Review of Arte

-Disclaimer- First of all, as a non-native English speaker, I don’t guarantee my writing accuracy in this review, and I early apologise for the mistakes you might find in it. This review might contain minor spoilers. Basically, there exists a manga for practically every activity you can imagine. So painting was used as a plot basis too, and it gave birth to Arte, manga by Kei Ookubo, which I haven’t read. Since it had a bit of success, it was obviously adapted into an anime. The picture from MAL as well as the synopsis teased me, and that’s why I watched it during spring 2020. I found itquite good, but it’s obviously not the best anime of the season. I still enjoyed it, so I would like to review it, because I wanted to share my thoughts about different things, whether they’re positive or troublesome to me. I read some reviews complaining about the accuracy of the historical transcription, but I’m not a Renaissance specialist, so I didn’t know if this was correct, although I had this feeling at some points. So let me start!

STORY: 8/10
This is a story of a noble girl who aims to be an artist. Unfortunately, the society in the 16th century wasn’t used to artist women. She will fight in order to make a dream come true. Well, when I sum up the story like that, we can directly think that it is a bit cliché, and yes, we’ve seen this narrative scheme hundreds of times: a hero has a dream, but obstacles stand in his way, and he overcomes them. So it’s necessary to add to the idea some elements that will guarantee a success. And Arte’s author did it pretty well! The adventures, the discovery of the outside world (since Arte comes from a noble background and doesn’t know too much about what’s going on in town), all this contributes to the embellishment of the story which I found very nice. Each week, I wanted to know more about Arte’s adventures. It proves the story’s a good one. I also wanted to talk about the feminist aspect of this anime. It obviously raises the question of the place of women, certainly in the Renaissance society, but we can draw a parallel with our modern society. At first, I thought the script was going to push too hard on this feature, but in the end, I found that the feminist side was used very well, without overdoing it. So the plot is interesting, rather endearing, and carries a message of tolerance, without exaggerating. 8 seems a fair score to me!

ART: 8/10
The art of Arte was really pleasant! The drawing style was really aesthetic, which surprised me! The character design and the entire graphic charter were good. I still noticed it slightly different from the original manga. The animation was correct, as well as the lightning. Like I said in my introduction, I somehow had the feeling that Arte doesn’t represent the Renaissance accurately. I sensed it when I saw the portraits drawn by Arte. The background was plain, had one colour, but I don’t think real Renaissance paintings have this characteristic, and it even contradicts what Arte’s master, Leo, taught her. But again, I’m not an art expert, and I’m sure I’m getting into some very minor details. I haven’t much more to say, the art was good, even if it is not especially peculiar, and I think it deserves an 8.

SOUND: 6/10
The sound was just fine. The soundtrack is not incredible, but it goes pretty well with the scenes. Still, it must be said that the music is not very developed, it’s quite simple, few instruments, not many changes or progressions… And again, my problem with the soundtrack was the fact that it’s not in a Renaissance style. Some people won’t mind, but I was a little disturbed by this anachronism. When I say that, I especially think to a song that is played when Arte is nerved or is under stress. It’s a kind of string instrument playing notes quickly, without any chord accompanying, doubled by the piano. It seemed out of the point to me, actually. I found the dubbing pretty correct, the casting was OK. So I’m a bit disappointed about the music but it’s not horrible, either. That’s why I put a 6.

CHARACTERS: 6/10
For me, Arte’s weakness is its characters. They were all a bit cliché: Arte, a cheerful girl who wants to make hear dream come true and helps everyone she meets, Leo, the mysterious master, who doesn’t talk much but has a tragic backstory… You understood it, I didn’t find the characters very interesting, they were predictable, had just one main trait that was used all the time. It’s too bad… Sometimes I was even nerved at some of them, like Arte when she has her ‘romance’ phase. 6 is for me a fair score for characters, and I may even be overrating them.

OVERALL: 7/10
Arte is an enjoyable show. Although it’s not incredible, it delivers a good message, has a good art and an attractive plot. My main problems with it was the cliché characters, not developed enough for me, and hypothetical historical infidelity, of which I can’t be sure, unfortunately. I still know that some people are not bothered by that, since it is fictional. This anime might be for you if you’re into Slice of Life and Historical genres!