The biggest thing I took away from the series is when Silco realizes why Vander was the way he was in the start of the series. Both of them were willing to sacrifice their ambitions in order to protect their kids.
"In our pursuit of great... we failed to do good." - Viktor. You hit the nail on the head. Very profound show whether you played the game or knew the lore or not.
it also kind of describes every league of legends player that wants to get gud. except it's like, "in the persuit of grandmasters..... we failed to have fun".
Arcane has a 100% critic / 98% audience score, highest rated Netflix show ever, number one in over 50 countries, already surpassed Stanger Things and the Mandalorian in online streaming numbers with just 9 episodes. This show deserve all the love it has gotten, I can't stop thinking about it. The craftsmanship and love they put into this show allows me to use the word "masterpiece", something I thought I would never say with today's media.
Aww, you didn't bring up the absolutely world class voice acting. Young Powder in particular should get an Oscar for that performance. Never heard such realistic and believable voice acting in my life. Every cry, every doubt, every tremble in her voice... Cuts straight through my friggin existence. *[Minor spoiler follows here]* My favorite line in the show tho is Silcos monolog to Vander statue. He called Vander a coward for not be willing to sacrifice Vi or fight for the cause, then when he is in the exact same position, he cant do it and he says: "It all makes sense now, brother... Is there anything as undoing... As a daughter" Just perfect.
i'm a long time, major champion of japanese voice actors being in a completely different universe than other any other voice actors, and i still hold that to be true, but the end of Episode 3 actually shocked me with how great it was very few actors in general can portray that sort of thing to that level, let alone just in voice acting truly exceptional
I'd also like to add that in the scene where Powder is alone in her room crying she has spit flying everywhere, it's a genuine "ugly cry." I've cried like that before with spit and snot and I have to say that animation combo with the voice acting is phenomenal. Real heartache like that isn't pretty
> "It all makes sense now, brother... Is there anything as undoing... As a daughter" I didn't catch that line properly at the time, so very much appreciate you writing this up :)
What I enjoyed about Arcane was the consistency of the characters, how while they can be tempted and perhaps led astray a bit, when the chips hit the table they stay true to themselves instead of abandoning everything that they were. The ability of most of the characters to self-reflect on their actions is incredibly refreshing when a lot of writing these days is simply blind pursuit of either justice or revenge.
@rahn45 I enjoyed it too. It actually made me think of Kung Fu Panda lol...when Tai Lung was fighting Shifu, and he had that moment of near regret when Shifu apologized for how his own love for him led Tai Lung astray. It was cool how he softened for a few seconds then still tried to kill his master. 🤣
I love how in Episode 3… Vi at the end, instead of hating Powder’s guts for the rest of the story for killing their loved ones, has a crisis of conscience when she follows through on her vengeful tendencies by hitting and insulting her, and the rest of the show focuses on how her inner conflict affects her relationship with Powder.
"I think we're living in this golden era where suddenly the world is listening to what videogames have to say" is a quote from a dev diary by one of the main writers of this show and it hits the nail on the head. There is so much potential in the videogame medium for high quality, emotional, human stories with nuanced characters wrapped up in phenomenal world building and deep lore that had yet to be harnessed properly. Castlevania was a great first achievement and Arcane was the masterpiece to really put that potential on the map for everyone to experience.
I remember when I was a kid and we first started seeing Marvel comic adaptations in the 70's and 80's. They were crap and mostly because they largely ignored the source material or never understood it. Hollywood thought they knew better than the creators. Once they did respect the source we got to where we are now. Same applies to video game adaptations. The example that comes to mind is Assassins Creed. As a genre, it would fall into Historical Romance, so of course film makers decided to make a Psychological Thriller and then wondered why it failed.
I work in Animation - and this show is incredible. It is a Masterpiece, a piece of art. Let's not ignore that it took 5-6 years for this season of 9 episodes to get made. (based on a Washington Post article) In my work we'll be tasked with getting 22 episodes done in 1-2 years. I wish we had the time and re$ource$ to be able to craft as solid work as Fortiche Productions and Riot did. They should be extremely proud of this show. That is an amazing example of letting craftspeople really get the chance to craft a great story and apply their craft to the industry. Amazing work all round from the Story, Directing, Shot Composition, Editing, 2D FX. Amazing work.
When he said "the scope of live action but in this more affordable animated style" I cringed hard. It's crazy how little people know of the cost of quality animation like this.
I really wish these industries let more artists have more time and resources to make fully realized projects. 22 episodes in 1-2 years is a lot. I know not everyone has that luxury though, but it would be nice to see shorter series (5-10 episodes) that have at least 2-3 years to produce. Animation takes a lot of work and I appreciate you all for your hard work!
i would like season 2 to be 12 episodes but come out around worlds 2023. take 2 years to work out the bugs in script and animation. im sure it wont take another 5-6 years cause i bet they yhad already started on it at lease storyboard wise.
@@zerodawn09 and they know how the world looks and feels now, who the characters are, all the basics that would take up time when done for the first time.
My dude, please enlighten me about this: why is animation so expensive to make? I thought that time and technology would eventually make them more accessible to creators, but it doesnt sound like they are getting any cheaper. I mean, isnt it possible to have a "engine" (like they have in games industry) with pre-established physics and models to make it easier for artists and general public to create stories from it?
Arcane should be studied by Hollywood this is how you do it folks Story, characters, character arc, and dam the animation and music all first rate Very very well done. Has strong female leads that arent Mary Sued into boredom and good appropriate diversity that adds to the flavor and doesnt devolve into some weird culture or skin fetish. My fave. series of the year so far..
Ya I hope I'm proven wrong, because the world and animation seem amazing. Im only an episode in and I kind of disagree. Pink hair seems just like a Mary Sue. Then the two dudes just seem like your stereotypical idiot male characters. Just one is bigger, can fight, and is not as big of an idiot. I'm going to keep watching it because I really want to be wrong.
Eh 3 episodes in now and ya she is totally Mary Sue. Watching a kid wipe the floor with 20 grown men, made me roll my eyes a bit. The show is still fun though. So I'll probably watch the rest.
@@chad6738 I hear ya, I didn't like Vi too much in the beginning (gave me Mary Sue vibes in the first few episodes) but she did grow as a character in the rest of the series and I really got to like her. Keep on going and let us know your thoughts.
@@chad6738 Dude she keeps getting the shit kicked out of her time and time again, she's deeply flawed. She is a future champion and has done nothing else but fighting in her life, of course she's going to get underrestimated and get a few wins in...especially against fellow kids not quite as dragged through glass as she is. I see no Mary Sue-ness about her, honestly.
it's soooooo rare that any show has every single character is likeable and very deep. even the villains aren't just " comical bad guy" they have very real goals but behind the scene he does have some compassion he's just merciless in his ambition. every character in this show has depth and they are different depth, they aren't generic they are unique to each other.
“We lost ourselves. Lost our dream. In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good.” - Victor Well done, you nearly got it exactly right. It’s quite a solemn, yet moving quote.
"It's not enough to give people what they need to survive, you have to give them what they need to live" -Ekko. Still my favorite line from the show. I honestly wish I could watch this without my years of prior league knowledge. While they were still able to even surprise me knowing that some of the games champions weren't gonna die did remove some of the tension of a few scenes. All in all fantastic show.
The quote was made to sound deep, no wonder you were impressed with that quote. However, if you really think about our real world situation, I don't think that quote is applicable anywhere.
I knew absolutely nothing about League of Legends before watching the show and chances are I'll never play the game, but I was just blown away by Arcane. Perfect animation, great action, brilliant depth to the writing and characters, and spectacular world-building. The show just kept getting better as it went on and I can't wait for Season 2. Undoubtedly one of the best things I've seen all year, not even kidding.
same men its so difficult to find the depth same as this show on today's movie and series. everything has consequences and logic like we see in death note . its officially the best videogame adaption
Don't play league. If you're interested check out the caracther's lore, read more about the LoL world and maybe even try TFT or Legends of Runeterra, but stay away from League of Legends.
Okay but That Ekko Vs Jinx fight tho Everything was perfect. In terms of animation, I've never seen anything like it, and probably never will, because it effectively captured Ekko and Jinx's chemistry both in past and present in an animation style that veers between both, and ultimately (no pun intended) foreshadows Ekko's time-manipulating powers. Definitely the standout from an already excellent series.
In the whole fight scene there was only sentence was said, everything else was learned through their face expressions, compare it to animes fights scene where they are talking in the middle of the fight trying to explain everything to the audience for no reason
That was a fight that I actually stopped doing rewatched again because it was just that good. I do wish we had seen the two of them interacting more when they were children. Would have hit a little harder. But it was probably my favorite fighting the show ( which is full of amazing action.)
@@geniphill There's a lot of questionable actions done by Jinx, which simply was not warranted and was done just for the sake of more drama. Like her flipping out because Vi showed up with the asian girl, kidnapping them both at the end for no reason, and outright killing the baddie at the end. Launching the rocket at the council was also done without any justification or reasoning, just for drama and to move the plot along into season 2.
@@harryshuman9637 honestly all your points are valid. I now understand why you comment. I think it kinda shows how jinx is just so manic that anything that doesn't go her way will cause her to go insane. She literally killed a girl with pink hair cause she thought she was her sister. But good points. Not here to argue or anything
@@harryshuman9637 If you took time to look at its depth and see Jinx's perspective, then you might understand more about the situations you mentioned. Jinx is emotionally traumatized since childhood and gets stressed whenever she thinks about Vi. Jinx took them because she is conflicted with herself. She wants her sister back but she also wants to be accepted for who she is. And as for the rocket? Piltover was the very reason for their demise. They wanted Jinx in exchange for the nation of Zaun. As Jinx, what would you feel like? Jinx is mentally ill. Her mental health has already deteriorated from the trauma. All of these are not done just for the sake of drama. She did what she thought was right for her-- to end the conflict inside. Your way of thinking is why people with mental health problems are often felt invalidated. Don't just look at the surface, take time to understand too.
The show is incredible. Every character is nuanced and believable. Every character study the writers and animators went into was just stunning. And that’s without even talking about the insane attention to detail. The passion that went into this show just built to it being a true masterpiece.
@@Vexatedcanicus nah, I liked Himer, he had some good points, even if he didn’t fully understand the severity of the situation. Of course that’s just my opinion.
@@corbanbausch9049 I agree with you that he had very good counter arguments. But most of them always start with how old he is compared to everybody else. That he's seen many things in his lifetime and some of them repeating. However, with the knowledge and experience he has of the past, you'd think he'd stop "warning" people and actually do something about it instead of sitting around, discussing stuff, reminiscing about the "good ol' days" with people who strive for technological and industrial advancement or people in power who obviously, are just there to line their own pockets.
