There’s no denying that women were oppressed during the Renaissance, esp. since classical revivals typically coincide with misogynistic rhetoric throughout history; but my whole experience with Arte has just been, like … watching these extended scenes of men being like “GiRLs cAn’t aRt goOD” and Arte, having no advocates or escorts to protect/support her, being forced to prove herself with some physically taxing feat (after which she Earns Their Respect because that’s how sexism works right), and I’m just stuck on the fact that this all seems very inaccurate and misleading but I don’t know enough about the Renaissance to dispute it
Also, I’d be a lot less wary of the intentions here if this were a shojo series instead of a seinen. I mean, I’m pretty sure the mangaka is female, but this series is supposedly designed to skew towards the adult male demographic rather than be a AnY-type empowerment story for young girls. Wouldn’t an adult audience care more about the historical believability of the text? Or is the tits-out cut of Arte’s dress supposed to distract them from all that? I wouldn’t even mind some diegetic fan service in a seinen manga (and seriously, mangaka, are you sure you didn’t actually want to set this in the Baroque period and explore the sexuality of Artemesia Gentileschi’s work? You didn’t want that sweet 17th century cleavage? It’s okay, you can tell me); but, the story’s insistence on a bright-eyed shojo/slice-of-life setting feels disingenuous when paired with the more pandering elements.
Like, if you’re gonna call this a seinen publication, why not go all out? Introduce the Medici family, address Florence’s cultural and political intrigue as a flawed republic, explore the darker and scandalous facets of Italian art history. It doesn’t have to be Game of Artisans, but simply ignoring or whitewashing the actual culture of the time makes the whole product feel kinda fake. The shojo-ification of the setting seems to take even more effort than just letting it exist as characterized in history books. Compare this to something like Vinland Saga, which has a lot of ahistorical elements but faithfully captures the tone and beliefs and “feel” of its period, and you’ll see how much Arte trades off on the vibrancy of realism.
So, I guess what I’m saying is … Arte isn’t bad, per se, but I’d like it a lot more if it committed to an identity. My takeaway as a creator is that a period setting should be motivated and well-researched, not just window-dressing or a marketing gimmick to sell to an audience that won’t know any better. If you want your Akagami no Shirayukihime-esque slice-of-life about a strong independent woman learning a trade in a vaguely European fantasy setting, go for it; hell, I’d be really into the historical references if this wasn’t supposed to be Actually The Renaissance For Real You Guys. And yeah, Western period dramas are also pretty bad at this, arguably much worse. I’m just picking on Arte because it hits on several of my niche interests but is somehow still a letdown.
It's an anime, not a documentary. It's meant to be fictional history, so a certain degree of suspended disbelief is required. Not everything needs to be accurate to cater to everyone’s historian tastes. I'm an art graduate who specializes in renaissance techniques, and while that made me want to watch this anime, it’s not the main reason I watch it. And while I myself also see some technical inaccuracies in their methods, it’s not glaring enough to put me off. Because the story isn’t about art techniques, or Florentine politics, it’s about a girl wanting to be an artist in a very oppressive society. And expecting the whole political background of Renaissance Florence and the Medicis to be laid out in episode two is kinda too much, since the story isn’t even about them. Even if they were mentioned later on in the manga as Arte’s career grows, they don’t matter to the story early on. Heck, they don’t really matter, but the issue of nobility, royalty, and class is a very present topic throughout the story. Although if you prefer an anime purely about politics, it’s best to look elsewhere.
Arte contains a lot of historical details about the era, but they are just glimpses of it. Things she sees around her, people she encounters. These details are just there. The anime did cut out the fact that Yuri Farrier is a slave trader, though every episode/chapter has details that are added and mentioned. They aren’t glaring, they just fall into place.
And contrary to your statement, not all adults care for historical realism. Some people just want a good story. Especially during these times. I’ve seen complaints like these, saying that this might as well have been set in a modern era, or any era at all, because it doesn’t mention all the seriousness of the Renaissance era. But that’s simply it, Arte doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s meant to be a vehicle for the imagination. A “what if”. Because what if there were moments like these during the Renaissance era, about a simple girl who is basically irrelevant to the rest of society, still living her life and achieving her dreams. But we never knew because everyone is too focused on the bloody seriousness of it all.
Arte is meant to be fun, lighthearted, and heartwarming. A seinen can have that too. Adult men can enjoy that too. Just because the Renaissance was filled with messy society and serious family politics doesn’t mean Arte needs to be.
