Not being a fan of historical anime, I wasn't really attracted by Arte (the anime).
Still, I couldn't help being a bit curious about it. An anime about a female painter in Italy during the Renaissance, really ?
After seeing a few extracts of the first episode, Arte (the anime) seemed to be quite shallow. I decided to give it a try anyway since it could be quite amusing.
STORY : 8
And the first episodes were indeed amusing. But I didn't smile when I was supposed to : what made me smile was the gap between the anime codes (and stereotypes) and the italian Renaissance depicted. And it could have been crippling if the result wasn't (surprisingly) funny.
A second big surprise was awaiting me after the first episodes. Compared to the immense majority of anime where the tone of the anime doesn't change much, Arte is one of those anime that go in multiple directions.
And this is one of the main assets of this anime.
The story is evolving along with Arte (the main character), which makes it really enjoyable to watch when you start to care for her.
As a result, the stereotypes, that are pregnant in the first episodes, are progressively being questioned in the second part of the anime. What's more, if it's true that some new stereotypes appear in the second part of the anime, they are rapidly being questioned, which I find to be a really interesting approach.
Finally, as long as you start to care for the characters, the story gets more and more interesting, which leads me to my second point (and the strongest asset of this anime in my opinion) : characters.
CHARACTERS : 10
To begin with, I must admit I have a crush for strong female characters, so I might be a bit biased about Arte (well, also about Veronica and Catalina obviously).
This being said, Arte is the engine of this anime. Well, it's quite obvious if you consider it's an eponym character.
It starts with Arte having a lot of stereotypes in her head and being a naive young noble. She doesn't want to follow the path of all noble girls : find a husband and only live for him.
On the contrary, she aims for emancipation and wants to live of her passion for painting.
Here starts an everyday fight to make herself being accepted by men and especially by painters and their apprentices in a patriarchal world where women don't have other choice but to become good wives if they don't want to be despised.
Hopefully, Arte doesn't stay a naive young noble girl and she starts questioning her preconceived ideas. Otherwise, it could have been a bit tiresome. And here is also one of the main assets of this anime : in spite of evolving, Arte fundumentally remains herself. She's learning from her experiences at her own pace and doesn't change to a totally different person (unlike many anime).
The secondary characters are those who make Arte change, which makes them just as important for the story as Arte.
I'm not going to develop the secondary characters since I don't want to spoil you the story (and I don't want to make this review too long...).
I'm just going to mention Veronica and Catalina, which are two characters I especially like. Just like Arte, a lot of stereotypes are surrounding them, but these stereotypes are fought by Veronica and Catalina's wills. They both are strong female characters that learn from Arte just as much as she learns from them.
ART : 8
I don't have much to say about the art, except that it could appear quite average but ultimately reveals to be quite good.
I especially liked the balance in the colors. It's colorful but not too shiny, which perfectly fits to the italian Renaissance where colors were present (among nobles and especially during festivals). On the other hand, the poors clothing are austere, which perfectly depicts this era and enhances the gap between the nobles and the people.
Another interesting point regarding the art is the paintings shown. They're religious commissions or portraits, which is the reflect of the era. For paintings presented in an anime, they're really interesting to watch and some are beautiful.
SOUND : 7
I usually like Maaya Sakamoto's songs but this one is quite average. The ending is ok. Overall, the sound is quite pleasant. I didn't notice a lot of soundtracks while watching the anime, but this is not especially a bad thing. I don't think there was a need for a lot of music in this anime. The few tracks I noticed where perfectly fitting the situations and there's a moving piano track I particularly enjoyed.
ENJOYMENT : 8
It took me a few episodes to really get into the show, but once I was into it I really appreciated to go at the same pace as Arte (the character). Nevertheless, some situations are quite anticipable, which is a pity as it doesn't allow the spectator to be alongside Arte (the character) at every moment of the anime.
Overall, there was a really good atmosphere that made me stick to this anime until the end for my greatest pleasure.
I'm not sure I can wait for an hypothetical second season, so I'm planning on reading the manga.
OVERALL : 9
Arte is an unusual historical anime that concentrates on its characters and on their development rather than on the historical elements. This doesn't mean, the historical part is completely overshadowed. It's in the background, which better allows to get into the anime and to care for the characters in my opinion. If you're planning to watch this anime for the historical aspects, you might be a bit disappointed, but there are a lot of realistic aspects, even if it's romanced here.