I never played League of Legends, but when I was watching the first episode of Arcane, I fell in love with the show IMMEDIATELY. In 9 episodes, so much happened. The art, the story, the music: its all perfect. I love steampunk but there's not that much steampunk animation out there. Arcane filled my heart's content and more. Its a 10/10 series and it deserves awards
Fun fact: This steampunk world that the series builds and shows us is actually just one region out of 13 in the world behind League. They hinted at one of the other ones a couple times (where Mel is from).
By the end of the show i was actually rooting for Silco, he finally understood why Vander did what he did and willing to sacrifice everything to protect Jinx. The relationship between him & Jinx was just perfect and his last words to Jinx is what broke me.
it kinda sucks imo spoiler that he dies by accident. i feel like major narrative beats should always be pushed by character choices. say if caitlin shoots him or jinx activates a bomb and silco dives on it to protect her, smth like that
@@9tailjeza And that's why you aren't a show writer, his death was a beautiful tragic tale. And he didn't die "accidentally", he was shot by powder because he tried killing Vi. So what you said about character choice perfectly aligns here.
@@9tailjeza I always saw his death as a culmination of all the bad things he did in his life. Yes, he was a great father to Jinx, but he is still by design an evil human being who doesn't deserve to be redeemed. It's pretty ironic to me that he was killed by the one good thing he ever gained in his life.
@@rainfall2880 hmm i must have missed him trying to shoot vi, i remember the scene ending in powder spraying bullets everywhere somehow missing vi but killing silco. silco swears he would never give jinx up, but it’s open to interpretation if he was being honest, whereas if he say dives in front of a shot from caitlin then he proves it. then again, as you say, i’m not a scriptwriter and overall i did really enjoy the show.
@@9tailjeza Silco shot Vi. He missed. Its very hard to see, but its there. It all happened so fast. Arcane doesnt give a damn about explaining things at all 😅
the writers of arcane did a phenomenal job, and it clearly shows how many shits they gave it works in arcane's favour that the source material is a multiplayer game with no main character/s, and it's amazing that the writers were determined to keep each character balanced, empathetic, noble and flawed in their own ways. by respecting that their audience would have pre-determined favourites going in, they fleshed out every character completely so that everyone shines in their own way no character is a straight up hero or villain, no nation is "the good guys" and no one is "the bad guys". what could've been an unfocused jumbled mess of an ensemble ended up being so nuanced and layered
@@chrisanderson7820 believe it or not, I know a single person who didn't like it, and I don't understand him, he said he didn't enjoy the art style which is shocking to me
Ever since Riot released the cinematic video for Annie in 2018, I knew they could pull off a show like it's nothing. Even in 2017 when they released Warwick cinematic video, you could say it was possible. And here we finally are. If you haven't seen it, "ANNIE: Origins | League of Legends" video is totally worth to check out.
@@MrHale damn i get sad everytime i watch that. I also recommend Amumu: the sad mummy or something like that. It's old but it always hits you in the feels.
I don't play LOL for a decade now, but holy s**t, this serie surprised me A LOT. And the show runners and writers are kind of new to this, I wish nothing but the best for these young talented folks. Can't wait for Season 2.
I haven’t played the game period and still enjoyed this.. I think more studios should do this - and not try and adapt a 20+ hour game into a series of movie - and instead just adapt a piece of the lore like this show did.
@@firstlast9846 Exactly. After finishing Arcane, I come to realize their universe is gigantic, regarding all "legends" in the game. Very well made lore, but for Arcane they dug even deeper and it will go down history as a classic. Maybe the best thing I saw the whole year.
@@firstlast9846 I think you are probably the perfect demographic for this. I tried playing League years ago, and as a result my default reaction is that I want to avoid this.
@@thotslayer9914 Castlevania is indeed another gem that holds a huge special place in my heart. I felt the same thing with both Arcane and Castlevania, after finishing a season they were in my mind for several days.
my favorite moment was when silco sits at vandors statue Silco realizes that he is in the exact same position as vander was. Back then silco called Vander weak, and now he realized he can't do it either. Vander couldn't start a war and he couldn't sacrifice vi for peace. Silco hated him for that. And now, years later, jinx became his surogate daughter and he has to do the exact same thing too, and he realizes that he can't do it, the same way Vander couldn't.
What jinx does at the end was a perfect example of how you dont have to play the game to appreciate what happens. I play LOL and that rocket is her strongest ability in the game. Watching her do that was epic on so many levels, and while it was more enjoyable having played the game, you dont have to know that to appreciate that moment. So happy arcane was awesome
Arcane verdict: a must-watch series, filled with cool action scenes, a great story, stunning work of art, amazing characters and awesome music, 10/10 I highly recommend it! 😁👍🏻
Absolutely BRILLIANT show! I hope this means more studios will start taking animation more seriously and really try to invest in it more. It's just as competent of a genre as live action, and it's about time more people got on-board with it. For shows like this, animation really is the best medium. Also where you mentioned Viktor's quote "in our pursuit of greatness we failed to do good", I was like "YESSS!!" because this quote really stood out to me as well
@@SweatIRL Mine was from Vander, although Im parafrasing since I dont remember it right: "In war is not about if you are willing to fight, is who you are willing to lose"
Too many western animated series hyperfixate too hard to be the next epic like The Last Airbender, that it's a breath of fresh air what french studio Fortiche showed the industry with Arcane.
@@rances4418 The Dragon Prince, but mainly because it is made by one of its original creators (its almost TOO close to Avatar). Another would be the new She-Ra show.
@@rances4418 people tend to forget but DOTA also has a show on Netflix. It’s absolutely NOT as good as arcane but for a video game adaptation to animation, DOTA: Dragons Blood is pretty solid. If y’all done with arcane that’s the next best bet.
"damn fucking good entertaining entertainment". Now that's a damn good description. Loved this show. Loved the fact they spent the time to develop the characters as ACTUAL characters, with backgrounds, depth, logical character progression based on the previous points; not just walking idioligies. The nauance of each character, puts A tier directors/writers to shame. This single Animated series tops every "big" movie that was released this year in my eyes. I cared for each character they showed. I understood each character, even the villains, even the B villains had plenty character development to make them compelling. Cant wait to see more, and I hope this creates a trend of ACTUAL character development.
Like everyone said Hailee Steinfeld was Vi and Powder/Jinx was Ella Purnell she was the main actress in "Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children" and was recently in "Army Of The Dead!" 🙎♂️
The entire series just dumps on the characters but it feels so real: The show is a string of bad luck, misunderstandings and bad decisions on everyone’s part, that’s what makes it so gut wrenching I think. These characters feel like actual people. A great example of all of them is Vi and Powder’s relationship and what makes it all the more tragic is that Vi and Powder never reconcile, there’s an underlying hope throughout the show that they will but they simply don’t get the chance too as every time they meet up something else happens: the first time they meet up is interrupted by Caitlyn and the Firelights, the second time is before the fight with Ekko (which was just a tense situation as Jinx just killed several people not a good place to have a heart to heart), and finally the “Tea Party” (which was made worse by Silco being there). It’s amazing how things could’ve turned out if things were only slightly different.
The animation is some of the best I've ever seen. Pay attention to the microexpressions on people's faces. You can see them thinking things through in a way you rarely see in animation. There are incredible details to the animation. For example, Vi's leg shakes when she is agitated. But what I really love are the scribbles and hallucinations that appear over the art whenever Powder/Jinx is stressed. It is highly reminiscent of the work of Bill Seinkeiwicz on Elektra: Assassin. I consider him to be one of the best at depicting a character's madness in a comic book. What I love about the world-building is that they are smart enough to do most of it without exposition. You learn about the world by seeing characters react to it. Silco cares about Zaun (the Undercity) a great deal, but in his attempt to get enough power to free Zaun from Piltover, he got a large number of people addicted to a dangerous drug and did more harm than good. In the end, his actions both with regard to the drug and his surrogate daughter has likely condemned Zaun to continued oppression/exploitation by Piltover. Jayce is genuinely amazing. He genuinely wants to help the people of Zaun, but is blinded by his own privilege. Think about his big solution for helping Zaun: he invents technology like those gauntlets, which are meant to make them better at mining for the benefit of Piltover. He invents technology that makes them better workers for the benefit of Piltover, instead of inventing technology to clean up the toxic chemicals or remove any of the flooding that has been around for what? A century now? He doesn't actually fix the things that keep the people of Zaun on the weak side of an unequal relationship. Instead, he seeks to make them more productive workers. As awful as that is, he genuinely means well. Viktor is even more complex. Why didn't he suggest real solutions? Did he already conclude that no one in Piltover would accept a solution that risked their dominance of Zaun? As someone from Zaun, surely he knew the tech he's working on is not going to fundamentally change the relationship between Piltover and Zaun. Ekko is far and away one of my favorite characters. He is the ideal revolutionary leader, but he will never be calling the shots in Zaun because he wasn't willing to get people addicted to Shimmer to make lots of money. Thus, the chem-lords will always be the ones in Zaun with all the wealth and political power.
I absolutely loved this series, definitely a modern masterpiece that had me Googling the game (which I never played). What I love most about Netflix original content, is that they really push the boundaries on creativity - providing a deep level of authenticity, undiluted by societal expectations, censorship to appease the general masses. They allow their producers and directors the ability to tell their own stories and be the auteurs, presenting their own vision without apology. An amazing series, will definitely watch it again and look forward to a second season.
Do yourself a favor and don't even try to play League on PC. Wild Rift on mobile is much more fresh, streamlined and chill experience. Or if you want an RPG - there is a Ruined King game released recently.
From what I heard from league players: "don't play the game" "just enjoy the show" and so on. I get the feeling league of legends may be fighting with its game fans
@@marcuswestphal4955 nah, League is just exhausting like ANY competitive game - all of them are frustrating and toxic, like DOTA/CS:GO/you name it. These games still have hundreds of millions of people playing them because they give what some people want to get from games and they know what to expect from communities of such games. TL;DR playing solo in ANY competitive team game is roughly the same experience in levels of toxicity.
I usually hate series ending on cliffhangers however Arcane feels like an epic rather than a story. So the cliffhanger ending felt very fitting. Also I love animation and seeing a series like Arcane that's being taken as legitimate art on all fronts is pleasing.
I actually maintain that, while its technically a cliffhanger.. its also kinda not. The resolution to this seasons core plot, both literally for the story of Vi and Powder and figuratively for the theme of opposing forces that permeates all the series subplots, is kinda resolved before that ending montage starts when a character makes a choice on who they are. The final moment of the series serves as a capstone to the season as the ultimate consequence of everything that happened in S1, the final ramification of all these choices, and as a new inciting incident that sets the stage for the next season.
I feel like it may not necessarily be the conventional cliffhanger. I feel like it won't be picking up immediately after the close. We don't have all the answers but we're pretty sure on what will happen to most of the character in their current predicament.
