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The only word to describe this series is 'BORING'.

This series was a complete meh, but what makes me frustrated is that it had SO MUCH potential - with the interesting spirit world backdrop, the restaurant and food trope, the romance between a human girl and a seemingly powerful demon. Everything that makes me drool about an anime, and they managed to get every bit wrong.

This will be more of a rant that a review so here we go:

Let's start with the setting of the spirit world. The world could've easily had a rich lore and history & I can think of a billion legends/myths of ... which to base this off of. It could've had a rich tapestry of places and wacky spirits/creatures filling the place with colour and mystique (think Spirited Away). NOPE - The inn felt empty and cold. We didn't see a single guest stay at the inn (apart from one or two sides characters who appeared, finished their arc, then left). We didn't get introduced to any location in the spirit world other than the stupid fake-inn that noone seemed to stay at. The plain and sparse art only added to this 'empty' feeling, where the studio either: didn't have the budget to draw any furniture in the rooms, or were just cutting corners.

NEXT - The romance : It was so emotionless and vanilla. They spent so much time setting up the male lead to be this scary, dark, tsundere demon but he was SO VANILLA, servile and there was no explanation for why he liked the female lead.

THE CHARACTERS had no dimension to them at all. They were flat and boring because there was no area of interest, flaw or conflict in their personalities. Side characters had little screentime and low quality arcs relying on story-telling via cheap flashbacks. The dialogue was detached, formal and polite.

I can't believe I wasted my time on this but atleast I watched it so now you don't have to.

Arte is a rare gem of a manga and I'm so glad I found it. It follows the intrepid travels of a young girl set on being a famous painter in Italy ala Da Vinci-style - The only problem is she's a female and god forbid women can be painters.

The story is wholesome and explores the bends & turns of society in Renaissance Italy. it provides as deep a social commentary as manga can provide (which is still pretty shallow); but nevertheless, it's a refreshing breath of fresh air - Story 9/10

Arte has lovable and sweet characters. Side characters are given their fair share of ... 'screentime' (or 'pagetime, whatever you want to call it) and their arcs/personalities are built up just as complexly as the leads -Characters 10/10

The art style is very unique and reminds me of a cross between manga x sketching, which matches the historical context - Art 10/10

There are hints of a subtle and almost-not-there romance to come, nothing so far has outright happened but I'm hopeful there will be some love in the air in future chapters. - Romance 7/10

Definitely recommended if you like strong, likeable female leads and historical fiction!

Found another favourite and I can confidently predict this manga will blow up soon.

I really enjoy how the chapters are episodic and reminiscent of detective/Agatha Christie-type narratives (in Kusuriya's case, each chapter is usually about discovering who was responsible for poisoning [insert name of imperial concubine that was poisoned]). Although this sounds repetitive, each chapter is kept interesting with new strategies the female lead uses to identify the culprit.

This manga is based on a light novel and from reading a few chapters of the light novel I can say that the plot is/will be GREAT and keeps you intrigued for the whole duration of the ... read with it's many twists and turns. The light novel develops from an episodic structure into a more long-term narrative as it goes on which makes the story very interesting so I can only assume the manga will go through the same thing - Story 9/10

Female lead is comically matter-of-fact, quietly intelligent and shrewd. Male lead is equally as intelligent but acts as a great foil to her in his flamboyancy. They make a great match. - Characters 10/10

Art - 10/10
So clean and crisp - love the style.

Romance 10/10
It's subtle and slow to develop but it's so cute.

Definitely worth reading.

RECOMMENDED FOR THOSE WHO LIKE EPIC PLOTS, LOVE & WAR TYPE ROMANCES AND DRAMATIC SOAPIES.

I usually don't like dramatic stories but I felt the historical context and setting of this manga aptly matched it and worked well.

Character 8/10
Female lead (Matia) - Naive youth who transitions into a very strong character.
Matia's character arc is quite superb and lasts for the whole length of the manga. She is constantly changing and maturing and it works given that Matia is so young (just a child) in the early chapters. In the later chapters she grows to be a smart, mature and very feminine figurehead (although her experiences along ... the way leave her a bit broken).

