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medea10 · 2 years

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My Review of Requiem of the Rose King

How did I get into this anime? Let’s just see what my thoughts were the second I saw the promo poster.

“This looks like something that should have been made 15 years ago and something Studio Gonzo should have put a pin in. Are there going to be a bunch of Texans doing English accents? This looks to be promising to the female yaoi demographic. How is there not an ALI PROJECT song prepared for this? Wait, can we still get an ALI PROJECT song for this anime? Why isn’t there an ALI PROJECT song for this anime?!”

This story is loosely based on Shakespeare's plays. England has been in a hot-bed of royal fights over which house is fitting of being crowned King of England, the house of York or the house of Lancaster. At the beginning of our story, it’s decided that Henry VI is the rightful king. But let’s see if a certain Richard has a say in the matter.

Richard is the third son to the Duke of York (and his name’s sake). Richard was loved by his father but despised by his mother. Take your pick, it could be because Richard is neither man nor woman, Richard was born under a bad omen, or the fact that Richard looks absolutely nothing like his parents or his brothers. Despite the harsh shitty upbringing, he’s still devoted to his father and wants to help his father pursue the crown.

However, Richard’s father fell to defeat at the hands of the house of Lancaster. But Richard is determined to keep the dream alive by having his elder brothers Edward and George hold the crown once it was won by any means necessary. He’s not afraid of getting his hands dirty or setting up anyone that gets in his way. But aside from that, there is a bit of a love story that revolves around Richard and Henry VI.

Neither of them knows of each other’s family name (at the beginning), but things get tumultuous when everything is out in the open.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Before I go into who is in this anime, I must always praise this one voice actor. Mitsuki Saiga! If you need someone who can play literally every gender in the known world and even a few undiscovered ones and Megumi Ogata is in the can, Mitsuki Saiga can get the job done! Okay now that I got that out of my system, FUNimation nabbed this one at the last minute and saw it quite fitting to give this an English dub. Oh fuck! The Texas brigade dubbing something clearly British! It’s Black Butler all over again where J. Michael Tatum is the clear winner and everything else is on levels between ‘okay’ and ‘cringe’. I don’t know. I’m not brave enough to hear the English version. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Richard is played by Mitsuki Saiga (known for Drew on Pokemon AG, Maria on FMA, Yelena on Attack on Titan, Henry on Black Clover, Kurako on Princess Jellyfish, Wolfram on Kyou Kara Maou, and Rossiu on Gurren Lagann)

*Henry is played by Hikaru Midorikawa (known for Zel on Slayers, Zora on Black Clover, Tamahome on Fushigi Yugi, Li on Code Geass, Yoshino on Clannad, Best Jeanist on My Hero Academia, and 16 on DBZ)

ENGLISH CAST: *Richard is played by Ciaran Strange

*Henry is played by Landon Mcdonald (known for Enmu on Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, Shun on Rent-A-Girlfriend, and Shiba on Tokyo Revengers)

SHIPPING: Characters screwing each other in more ways than once. There’s a lot of betrayal, usurping, and manipulating people’s emotions just to get their way.

Yeah, that’s Shakespeare!

Anyone named Henry loved Richard. Anyone who looked like Henry VI loved Richard. Anyone whose sperm has come from a Henry and has a penis loved Richard. Is that gay enough for you now, fangirls? Okay, how about any women? Yes, there was Ann, Richard’s childhood friend. Ann loves Richard too, but she’s being lead astray because of her father and her betrothed.

Oh sure, Ann does return to Richard. But that’s only after she becomes a pregnant widow. But this is such a staged marriage. They haven’t slept with each other! Well Ann doesn’t know about Richard’s peculiar body, so we can’t blame him there. Richard still yearns for Henry even though he’s long gone. Even after that, Richard finds himself spending nights with Buckingham. Richard almost ended up in certain trouble after many nights of fucking. But the point is, there’s a lot to unpack here. At least Richard isn’t the only person with a messed-up love life in the family. His eldest brother Edward really is no better.

Let’s just say that when it comes to Edward, he has shitty taste in women. He was betrothed to another woman at the start of his kingdom when he met Elizabeth and got married to her. And don’t get me started on that bitch either. She married into the royal family with the mission of destroying it because they killed her first husband. She didn’t love Edward. She just wanted to have babies with him and have them take over and do her bidding when they’re older. Even when married with kids, Edward had a bit of a hedonistic lifestyle. I honestly think he fucked around too much and caught something.

Do I have a ship that I support? I know fans of the franchise have chosen what side they want to be on when it comes to Richard. Team Henry, Team Henry, Team Henry, or Team Catesby. I’m just going along for the ride and seeing what happens next. Go team!

HALFWAY MARK: The York’s getting the crown for England wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Warwick (a long-time ally) turned out to be a double-crosser early on. He betrayed King Edward and offered his daughter Ann to Edward of Lancaster. But to cover his bases, he offered his other daughter to King Edward’s brother George. It all comes crashing down as Warwick is taken out on the battlefield by Buckingham (posed as Richard). The Lancaster family is captured. Edward is murdered in front of his mother by Richard. Edward is fine by this as he does have a thing for Richard. Like I said, any sperm that came from Henry has a thing for Richard.