I completely agree. It's even more impactful if you don't know the characters and where they end up in the League lore. That last scene of Jinx blowing up the councils tower during a peace meeting is a perfect and tragic circle of Jayce's tech eventually coming around to destroy all the progress he made with it, while also destroying what was left of Powder's soul with the press of the trigger.
Hands down one of the best shows I have ever watched and I am a difficult person to please. From Voice acting, to direction, animation, music, writing. It's not often that a show has me constantly thinking about it even days later.
An all around incredible piece of art from Fortiche production. Great blend of CG and paint with 2D effects. And of course Riot did a great job with the soundtrack, sound effects and voice casting. Loved the storyline and characters, so much from the lore can be expanded upon with new seasons. And knowing it went into a rewrite midway through production, it taking less than 6 years to produce season 2 is believable. Silco, Viktor and Jinx were my favorite.
Agree 100%. The 2d fx was the smartest move to go along with thay beautiful "painted" texture for the characters was a beautiful choice. 2d fx will always look a little better to me.
I know how you feel Jeremy. I'm a die-hard Legacy Of Kain fan myself. That series had such an impact on my life that it inspired me to become a story writer and write Horror and Fantasy books. That series helped me get through good times and bad. It's the bitter taste of that terrible illusion of hope that keeps me going.
10/10 in every category you could imagine. Visual design, Animation, Directing, Acting, Music, story. It's got it all. it makes basic conversations interesting with not only fantastic writing and character interactions, but interesting shot framing and colour usage. It feels like every second of the show was given the budget and time to be the best it could be - and that's special
Arcane, Avatar, Castlevania, Invincible, Love Death and Robots, etc. I hope shows like these continue to change America's general preconceived notion that "animation is for kids or crude adult humor". I want America's animation industry to lean in more on these mature stories, to see that animation can be more than just kid stuff or Rick and Morty clones.
It's not an American thing. Nor is it that anyone thinks it's "cartoony" or not up to the task. The issue is that many individuals are physiologically incapable of grasping the connection with the events and characters because they can't consider it as a real scenario. To see animation, to them, is ALWAYS fake. They can't suspend their disbelief, not really. It's why the stupid cartoony stuff does so well, because it can generally be safely ignored, and just laughed at, or whatever. When animation tries to be more than that...all of those individuals instantly check out. . People don't generally have an issue...but the rest of humanity does.
@@DoremiFasolatido1979 Even if they watch soap opera, reality tv shows, wrestling. The animation doing pretty much ALL that is "fake". I get the disconnect
The animation, voice casting, music, pacing, like everything about Arcane was great. The biggest surprise for me was Jayce, the entire season his voice seemed so familiar. Later I found out it was Kevin Alejandro whose Dan from Lucifer.
Anyone who had an involvement in this project needs to be extremely and i mean EXTREMELY proud. Cause this is very close to perfection we can ever hope to get from a story and animation, bravo to that team!.
Good Review! one thing you didnt mention which I really enjoyed about the show was the SOUNDTRACK, the different genres accompany their respective scenes perfectly (and a few of them are in my playlist for good now!)
One of the best animated shows I ever saw. I never played LOL but Arcane is great for new comers who know nothing about LOL and old players who know the lore.
Actually there’s not much lore out there that would relate to the events of the show. It’s almost 100% fresh, with the exception of us maybe knowing that some people don’t die
I feel like Arcane does exactly what The Witcher tv series was meant to do but ultimately fell short of, it gets you invested in the universe whether you've heard jack s*it about it before or not. NETFLIX should reapply this formula in future
as i learned from a comment and believe deserve repeating, Netflix published this but was not involved in the production. it was riot and that french animation studio Fortiche. i do agree that Netflix should indeed take some lessons and inspiration from this 1st season with there own productions moving forward
If only Netflix produced it. It was funded and written by Riot Games and made through the expertise of Fortiche Studios. Netflix is just the distributor.
If there was a formula you could follow to make great TV shows they would all be great. Many different things have to come together just right, sometimes even the same people who make a great show can't repeat it when they try again.
I think the reason Arcane didn't need to lean on the prior knowledge of the audience was because it told a prequel story of a time League of Legends fans did not know about. So it had to explain everything to everyone, including those that bought the LOL Lore book (Yes that exists and yes its good). Many of the characters are almost unrecognizable physically and philosophically (I am looking at you Viktor). And so is the world. The LOL fans have known about a City named Zaun for almost a decade now, but they did not know what the city was like as the undercity of Poltover. Also there were many retcons to make this story make sense, but I haven't heard anyone think it makes the LOL universe worse in any way.
Basicly lol fans/players knew the ending point of where the characters were going but not the path by which they got there. And they made that path amazing so far.
One correction: this definitely wasn't budget when compared to live action. The budget was 10 million per episode, which is on par with the final season of Game of Thrones. Also, the Oppenheimer comparison is funny because Heimerdinger is in part named after Oppenheimer!
Can I ask where you got the 10 million per episode figure? I've been trying to find out what the budget for this series was and I couldn't find where people were getting that number
@@Angie-ji7be Average animator income in France: 34 000 34 000 x 200 x 6 = 40 800 000 Add to that taxes and social security fees and you're at 40 800 000 x 42% = 57 936 000 Add to that the cost of renting a building for those people for 6 years (4 sq meter per employee à 770 euros per sq meter on average in France ) 200 x 4 x 770 x 6 = 3 696 000 So that would be 61 632 000 And that's just cost price. If then you start thinking about everything I conveniently didn't include in my calculations and profit margin it's looking an awful lot like 100m indeed. (From a reddit comment)
@@lcdc_azuralie if i am not wrong i saw someone mention it cost less half than disney rapunzel which cost 260 million but took way longer time than normal movie.
Checked out the show for Hailee Steinfeld and was so surprised how much I loved it! The storyline, the characters, the animation, the voice acting, it was a really good show and I can’t wait for season two.
I liked the dichotomy between the ambition in youth to discover and change, and the withered and wise elders as they try to maintain a peace. It's a clear showcase of a passing of the torch between generations as the young will have to endure the same type of devastation as their predecessors.
Are you suggesting Vi will join the enforcers to ensure peace, like Vander aimed to do? I would've thought Vi's reasons to side with the enforcers, if she did at all, would be much more closely linked to her sister, not for the grand plan of peace.
It has the makings of becoming the best animated show ever. If when the show ends it will stay as consistently good as season 1 is, than Avatar The Last Airbender, Bojack Horseman and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood will finally be usurped.
@@handsomemac1621 This is a show that just couldn't have been as good had it been live-action because of the anthro aspects. We need more animated show that say "Hey, animation is not just for babies". That's another great thing I appreciate with anime, Bojack Horseman and Arcane. Bojack and Arcane specifically are R rated, which is refreshing for animation. I know that many adults don't watch animation because they want something "ReAlLlLlLlLlLlLlLlLl" and anything drawn or computer made is an immediate turn off for them, which is why most animation studios only craft kids shows (since they are the ones most likely to be pleased by this medium). Still, I appreciate the ones who go against the norma and show that animation and adult content can indeed go together. FMA Brotherhood has a very interesting lore, cool plot twists and is one of the few shows that counts on the viewers to be smart and doesn't spend too much time explaining obvious stuff. Bojack gives excellent writing and real-feeling struggles. Arcane has an unrealistic world with realistic feeling characters (even if Mel dates Jayce who's a guy 10-20 years younger than her, but that's still something possible), unique and expressive animation and many memorable/quotable lines.
Damn man! I wish more people would push for the return of Legacy of Kain! Respect for your tattoo and for the fact that you've been vocal about it from the very beginning. It will never be dead as long as we keep it in our memories.
It felt so refreshing to watch this show, I’m so happy to have not played league of legends and still be able to enjoy the show. Everything from the world building to the characters and the animation to top it off was just so satisfying to watch. Can’t wait for season 2!!
One of the things I love about Silco is that when he says "There's a monster in all of us" he doesn't mean it derogatorily. No, to him it's ASPERATIONAL.
First 2 episodes everything is nice but it seems fairly cliché… then episodes 3 starts and things starts to build up and get nicer and nicer and plots and characters gets more nuances ! Amazing show.
Yeah that’s true, it took me 4 days to watch up to episode 2. Then I took 2 weeks off and just today watched episode 3 and binged it till the end. After ep.3 then it’s good. Damn I cried watching this.
This show absolutely crushed it. There were at least three literal jaw-dropping moments and that is VERY rare for me in modern entertainment. Usually things are so transparent anymore that you can see the beats and twists coming from a mile away. Arcane kept slapping me upside the head with stuff I wasn't ready for and that's fantastic. Also it looks amazing and is very well voiced. It's an easy 10/10.
@@FrancisFabricates Yeah. Also the end of ep 3. The end of the final episode. The kid in the foundry. The fight in the bar. The firelights on the bridge... Ok, it's WAY more than three.
Im blown away. It doesnt matter from what angle you consider it.... cinematography, script, visuals, meaning... this show is a masterpiece in all areas. Best show in the last 3 years. I've not properly played league of legends, and I can say this show is absolutely fabulous. More shows need to take a leaf from Arcane's book. I absolutely CANNOT wait for Arcane 2
this is one of the greatest thing i've seen in a long time! movies and games can learn a thing or two from this show, most movies that get released is piss poor in storytelling, and triple A games are half assed in just about everything, but this show is just perfect
When you pay attention to the plight of the Under City, where their water is polluted, their air wasn't even breathable before Silco and his generation fought back. When you take it all in everything he did becomes not just justifiable but necessary. This is truly a masterpiece.
I couldn’t agree more! Far too many people just lump him in as a villain because he does typical villain things. Yes, he used violence and drugs and all kinds of shady shit to get his way, but without the “base violence necessary for change”, the Undercity and its people would have been doomed to suffer under Piltover rule forever. You can hate his actions all you want, but the truth is that even the “heroes” of Piltover came around to agreeing with his end goal.
@@jasonco2 Yea you always have that with "villains" that get portrayed as villains simply for pursuing change through violence, always ignoring the fact that the topside is basically using nonstop structural violence by letting people just kill, rob and threaten each other in the underground while they are breathing 24/7 on toxic fumes, that's not Silco being the aggressor, that's Silco defending himself with everything he's got.
@@jasonco2 Exactly. People who never had to fight or suffer for anything lump Silco as a villain. Yet he is one of those "If not me, then someone else will" characters. During the show you see proof of this when I forget his name tries to overthrow him TWICE with no plan to actually stop the drug creation. Silco used the drugs as an economic engine for change. To acquire what he needed for his revolt against their oppressors. What makes him such a great character is how he found Jinx after she was broken like he was. Rather than killing her he took her in and tried to help her heal from it. Jinx's entire journey this season was realizing what Silco was trying to teach her. That as the Stoics put it, the child she was died when she killed her friends, after all the others she's kill she can never go back to how things were no matter how much she yerns for it. Nobody and it is insulting when shows act like it is possible. Jinx would have gone prison or had been executed had she gone with Vi. Silco knew it and cared about her. He wasn't manipulating her, he was telling her the truth as he saw it. That's what makes him an amazing character because he wasn't entirely wrong on anything. Plus he actually had an emotional range and put himself in danger.
