Romeo and the Black Brothers (ロミオの青い空) is a 1995 Japanese anime series by Nippon Animation. Although "Romeo's Blue Skies" is the literal translation of the Japanese title, the official English name given by Nippon Animation is "Romeo and the Black Brothers". It is known in Arabic as "عهد الأصدقاء" (literally "Friends' Covenant"), in the Philippines as "Mga Munting Pangarap ni Romeo" (literally "Romeo's Simple Dreams"), and in Greece as "Τα Παιδιά των Καπνοδόχων" (literally "The Children of the Chimneys"). It is based on the novel Die schwarzen Brüder ("The Black Brothers"), written in 1941 in Switzerland by author Lisa Tetzner.

Plot

In the second half of the 19th century, in 1875, a young boy named Romeo lives in a small Swiss village called Sonogno. The village is suffering due to a long drought, and Romeo's family is hit by it the worst, as they are also under debt. Meanwhile, Luini, a dismal man with the nickname "The God of Death", arrives in the village. Luini has his eyes on Romeo and plans to buy him from his parents to work as a chimney sweeper. Luini asks Romeo's father Roberto to sell him, but Roberto refused. In order to bind Romeo under a contract, Luini burns the remaining cornfield that belongs to Romeo's family. During this tragedy, Romeo's father receives a head injury which causes blindness. Romeo's family cannot afford to get a doctor for Roberto, as they have lost their livelihood. The doctor's fee is expensive, as he has to come from a neighbouring village. Romeo decides to sell himself into slavery for 25 francs, and signs a contract to work in Milan for 6 months. Once Roberto has been treated, it is time for Romeo to leave. Just as Romeo leaves he is told that none of the kids ever come back to the village, probably because they succumb to the harsh work conditions. He nonetheless has no choice, and leaves the same day. Along the way he meets a mysterious boy who is unwilling to reveal anything apart from his name, which is Alfredo. They both earn each other's mutual trust and respect after helping each other out. This is also where they meet another boy named Dante in Locarno when another boy stole Alfredo's bag and Dante got it back. Soon they are taken into a tavern and thrown into the basement where the other kids are kept, Dante included. A few of them try to escape, but in vain. Luini decides that they must be sold as soon as possible before they try to escape again, so he forces the children to cross the lake to Milan by boat in the middle of a storm. Their boat capsizes, but Romeo and Alfredo manage to survive, and everyone else is presumed to be dead. They see Luini drowning, but Romeo's good values do not allow him to let the man sink and he saves him, as he believes that is what his father would do. Upon arrival in Milan, Romeo and Alfredo are separated and sold to two chimney sweeps, but not before Romeo and Alfredo swear eternal friendship. Romeo is bought by Marcello Rossi. Rossi is thoroughly manipulated by his wife Edda who hates Romeo because of the cost that had to be paid for him, but is actually kind at heart. During one of their routine cleaning days, Romeo meets Professor Casella who teaches him how to read. Although Romeo is denied food by Rossi's wife, their ill daughter Angeletta, who Romeo refers to as "the angel", helps him by sharing her food with him. Soon, Anzelmo, Rossi's son and a member of a street gang called the Wolf Pack, tricks Romeo into being friends so that he could steal the letter that Angeletta had written for him, but turns out the letter was actually a page from her diary, where she detailed all the lies said by Anzelmo. When the Wolf Pack read it, they mercilessly beat Anzelmo up for lying to them. Anzelmo, hurt badly, swears revenge against Romeo. He blames his wounds on Romeo, knowing that his mother would believe him no matter what, and accuses Romeo of stealing money from the Rossis and they call the police. Angeletta witnesses Anzelmo slipping their parents money into Romeo's bag, but faints due to her serious heart illness before she could reveal the truth. Romeo manages to escape from the police just in the nick of time but is cornered by the Wolf Pack. Dante appears from out of nowhere and saves Romeo, who is thrilled to see that Dante is still alive. Meanwhile, Angeletta regains consciousness and reveals the truth to her parents, but Rossi's wife still wants Romeo imprisoned and forbids Rossi to say anything to the police. Dante also urges Romeo to leave the city as he is wanted by the police and helps him get onto a cart he believes is going to Venice. Nikita however informs Dante that the cart is actually going to the prison at the police station, and is driven by criminals who plan to blow up the prison with gunpowder to free one of their own. The criminals lock Romeo up but he manages to escape and warn the police officers and Rossi just in the nick of time and ends up badly injuring himself. Rossi, moved by the act, decides to stand up to his wife and reveals that Angeletta had seen the real thief and he is none other than Anzelmo. After this, Rossi warms up to Romeo much more and greatly improves his living conditions, and learns to stand up to his wife's manipulations. Romeo finally meets Alfredo again, and they grab all the chimney sweepers to form an alliance called the Black Brothers to combat the Wolf Pack. They challenge the Wolf Pack to a bout and win. Giovanni, the leader, returns from a winning fight with the Scorpion gang (who disband to join the Wolf Pack after their defeat), and is outraged to hear that the Wolf Pack had lost to the Black Brothers. In retaliation, he orders his gang to kidnap a boy from the Black Brothers named Michaelo and demand to be handed Alfredo in exchange. When Alfredo refuses to kneel down in front of Giovanni, the latter proposes