William Shakespeare wrote over 150 poems and 38 plays. While no one from the current centuries was able to meet the "greatest dramatist," his existence continues to live on through his literary works.
It is not surprising why many of today's films, series, and books have obtained their respective inspirations from the legendary poet. What is shocking, though, is that even some anime materials, also, reportedly, based their storylines on Shakespeare's works.
CBR released a list of some of the anime series that appear to have not existed if not for the English poet. It emphasizes, however, that these materials are not a "direct adaptation" of the Bard's works.
The first anime on the chart is Romeo X Juliet. Its title alone already hints that this is an inspiration of one of William Shakespeare's most popular plays, Romeo and Juliet.
The publication noted, though, that the anime is a "mediocre and uninspired" version of the original play. Nevertheless, it still hits most of the original material's "major story beats."
Next on the list is Chevalier D'Eon, which is one of today's most unique anime series on small screens. It has, reportedly, provided its viewers a different journey, considering its historical and "supernatural gender-bend" elements.
While the anime seemingly share many similarities to the works of Alexandre Dumas, the publication said that William Shakespeare dramatically "influenced" him. Accordingly, Chevalier D'Eon is technically loosely based on the Bard's literary works.
As surprising as it can be, the same publication listed Death Note as one of the anime series that is inspired by the works of William Shakespeare. It argued that the material has a lot of similarities to Richard III.
The report said that the main characters share the same elements. As noted, Light Yagami and Richard III appear to be villain protagonists.
In their respective storylines, both characters appear to have justified their actions because of their bad experiences. This, then, reportedly, causes many people to think of them as "mostly unlikable."
While it is true that these anime titles share a few elements with some of William Shakespeare's literary works, it remains unconfirmed whether the writers, indeed, based their characters and plots on the poet's materials. But, the publication said that many anime have relied on "motifs popularized by Shakespeare. Hence, it is possible that some of these materials did not directly base their works on the legendary writer's pieces.