Yep. He decided any price was worth zaun's freedom. Including betraying his once brother vander, fucking over the destitute in zaun, etc. All to gain enough power and financial backing to demand freedom for his city. And in the end he couldn't give up the last thing piltover asked of him, his daughter.
@@Tearakan Yep! To further the tragic irony of it all, Vi stands before the Council and scolds them for trying to make peace with Silco. Vi doesn't believe it's possible that Silco could actually be willing to set aside his power or hatred to have peace, and she's wrong. Silco would turn himself in to the authorities for summary execution if it would guarantee a free Nation of Zaun. The only thing Silco won't give up is Jinx, whom Vi is convinced that Silco couldn't actually love and is just manipulating.
I didn't know anything about this show before I watch. I'm SO glad I did. This shows shines on every level: world building, animation, character development, the feels, EVERY LEVEL. I binged the entire season in a day. I can't wait for more
Supposedly Arcane's budget was an order of magnitude greater than most "comparable" shows either live or animated, so I guess that's part of why it was so damn impressive and why it's not more common to see more this amazing
Riot games made this in 6 years, blizzard made their warcraft movie in 10 years, which one come better, btw i agree more budget you get better quality but riot also cared about this show and didn’t just give it to a random studio to do it for them, they did it by them self
@@abdulwaduod11 they did partner with Fortiche (a French animation studio). I will say that I have read that Riot has done work with Fortiche before so they clearly trust the studio.
@@abdulwaduod11 The CGI in the Warcraft movie was incredible. That wasn't the problem. Spending even 20 years to turn a bad script into a movie won't make a good movie.
Like I was talking with my friends, that was the kind of narrative/stylistic choice that separates great stories from masterpieces. That was an ingenious idea that completely encapsulated both characters' paths on that single point in their lives. Straight up perfect scene.
Yeah, I still couldn't care less about League of Legends, but this series was one of the best series I've ever seen. Hands down. Just beautifully made in every way ❤
Definitely a 10/10 animated show, it's going to be as monumental and groundbreaking as Avatar the Last Airbender. If not more so because it's also pioneering a very distinctive animation style that blends 3D graphics with very painterly textures to create these very crisp detailed visuals (and we can thank studio Fortiche for that), you can actually see the previous work they did with Riot's creative team on the League of Legends YT channel like the Rise music video, the first KDA music video, and Ekko's introduction trailer titled "Seconds" which in and of itself is a great piece of storytelling and characterization with fantastic animations, definitely showed what they are capable of when they collaborate with Riot's creative team.
Glad to hear a perspective from someone who's not familiar with the games, like myself. MOBA style games just hit a few years after I stopped caring about multiplayer online games. I really wish they had done something like this for Warcraft years ago as I'm farmilar with that lore & it would work great (at least from back in the day, haven't payed attention to WOW lore since WOTLK), but I 1000% agree with Legacy of Kain as well or even a limited series Chrono Trigger tale would be amazing.
as a fan of LoK, i love to see it how Jeremy tries to keep the ip alive :) The story and characters in that series are just perfect for an Arcane like show, the writing alone in that series can go toe to toe with the best of them, not to mention the voice acting.
I love Enter The Spiderverse more than any animated film I've seen, but holy shit this tops it for me and for pretty much the same reasons. The music is outstanding, the voice work is stellar and the animation is incredible- all wrapped up in a story that has more memorable emotional performances than most live action series I've seen.. This was some amazing shit. I binged it in almost one sitting.
There are still heroes and villains though but they aren't just cartoonish. They are more believable and realistic. Heroes wanting to do good and having good intentions can have unintended consequences. Villains are human and we can understand why they are the way they are.
@@markfreenick Vi is certainly no angel. She is sometimes bordering on villainous but tries to do the right thing occasionally. I guess anti-hero would be the correct description.
Did I just hear you talk about Legacy Of Kain? OMG. You did. LOK: Soul Reaver is one of my most favorite games ever and it made me invest in the whole entire Legacy Of Kain series. Would be really effin dope if they do decide to adapt that into animated movie... Or better yet, I really do hope they make a proper current-gen version of the series with Amy Hennig back to write.
Watched it with my daughter and we both loved it. Neither knew anything about LoL either, it’s totally accessible, looks fantastic and the character building is superb and voice acting is insanely good.
One thing that doesn’t get enough praise in this show is the pacing. It’s able to develop the characters without slowing down, that’s something even my favorite shows occasionally slip up on.
I don’t know where you got Arcane being a lesser budget production than a live action would’ve been. It cost millions of dollars to make. Likely way more than any major Hollywood film out right now.
6:17 I'm probably gonna get a lot of crap for this, but I think this is simply a result of the game being a multiplayer game with no story. It couldn't have been any other way. Yeah Yeah, you can read it on some wiki, nobody does that. The game's about killing each other on repeat. Single player games often have actual stories and their adaptations often fall into the trap of expecting knowledge from its audience.
Episode 1 - “League of Legends? Lol That’s so cringe” Episode 2 - “ok it was decent...not that good” Episode 3 - “Gimme all the Arcane content...I want more. When’s the next batch out? I WANT MORE FOR FUCKS SAKE”
The biggest thing I took away from the series is when Silco realizes why Vander was the way he was in the start of the series. Both of them were willing to sacrifice their ambitions in order to protect their kids.
That was a great scene at the fountain.
And he had such an ironic death as well
"I never would have given you to them. Not for anything"
Is there anything more undoing than a daughter?
And they were both killed by Jinx in order to save Vi. Tragic.
"In our pursuit of great... we failed to do good."
- Viktor.
You hit the nail on the head. Very profound show whether you played the game or knew the lore or not.
@Anoneemus Noename or “are” and “to”.
They are so many good quotes in that show. Really enjoyed every moment!
it also kind of describes every league of legends player that wants to get gud. except it's like, "in the persuit of grandmasters..... we failed to have fun".
The back story for Viktor stole my heart in this show I feel like a kid again reading League of legends lore
"And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good" - John Steinbeck
Arcane has a 100% critic / 98% audience score, highest rated Netflix show ever, number one in over 50 countries, already surpassed Stanger Things and the Mandalorian in online streaming numbers with just 9 episodes. This show deserve all the love it has gotten, I can't stop thinking about it. The craftsmanship and love they put into this show allows me to use the word "masterpiece", something I thought I would never say with today's media.
It was good.
the love they put into this show is something so rare to see these days. holy shit I want a billion seasons of arcane.
Thats because of you Zoomers... you crazy kids.
@BrendanMskating I think it's well know the game side of Riot sucks, lol.
Yeah, like yeah!
Aww, you didn't bring up the absolutely world class voice acting.
Young Powder in particular should get an Oscar for that performance.
Never heard such realistic and believable voice acting in my life.
Every cry, every doubt, every tremble in her voice... Cuts straight through my friggin existence.
*[Minor spoiler follows here]*
My favorite line in the show tho is Silcos monolog to Vander statue.
He called Vander a coward for not be willing to sacrifice Vi or fight for the cause, then when he is in the exact same position, he cant do it and he says:
"It all makes sense now, brother... Is there anything as undoing... As a daughter"
Just perfect.
I was lying next to my one year old daughter as I watched that scene and it filled me with awe and dread 😂
i'm a long time, major champion of japanese voice actors being in a completely different universe than other any other voice actors, and i still hold that to be true, but the end of Episode 3 actually shocked me with how great it was
very few actors in general can portray that sort of thing to that level, let alone just in voice acting
truly exceptional
I'd also like to add that in the scene where Powder is alone in her room crying she has spit flying everywhere, it's a genuine "ugly cry." I've cried like that before with spit and snot and I have to say that animation combo with the voice acting is phenomenal. Real heartache like that isn't pretty
@@loneoakgrls
Ew. Couldnt be me
> "It all makes sense now, brother... Is there anything as undoing... As a daughter"
I didn't catch that line properly at the time, so very much appreciate you writing this up :)
What I enjoyed about Arcane was the consistency of the characters, how while they can be tempted and perhaps led astray a bit, when the chips hit the table they stay true to themselves instead of abandoning everything that they were. The ability of most of the characters to self-reflect on their actions is incredibly refreshing when a lot of writing these days is simply blind pursuit of either justice or revenge.
Bingo. No cliche decision changes last minute during the heat of a conflict. Loved that.
Love to see human hesitation and betrayal and doubt and shame!
@rahn45 I enjoyed it too. It actually made me think of Kung Fu Panda lol...when Tai Lung was fighting Shifu, and he had that moment of near regret when Shifu apologized for how his own love for him led Tai Lung astray. It was cool how he softened for a few seconds then still tried to kill his master. 🤣
Couldnt have said it better myself!
I love how in Episode 3…
Vi at the end, instead of hating Powder’s guts for the rest of the story for killing their loved ones, has a crisis of conscience when she follows through on her vengeful tendencies by hitting and insulting her, and the rest of the show focuses on how her inner conflict affects her relationship with Powder.
"I think we're living in this golden era where suddenly the world is listening to what videogames have to say" is a quote from a dev diary by one of the main writers of this show and it hits the nail on the head. There is so much potential in the videogame medium for high quality, emotional, human stories with nuanced characters wrapped up in phenomenal world building and deep lore that had yet to be harnessed properly. Castlevania was a great first achievement and Arcane was the masterpiece to really put that potential on the map for everyone to experience.
Videogame as propaganda. Got it.
@@darugdawg2453 everybody needs a pooper that is why they invited you, party pooooper! Party poooper!
I remember when I was a kid and we first started seeing Marvel comic adaptations in the 70's and 80's. They were crap and mostly because they largely ignored the source material or never understood it. Hollywood thought they knew better than the creators. Once they did respect the source we got to where we are now. Same applies to video game adaptations. The example that comes to mind is Assassins Creed. As a genre, it would fall into Historical Romance, so of course film makers decided to make a Psychological Thriller and then wondered why it failed.
@@darugdawg2453 That already exists. Ubisoft as a whole.
@@darugdawg2453 yes, because arcane’s message on how war, Revolution & class warfare effects people is a really bad message to send, am I right?
I work in Animation - and this show is incredible. It is a Masterpiece, a piece of art. Let's not ignore that it took 5-6 years for this season of 9 episodes to get made. (based on a Washington Post article) In my work we'll be tasked with getting 22 episodes done in 1-2 years. I wish we had the time and re$ource$ to be able to craft as solid work as Fortiche Productions and Riot did. They should be extremely proud of this show. That is an amazing example of letting craftspeople really get the chance to craft a great story and apply their craft to the industry. Amazing work all round from the Story, Directing, Shot Composition, Editing, 2D FX. Amazing work.
