16th century Florence is awash with cultural and creative contributions during the Renaissance. Arte is a young lady from an aristocratic family who wants to contribute to this unique time. However, after her father’s death, she is expected to marry rather than become an artist.
While she defies her family and looks for a mentor, she faces many obstacles in her path, one being that she is a woman.
Not only is a Renaissance-set anime particularly rare, but a shoujo anime that’s not a romance? Almost unheard of. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Arte, head on down below.
Anime Like Arte
For Fans of Passionate About Professions
Snow White With The Red Hair
Shirayuki is an herbalist that lives a normal life in the country of Tanbarun. However, when her beautiful red hair is noticed by the Prince Raji, he tries to make her his concubine.
She then decides to cut her hair and flees into the forest. It is there she is rescued by the second Prince of neighboring country, Wistalia, named Zen.
In order to repay her life debt to him, she sets her hopes on becoming the court herbalist in the capital of Clarines.
Both Arte and Snow White With The Red Hair are shoujo anime where they proudly proclaim that their female protagonist is passionate about her career aspirations rather than landing herself a man. However, they differ in one key way – Snow White With The Red Hair quickly becomes more about romance than herbalism.
While both female main characters have independence and a desire to make their own way in the world, Snow White With The Snow Hair focuses more and more on the building romantic relationship and the political rumblings in the kingdom rather than her rising any further in rank as a court herbalist. It is essentially what Arte threatened to become if Arte hadn’t snapped herself out of her lovesickness.
Smile Down The Runway
Fujito Chiyuki has dreamed of being the star model for her father’s modeling agency since she was a girl. Unfortunately, she stopped growing and is considered too short to be a good model. Regardless, she kept pursuing her dream.
Only did her resolve start to waiver in her last year of high school. However, after meeting Tsumura Ikuto, a classmate with a passion for designing clothes, does she join him on a seemingly impossible journey to achieve their dreams.
Both Arte and Smile Down The Runway have a huge focus on not letting gender or other significant roadblocks stand in the way of your dream.
While Arte has a single main character, Smile Down The Runway has a split focus on a man that wants to design clothes despite that being an unmanly pursuit and a girl that wants to be a model, but lacks the height.
Both series are highly notable for being shoujo anime focused more on career and professional aspirations without actually being romance. Both series have a romance element, but neither anime actually follows it. Instead, it is all about their passions and you watch them pursue them in a mature and pretty touching way.
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale
Fairies once lived free alongside humanity until humans discovered that stripping a wing from a fairy means literally holding their life in your hands. Now, fairies are enslaved to humans.
Ann is a young girl aspiring to become a Silver Sugar Master like her late mother was. To further this goal, she sets out to the royal capital, and on this dangerous journey she purchases a warrior fairy named Challe Fen Challe to protect her.
As Ann believes in the freedom and equality of faeries, she buys him and offers to give his wing back when she reaches her destination. However, as they travel, their bond together grows.
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale started off in a very promising Arte-esque sort of way where the main character was focused on her (fictional) profession as a Silver Sugar artisan, something akin to making confections for viewing pleasure and for fairies to eat.
However, it quickly did what Arte eschewed, which was become more and more about the romance between the girl and the fairy she bought to be her bodyguard on the road. Yet, like Arte and Leo, Challe and Ann have a similar dynamic. One is bright and cheerful while the other is a bit cold and distant, but not uncaring.
Ristorante Paradiso
Nicoletta is on her first trip to Rome with a mission – to ruin her mother’s life after she walked out on her 15 years ago. She tracks her mother down to a restaurant, but as soon as she enters, everything changes.
She becomes enamored by the place, and one waiter in particular. Suddenly, her urge for vengeance fades and her desire to cook starts to grow.
While both series take place in Italy, Arte is a period piece while Ristorante Paradiso is modern-set. Regardless, both series also share a passion for telling more mature stories that have romance, but are much more focused on developing the characters.
In both series, the potential romance is an age-gap romance between a young girl and an older man who is also her boss. While Arte focuses on making art, Ristorante Paradiso is about a girl’s growing appreciation and passion for the restaurant she was captivated by.
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For Fans of Independent Women
Emma – A Victorian Romance
Emma is a maid that serves a retired governess. While she enjoys her work and has long-accepted her place in working class society serving those above her, Emma longs to experience romance. Unfortunately, this is something that has not quite been fulfilled by the working class men around London.
One day, when the eldest son of a wealthy household comes to visit her mistress, a woman who had served as governess for him as a child, he and Emma form an immediate connection. However, as a member of the gentry, the strict lines of class division that separate the citizens of 19th century England stand firmly between them and their happily ever after.
Both Arte and Emma are period pieces about independent women with jobs in eras where women were more commonly expected to marry. While women had more career freedom in Emma’s Victorian England than Arte’s Renaissance Italy, their career options were still very limited.