But the biggest hit for Richard came in the form of learning that Henry was indeed THAT Henry, the previous king and (to Richard) the reason why his father perished. Though we all know that it was Henry’s wife Margaret that killed Richard’s father. Henry winds up with a bout of amnesia and is unable to remember Richard or the time they spent together. Richard’s mother goes and makes things worse by poisoning Henry with words disparaging her son. You’ll find this happens a lot throughout the rest of the series. Hearing Henry repeat his mother’s words made Richard snap and kill Henry. Of course, Richard had orders by his older brother to kill Henry, but I think Richard was acting on impulse. After that, he hooks up with Ann (after he kills her husband, father-in-law, and father).

We then get into a time-leap. King Edward is a skirt-chaser. George is drunk. And Richard is married to Ann and taking care of her and the baby she had with her previous husband. But everyone seems to believe the lie that the kid is Richard’s. Even though Ann’s child looks like her previous husband and IS his. I will not say the names of the kids these people had because everyone’s name is the fucking same. Geez England, add some different names please. Not everybody has to be named Richard, Edward, Henry, and Elizabeth.

ENDING: Richard is now King of England. Now it wasn’t an easy path to get to the throne and he was behind several people in line. First, both of Richard’s brothers died almost at the same time. George was murdered and King Edward croaked from an unspecified illness. Next in line would be King Edward’s eldest son (who is still a child). Richard and Buckingham had to take care of King Edward’s crazy widow in the meantime. She had her eyes on the throne and a slow-moving coup in the works with her supporters. Richard was able to do away with Elizabeth and her children. A few episodes later, two of her children were poisoned and I’m sure Richard will get blamed for that. And then a certain thorn in Richard’s side continues to stir up trouble and that is his mother. She tries to get the public enraged by telling them Richard is a demon. But a stunt by Buckingham and Richard fooled the public and they are all in agreement that he must become king.

But Richard’s problems are only beginning. There’s still that slow-moving coup I was talking about in the works to oust him. Henry might still be alive. Richard’s body is still a cluster-fuck! No, seriously it is! He has breasts, a penis, and now I think he has a uterus. At least it feels like it when he got a check-up and we’re aware of how many nights he’s together with Buckingham. This however wasn’t the only time Buckingham fucked Richard as he kinda betrayed the crown and was beheaded as a result. Now Richard is going through some severe Henry-withdrawal. Oh yeah, Buckingham’s real name was Henry. Imagine that! Another character named Henry that has an unhealthy lust for Richard. Just because Buckingham is dead doesn’t mean the trouble is over. An uprising is coming from this weird guy that we see smiling and plotting, Lord Richmond. He thinks he deserves the crown and wants the death of Richard. In fact, he’s the guy that gave the poison candies to Edward’s sons.

Richard’s wife Ann was worried as her health was declining due to tuberculosis and wants her son to have nothing to do with the crown. So Ann dies and they fake her son’s death and have him go in hiding with a fake name. And then Richard’s crazy mother (who I’m surprised is still alive given the average life span of this family) comes out to call him a demon once more and rooting for Richmond to defeat her son. To top it off, I’m pretty sure he caught tuberculosis from his now deceased wife.

So now it’s a showdown between Richard III and Lord Richmond. Who will come out vict…I don’t even need to finish that question because everyone and their mother knows who wins. Richmond takes out Richard. But we end with Richard’s only loyal ally Catesby coming to rescue him. But we’re pretty sure Richard is done for. Whether it was the battle or the tuberculosis, he’s done for.

Shakespeare works are not for everyone. Even the more amusing ones like A Midsummer Night’s Dream are not for everyone. It’s an odd taste. And it’s not going to help when the mangaka comes out to say that the manga has so much more that the anime has neglected to show and a lot more sex scenes. In my case, it does entice me to read the manga. I’ve seen so many thoughts on the internet surrounding this one particular anime. Most of them hate it and others see it as an underrated classic. I just thought it was okay.

In fact, I would like to think of this anime as a picture book. Maybe it was just bad timing with me and most people who watched this anime at the exact same time as Demon Slayer’s recent season. Because going from that to Requiem can give you whiplash. But the way the animation was, it almost felt like a picture book. That’s the nicest way I can put it for an anime that doesn’t show much in terms of a battle when every other episode has Richard in a battle.

If you are a Shakespeare enthusiast, I would say give it a chance. This wasn’t my cup of tea, but I’m glad I was able to give it a chance. I’ll still stay on the record that Romeo x Juliet was the best anime adaptation of a Shakespeare play.

If you would like to watch Requiem of the Rose King, FUNimation and Crunchyroll have every episode (including the recap) available for streaming.

#requiem of the rose king #richard III #henry vi #anne neville #edward of york #henry stafford #baraou no souretsu #warwick #anime review

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