This Week in Anime

Does Requiem of the Rose King's Story Overcome Its Production Limitations?

Nicky
Mix a 500 year old story, some Shakespeare, psychedelic gender stuff, and roses with a lot of thorns, and you've got yourself This Week's Requiem of the Rose King.

So Requiem is an adaptation of a manga produced by the illustrious Aya Kanno, which is in turn an adaptation of Shakespeare's famous tetralogy, the Henriad. The plays are based on the events real-life historical Wars of the Roses. It's a fancy title that means before we even start talking about the plot of the show, some of you are going to be lost.

It really just comes down to being one of histories most famous family feuds. In the 1400s an almost 40 year struggle broke out between two branches of the Plantagenets, the Yorks and the Lancasters, for an all out battle for the throne. It was incredibly petty and the complicated political aspects inspired a lot of media, like George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones and now Requiem of the Rose King. Rebecca Silverman, who's been doing the daily streaming reviews for Requiem, already did a wonderful primer for the site, which can be read here.

All part of George R. R. Martin's evil scheme! Or maybe better said, Hidetaka Miyazaki's poison swamp?

I myself have done my best to keep track of things, but admittedly some of this stuff makes me feel like my brain is just one small sack of marbles with a hole already worn in it. There's enough liberties in the anime and manga where any pre-existing expectations don't matter but it also feels like it still expects you to know a lot of the players. And as an adaptation, it hasn't always been graceful about it. But that's not even covering the biggest changes, which involve the character of Richard III, himself.

The real life Richy 3 actually did have scoliosis as confirmed by his corpse. It was due to being a blue blood, but it wasn't nearly as bad as Shakespeare described. He's also considered to be one of Shakespeare's evilest villains, even if it was extremely politically motivated by the current people holding the throne in William's day. His depiction is pretty much one big propaganda piece in that respect. By contrast, Aya Kanno's portrayal is far more sympathetic, and potentially even more tragic, as Richard struggles between his desire to be loved and his own self-image as a man.

Richard is shunned upon birth by his mother and then by others who learn of his "deformity," it's really only his father that treats him well. His mother even tried to abandon him in the woods as a child, believing him to be a curse and a bad omen to the kingdom. His sense of self is so bad he starts hallucinating about an androgynous shade of Joan of Arc that comes to personally mock him for the fact that he'll never fit in.

Lmao, it's also one of the better aspects of the art direction. Aya Kanno's manga is beautiful in a way that can't be present on screen. Kentarō Suzuki's previous credits include the Angels of Death anime adaptation, which I enjoyed as a fun trash indulgence, But J.C. Staff isn't always known for their consistency and that really means living up to Kanno's artistic talents are hit or miss. There's some wonderful stills, backgrounds, and other choices in this show, but most of the battles are lackluster. There are some scenes that are literal slideshows with not much to show for them, and then there are others that aren't animated but definitely capture the abstract tone. It's not that it lacks ambition but the overall production leaves something to be desired.

It's fine during most of the actual drama scenes which is like 90% of the show but then it has to basically skim over all the historic battles. Episode 2 was the worst offender IMO, which is a bad foot to start on. Maybe it wouldn't feel as obtuse if some of the events weren't also condensed as heck. It introduces a lot of characters and skips over a lot of events. This can leave Requiem as intimidating for those who aren't patient with it. Not to mention, as this story is intended to be a tragedy, it's also pretty miserable! For good and for ill.

Ah yes, while we'll have plenty of discussions of the historic struggle women's rights in the time period of the show. First, though, we have to discuss Women's WRONGS! And how we of This Week in Anime, fully support them, because we like it when they do bad things. At least when it comes to fiction.

She makes Lady Macbeth look tame in some scenes. When we're first properly introduced she captures Richard's father the Duke of York and tortures him with lies about having murdered his youngest without a shred of remorse. She also thinks her husband is a fool and only really sticks with him so she can put her own son in the fancy chair.

This is the great-grandmother of Queen Lizzie I btw ^

Me, when I pull out my anime body pillow at the family dinner. If I owned one.

Dad, being the bro you call your Kingmaker. Otherwise known as Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, because your real dad died in the war.