a battle at dawn. Initially they all fight (except Alfredo), but seeing as no one is able to gain the upper hand, Alfredo asks them to stop. Giovanni agrees and decides to make it a one-on-one fight. Tachioni volunteers to fight from the Wolf Pack and Romeo from the Black Brothers. Tachioni draws out a blade in spite of Giovanni's instructions to use only fists, but the reflection from Romeo's charm given to him by Angeletta blinds Tachioni and he is able to defeat him. Giovanni accepts defeat and praises Alfredo for having good friends, but tells him that they will get even some day. Later, Dante and the Wolf Pack begin to notice that Angeletta's mannerism is totally different from the rest of her family, which leads to suspicions of her being adopted. Dante manages to extract part of the truth from his master (who is a close friend of Rossi). Romeo overhears a conversation between Rossi and Angeletta and decides to follow Rossi to a mansion, where it turns out that Angeletta is in fact the granddaughter of Lady Isabella Montgomery, a countess. Isabella's son, Adolfo, fell in love with a poor woman named Giovanna, but Isabella did not approve of the difference in social status and thus the young couple left after they bore a child. Sadly, the parents passed away due to an illness and Isabella passed on the child to Rossi who was her childhood friend. Isabella is unwilling to let Angeletta into the mansion as she believes the latter is only after her wealth, and Romeo is willing to wager his life to prove her otherwise. Angeletta's condition worsens and she wishes to see her grandmother once before she dies. They sneak into the mansion and Angeletta gets to see her grandmother, but she coldly tells her to go back home. Angeletta, however thanks Isabella for allowing her to meet her and goes to the church to pray. She collapses in between, and goes into a coma. Dr. Casella says the only way to save her would be to take her to his acquaintance in Paris in France, who is a heart specialist. Romeo, the rest of the Black Brothers and Rossi try their best to convince Isabella, and she finally agrees after being moved by Romeo's devotion and friendship. She meets Angeletta and promises to take care of her in whatever way possible, and the next day, after a farewell, they leave for Paris by train. In the following days, Romeo notices a huge crowd gathering outside a palace, and turns out to be the grand wedding of the Duke of Milan. Romeo is called to clean the chimney of the hotel where all the invited nobles and royalties are staying. There, he finds Alfredo's younger sister, Bianca, staying along with her uncle and aunt. She runs away hoping to find her brother and Romeo along with Alfredo begin to search for her. Alfredo is visibly unwell, this could be attributed to the abuse he regularly went through at the hands of his master Citron, a cruel, vile man who spent all his money on drinking and gambling and thus Alfredo often went hungry and beat. Alfredo tells the story of how he and Bianca were the children of the aristocratic Martini family, Vittorio and Patricia Martini, and how their father's younger brother Mauricio was extremely jealous of his success and wealth. Along with his wife, Grazela, they burn the house which kills Alfredo and Bianca's parents, but not before they hand them the precious treasure of the Martini family, a medal. Alfredo and Bianca flee the burning mansion and their uncle and aunt frame them for the fire in hopes of capturing them and ultimately retrieving the medal. Alfredo and Bianca run for days until they are taken in by a couple, who they beg to let them stay. The God of Death makes his way to the village, and Alfredo willingly sells himself into slavery to provide the family with enough funds to raise Bianca, but Bianca is captured by their relatives soon after Alfredo sold himself and shortly before he met Romeo on the way to Milan. Back in the present, Bianca is unable to find Alfredo, and Mauricio captures her, takes her back to the hotel and ties her up. Luckily, Nikita witnesses Bianca's capture and alerts Romeo and Alfredo. The Black Brothers come through, free her and tie up Bianca's aunt. Mauricio makes his way to the church as he heard that Alfredo was there, but Alfredo creates a distraction and with the help of Nikita, he escapes. Alfredo is reunited with his sister, but collapses and coughs out blood. He is taken to Professor Casella, who is worried that Alfredo's illness is terminal as he has tuberculosis. Alfredo however says that he cannot stay any longer and has to go back to his master as his contract is not over yet. Alfredo assures his friends that it was nothing serious and he just had a cold, and the reason he was coughing blood was because he had bit his tongue. Meanwhile, Mauricio orders for a fake medal to be made in order to prove his and Grazela's royalty to the king, while Alfredo and Bianca along with the Black Brothers devise a plan to sneak inside the castle to tell the king the truth. In the background Giovanni watches them, planning to confront Alfredo once and for all. Alfredo has a talk with Romeo and heads home. He is first stopped by Nikita, who is presumably waiting for him. As they talk, though, Alfredo begins to cough blood, while Nikita watches in horror. Alfredo begs her to keep it a secret, as he does not want to worry his friends. As he moves along, he is stopped again by Giovanni, but before the latter could finish the fight, he notices Alfredo's bad coughing and stops right in his tracks. Alfredo thanks him and leaves, making Giovanni uncomfortable. The rest of the Wolf Pack decide on their own to capture Alfredo on the same day he was supposed to meet the king. After trapping Alfredo inside a basement in the sewer under the Santa Maria bridge, the pack run to Giovanni, who is enraged at their actions. Romeo, meanwhile is able to locate Alfredo as Rossi had seen him go under the bridge. Romeo asks Alfredo to escape while he would stay back to stall the pack. When the pack reaches him, Giovanni is astonished at how dedicated and loyal Romeo is towards Alfredo. Nikita, no longer able to hold back, tells them that Alfredo is dying due to an illness, which happens to be the same illness that killed Giovanni's father, and this is not known to Romeo either. Giovanni decides to help Romeo and his group for the night. With the help of the Wolf Pack, they make their way through the castle, defeating Mauricio's bodyguards who try to kill Alfredo and Bianca. Meanwhile, Lady Isabella arrives back in Milan and sees Michaelo, who explains everything to her. Just as Alfredo and Bianca are about to meet the king, Mauricio takes Bianca as hostage, and before he could finish her off Nikita creates a distraction, due to which Alfredo and Romeo fall over the wall into the castle garden, but survive. They are successfully able to make it into the mansion, but the bodyguards capture the children. Luckily for them, Lady Isabella comes through revealing the identities of Alfredo and Bianca to everybody else and asks the bodyguards to leave the kids alone. When they refuse, she orders the king's guards to take them away, saving Alfredo and Bianca's lives. As Mauricio and Grazela are about to present the medal to the king, Alfredo pronounces the medal a fake, and claims he has the real medal. The king allows both parties to narrate their stories and Mauricio attempts to trap Alfredo and Bianca with his evil lies, but Mauricio is not aware of the fact that the king's father had marked something on the real medal - the mark of benediction, to honor the Martini family for showing true bravery in saving his life in war, which was missing from Mauricio's copy, and hence Alfredo and Bianca's names are cleared and their evil relatives are taken away. The Black Brothers celebrate their success before everyone leaves, except Alfredo and Romeo, who go to church, where they remember the moment they first met. Romeo thanks Alfredo for bringing hope into his life. Alfredo smiles, and says it wasn't him who was the ray of hope, but Romeo himself, and he thanks Romeo for bringing courage and hope into his life. Alfredo begins to succumb to his illness, he reminds Romeo of the oath they made - they would always be together, no matter how far away they are from each other, asks Romeo to fulfil the dreams he would not be able to achieve, and asks him to take care of Bianca. And with that, Alfredo peacefully passes away in Romeo's arms, leaving a heartbroken Romeo behind, crying for his dear friend. Romeo can hardly concentrate on any of his day-to-day activities or work, and this angers the rest of the Black Brothers and Bianca. His refusal to accept Alfredo's death puts a strain on their relations. The Wolf Pack gang, particularly Nikita, were also saddened by Alfredo's death. To get Romeo back into his spirits, the Black Brothers organize a fight, where should he lose, he would be cast out from the group. Romeo makes his way to the fight, and after taking a few punches and listening to Bianca and Dante's pleas, he finally snaps out of his trance, and finally realizes what his late best friend had told him. He decides to go around town asking for donations for Alfredo's funeral. At his funeral, they sing the Black Brothers song in honor of Alfredo. As the new leader of the group, he is presented with a challenge: to gather 20 lira, as they all want to watch the new circus that is in town. Romeo finds an old broken house that needed heavy fixes and repairs. Romeo volunteers to clean and repair the house, and seeing his dedication, the others along with Bianca pitch in too. On the day before the circus leaves, Romeo is unable to complete cleaning the second floor, but the woman is pleased with his efforts and pays him 20 lira anyway. Michaelo accidentally breaks a vase, which angers the shopkeeper and he takes Michaelo's pendent which was a gift from his mother. Romeo finds out, and without a moment's hesitation, trades the money for the pendent, a decision everyone agrees and praises him for. Happily, they all sit and share stories from their hometowns till the evening ends. While working one day, Romeo falls from a chimney. Dr. Casella agrees to have him and Bianca at his place until his leg heals. The doctor interests them both in many subjects, and Bianca begins to see Dr. Casella as a father. They help children at an orphanage as well. As a "thank you" present, they hold a puppet show for Dr. Casella, where Bianca reveals that she wishes to stay with the doctor and become his nurse, while Romeo wishes to keep studying and become a teacher to educate and help others like Dr. Casella. In 1876, when spring falls, the time has finally come for Romeo to return home in Sonogno after 6 months, as his contract is over. Some of the boys have already left and some of them have a while still. Romeo takes his time to wish everyone goodbye, and although Mrs. Rossi does not like to admit it, she does miss Romeo. Mr. Rossi says that he would probably never get a helper like Romeo again, and Romeo thanks him and calls him his second father. As Romeo and the kids are making their way, they see Luini with a new batch of kids. They visit Alfredo's grave one last time, where they finally make truce with the Wolf Pack, and Nikita promises to take care of Alfredo's grave. Dr. Casella drives them halfway to their home towns along with Bianca, and they all wish each other goodbyes and best of luck. Romeo returns to Sonogno and reunites with his family, and 10 years later, in 1886, thanks to his hard work, he becomes a teacher and marries Bianca, and they name their child Alfredo.

Characters

Production

The staff noted a lot of challenges throughout production in later interviews. It was originally supposed to have more episodes, but due to low ratings and other network issues, the amount was cut down. In interviews in the 90s and early 2000s, the director, script writer, and voice actors acknowledged the common interpretation that Romeo and Alfredo are more than just friends multiple times without confirming or denying it. Later, in a special interview with the director, Kouzo Kusuba, from the 2010 Word Masterpiece Theater Series Memorial Book: Europe Edition, he confirmed that the relationship between Romeo and Alfredo was intended to be romantic. He specifically used the word 恋 (koi) to describe their love, a term that is used exclusively for romantic love in Japanese. His full comments on their relationship, translated: Romeo and Alfredo, the two had fallen in love. .. ''With Romeo and Alfredo, that was love at first sight. Without even going into male friendships, the two are lovers. Before they start walking down the road of hardships, when they meet during the apple incident, it was love at first sight. They fell in love. That is the only explanation for having a bond that is that strong.''

Musical

In 2022, the series received a stage musical adaptation in Japan which was performed at Ikebukuro's Brilla HALL from March 30 to April 3. A recording of the production and behind-the-scenes footage was later released on Blu-Ray.

Legacy merchandise

In 2020, a new nostalgia merch line was launched for World Masterpiece Theater, headed by Romeo and the Black Brothers merch. The original character designer and animation director, Yoshiharu Sato, provided new artwork for it.

Episodes

Series music

Theme songs

Insert songs

Other media

Artbook

Script collections

Animate cassette collection

CDs