worthless.
    I’ve seen the movies, read the story and I really this anime adaptation. Fantasy brings out the best in action and adventure which the original obviously lacked.
    (Now…waitin’ patiently for them subs T_T)

    Sarsa-chan
  7. how about this interpretation for the last scene for a happy ending. Juliet become the tree ans as the spirit of teh tree, she can still take human form liek Ophilia. Romeo was mortally “wounded” but not dead. Juliet as the new “Tree of Life” use her power to save Romeo. Romeo decided to stay at the tree and become its new protector. Juliet ans her ability to take human form like orphilia stay with Romeo and the 2 live happily ever after as a human and an enternal and in time, Juliet will plant in a seed in Romeo and that will allow Romeo to live as a enternal like Juliet never aging for all enternity living happily together watching protecting the world and the tree together……..

    Valkyrie
  8. how about this interpretation for the last scene for a happy ending. Juliet become the tree ans as the spirit of teh tree, she can still take human form liek Ophilia. Romeo was mortally “wounded” but not dead. Juliet as the new “Tree of Life” use her power to save Romeo. Romeo decided to stay at the tree and become its new protector. Juliet ans her ability to take human form like orphilia stay with Romeo and the 2 live happily ever after as a human and an enternal and in time, Juliet will plant in a seed in Romeo and that will allow Romeo to live as a enternal like Juliet never aging for all enternity living happily together watching protecting the world and the tree together……..

    TT__TT

    kandidy
  9. I like this adaption. I seriously think the anime is doing Shakespeare a favor. At least in this adpation I can actually say I feel sorry for the main characters.

    Romeo and Juliet the play is so boring and Romeo and Juliet themselves are so unlikable and stupid (the whole play I was slapping my head thinking, “Those IDIOTS!!!!” and I paid over 30 bucks to watch that!).

    Ori
  10. Tensai Otaku >>> They do die D: The Romeo and Juliet you see at the end aren’t alive…they’re the….image of them in our memories ;_; or something XD but I can guarantee you, they’re gone D;

    Mayuna
  11. @Mayuna

    The rose was the Montague’s flower. The Iris was symbolizing as Juliet and the rose was symbolizing Romeo.

    I just finished watching this episode. .. T___________T Made me cry so much~ especially listening to what Romeo said to Juliet and Juliet brusing he finger along Romeo’s lips and saying they were cold. Omg. ;_;

    The last scene in the episode showing (not real) Romeo and Juliet T____T Bah.

    Saku
  12. Subarashi, hontoni subarashi.

    Thanks GONZO, for not ruining this masterpiece and gave us a brilliant finale. Just as Onmi have said the last episode, was William the one with the last words on the series. Romeo’s dead had to be that way, because of that Juliet was able to make the last call and save Neo Verona from its doom.

    The last picture can confuse you, but obviously they’re dead, and only their image was showed as a memento for their sacrifice. I’m so touched right now, a dignifying epilogue for the series.

    “Until dead part us away…”

    Syaoran Li
  13. Wow!! I’d never actually thought that juliet pulled a raoh from the hokuto no ken series, except juliet saved the world bringing the entire continent down to the sea while raoh brought light to the world.

    ON THAT NOTE: I actually loved the series from the beginning to the end, it was so heartwarming especially the very last scene, it was touching.

    Shin Mamoru X
  14. Saku >>> Uhmmm, but Juliet also said once that if she wanted a flower, she would choose a rose (aka I guess that’s her fav flower) and Romeo’s favourite flower is obviously the iris. So I figured that it symbolized that, but maybe you’re right.

    Mayuna
  15. o lol, I actually see it know; the Capulets weapon has a iris and the Montagues a rose. Never looked at those things that good before. But I guess that’s why the rose was Juliet wanted to have rose back then. But yeah, the point was that I loved how they symbolized the two. Argh, can’t watch the episode anymore, it makes me cry ;__;

    Mayuna
  16. Well, I guess Ophelia was only obsessed with her task of letting Escalus legacy to Juliet and nothing more. Knowing Romeo, regardless of Juliet’s choice about Escalus, he would sacrifice himself anyway in order to grant Juliet a future, the same way she did for him. I’m really sad for Juliet in the end, because she never could kiss him back in their last moments together, so their last kiss was the one before Ophelia take her to Escalus in episode 23. Just like the old Metallica song “Sad but true”

    I can justify Romeo’s death with the old man’s last words to him “Support her with your shoulders”. It wasn’t the matter of taking the place of the 2nd Escalus by Juliet’s side, but instead letting know her that he was ready to follow the same path together, even if that path leaded to their death. So Romeo didn’t die in vain, he helped Juliet to understand and accept her fate, and knowing Romeo had chosen the same one, she didn’t have more regrets. I guess the writers wanted to tell us how much they’re ready to die for each other; to affront the same fate together. GONZO, this time you did a great job, let me praise you.