While Arte focuses on here career even to the point of putting her romantic feelings aside, Emma is a romance. However, it is a romance barred by Emma’s station since she loves a man of the gentry and she is but a working class woman.
Ascendance of a Bookworm
Motosu Urano loves books. She recently got her librarian certification and was about to enter her dream job when an earthquake caused her to be crushed by her collection of books.
She is reincarnated into a new world as the five year old daughter of a soldier. Unfortunately, in this world, books are reserved for the elite nobility.
What do you do when your station in life does not afford you access to books? Make your own.
While Ascendance of a Bookworm is an isekai, it is at least a shoujo isekai that isn’t quite as predictable as the good old isekai standard of “OP main character has adventures and gets harem.” Instead, Ascendance of a Bookworm follows a female main character who continues to follow her passion for books even in another life.
Both Arte and Ascendance of a Bookworm are about independent women who form positive, non-romantic relationships with others while being focused on their passion. In Ascendance of a Bookworm, she enjoys books, but books in that world are reserved for rich nobility. She dedicates herself to new book-making endeavors that will make books more accessible to everyone.
These series are both very dedicated to not just the art-form they are following, but building out realistic characters. They manage to perfectly make low action anime that are still addicting to watch.
Violet Evergarden
After the Great War and her time in it came to an end, Violet Evergarden is adrift. Her purpose was once only battle, and now she must find a new one.
After recovering from the loss of her arms, Violet takes up a job at the CH Postal Services. Here she transcribes people’s thoughts into what should be emotional letters. While the “emotional” part seems to greatly escape her, she aims to learn how to move people with words.
Both Arte and Violent Evergarden follow women who had previously just done whatever they were told, but are out on their own for the very first time. However, while Arte just left her family behind, Violet Evergarden was raised solely to be a weapon of war, thus she has a bit of social rehabilitation to do.
While Violet Evergarden often focuses on the titular characters’ difficulties when it comes to relating and connecting to others, both it and Arte are about women who find a passion in their career and chase it no matter the obstacles.
One particularly notable difference is that Violet Evergarden is all about evoking emotion in not just the main character, but from the audience as well. It can tell some very touching, and some very heart-breaking, stories.
The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent
Sei, a young office worker, is summoned to a new world. However, the people who summoned her to banish dark magic from the world only meant to summon one person they would call Saint. Instead, they summoned two, and Sei discovers that they actually like the other girl better.
Not really caring about that, she ends up making potions at a research institute using her newfound magic. Unfortunately, while she is unexpectedly talented at her work and happy doing it, she begins to think that she is indeed the Saint.
Although The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent is an isekai anime, it is a shoujo isekai anime that focuses more on the characters than big flashy adventures.
While Arte has had a passion for art from a young age, The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent is about an office lady trying to find her passion in a new world. It turns out she is passionate about using her magic to make potions to help people. You watch these independent women get very focused on their career and take joy in how that work effects others.
However, The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent does have a romance element that it follows, but similar to Arte, the romance doesn’t take over the story either.
For Fans of Art
Blue Period
In his second year of high school, Yatora Yaguchi goofs off with his friends and studies hard enough to make good grades. However, neither makes him happy. Bound by normal activities, he wonders if there is something more.
One day, he discovers the joy of drawing after becoming enchanted by a painting made by an art club member. Deciding he wants to do art as a living, Yatora faces a number challenges including his own hesitation on how far art can take him.
In truth, there aren’t many anime that are about art – which is actually kind of surprising. Your choices for mature art-focused anime – particularly traditional art-focused anime, are really just Arte and Blue Period.
While Arte is set in Italy during the Renaissance, Blue Period is modern-set and follows a boy who decides to professionally pursue art late in his high school career. Both series follow their intense passion for art, but Blue Period puts more of a focus on the emotional, mental, and creative struggles of being an artist. In Arte, much of the time the major roadblock is just her being a woman.
Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken
With sketchbook always on hand, Midori Asakusa has a passion for drawing both the world around her and the world in her boundless imagination. In stark contrast, her best friend Sayaka Kanamori and her calculated approach to life keeps her grounded.
After a chance encounter with model Tsubame Misuzaki who has a passion for drawing fluid characters, Kanamori, sensing a money-making opportunity, suggests they start an animation club.
While Arte wraps it in a lovable shoujo-style period piece, both Arte and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken are anime series about passion – particularly passion for an art-form.
Both series follow female main characters that are absolutely captivated by art and/or animation. However, while Arte takes place in Renaissance Italy, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken takes place in the modern age. Each series highlights how energetically passionate the main characters are, but also build their plots around the roadblocks that they must overcome.
Of course, Arte’s primary roadblock is her gender. Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken focuses instead on how time-consuming anime is to make with just three people, how expensive it can be, and how tight deadlines mean they may have to compromise artistic vision.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Arte? Let fans know in the comments section below.
