Cesare: Hakai no Souzousha

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Cesare is a great example of the saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover" I have come across in manga. The word "underrated" is thrown around so often that it loses its meaning at times, but various aspects considered, I can definitely say that Cesare is a truly underrated manga. Hidden behind that seemingly bland cover page is one of the most detailed artworks in manga I've ever seen that brings 15th century Italy to life. But it's not just good artwork without any substance either, as it conveys a highly intricate storyline.

This manga is well researched and quasi-fictional in nature which tells a ... story about the struggle for power among various houses and factions of Italy in the 15th century with the struggle for popedom being the ultimate one. The story primarily takes place in the city of Pisa, with Milan, Florence and Rome being secondary focuses. This manga is heavy on dialogue as is expected from a storyline so complex. It takes it's time to give a thorough understanding of the political situation of Italy during the early chapters, so one doesn't have to be well versed in history to be able to enjoy the manga. But on the other hand, if one isn't fond of history, then completing this manga will prove to be a task. There are historical references dotting the entire manga and multiple chapters solely dedicated to explaining history. Action is not the primary focus of the manga and it's almost completely void of it, with the exception of a brief arc which focuses on the military aspects.

The two main characters of the story are Cesare de Borgia, a Spaniard from the aristocratic family of Borgia, and Angelo de Canossa, a plebian. The bright-minded students from across Europe get enrolled in the La Sapienza University of Pisa, which is where the focus of the story lies early on. Angelo's character in a way represents the readers themselves, as he's naive and ignorant of worldly affairs in the beginning, as are most of the readers, and through him, we get to know more about the political situation of Italy during the time. In addition to these two and the supporting characters, we also get to see a lot of historical figures of the Italian Renaissance. 

The artwork is absolutely beautiful. The characters have a slight shoujo-ish look to them and look really good. The detailing of the background as well as the Italian architecture is absolutely magnificent right from the beginning of the manga. 

However, there are a few gripes I have with the manga. First of all, certain parts of the manga felt really slow paced even for a historical manga fan like me, so I can see some fans not being able to be comfortable with it. Secondly, the representation of the French in the manga, as these stupid warmongers, is kind of one-sided. So if you're a French, it's most likely that you're not gonna enjoy it very much. Thirdly, although the ending was a good stopping point and really well executed, we know from history about how dramatic the situation in Italy became after the events in the manga, so I really wish the manga had continued the storyline.

TLDR; Cesare is a really good read for historical manga fans out there who want to see a purely political side of the power struggle during the Renaissance period rather than the usual military one.

A refreshing change of pace for a historical manga, where instead of battles the focus is on this beautiful mix of the philosophy, political intrigue, and the history itself.

We first follow the naive Angelo as our eyes, an innocent yet sometimes bold young man who is rather out of touch with pretty much everything going on in his world. Pretty standard as far as a main character goes really. Easier to self-insert and allows the manga to give some information about the world to the readers while still being a proper character in his own right.

From there, we are introduced to the political ... world of Italy alongside with the school's prodigy and our true main character, the young Cesare Borgia, the later famous figure from the Renaissance era infamous for being Machiavelli's model for an ideal ruler. This is where the manga really starts picking up, and we see with more in depth and active involvement with the world as a whole.

I haven't really mention the university, haven't I? Because man, they're just so great. It's such a nice place to introduce the story, especially for someone like me who have no idea who Cesare Borgia even is or what's going on in Italy back then. The teachers can tell story and ask deep important question, while the students who have different nationalities and values can "exchange ideas" (though I guess bickering would be more accurate, even if it's more comprehensible) and make the school setting into this mini-political world for us to dip our feet into to prepare us for the real one.

If there's anything I want to critique, I guess sometimes I feel like Cesare is too... OP, I guess? As in, there's not really a moment where he's wrong or anything like that? But that's not really a big deal, and it does seem something big will be happening soon in the future.

Well, enough about the story and let's talk about the art.

It's just phenomenal.

It feels... "quiet", if that even makes any sense for you.

The character's faces are not very dynamic, but they made up in it in other ways that I can't really explain very well other than quiet.

Instead of One Piece's jawdrops and My Hero Academia's intense lines, Cesare's artstyle has this dream-like state which reminds me of an artwork involving a pure white sand beach-like land under a pure black starless night sky. It's odd and barely say anything, and yet its whisper pulls you in nonetheless.

The clothing and architectures are also top notch. I can't say for sure about its historical accuracy and all that stuffs, but I can definitely say that they look great and manage to immerse me even more than I already did.

Overall, I have almost nothing but good things to say about the art and the story as a whole, and I hope they can keep up this quality of art and story or maybe even improve it in the future.

TL:DR
Interesting late 1400s Italian setting, a stand out character and fantastic art. Let down by lack of real conflict, slow pacing, need to exposit about history and weak cast

Story: 6/10
A quiet manga following the life of two Italians whose fates are intertwined. We follow the life of Cesare Borgia, reconstructed from historical records with a generous amount of artistic license along with hapless student Angelo. The manga revolves around the historical events at the time, namely the competition to become the next pope.

