Arte

Ebonyslayer Jul 1, 2020

3

I feel like the author was trying to be pretty optimistic given the setting in Arte. But at the same time the themes for Arte regarding women empowerment felt heavy if I'm being honest. While I honestly agree with that, in the setting provided, that is not true. True Renaissance era life would not allow this sort of story. Unfortunately, there was less focus on the setting than on the women's power storyline. Arte was less "historical" and more "fantasy" in this sense. The author also choose to base Arte off of a real life figure, Artemisia Gentileschi, who had a very different life in comparison. The author probably didn't want to show true to life facts for those specific reasons. Still, I would love to see a true anime adaption of Artemisia Gentileschi's life. It feels gritty in a way, like Berserk. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/oct/05/artemisia-gentileshi-painter-beyond-caravaggio Other than for the themes, the characters come off as boring. Even the drama surrounding Katarina ends up feeling cheap. Leo's old client Ubertino has the least screen time amongst the five characters but he makes a great contribution to Arte's development in bargaining. And since the best thing about this show is Arte's development, he manages to be a memorable character despite low screen time. Arte wasn't a very good protagonist in regards to how she acted like an airhead and in how she responded to the sexism in the show. Putting in the hard work towards becoming an artist isn't going to change the opinions of others that easily. If that were the case, then life would feel an awful lot like a shounen manga, but this show isn't even shounen to begin with. Even though animations are not really bad, quality of visuals for both of character models and background drawings are poor. Plus I can't say the soundtracks were good, cause most of the soundtracks are plain and boring. The irony of an anime being called Arte. I can't even say I enjoyed it as much as I wanted to. At the end of the day this wasn't a good historical anime, being one of my favorite genres. Series I would recommend would be The Rose of Versailles and Golden Kamuy. Both have female protagonists in historical settings that feel awesome and don't have you tearing your hair out in frustration.

StellaeSamos Oct 16, 2020

9

Bottom line: don't watch this for any sort of historical accuracy. Honestly, don't look to anime in general for historical accuracy. With a possible rare few exceptions, anime can't be counted on to make historical sense or serve as a closer look into how people in society in this time acted or how their relationships work. The only historically accurate things about this were the clothes, the buildings, and the fact that women's only option was to get married or become a prostitute. Don't go into this for a historical fiction type story. The story, though, is pretty good. The characters are sweet and have the cutest relationships. It's a cool message about overcoming trials, facing off with social norms, and finding your path in life. I love the story and the characters and the animation style and the clothes and the painting and all the simple interactions Arte has. They're wonderful. It's just better to pretend this happened in an alternate timeline.

Manchineela Aug 27, 2020

8

Fresh and entertaining. Arte reminds me of Thoru Honda from Fruits Basket. She always see positive side of live. Pure, innocent and very motivated person. She deals with reality in her own unique, lighthearted way. This anime shows the viewer difficulty of times that the women were living in.The woman served as decoration, she was supposed to pamper the senses of connoisseurs. Women posed for paintings, sculptors, inspired poets, but their participation in the achievements of the Renaissance usually ended there. Saint Augustine: “The woman is an inferior creature who was not made in the image and likeness of God. It is the natural order of things for a woman to serve a man. " SHE DON'T GIVE A  but she doesn't do it in a pushy, caricatured way like feminists do today.I really enjoyed it.