Renaissance Italy, beautiful boys, intrigue, evil, murderous plots, flawless art...sound good? You might want to check out Cantarella.

The artwork alone is truly reason enough to buy the entire series. I confess to being a Yuu Higuri art fanatic and this series had me swooning. Higuri did her research and the clothes, scenery and background art is as authentic as you could ever hope to expect from a manga. (As far as I can tell, having not lived in Renaissance Italy, or modern Italy for that matter.) The clothes are never-ending, the gowns, the puffy-sleeved shirts, the jewelery, the elaborate hairstyles, capes and shoes! Always changing, always beautiful. The artwork, mirroring the setting it depicts, is pure opulence. Concerning character design, well, this is a shoujo title, so expect plenty of beautiful men and big eyed women, still, I never had a problem confusing characters with one another. Either the facial features or hair of each character is distinct enough to keep them all looking just like themselves.

As well as being beautiful eye candy, the art is there to tell a story and tell a story is does, brilliantly so. The panels flow smoothly, the characters are suitably expressive and the pacing is perfect. Higuri has it all down to an art.

Now, to get down to business.

Cantarella is a fantasy very loosely based on Cesare Borgia, Duke of Valentinois, a Spanish-Italian condottiero, lord, politician, and cardinal. Thank you, wikipedia. Rather in the style of Higuri's Ludwig II, she borrows freely from history but puts plenty of her own twist on the tale, so don't plan on referencing this for an upcoming history exam.

The three main characters are simply perfect for the story and all it's twists. Cesare, our hero, or anti-hero, is sacrificed by his father for the papal crown as a baby. Basically, his soul is sold. Nice dad. So we get to watch the sweet, innocent boy at the start of our tale grow into a twisted, evil being slowly losing hold of humanity. And Higuri sure takes her time, it's a slow process that is so delicious to watch unfold. His sister, Lucrezia, has quite the brother complex and adores her brother...more than she should. Chiaro, who has sworn to kill Cesare should the demons ever take over him completely (but will he be able to?), is Cesare's friend and very possibly much more than that to Cesare.

Being quite the yaoi fangirl I was slightly disappointed to find that there really is no actual boy x boy love, it's definately touched upon and there is a kiss (sort of), but it's mostly left up to the imagination.

For some reason, Higuri's weak point is, as always, the female characters. All of her girls are mostly one-sided creatures, revolving completely and entirely around their love interests, whoever they may be. It's interesting to watch Lucrezia being tossed about here and there as nothing more than a political pawn, but it's hard to feel that much sympathy for her, since there isn't much to her. Cesare's...um...love buddy? is the same, her character revolves simply around her obsession with Cesare.

And yet Higuri IS capable of deep and complex characters; Chiaro, Cesare, Juan, and more. If they're male you can be sure that they are multi-faceted, interesting and very human. If they're female...they'll be swooning over some guy.

The story is long and epic, going through all the stages of Cesare's rise to power and his subsequent fall into madness, his friendship with Chiaro and his power struggles with his father, the loves and lives and betrayals of those surrounding him and the effect that all of this has on the rest of the world.

Cantarella is a solidly good work, featuring great storytelling, brilliant, brilliant art and a cast of colorful and intriguing characters that are sure to catch your interest. Whether you're a long term fan of Higuri or a newcomer to her work, I'm sure you'll find something in it for you. Highly recommended.