Two male leads
These guys are deeply flawed and I really enjoyed it. It really is a story of Matia rising above these two and their flaws. I've seen other reviews call it a 'love triangle' but I disagree; it's just an unfortunate chain of events that lead to their unusual relationships - but there is only one and main love interest in the story.

Story 8/10
The story is long-winded and I'll admit I skipped a few parts. At the same time, it's incredibly dramatic and raw with political intrigue. Sometimes the politics didn't really make much sense and there are a few plot holes but, whilst it was something I didn't enjoy, I found it easy to ignore. I really liked the ending and that's what brought the whole story up a notch for me. Here's a bit of a spoiler but I feel like it's more of an easter egg than anything and if I don't mention it alot of readers might miss it: The ending hints at the birth of democracy (under the guidance of Matia's teachings). -Makes sense as we have the Greeks to thank for democracy (and this Manga is ofc set in Greece)! I just think that's such a great end to her character arc/story.

Art 6/10
The art is unique. I found it alright and I think, in particular, the hair is drawn beautifully. However, it was a bit messy, not very clean, especially during scenes of warfare, so it made the story hard to follow.

Romance 8/10
Super juicy and dramatic. The main romance takes a bit of a hiatus for like half the manga at its mid-point, but it comes back at the end - the break is also refreshing and leads to a whole lot more story-driven drama. It starts off as a really simple relationship but, ahhh good old politics gets in the way. Never fear it has a happy ending. The other romances amongst side characters are largely maturely themed (there's r@pe, incest etc). No real love triangles though (which I am glad for).

Recommended for your classic historical fiction buff :)

RECOMMENDED FOR SHOUJO READERS.

Ended up dropping this manga so it will only be a short review.

Usually I'm able to endure a few cliche character tropes but these characters were such caricatures of every sappy profile in the book I honestly couldn't.
Main lead girl is interesting enough - very emotional - would not necessarily call her 'independent' or 'strong'. It's the old case of a mangaka saying:
"Hey look: my character is so strong. You know this because I am TELLING you she's strong, not SHOWING you her strength". This just doesn't work for me; especially when I have to endure a character getting injured every few ... pages to be gimmickly stiched up/saved by their love interest.

Main love interest - complete tsundere to the point it's frustrating. This also completely opposes how servile he was in the first few chapters. I mean I get it's a part of the story that he's her 'bodyguard' etc. but it just seems like a mismatch of traits and leaves me confused/frustrated. On one hand his personality is that of a tsundere, on the other his role in the story is completely servile and doting and it doesn't make sense and seems completely manufactured/one-dimensional.

Art: I mean its good and proportional, but it's a bit cheap. Best summed up by Hayao Miyazaki when he said: "They make their characters overly expressive for cheap laughs at the expense of beautiful art".

Story: Started off good. The twist at the beginning was pretty shocking. Fell off completely. No real direction afterwards and I was confused as to what the chars were trying to achieve/where they were going.

Female lead gave me big Mulan-esque vibes and really elevated the manhua for me. She's quietly shrewd, cunning, and breaks alot of female tropes.

Male lead is masculine, straightforward and perhaps not as fleshed out as his female counterpart but he is completely likeable. His character arc (from baddie to goodie) is really endearing, believable and well-paced.

Art 10/10
Beautiful. It's incredibly clean.

Story 8/10
The ruling family is killed, this includes our main character's family. She manages to flee (because, as a girl, what threat can she pose to the throne...right?). She swears revenge but for now she's on the run and this means she's got to adapt to ... a whole range of new lives and new identities. Part of the charm is following her journey as she meets new characters that each play their bit the maturation of her character and progression towards her goal. There's also a lot of war/tactics-type dialogue that doesn't overpower the plot and is easy to follow.

Romance 10/10
The romance here is slow to develop and quite subtle - might leave many readers wondering if there are any feelings at all but by the last few chapters I think the love interest is pretty canon. Also no love triangles or any drama here.

NOTE: The manga is on hiatus (because of legal issues between publisher v mangaka) so the frustrating part is: just where the romance is finally blossoming the chapters have stopped.


Recommendations
If you like this you'll DEFINITELY like Feng Nong's light novel which you can read here: http://moonbunnycafe.com/a-lonesome-fragrance-waiting-to-be-appreciated/.
Characters & story are extremely similar - but light novel is more dramatic and, most importantly, completed.