When he said "the scope of live action but in this more affordable animated style" I cringed hard. It's crazy how little people know of the cost of quality animation like this.
I really wish these industries let more artists have more time and resources to make fully realized projects. 22 episodes in 1-2 years is a lot. I know not everyone has that luxury though, but it would be nice to see shorter series (5-10 episodes) that have at least 2-3 years to produce. Animation takes a lot of work and I appreciate you all for your hard work!
i would like season 2 to be 12 episodes but come out around worlds 2023. take 2 years to work out the bugs in script and animation. im sure it wont take another 5-6 years cause i bet they yhad already started on it at lease storyboard wise.
@@zerodawn09 and they know how the world looks and feels now, who the characters are, all the basics that would take up time when done for the first time.
My dude, please enlighten me about this: why is animation so expensive to make? I thought that time and technology would eventually make them more accessible to creators, but it doesnt sound like they are getting any cheaper. I mean, isnt it possible to have a "engine" (like they have in games industry) with pre-established physics and models to make it easier for artists and general public to create stories from it?
Arcane should be studied by Hollywood this is how you do it folks
Story, characters, character arc, and dam the animation and music all first rate
Very very well done. Has strong female leads that arent Mary Sued into boredom and good appropriate diversity that adds to the flavor and doesnt devolve into some weird culture or skin fetish. My fave. series of the year so far..
Couldn't agree more. Especially loved Vi's character development over the series. Can't wait for season 2.
Ya I hope I'm proven wrong, because the world and animation seem amazing. Im only an episode in and I kind of disagree. Pink hair seems just like a Mary Sue. Then the two dudes just seem like your stereotypical idiot male characters. Just one is bigger, can fight, and is not as big of an idiot. I'm going to keep watching it because I really want to be wrong.
Eh 3 episodes in now and ya she is totally Mary Sue. Watching a kid wipe the floor with 20 grown men, made me roll my eyes a bit. The show is still fun though. So I'll probably watch the rest.
@@chad6738 I hear ya, I didn't like Vi too much in the beginning (gave me Mary Sue vibes in the first few episodes) but she did grow as a character in the rest of the series and I really got to like her. Keep on going and let us know your thoughts.
@@chad6738 Dude she keeps getting the shit kicked out of her time and time again, she's deeply flawed. She is a future champion and has done nothing else but fighting in her life, of course she's going to get underrestimated and get a few wins in...especially against fellow kids not quite as dragged through glass as she is. I see no Mary Sue-ness about her, honestly.
it's soooooo rare that any show has every single character is likeable and very deep. even the villains aren't just " comical bad guy" they have very real goals but behind the scene he does have some compassion he's just merciless in his ambition. every character in this show has depth and they are different depth, they aren't generic they are unique to each other.
“We lost ourselves. Lost our dream. In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good.”
- Victor
Well done, you nearly got it exactly right. It’s quite a solemn, yet moving quote.
"It's not enough to give people what they need to survive, you have to give them what they need to live" -Ekko. Still my favorite line from the show. I honestly wish I could watch this without my years of prior league knowledge. While they were still able to even surprise me knowing that some of the games champions weren't gonna die did remove some of the tension of a few scenes. All in all fantastic show.
I think them not dying is even more tragic.
The quote was made to sound deep, no wonder you were impressed with that quote. However, if you really think about our real world situation, I don't think that quote is applicable anywhere.
They can die I think, I think our lol world as the game exists in our universe not in the show itself you know
@@irgendwiecharmant64 elaborate
@@irgendwiecharmant64 I guess starving and homeless people just don’t exist
I knew absolutely nothing about League of Legends before watching the show and chances are I'll never play the game, but I was just blown away by Arcane. Perfect animation, great action, brilliant depth to the writing and characters, and spectacular world-building. The show just kept getting better as it went on and I can't wait for Season 2. Undoubtedly one of the best things I've seen all year, not even kidding.
Your comment defines what I was gonna say on every point.
same men its so difficult to find the depth same as this show on today's movie and series.
everything has consequences and logic like we see in death note .
its officially the best videogame adaption
Don’t play the game hahaha. It’s good but addictive and occasionally toxic
Don't play league. If you're interested check out the caracther's lore, read more about the LoL world and maybe even try TFT or Legends of Runeterra, but stay away from League of Legends.
So I dont know anything about this at all. Am I good to watch this? Or should I do research?
Okay but
That Ekko Vs Jinx fight tho
Everything was perfect. In terms of animation, I've never seen anything like it, and probably never will, because it effectively captured Ekko and Jinx's chemistry both in past and present in an animation style that veers between both, and ultimately (no pun intended) foreshadows Ekko's time-manipulating powers. Definitely the standout from an already excellent series.
In the whole fight scene there was only sentence was said, everything else was learned through their face expressions, compare it to animes fights scene where they are talking in the middle of the fight trying to explain everything to the audience for no reason
That was a fight that I actually stopped doing rewatched again because it was just that good. I do wish we had seen the two of them interacting more when they were children. Would have hit a little harder. But it was probably my favorite fighting the show ( which is full of amazing action.)
@@crispycritter274 The Enemy Music Video has a lot more of Ekko and Jinx's relationship as kids.
Meh wasn't a fan of that scene my only complaint for the show feels like they just ran out of budget not to mention hated the music.
@@nelieltu9730 they did the whole fight twice, what are you even going on about?
This show is a masterpiece
Breaking Bad is a masterpiece, Arcane is a pretty darn good show.
@@harryshuman9637 but why did you comment this ?
A: X is great
B: no Y is great X is just good. ( Gives no explanation )
@@geniphill There's a lot of questionable actions done by Jinx, which simply was not warranted and was done just for the sake of more drama.
Like her flipping out because Vi showed up with the asian girl, kidnapping them both at the end for no reason, and outright killing the baddie at the end. Launching the rocket at the council was also done without any justification or reasoning, just for drama and to move the plot along into season 2.
@@harryshuman9637 honestly all your points are valid. I now understand why you comment. I think it kinda shows how jinx is just so manic that anything that doesn't go her way will cause her to go insane. She literally killed a girl with pink hair cause she thought she was her sister.
But good points. Not here to argue or anything
@@harryshuman9637 If you took time to look at its depth and see Jinx's perspective, then you might understand more about the situations you mentioned. Jinx is emotionally traumatized since childhood and gets stressed whenever she thinks about Vi. Jinx took them because she is conflicted with herself. She wants her sister back but she also wants to be accepted for who she is. And as for the rocket? Piltover was the very reason for their demise. They wanted Jinx in exchange for the nation of Zaun. As Jinx, what would you feel like? Jinx is mentally ill. Her mental health has already deteriorated from the trauma. All of these are not done just for the sake of drama. She did what she thought was right for her-- to end the conflict inside.
Your way of thinking is why people with mental health problems are often felt invalidated. Don't just look at the surface, take time to understand too.
A League of Legends tv show had absolutely no business being this good
Their music videos/ads would say otherwise though...
It's kinda crazy.
I'm glad we get to see some good animation tho.
The show is incredible. Every character is nuanced and believable. Every character study the writers and animators went into was just stunning. And that’s without even talking about the insane attention to detail. The passion that went into this show just built to it being a true masterpiece.
Would like to see what it could look like in live action.
@@theawesomeman9821 no. Just no. The animation is easily the best part, and that is saying something.
Except heimerdinger... He boring as shit
@@Vexatedcanicus nah, I liked Himer, he had some good points, even if he didn’t fully understand the severity of the situation. Of course that’s just my opinion.
@@corbanbausch9049 I agree with you that he had very good counter arguments. But most of them always start with how old he is compared to everybody else. That he's seen many things in his lifetime and some of them repeating. However, with the knowledge and experience he has of the past, you'd think he'd stop "warning" people and actually do something about it instead of sitting around, discussing stuff, reminiscing about the "good ol' days" with people who strive for technological and industrial advancement or people in power who obviously, are just there to line their own pockets.
I never played League of Legends, but when I was watching the first episode of Arcane, I fell in love with the show IMMEDIATELY.
In 9 episodes, so much happened. The art, the story, the music: its all perfect.
I love steampunk but there's not that much steampunk animation out there. Arcane filled my heart's content and more. Its a 10/10 series and it deserves awards
As an League player, dont play it. Play their alt games, TFT, runeterra, but not league. Very toxic game haha
Fun fact: This steampunk world that the series builds and shows us is actually just one region out of 13 in the world behind League. They hinted at one of the other ones a couple times (where Mel is from).
You know the show is good when both Jeremy's and Gigguk's videos came simultaneously
By the end of the show i was actually rooting for Silco, he finally understood why Vander did what he did and willing to sacrifice everything to protect Jinx. The relationship between him & Jinx was just perfect and his last words to Jinx is what broke me.
it kinda sucks imo
spoiler
that he dies by accident. i feel like major narrative beats should always be pushed by character choices. say if caitlin shoots him or jinx activates a bomb and silco dives on it to protect her, smth like that
@@9tailjeza And that's why you aren't a show writer, his death was a beautiful tragic tale. And he didn't die "accidentally", he was shot by powder because he tried killing Vi. So what you said about character choice perfectly aligns here.
@@9tailjeza I always saw his death as a culmination of all the bad things he did in his life. Yes, he was a great father to Jinx, but he is still by design an evil human being who doesn't deserve to be redeemed. It's pretty ironic to me that he was killed by the one good thing he ever gained in his life.
@@rainfall2880 hmm i must have missed him trying to shoot vi, i remember the scene ending in powder spraying bullets everywhere somehow missing vi but killing silco. silco swears he would never give jinx up, but it’s open to interpretation if he was being honest, whereas if he say dives in front of a shot from caitlin then he proves it.
then again, as you say, i’m not a scriptwriter and overall i did really enjoy the show.
@@9tailjeza Silco shot Vi. He missed. Its very hard to see, but its there. It all happened so fast. Arcane doesnt give a damn about explaining things at all 😅
the writers of arcane did a phenomenal job, and it clearly shows how many shits they gave
it works in arcane's favour that the source material is a multiplayer game with no main character/s, and it's amazing that the writers were determined to keep each character balanced, empathetic, noble and flawed in their own ways. by respecting that their audience would have pre-determined favourites going in, they fleshed out every character completely so that everyone shines in their own way
no character is a straight up hero or villain, no nation is "the good guys" and no one is "the bad guys". what could've been an unfocused jumbled mess of an ensemble ended up being so nuanced and layered
It's such a great example of ensemble storytelling
Oh Jinx is definitely the bad guy
Like they are all broken, and that is just how humans work.
This show was one of the best animated movies and tv shows I have seen in a long time, I am really glad to see so many other people enjoyed this show
One of the best -animated- movies and tv shows I have seen in a long time.
Given it's reviews from both critics and viewers on just about every review site, I think we can safely say that most all of humanity agrees with you.
