Ekko vs Jinx is also interesting when you listen to how Jinx says "Look who it is! The Boy Savior!" with such a virtriol of familiarity and resentment, which to me means that Jinx knew Ekko was the leader of the Firelights, knew Ekko was trying to save people from Silco, but Ekko never came to save her. She uses the term to mock him while also failing to hide how hurt she is by him choosing others over her.
...Which makes me think, if Ekko really tried to save her, she wouldn’t want it, she was fine with staying with Silco. That’s why she says “Savior” such irritatingly and somewhat sarcastically, and that’s why Ekko said multiple times that Jinx can’t be saved because she doesn’t want to, she chose working for Silco etc.
One other piece to this is that it implies they've had some kind of interaction before. Maybe he tried to convince her to join his cause. Maybe they had a discussion of what to do about the whole situation in Zaun, but they couldn't see eye to eye. Maybe he never chose the right words to convince her and that was a thing between the both of them. Maybe her "love" for Silco was getting it the way of either of them seeing eye to eye and they both knew it. Either way, that whole "Boy Savior" line is something between them that we, the audience, don't know about...yet. I hope they do flesh this out next season.
Afterwards, Silco says to Sevika, "Were you tempted?" Sevika responds with, "Not for a worm like him." Meaning Sevika absolutely _would_ kill Silco for the right person/ideal.
yessss it said so much abt her character. and so much abt silco's that he didn't lose his shit at her saying that. they have such an interesting tension that goes way deeper than the stereotypical villain/righthand man type loyalty. i'm EXTREMELY interested to see what she becomes in season 2 now that silco's dead. will she grab power from jinx? will jinx become an outcast from zaun? or will she hold the arcane weapons over sevika's head and say you're not getting anywhere without me? just. so many cool potentials
@@feyelsbells7839 sadly next arcane will focusing on noxus invasion on ionia (base on lore) ..and the title might not be arcane cuz arcane revolve around piltover and zaun..😢i hope we will get few piltover & zaun scene in league series season 2
@@cikkmanjaa5361 i didn't know season two would be about the ionia campain. this is going to be gruesome, riven and the other runic blade wielders, the chemical weapons made by singed, perhaps some screen time from swain since he makes his coup a few years later and get hsi arm cut off by irelia, also him fusing with raum, there's a whole battle at udyr and lee sin's monastery, there's the liberation of varus by the two gay guys, there's the destruction of wuju (except master yi), there's darius amputating the arm of his waifu, and i'm not even mentioning all the indirect events in the ionia campaign. like the yasuo and yone thing, all the freljord infighting and power struggle and so on.
Another thing I like about the scene where the other mobster guys try and take over silco’s empire is that after sevikia had struck silco is visibly anxious, many shows would keep him calm and collected rather than frantic and out of breath as a “this character would never betray me” type of power play. Instead it shows silcos uncertainty of what side she's on, that she very much could have killed him right then and there, and she almost did.
That's one of the moments that I love Silco's character, for all that he embodies that "magnificent bastard" trope, even he doesn't always know how things will turn out. You can *see* the look in his eyes afterward that just screams "oh my god I had no idea that would actually work holy cRAP-" and I absolutely love that.
I think having Silco express that reaction in that situation adds more to how human Arcane characters are. They all feel so real. No matter they are good people, bad people, neutral people. These characters act real and that's beyond amazing.
A few more subtleties to note: 1) In the final scene Mel takes off her family heirloom ring before voting for peace, showing that she decided to turn her back on her blood family. Which also underlines the length the council is willing to go to repair the damage done to Zaun. 2) In the first episode, when Powder sees a sandwich, she is more excited about it than about any other treasure. A very ingenious and subtle way to show that she lives a difficult life with many scarcities. 3) We see multiple scenes of Powder (and then Jinx) being a bad listener and jumping to conclusions. First it happens as Powder is listening in on Vi’s and Milos’s conversation where Vi says that Powder can’t do certain things (like always complain and brag like Milo), but Powder hears only the first part. That ties in nicely to the reason why she misinterpreted Vi on the bridge and Silco in his final confession to Vander’s statue. 4) In the scene between Jace and Silco, when Jace gives his ultimatum, the sun disappears behind Silco’s face. I refuse to believe that it wasn’t intentional; a way to show how his willingness to fight has been snuffed out. 5) This is from other comments. The form of Jinx’s rocket launcher is a shark (with an eye motif) - to symbolize her love for Silco, since she was creating the weapon for him. There are more, of course, but I can’t remember them all. One thing is certain, the show is masterful in its way of showing and not telling.
One of my favorite subtleties are actually Jinx's weapons. Her mini gun that is pink, and ears, and is whimsical is called Powpow. You know, the name her sister gave her when the were little. (When Vi called her Powpow my hear broke) And her rocket launcher "Fishbones" resembles the monsters Silco loved. Which makes sense, she made it for him. But with him now gone she uses it. So now she's literally caring around both Silco and Vi everywhere she goes.. just...wow
Or how her nail polish is blue / pink / blue / pink / blue. From their hair colors. Great catch on powder/jinx being a poor listener and jumping to conclusions after the first sentence. I do think Mr Fishbones (the rocket launcher) is mostly just a nod to the game.
2) Yeah she definitely cannot see why they are doing this. And in Enemy clip we can see that injustice really her deeply upset and unsettled. She does it only to prove Vi she is not some damsel in distress. So sad she was so excited she forgot her gun. Even with paintball bullets she would have made lots of havock
There are so many great details in this show it is impossible to spot them all but it is done so well that you can rewatch it a couple times and never get bored. The firelight bombs Jinx uses to kill the enforcers on the bridge seem to seek out and target guns. Caitlyn only survives the explosions because she traded her gun for a shimmer potion to save Vi earlier. There is a metal clang noise right before Jinx's grenade explodes at the end of her fight with Ekko, which implies that Ekko was able to hit the grenade away from them with his metal rod in the last second and therefore saving both their lifes aka the boy savior. You could probably go scene by scene and point minor details out that explain so much. One of the best written shows I have ever seen for sure.
One of my personal favorite five seconds in the show are when Vi lashes out at Powder and then looks down at her knuckles and... in my interpretation remembers how Vander told her that the path of violence leads nowhere. That's how I saw it, that it was the moment she realized the futility of using aggression, but she's too angry at Powder and chooses to withdraw from the scene to cool down. The beauty of it is, that only through that one glance at her hands and the emotions playing across the face, the audience can look back at this moment and interpret and reinterpret her thoughts and emotions, because it is such an important point in the story, but nothing is spelled out and every viewer can arrive at his or her own conclusion.
@@mackielunkey2205 What are you even on about? She realized almost immediately what she'd done after hitting Powder, which is why it overloaded her brain and she needed to walk away for a second to process it all. Vander just died moments ago as a monster in order to save her, along with the death of the childhood friends she was responsible for. She was in complete and utter shock. She walked off to give herself a moment to breathe, but the moment she saw Silco, she snapped out of it and her biggest priority--protecting Powder--snapped her back into reality. She'd have faced off against Silco right there in the street and died for Powder if Marcus hadn't chloroformed her. It's like you didn't even watch the series, lol. She had no idea Silco was nearby. She has no idea of anything because she was emotionally imploding. It's not everyday your entire life goes up in smoke right in front of your eyes so quickly and violently. Jayce killing that kid isn't on Vi at all. As she says, the kid's just one of many who have died because of the ignorance of the Council to let the underworld fall into such disarray that its best option was to serve or hide away from crime lords.
*"You say 'light a fire', they show up with oil."* -- Vander *"It wasn’t enough. Topside and bottom. Oil and water. That’s all there is."* -- Vi That is what Vander told her too. It's not just that Vi chose violence. In the preceeding scenes, Vander is trying to tell her not to be like him on the bridge and lead a revolution that will get everyone killed. That you have to understand when not to pick a fight. And she accepts it over several exchanges and she realizes what she must do. Give herself up to the police. She knows that to not lose Claggor, Mylo and Powder, she has to take the fall. Meanwhile, Powder has a parallel arc. Powder has an anxious attachment to Vi, but she doesn't have to brave it just once, but three times in a row. Vi leaves Powder behind with Vander, Mylo and Claggor, but Powder's brave, keeping Vi's secret. In spite of her insecurity, she's able to hold out emotionally. Then Vander has yet another parallel arc. He's trying to teach Vi a different path, but when she's about to take responsibility and give herself up (like what he subtly taught her), he flips and undoes her character progression (in a way that is good for the story), by undoing her sacrifice and taking the fall instead. Now Vi's arc is interrupted and she returns. Powder's arc is interrupted, because Vi's back. But then the two arcs continue again. Vi leaves Powder for a second time and Vi decides that this is a fight worth having, because Vander told her that you don't sacrifice family. Powder held it together well the first time, but Vi left the first time with confidence. The second time that Vi left, she was on the verge of tears and extremely distraught, so Powder is no longer reassured. Vi might not be coming back alive this time and Powder has to sit and wait, which, combined with the hint that she has dissociative episodes in the street brawl, isn't something that Powder can handle. So, these three arcs perfectly synchronize. Vander tells Vi that if he tells Mylo and Claggor to light a fire, Powder's going to show up with oil. Or, in Powder's case, with a tactical nuke. Echoing Vander's sentiment that even fighting the good fight, it may backfire in unexpected ways. A lesson that Vi, incidentally, can only partially integrate afterwards, because she can only see how close to success she was and how it was all almost worth it, if only those she cared about stayed away. As long as she light a fire without others showing up with oil. She needs to be like oil and water with those she loves to fight. As long as Caitlyn and Powder aren't there when they destroy the factory, nobody important can get hurt. Addendum to an already long rant: Movies have told us that explosions aren't dangerous to the protagonists, we just feel that they are risky. So when protagonists in movies use explosions in ways we know are unwise, we think they are geniuses for taking a huge risk that paid off (an effect that has been muted by overusing explosions). When Jinx uses an explosion that happens to kill everyone she loves, we have the opposite effect; We see that she's taking a huge risk and we see that it doesn't pay off, so our immediate reaction is to think she messed up. But we also immediately stop to reflect how, in any other series, characters could have taken this kind of risk without negative consequences. The contrast between judging someone as gloriously competent and harshly incompetent for taking the same gamble that pays off or doesn't respectively is called future-staking and they do not only employ it brilliantly to highlight how Vi and Powder can be so divided and distraught on Powder's choices, but it also illustrates perfectly why Arcane is not like other animated shows. In other animated shows, Powder would have saved the day, but in this 'reality', she kills everyone she loved, which prepares us for the kind of tragedy Arcane has in store. All the while tying perfectly and wordlessly into a single sentence of Vander and a single sentence of Vi. Fire, water and oil. It's hard to explain just how brilliant this show is.
Speaking of non-visual storytelling, I noticed the eye-stabby-thing near the end of the video. When Jinx is sad and doubts herself, Silco offers Jinx the eye-stabby-thing as a gesture of trust in her. Later on, when Jinx feels that Silco has betrayed her trust by hiding the truth about VI from her, she stabs Silco with that same eye-stabby-thing, betraying his trust as revenge.
well, I sew the eye stabby thing as a medication os forts that he needs. like, I need to trust people should I have them handy MY meds, but shoudl they fuck up I couldn't trust them with my medication anymore.
@@kariissmol9172 yeah exactly, thats what makes those two scenes so significant. even when jinx plays around with silco's eye-stabber, he doesnt revoke her privilege to do so. supposedly they've done this medicine ritual many times. he knows and trusts that she can do it. they both understand that the reason why jinx was playing with it now was because she was angry at him, and this was the most direct and least consequential way for her to let him know that.
I think part of the reason Arcane was so good was how long it took to make. Too many companies are pushing out films and shows way too quickly, trying to make fast money and cutting corners on quality. Arcane really highlighted for me just how mediocre a lot of the stuff i've watched in recent years has been. Nothing else is going to compare for a long while.
It's a common practice. Make a ton of low effort work, with the hopes that some of it hits, because that makes more money, rather than thinking about legacy, thinking about building a trusted reputation.
Good news is, Arcane Season 2 is confirmed, but they said it won't come out in 2022. They really are taking the time to work on this show rather than rushing it out to cash in on its popularity.
@@punchforpound2808 TRUE! I thought I was the only one who hated that movie, I also watched it alone at home, it was SO boring to me, I would never watch it again.
Literally 2 seconds seeing Finn for the first time you can already understand what kind of character he is. He's a wannabe. His design is badass but it also looks like he needs people to know that he's badass. He's compensating. That's really most of Arcane. So much information out of so little on screen
Oh ye, that first scene with him yelled it silently loud! (That was redundant, ik anyway) Everyone in the Meeting Room is so pompous and "badass" until Silco puts them on their asses and makes it a point that they aren't all that. Even when Fin tries to start a "revolution", his reasoning and understanding of the situation is so childish and arrogant to the bigger picture of what Silco actually wants. He's way too young and compensating and the "revolution" feels more like kids arguing with their parents and being pissy when they don't get what they want/getting what they want. That's not even me being old, I just love writing and how actions and scenes can speak VOLUMES!
The confession scene where Silco visits the statue of Vander is my favourite. Silco is one of the best-written villains of all time. Vander, the man that Silco thinks betrayed him because he gave up on the fight for a free Zaun, who Silco called a coward for not being willing to make the sacrifices necessary to attain power. And here is Silco, in the exact same position - unwilling to give up Jinx for the world. Right before this, in his talk with Jayce, he tries to make the same sacrifice too, offering to take responsibility for Jinx’s actions the exact same way Vander tried to take Vi’s place in prison for her crime of breaking into Jayce’s apartment. Too late, he finally understood what it means to love someone, and he finally pours out his drink in a show of respect for his friend.
Silco didn’t just think Vander betrayed him, he was outright betrayed. Vander attempted to assassinate him, and for all of their respective flaws and virtues, Silco’s grudge was entirely vindicated.
@@fakename2926 as I said (admittedly my wording was ambiguous), Silco thinks that Vander betrayed him because he was giving up on the fight for a free Zaun, and he attributed that decision to weakness on Vander’s part because he wasn’t willing to do anything to make it happen. It’s in this scene Silco finally learns that Vander’s betrayal wasn’t about being unwilling to do anything for power, it’s about being unable to bear the human cost of the revolution and the risk of losing your family. Silco, from his new perspective being threatened with losing Jinx, can see that it’s actually impossible to choose between your righteous ambition, and the lives of your children. Suddenly he realises vander was no coward or weakling, but just a man who made a human decision, and he can respect him now. So I wouldn’t say the grudge was vindicated, I’d say in this scene he actually forgives Vander - albeit posthumously.