So, to break down more comprehensively: after Old Dick had successfully rebelled against the Lancasters he was soon killed in the battle of Wakefield, putting his eldest son Edward IV on the seat over the previous Henry VI. Kanno portrays Edward as noble but also amorous. Making him easily manipulated after he becomes infatuated with a woman of lower status, Elizabeth Woodville, who seeks to seduce him as revenge for the death of her husband, John Grey. Young Richard had killed Grey in a mad escape to see his beloved father, only to discover his dad's head. Richard then later spies on his brother Edward's affair during a hunting trip and is threatened to help keep it a secret. Warwick had set up for Eddie to marry the King of France's daughter but he rebuffs both him and France for Liz. Nobody is happy!

Warwick then gets pissed off and tries to get his two daughters, Anne and Isabelle Neville, to woo Richard and his middle bro George, respectively. Previously, Richard had a childhood encounter with Anne, involving an albino baby boar, making them anime childhood love interests. Though they were childhood friends in history as well, so this isn't out of the blue!

Anne is probably the nicest girl in the show, and one of the only characters who truly makes Lil' Dick feel loved and secure. The few moments between her and Richie provide brevity in what is otherwise a series of misery. Also yeah, Richard's status as an androgynous figure leaves him as a free-for-all for people willing to fall for him despite the fact that he hates himself so much and will never allow himself to get close to them.

He's got a pretty good reason for this, as often people try to physically and sexually assault, belittle, or insult him as soon as they figure out the circumstances of his body. The only other person portrayed as truly accepting Richard is...umm...Henry VI?! Richard had a chance meeting with in the woods alone where Henry referred to himself as a simple shepherd. Because shepherd are far happier than kings. Their romance is probably one of the most wild liberties of the story compared to both the Shakespeare play and history.

I support it, btw.

This also makes Henry VI's character very weird, sad, and a little pathetic. He would rather emotionally attach himself to some random stranger than TRY to be king. Historically, he had some mental health problems as well, but has also been marked as a holy figure. Here, he's strangely very pure for a man who is also a father to a boy about Richard's age, who also loves Richard! Though, his son Prince Edward only sees Richard as a woman compared to his father's more undefined but unconditional love.

This makes Richard more confused about himself and his body though, as he feels like loving men compromises the masculinity he tries so hard to uphold.

It's definitely what sets it apart, but it's also an acquired taste. It's hella contrived and some people will be turned off, but those who love classic manga drama setups may find themselves more engaged.

Catesby is yet another childhood friend/love interest of Richie III that he just refuses to acknowledge as an actual trustworthy person.

And at this point, he hasn't even THOUGHT about becoming king. Warwick, after being thoroughly miffed by Eddie IV's actions to go against the advice of his kingmaker, decides to unmake his own king by going to the Lancaster family to plot another rebellion.

So while we have all this chess imagery in the opening, it's really more like checkers as they get kinged and un-kinged and several of them are technically viable candidates to the throne. Since Anne refused to manipulate Richard, Warwick set his sights on Prince Ed while also playing George, which is how we got the saddest couple in the show where they both have a bad case of the Richards. Both view Richard as different genders and try to slot him into their own image. Which is just more sad! Previously, Richard had a freaky dream about how nobody loves him for who he is loomed over by a specter of his father and their spat further emphasizes how important it is that Richard is seen fully as himself, and not by any role others intend to assign on him.

Henry projects heavily onto Richard as a pure savior where he doesn't have to deal with complicated feelings like sexuality. He was totally scarred by witnessing his mother's affair when he was little. While this frees Richard of any sexual expectations other people may put on his body, it doesn't solve the problem since it simply substitutes it with one of unobtainable purity, making Richard feel even MORE guilty of his ever-growing romantic feelings. Even if this weren't true though, their time alone together are oh-so-terribly short, and eventually things have to go down.

I ended up enjoying it but sometimes it definitely felt like I was taking a history lesson more than enjoying a story. Some of the pacing can both be too quick and heavy in a way that if I'm not paying full attention I catch myself drifting into a dangerous slumber as characters are talking, and then the parts that are good I just wish it were slightly better. At least with a manga I can kind of control my own pace and let myself take in all the details rather than be drowned in them, like Richard and his misfortune.

And then while I enjoy this take on Richard the character, there's certainly a lot of ways the story chooses to question, define, and display the nature of his being an intersex person, not all of which are kosher. But while it might not be everyone's cup of tea, that isn't to say it isn't somebodies', including those of you reading this. And I certainly wouldn't beguile if more people checked this out or more importantly, its manga. If anything, I hope we've all helped people learn something!

Save some for me, George!