@@chrisanderson7820 believe it or not, I know a single person who didn't like it, and I don't understand him, he said he didn't enjoy the art style which is shocking to me
Never ever could I imagine a world where a LOL based story would be worth checking out. Goes to show, you never know were quality will rear up.
same bro
Ever since Riot released the cinematic video for Annie in 2018, I knew they could pull off a show like it's nothing. Even in 2017 when they released Warwick cinematic video, you could say it was possible. And here we finally are. If you haven't seen it, "ANNIE: Origins | League of Legends" video is totally worth to check out.
U never watched any of their cinematic then
I can see these cockroaches in a scoured Earth finding the prophecies of the great Jeremy seer
@@MrHale damn i get sad everytime i watch that. I also recommend Amumu: the sad mummy or something like that. It's old but it always hits you in the feels.
I don't play LOL for a decade now, but holy s**t, this serie surprised me A LOT.
And the show runners and writers are kind of new to this, I wish nothing but the best for these young talented folks. Can't wait for Season 2.
I haven’t played the game period and still enjoyed this.. I think more studios should do this - and not try and adapt a 20+ hour game into a series of movie - and instead just adapt a piece of the lore like this show did.
kind of* young*
@@firstlast9846 Exactly. After finishing Arcane, I come to realize their universe is gigantic, regarding all "legends" in the game. Very well made lore, but for Arcane they dug even deeper and it will go down history as a classic. Maybe the best thing I saw the whole year.
@@firstlast9846 I think you are probably the perfect demographic for this. I tried playing League years ago, and as a result my default reaction is that I want to avoid this.
@@thotslayer9914 Castlevania is indeed another gem that holds a huge special place in my heart.
I felt the same thing with both Arcane and Castlevania, after finishing a season they were in my mind for several days.
my favorite moment was when silco sits at vandors statue Silco realizes that he is in the exact same position as vander was. Back then silco called Vander weak, and now he realized he can't do it either.
Vander couldn't start a war and he couldn't sacrifice vi for peace. Silco hated him for that. And now, years later, jinx became his surogate daughter and he has to do the exact same thing too, and he realizes that he can't do it, the same way Vander couldn't.
What jinx does at the end was a perfect example of how you dont have to play the game to appreciate what happens. I play LOL and that rocket is her strongest ability in the game. Watching her do that was epic on so many levels, and while it was more enjoyable having played the game, you dont have to know that to appreciate that moment. So happy arcane was awesome
Especially because her rocket gains power the longer it travels
@@tdaddy26 And it does more damage the lower your health, so... RIP Viktor in that case lol
Arcane verdict: a must-watch series, filled with cool action scenes, a great story, stunning work of art, amazing characters and awesome music, 10/10 I highly recommend it! 😁👍🏻
Absolutely BRILLIANT show! I hope this means more studios will start taking animation more seriously and really try to invest in it more. It's just as competent of a genre as live action, and it's about time more people got on-board with it. For shows like this, animation really is the best medium.
Also where you mentioned Viktor's quote "in our pursuit of greatness we failed to do good", I was like "YESSS!!" because this quote really stood out to me as well
As long as it would have a story like this, yes. Dragonball Z or other anime type "stories", no.
@@1_underthesun There's a place for Shonen anime storytelling. Not every meal has to be filet mignon. Sometimes a good ol' cheeseburger hits the spot.
Gotta say my favorite quote was:
"When you're going to change the world, don't ask for permission" - Also Viktor
@@SweatIRL Mine was from Vander, although Im parafrasing since I dont remember it right: "In war is not about if you are willing to fight, is who you are willing to lose"
@@Gangerworld dude.... this is so good, holy shit. Did you come up with this? Great quote..
Too many western animated series hyperfixate too hard to be the next epic like The Last Airbender, that it's a breath of fresh air what french studio Fortiche showed the industry with Arcane.
Eh seems like most western stores are trying to be like adventure time…. Do you know any avatar likes asking for a friend
@@rances4418 The Dragon Prince, but mainly because it is made by one of its original creators (its almost TOO close to Avatar). Another would be the new She-Ra show.
The Last Airbender isn’t all that good. But I agree
@@rances4418 people tend to forget but DOTA also has a show on Netflix. It’s absolutely NOT as good as arcane but for a video game adaptation to animation, DOTA: Dragons Blood is pretty solid. If y’all done with arcane that’s the next best bet.
@@TheCallofdutyghost Catra is best girl.
That Ekko and Jinx fight scene though. The animation change and back was amazing.
"damn fucking good entertaining entertainment". Now that's a damn good description.
Loved this show. Loved the fact they spent the time to develop the characters as ACTUAL characters, with backgrounds, depth, logical character progression based on the previous points; not just walking idioligies.
The nauance of each character, puts A tier directors/writers to shame. This single Animated series tops every "big" movie that was released this year in my eyes. I cared for each character they showed. I understood each character, even the villains, even the B villains had plenty character development to make them compelling.
Cant wait to see more, and I hope this creates a trend of ACTUAL character development.
The actresses who did vi and powder CRUSHED it. Whoever casted them did a great job finding them, and I hope those actresses return.
Vi was Hailee Stanfield aka spider-Gwen aka Kate bishop
Hailee Steinfield (from Hawkeye) voices Vi
Hailee was nominated for an oscar at 14. She’s (almost) always been awesome in every movie she was in.
It took them 3 years to find the perfect voices for the main characters. Paid off really well.
Like everyone said Hailee Steinfeld was Vi and Powder/Jinx was Ella Purnell she was the main actress in "Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children" and was recently in "Army Of The Dead!" 🙎♂️
Dude I stand with you. Legacy of Kain needs a series. Raziel and Kain's story, the scion of balance and the soul reaper will never die
exactly, a game with a rich narrative like LOk deserve a series, not a game with no story where the main plot is "git gud hurr durr IMMA GFUNAA PWN U"
Reaver*. But yes - in which direction do I need to yell to get someone to notice how amazing it would be?
The Legacy of Kain series is basically gaming Shakespeare.
The entire series just dumps on the characters but it feels so real: The show is a string of bad luck, misunderstandings and bad decisions on everyone’s part, that’s what makes it so gut wrenching I think. These characters feel like actual people.
A great example of all of them is Vi and Powder’s relationship and what makes it all the more tragic is that Vi and Powder never reconcile, there’s an underlying hope throughout the show that they will but they simply don’t get the chance too as every time they meet up something else happens:
the first time they meet up is interrupted by Caitlyn and the Firelights, the second time is before the fight with Ekko (which was just a tense situation as Jinx just killed several people not a good place to have a heart to heart), and finally the “Tea Party” (which was made worse by Silco being there). It’s amazing how things could’ve turned out if things were only slightly different.
Bro relax no one‘s gonna read that much. You’re just an anime kid that thinks everything is epic. Just stop.
@@nicholasnajibi3082 oh forgive me for sharing an opinion.
@@nicholasnajibi3082 I read it. And all the people that liked it seemed to have read it too.
yes. I just the whole series is summed up by that last scene and the music in it: "What could have been?".
@@nicholasnajibi3082 I read it Khalil.
The animation is some of the best I've ever seen. Pay attention to the microexpressions on people's faces. You can see them thinking things through in a way you rarely see in animation.
There are incredible details to the animation. For example, Vi's leg shakes when she is agitated. But what I really love are the scribbles and hallucinations that appear over the art whenever Powder/Jinx is stressed. It is highly reminiscent of the work of Bill Seinkeiwicz on Elektra: Assassin. I consider him to be one of the best at depicting a character's madness in a comic book.
What I love about the world-building is that they are smart enough to do most of it without exposition. You learn about the world by seeing characters react to it.
Silco cares about Zaun (the Undercity) a great deal, but in his attempt to get enough power to free Zaun from Piltover, he got a large number of people addicted to a dangerous drug and did more harm than good. In the end, his actions both with regard to the drug and his surrogate daughter has likely condemned Zaun to continued oppression/exploitation by Piltover.
Jayce is genuinely amazing.
He genuinely wants to help the people of Zaun, but is blinded by his own privilege. Think about his big solution for helping Zaun: he invents technology like those gauntlets, which are meant to make them better at mining for the benefit of Piltover. He invents technology that makes them better workers for the benefit of Piltover, instead of inventing technology to clean up the toxic chemicals or remove any of the flooding that has been around for what? A century now?
He doesn't actually fix the things that keep the people of Zaun on the weak side of an unequal relationship. Instead, he seeks to make them more productive workers. As awful as that is, he genuinely means well.
Viktor is even more complex. Why didn't he suggest real solutions? Did he already conclude that no one in Piltover would accept a solution that risked their dominance of Zaun? As someone from Zaun, surely he knew the tech he's working on is not going to fundamentally change the relationship between Piltover and Zaun.
Ekko is far and away one of my favorite characters. He is the ideal revolutionary leader, but he will never be calling the shots in Zaun because he wasn't willing to get people addicted to Shimmer to make lots of money. Thus, the chem-lords will always be the ones in Zaun with all the wealth and political power.
I absolutely loved this series, definitely a modern masterpiece that had me Googling the game (which I never played).
What I love most about Netflix original content, is that they really push the boundaries on creativity - providing a deep level of authenticity, undiluted by societal expectations, censorship to appease the general masses. They allow their producers and directors the ability to tell their own stories and be the auteurs, presenting their own vision without apology.
An amazing series, will definitely watch it again and look forward to a second season.
Do yourself a favor and don't even try to play League on PC.
Wild Rift on mobile is much more fresh, streamlined and chill experience.
Or if you want an RPG - there is a Ruined King game released recently.
I mean Arcane is great and all, but don't play League of Legends. You'll regret it. Watch the cinematics though, they're great.
From what I heard from league players: "don't play the game" "just enjoy the show" and so on. I get the feeling league of legends may be fighting with its game fans
@@marcuswestphal4955 nah, League is just exhausting like ANY competitive game - all of them are frustrating and toxic, like DOTA/CS:GO/you name it.
These games still have hundreds of millions of people playing them because they give what some people want to get from games and they know what to expect from communities of such games.
TL;DR playing solo in ANY competitive team game is roughly the same experience in levels of toxicity.
@@baka_ja_nai ok, cool
I usually hate series ending on cliffhangers however Arcane feels like an epic rather than a story. So the cliffhanger ending felt very fitting. Also I love animation and seeing a series like Arcane that's being taken as legitimate art on all fronts is pleasing.
I actually maintain that, while its technically a cliffhanger.. its also kinda not. The resolution to this seasons core plot, both literally for the story of Vi and Powder and figuratively for the theme of opposing forces that permeates all the series subplots, is kinda resolved before that ending montage starts when a character makes a choice on who they are. The final moment of the series serves as a capstone to the season as the ultimate consequence of everything that happened in S1, the final ramification of all these choices, and as a new inciting incident that sets the stage for the next season.