@@envysart797 it’s sad though cause if Silco had only seen it sooner he wouldn’t have turned out this way probably. I’m like yelling at the screen (not really) “This is what Vander felt! Y’all could have avoided all the drama sooner!” It’s too late because Vander is dead and jinx and vi are not on good terms anymore and now Silco is dead
@@SaraBethCox they are not only in no good terms. it is like really bad. But tbh to what happened everyone has fault. Silco not being able to make her forget her trauma and regretting it (my best faulure), Ekko giving up on Jinx because of the thought she died the day and moved on to Jinx probably not knowing what her fears and anxieties are, Vi by calling her a Jinx and later on not accepting Jinx for who she is, Cait just by being there, Vander for carring more to Vi seemingly (unknown relationship between Powder and Vander. they are ''family'' but they for example never talked together), Mylo for talking down to her every time and Pilt for not giving a shit about the undercity and especially Jayce by wanting Jinx and making Silco talking to Vanders statue because he cant give her up. I feel very bad for Jinx she has been through much and it seems to just not have an end. Killing Silco for example. She is i would say 100% the person to have the least fault on her own mental state. She wanted to come with Vi because she had a panic attack and was scared to be left alone. she could not have survived down there alone. All in all i feel very sad about Silcos death and about Jinx being alone... ''but im affraid it will only get worse'' - Singed on the surgery table, 2021.
One thing I love is in episode 3 when Powder says “my sister, she left me. She’s not my sister anymore” you see Silco look at a dead Vander because that’s how he felt towards his “brother” Everything Powder said while hugging Silco resonated with him to the point he fully embraced her as if she was himself
Yea when he embraced Powder I really wasn’t expecting that but it makes sense once you find out that Silco knew how Powder felt. Also that shot of Powder’s eye right after he says “we will show them all” i have no words for that shot like I literally gasped when I saw that moment.
I feel like that's why this show is so good. It resists the urge to punctuate pivotal moments like this with exposition. A fun exercise with this show is taking a moment to realize how many of the major plot elements are never actually comprehensively explained. For example Shimmer, what is does and how it works are pretty much entirely conveyed by showing how people use and react to it and no characters ever sit someone else down and monologue on how it functions.
Every episode is a 10/10 but the end of 3 and 7 togeheter with all of episode 9 can't be rated only a mere 10/10. It would be disrespectful to how good they are.
You are talking about a show that was defended as "wasn't supposed to be good". Nobody cared when making it. It was a lazy cash grab that deserved to crash and burn.
@@kamikeserpentail3778 you know the most disturbing thing about that design? I dont know who did greenlit that abomination sonic, it is so bad that it makes sonichu a passable copy of sonic
Something to note: Silco truly didn’t know if Sevica was going to side with him or not. She was not just his underling, but also a partner in Silco’s works. Just shows another human side of Silco that makes this a chef’s kiss.
To me it showed the volatility of leadership in the undercities and Silco was actually the rock that held Zaun together while exploiting Piltover trade routes for their benefit. It established him more than a political leader. He had the loyalty of his soldiers from the heart.
And Silco panting in relief after the slash is such a great tell that yes, he was indeed putting on an act, hoping Sevika would side with him but truly not knowing until the moment came.
@@emlun He was talking about loyalty in his play hoping Sevika will remain loyal. He was speaking to Fin but I believe in reality he was talking to Sevika
I have come to realize that the reason for telling over showing isn't solely due to laziness or inexperience but also due to the stupidity of a not insignificant percentage of the average audience. Take a look at how many of the reactors here on YT thought that the pink-haired firelight in episode 4 was Vi after the numerous visual cues in the scene and even after Jinx refers to her as just a girl with pink hair. Then you can look at some of the negative reviews for the show that aren't simply matters of taste or attempts at trolling. Some people thought that the series didn't have a plot because they weren't being continually told what that plot was during the story.
@@ManiyaVinas I watch anime but I am able to understand visual cues. That's because I love watching movies and that includes anime. Plus, we get picky at what we watch too.
Everybody hated writing text analyses at school, but as soon as its about something we love and cherish you see how it helped us appreciate good writing.
My favourite bit is that I can relate to the characters without being some sort of god-like prodigy who was either handed everything or spent 50 years in hell. My plain yogurt, basic butt can grasp these characters because their struggles are reflected in mine. As an older sibling, I've never been in like, Vi's predicament. But not being able to protect my little sister and having that guilt would be my literal worst nightmare. I totally get the burden of being under pressure. Jayce's dream to help people through science is also something I see a lot of myself in. And though I couldn't be further as a person away from Silco, seeing him under a ton of schedules, paperwork, plans, etc. is honestly kind of relatable. He's not some dastardly scheming little genius, he's someone who is essentially governing Zaun. There are schedules, paperwork, and quotas to meet. Insufferable coworkers. Loose cannons. It's not all, "muahaha giant death ray in 2 minutes haha".
It's fantasy, but with just enough reality to be relatable. We can easily see ourselves in these characters if we were pushed to those extreme and circumstances. It's wonderful to see
IKR. With the push for "representation" (superficial attributes you are supposed to relate to), things like these take a backseat. I guess I'd have to transition and dye my hair pink before I could like or relate to Vi. It tells us that content of character is what matters. Not how these characters look.
@@UltimateTobi that’s a really dumb take lmfaoo. Representation of different races, genders, sexualities, disabilities etc across a range of different genres is very important. Although obviously you shouldn’t make characters just for the sake of pandering and to tick the diversity box, but not give them any depth, nuance or any real character, that’s when it becomes a problem.
Parallels between Silco and Caitlyn? No one ever talks about it, but they serve the same role in Jinx and Vi's stories respectively, and their influence is reflected in each sister by the end of the season. Hence why they are the only two "other" living members in Jinx's 'family dinner'.
I hadn't thought about that, but that is an interesting parallel. Both love the sisters in different ways. But one helps one heal, while the other drives the other closer to isolation and insanity
@@AFlyingWalrus yeah, exactly. Another thing that makes this even more obvious is how each sister feels regarding them. What Vi thinks of Silco and what Jinx thinks of Caitlyn, and how both sisters are convinced that getting rid of the other sister's close companion would solve the rift between them.
@@AFlyingWalrus silco doesn't drive jinx towards isolation and insanity. Silco is not a good person but he is a good father. He cares about jinx a lot. He tries to help her deal with her demons and move on. A therapist made an amzing video analysing silco and jinx and the actual person that designed silco for the show shared it and said the analysis was perfect.
Therers alot of parallels in arcane, mommy mels "kill once" mentality can be seen in both hermidingers willingness to destroy the hexcore and condem Victor and Vander attempt on Silco to save the undercity from another war
Part of what I love about the scene where Sevika kills Finn is how Silco reacts right after the strike just misses him. He starts breathing heavier, you can see a note of panic there as he realizes how close he just came, then he regroups and puts it behind him. That ability to adapt to the most shocking moments is what makes him such a powerful villain. At the same time, it's arguably one of the traits he's practiced the most taking care of Jinx
Another example on several levels... Vi tells Powder about her toy on Episode 1. When she decides to turn herself in, she gives the toy to Powder. First, there's no need to show Vi retrieving it, but it communicates she is grown up, capable of things she didn't as a kid. A metaphor for "owning up" and giving herself in. For Powder, the Toy is to represent their talk in the roof. As Vi gives her the toy... she reiterates the talk on the roof "What makes you different makes you stronger". But doesn't need the "This gift is so you can remember our talk about what makes you different makes you stronger". And then every time the toy shows up... is when powder/jinx are doubting themselves. She takes to toy to the factory trying to help. The toy is seen when she's trying to crack hextech. At the table on the finale.
Another point to this is when Jinx is baptized by Silco, she nails the toy up on the wall, crucified. Almost like sacrificing her old self, to be come the new J.nx.
a cool visual element i thought was cool, in both viktor scenes with heimer and jayce, the shots where it shows them from behind, its shaped as a skull. with heimer they talk about death and with jayce both of them just caused a death
Death is the theme of the four scientists in the series. Jaice wants to avoid deaths at all costs, willing to make a deal with the devil, just to ensure that no one else will die. Viktor is trying to escape his own death, and begins to question the price. Heimmerdinger doesn't understand death or mortality, his view of this aspect of existence ended up making him distant and oblivious to the struggles of those who have to live knowing they will die. Singed wants mastery over death, extension of life, and is willing to do anything to achieve that goal, to hell with ethics.
@@vicentesantiago2681 I loved your comment, but I think you missed our two youngest two scientists. Ekko wants to enjoy life while he can, while avoiding pointless deaths. The weapons he makes for the Firelights are non-lethal (the ensnaring amber rock things), but he also makes toys/joy and helps cultivate life where he can (guarding the sanctuary where the tree is. There's enough death in the world, and not enough life to go around. When he eventually gains the abilities he has in the game, he uses it to perfect every moment where a loss is avoidable. Jinx is terrified of losing some people, and to that effort she will tear others from the world. Devices to keep people afraid of Silco. Guns to personally deal with things. Grand spectacles to get both the undercity to respect Silco, and Piltover to respect Zaun. She begins the series having lost her sister, two sets of parents, and is so ready to cling to someone else to have some kind of stability in her life. Silco becomes her keystone, if he's gone, she's alone in the world. She gives him his medication and kills his enemies, but when he gets distracted or is shown to possibly not be appreciating her, she is not ready for him to willingly leave her, or be taken from her. She reminds him that she needs him, so if anyone is going to make them separate, it's because she can move on, not because he can leave.
@@arzarcanum that was an interpretation I hadn't done yet. thanks for pointing it out. I totally agree with what you say about Ekko. But with regard to Jinx, if the theme of death applies to her, it would be more like the way she deals with - or fails to deal with - the deaths she herself has accidentally caused.
but the audience doesnt want to interprety. I heard dozen of people who screamed "unclear! bad writing, i dont get it!". They just dont even realize what is things like visual metaphor. I think we need more reviews like yours to learn how to at least TRY to appreciate visual art
Well I appreciate the high praise. The films and shows that stand the test of time are the ones that challenge their audience. And the ones that forces their audience to pay attention
Not really, even when reactors I've seen don't understand or misunderstand what is happening. Not once have I seen any of them accuse Arcane of bad writing. If anything they usually take it on themselves for not understanding correctly.
One example of people misreading because they don't understand the metaphors is in Encanto (spoiler). I have seen so many critiscism about the movie because the miracle returns and say "they f*cked the lesson of the movie, they should learn to live like normal people", no, that was never the point, it was never o they need to be normal, it was never about the magic, the point was about the family, the house and miracle represented the family problems and it breaking was the physical representation of a broken family. The magic returned because they worked hard to repair the family relationship, and also the gifts were never the problem, the problem was in how they viewed them.
I've yet to come across a single person accusing Arcane of bad writing (Although TBSkyen did have some gripes, he overall said he thought it was excellent), the only major criticism of the show I've seen is how it handles disability, which I pretty much entirely agree with
7:55 “Because your audience understands what you’re saying without useless, pointless dialog...” I’ve watched enough reaction channels to know that this tragically is not the case. Things I’ve seen more than one channel completely misunderstand: -Thinking that Vi was going to ambush the enforcers at the end of episode 2 rather than understanding that she was turning herself in to prevent a war. -Thinking that the pink-haired girl that Jinx sees on the airship in episode 4 was actually Vi, despite her appearance flickering and changing multiple times to show it was just in Jinx’s mind. -Being completely mystified as to why Vi was in prison at the end of episode 4, despite last seeing her in episode 3 being dragged away by an enforcer. -Thinking that Jinx’s exploding butterflies in episode 7 were actual firelights despite them clearly being mechanical and having Jinx’s graffiti on them. -Thinking that Jinx fired her rocket at the moon in episode 9... Those are just the ones I’ve seen frequently enough to remember off the top of my head.
Unfortunately yeah. But there are some people that are just beyond helping at that point lol. But a fair point as well. But I like that that went with the, if you are the audience that understands this show, then it's for you approach. Rather than making the show dumbed down for everyone
@@carbuneskinny5797 God how could I forget that? Because clearly an explosion powerful enough to knock a man off his feet and blow someone's arm off 30 ft away would leave a little monkey toy at ground zero completely intact to keep banging away.
Most of the reactors are used mainstream media , shows spoon feeding information to then, it's no wonder they miss the point of the scenes, actions. But I've also seen some reactors clever enough to put things together from what happened previously and predict what might happen next.
Not to be offensive but most people running reaction channels arent the brightest of the bunch. In my experience people who have a decent critical thinking ability tend to do comentaries, analyses or breakdowns to a movie/show rather than just filming their funny facial expressions and cutting the video almost right after the episode ends. There are exceptions to the rule of course and its always a breath of fresh air when it does occur :D Also I must admit that it is a guilty pleasure of mine to watch cheap reactions anyways.
When jinx lights the flare I was totally expecting the cash out of Vi not coming. Most shows can't resist the easy way of 'WhY WerEnt yoU TheRe!?' But Vi shows up, and powder isn't there.
Amazing, I agree and it's so fresh to see we're not considered as idiots when watching Arcane :) I also noticed a lot of recent movies/series are trying to overexplain and insist on everything like if we were not smart enough to understand :(
I still remember Witcher Season 2 showing us multiple episodes of (SPOILERS!!!) Yennefer training Ciri with her magic, and at the end of the season, when its down to Ciri to save them all, Ciri whispers "Yennefer's training!" and acts like she had an epiphany of a lifetime. Like, yeah, you've been showing us Ciri and Yen training together the whole season, you don't need to explain to me that Ciri can now use her magic because of Yen.
Another very similar moment to the "you have to destroy it" [looks at hammer] "I know".......is when Vi and Caitlyn are in what remains of Vi's childhood home and Vi hallucinates seeing Powder and says "I shouldn't have left you", clearly talking to Powder, but Caitlyn misunderstands and thinks Vi is still talking to her. The disconnect of that moment felt so real.
Silco alone has so much going on with him that you could make an entire video focused on just him and still be able to say Arcane as a whole is well written. He peddles poison to Zayn yet somehow still truly believes he has its best interest at heart. Heck, Shimmer itself is a perfect summary of one of his core worldviews. It gives you great strength but at a great cost. It's very similar to how he encourages Powder to accept Jinx. The madness will give you the strength to do what needs to be done without issue, but at a great cost to yourself. Heck Silco himself goes through physical and mental sacrifice to rise to the top on Zaun to bring his vision to pass (losing an eye and having to backstab his best friend/blood-brother.)(Speaking of vision he literally uses Shimmer to see clearly.) If you want to take it a step further you could look at thr scene where he poisons his cohorts with Zaun air. He is extremely comfortable in a literal toxic environment. He is living confirmation of his own beliefs. The loss from physical and mental toxins is worthwhile for what you gain from them. A delightful embodiment of toxic love for Zaun, Jinx, and likely himself as well.