The decision to start the manga in a university is excellent. It acts as a microcosm of the state of Europe at the ... time, putting students from the various countries together, and therefore introducing us the the various factions on a small, low stakes scale. From their, the scope of the manga gradually expands until we reach the climax of the manga, where the fate of Europe itself is at stake.

The setting is the strongest part of the manga. This Japanese author builds up the setting better than some European authors, it's very interesting to learn about the social and political history around the late 1400s setting. There is some weird anti-french sentiment for some reason, being portrayed as violent thugs and idiots. Very strange seeing as the manga very explicitly says that the differences in nationalities don't matter.

It starts off quite slow and it's a little dull with little of importance happening, we're mostly just learning about the history and having some character moments but it picks up pretty quickly and we get into the meat of the plot.

In part, poor pacing is inevitable due to the historical setting of the manga, if the author didn't explain it then we would understand what's happening. However, it brings the pace to a dead stop as the author pauses to tell the reader the historical context of the time. However, this is primarily in the first half of the manga and the pacing improves in the second half. This doesn't make it more fun to read though, unless you're a big history buff (which I am).

This manga is more slice of life than drama, and that's despite the multiple assassination attempts. The manga suffers from a lack of real conflict. The manga does revolve around the politics of the time and (provided you don't know the actual history) there is tension around how the central storyline turns out but there isn't that something more that I expected from the description, the political intrigue that I was coming here for was lacking. Maybe that's a problem with my expectations rather than the manga itself but it feels like there are hints of something deeper and bigger that never make themselves apparent. I was waiting for the ‘real’ conflict to start until three quarters of the way through before I realised that the manga really is as shallow as it seemed. Everyone broadly does what they say they will, all major characters in the manga are friendly and work together etc. This is what I mean by ‘Cesare’ being a slice-of-life, it's quite mundane (and not in a bad way!) and it's certainly worth reading for the setting alone but it disappoints if you're looking for intrigue and drama.

Many plot points or character elements, e.g. Cesare's relationship with his sister, are brought up and never resolved in the narrative. This is one point where the historical premise of the manga hampers it's ability to be a story. History doesn't often have satisfying conclusions nor can we know everything. I understand that this is an inherent problem with trying to hew close to actual history but it still makes for a worse story. However The author is willing to write conjuncture about even plot important moments so I am unsure why the author simply left these storylines unresolved.

However, the actual ending of the manga is well-written and is ultimately a satisfying ending despite the above issues.

Character: 6/10
Cesare (the man) is very well written. I enjoy the subtlety the author reveals his deeper character traits. He doesn't have character growth per se but we slowly learn more about him.

Our other protagonist, Angelo feels unrealistic. He's naive to the extreme in ways that seem purpose designed to funnel the story to exposition for the purpose of the audience. There are numerous scenes that boil down to “You don't know that Angelo? Don't worry we'll tell you”. As mentioned above, this is somewhat inevitable due to the historical setting and it does get better. However theses scenes feel more like they're for the reader's benefit, and any scene where the reader thinks “the author wrote this for me” damages immersion and takes us out of the story/world. We learn a little more about Angelo's backstory and more about his character. He also has the most character development in the manga but it feels somewhat rushed. He's broadly the same for the most part and then he just sort of “grows up” near the end, after some time skips. His relationship with Cesare is the most compelling and the contrast between them makes a good character dynamic.

Giovanni initially feels like comedy relief, a more typical manga funny guy, but he does become more of a real character late in the manga. His character arc doesn't really work considering he's primarily portrayed as a pathetic idiot that I'm suddenly supposed to care about and the emotional climax of his arc falls flat because I don't.

Miguel is more interesting, servant and friend to Cesare and the one who understands him most. He doesn't have his own character arc, rather he's the conduit that Angelo (and therefore the reader) learns some of the deeper parts of Cesare's character. If not a very well developed character, he is at least fun.

The rest of the cast has more minor roles and don't matter all that much though Cesare's father, Rodrigo, stands out. One annoying thing is that we're sometimes introduced to random, famous historical figures. Figures that have no impact on the plot. Why are they here? Ignoring how unrealistic it is that Angelo meets all these people, it feels like the author is just putting their name out there to say “look, you recognise this guy right? It's cool right?” and it feels a bit silly.

You may notice that most of these entries talk about Cesare and that's simply because he's the most interesting character. This is a flaw, the rest of the cast are underdeveloped but it speaks to the charisma that Cesare is portrayed it and the relationships the other characters have with him are the most interesting.

Art
Absolutely fantastic, I can offer no critique here because there is none to give. The cityscapes to the historical outfits are brilliantly realised, the atmosphere is created by the art before the characters even open their mouth.

Overall: 6/10
The manga is an interesting read. The strongest part of the manga is the highly researched historical setting, realised with art direction and how it influences the characters. It is a very good read IF you like the setting. Frankly, I expected a political intrigue story and I was disappointed to not get it. The actual story of the manga is very shallow with a distinct lack of conflict and story beats that are forgotten as quickly as they are introduced. The characters (barring the eponymous Cesare himself) are very shallow and not all too interesting.

Mixed recommendation: if the setting sounds interesting to you, this is the manga to read. If you want story or characters? Look somewhere else.