Hiya everyone! An Anaitic suddenly appears! Thanks to my significant other, I am forced into the world of League of Legends or should I say Arcane? The two of us finished the first season of the show on Netflix two days ago and due to life, I was unable to write up this review yesterday. But here I am with a relatively short review on Arcane and my most core thoughts on this show. But before you proceed, I want to disclaim that I absolutely have no ties to the original game that these characters and lore are from so my perspective is purely from a speculator and from Arcane and Arcane alone. Sounds good? Let’s go!
First of all, as usual, I want to start off strong with the entertaining aspect of this show and believe me- there is a lot. The music is phenomenal. Let’s get that out of the way. I admit that I am a bit of an Imagine Dragon homer so I might be biased but come on now. You cant watch this show and disagree with me on this one. Sometimes, the music stands out too much and ruins the immersion of the show. Sometimes, the music is too bland so it’s not memorable. Somehow, Arcane manages to have music that is extremely fitting to the universe and its characters, and at the same time, does not distract me from what is actually going on on screen. Well done. I will be keeping some of these songs in my playlist for a while because they are just too good, both on its own and within the confides of Arcane.
The animation style and artwork are some of the best I have seen recently. No sarcasm. Admittedly, I am not a snob when it comes to animation or anything, but Arcane especially caught my eye. The universe is colorful yet dark at the same time. The artwork is unique yet familiar at the same time. What do I mean? Well, look at the image below:
Do you see what I mean? There are lots of bright colors but at the same time, there is a unique mix of darker, dimmer colors. I believe that this color scheme is done on purpose to represent the main two area of Piltover and the undercity, later to be called Zaun I assume. Piltover is bright and full of hope while Zaun is tragic and full of despair. With both types of environment being showcased in a deeply intertwined way in the series, it is no wonder the color scheme of the characters and the show itself reflect that. The music is the same way. A lot of upbeat, rap-heavy music but on the darker side. Such a great touch!
With all the aesthetics out of the way, the meat and potatoes of this post will focus on the characters and the plot. After all, as a novelist, that is the part that I care the most about. Admittedly, I am a tad disappointed with the plot. Let me explain before you guys take out your pitch forks at me. With no idea going into the show what was going to happen, I was able to predict the majority of the plot. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I just enjoy a bit of a surprise you know? I have no background knowledge on the lore from League of Legends or any kind of information on the characters but just from the progression of the storyline itself, I was able to see the direction that the plot wants to go and they actually go there. Of course, it does not mean that it wasn’t less impressive with how they animated and voiced all the scenes. I still love it regardless. But the plot though extremely well done was predictable and can get kind of boring at times for my personally.
On the other side though, the characters are what really drew me into this show. I only agree to watch one episode of Arcane with my significant other because he was so hype for it. In the end, I stayed because I got heavily invested in the unique, well-written characters. Aside from the memorable design from all of the major cast, I want to know what happens to all of them. It did not matter to me where they stand in terms of their affiliation because they are all so interesting that I want to know more. The most surprising character for me might actually be Viktor. There is something about his character that makes me want to know about his journey and what will happen to him. That one scene where he runs for the first time with the beautiful backdrop is probably my favorite scene in the entire show and he’s not even the main focus of Arcane. That goes to show that even the less important characters bring something to the table and get us all invested.
Lastly, this is purely my personal opinion but this show is hip and youthful. There is something about how the music, the animation, the characters, and the universe that blend together that make the audience feel so cool watching it. There are some shows out there where you feel like “Darn. I can’t talk about it in public because I might come off lame”. This is not the case for Arcane. If you go up to me and want to talk about Arcane, I think you are a pretty cool person with cool taste. I am not sure what it is about Arcane that makes me feel like it’s such a mainstream kind of show but at the same time, hipster as well. How do I explain it? I can see it being a show that has widespread appeal, but the majority of the audience might not get it on a fundamental level unless you feel it in your bones you know? Only a specific minority would be able to feel that.
In conclusion, I am not sure Arcane is a show for everyone, but for those who like it like I do, it is a neat experience that is worth sharing and discussing with other like-minded individuals. I highly recommend this show for those who love visually interesting characters and animation. And of course, I am looking forward to the second season.
Rating: 7.8/10
P.S. I absolutely loved the ending. It might not be the ending for everyone but for me, that is the type of ending I wish more shows take the risk in taking. Absolutely flawless.
Geeky Musings with Anaitic 