Very well said, and I am currently working on a Silco video. Focusing in on his relationship with Vander over the course of the show. And the parallels he has to many others in the show. Amoung other topics.
@@AFlyingWalrus Sounds like it will be a very enjoyable video to watch Especially with the whole debate over if Silco actually truly loved Jinx or just the idea of Jinx if at all
I'm a writer of epic fantasy novels, and I really appreciate this focus on show vs tell. The most important thing to know is WHEN to show and WHEN to tell, but for newer to intermediate writers it's generally best to show wherever you can. Arcane has very familiar tropes and plot trappings, and in any other show the writers would get flamed for using such 'predictable' plot lines. Arcane is getting this too. But because Arcane gets the simple things right, like strong character motivation, like clear promises in the beginning, like dynamic relationships, like show vs tell, it's stronger than most unique shows that I can think of in recent memory. I could honestly listen to hours of you picking apart Arcane scene by scene in the sense of visual showing and its amazing writing, but that is a tall order. Instead I'll just rewatch and pick it apart myself. It's videos like these that reinvigorate my love of storytelling, so thanks for giving me the motivation to write today.
Thank you for the wonderful comment. I'm honored that I could be a part of a source of motivation for someone. Never thought I'd be able to say that lol
This is different because this is animation “ visual storyline “ your fantasy writing requires “reading “ it’s a comprehensive “written “storyline. Unless you are an animator that’s shows a visual medium.
@@nR-nc8mb I'm an artist, and I've dabbled in/studied animation. I purposefully used my writing as an example because it's my strongest passion, and I wanted to put an emphasis on how these concepts can traverse mediums. I hope that makes sense!
3:58 When I watched this scene, I genuinely had NO idea what was gonna happen. Like NO idea AT ALL. Because it all goes with Sevika's character and story. That scene is absolutely incredible with how suspenseful it is, like what is going to happen ? And at the same time, this scene offers some of the best dialogues in the show
Sevika is such an underrated character and a worthy antagonist to Vi. I just love how the most physically badass characters in the show are women who have no qualms about beating the ever living shit out of each other.
I also like the scene where Vi was going to turn herself in. You see her giving the bunny to Powder, giving a few bit of advice, and then the next scene when Powder goes to Vander at the bar looking dejected, Vander feeling confused, look at the bunny, and then he realize what is truly going on, Vi is going to turn herself in. I remember that I also came to the realization at the exact same moment that Vander does, without any of the characters saying a word about it. That's amazing, this show really embodies what they call "Show, don't tell".
I'm shocked you didn't mention the fact that Arcane literally opens with a scene that involves no dialog (aside from Powder's singing), and yet it gets you emotionally invested and tells a story without narration or relying on people to already know the lore.
You're the only person I've seen on RUclips who noticed that Jayce initially thought Viktor was referring to his hammer when he said, "You have to destroy it." Kudos!
@@AFlyingWalrus it's pretty obvious for people who actually know what a good story telling is. Obviously that not the case for RUclips reactors. Lmao. Edit: another thing that really annoys me too about the Arcane reviews is the fact that the only flaw they saw in Arcane is Vi and Cait's relationship are rushed. Like wth all they did the entire season was look at each other's eye and hold each other's hand and they thought their relationship was rushed? Completely ignoring the fact that hetero had a full sexual intercourse all of a sudden. 😐😐😐
Personally, I thought the relationship between those two was one of the better on-screen realizations of a relationship. Fast? Sure. But when you go through life and death situations you tend to become pretty attached to them. Also, as with the rest of the show, it was extremely believable and well written.
@@Vizible21 "it's pretty obvious for people who actually know what a good story telling is" Eh, I missed that jayce brought his hammer. I was focused on viktor since he just had a very impactful scene and wanted to see what he'd do now, what he'd say next. It didn't register to me that jayce would even bring the hammer to this meeting, I assumed he would leave it in his family's forge before finding viktor. The scene where jayce looks at the hammer, I was so focused on the expression on his face that I thought the hammer was the frame of the door they were in. So I thought that jayce, post killing the kid, was just referring to hex-tech weaponry in general after realizing how dangerous it was (a call back to heimerdinger telling him to put in safeguards before distributing the tech to common people) rather than specifically his hammer. Why don't you calm down a little and stop jacking yourself off for being the most observant viewer of arcane there ever was....Nobody cares how great of an analytical mind you have or how observant you are while watching entertainment media.
I love how this show makes me root for all the major characters. I want silco to succeed and gain independence for Zaun. I want jinx to blow the council up. I want Vi to make up with jinx. I want Caitlin and Vi to be together. I want Jayce to succeed with his dream. And I want Viktor to live. But you can't have all of it. For some to succeed, others will have to fail.
Speaking of visual storytelling, just consider the fact that the very first scene of the show is about 3 minutes long, and the only "dialogue" you hear is a song. Sure people might not pick up all the details, but you understand the most important things about what is going on through body language and facial expressions alone. Add to that the fact that everything is animated by hand and ... just 👏.
I love how arcane never just tells the audience what things are but SHOW them... you know like a show. If I want to worldbuilding or explanations told to me by characters I can just read a book if they won't show me the stuff on the screen. For example Vander was introduced as the goat in the negotiation scnene adn how sudennly everyone is the pub is quiet. We never see a scene him saying "hey look im the boss here". Since telling someoen beign the boss and showing (wthiout being a jekt that is) is a different thing. This goes for all things in Arcane. The dialogues are good since they are actually dialouges betwen characters instead of being conviniet storytellers cringly trying to feign a conversation.
This show is so good with the subtleness and visuals, and gets better as you keep rewatching it because you notice stuff you didn't before and it makes the experience much more deep.
Pretty much. But also a Villain commands a screen simply just by being on it. And he could be the calmest mother fucker in the room and you know he's the one to fear. So much is told in the subtle things
A villain who surprisingly (but not randomly) gets louder can be used to create a feeling of unpredictability and danger around someone. I mean just look at Tywin Lannister.
Those first few minuets of Arcane is what hooked me because there was not a word spoken, no exposition but just from the visuals you know exactly what was happening. It was a great showcase of what the level of writing you were getting into. Man was it refreshing for a show not to treat you like an idiot and feels like they need to explain everything to you
I think a great video would be on how the show animates Jinx’s mental struggles and psychosis in a way that makes you feel her pain. Something I don’t think you could ever do to this level with live action
I don't think I'm qualified to do a full video breakdown on the topic, but I will absolutely speak from an artistry perspective about it when I talk about Jinx in a future video
To me, the loyalty scene is much more meaningful regarding Silco's position. He talks confidently but he lay his head on his hand and he seems like he's trying to crawl inside of himself, showing that he is actually nervous. After Sevika strikes, he's out of breath. A moment later, he goes back to talking confidently. It lasted 2 seconds but so much was told without using words during those 2 seconds. This makes him a very great character compared most villains who are usually depicted as being in full control even if they try to make others believe otherwise. He doesn't control everything and that he knows it. He knew there was story path where he died in that meeting but it did not stop him. He went all-in. Which illustrate clearly is idea that in order to achieve your goal you must be willing to sacrifice everything and that these weren't just empty word said by the villain to make him look tough. He actually is. When you live your whole life with one rule, one certainty, only to realize that it suddenly isn't something you can follow anymore, it literally obliterates the foundation of who you are and this makes the scene with the statue of Vander even more powerful. The realization Silco goes through is on that is extremely difficult to take. But this isn't something that is explicitly said to the viewer. They must find this untold information themselves through those short moments. The amount of symbolism in this show is extraordinary. Details which we don't even realize most of the time. One of the most powerful scene for me is when Viktor is running. When we saw young Viktor, he built a small ship and tried to follow it along the stream. Because of his handicap, he could not catch up to the little ship. It shows how much of a heavy weight is handicap is on his life. It holds him back and prevent him from moving forward. When he finally heal himself with the Hexcore and the shimmer, he goes for the first run of his life. In the background, you can see ships. There is no mention of the ships or anything. No lights forcing the viewer's attention on them. They are simply there, in the background. But as he runs, he manages not only to follow them, but to go past them, to finally be free of that weight that held him back all those years and catch up to his life. Such details is what make this show so amazing. And it's just one among a hundred. It's not just story-telling at this point, it is art.
Something I absolutely love in that scene where Silco is almost betrayed, is that the moment after the blade slashes but before we see the other mob boss bead, he is breathing so heavily. He really thought, even for a second, that he was dead. Giving him a bit of weakness before he retakes control in a second. God, I love this show.
im so late on this but pls, never stop talking about arcane, im a late fan of arcane, discovered it last month but i cant stop thinking about it, doing research, theories, and re watch. i love to get to know more about the show. the way u descride it, u talk about it and do ur videos is amazing, watching them is a blessed and a really good time. thanks man, cant wait to see ur videos about season 2! keep the good work (im so late for this but hey, support is support)
Same here. Just finished it a few days ago and I'm so freaking hyped over this show right now I can barely contain myself.... ok... I'm _NOT_ containing myself! 🤪
7:27 - I think few people actually noticed the message in that scene. The scene implies that even Viktor, who was in a previous scene shown firmly opposed to the use of Hextech to create weapons, even he considers that the Hex Core is more dangerous than any Hextech weapon. He doens't even seem to care at all about the actual Hextech weapon that is right in front of him, as he understood that the Hex Core can do more harm than what that Hammer ever could. All of this is implied in this scene, and transmited to the audience in such a brilliant way. In the pursuit of great, we forgot to do good.
I'm so proud that show was made by a french studio, we have so many talented artists and seeing their work recognised is so cool. I left the industry but some of my old classmates from 3D school work at Fortiche now, so proud of their great work
Arcane mastered non-verbal dialogue so well that I, a person with ADHD, kept noticing vital things that I missed each time I went through the series (I watched it three times), such as the realisation that Vi and Powder’s parents were the ones shown dead at the beginning, that Milo and Claggor were definitely dead in episode three, and that Ekko definitely liked Powder when they were little and likely tried to talk Jinx into joining his side.
A friend of mine finally got me to watch Arcane and now I hate him for it because this show is my newest obsession and the ending was such a cliffhanger and I love Jinx but I also love Vi and Caitlyn and I just want to hug them all uuuugghhh!!!
My favorite detail that Fortiche made was during the Tea Party. When Vi’s trying to break through to Jinx by bring up her old family, all she’s doing is creating the monsters. But the part I loved was when she mentioned their mom and dad who died at the beginning of the show, nothing appears in Jinx’s mind because she was too young to remember them unlike Vi. It’s just a small detail I loved.
This is pretty much my favorite animated television show. Ever. I legit can't come up with another animated show (or movie, for that matter) that kept me engaged, invested, breathless and awestruck the way this one did. The one show I can think of that even comes close is Gargoyles. Maybe the original animated Batman series, too, but honestly the quality of the animation, the expressive faces and body language, the backstories, lore, and interwoven personal histories...all of that and more sets Arcane head and shoulders above even those beloved childhood shows of mine. This is such a special show, in every conceivable way, and I can't wait to see what's next.
Watching reaction videos, my favorite moment of audience deduction comes in the second episode, when they all get that last minute realization with a series of 'show don't tell' clues....the message cannister rolls into Grayson's office, Vi imparts wisdom and encouragement to Powder, Vander's notices the teddy bear is back, Vi is sitting alone, waiting on something....that "Ohh, she's turning herself in" moment and BAM, close episode. :)
Well that's good because the next video is on Silco. Unsure of how to write it though. Think I'm going to focus on his relationship between Vander and the parallels of Vander/Vi and Silco/Powder. As well as the context of it.... But he's so complex it's hard to say everything succinctly lol
I'd like to just say, the first sequence you talk about with Ekko and Jinx was like the perfect way to pay homage to Ekkos time shattering abilities while we the audience know he doesn't have those capabilities yet
The scene between Jinx and Ekko on the bridge is, by far, my favorite scene. So much story with one line of dialogue. Set up and pay off in less then 2.5 minutes. Backstory and emotion tying them together so well. What I like about the scene with Silco and Sevika is you can see the look on Silco's face after the slice and realize, while he knew something was about to happen, he wasn't sure what the outcome was. Excellence in animation and non-verbal storytelling.
Duality. The whole show is very entrenched with it. The bridge scene from Epi 1 vs bridge scene in epi 7... one is Enforcers being in obv assault mode, one with Jinx being in assault mode... Epi 3's Crystal scenes are dual too. One is the wonders of the Hextech, one is the dangers of the Hextech.
Duality and parallels are the hallmarks of the entire show, and it extends to the characters, design, the city, arcs, even movement of characters. It's just so satisfying
@@AFlyingWalrus Exactly. Fortiche had no business writing/producing such a damn good show. How dare they make me restless for season two after breaking me with season 1.
I love that there's absolutely no dialogue at all in Arcane's opening scene. They trusted the audience to be able to get everything that was needed from the visuals.
Great vid! One thing though. If I'm not mistaken, the writing for this show was handled by Riot Games directly. Studio Fortiche was only responsible for the animation (which is already a work of art)
Oh I just figured it was a collaborative effort of writing between riot and Fortiche. With Riot more so just handling the oversight and development of the show. But kudos are due to whomever was the writers. Which ever company they worked under lol
I think it's rather pointlessly pedantic to name companies instead of actual people who did the work. Giving accomplishments to a multimillionaire company for a work of a minuscule amount of their employees (which they have a record of not treating their best) is kinda odd imo.
Sort of. One of the writers from Riot commented about the brilliance of the folks at Fortiche, and offered a direct example. Amanda Overton wrote the scene when Caitlyn and Vi were in the brothel, and Vi walks by Cait flirting with the lady on the couch. In the Arcane scene, Vi goes through an entire mood shift, with a great facial realization filled with emotion.. you can almost hear doors of potential opening in her mind just from her visual reaction in the scene, realizing that Cait is into women, and all the possibilities that opened up. None of it had to be said, and was communicated only through the visual shift in Vi's demeanor. Amanda's comment about that scene: All I wrote in the script here was “Vi raises an eyebrow, curious.” And what I got was an emotional revelation. I’ll never get tired of watching this.
