Gender & Shakespeare in Aya Kanno's 'Requiem of the Rose King'
Mangaka Aya Kanno is perhaps best known for her plays on gender and gender roles in the manga Otomen, and she does not disappoint on that front with her new series Requiem of the Rose King, which Viz started publishing in March. Requiem of the Rose King is loosely based on Shakespeare's Henry VI and Richard III, but the operative word here is "loosely." Still, when you take some of the more compelling beats of Shakespeare's plays, the truth of history, and the tropes of manga and mash them all together, what comes out could be terrible --- but in Requiem of the Rose King is not.