As has been mentioned, RxJ is an adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I too, would like to draw attention to the word ADAPTATION. Meaning, any Shakespeare purists who would complain about a butchering of Shakespeare's original, should steer clear, now. From the first episode, it is evident that the plot is totally different, and this really could have been a very good thing.
Instead, two key things were not handled well, and it turned out to be at best a good thing, with misgivings. First, if they're going to throw in the Tree subplot(if you watch, you'll see what this means by about the middle(around episode 12?)), please explain it better throughout, and not toss in the hurried explanation towards the end. I personally am very fond of fantasy stories, and appreciated the explanation about the tree's purpose(if you've read JRR Tolkien's the Silmarillion, it parallels a part of this). The random :cough: gardener was also...random, and severely underdeveloped. Her purpose felt really contrived.
Also, Montague, Romeo's father. As mentioned by many, his character is so extremely the one dimensional evil villain...and then they try to save his one dimensionality by also cramming in a "sad" backstory at the breakneck ending. Except, again, cramming does not a good story make. Definitely does not get his character any sympathy either.
If these two elements of Montague and the Tree's importance were better integrated, then Romeo x Juliet fantasy could have been much better.
Art: Being a poor judge of art, and very not creative to the max, I can't really say much. But it was smooth enough, and never made me wince about how the characters are drawn(with a few exceptions of Juliet's nose). Much unlike...:cough: Naruto fisheye shots :cough:
Sound: Props to Juliet and Romeo's seiyuus, also to Tybalt's, Willy's, and Montague's. Juliet and Romeo's seiyuus felt like they grew into the roles, and seemed to express more emotion, especially when calling the other lover's name, as the series continued. Tybalt=Byakuya nii-sama=win.(total bias, forgive me). Montague's deep/sonorous voice also suited his despotic character. Kazuhiko Inoue as Willy in a flowery voice was also amusing.
Otherwise, the opening and its sibling english cover of "You Raise me Up" was very memorable, as mentioned. Soundtrack, not so much.
Characters: Minus major points for the random Gardener, and Montague, as mentioned in story. Otherwise, none of the characters really made me go GACK, and I was definitely shocked and sad at the ending of the two lovers. None really stood out either though. Tybalt was shoved to the side for so many episodes! Mercutio also! That is not good.
Enjoyment: As I'll tell all my close friends, I'm very much a closet romantic and big sucker for sap. Combine sap with my more boyish love of fantasy, sword fights, save the world and such, and you've got a very very enjoyable anime for me. Again, minus a point simply for how much the Gardener and Montague made me wtf through the middle.
This is pretty personal though, and most of the population I've met think cliche=cliche=bad, and especially rolled all into a ball like this.
Overall: 8...6 or so? More than 8, but if we remove the wtf, then I'd actually be raving about this anime as one my top favorites. It isn't quite that, sadly.
Again worth mentioning though, for me, the ending was really beautiful and poignant, and a very good close. It managed to actually make me miss Romeo, who spent most of the story as an unreformed Suzaku-falsely happy, preaching love and peaceful things, and doing a whole lot of nothing.