How I feel about Cowboy Bebo is how Roger Ebert felt about Battlefield Earth and this quote sums it up: "The director has learned from better films that directors sometimes tilt their cameras, but he has not learned why." In Cowboy Bebop they saw what the original anime did with the story but did not understand why. Arcane is so on so many levels the best thing to come out recently and in cases ever, however it's greatest achievement isn't dense tightly construction narrative, isn't game changing animation, isn't dialogue which at points it down right Shakespearean, isn't the amazing near perfect pacing. All those things are the best I've seen in years. Arcane's greatest achievement is from a cinematographic, editing and framing standpoint it is the best cinematic display of brilliants maybe ever. From use of negative space, to cuts not just on movement but on beats, mind blowing transitions, use of focal points and perspective.... and how it uses those 'cinema' aspects to world build, character build, and tell a story. From establishing shots to the use of color, from lens flares to lighting.... From big things like sweeping shots to small details. For example the scene where Viktor runs; notice how he falls behind the camera as he starts to stumble then regaining himself catches the camera and then slightly overshoots it; that adds so much weight and emotion. The mirroring of elements visually like Jayce and his mother being saved mirrored when reaches up as if Jayce was grasping the light of the Hextec Gate in his fist. The way Mel's emotional evolution is depicted from anger, to interest, to sympathy in a close up of her painting trowel painting strokes on the canvas without showing either's face when Jayce tells her he didn't duck out on her in a donk and dive but that Victor was dying; all told with a close up of her painting strokes. The reason you can pause this at any frame and print it to hang on your wall isn't just the fantastic animation, it is the shot composition. The reason when you jump to a new scene you know exactly where you are with these incredible transitions from exit shot to establishing shot. Something I never thought I'd say about a TV show, much less an animated one: Had Stanley Kubrick, the Cohen Brothers, David Fincher, Kurokawa... shot this live action this would be considered their magnum opus. I geek on this stuff and in total this is the best 'cinema' I've seen.
I think the Cowboy Beebop comparison is relevant, because it's a live action adaptation. And if you see the original, isn't a strange idea of a live action adaptation, still there are hours of comparison which proven that even with good coreography and cinematography, hard to match with animation. One of the big problem with some directors and writers is that they construct a scene like in a stageplay, they only focus on the dialogue. Animators on the other hand much more careful about to use all the colors in they palettes: sound design, music, color correction and cinematography. No wonder why many episode of the Mandalorian felt more impactful even with limited dialogue or facal expressions, because many crew members and Dave Filoni originally work on animated projects for decades. Of course I have honoroble mentions to the total opposet: Edgar Wright is somebody who learn from traditional film school, but his movies always have such a magnitude thanks to focus on never only one detail. Wes Anderson's visual style always feels like stageplay adaptations, but that give them a so surreal style which actually make even with the transitions with voice over interesting. As I see there is a cultural shift, as critics and audiances alike see how difficult animation, and that is just another type of media. That stigma, what categorized cartoons as platform of kid's entertainment seem to be tilling.
I love the Dave Filoni example, it hits the nail on the head of doing more by being natural and using body language and context clues to tell your audience half of the story.
@@AFlyingWalrus thanks. Your video essay did the heavy lifting. Just remembered the Mandalorian's pilot. The other familiar case was "Fury Road", which wasn't animated film, however it wasn't written in the traditional way. They made based on story-boards. I think is important to left white holes during the storytelling, giving enough space for the audiance to fill with they own imagination. We don't need always explanations!
I don't even play league and I love Arcane. Absolutely fell in love with the characters and the world. It takes really good writing to do that to an audience!
Dude, the instrumental of "What could of been" at the end of the video left me in almost as many tears as the end of the show, love to watch your content!
That scene where Silco takes Jinx to that river is such a powerful scene when I saw it, it hit me that he was baptizing Jinx, he said she needed to let Powder die so in that scene she was christened Jinx in the same waters where Vander betrayed Silco. Also the entire scene where it shows how Silco lost his eye I think is another good example of the show not insulting its audience like we don't know why Vander fought him but we know it was a betrayal and that Silco was changed by that. There is NO DIALOGUE we understand it just from the flashes that we see but a lot is left up to intepretation
Where I felt that the most, and it was welcoming was when Silco says that Drecker was volunteer to test the Shimmer.... without saying that, just showing the chair he sat on few minutes ago... I was speechless !
I think the genius of Arcane is that it shows, THEN tells. For example, Jinx and Silco's father daughter relationship was obvious enough by episode 5, and then at the end of that episode Sevika straight up said "She's like his daughter". It's natural and fits perfectly into the specific scene it came from, but the reason it works is because "She's like his daughter" is simply a fact that Sevika and Ekko and plenty of the other characters acknowledge, because if they *didn't* acknowledge that, it would be weird at best and a plot hole at worst. Similarly, there's the parallels between Silco and Vander that Silco openly acknowledges because 1: It's immediately relevant to his current situation and what he's thinking about at the time, and 2: It would be weird if he did NOT notice, because he knows ALOT about Vander and being completely ignorant would be inherently out of character for him. They establish with the body language and subtext alone that Mel hates her mom and her mom cares about her but is also tough and strict, and THEN: "I can't believe you'd start a war just to cover your ass!" "I would set the world ablaze to protect our family." Putting in realism at the expense of immersion is counterintuitive and counterproductive, so Arcane doesn't insult its audience, but also always makes sure the audience still understands.
This show I literally cannot stop watching it! The art, the story, the direction, everything about this show bring emotions I literally never thought I would have for a fictional show. The empathy you feel for ever character because I think as we grow up we realize there is more gray in this world than good and bad or black and white. There is no such thing as a true hero in the world because no one is perfect and we all here to do what we can do to live. This show capture that aspect to the t.
Everyone is looking to what they can to achieve what their good is. And Arcane captures that because there really isn't a BBEG, just broken characters doing what they think is right.
@@AFlyingWalrus That is why I see Arcane as the perfect example of a tragedy. At any given moment, anyone could have made a different decision and prevented so much pain, suffering, and loss of life. And yet, none of these characters could have made a different decision because it would go against their nature. The only possible outcome is this most tragic outcome because the characters are who they are.
Adding on to the long example. I love the scene of Finn silently flipping his lighter when Silco orders Sevika to help pick up Renni's dead son. She is literally "shoveling his shit" as he said she was going to. He doesn't need to say "I told you so" or "this is what you have to look forward to" his silent look says all that and more. It's not really subtle, but I still found it impactful. For a topic maybe you could do Politics? Maybe predictions on the ongoing plotlines? Minor characters like Singed or Ekko? This is my first video of yours (it's really good) so I don't know how much you know about League. Heck you might not even know which character Singed is haha. (he does stick out though)
Well firstly. That is a really good detail that I forgot about. Secondo. I can speak on that, but Necrit has already covered the politics of Runeterra far better than I can. And thirdly. Well thank you, if you are interested I've made 1 other Arcane video so far about Viktors run that you can check out if you wish. And a lore nerd/player of league of legends for 10 years now I would love to cover the smaller characters. As I would argue that Ekko is actually the only hero of season 1
Ive been watching so many videos about things star wars related and how they constantly are attacking fans, its a nice change to see an analysis of the opposite. I wish we could have more arcane quality shows
The dialog between Savika and Silco after the assasination attempt has so much subtext on top. Silco: "Were you tempted?" Sevika: "not for a worm like him." what she means is we have the same goal and he was only interested in his own gain, but if someone shows up that is more promising than you i will change sides so get your shit together.
You missed at 6:10, Silco expressing shock and fear after the sword flashes. Just one instance of showing him being human, where you realize he's working hard for the control he has, and is not always certain at every outcome, with stress and anxiety in play which would be a normal response for the job he has. Then we see him regain composure. Instead of the typical villain is all knowing,
I couldnt agree more. Movies and shows are the perfect place for the "show dont tell" rule. And yet its not utilized very often today. Dont get me wrong, i love good dialogue, but good writing requires that you can show what is going on without having to say it. Im personally dreaming of making a live action movie about a guy who in the start of the movie is released from prison. And then through dream sequences and hallucinations you learn not just how he ended up in prison, but what happened before everything went down. And im using dream sequences because they can say so much without a single word. And i want that to be a thing in cinema again. Saying alot without words. Like the Wardens final scene in shawshank. Or the many scenes in Avatar TLAB show with Zuko's scar being used as a symbol. Most notibly "Do you remember what happened last time you challenged a master?" Pans over onto Zuko's scar "I will never forget"
I just found your channel, I absolutely applaud your take on Arcane! I have watch the show from beginning to end at least four times now mostly because I’ve never seen a show not only written but portrayed in the way that this one was. Everything was so well thought out and executed. But now that I’ve heard your reaction I’m seeing stuff that I never saw before, thank you!
Arcane is what happens when you do good writing with diversity without having it take away from the characters and the story. More writers should take note of this because Arcane is the prime example of how to do it correctly.
From the storytelling, to the animation style, to the frickin' amazing background music and songs! I think we all can agree that the season 1 finale was epic from start to finish with one of the most gut wrenching pieces of animated cinematics pushed even higher by Sting and Ray Chen's masterpiece
you put into words a lot of things I was feeling while watching each of these series. To me, its interesting how they chose to write Silko (sp?). He was, from what I understand, a new character for the lore specifically to play a part in this series. They could have written him so poorly. I expected, based on trailers and ads, that he'd be the typical puppetmaster-gangster type, but the truth is, he was really sympathetic both as a character and to those around himself. It makes more sense that way, because how do you, say, amass a rebel army without a sympathetic front? He may have been a villain, he may have been using Jinx, but at the same time, the whole time, he loved her. You could see it in their physical closeness - like a little kid climbing in dad's lap. He reciprocated her physical affection in ways that you wouldn't normally see from the puppetmaster (because by default, the puppetmaster is usually coded as a total sociopath who is OK with losing pawns if it means winning the game, even and especially if its their surrogate-child). I'd love to see a deeper dive into the character Silko and how you interpret him and his relationships with his underlings and enemies.
Arcane is so good because it treats every character as a real thinking being, with feelings, emotions and goals. Characters in Arcane make mistakes, aren't perfect...and that's just great.
Holy crap you guys. I try to reply to every comment on my channel but I'm having a hard time keeping up! Thank you so much for all the comments, discussions, and kind words. If I haven't gotten to your comment yet just know I'm trying. I've heard you loud and clear, more Arcane content is coming soon. Cheers
Arcane does something I like to call "visual writing." Scenes, dialogues, and characters aren't explained to you, they are shown to you. You can pick up your own interpretations of what they're saying, or doing, or feeling based on their expressions, their body language, their tone. These are all key factors in any show. Keep this in mind if you want to create anything that uses a visual medium.
What saddens me is, the mediocre Squid Game was a worldwide phenomenon while not a lot of people are talking about the storytelling masterpiece that is Arcane.
I have friends and family that refuse to watch the show on the basis that its a "cartoon" After discussing it with them they straight up said, "any live action movie or show is better than cartoons because it's not acting." I had no words...
Honestly, I'm completely shocked that so many people have noticed as much as they have. They've all still missed a lot that was there, but they noticed far more than I expected. Doing so must've been even easier and simpler than I believed, because everyone is still pretty clearly just as stupid as I thought they were. . But, hey...that just means the makers of Arcane are even more talented than I'd first surmised.
There is a lot to unpack with animation, and as time goes and more seasons are released I'm sure we will see even more small details from the first season when we look back at it
@@NoMustang273 OP is surprised stupid people notice half of what he noticed but still feel superior for noticing more than most people (who are stupid)
Ekko vs Jinx is also interesting when you listen to how Jinx says "Look who it is! The Boy Savior!" with such a virtriol of familiarity and resentment, which to me means that Jinx knew Ekko was the leader of the Firelights, knew Ekko was trying to save people from Silco, but Ekko never came to save her. She uses the term to mock him while also failing to hide how hurt she is by him choosing others over her.
That is fantastic. I registered that when I watched it, but I had never really thought about it till now
...Which makes me think, if Ekko really tried to save her, she wouldn’t want it, she was fine with staying with Silco. That’s why she says “Savior” such irritatingly and somewhat sarcastically, and that’s why Ekko said multiple times that Jinx can’t be saved because she doesn’t want to, she chose working for Silco etc.
One other piece to this is that it implies they've had some kind of interaction before. Maybe he tried to convince her to join his cause. Maybe they had a discussion of what to do about the whole situation in Zaun, but they couldn't see eye to eye. Maybe he never chose the right words to convince her and that was a thing between the both of them. Maybe her "love" for Silco was getting it the way of either of them seeing eye to eye and they both knew it. Either way, that whole "Boy Savior" line is something between them that we, the audience, don't know about...yet. I hope they do flesh this out next season.
I dont think so. There is no clear evidence of what u said. Just theory
@@huss1836 interpretation is important in writing; /not everything/ can just be told as fact.
One month later and Arcane still lives on in our hearts ;-;
Oh it will be much longer than a month for me
Avatar Last Airbender is still being talked about today 15 years later. I'm pretty sure Arcane is gonna live on longer than that
@@AFlyingWalrus I’m ready to binge the series again
It's not even paying rent but I don't care
I will never let it die in my heart
Afterwards, Silco says to Sevika, "Were you tempted?"
Sevika responds with, "Not for a worm like him."
Meaning Sevika absolutely _would_ kill Silco for the right person/ideal.
yessss it said so much abt her character. and so much abt silco's that he didn't lose his shit at her saying that. they have such an interesting tension that goes way deeper than the stereotypical villain/righthand man type loyalty. i'm EXTREMELY interested to see what she becomes in season 2 now that silco's dead. will she grab power from jinx? will jinx become an outcast from zaun? or will she hold the arcane weapons over sevika's head and say you're not getting anywhere without me? just. so many cool potentials
@@feyelsbells7839 sadly next arcane will focusing on noxus invasion on ionia (base on lore) ..and the title might not be arcane cuz arcane revolve around piltover and zaun..😢i hope we will get few piltover & zaun scene in league series season 2
@@cikkmanjaa5361 i didn't know season two would be about the ionia campain. this is going to be gruesome, riven and the other runic blade wielders, the chemical weapons made by singed, perhaps some screen time from swain since he makes his coup a few years later and get hsi arm cut off by irelia, also him fusing with raum, there's a whole battle at udyr and lee sin's monastery, there's the liberation of varus by the two gay guys, there's the destruction of wuju (except master yi), there's darius amputating the arm of his waifu, and i'm not even mentioning all the indirect events in the ionia campaign.
like the yasuo and yone thing, all the freljord infighting and power struggle and so on.
She can't kill silco..... not anymore.
Sure right
Another thing I like about the scene where the other mobster guys try and take over silco’s empire is that after sevikia had struck silco is visibly anxious, many shows would keep him calm and collected rather than frantic and out of breath as a “this character would never betray me” type of power play. Instead it shows silcos uncertainty of what side she's on, that she very much could have killed him right then and there, and she almost did.
This is perfect. Thanks for the comment and for pointing that out. It really does hammer home that scene
It really shows that he can only truly trust Jinx, everyone else is a ticking time bomb until betrayal.
That's one of the moments that I love Silco's character, for all that he embodies that "magnificent bastard" trope, even he doesn't always know how things will turn out. You can *see* the look in his eyes afterward that just screams "oh my god I had no idea that would actually work holy cRAP-" and I absolutely love that.
