Shakespearean Anime

I’m going to list these by how Shakespearean they are, not how much I generally like them.  They are all stuff I recommend.

Romeo x Juliette

This Anime is not an animated staging of the Play, in fact it’s far from the only Shakespearean Play this Anime is drawing on.  It uses lots of random quotes and vaguely Shakespearean language.  But for the specifics of other plays it’s story could be compared to the first that comes to mind is Juliette being put in a Hamlet situation, however Romeo is arguably in a Prince Hal situation.  The presence of a Senate can remind one of the Roman Plays.

I’m not the biggest fan of how it ends, but that only affects the last 2 out of 24 episodes.

Requiem of The Rose King.

For this one I recommend the Manga more so then the Anime, in fact I was originally very harsh on it’s 2022 Anime but I gave it a second chance just recently and while the pacing of the early episodes still bugs me it eventually either gets better or I got used to it.

It’s based on the Henry VI plays and Richard III, but again not a direct adaptation.  Its starting premise is reimagining Richard’s deformity as being Intersex and deconstructing his popular demonization.  

The tells that it is still partly filtered through Shakespeare are things like William of Suffolk having been Margaret of Anjou’s Lover rather than Beaufort (the Beauforts aren’t mentioned at all).  And its use of Joan of Arc.

First of all the name itself, this is the only Anime that says “Joan of Arc” rather than ”Jeanne d’Arc”, there is a lot of Jeanne d'Arc in Anime and usually even the English Dubs keep that more properly French Pronunciation.

However, on the subject of Joan, there is one cut the Anime made from the manga I do still have to complain about.  Having Joan’s ghost haunt Richard feels a lot more random when they’ve removed the reference to it being Richard of York who burned her at the stake.  And that itself is a deviation from the history that comes directly from Shakespeare, every other fictionalization of Jeanne doesn’t mention York because they know he didn’t come to France till years later.

This is a Shoujo Anime, where Richard has a pretty large Pansexual Harem.

Now it is still Problematic, not by ever endorsing any Transphobia (or whatever you call Bigotry against Cis Intersex people) towards Richard, but in its Internalized Misogyny.  The only Female identifying characters who aren’t ever vilified are Anne Nevill and Elizabeth of York.

Now I really like this take on Margaret of Anjou, she can be read as a manifestation of Internalized Misogyny even more potent than Cersei Lannister.  I could take or leave its handling of Elizabeth Woodville.  But what bugs me is the decision to slander even Catherine of Valois to explain Henry VI’s trauma, I happen to really like the historical Catherine.

Code Geass: Lelouch of The Rebellion.

This show gives me Shakespearean vibes more so than any objective reason to say it was definitely influenced by the Bard.

Death Note is similar to Richard III in a very different way from Requiem, rather it’s like how House of Cards is compared to Richard III in how it kind of makes the audience an accomplice to Light.

Gundam The Witch from Mercury of course draws on The Tempest as much as it does Utena.

And that’s it, there’s kind of shockingly little of Shakespeare in Anime.

There are random references here and there, a movie with "A Midsummer Night's Dream" as it's subtitle but no actual connection to that play I could notice.  Shakespeare is himself is a character in Fate/Apocrypha but he doesn't amount to much.

It definitely gets me to thinking how I wish there was more.  What unique takes on Shakespeare could only Anime do?

Henry V should be adapted as a Mecha Anime since it is the Shakespeare Play most about War, and at least can be interpreted as Anti-War.  Other plays have battles but they're just plot points, in the Henry VI plays they only serve to explain why who's in control has changed.  In Troilus and Cressida the Trojan War is a framing device but what its actually about is Netorare.

I'm not even joking, I totally think PoRo should make an adaptation of Troilus and Cressida.  Of course it's not the only Shakespeare play with NTR, given the abstract nature of how NTR Hentai can work I'd say it would count to have Richard III seduce Anne Neville on her dead Husband's Coffin.

And remember I have in older posts quoted Much Ado About Nothing to demonstrate that the basic concept of the Tsundere is nothing new, (I suppose I should acknowledge that I got that from TVTropes before Hbomberguy comes after me).  So imagine having Beatrice played by an Anime Voice actress with experience voicing Tsunderes interpreting the character through that lens?

Update May 2024: I really should included Fate/Zero on the same grounds I did Code Geas but even stronger.  

Spoiler Alert

A particularly potent example would be how Lancer's dying words in episode 16 give off strong Mercutio vibes.