More Thoughts on RomeoxJuliet, 7-8

[tigerlily]

I should probably just take notes because the episode I just watched is always the freshest one in my mind when I want to write something.

Well, I think the whole romance is sweet. Not much to say, since as I said before it's kind of boring. Also, for some reason I feel really awkward about sappy scenes sometimes, and melodramatic ones, and the end of episode seven is just that. Though it was undercut by the the shot of Hermione alone. I feel sorry for her. Then the angst about them gets me to feel for them too, and the moment works.

Episode 8. Oh, Tybalt's smarmy and condescending. So annoying. If he weren't very pretty and had that nice moment at the end, I'd have little reason to care about him. And what, he thinks Juliet wanting to help people is an excuse for her wanting to take down Montague, and that she hates him too? I don't think I fully realized anything but the last part before. Well, he should certainly realize she isn't quite like him at the end. Or maybe not, if he's still asking her if she doesn't hate Montague in episode 17.

I find myself thinking about violence and killing and the rightness of it quite a bit, since I hang out in fandom a lot, and characters who are considered to be morally ambiguous because they kill are said to be interesting. Usually, in these parts of fandom, people come down on the side of thinking the character whose a killer is right and strong while the others are weak and naive. I have a different view of that.

Now, it's true that after the priest saw that crest he had to die, though Juliet didn't know that. Again, though, I can assume based on her later reaction that she probably couldn't have killed him anyway. But before that, I don't know what the right thing to do is.

Even though I still find Tybalt annoying and too snobby, especially considering his uber privilege if he's rich, well. The last few scenes do suggest that he thinks having to kill is a heavy burden, and maybe that's why he's being all comforting. Maybe he went through that too. That's what I hope.

See, after all that about Tybalt being annoying, he's still more complex and interesting than Romeo. Romeo's fine, sweet and silly, but inoffensive, but he's just there! More than Juliet, he's the one whose naive and not getting the suffering of the world beneath him. There could have been more of a story there, but I don't recall being satisfied with what we got. It's good with me to reverse gender roles and have him being the more inexperienced, silly one, but there could have been a story there too. Maybe if he'd had more interaction with those creepy nobles and started learning how things worked there, or more about his relationship with his mother. Something. I don't hate him though, he's marshmellow. I can't hate marshmellow, or even really dislike it.

Which brings me back to Hermione. She doesn't have much that isn't marshmellowy either except for a couple of episodes, but she's still more interesting. I think it's partly because of the gender roles for me. Usually female characters are relegated to not having much complexity or screentime, so I fill it in and am happy to find Hermione complex, but mostly can't be bothered with doing the same for Romeo.

With that clumsy segueway: I tend to want Juliet/Tybalt fic for this anime. I can't say that I want them together in the anime, but I would love fic for it, because I like the scenes they have together, and Juliet makes Tybalt interesting. I only like these broody-type characters if they have a soft spot and such. And they are interesting characters without each other, even. I don't know if I ship it, and I don't think there's any attraction in the canon, I just like it and want to see fic for it. Or even just friendship or some other type of fic, though I'd still want the ship fic too. And pretty much any Juliet fic that isn't focused mainly on Romeo and Juliet.

ETA: I forgot to write how silly I think it is for people to wander around in hoods during broad daylight whilst they stare and do suspicious activities. And to note that Tybalt really is kind of snobby, calling Curio a knave but not minding telling his name to Juliet, presumably because she's technically a Capulet lady. Of course maybe he doesn't want to say it in front of the personal guard of the Prince, but still.