I think having Silco express that reaction in that situation adds more to how human Arcane characters are. They all feel so real. No matter they are good people, bad people, neutral people. These characters act real and that's beyond amazing.
@@prufan "everyone else betrays us. your my daughter. ill never forsake you."
A few more subtleties to note:
1) In the final scene Mel takes off her family heirloom ring before voting for peace, showing that she decided to turn her back on her blood family. Which also underlines the length the council is willing to go to repair the damage done to Zaun.
2) In the first episode, when Powder sees a sandwich, she is more excited about it than about any other treasure. A very ingenious and subtle way to show that she lives a difficult life with many scarcities.
3) We see multiple scenes of Powder (and then Jinx) being a bad listener and jumping to conclusions. First it happens as Powder is listening in on Vi’s and Milos’s conversation where Vi says that Powder can’t do certain things (like always complain and brag like Milo), but Powder hears only the first part. That ties in nicely to the reason why she misinterpreted Vi on the bridge and Silco in his final confession to Vander’s statue.
4) In the scene between Jace and Silco, when Jace gives his ultimatum, the sun disappears behind Silco’s face. I refuse to believe that it wasn’t intentional; a way to show how his willingness to fight has been snuffed out.
5) This is from other comments. The form of Jinx’s rocket launcher is a shark (with an eye motif) - to symbolize her love for Silco, since she was creating the weapon for him.
There are more, of course, but I can’t remember them all. One thing is certain, the show is masterful in its way of showing and not telling.
One of my favorite subtleties are actually Jinx's weapons.
Her mini gun that is pink, and ears, and is whimsical is called Powpow.
You know, the name her sister gave her when the were little. (When Vi called her Powpow my hear broke)
And her rocket launcher "Fishbones" resembles the monsters Silco loved. Which makes sense, she made it for him. But with him now gone she uses it.
So now she's literally caring around both Silco and Vi everywhere she goes.. just...wow
Or how her nail polish is blue / pink / blue / pink / blue. From their hair colors.
Great catch on powder/jinx being a poor listener and jumping to conclusions after the first sentence.
I do think Mr Fishbones (the rocket launcher) is mostly just a nod to the game.
2) Yeah she definitely cannot see why they are doing this. And in Enemy clip we can see that injustice really her deeply upset and unsettled. She does it only to prove Vi she is not some damsel in distress. So sad she was so excited she forgot her gun. Even with paintball bullets she would have made lots of havock
There are so many great details in this show it is impossible to spot them all but it is done so well that you can rewatch it a couple times and never get bored. The firelight bombs Jinx uses to kill the enforcers on the bridge seem to seek out and target guns. Caitlyn only survives the explosions because she traded her gun for a shimmer potion to save Vi earlier. There is a metal clang noise right before Jinx's grenade explodes at the end of her fight with Ekko, which implies that Ekko was able to hit the grenade away from them with his metal rod in the last second and therefore saving both their lifes aka the boy savior. You could probably go scene by scene and point minor details out that explain so much. One of the best written shows I have ever seen for sure.
@@jonesjeremiah HOLY SHIT THE GUN SEEKERS, I hadnt thought of that but it makes so much sense
One of my personal favorite five seconds in the show are when Vi lashes out at Powder and then looks down at her knuckles and... in my interpretation remembers how Vander told her that the path of violence leads nowhere. That's how I saw it, that it was the moment she realized the futility of using aggression, but she's too angry at Powder and chooses to withdraw from the scene to cool down. The beauty of it is, that only through that one glance at her hands and the emotions playing across the face, the audience can look back at this moment and interpret and reinterpret her thoughts and emotions, because it is such an important point in the story, but nothing is spelled out and every viewer can arrive at his or her own conclusion.
Yup. 100% this. Subtle storytelling that is full of set ups and pay offs
@@mackielunkey2205 But she did not. She just did for a minute and then Marcus kidnapped her
@@mackielunkey2205 What are you even on about? She realized almost immediately what she'd done after hitting Powder, which is why it overloaded her brain and she needed to walk away for a second to process it all. Vander just died moments ago as a monster in order to save her, along with the death of the childhood friends she was responsible for. She was in complete and utter shock. She walked off to give herself a moment to breathe, but the moment she saw Silco, she snapped out of it and her biggest priority--protecting Powder--snapped her back into reality. She'd have faced off against Silco right there in the street and died for Powder if Marcus hadn't chloroformed her.
It's like you didn't even watch the series, lol. She had no idea Silco was nearby. She has no idea of anything because she was emotionally imploding. It's not everyday your entire life goes up in smoke right in front of your eyes so quickly and violently.
Jayce killing that kid isn't on Vi at all. As she says, the kid's just one of many who have died because of the ignorance of the Council to let the underworld fall into such disarray that its best option was to serve or hide away from crime lords.
@@LockeNarshe yeah sorry about that. Totally misinterpreted lol
*"You say 'light a fire', they show up with oil."* -- Vander
*"It wasn’t enough. Topside and bottom. Oil and water. That’s all there is."* -- Vi
That is what Vander told her too. It's not just that Vi chose violence. In the preceeding scenes, Vander is trying to tell her not to be like him on the bridge and lead a revolution that will get everyone killed. That you have to understand when not to pick a fight. And she accepts it over several exchanges and she realizes what she must do. Give herself up to the police. She knows that to not lose Claggor, Mylo and Powder, she has to take the fall.
Meanwhile, Powder has a parallel arc. Powder has an anxious attachment to Vi, but she doesn't have to brave it just once, but three times in a row. Vi leaves Powder behind with Vander, Mylo and Claggor, but Powder's brave, keeping Vi's secret. In spite of her insecurity, she's able to hold out emotionally.
Then Vander has yet another parallel arc. He's trying to teach Vi a different path, but when she's about to take responsibility and give herself up (like what he subtly taught her), he flips and undoes her character progression (in a way that is good for the story), by undoing her sacrifice and taking the fall instead.
Now Vi's arc is interrupted and she returns. Powder's arc is interrupted, because Vi's back. But then the two arcs continue again. Vi leaves Powder for a second time and Vi decides that this is a fight worth having, because Vander told her that you don't sacrifice family. Powder held it together well the first time, but Vi left the first time with confidence. The second time that Vi left, she was on the verge of tears and extremely distraught, so Powder is no longer reassured. Vi might not be coming back alive this time and Powder has to sit and wait, which, combined with the hint that she has dissociative episodes in the street brawl, isn't something that Powder can handle.
So, these three arcs perfectly synchronize. Vander tells Vi that if he tells Mylo and Claggor to light a fire, Powder's going to show up with oil. Or, in Powder's case, with a tactical nuke. Echoing Vander's sentiment that even fighting the good fight, it may backfire in unexpected ways. A lesson that Vi, incidentally, can only partially integrate afterwards, because she can only see how close to success she was and how it was all almost worth it, if only those she cared about stayed away. As long as she light a fire without others showing up with oil. She needs to be like oil and water with those she loves to fight. As long as Caitlyn and Powder aren't there when they destroy the factory, nobody important can get hurt.
Addendum to an already long rant: Movies have told us that explosions aren't dangerous to the protagonists, we just feel that they are risky. So when protagonists in movies use explosions in ways we know are unwise, we think they are geniuses for taking a huge risk that paid off (an effect that has been muted by overusing explosions). When Jinx uses an explosion that happens to kill everyone she loves, we have the opposite effect; We see that she's taking a huge risk and we see that it doesn't pay off, so our immediate reaction is to think she messed up. But we also immediately stop to reflect how, in any other series, characters could have taken this kind of risk without negative consequences.
The contrast between judging someone as gloriously competent and harshly incompetent for taking the same gamble that pays off or doesn't respectively is called future-staking and they do not only employ it brilliantly to highlight how Vi and Powder can be so divided and distraught on Powder's choices, but it also illustrates perfectly why Arcane is not like other animated shows. In other animated shows, Powder would have saved the day, but in this 'reality', she kills everyone she loved, which prepares us for the kind of tragedy Arcane has in store. All the while tying perfectly and wordlessly into a single sentence of Vander and a single sentence of Vi. Fire, water and oil.
It's hard to explain just how brilliant this show is.
Speaking of non-visual storytelling, I noticed the eye-stabby-thing near the end of the video. When Jinx is sad and doubts herself, Silco offers Jinx the eye-stabby-thing as a gesture of trust in her. Later on, when Jinx feels that Silco has betrayed her trust by hiding the truth about VI from her, she stabs Silco with that same eye-stabby-thing, betraying his trust as revenge.
That's interesting. I'd never thought about that
i dont think there is a that deep meaning in that, whe just wanted to hurt him and that was the closest thing
well, I sew the eye stabby thing as a medication os forts that he needs. like, I need to trust people should I have them handy MY meds, but shoudl they fuck up I couldn't trust them with my medication anymore.
@@kariissmol9172 yeah exactly, thats what makes those two scenes so significant. even when jinx plays around with silco's eye-stabber, he doesnt revoke her privilege to do so. supposedly they've done this medicine ritual many times. he knows and trusts that she can do it. they both understand that the reason why jinx was playing with it now was because she was angry at him, and this was the most direct and least consequential way for her to let him know that.
And that scene ends with jinx applying his medicine properly, as a way of saying she still trusts him
I think part of the reason Arcane was so good was how long it took to make. Too many companies are pushing out films and shows way too quickly, trying to make fast money and cutting corners on quality. Arcane really highlighted for me just how mediocre a lot of the stuff i've watched in recent years has been. Nothing else is going to compare for a long while.
It's a common practice.
Make a ton of low effort work, with the hopes that some of it hits, because that makes more money, rather than thinking about legacy, thinking about building a trusted reputation.
Good news is, Arcane Season 2 is confirmed, but they said it won't come out in 2022. They really are taking the time to work on this show rather than rushing it out to cash in on its popularity.
@@kamikeserpentail3778 thinking about keeping their company afloat (well in some cases)
@@punchforpound2808 What are you talking about? No Way Home was a fantastic movie. What would you have changed in it?
@@punchforpound2808 TRUE! I thought I was the only one who hated that movie, I also watched it alone at home, it was SO boring to me, I would never watch it again.
Literally 2 seconds seeing Finn for the first time you can already understand what kind of character he is. He's a wannabe. His design is badass but it also looks like he needs people to know that he's badass. He's compensating. That's really most of Arcane. So much information out of so little on screen
This. Exactly this.
Oh ye, that first scene with him yelled it silently loud! (That was redundant, ik anyway)
Everyone in the Meeting Room is so pompous and "badass" until Silco puts them on their asses and makes it a point that they aren't all that. Even when Fin tries to start a "revolution", his reasoning and understanding of the situation is so childish and arrogant to the bigger picture of what Silco actually wants. He's way too young and compensating and the "revolution" feels more like kids arguing with their parents and being pissy when they don't get what they want/getting what they want. That's not even me being old, I just love writing and how actions and scenes can speak VOLUMES!
He's look like a tik-toker
The confession scene where Silco visits the statue of Vander is my favourite. Silco is one of the best-written villains of all time.
Vander, the man that Silco thinks betrayed him because he gave up on the fight for a free Zaun, who Silco called a coward for not being willing to make the sacrifices necessary to attain power. And here is Silco, in the exact same position - unwilling to give up Jinx for the world.
Right before this, in his talk with Jayce, he tries to make the same sacrifice too, offering to take responsibility for Jinx’s actions the exact same way Vander tried to take Vi’s place in prison for her crime of breaking into Jayce’s apartment. Too late, he finally understood what it means to love someone, and he finally pours out his drink in a show of respect for his friend.
You will like the next video then. 13 minutes dedicated to that scene. It's my favorite in the show
Silco didn’t just think Vander betrayed him, he was outright betrayed. Vander attempted to assassinate him, and for all of their respective flaws and virtues, Silco’s grudge was entirely vindicated.
@@fakename2926 as I said (admittedly my wording was ambiguous), Silco thinks that Vander betrayed him because he was giving up on the fight for a free Zaun, and he attributed that decision to weakness on Vander’s part because he wasn’t willing to do anything to make it happen.
It’s in this scene Silco finally learns that Vander’s betrayal wasn’t about being unwilling to do anything for power, it’s about being unable to bear the human cost of the revolution and the risk of losing your family. Silco, from his new perspective being threatened with losing Jinx, can see that it’s actually impossible to choose between your righteous ambition, and the lives of your children. Suddenly he realises vander was no coward or weakling, but just a man who made a human decision, and he can respect him now.
So I wouldn’t say the grudge was vindicated, I’d say in this scene he actually forgives Vander - albeit posthumously.
@@envysart797 it’s sad though cause if Silco had only seen it sooner he wouldn’t have turned out this way probably. I’m like yelling at the screen (not really) “This is what Vander felt! Y’all could have avoided all the drama sooner!” It’s too late because Vander is dead and jinx and vi are not on good terms anymore and now Silco is dead
@@SaraBethCox they are not only in no good terms. it is like really bad. But tbh to what happened everyone has fault. Silco not being able to make her forget her trauma and regretting it (my best faulure), Ekko giving up on Jinx because of the thought she died the day and moved on to Jinx probably not knowing what her fears and anxieties are, Vi by calling her a Jinx and later on not accepting Jinx for who she is, Cait just by being there, Vander for carring more to Vi seemingly (unknown relationship between Powder and Vander. they are ''family'' but they for example never talked together), Mylo for talking down to her every time and Pilt for not giving a shit about the undercity and especially Jayce by wanting Jinx and making Silco talking to Vanders statue because he cant give her up. I feel very bad for Jinx she has been through much and it seems to just not have an end. Killing Silco for example. She is i would say 100% the person to have the least fault on her own mental state. She wanted to come with Vi because she had a panic attack and was scared to be left alone. she could not have survived down there alone. All in all i feel very sad about Silcos death and about Jinx being alone... ''but im affraid it will only get worse'' - Singed on the surgery table, 2021.
One thing I love is in episode 3 when Powder says “my sister, she left me. She’s not my sister anymore” you see Silco look at a dead Vander because that’s how he felt towards his “brother”
Everything Powder said while hugging Silco resonated with him to the point he fully embraced her as if she was himself
Yup. It's such a powerful moment that you aren't expecting
Yea when he embraced Powder I really wasn’t expecting that but it makes sense once you find out that Silco knew how Powder felt. Also that shot of Powder’s eye right after he says “we will show them all” i have no words for that shot like I literally gasped when I saw that moment.
