Hello and welcome to the review of another episode of Arte, the Soccer Ace. The halfway point in the story of Arte has finally arrived and this week, she learns to paint fancy graffiti and play 16th-century Italian football. Let’s talk about it.
A member of Leo-san’s trade guild passes away and he takes Arte along for the funeral. All the other artists assembled there are surprised or angered to see a woman present among them. Some are very vocal in the display of their dislike towards Arte while others just avoid getting involved and ignore her altogether. The masters of the guild are concerned that Arte’s presence would become a point of conflict amongst the guild members and decide to give her a test to prove her mettle as a competent apprentice.
She is tasked to join the other apprentices in helping the masters paint the walls of a majestic-looking hall and make it look like something straight out of a renaissance painting. Leo-san asks Arte to practice by painting murals for 10 days before working on the actual job. When the real work starts, he becomes even more strict and unforgiving in handing out orders to Arte, making her work relentlessly. By the end of the first day, she is exhausted but gets right back to it after a having a hearty breakfast. With her perseverance and willingness to not just quit and leave, she is able to win over the approval of all the other artists with the leader of the guild himself praising her for her efforts and promising to put in a good word for her with the other masters.
Now, if I’m being honest, this was probably the series’ weakest episode yet. After putting its best foot forward in the previous three episodes by exploring the setting better and finding new ways for our protagonist to grow, it regressed by delving into the same themes which were explored in the first two. Arte was faced with the same difficulties of the men in her profession not finding a woman good enough for the job and her having to show them that she’s capable through her sheer willpower. The introduction of trade guilds didn’t really do much in terms of advancing the plot and since most of the episode retread upon the themes already covered, it didn’t make for a particularly fascinating watch. I hope that the second half of the show avoids such narratives pitfalls and progresses the plot thematically.
Though, the arrival of Yuri Falier at the end of the episode did provide a new hook to the story going ahead. Is he a friend or a foe? What impact would his introduction have to the tale of our beloved art apprentice?
Join me next week to find out!
Dude. You are aware of the setting of the anine correct? Of course they would take issue. This anime will have the heroine encounter sexism like or not. Also I think the fact that she persevered should be commended.
Yes, I understand that. I take no issue with that. What I didn’t like in this episode was that fact that the difficulties faced by her were similar to the ones she encountered in the earlier episodes. Getting through them didn’t have her grow as a person and if the show keeps putting her through the same situations over and over again, it will start feeling repetitive.