    And know what? Three years ago were The Count of Monte Cristo , then Romeo X Juliet, what will be GONZO’s next adventure within classic literature; just time will tell.

    Sarabata Romeo…
    Sarabata Juliet…
    You always will be remembered…

    Syaoran Li
  17. Wow ZZz… i wasn’t even talking about you, yet you took it pretty personal. If you read my first comment carefully, you’d realise that i was talking about the one nearby whom also mentioned that they’d read & seen the movies. So sorry to say, your insults don’t make sense.
    But now i wanna ask, why did a person like you who hated the thing end up wasting your precious time to watch & bitch about it?

    Sarsa-chan
  18. Really lol nearing towards the ending such ironic situation =.= like they wasted all the time just to make them both with Juliet sacrificing in the end, strange but overall a very nice ending don’t you think? 😀

    setsuke
  19. Sara-chan

    Sorry about that…my mistake…I did think you were talking about me…honest mistake…

    …and no I actually didn’t waste my time watching it. I dropped in on the last episode and then read all the blog entry for the previous episodes…my stance against R+J has been set for a long time now…

    …I would have watched it if it was Othello, King Lear, or one of the other tragedies (even by GONZO), hell I’ll even watch Taming of the Shrew as a harem show…

    …and again I’m sorry…?

    Zzz...
  20. i knew it was going to happen…yet every time i look at the pictures or think about it i feel like i cant breath TT_TT
    i think the ending with Romeo and Juliet holding hands is a ‘even though they sacrificed themselves they are still toegther in spirit/heaven/ect…toegther forever” kind of thing.
    ahhh i’m going to cry -__-

    Aieyen
  21. You know it really makes you wonder if their Marriage (Benevolio with Cordelia) is going fine since … Antonio is a teenager, … and they just have NOW a baby…. hmmm… sounds fishy….

    RickaZ
  22. That is so sad! T_T I didn’t expected Romeo to die like that (I was onto the second tree theory too lol) but the final scenes make it sound that they both fullfilled their oath. Wonder who was left as the next heir in the throne (Tybalt?) and what happened with Mercutio but oh well, that was a nice ending. Now wanna see School Days ending mwahahaha.

    meromero
  23. You have to remember that the original wasn’t a romance: it was a morality tale where the love story was mostly a vehicle to drive the main point of the two feuding families and how their hatred of each other leads to their ruin. This adaption was very different in the sense that while there was that hatred between the families, there’s a much bigger issue of their world ending and how Romeo and Juliet sacrifice themselves through their own free will for the people they love. The original was strong in what Shakespeare intended for his play to be, and the adaption was strong in not only the art and music, but for the tale Gonzo wanted to tell.

    So I suppose you could call it “trashy”, if that’s a synonym for a strong, compelling story with masterful writing based on keen understanding of humanity.

    Basilisk
  24. The original source material was also intended to illustate the rashness and foolishness of young love for Romeo and Juliet die more because of their own rashness in the play rather than any external factor.

    The cartoon tosses that whole theme out and instead tries to illustrate the opposite the depth and necessity of their love that in the end saves their world.

    Cyoti
  25. The was group fan-sub this anime, but was ask to stop by one the american anime companies, this will stop raws or summaries of the anime from being posted so fans have better idea what idea is all about. As for the end of this anime is very sad.

  26. https://randomc.net/image/RomeoXJuliet/RomeoXJuliet%20-%2024%20-%2044.jpg
    this woman isn´t the one that was living at William´s Mantua summer house? the one who acted with antonio on the play because we see antonio grown up so it´s logicall she also grew up. And maybe Tybalt is actually the Great Duke but they don´t mention it or maybe they are now a republic anything could have happened. Tybalt accomplished oone of romeo’s dreams. he is like happy now. actually if tybalt is part of the both families wouldn´t his color be purple (jajaja) because red (capulet)and blue(montague)makes purple. william’s new look is better.