@@cristinarancano471 I assume that feeling is why they made that shot the thumbnail for it on Netflix. Lol
jinx is silco’s attempt at healing his inner child
I feel like that's why this show is so good. It resists the urge to punctuate pivotal moments like this with exposition. A fun exercise with this show is taking a moment to realize how many of the major plot elements are never actually comprehensively explained. For example Shimmer, what is does and how it works are pretty much entirely conveyed by showing how people use and react to it and no characters ever sit someone else down and monologue on how it functions.
Can we just all agree that every seconds of Arcane is a masterpiece?
Indeed
Every single frame could be a wallpaper
fr, Every frame is wallpaper worthy
Every episode is a 10/10 but the end of 3 and 7 togeheter with all of episode 9 can't be rated only a mere 10/10. It would be disrespectful to how good they are.
Yes
I genuinely still cannot believe that someone shot that scene from the live action cowboy bebop and was like, "Yep that's good! 100%!"
I......I......Well..........Yeah I got nothing
Well someone gave the original sonic movie design a green light.
especially if they saw the original cowboy bepop
You are talking about a show that was defended as "wasn't supposed to be good". Nobody cared when making it. It was a lazy cash grab that deserved to crash and burn.
@@kamikeserpentail3778 you know the most disturbing thing about that design? I dont know who did greenlit that abomination sonic, it is so bad that it makes sonichu a passable copy of sonic
Something to note: Silco truly didn’t know if Sevica was going to side with him or not. She was not just his underling, but also a partner in Silco’s works. Just shows another human side of Silco that makes this a chef’s kiss.
To me it showed the volatility of leadership in the undercities and Silco was actually the rock that held Zaun together while exploiting Piltover trade routes for their benefit.
It established him more than a political leader. He had the loyalty of his soldiers from the heart.
And Silco panting in relief after the slash is such a great tell that yes, he was indeed putting on an act, hoping Sevika would side with him but truly not knowing until the moment came.
@@emlun He was talking about loyalty in his play hoping Sevika will remain loyal. He was speaking to Fin but I believe in reality he was talking to Sevika
I have come to realize that the reason for telling over showing isn't solely due to laziness or inexperience but also due to the stupidity of a not insignificant percentage of the average audience. Take a look at how many of the reactors here on YT thought that the pink-haired firelight in episode 4 was Vi after the numerous visual cues in the scene and even after Jinx refers to her as just a girl with pink hair. Then you can look at some of the negative reviews for the show that aren't simply matters of taste or attempts at trolling. Some people thought that the series didn't have a plot because they weren't being continually told what that plot was during the story.
Exactly
Unfortunate but true. It's somewhat of the result of western media constantly overexplaining everything that subtly tends to be lost
@@AFlyingWalrus
Or they are brainrotten anime watchers
Don't animes explain fight scenes? Why this character did this move?
what? Poeple really thought the pink haired girl was Vi? But... it's obvious it's not Vi...
@@ManiyaVinas I watch anime but I am able to understand visual cues. That's because I love watching movies and that includes anime. Plus, we get picky at what we watch too.
Everybody hated writing text analyses at school, but as soon as its about something we love and cherish you see how it helped us appreciate good writing.
My favourite bit is that I can relate to the characters without being some sort of god-like prodigy who was either handed everything or spent 50 years in hell. My plain yogurt, basic butt can grasp these characters because their struggles are reflected in mine. As an older sibling, I've never been in like, Vi's predicament. But not being able to protect my little sister and having that guilt would be my literal worst nightmare. I totally get the burden of being under pressure. Jayce's dream to help people through science is also something I see a lot of myself in. And though I couldn't be further as a person away from Silco, seeing him under a ton of schedules, paperwork, plans, etc. is honestly kind of relatable. He's not some dastardly scheming little genius, he's someone who is essentially governing Zaun. There are schedules, paperwork, and quotas to meet. Insufferable coworkers. Loose cannons. It's not all, "muahaha giant death ray in 2 minutes haha".
It's fantasy, but with just enough reality to be relatable. We can easily see ourselves in these characters if we were pushed to those extreme and circumstances. It's wonderful to see
IKR.
With the push for "representation" (superficial attributes you are supposed to relate to), things like these take a backseat.
I guess I'd have to transition and dye my hair pink before I could like or relate to Vi.
It tells us that content of character is what matters. Not how these characters look.
@@UltimateTobi that’s a really dumb take lmfaoo. Representation of different races, genders, sexualities, disabilities etc across a range of different genres is very important. Although obviously you shouldn’t make characters just for the sake of pandering and to tick the diversity box, but not give them any depth, nuance or any real character, that’s when it becomes a problem.
right. it's down-to-earth and relatable.
@@FirstnameLastname-zq8oy it's a good thing then that the company behind Arcane tries to do good representation with in depth characters.
Parallels between Silco and Caitlyn? No one ever talks about it, but they serve the same role in Jinx and Vi's stories respectively, and their influence is reflected in each sister by the end of the season. Hence why they are the only two "other" living members in Jinx's 'family dinner'.
I hadn't thought about that, but that is an interesting parallel. Both love the sisters in different ways. But one helps one heal, while the other drives the other closer to isolation and insanity
@@AFlyingWalrus yeah, exactly. Another thing that makes this even more obvious is how each sister feels regarding them. What Vi thinks of Silco and what Jinx thinks of Caitlyn, and how both sisters are convinced that getting rid of the other sister's close companion would solve the rift between them.
@@loycos3648 🤝🤞 sad that Silco dies
@@AFlyingWalrus silco doesn't drive jinx towards isolation and insanity. Silco is not a good person but he is a good father. He cares about jinx a lot. He tries to help her deal with her demons and move on. A therapist made an amzing video analysing silco and jinx and the actual person that designed silco for the show shared it and said the analysis was perfect.
Therers alot of parallels in arcane, mommy mels "kill once" mentality can be seen in both hermidingers willingness to destroy the hexcore and condem Victor and Vander attempt on Silco to save the undercity from another war
Part of what I love about the scene where Sevika kills Finn is how Silco reacts right after the strike just misses him. He starts breathing heavier, you can see a note of panic there as he realizes how close he just came, then he regroups and puts it behind him. That ability to adapt to the most shocking moments is what makes him such a powerful villain. At the same time, it's arguably one of the traits he's practiced the most taking care of Jinx
Another example on several levels... Vi tells Powder about her toy on Episode 1. When she decides to turn herself in, she gives the toy to Powder. First, there's no need to show Vi retrieving it, but it communicates she is grown up, capable of things she didn't as a kid. A metaphor for "owning up" and giving herself in.
For Powder, the Toy is to represent their talk in the roof. As Vi gives her the toy... she reiterates the talk on the roof "What makes you different makes you stronger". But doesn't need the "This gift is so you can remember our talk about what makes you different makes you stronger".
And then every time the toy shows up... is when powder/jinx are doubting themselves. She takes to toy to the factory trying to help. The toy is seen when she's trying to crack hextech. At the table on the finale.
Another point to this is when Jinx is baptized by Silco, she nails the toy up on the wall, crucified. Almost like sacrificing her old self, to be come the new J.nx.
Make any content you want about Arcane, i'll be here watchin. Can't get enough of this masterpiece
Thanks my guy. Hope you're enjoying the ride
a cool visual element i thought was cool, in both viktor scenes with heimer and jayce, the shots where it shows them from behind, its shaped as a skull. with heimer they talk about death and with jayce both of them just caused a death
I've never noticed that. I'll have to keep an eye out for it next time
HOLY CRAP i never noticed this!! good eye, I love Arcane so much because I get more and more out of it the more I watch
Death is the theme of the four scientists in the series.
Jaice wants to avoid deaths at all costs, willing to make a deal with the devil, just to ensure that no one else will die.
Viktor is trying to escape his own death, and begins to question the price.
Heimmerdinger doesn't understand death or mortality, his view of this aspect of existence ended up making him distant and oblivious to the struggles of those who have to live knowing they will die.
Singed wants mastery over death, extension of life, and is willing to do anything to achieve that goal, to hell with ethics.
@@vicentesantiago2681 I loved your comment, but I think you missed our two youngest two scientists.
Ekko wants to enjoy life while he can, while avoiding pointless deaths. The weapons he makes for the Firelights are non-lethal (the ensnaring amber rock things), but he also makes toys/joy and helps cultivate life where he can (guarding the sanctuary where the tree is. There's enough death in the world, and not enough life to go around. When he eventually gains the abilities he has in the game, he uses it to perfect every moment where a loss is avoidable.
Jinx is terrified of losing some people, and to that effort she will tear others from the world. Devices to keep people afraid of Silco. Guns to personally deal with things. Grand spectacles to get both the undercity to respect Silco, and Piltover to respect Zaun. She begins the series having lost her sister, two sets of parents, and is so ready to cling to someone else to have some kind of stability in her life. Silco becomes her keystone, if he's gone, she's alone in the world. She gives him his medication and kills his enemies, but when he gets distracted or is shown to possibly not be appreciating her, she is not ready for him to willingly leave her, or be taken from her. She reminds him that she needs him, so if anyone is going to make them separate, it's because she can move on, not because he can leave.
@@arzarcanum that was an interpretation I hadn't done yet. thanks for pointing it out.
I totally agree with what you say about Ekko.
But with regard to Jinx, if the theme of death applies to her, it would be more like the way she deals with - or fails to deal with - the deaths she herself has accidentally caused.
but the audience doesnt want to interprety. I heard dozen of people who screamed "unclear! bad writing, i dont get it!". They just dont even realize what is things like visual metaphor. I think we need more reviews like yours to learn how to at least TRY to appreciate visual art
Well I appreciate the high praise.
The films and shows that stand the test of time are the ones that challenge their audience. And the ones that forces their audience to pay attention
Not really, even when reactors I've seen don't understand or misunderstand what is happening. Not once have I seen any of them accuse Arcane of bad writing. If anything they usually take it on themselves for not understanding correctly.
Yeah, some people are just stupid, unfortunately
One example of people misreading because they don't understand the metaphors is in Encanto (spoiler). I have seen so many critiscism about the movie because the miracle returns and say "they f*cked the lesson of the movie, they should learn to live like normal people", no, that was never the point, it was never o they need to be normal, it was never about the magic, the point was about the family, the house and miracle represented the family problems and it breaking was the physical representation of a broken family. The magic returned because they worked hard to repair the family relationship, and also the gifts were never the problem, the problem was in how they viewed them.
I've yet to come across a single person accusing Arcane of bad writing (Although TBSkyen did have some gripes, he overall said he thought it was excellent), the only major criticism of the show I've seen is how it handles disability, which I pretty much entirely agree with
7:55 “Because your audience understands what you’re saying without useless, pointless dialog...” I’ve watched enough reaction channels to know that this tragically is not the case. Things I’ve seen more than one channel completely misunderstand:
-Thinking that Vi was going to ambush the enforcers at the end of episode 2 rather than understanding that she was turning herself in to prevent a war.
-Thinking that the pink-haired girl that Jinx sees on the airship in episode 4 was actually Vi, despite her appearance flickering and changing multiple times to show it was just in Jinx’s mind.
-Being completely mystified as to why Vi was in prison at the end of episode 4, despite last seeing her in episode 3 being dragged away by an enforcer.
-Thinking that Jinx’s exploding butterflies in episode 7 were actual firelights despite them clearly being mechanical and having Jinx’s graffiti on them.
-Thinking that Jinx fired her rocket at the moon in episode 9...
Those are just the ones I’ve seen frequently enough to remember off the top of my head.
Unfortunately yeah. But there are some people that are just beyond helping at that point lol.
But a fair point as well. But I like that that went with the, if you are the audience that understands this show, then it's for you approach. Rather than making the show dumbed down for everyone
Oh and lets not forget the dreaded monkey bomb that exploded 4 times ........ LOL :) 8/10 reactors
@@carbuneskinny5797 God how could I forget that? Because clearly an explosion powerful enough to knock a man off his feet and blow someone's arm off 30 ft away would leave a little monkey toy at ground zero completely intact to keep banging away.
Most of the reactors are used mainstream media , shows spoon feeding information to then, it's no wonder they miss the point of the scenes, actions. But I've also seen some reactors clever enough to put things together from what happened previously and predict what might happen next.
Not to be offensive but most people running reaction channels arent the brightest of the bunch.
In my experience people who have a decent critical thinking ability tend to do comentaries, analyses or breakdowns to a movie/show rather than just filming their funny facial expressions and cutting the video almost right after the episode ends. There are exceptions to the rule of course and its always a breath of fresh air when it does occur :D
Also I must admit that it is a guilty pleasure of mine to watch cheap reactions anyways.
When jinx lights the flare I was totally expecting the cash out of Vi not coming. Most shows can't resist the easy way of 'WhY WerEnt yoU TheRe!?'
But Vi shows up, and powder isn't there.
Amazing, I agree and it's so fresh to see we're not considered as idiots when watching Arcane :) I also noticed a lot of recent movies/series are trying to overexplain and insist on everything like if we were not smart enough to understand :(
Agreed. It's nice to watch a show that rewards you for paying attention and keeping an eye out for the small things
I still remember Witcher Season 2 showing us multiple episodes of (SPOILERS!!!) Yennefer training Ciri with her magic, and at the end of the season, when its down to Ciri to save them all, Ciri whispers "Yennefer's training!" and acts like she had an epiphany of a lifetime. Like, yeah, you've been showing us Ciri and Yen training together the whole season, you don't need to explain to me that Ciri can now use her magic because of Yen.
Another very similar moment to the "you have to destroy it" [looks at hammer] "I know".......is when Vi and Caitlyn are in what remains of Vi's childhood home and Vi hallucinates seeing Powder and says "I shouldn't have left you", clearly talking to Powder, but Caitlyn misunderstands and thinks Vi is still talking to her. The disconnect of that moment felt so real.
Silco alone has so much going on with him that you could make an entire video focused on just him and still be able to say Arcane as a whole is well written.
He peddles poison to Zayn yet somehow still truly believes he has its best interest at heart. Heck, Shimmer itself is a perfect summary of one of his core worldviews. It gives you great strength but at a great cost. It's very similar to how he encourages Powder to accept Jinx. The madness will give you the strength to do what needs to be done without issue, but at a great cost to yourself. Heck Silco himself goes through physical and mental sacrifice to rise to the top on Zaun to bring his vision to pass (losing an eye and having to backstab his best friend/blood-brother.)(Speaking of vision he literally uses Shimmer to see clearly.)
If you want to take it a step further you could look at thr scene where he poisons his cohorts with Zaun air. He is extremely comfortable in a literal toxic environment. He is living confirmation of his own beliefs. The loss from physical and mental toxins is worthwhile for what you gain from them. A delightful embodiment of toxic love for Zaun, Jinx, and likely himself as well.
Very well said, and I am currently working on a Silco video. Focusing in on his relationship with Vander over the course of the show. And the parallels he has to many others in the show. Amoung other topics.
