Well, I've only read the first few chapters, but damn -- this manga is sheer, beautifully researched perfection. The depth of the mangaka's understanding of the intellectual and spiritual concerns of the Renaissance is amazing, and I'm so deeply in love with this story that I'm going crazy waiting for the next chapter. But it's the good kind of crazy, the kind that lets you savor every moment of the wait. You know what I mean?
Just as a note to interested readers, Cesare himself only shows up near the end of the first chapter -- it's the character Angelo who we meet first, as well as Cesare's rival Giovanni. I think the mangaka was right to build up to the obviously pivotal appearance of Cesare in Angelo's life, because Cesare has already built quite a reputation for himself among his peers, and this reputation precedes his appearance in the manga. It influences how Angelo perceives Cesare when they finally do meet. And what a climactic meeting it is!
Frankly, university politics has always scared the living daylights out of me -- well, ANY politics will do that -- but nothing compares to the deviousness and danger of student politics in medieval Italy. Seriously. I think I was trembling at every innocent, politically idiotic move Angelo made. Gah!
The art is exquisite, the architecture and the scenery are the very soul of provincial Italy, and the mangaka totally pwns for creating this story for us. Souryo Fuyumi is now the proud owner of my heart and my (incoherent) mind.