I feel like it may not necessarily be the conventional cliffhanger. I feel like it won't be picking up immediately after the close. We don't have all the answers but we're pretty sure on what will happen to most of the character in their current predicament.
I completely agree. It's even more impactful if you don't know the characters and where they end up in the League lore. That last scene of Jinx blowing up the councils tower during a peace meeting is a perfect and tragic circle of Jayce's tech eventually coming around to destroy all the progress he made with it, while also destroying what was left of Powder's soul with the press of the trigger.
Both vi and jinx character arc is complete so in my opinion it's not really a cliffhanger,but it open other character arc to explore in season 2
@@ligit2758 the destruction of powder began with a hex crystal explosion, and ended with a hex crystal explosion. And thus Jinx was born
Hands down one of the best shows I have ever watched and I am a difficult person to please. From Voice acting, to direction, animation, music, writing. It's not often that a show has me constantly thinking about it even days later.
An all around incredible piece of art from Fortiche production. Great blend of CG and paint with 2D effects. And of course Riot did a great job with the soundtrack, sound effects and voice casting. Loved the storyline and characters, so much from the lore can be expanded upon with new seasons. And knowing it went into a rewrite midway through production, it taking less than 6 years to produce season 2 is believable. Silco, Viktor and Jinx were my favorite.
Agree 100%. The 2d fx was the smartest move to go along with thay beautiful "painted" texture for the characters was a beautiful choice. 2d fx will always look a little better to me.
I know how you feel Jeremy. I'm a die-hard Legacy Of Kain fan myself. That series had such an impact on my life that it inspired me to become a story writer and write Horror and Fantasy books. That series helped me get through good times and bad. It's the bitter taste of that terrible illusion of hope that keeps me going.
That last line from Kain is definitely a memorable one. What I would give to see that story told in a series like Arcane.
A lot of passion was put into the show, animation, music, story, works building and characters were so well done.
10/10 in every category you could imagine. Visual design, Animation, Directing, Acting, Music, story. It's got it all. it makes basic conversations interesting with not only fantastic writing and character interactions, but interesting shot framing and colour usage. It feels like every second of the show was given the budget and time to be the best it could be - and that's special
Arcane, Avatar, Castlevania, Invincible, Love Death and Robots, etc. I hope shows like these continue to change America's general preconceived notion that "animation is for kids or crude adult humor". I want America's animation industry to lean in more on these mature stories, to see that animation can be more than just kid stuff or Rick and Morty clones.
It's not an American thing. Nor is it that anyone thinks it's "cartoony" or not up to the task. The issue is that many individuals are physiologically incapable of grasping the connection with the events and characters because they can't consider it as a real scenario. To see animation, to them, is ALWAYS fake. They can't suspend their disbelief, not really. It's why the stupid cartoony stuff does so well, because it can generally be safely ignored, and just laughed at, or whatever. When animation tries to be more than that...all of those individuals instantly check out.
.
People don't generally have an issue...but the rest of humanity does.
I agree on the first 3 invincble sucked story and writting wise and i never saw dnr
Love Death And Robots was way too edge lordy. Animation was top notch, story was nothing interesting
@@DoremiFasolatido1979 Even if they watch soap opera, reality tv shows, wrestling. The animation doing pretty much ALL that is "fake". I get the disconnect
add full metal alchemist brotherhood and vinland saga on there too. very mature stuff
The animation, voice casting, music, pacing, like everything about Arcane was great. The biggest surprise for me was Jayce, the entire season his voice seemed so familiar. Later I found out it was Kevin Alejandro whose Dan from Lucifer.
Damn...Dan could easily be real life Jayce :D he fits so perfectly. Another little detail - good casting even if its animation
Anyone who had an involvement in this project needs to be extremely and i mean EXTREMELY proud. Cause this is very close to perfection we can ever hope to get from a story and animation, bravo to that team!.
Good Review! one thing you didnt mention which I really enjoyed about the show was the SOUNDTRACK, the different genres accompany their respective scenes perfectly (and a few of them are in my playlist for good now!)
One of the best animated shows I ever saw. I never played LOL but Arcane is great for new comers who know nothing about LOL and old players who know the lore.
Get into the lore if you must. But whatever you do. Don’t download the fucking game.
There is a Rpg and future fighting game just dont try the moba
Actually there’s not much lore out there that would relate to the events of the show. It’s almost 100% fresh, with the exception of us maybe knowing that some people don’t die
The lore has been retconned heavily multiple times over the years. I would just watch the show and don't bother with the game.
I feel like Arcane does exactly what The Witcher tv series was meant to do but ultimately fell short of, it gets you invested in the universe whether you've heard jack s*it about it before or not. NETFLIX should reapply this formula in future
as i learned from a comment and believe deserve repeating, Netflix published this but was not involved in the production. it was riot and that french animation studio Fortiche. i do agree that Netflix should indeed take some lessons and inspiration from this 1st season with there own productions moving forward
I am playing legends of runeterra just because of arcane
If only Netflix produced it. It was funded and written by Riot Games and made through the expertise of Fortiche Studios. Netflix is just the distributor.
If there was a formula you could follow to make great TV shows they would all be great. Many different things have to come together just right, sometimes even the same people who make a great show can't repeat it when they try again.
Netflix only did distribution, the show was made by Riot
I think the reason Arcane didn't need to lean on the prior knowledge of the audience was because it told a prequel story of a time League of Legends fans did not know about. So it had to explain everything to everyone, including those that bought the LOL Lore book (Yes that exists and yes its good). Many of the characters are almost unrecognizable physically and philosophically (I am looking at you Viktor). And so is the world. The LOL fans have known about a City named Zaun for almost a decade now, but they did not know what the city was like as the undercity of Poltover. Also there were many retcons to make this story make sense, but I haven't heard anyone think it makes the LOL universe worse in any way.
Basicly lol fans/players knew the ending point of where the characters were going but not the path by which they got there.
And they made that path amazing so far.
@@mustard5382 The sigma grind character before the GLORIOUS PURPOSE!
One correction: this definitely wasn't budget when compared to live action. The budget was 10 million per episode, which is on par with the final season of Game of Thrones.
Also, the Oppenheimer comparison is funny because Heimerdinger is in part named after Oppenheimer!
Can I ask where you got the 10 million per episode figure? I've been trying to find out what the budget for this series was and I couldn't find where people were getting that number
@@Angie-ji7be Average animator income in France: 34 000
34 000 x 200 x 6 = 40 800 000
Add to that taxes and social security fees and you're at
40 800 000 x 42% = 57 936 000
Add to that the cost of renting a building for those people for 6 years (4 sq meter per employee à 770 euros per sq meter on average in France )
200 x 4 x 770 x 6 = 3 696 000
So that would be 61 632 000
And that's just cost price. If then you start thinking about everything I conveniently didn't include in my calculations and profit margin it's looking an awful lot like 100m indeed.
(From a reddit comment)
@@lcdc_azuralie
I'm still not sure where you're getting those numbers lol
Holy shit I had no idea it was that expensive but at the same time I’m not surprised. I hope budget isn’t a concern for the show going forward.
@@lcdc_azuralie if i am not wrong i saw someone mention it cost less half than disney rapunzel which cost 260 million but took way longer time than normal movie.
Jeremy continuing his crusade for a Legacy of Kain continuation / remake / adaptation / anything is one of my favourite things ever.
Checked out the show for Hailee Steinfeld and was so surprised how much I loved it! The storyline, the characters, the animation, the voice acting, it was a really good show and I can’t wait for season two.
I liked the dichotomy between the ambition in youth to discover and change, and the withered and wise elders as they try to maintain a peace. It's a clear showcase of a passing of the torch between generations as the young will have to endure the same type of devastation as their predecessors.
Good point, although Mel's mom certainly isn't a peacemaker 😅
@@TranOfficial heimerdinger is much older than Mels mother
Are you suggesting Vi will join the enforcers to ensure peace, like Vander aimed to do? I would've thought Vi's reasons to side with the enforcers, if she did at all, would be much more closely linked to her sister, not for the grand plan of peace.
I guessed imediately the line.
"In our pursuit of great we failed to do good"
It really is *the* Arcane quote.
It has the makings of becoming the best animated show ever. If when the show ends it will stay as consistently good as season 1 is, than Avatar The Last Airbender, Bojack Horseman and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood will finally be usurped.
I'm glad you mentioned Bojack Horseman. I'm not personally a fan but I don't think it gets enough recognition, the writing in it is brilliant.
@@handsomemac1621 This is a show that just couldn't have been as good had it been live-action because of the anthro aspects.
We need more animated show that say "Hey, animation is not just for babies". That's another great thing I appreciate with anime, Bojack Horseman and Arcane. Bojack and Arcane specifically are R rated, which is refreshing for animation.
I know that many adults don't watch animation because they want something "ReAlLlLlLlLlLlLlLlLl" and anything drawn or computer made is an immediate turn off for them, which is why most animation studios only craft kids shows (since they are the ones most likely to be pleased by this medium). Still, I appreciate the ones who go against the norma and show that animation and adult content can indeed go together. FMA Brotherhood has a very interesting lore, cool plot twists and is one of the few shows that counts on the viewers to be smart and doesn't spend too much time explaining obvious stuff. Bojack gives excellent writing and real-feeling struggles. Arcane has an unrealistic world with realistic feeling characters (even if Mel dates Jayce who's a guy 10-20 years younger than her, but that's still something possible), unique and expressive animation and many memorable/quotable lines.
Damn man! I wish more people would push for the return of Legacy of Kain! Respect for your tattoo and for the fact that you've been vocal about it from the very beginning. It will never be dead as long as we keep it in our memories.
I’ve been waiting for this review. Arcane is excellent and should be on top of everyone’s To Watch list.
Same 👍 finally review Arcane League of Legends brilliant
It felt so refreshing to watch this show, I’m so happy to have not played league of legends and still be able to enjoy the show. Everything from the world building to the characters and the animation to top it off was just so satisfying to watch. Can’t wait for season 2!!
I’m surprised there aren’t more people talking about this show. It is one of the best shows you will watch in a very long time.
I had a very tough time going past a couple of episodes...
I'm also surprised. People are taking this show as a cult hit instead of something really worth talking about.
You're wrong i find it everywhere
There is never enough praise for this masterpiece, always love when new people review it
@@progamer1196 first two episodes lay the groundwork that pays off once you get past ep 3
One of the things I love about Silco is that when he says "There's a monster in all of us" he doesn't mean it derogatorily. No, to him it's ASPERATIONAL.
First 2 episodes everything is nice but it seems fairly cliché… then episodes 3 starts and things starts to build up and get nicer and nicer and plots and characters gets more nuances ! Amazing show.
Yeah that’s true, it took me 4 days to watch up to episode 2. Then I took 2 weeks off and just today watched episode 3 and binged it till the end. After ep.3 then it’s good. Damn I cried watching this.
the ending of ep 3 left me "wow, what the hell am I watching? this is ridiculously good."