@@AFlyingWalrus Sounds like it will be a very enjoyable video to watch
Especially with the whole debate over if Silco actually truly loved Jinx or just the idea of Jinx if at all
That will be addressed (at least from my perspective, which is yes, no, kind of lol)
@@Albertosn3 Silco did truly love Jinx, his voice actor confirmed it recently.
And I think the voice actor behind the character is the ultimate authority on this stuff, above the rest of us.
I'm a writer of epic fantasy novels, and I really appreciate this focus on show vs tell. The most important thing to know is WHEN to show and WHEN to tell, but for newer to intermediate writers it's generally best to show wherever you can. Arcane has very familiar tropes and plot trappings, and in any other show the writers would get flamed for using such 'predictable' plot lines. Arcane is getting this too. But because Arcane gets the simple things right, like strong character motivation, like clear promises in the beginning, like dynamic relationships, like show vs tell, it's stronger than most unique shows that I can think of in recent memory. I could honestly listen to hours of you picking apart Arcane scene by scene in the sense of visual showing and its amazing writing, but that is a tall order. Instead I'll just rewatch and pick it apart myself. It's videos like these that reinvigorate my love of storytelling, so thanks for giving me the motivation to write today.
Thank you for the wonderful comment.
I'm honored that I could be a part of a source of motivation for someone. Never thought I'd be able to say that lol
This is different because this is animation “ visual storyline “ your fantasy writing requires “reading “ it’s a comprehensive “written “storyline. Unless you are an animator that’s shows a visual medium.
@@nR-nc8mb I'm an artist, and I've dabbled in/studied animation. I purposefully used my writing as an example because it's my strongest passion, and I wanted to put an emphasis on how these concepts can traverse mediums. I hope that makes sense!
3:58 When I watched this scene, I genuinely had NO idea what was gonna happen. Like NO idea AT ALL. Because it all goes with Sevika's character and story. That scene is absolutely incredible with how suspenseful it is, like what is going to happen ? And at the same time, this scene offers some of the best dialogues in the show
It really is a magnificent scene
Sevika is such an underrated character and a worthy antagonist to Vi. I just love how the most physically badass characters in the show are women who have no qualms about beating the ever living shit out of each other.
I also like the scene where Vi was going to turn herself in. You see her giving the bunny to Powder, giving a few bit of advice, and then the next scene when Powder goes to Vander at the bar looking dejected, Vander feeling confused, look at the bunny, and then he realize what is truly going on, Vi is going to turn herself in. I remember that I also came to the realization at the exact same moment that Vander does, without any of the characters saying a word about it. That's amazing, this show really embodies what they call "Show, don't tell".
So much yes. I love how many examples of this concept there is
Modern shows: "I'm the villain, I'm gonna do evil things."
Arcane: Says nothing, the audience reads them.
What
I'm shocked you didn't mention the fact that Arcane literally opens with a scene that involves no dialog (aside from Powder's singing), and yet it gets you emotionally invested and tells a story without narration or relying on people to already know the lore.
You're the only person I've seen on RUclips who noticed that Jayce initially thought Viktor was referring to his hammer when he said, "You have to destroy it." Kudos!
I thought that was the whole point of how that shot was framed and pretty obvious lol
@@AFlyingWalrus it's pretty obvious for people who actually know what a good story telling is. Obviously that not the case for RUclips reactors. Lmao.
Edit: another thing that really annoys me too about the Arcane reviews is the fact that the only flaw they saw in Arcane is Vi and Cait's relationship are rushed. Like wth all they did the entire season was look at each other's eye and hold each other's hand and they thought their relationship was rushed? Completely ignoring the fact that hetero had a full sexual intercourse all of a sudden. 😐😐😐
Personally, I thought the relationship between those two was one of the better on-screen realizations of a relationship. Fast? Sure. But when you go through life and death situations you tend to become pretty attached to them. Also, as with the rest of the show, it was extremely believable and well written.
@@Vizible21 "it's pretty obvious for people who actually know what a good story telling is" Eh, I missed that jayce brought his hammer. I was focused on viktor since he just had a very impactful scene and wanted to see what he'd do now, what he'd say next. It didn't register to me that jayce would even bring the hammer to this meeting, I assumed he would leave it in his family's forge before finding viktor.
The scene where jayce looks at the hammer, I was so focused on the expression on his face that I thought the hammer was the frame of the door they were in. So I thought that jayce, post killing the kid, was just referring to hex-tech weaponry in general after realizing how dangerous it was (a call back to heimerdinger telling him to put in safeguards before distributing the tech to common people) rather than specifically his hammer.
Why don't you calm down a little and stop jacking yourself off for being the most observant viewer of arcane there ever was....Nobody cares how great of an analytical mind you have or how observant you are while watching entertainment media.
5:42 Why did you stop? You are doing a reflexion on this matter, don't stop in the middle of it. Those were some interesting thoughts right there.
I love how this show makes me root for all the major characters. I want silco to succeed and gain independence for Zaun. I want jinx to blow the council up. I want Vi to make up with jinx. I want Caitlin and Vi to be together. I want Jayce to succeed with his dream. And I want Viktor to live. But you can't have all of it. For some to succeed, others will have to fail.
Perfectly summarised, thank you sir
"Visual storytelling is an art that has been lost recently"
Couldn't agree more with you homie.
Speaking of visual storytelling, just consider the fact that the very first scene of the show is about 3 minutes long, and the only "dialogue" you hear is a song.
Sure people might not pick up all the details, but you understand the most important things about what is going on through body language and facial expressions alone.
Add to that the fact that everything is animated by hand and ... just 👏.
The bridge scene is such a magnificent peice of art
The bridge scene hit me in my gut. It was so powerful.
I love how arcane never just tells the audience what things are but SHOW them... you know like a show. If I want to worldbuilding or explanations told to me by characters I can just read a book if they won't show me the stuff on the screen.
For example Vander was introduced as the goat in the negotiation scnene adn how sudennly everyone is the pub is quiet. We never see a scene him saying "hey look im the boss here". Since telling someoen beign the boss and showing (wthiout being a jekt that is) is a different thing.
This goes for all things in Arcane. The dialogues are good since they are actually dialouges betwen characters instead of being conviniet storytellers cringly trying to feign a conversation.
Perfect example, let your audience experience your story. Rather than shoving it in their face
This show is so good with the subtleness and visuals, and gets better as you keep rewatching it because you notice stuff you didn't before and it makes the experience much more deep.
It's the main reason I love the show so much
a good villain can have the same tone through the entire scene and be scary, a bad villain randomly yells to try to get close to the good villain
Pretty much. But also a Villain commands a screen simply just by being on it. And he could be the calmest mother fucker in the room and you know he's the one to fear.
So much is told in the subtle things
@@AFlyingWalrus reminds me of Barack Obama
A great example of a good villain is Judge Holden
A villain who surprisingly (but not randomly) gets louder can be used to create a feeling of unpredictability and danger around someone. I mean just look at Tywin Lannister.
Those first few minuets of Arcane is what hooked me because there was not a word spoken, no exposition but just from the visuals you know exactly what was happening. It was a great showcase of what the level of writing you were getting into. Man was it refreshing for a show not to treat you like an idiot and feels like they need to explain everything to you
This is a huge showing of the effectiveness of “show, don’t tell.”
I think a great video would be on how the show animates Jinx’s mental struggles and psychosis in a way that makes you feel her pain. Something I don’t think you could ever do to this level with live action
I don't think I'm qualified to do a full video breakdown on the topic, but I will absolutely speak from an artistry perspective about it when I talk about Jinx in a future video
It's really brilliant!
To me, the loyalty scene is much more meaningful regarding Silco's position. He talks confidently but he lay his head on his hand and he seems like he's trying to crawl inside of himself, showing that he is actually nervous. After Sevika strikes, he's out of breath. A moment later, he goes back to talking confidently. It lasted 2 seconds but so much was told without using words during those 2 seconds. This makes him a very great character compared most villains who are usually depicted as being in full control even if they try to make others believe otherwise. He doesn't control everything and that he knows it. He knew there was story path where he died in that meeting but it did not stop him. He went all-in. Which illustrate clearly is idea that in order to achieve your goal you must be willing to sacrifice everything and that these weren't just empty word said by the villain to make him look tough. He actually is. When you live your whole life with one rule, one certainty, only to realize that it suddenly isn't something you can follow anymore, it literally obliterates the foundation of who you are and this makes the scene with the statue of Vander even more powerful. The realization Silco goes through is on that is extremely difficult to take. But this isn't something that is explicitly said to the viewer. They must find this untold information themselves through those short moments.
The amount of symbolism in this show is extraordinary. Details which we don't even realize most of the time. One of the most powerful scene for me is when Viktor is running. When we saw young Viktor, he built a small ship and tried to follow it along the stream. Because of his handicap, he could not catch up to the little ship. It shows how much of a heavy weight is handicap is on his life. It holds him back and prevent him from moving forward. When he finally heal himself with the Hexcore and the shimmer, he goes for the first run of his life. In the background, you can see ships. There is no mention of the ships or anything. No lights forcing the viewer's attention on them. They are simply there, in the background. But as he runs, he manages not only to follow them, but to go past them, to finally be free of that weight that held him back all those years and catch up to his life. Such details is what make this show so amazing. And it's just one among a hundred. It's not just story-telling at this point, it is art.
3:30 I didn't know why that scene gave me the shivers, and you explained it perfectly!
Something I absolutely love in that scene where Silco is almost betrayed, is that the moment after the blade slashes but before we see the other mob boss bead, he is breathing so heavily. He really thought, even for a second, that he was dead.
Giving him a bit of weakness before he retakes control in a second.
God, I love this show.
In season 2 it's kinda amazing they tell us that how Silco knew Jinx's Mom without telling a word, and it explain A LOT.
im so late on this but pls, never stop talking about arcane, im a late fan of arcane, discovered it last month but i cant stop thinking about it, doing research, theories, and re watch. i love to get to know more about the show. the way u descride it, u talk about it and do ur videos is amazing, watching them is a blessed and a really good time. thanks man, cant wait to see ur videos about season 2! keep the good work (im so late for this but hey, support is support)
Same here. Just finished it a few days ago and I'm so freaking hyped over this show right now I can barely contain myself.... ok... I'm _NOT_ containing myself! 🤪
7:27 - I think few people actually noticed the message in that scene. The scene implies that even Viktor, who was in a previous scene shown firmly opposed to the use of Hextech to create weapons, even he considers that the Hex Core is more dangerous than any Hextech weapon. He doens't even seem to care at all about the actual Hextech weapon that is right in front of him, as he understood that the Hex Core can do more harm than what that Hammer ever could. All of this is implied in this scene, and transmited to the audience in such a brilliant way. In the pursuit of great, we forgot to do good.
I'm so proud that show was made by a french studio, we have so many talented artists and seeing their work recognised is so cool. I left the industry but some of my old classmates from 3D school work at Fortiche now, so proud of their great work
"How many times did you fuck fearless?"
"HOW MANY!?!?!?"
I legit started dying of laughter like wtf is that supposed to be menacing
Arcane mastered non-verbal dialogue so well that I, a person with ADHD, kept noticing vital things that I missed each time I went through the series (I watched it three times), such as the realisation that Vi and Powder’s parents were the ones shown dead at the beginning, that Milo and Claggor were definitely dead in episode three, and that Ekko definitely liked Powder when they were little and likely tried to talk Jinx into joining his side.
A friend of mine finally got me to watch Arcane and now I hate him for it because this show is my newest obsession and the ending was such a cliffhanger and I love Jinx but I also love Vi and Caitlyn and I just want to hug them all uuuugghhh!!!
0:19 why does he look like the Annoying Orange...
My favorite detail that Fortiche made was during the Tea Party. When Vi’s trying to break through to Jinx by bring up her old family, all she’s doing is creating the monsters. But the part I loved was when she mentioned their mom and dad who died at the beginning of the show, nothing appears in Jinx’s mind because she was too young to remember them unlike Vi. It’s just a small detail I loved.
This is pretty much my favorite animated television show. Ever. I legit can't come up with another animated show (or movie, for that matter) that kept me engaged, invested, breathless and awestruck the way this one did. The one show I can think of that even comes close is Gargoyles. Maybe the original animated Batman series, too, but honestly the quality of the animation, the expressive faces and body language, the backstories, lore, and interwoven personal histories...all of that and more sets Arcane head and shoulders above even those beloved childhood shows of mine. This is such a special show, in every conceivable way, and I can't wait to see what's next.
It really is something special. I'm so glad I watched it when it came out with unspoiled eyes
Watching reaction videos, my favorite moment of audience deduction comes in the second episode, when they all get that last minute realization with a series of 'show don't tell' clues....the message cannister rolls into Grayson's office, Vi imparts wisdom and encouragement to Powder, Vander's notices the teddy bear is back, Vi is sitting alone, waiting on something....that "Ohh, she's turning herself in" moment and BAM, close episode. :)
It's a great moment, and one of the better uses of the music video style sequences to tie everything together
I would love more in depth scene discussion and symbolism interpretations
Right now working on Silco. Why people love him, his parallels to others in Arcane. Etc.
You can pause any moment in Arcane and it could be a painting!!! Absolute masterpiece.
No please keep going on. I will listen to people talk about Arcane (especially Silco) all day because I have a problem.
Well that's good because the next video is on Silco. Unsure of how to write it though. Think I'm going to focus on his relationship between Vander and the parallels of Vander/Vi and Silco/Powder. As well as the context of it....
But he's so complex it's hard to say everything succinctly lol
I would love to hear you talk about Silco and Jinx with that passion you did in this video!
Working on it currently. Only problem is there is so much to talk about with Silco that I'm having trouble writing the video lol
I'd like to just say, the first sequence you talk about with Ekko and Jinx was like the perfect way to pay homage to Ekkos time shattering abilities while we the audience know he doesn't have those capabilities yet
The scene between Jinx and Ekko on the bridge is, by far, my favorite scene. So much story with one line of dialogue. Set up and pay off in less then 2.5 minutes. Backstory and emotion tying them together so well.
What I like about the scene with Silco and Sevika is you can see the look on Silco's face after the slice and realize, while he knew something was about to happen, he wasn't sure what the outcome was.
Excellence in animation and non-verbal storytelling.
Duality. The whole show is very entrenched with it. The bridge scene from Epi 1 vs bridge scene in epi 7... one is Enforcers being in obv assault mode, one with Jinx being in assault mode... Epi 3's Crystal scenes are dual too. One is the wonders of the Hextech, one is the dangers of the Hextech.
Duality and parallels are the hallmarks of the entire show, and it extends to the characters, design, the city, arcs, even movement of characters. It's just so satisfying
@@AFlyingWalrus Exactly. Fortiche had no business writing/producing such a damn good show. How dare they make me restless for season two after breaking me with season 1.
