“An iris by any other name would smell as sweet”: adapting Shakespeare in Romeo x Juliet

Abstract

This paper aims to explore what emerges from the collation of the Shakespearean play, Romeo and Juliet, and the episodes of Romeo x Juliet (2007), the Japanese anime inspired by the tragedy of the “star-crossed lovers”; and to reflect upon the effects of the cross-pollination across genres that underpins the process of rewriting, leading, in some cases, to an unShakespearing of Shakespeare