Cesare: Hakai no Sōzō-sha (チェーザレ 破壊の創造者), also known as Cesare: Il Creatore che ha distrutto, is a Japanese historical manga series written and illustrated by Fuyumi Soryo. The story follows the early life of Cesare Borgia, a 15th-century Italian aristocrat, politician, and mercenary leader. In creating Cesare, Soryo collaborated with Dante scholar Motoaki Hara to bring Renaissance Italy to life in great and accurate detail. The manga was serialized in Kodansha's seinen (young men's) manga magazine Morning from March 2005 to November 2021 and collected into 13 tankōbon (compiled volumes). The manga also inspired a stage musical adaptation, which was canceled before its debut in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, a live concert was held in July 2020. The musical was finally performed in January and February 2023.

Synopsis

Cesare is about the life of one of history's most enigmatic figures: Cesare Borgia, an Italian aristocrat, politician, and mercenary leader during the Renaissance. The manga takes an intimate look at Cesare's life during his matriculation at the University of Pisa, at the age of 15, in the years preceding his appointment as a cardinal of the Holy See.

Characters

Cesare's life and world overlaps with the politics of his father and his father's allies and enemies.

Media

Manga

Cesare was written and illustrated by Fuyumi Soryo and supervised by Dante scholar Motoaki Hara. The manga premiered in the No. 17 issue of Kodansha's seinen (young men's) manga magazine Morning in March 2005. It was serialized irregularly and, at one point, went on a four-year hiatus that lasted from October 2014 to November 15, 2018. The manga ended after 16 years of serialization in the No. 52 issue of Morning on November 25, 2021. Its chapters were collected into 13 tankōbon (compiled volumes) published by Kodansha's KC Deluxe imprint from October 23, 2006, to January 21, 2022. Cesare has also been published in Italian by Star Comics and French by Ki-oon.

Volume list

Stage musical

On June 14, 2019, Kodansha announced a stage musical adaptation of the manga directed by Yūna Koyama, with a script written by Kōichi Ogita and a score composed by Ken Shima. The musical's cast included Akinori Nakagawa as Cesare Borgia, Shuntarō Miyao as Miguel da Corella, Ryo Matsuda and Taiki Yamazaki (double cast) as Angelo da Canossa, Tetsuya Bessho as Rodrigo Borgia, Kōjirō Oka as Giuliano della Rovere, Haruki Kiyama as Raffaele Riario, Takuya Kon as Lorenzo de' Medici, Masaaki Fujioka as Dante Alighieri, and Daisuke Yokoyama as the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII, among others. The musical was originally scheduled to run at the Meiji-za theater in Tokyo from April 13 to May 11, 2020. However, on April 8, 2020, the production canceled all shows due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nakagawa hosted a 90-minute concert at the Meiji-za on July 11 and July 12, 2020, after the theater re-opened. The concert featured six songs from the Cesare musical and other songs from Nakagawa's career. The musical was finally performed in 2023, with some cast changes. The 2023 performances featured Kenchi Tachibana as Miguel da Corella. Ryotaro Akazawa replaced Matsuda as Angelo da Canossa, but Yamazaki did return.

Other media

Kodansha launched a multilingual Cesare website called Cesare Academia on April 27, 2013. The website featured video interviews with Fuyumi Soryo; behind-the-scenes information about the manga's production; and a user-edited wiki called Cesarepedia, a portmanteau of "Cesare" and "Wikipedia", with entries on historical figures and events. It was discontinued on September 30, 2014. Kodansha also published a guidebook titled Cesare Borgia o Shitteimasu ka? (チェーザレ・ボルジアを知っていますか？) on August 29, 2013. Supervised by Soryo and Motoaki Hara, the book introduces readers to Italian history and culture during the Renaissance. It also contains an Italy travel guide and a summary of the Cesare manga's first ten volumes.

Reception

The manga had over 1.4 million copies in circulation by 2019. Cesare was nominated for the Best Comic award at the 41st Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2014. It has been nominated for the 27th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2023.