…………………………………………………

Arcane Season 1 Review

Arcane is a 2021 animated streaming series that premiered its first season on Netflix this year. It is overall a very good, but admittedly not great show.

………………………………………………….

“Nature has made us intolerant to change,

but fortunately, we have the capacity to change our nature“

…………………………………………………..

Amidst the escalating unrest between the advanced, utopian city of Piltover and the squalid, repressed undercity of Zaun, sisters Vi and Jinx find themselves on opposing sides of a war over twisted ideologies and arcane technology. This video game adaptation was based on the famous League of Legends, which I’ve never played myself, but I was interested in finally seeing a game material being brought back to life well on the small screen.

And the result is mostly pretty good, though I would personally categorize this series as a bit overrated judging by its vastly incredible critical and audience reception. That is why it left me a bit disappointed even though I liked it quite a bit.

I loved the sister characters. Vi is very cool and so much fun while Powder was sweet and endearing, but before becoming the complicated, dangerous Jinx. Their dynamic was the heart of this season for sure. However, I found this central conflict very familiar as so many anime series have done this premise before. A sibling or friend going bad and the other having to bring him or her back is just very uninspired by now, and no great execution of it could have saved it from its familiarity.

…………………………………………………..

The other characters are a mixed bag. Well, they are all very well realized and interesting, but the focus of the show is squarely put on these two girls with many others feeling underused unfortunately. Jayce and Caitlyn have their moments and are well developed and Silco is obviously a formidable villain who did end rather disappointingly but still he was memorable throughout. Vander is endearing and the heart of the first couple of episodes, but Heimerdinger’s treatment was so disappointing as he was this very wise, intriguing creature who ultimately never got enough screen time to shine.

The technical aspects in Arcane are also a mixed bag. The things that I liked, I absolutely loved while the things that I disliked really annoyed me. As for the latter, the score is frustratingly aggressive in its overly modern, overloud rock tunes that clashed so heavily against the steampunk aesthetic of this archaic world. That was a bad choice for sure, though I did like the opening song by Imagine Dragons. A more timeless score would have done wonders for this show.

…………………………………………………..

But the animation is incredible. Mixing 2D with 3D was brilliant and the series looks unlike anything else on the animation scene right now, which needs to be appreciated. The colors really pop, the character designs are effortlessly cool and expressive while the world building truly is extraordinary with that steampunk city and its undercity superbly depicted and explored. The voice acting is also terrific, but the show’s action ultimately wasn’t as memorable, though the darkness in its tone and storytelling was admirable.