    Danie
  27. Beautiful ending…. Sad yet, not so sad. Haha. I like this much better than the original play even though, the ending is what you would expect in a lot of anime. Sacrifice yourself so you can save the world type of ending, but ey, I can set that aside with RxJ. It fits and I’m perfectly satisfied with it. Love the ending scene that makes it seem like RxJ are still alive when well, it’s just their spirits watching Neo-Verona. ^___^

    tg
  28. Wow..it was so sad.I started crying like crazy when Romeo was injured, and when he died.T-T And I can’t believe that they died…-_- Well, what should I expect, it’s Romeo and Juliet right? Guess I can’t help it. But I really did think that they WOULD change it b/c it’s Gonzo. But anyways, it was really fun to watch. *cries* Romeo was like my shining knight in armour to me haha.XD

    Kasumi
  29. Who else noticed that the tree branch that mortally wounds Romeo is missing when he dies? Oops. How I love anime inconsistencies. *sigh*

    I loved the epilogue. William’s thoughts on love are awesome.

    The animation towards the end. Pretty golden wings.

    Sana
  30. For episodes 1-22 w/english subs you can go to Crunchyroll.com
    You need to make an account though, dont worry its free
    but i dont know about 23 and 24. please let me know if anyone finds them!

    kira
  31. [episode 1 to 23 is uploaded on http://www.crunchyroll.com]
    however, the subs for episode 23 aint complete, so there are quite a few parts which missing subs.
    anyway, im trying to get my friends to help me with the subbing for last episode,
    kinda busy with exams right now, if its actually completed, i’ll post back here again x)
    Great series all in all =) 1 of my favs rite now!
    Romeo X Juliet FTW ! (=^-^=)

    FrozenPetals
  32. @Sana;

    If you noticed, when Ophelia blew up, all of the braches evaporated as well, including the one in Romeo.

    I thought this was a wonderful anime. I was quite skeptical at first, but it really pleasantly surprised me.

    As for the wannabe literature buff in here, Zzz… was it? If you were seriously into rich and compelling stories, you wouldn’t be watching anime. Every anime character to date is a Mary Sue, and honest to goodness literary nerds hate Mary Sues.

  33. Absolutely beautiful ending…I cried all the way from the start of episode 23 to the end of episode 24, and after that I went and called up my friends and cried some more. Very pretty animation quality in the last episode. Much thanks to GONZO for bringing us this series… now I’ll have nothing to look forward to for the time being -__-

    Tybalt is

    Kaiten
  34. i hate sad endings but this one was different.. maybe its not as sad seeing as romeo and juliet ended up still being together forever.. but still nothing could make me cry more than the final moments of romeo and juliet with Lena Park’s You raise me up in the background..

    jedigriever
  35. Ophelia, is the bad guy, because she is the guardian of the tree, and runs on a belief that all life belongs to the tree ‘escalus’ since, really everything is from escalus.. even if the world has changed, and time itself has moved on, human strife, anger, hate, pain, will always exist, and the need for her and of the tree is unquestionable. she is seen as the bad guy since, she will not allow change to occur.. so in a way, she isnt a bad guy .. just doing her job ..

    ben
  36. I watched this series from the beginning to the end, and I really really loved it. The interpretation was so beautiful! Unlike in the play, the anime gave enough time for the viewers to get to know the characters and grow in love with them. I knew Romeo and Juliet were going to die at the end, but I really… really did not want them to. How sad eh? Impending doom really!

    I watched it faithfully with a friend and we had some good laughs. The opening song still makes me giggle. Japanese version of “You raise me up”? Priceless.

    And thank you very much for your episode summaries. My friend and I always watched raws as soon as they came out, and you always had a summary she could read so she could understand the episode without subs! Amazing. Great work!

    Rinibiny
  37. I’m surprised there isn’t any fangirling…
    Kyaaa~~~~ Tybalt is so HAWT!!!!
    (etc) around here
    I think this episode excited me the most when Tybalt, Francisco and Curio come rushing to help Romeo fight Escalus. Hooray for Tybalt (hooray that he didn’t die too) The ending with Tybalt and Petruchio’s siblings riding Viero was really cute too.

    As for Romeo x Juliet … I thought it was a great ending!
    Bravo!! Encore! (Throws roses and lilies onto the stage!)