It would be perfect to have Warhammer fantasy or 40K in this style. Imagine Gotrek and Felix adventures
Arcane is a masterpiece. Weeks later and I can't get it out of my mind
I still havent started. Why should i? Im being serious because i am prob gonna start this. What should i expect? Can u compare it to something?
This show absolutely crushed it. There were at least three literal jaw-dropping moments and that is VERY rare for me in modern entertainment. Usually things are so transparent anymore that you can see the beats and twists coming from a mile away. Arcane kept slapping me upside the head with stuff I wasn't ready for and that's fantastic.
Also it looks amazing and is very well voiced. It's an easy 10/10.
Jinx with the blue smoke? I will never get over that moment
@@FrancisFabricates Yeah. Also the end of ep 3. The end of the final episode. The kid in the foundry. The fight in the bar. The firelights on the bridge... Ok, it's WAY more than three.
Im blown away. It doesnt matter from what angle you consider it.... cinematography, script, visuals, meaning... this show is a masterpiece in all areas. Best show in the last 3 years. I've not properly played league of legends, and I can say this show is absolutely fabulous. More shows need to take a leaf from Arcane's book. I absolutely CANNOT wait for Arcane 2
I am so glad Jeremy reviewed Arcane! It's getting the praise and attention it deserves. Kudos to you Jeremy, made my night!
this is one of the greatest thing i've seen in a long time! movies and games can learn a thing or two from this show, most movies that get released is piss poor in storytelling, and triple A games are half assed in just about everything, but this show is just perfect
I just binged the whole show and finished a few minutes ago. Was looking for a review from you Jeremy
When you pay attention to the plight of the Under City, where their water is polluted, their air wasn't even breathable before Silco and his generation fought back.
When you take it all in everything he did becomes not just justifiable but necessary. This is truly a masterpiece.
I couldn’t agree more! Far too many people just lump him in as a villain because he does typical villain things. Yes, he used violence and drugs and all kinds of shady shit to get his way, but without the “base violence necessary for change”, the Undercity and its people would have been doomed to suffer under Piltover rule forever. You can hate his actions all you want, but the truth is that even the “heroes” of Piltover came around to agreeing with his end goal.
@@jasonco2 Yea you always have that with "villains" that get portrayed as villains simply for pursuing change through violence, always ignoring the fact that the topside is basically using nonstop structural violence by letting people just kill, rob and threaten each other in the underground while they are breathing 24/7 on toxic fumes, that's not Silco being the aggressor, that's Silco defending himself with everything he's got.
@@jasonco2 Exactly. People who never had to fight or suffer for anything lump Silco as a villain. Yet he is one of those "If not me, then someone else will" characters. During the show you see proof of this when I forget his name tries to overthrow him TWICE with no plan to actually stop the drug creation.
Silco used the drugs as an economic engine for change. To acquire what he needed for his revolt against their oppressors.
What makes him such a great character is how he found Jinx after she was broken like he was. Rather than killing her he took her in and tried to help her heal from it. Jinx's entire journey this season was realizing what Silco was trying to teach her. That as the Stoics put it, the child she was died when she killed her friends, after all the others she's kill she can never go back to how things were no matter how much she yerns for it. Nobody and it is insulting when shows act like it is possible.
Jinx would have gone prison or had been executed had she gone with Vi. Silco knew it and cared about her. He wasn't manipulating her, he was telling her the truth as he saw it. That's what makes him an amazing character because he wasn't entirely wrong on anything. Plus he actually had an emotional range and put himself in danger.
Yep. He decided any price was worth zaun's freedom. Including betraying his once brother vander, fucking over the destitute in zaun, etc. All to gain enough power and financial backing to demand freedom for his city. And in the end he couldn't give up the last thing piltover asked of him, his daughter.
@@Tearakan Yep! To further the tragic irony of it all, Vi stands before the Council and scolds them for trying to make peace with Silco. Vi doesn't believe it's possible that Silco could actually be willing to set aside his power or hatred to have peace, and she's wrong. Silco would turn himself in to the authorities for summary execution if it would guarantee a free Nation of Zaun. The only thing Silco won't give up is Jinx, whom Vi is convinced that Silco couldn't actually love and is just manipulating.
I didn't know anything about this show before I watch. I'm SO glad I did. This shows shines on every level: world building, animation, character development, the feels, EVERY LEVEL. I binged the entire season in a day. I can't wait for more
Very happy to see more big review channels watch arcane
Supposedly Arcane's budget was an order of magnitude greater than most "comparable" shows either live or animated, so I guess that's part of why it was so damn impressive and why it's not more common to see more this amazing
Riot games made this in 6 years, blizzard made their warcraft movie in 10 years, which one come better, btw i agree more budget you get better quality but riot also cared about this show and didn’t just give it to a random studio to do it for them, they did it by them self
@@abdulwaduod11 they did partner with Fortiche (a French animation studio). I will say that I have read that Riot has done work with Fortiche before so they clearly trust the studio.
@@abdulwaduod11 The CGI in the Warcraft movie was incredible. That wasn't the problem. Spending even 20 years to turn a bad script into a movie won't make a good movie.
@@DMurdock you would hope after 10 years you would have have good script though.
@@101Mant that's not always the case, unfortunately. For example, the Artemis Fowl (2020) screenplay was finalized in 2003.
The scene with Ekko and Jinx was beautiful and one of my favorite scenes from the show
Like I was talking with my friends, that was the kind of narrative/stylistic choice that separates great stories from masterpieces. That was an ingenious idea that completely encapsulated both characters' paths on that single point in their lives. Straight up perfect scene.
Dynasties & Dystopia
Yeah, I still couldn't care less about League of Legends, but this series was one of the best series I've ever seen. Hands down. Just beautifully made in every way ❤
IMHO Arcane is awesometacular. I just wish they make actual movies with this much love, complexity, style, amazing storytelling...
Definitely a 10/10 animated show, it's going to be as monumental and groundbreaking as Avatar the Last Airbender.
If not more so because it's also pioneering a very distinctive animation style that blends 3D graphics with very painterly textures to create these very crisp detailed visuals (and we can thank studio Fortiche for that), you can actually see the previous work they did with Riot's creative team on the League of Legends YT channel like the Rise music video, the first KDA music video, and Ekko's introduction trailer titled "Seconds" which in and of itself is a great piece of storytelling and characterization with fantastic animations, definitely showed what they are capable of when they collaborate with Riot's creative team.
never in a million years would thought Jeremy would talk about league characters, my body is tingling right now
1:12 you did not just call Arcane "a much more affordable animated style" lmao
Tell me you know nothing about animation without telling me you know nothing about animation.
I have 2 episodes left, one of my favourite shows in years! So fantastic!
This is one of your best reviews ever. Les rambling for entertainment points and just really good analysis!
Glad to hear a perspective from someone who's not familiar with the games, like myself. MOBA style games just hit a few years after I stopped caring about multiplayer online games. I really wish they had done something like this for Warcraft years ago as I'm farmilar with that lore & it would work great (at least from back in the day, haven't payed attention to WOW lore since WOTLK), but I 1000% agree with Legacy of Kain as well or even a limited series Chrono Trigger tale would be amazing.
as a fan of LoK, i love to see it how Jeremy tries to keep the ip alive :) The story and characters in that series are just perfect for an Arcane like show, the writing alone in that series can go toe to toe with the best of them, not to mention the voice acting.
I don’t understand how he can finish a show like this and then go and make a review right after it. It took me days to mentally get over the ending.
Just thinking analytically, binged it yesterday and had similar thoughts. Even the smallest things had payoffs
The only person who didn't find arcane interesting are those who are really dead in their soul or just someone who hate mainstream stuff.
You HAVE to review The Expanse. Among its stars is Shohreh Aghdashloo who also stars as Grayson in Arcane.
Another lesson to take away from this is: Just because something good is on Netflix, doesn't mean Netflix is responsible for it being good.
I love Enter The Spiderverse more than any animated film I've seen, but holy shit this tops it for me and for pretty much the same reasons.
The music is outstanding, the voice work is stellar and the animation is incredible- all wrapped up in a story that has more memorable
emotional performances than most live action series I've seen.. This was some amazing shit. I binged it in almost one sitting.
What Arcane does exceptionally well: "welcome to the wild, no heros, villains" 🎶
There are still heroes and villains though but they aren't just cartoonish. They are more believable and realistic. Heroes wanting to do good and having good intentions can have unintended consequences. Villains are human and we can understand why they are the way they are.
@@mrTannu666 so Silco is hero cause he wanted to free Zaun)
@@markfreenick No. I wouldn't consider him a hero. More like a villain who's cause is right but uses wrong methods to achieve it.
@@mrTannu666 so Vi "is just one dead kid don't be so crybaby" is villain? Or maybe it's just different points of views?)
@@markfreenick Vi is certainly no angel. She is sometimes bordering on villainous but tries to do the right thing occasionally. I guess anti-hero would be the correct description.
i finished all 9 episodes today, i was blown away how good it turned out to be!
Did I just hear you talk about Legacy Of Kain? OMG. You did. LOK: Soul Reaver is one of my most favorite games ever and it made me invest in the whole entire Legacy Of Kain series. Would be really effin dope if they do decide to adapt that into animated movie... Or better yet, I really do hope they make a proper current-gen version of the series with Amy Hennig back to write.
Thanks for making this, I've been waiting.
Instant classic. This show will be remembered as an all time legend in a few years.
Watched it with my daughter and we both loved it. Neither knew anything about LoL either, it’s totally accessible, looks fantastic and the character building is superb and voice acting is insanely good.
I didn't know you were a Legacy of Kain fan. I love that series. The lore in that series one of the best I've ever seen.
One thing that doesn’t get enough praise in this show is the pacing. It’s able to develop the characters without slowing down, that’s something even my favorite shows occasionally slip up on.
I don’t know where you got Arcane being a lesser budget production than a live action would’ve been. It cost millions of dollars to make. Likely way more than any major Hollywood film out right now.
6:17 I'm probably gonna get a lot of crap for this, but I think this is simply a result of the game being a multiplayer game with no story. It couldn't have been any other way. Yeah Yeah, you can read it on some wiki, nobody does that. The game's about killing each other on repeat. Single player games often have actual stories and their adaptations often fall into the trap of expecting knowledge from its audience.
One of the best parts about Arcane is it has strong female lead characters without shoving that fact down your throat. No agenda or virtue signaling
Episode 1 - “League of Legends? Lol That’s so cringe”
Episode 2 - “ok it was decent...not that good”
Episode 3 - “Gimme all the Arcane content...I want more. When’s the next batch out? I WANT MORE FOR FUCKS SAKE”
yay ! been waiting for you to review Arcane.
Omg!!! I’ve been waiting for your review on this show!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼❤️🔥