When they say it’s loosely based on the traditional Romeo and Juliet, it’s pretty loosely based. From the Capulets becoming overthrown nobility, to being on a floating island, to various other things in the anime, this is not the Romeo and Juliet that you’re familiar with. Even so, this stands on its own merits. It’s truly a Romeo and Juliet love story- love at first sight, defiance of their families, and, well, the end…

The characters are wonderfully reimagined, with Juliet becoming not just someone who wants to avoid a marriage to someone she doesn’t love, but someone who must hide everything about her identitfy for fear of her life but willing to risk capture to ensure that justice is carried out against the corrupt officials. Romeo is now a prince who wants nothing more than the happiness of his people, and is watching his father descend into greed and politics, becoming nothing more than a tyrant, and even so is willing to defy his father for the woman he loves. Everyone else are characters, to say the least.

The anime itself has many things going for it, from beautiful animation, to lovely music. It has a number of shout-outs to the Bard himself, which gets a laugh from those familiar with his works, but even so some of them will be pretty obvious, and may bring a smile to the viewer’s face. There are themes of love, friendship, sacrifice, and standing up for those who can’t protect themselves, presented in a way that isn’t too obvious. This may not be the traditional story of Romeo and Juliet, but it’s a wonderful watch for those who are looking for some action and romance.

I can't give it a perfect 10, though. The plot element with Escalus isn't fully explained or understandable, and that makes it fall apart near the end, plot-wise. However, it still manages to be a beautiful story nonetheless.

Violence/Gore: Sacrifice and death are common enough. One man sacrifices himself to save Juliet by throwing himself into a fire. Other people are stabbed. No gore except for some blood is shown, though once or twice you will see dead bodies (these are not lingered on).

Theological Themes: This is a fantasy series. The most innoccuous things are that there are pegasi (flying horses), and that the island floats. Something that figures in late in the series is that the island is being held up/held together by a tree called Escalus, and that the bloodlines of Romeo and Juliet's families surviving were necessary. Spoiler: Since Juliet's family was killed, the island will crumble and be destroyed without a sacrifice. The island does fall from the sky, but the people are saved from death by the island being destroyed from Juliet and Romeo's sacrifice

Other Themes: There were perhaps two or three minor swears. If you're expecting a happy ending, you're watching the wrong title (and should stay away from all similarly titled movies/books/plays/etc).

Note on dub/sub: I HIGHLY recommend the Funimation's dub of this series. The characters are well cast, however, the script is fantastic. In the spirit of Shakespeare, much of the dialogue sounds like, or is, a direct quote from Shakespeare. Also, it is worth a mention that this series was released with a TV-PG rating on the box, which gives you a pretty good idea of the content level of this series.

The soundtrack from this series is exceptional, and is worth a listen regardless of whether or not you've seen the series.