    Especially loved:
    Tybalt! *hearts*
    Francisco & Curio
    Juliet’s “IYAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!”
    All Juliet’s expressions in the last episodes – very pretty!
    Willy ^_^
    The miner folk

    Yukiruchan
  38. it was a good series, i agree. hey. there’s just one thing that makes me think. who is the new duke of neo verona. at first i thought it was francisco when he was called to come to the meeting of the nobles. but if he was the enw duke, they would have addressed him as grand duke. so, i now know that he wasn’t the new grand duke. well, who knows about the new grand duke? or does the story doesn’t have that at all? well, haha.

    kyaa~ tybalt was so cool. letting petruchio’s sibling have a ride on cielo. i was touched by the fact that he really treated romeo as his brother although they’ve known each other and been together for a little amount of time. also i was touched when romeo did the same and addressed tybalt as his brother when he got off tybalt’s pegasus to go to juliet and he said.. “thank you, brother..” that was really touching.

    over all, i loved this series.

    🙂

    sarah
  39. it was a good series, i agree. hey. there’s just one thing that makes me think. who is the new duke of neo verona. at first i thought it was francisco when he was called to come to the meeting of the nobles. but if he was the new duke, they would have addressed him as grand duke. so, i now know that he wasn’t the new grand duke. well, who knows about the new grand duke? or does the story doesn’t have that at all? well, haha.

    i think tybalt should be the next grand duke. two reasons. sine he is the son of the grand duke montague who died. second is, he is the only capulet left. if the power is given to the capulets, but juliet is not there since she died, tybalt should be given power. if the power over neo verona is still for the montagues, tybalt would also be the grand duke since he is the only son left of the grand duke.

    haha.

    kyaa~ tybalt was so cool. letting petruchio’s sibling have a ride on cielo. i was touched by the fact that he really treated romeo as his brother although they’ve known each other and been together for a little amount of time. also i was touched when romeo did the same and addressed tybalt as his brother when he got off tybalt’s pegasus to go to juliet and he said.. “thank you, brother..” that was really touching.

    over all, i loved this series.

    🙂

    nyah.

    sarah
  40. what a waste that the last eps are not subbed cuz i dont really understand japanese 🙁
    but i still loved this series and thnks for this website, otherwise i would have died not knowing what happend to them!

    alala
  41. When you think about the story of the anime, in the beginning Juliet was a two year-old infant at the time Lord Montague murdered her family and became king. It is then mentioned in another episode that Lady Portia met Lord Montague that night, and he made her his wife (or something like that). Eventually they had Romeo which means Juliet is about two years older then Romeo in the anime…

    Anyway, I cried and saw the ending before I even thought of that, and I suggested I should put that up before I cry right now…! *cries*

    Onigiri
  42. Never really was into Japanese cartoons. I have an 8yr old son that got me into Avatar- The last Airbender (please dont make fun of me ;)and while I was looking for the finale I stumbled across those lil’ YouTube clips where they make a music video out of a cartoon episode. And it was love at first sight with RxJ I was hooked I stayed up til 3am having to watch almost all the episodes and know more about how this version of Shakes’ love tradegy ended. It was great in so many levels it made me laugh, angry and I think if I were not in such an uncomfortable position watching it on my couch I would have cried my eyeballs out. This “Anime” also taught me so much, most importantly, it taught me that you can’t fight war with war. There is always an alternative. Just be patient and options will emerge before you. Some episodes I found did not have english subtitles, but luckly I could get by on some spanish. I jotted down a few awesome inspirational thoughts. One that really moved me was when Shakes’ said “El viento sopla en el cielo soleado y tambien en el cielo nublado (el destino puede cambiar)… RxJ Episode 23

  43. WTF was with the tree? It’s not bad to include it, but damn I’d rather have a simple ending that feels like it tied up with the beginning. All the sudden this giant magical tree of love comes in and makes everything too grand. Romeo and Juliet was a tragedy,yes, and this makes it seem a little too fairy tale like.

    antoinette
  44. awesome series and a fitting end. Sad but powerful. Juliet didn’t just sacrifices herself, throw her prayer, she, along with Romeo, both became the Tree(if you see the red glow in romeo’s body and his blood you will understand) granting them her wish to be eternaly together.
    I bow to this series. A good alternative romeo and juliet story.

    hellishdude

Leave a Reply to Crystal Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *