Bounen no Xamdou centers around Akiyuki Takehara, an average teenage boy living peacefully on Senten Island. Akiyuki and his two best friends are heading to school one day when an explosion goes off on the bus they are riding on. In the aftermath, a mysterious light collides with Akiyuki, fusing with his body and turning him into a creature known as Xam’d. When the Xam’d within him starts to run wild, a mysterious girl comes out of the sky and tells Akiyuki that he must leave the island with her.

Both Zetsuen no Tempest and Bounen no Xamdou focus on the darker mysteries hidden within the protagonists’ seemingly average worlds. Both protagonists are thrust into the supernatural, one through magic and the other through a kind of transformation. These changes give them newfound powers. The animation in Bounen no Xamdou is fluid and beautiful, similar in many ways to Zetsuen no Tempest – perhaps because Bones has produced both anime.

Both series also deal with close, brother-like friendships. In Zetsuen no Tempest, Yoshino and Mahiro are best friends who would do anything for each other, even with the secrets held between them. And Akiyuki relies heavily on his friends from childhood in Bounen no Xamdou, even as he travels away from them. In addition, both anime have themes of revenge. Mahiro seeks revenge for his sister’s death in a very self-destructive manner. And several characters seek a similar revenge in Bounen no Xamdou, as the people have been going back and forth in an ongoing war for many years.

In a world where the Holy Empire of Britannia is taking over the world by force, an exiled prince named Lelouch Lamperouge seeks vengeance upon the nation that cast him aside. A girl named C.C. helps Lelouch escape and gives him the power of kings, known as Geass. With his newfound power, Lelouch sets out with a mysterious vigilante named Zero on a journey across Japan, trying to obtain his revenge on Britannia.

Code Geass shares similar themes with Zetsuen no Tempest, the most apparent being revenge. Both protagonists set out on a journey to seek said revenge, and find a world much darker and more violent than they could have previously imagined. While Code Geass focuses much more on military tactics than magic or witches, the overall feel of both anime is similar. And as both anime progress, the characters come to realize things about themselves and their situations that will change them.

In terms of tragic stories, Mawaru Penguindrum might well have been written by Shakespeare himself! Twin brothers Kanba and Shouma Takakura live alone with their younger sister Himari, whose illness keeps her constantly confined in a hospital. One day, Himari is given permission to temporarily leave, and her brothers take her to an aquarium. When Himari collapses, she is somehow revived by a penguin hat from the gift shop. However, there is a catch – her body is now inhabited by another entity, who tells Kanba and Shouma that they must search for an object called the “Penguin Drum.”

Mawaru Penguindrum follows two male protagonists as they journey, and focuses on the brotherly relationship between the two, which is similar to Zetsuen no Tempest. In the case of Mawaru Penguindrum, Kanba and Shouma are actually twin brothers. Also, the protagonists’ affinity for a sister character is exemplified in both anime. Mawaru Penguindrum has the same tragic feel as Zetsuen no Tempest, where time is out of joint and the characters are thrust into unusual circumstances in a sense of fate or destiny. This series has a bit of a lighter feel, yet still has its sad moments.

After a virus wipes out everyone over the age of 13, vampires take control of vast portions of the world and enslave most of what is left of humanity. Yuuichirou and Mikaela Hyakuya are two of these enslaved survivors. Best friends from the same orphanage, the two consider themselves family, along with the other children from their orphanage. One day, the boys decide to escape the vampires’ clutches – and it ends disastrously. Only Yuuichirou makes it out alive. He joins the military, and vows to kill all vampires to avenge his fallen family members.

Zetsuen no Tempest’s themes of revenge and close brotherly friendship abound in Owari no Seraph. Yuuichirou has the same thirst for revenge as Mahiro does, with the same level of self-destructive rage backing it. The two anime are also both very dark, drawing on supernatural human-like creatures to drive the plot along (witches/magic and vampires/demons/angels). However, Owari no Seraph does focus more on redemption than Zetsuen no Tempest. Yuuichirou is searching for a reason to keep living after his family’s tragic death.

In a post-apocalyptic world taken over by military power GHQ, a group of resistance fighters known as Funeral Parlor are the only group left fighting for their freedom. In comes average high school student Shuu Ouma! When Inori Yuzuriha, a member of Funeral Parlor, runs into Shuu during an operation, the boy gains the “Power of Kings.” With his newfound gift, Shuu has to join in on the war, whether he wants to or not – and in his search for truth, he will discover far more about the world he lives in than he could have imagined.

An action-packed drama, Guilty Crown also connects to the dark, dramatic and mysterious themes of Zetsuen no Tempest. While this anime doesn’t have elements of revenge, the way that Shuu uncovers truths along his journey is reminiscent of how Yoshino and Mahiro discover the truth about Aika’s death. Guilty Crown also has elements of the supernatural in Shuu’s “Power of Kings.”

If you enjoyed the Shakespearean aspects of Zetsuen no Tempest, you will love Romeo x Juliet. After the Montague family took control and murdered her entire family, Juliet Capulet goes into hiding. 14 years of hiding make Juliet forget her identity and her family’s murder, as she lives partially disguised as the local town’s hero. When she meets Romeo Montague, the classic tale of the star-crossed lovers is set in place. However, this story is only loosely based around Shakespeare’s famous play. Be prepared for a few surprises!

Romeo x Juliet doesn’t use direct language from Shakespeare like Zetsuen no Tempest does. Yet the drama isn’t any less in Romeo x Juliet – the two main characters are set in the middle of a war, on opposite sides. What could be more dramatic than that? And the development of Romeo and Juliet as characters is easy to measure throughout the series, as it is throughout Zetsuen no Tempest.