With Arcane season two coming out next month, I decided to re-watch the show’s first season and I can say that even after two years this show still amazes me! Arcane is a Netflix original show made by Arcane Tattoo Studio, and it’s based on the popular game League of Legends. It first debuted on November 6th, 2021, and since then it has gathered a large fan base with a rating of 9/10 on IMDB. Arcane’s story follows two sisters who end up on different sides of an ongoing problem trying to reunite. As someone who isn’t a fan of League of Legends, I can say that I love Arcane. While the main story on its own might sound basic, it is an engaging and interesting watch that I wish I could see for the first time again.
The plot is personally the best part of the show. At the beginning of the show, we start with Vi and Powder’s back story featuring Mylo, Clagger, Vander, and more characters. Since they had a hard upbringing it highlights the problems within the world and by the end, we see how complicated all of it is with the corruption between Piltover and The Underground with characters like the Chief of Police Grayson, and her Deputy Marcus. The way they use each episode to push the narrative is amazing. By the end of each character’s backstory, we see their motives laid out perfectly, and while their relationship might not be as clear as their motive it’s still a thrilling watch.
Also, I love how they overlap the back stories like how Vi and Powder overlapped with Jayce’s. The scene where they rob and trash that apartment which leads to the death of their family and them getting separated is the same scene that led to Jayce being arrested and launching the start of his career, rising to power and to being the best he’s ever been. Seeing how they started in the same exact place but ended up in completely different situations was striking and I loved how it was shown at different times during the show showing us Jayce’s motives later and giving his character another layer.
The plot is strong and amazing thanks to all these other things going on. They all somehow bring attention to the main plot, which is Vi and Powder and their upcoming confrontation. The plot in my opinion is something I’ve definitely seen before but not written this well, which makes it refreshing and enjoyable to watch. While it definitely might seem like a lot is going on, it all perfectly wraps up into each other into a crazy well-written story.
The characters and their relationship are amazing and also complicated. They feel extremely fleshed out and real. A great example is Jayce and Mel. In the beginning, she helps him start for selfish reasons but you slowly see their relationship change into something different and more caring. This relationship is nuanced and sits in this grey area which makes them feel like a real couple you might hear about from friends.
The parallels between character relationships are amazing like Vi and Powder versus Vander and Silco. At the end of Vi and Powder’s flashback, we see how enraged Vi is and how Silco takes Powder in, and later we learn why. It’s because him and Vander went through the similar situations, where Vander left him just like Vi did to Powder. While it’s different, Vi and Powder’s relationship mimics Vanders and Silco’s, Jinx being Silco and Vi being Vander, both of them ending up like their fathers. Vi lives a similar life to Vander and Silco setting Powder up to take over after him. It becomes an even better comparison especially when you see how their relationship was. Vi and Vander were close and then he died due to Silco and while Powder was close to Silco, he turned her into Jinx which led to his death. No matter how close they were she still killed him because of how he raised her and their relationship. I feel that the best character connection is with Powder and Jinx. Even though they’re the same character they feel so different and opposite.
This is also seen even with minor characters like Renni. We see her lose her son because of her trust in Silco and what he’s doing and it makes you feel pity for her. This solidifies how much of a bad person he is even with his backstory. All the character’s relationships to each other from Mel and her mother to Kaitlyn and her parents feel like they perfectly fit into the story and they push the story forward and are just genuinely fun to watch. I applaud the writers of this show for doing such a good job and hope to see more of their writing in season two.
The visuals are my favorite things. As someone who draws and loves art, the animation is outstanding and out of this world. The visuals are perfectly capturing every mood and setting of it. A great example of visuals is in Echos and Jinx fights. It’s not just a fight, it’s a fight with themselves, with their past relationship and coming to terms with their new versions. You can see that with how in half their fight their younger, you can see their child-like innocence and how close they were but now it’s all gone and you can see it in their older versions. The visuals used to capture emotions are amazing. They capture Jinx’s inner turmoil with herself perfectly especially in the episode where Jinx is arguing with V\visions of Clagger and Mylo and she completely blames herself for their death. Watching that scene makes you feel pity for her and understand her character even better. The art also helps understand Caitlyn’s character, why she feels conflicted about The underworld, Piltovers rule, and feelings towards other characters like Vi.
The use of colors to help portray their meaning or tell you things is amazing like how blue is meant to show good and power since that is the color of Piltover and The Arcane but purple is used to show the bad like Shimmer and The Underground even though they sit right next to each other on the color wheel and are extremely similar colors. The visuals are beautiful and I truly believe that if this show were in 3d or any other way it wouldn’t have been able to capture the show the same. The art style captures their characters perfectly and shows a deep understanding of anatomy, lighting, and tone which makes it so fun to watch. You can see characters pop at you and the backgrounds are so vivid it’s not one of those things you watch and can’t see anything else but yourself staring right back at you. It has such a well-known art style, that you can see the love and hard work poured into it.
With the season wrapping up a while back and season two dropping next month, I absolutely would recommend anyone to watch this. It’s an emotionally intense watch however it’s still one of my favorite shows and I can’t wait for the next season to see how creative all the writers and animators get. The show is great at making you root for characters and knows how to add an interesting play on ideas. This show kept me leaning in and on my toes the entire time. If you’re a fan of the game you will definitely love the show but it’s a wonderful watch for all audiences.
