An Anime Review of 'Arte'

Arte is a period anime that takes place during renaissance Italy in the city of Florence. It is based on the manga by Ookubo Kei, and is produced by studio Seven Arcs. The narrative revolves around the titular character of Arte, and her journey towards becoming a professional painter in an era where women becoming painters was a thing that was unheard of. There are examples, most notably in the context of this show, Artemisia Gentileschi. While there are some similarities, there is no relation between Arte and the real world painter, or any other painter that I could find. As such this is a fictional story that simply takes place in a period setting.

The narrative, through this series, is quite repetitive. Arte would come across an obstacle, and so an episode or two would be spent in the process of overcoming said obstacle, following which Arte will prove herself to the person that was not believing in her, earning their respect. While it is interesting in the onset, and while you do root for the character, the repetition of this formula makes things stale by the time the final episode comes round. In addition, the show curiously places a lot of emphasis on the fact that Arte has to overcome the restrictions placed upon her during the time period as a result of the gender, as opposed to the growth of her talents, or even as a person.

If one is to watch a random episode of Arte, then follow up by watching yet another random episode, you would not be able to see a difference in the way that she behaves. This complete lack of character progression is fine, she is a head strong character that is positive and will prove everyone wrong, she is essentially, female renaissance Naruto, however, beyond the lack of character progression, there is a distinct lack of character development present as well. There is a focus on making a statement rather than telling a story. Who is interesting in this story is not Arte herself, but the peripheral characters. They receive a lot of attention where we get to see them develop more over the course of a single episode than we get from an entire season with Arte. Execution notwithstanding, I do think that the message behind the show is quite positive, to follow your ambitions, and to always make sure you are thinking about how you are going to achieve them.

I do love the world that has been created in this show, the era, the types of people, the fashion, and the like show that a lot of care has been put on the presentation of the show. That is something I do admit is done well. The presentation. It is a good looking anime, even if at times the animation is lacking. The colours are warm and inviting, the show sounds good, and the opening and ending are great to both watch and listen to.

The show is interesting enough to keep watching, but not good enough to make me say that you have to watch it right now. In all while there are moments that I enjoyed the show, this is a fairly satisfactory show. It leaves little impression once it is finished, and I struggle to remember much of anything that happened outside of Arte struggling, fighting, overcoming, and earning respect, over, and over. This is a cheerful anime and so if I were to recommend it, I would say have it as a ‘pick me up anime’. An anime to cheer you up as it is a very positive and earnest anime. Sometimes that may be exactly what you need. The show is available to watch on Funimation.