I love that there's absolutely no dialogue at all in Arcane's opening scene. They trusted the audience to be able to get everything that was needed from the visuals.
Great vid! One thing though. If I'm not mistaken, the writing for this show was handled by Riot Games directly. Studio Fortiche was only responsible for the animation (which is already a work of art)
Oh I just figured it was a collaborative effort of writing between riot and Fortiche. With Riot more so just handling the oversight and development of the show. But kudos are due to whomever was the writers. Which ever company they worked under lol
I think it's rather pointlessly pedantic to name companies instead of actual people who did the work.
Giving accomplishments to a multimillionaire company for a work of a minuscule amount of their employees (which they have a record of not treating their best) is kinda odd imo.
Sort of. One of the writers from Riot commented about the brilliance of the folks at Fortiche, and offered a direct example. Amanda Overton wrote the scene when Caitlyn and Vi were in the brothel, and Vi walks by Cait flirting with the lady on the couch. In the Arcane scene, Vi goes through an entire mood shift, with a great facial realization filled with emotion.. you can almost hear doors of potential opening in her mind just from her visual reaction in the scene, realizing that Cait is into women, and all the possibilities that opened up. None of it had to be said, and was communicated only through the visual shift in Vi's demeanor. Amanda's comment about that scene: All I wrote in the script here was “Vi raises an eyebrow, curious.” And what I got was an emotional revelation. I’ll never get tired of watching this.
Jinx's drawing on silco ashtray just reminds about me while im in my kid's time always tries to doodle on everything i see
How I feel about Cowboy Bebo is how Roger Ebert felt about Battlefield Earth and this quote sums it up: "The director has learned from better films that directors sometimes tilt their cameras, but he has not learned why." In Cowboy Bebop they saw what the original anime did with the story but did not understand why.
Arcane is so on so many levels the best thing to come out recently and in cases ever, however it's greatest achievement isn't dense tightly construction narrative, isn't game changing animation, isn't dialogue which at points it down right Shakespearean, isn't the amazing near perfect pacing. All those things are the best I've seen in years. Arcane's greatest achievement is from a cinematographic, editing and framing standpoint it is the best cinematic display of brilliants maybe ever. From use of negative space, to cuts not just on movement but on beats, mind blowing transitions, use of focal points and perspective.... and how it uses those 'cinema' aspects to world build, character build, and tell a story. From establishing shots to the use of color, from lens flares to lighting.... From big things like sweeping shots to small details. For example the scene where Viktor runs; notice how he falls behind the camera as he starts to stumble then regaining himself catches the camera and then slightly overshoots it; that adds so much weight and emotion. The mirroring of elements visually like Jayce and his mother being saved mirrored when reaches up as if Jayce was grasping the light of the Hextec Gate in his fist. The way Mel's emotional evolution is depicted from anger, to interest, to sympathy in a close up of her painting trowel painting strokes on the canvas without showing either's face when Jayce tells her he didn't duck out on her in a donk and dive but that Victor was dying; all told with a close up of her painting strokes.
The reason you can pause this at any frame and print it to hang on your wall isn't just the fantastic animation, it is the shot composition. The reason when you jump to a new scene you know exactly where you are with these incredible transitions from exit shot to establishing shot. Something I never thought I'd say about a TV show, much less an animated one: Had Stanley Kubrick, the Cohen Brothers, David Fincher, Kurokawa... shot this live action this would be considered their magnum opus. I geek on this stuff and in total this is the best 'cinema' I've seen.
I love this comment on so many levels. Thanks for the read my friend.
I think the Cowboy Beebop comparison is relevant, because it's a live action adaptation. And if you see the original, isn't a strange idea of a live action adaptation, still there are hours of comparison which proven that even with good coreography and cinematography, hard to match with animation. One of the big problem with some directors and writers is that they construct a scene like in a stageplay, they only focus on the dialogue. Animators on the other hand much more careful about to use all the colors in they palettes: sound design, music, color correction and cinematography. No wonder why many episode of the Mandalorian felt more impactful even with limited dialogue or facal expressions, because many crew members and Dave Filoni originally work on animated projects for decades. Of course I have honoroble mentions to the total opposet: Edgar Wright is somebody who learn from traditional film school, but his movies always have such a magnitude thanks to focus on never only one detail. Wes Anderson's visual style always feels like stageplay adaptations, but that give them a so surreal style which actually make even with the transitions with voice over interesting.
As I see there is a cultural shift, as critics and audiances alike see how difficult animation, and that is just another type of media. That stigma, what categorized cartoons as platform of kid's entertainment seem to be tilling.
I love the Dave Filoni example, it hits the nail on the head of doing more by being natural and using body language and context clues to tell your audience half of the story.
@@AFlyingWalrus thanks. Your video essay did the heavy lifting. Just remembered the Mandalorian's pilot. The other familiar case was "Fury Road", which wasn't animated film, however it wasn't written in the traditional way. They made based on story-boards. I think is important to left white holes during the storytelling, giving enough space for the audiance to fill with they own imagination. We don't need always explanations!
Whoever said animation is "just for kids" clearly has no idea what they're talking about.
I don't even play league and I love Arcane. Absolutely fell in love with the characters and the world. It takes really good writing to do that to an audience!
Dude, the instrumental of "What could of been" at the end of the video left me in almost as many tears as the end of the show, love to watch your content!
you said it all. it's just a wonderful show in so, so many ways, this being one of them. great video, man!
Thanks for the high praise
"This...this is a *true* villain."
Cuts to Mr. Clean advertisement.
That scene where Silco takes Jinx to that river is such a powerful scene when I saw it, it hit me that he was baptizing Jinx, he said she needed to let Powder die so in that scene she was christened Jinx in the same waters where Vander betrayed Silco.
Also the entire scene where it shows how Silco lost his eye I think is another good example of the show not insulting its audience like we don't know why Vander fought him but we know it was a betrayal and that Silco was changed by that. There is NO DIALOGUE we understand it just from the flashes that we see but a lot is left up to intepretation
It was a dark baptism. She isn't exposed to love (symbolised by clean water) but to anxiety (dark toxic waters of Zaun).
Where I felt that the most, and it was welcoming was when Silco says that Drecker was volunteer to test the Shimmer.... without saying that, just showing the chair he sat on few minutes ago... I was speechless !
I think the genius of Arcane is that it shows, THEN tells. For example, Jinx and Silco's father daughter relationship was obvious enough by episode 5, and then at the end of that episode Sevika straight up said "She's like his daughter". It's natural and fits perfectly into the specific scene it came from, but the reason it works is because "She's like his daughter" is simply a fact that Sevika and Ekko and plenty of the other characters acknowledge, because if they *didn't* acknowledge that, it would be weird at best and a plot hole at worst.
Similarly, there's the parallels between Silco and Vander that Silco openly acknowledges because 1: It's immediately relevant to his current situation and what he's thinking about at the time, and 2: It would be weird if he did NOT notice, because he knows ALOT about Vander and being completely ignorant would be inherently out of character for him.
They establish with the body language and subtext alone that Mel hates her mom and her mom cares about her but is also tough and strict, and THEN: "I can't believe you'd start a war just to cover your ass!" "I would set the world ablaze to protect our family." Putting in realism at the expense of immersion is counterintuitive and counterproductive, so Arcane doesn't insult its audience, but also always makes sure the audience still understands.
Well that Ekko and Jinx fight just got a LOT more interesting. The TimeBomb
This show I literally cannot stop watching it! The art, the story, the direction, everything about this show bring emotions I literally never thought I would have for a fictional show. The empathy you feel for ever character because I think as we grow up we realize there is more gray in this world than good and bad or black and white. There is no such thing as a true hero in the world because no one is perfect and we all here to do what we can do to live. This show capture that aspect to the t.
Everyone is looking to what they can to achieve what their good is. And Arcane captures that because there really isn't a BBEG, just broken characters doing what they think is right.
@@AFlyingWalrus That is why I see Arcane as the perfect example of a tragedy. At any given moment, anyone could have made a different decision and prevented so much pain, suffering, and loss of life. And yet, none of these characters could have made a different decision because it would go against their nature. The only possible outcome is this most tragic outcome because the characters are who they are.
Adding on to the long example.
I love the scene of Finn silently flipping his lighter when Silco orders Sevika to help pick up Renni's dead son.
She is literally "shoveling his shit" as he said she was going to.
He doesn't need to say "I told you so" or "this is what you have to look forward to" his silent look says all that and more.
It's not really subtle, but I still found it impactful.
For a topic maybe you could do Politics?
Maybe predictions on the ongoing plotlines?
Minor characters like Singed or Ekko?
This is my first video of yours (it's really good) so I don't know how much you know about League.
Heck you might not even know which character Singed is haha. (he does stick out though)
Well firstly. That is a really good detail that I forgot about.
Secondo. I can speak on that, but Necrit has already covered the politics of Runeterra far better than I can.
And thirdly. Well thank you, if you are interested I've made 1 other Arcane video so far about Viktors run that you can check out if you wish.
And a lore nerd/player of league of legends for 10 years now I would love to cover the smaller characters. As I would argue that Ekko is actually the only hero of season 1
Ive been watching so many videos about things star wars related and how they constantly are attacking fans, its a nice change to see an analysis of the opposite. I wish we could have more arcane quality shows
The dialog between Savika and Silco after the assasination attempt has so much subtext on top.
Silco: "Were you tempted?"
Sevika: "not for a worm like him."
what she means is we have the same goal and he was only interested in his own gain, but if someone shows up that is more promising than you i will change sides so get your shit together.
You missed at 6:10, Silco expressing shock and fear after the sword flashes. Just one instance of showing him being human, where you realize he's working hard for the control he has, and is not always certain at every outcome, with stress and anxiety in play which would be a normal response for the job he has. Then we see him regain composure. Instead of the typical villain is all knowing,
after season two the silco jinx hug cut so much deeper 4:50
I couldnt agree more. Movies and shows are the perfect place for the "show dont tell" rule. And yet its not utilized very often today. Dont get me wrong, i love good dialogue, but good writing requires that you can show what is going on without having to say it. Im personally dreaming of making a live action movie about a guy who in the start of the movie is released from prison. And then through dream sequences and hallucinations you learn not just how he ended up in prison, but what happened before everything went down. And im using dream sequences because they can say so much without a single word. And i want that to be a thing in cinema again. Saying alot without words. Like the Wardens final scene in shawshank. Or the many scenes in Avatar TLAB show with Zuko's scar being used as a symbol. Most notibly "Do you remember what happened last time you challenged a master?" Pans over onto Zuko's scar "I will never forget"
I just found your channel, I absolutely applaud your take on Arcane! I have watch the show from beginning to end at least four times now mostly because I’ve never seen a show not only written but portrayed in the way that this one was. Everything was so well thought out and executed. But now that I’ve heard your reaction I’m seeing stuff that I never saw before, thank you!
Arcane is what happens when you do good writing with diversity without having it take away from the characters and the story.
More writers should take note of this because Arcane is the prime example of how to do it correctly.
From the storytelling, to the animation style, to the frickin' amazing background music and songs! I think we all can agree that the season 1 finale was epic from start to finish with one of the most gut wrenching pieces of animated cinematics pushed even higher by Sting and Ray Chen's masterpiece
I just need to say how much I love Sevika thank you that's all
you put into words a lot of things I was feeling while watching each of these series.
To me, its interesting how they chose to write Silko (sp?). He was, from what I understand, a new character for the lore specifically to play a part in this series. They could have written him so poorly. I expected, based on trailers and ads, that he'd be the typical puppetmaster-gangster type, but the truth is, he was really sympathetic both as a character and to those around himself. It makes more sense that way, because how do you, say, amass a rebel army without a sympathetic front? He may have been a villain, he may have been using Jinx, but at the same time, the whole time, he loved her. You could see it in their physical closeness - like a little kid climbing in dad's lap. He reciprocated her physical affection in ways that you wouldn't normally see from the puppetmaster (because by default, the puppetmaster is usually coded as a total sociopath who is OK with losing pawns if it means winning the game, even and especially if its their surrogate-child). I'd love to see a deeper dive into the character Silko and how you interpret him and his relationships with his underlings and enemies.
Arcane is so good because it treats every character as a real thinking being, with feelings, emotions and goals. Characters in Arcane make mistakes, aren't perfect...and that's just great.
Their micro-expression game is S-tier. They do so much storytelling with just that alone. As you said "chef kiss".
Holy crap you guys. I try to reply to every comment on my channel but I'm having a hard time keeping up!
Thank you so much for all the comments, discussions, and kind words. If I haven't gotten to your comment yet just know I'm trying.
I've heard you loud and clear, more Arcane content is coming soon.
Cheers
This is one of my biggest take-aways from Arcane, but I hadn't seen any videos about it yet. So glad to find this!
Thanks for the kind words
Arcane does something I like to call "visual writing." Scenes, dialogues, and characters aren't explained to you, they are shown to you. You can pick up your own interpretations of what they're saying, or doing, or feeling based on their expressions, their body language, their tone. These are all key factors in any show. Keep this in mind if you want to create anything that uses a visual medium.
My goal is to somehow have the same visual storytelling as arcane in the book(s) I’m writing and this helped so much!
What saddens me is, the mediocre Squid Game was a worldwide phenomenon while not a lot of people are talking about the storytelling masterpiece that is Arcane.
They’ve already dismissed it as CARTOON
I have friends and family that refuse to watch the show on the basis that its a "cartoon"
After discussing it with them they straight up said, "any live action movie or show is better than cartoons because it's not acting."
I had no words...
@@AFlyingWalrus They must have thought that the voice actresses' stellar performances with Jynx and Powder were not acting...
yeah......"voice acting, isn't acting."
I don’t think so, since watch mojo didn’t put squid game in first place in the top 10 series of 2021, they put Arcane. :) so they did have recognition
1. Choose random Arcane episode
2. choose random timecode
3. screenshot
4. BOOM wallpaper
Honestly, I'm completely shocked that so many people have noticed as much as they have. They've all still missed a lot that was there, but they noticed far more than I expected. Doing so must've been even easier and simpler than I believed, because everyone is still pretty clearly just as stupid as I thought they were.
.
But, hey...that just means the makers of Arcane are even more talented than I'd first surmised.
There is a lot to unpack with animation, and as time goes and more seasons are released I'm sure we will see even more small details from the first season when we look back at it
It's not clear what you're trying to say? I can't tell if you're saying that you're surprised people noticed stuff that you did or something else?
That's why this show is so rewatchable. It is in some way even better on a second viewing.
@@NoMustang273 OP is surprised stupid people notice half of what he noticed but still feel superior for noticing more than most people (who are stupid)
@@Bubblegob Oh...