Netflix has recently been home to a huge slew of films and TV shows that have upgraded its viewer watch ratio by a huge margin. While previous examples like Strangers Things and the Marvel television series like Daredevil and The Punisher (when they were still ongoing) were pretty heavy hitters for the time, nowadays Netflix has a pretty good line-up of options for people to check out from live action shows to Squid Game, The Queen’s Gambit, Sex Education and Hellbound, to some more experimental animation shows and movies like Wish Dragon, Vivo, Blood of Zeus, She-Ra, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Maya and the Three and the show of discussion today (the one that literally floored everybody upon release), Arcane: League of Legends. Acting as a retelling of an origin story for two of its lead characters, the show focuses on the social distance and unbalance between the higher-up technologically advance city of Piltover, and the repressed squalid undercity of Zaun; how Piltover is hoping to further their reach with other parts of the world through scientifically enhanced magic governed by Jayce Talis (voiced by Kevin Alejandro) and his partner Viktor (voiced by Harry Llyod), while Zaun tries to cause an uprising and fight against the totalitarian system and constant enforcer attacks, leading to a black market scheme involving a drug-like toxic that causes people to go rabid, helmed by SIlco (voiced by Jason Spisak). In between this oncoming war are the sisters Vi (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld) and Powder/Jynx (voiced by Mia Sinclair Jenness/Ella Purnell), who are forced to adapt in Zaun, yet a choice encounter on a fateful day causes a dramatic shift that puts them both on new directions, that could ultimately lead to devastation. Based on the highly popular MOBA (multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game, League of Legends had enough expansive world-building, characters, and lore that the people behind it, Riot Games, announced an animated TV series for Netflix. It’s safe to say that this series bucked the trend for the ‘’video game adaptation curse’’ because Arcane is simply masterful.

Created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee, one of the best benefits this show has was that it was helmed by the company that helped make the games, so it has an overseeing connection back to its source that can keep things consistent and feel in spirit to what the games represented. What’s even more amazing about this is that the show actually doesn’t rely on past knowledge in order to get into it. The show clearly has characters, locations, and past events and history that is obviously tied into the franchise’s backstory, but it isn’t required to fully enjoy the show, and what is on display is pretty spectacular. How this show weaves this tale of social distress between two factions sounds so familiar, but is delivered in such a dramatic, even Shakespearean manner that it really utilizes these basic elements to the best of their abilities. It brilliantly sets up earlier in its lifespan a formula and framework that the show could follow, only to destroy that expectation and continually grow from this unknown angle. This tug between recognizable tropes and unexpected twists works wonders in keeping the audience expecting one thing but giving them something else, keeping them on their toes and never truly knowing what’s going to happen (even if you gather it won’t end well). While fantastic writing helps lead a standard set-up into greatness, where this show shines the most is in its visual storytelling. There’s hasn’t been a show or even film in a long time to handle its visual storytelling so immaculately and fantastically as it does in this show, with a lot of this credit deserving to go to the show’s two directors Pascal Charrue and Arnaud Delord. It’s details and visual metaphors help the visuals feel more personal and important and makes the viewer feel more intelligent for being able to pick up on it without it coming across as hammer-on-the-head obnoxious. For how well the show handles its pacing and balancing both sides of the city in an even manner, the show maybe could have benefited from having one more than its nine-episode layout. While no time feels wasted and everything talked about is well done, engaging, and pushing something forward, certain aspects feel like less time was given to them and could have been given more to really make them shine.

League of Legends is home to a large array of characters, so it makes sense that they’d be able to pull from their sources to place them in a show where they can thrive, and they can get more in-depth characterization than in brief character synopsis. A majority of the cast is handled very excellently; ones that are picked straight from the games seem to follow pretty loosely to their backstories in this show and it works for great television. A lot of the characters have great distinct designs with unique physical attributes and memorable powers, a lot of them feel lived in and pre-established even before being introduced so a lot of the secondary characters even feel developed and fleshed out without much screen time. They toggle with the morality spectrum in a way even a lot of other shows don’t do so well; when a character does a good or a bad thing, it doesn’t always reflect their personality. The characters cemented in the bad can have redeeming (even charming) elements, and those in the good category can take part in some pretty messy shady stuff, but neither makes them go from one to the other, it always feels like a balancing act, which is more unpredictable, more refreshing, and more interesting. Thankfully characters from both Piltover and Zaun are interesting, well written and are given moments of complexity and likability, meaning that one side isn’t better than the other; the council within Piltover offers a nice stance on the usage of unfiltered magic within an expanding world (imagine the Jedi council, but actually well written) and the Zaun populace do a good job of looking grimy and unkempt, but are still filled with hopeful people who you actually want to route for; both sides just feature unlikeable people who create a bad stereotype for the other to hate. If there is a stand-out character in this incredibly well-handled cast, it would be Jynx. Her deranged personality mixed with her incredibly tragic backstory, fractured mental state, wonderful design, the complicated but engaging relationship with her sister, and Ella Purnell’s brilliant voice acting make her easily the best role in the show.

The series’ visuals (as well as the entire product itself) was a collaborative effort from Riot Games and French animation studio, Fortiche Productions, who were known for making cinematics for Riot Games, and their unique usage of combining both 2D and 3D animation to create a pleasant and distinct visual style. It pays off in loads to have them involved in this project, not only because of the previously mentioned connection, but also because it results in this being a fantastic looking series. The level of detail that comes from this style works great for character work, action sequences, and establishing environment-building. Its popping with colors that stand out wonderfully throughout each section of the world from vibrant hot pink, muggy shadowy green, harsh yet warm orange and even psychotic child-like blue (of all things), it’s a unique choice of colors which results in a unique looking product. The action is so fast paced, so precise and well-choreographed, yet somehow still so clear and energized. Thankfully, it handles the emotionally harsh moments just as effectively as the frantic aggressive moments; it’s a series that isn’t holding things back and can be pretty intense, gritty, and unpleasant in moments, so the moments that make a connection with people need to hit, and they do because of how the style emulates this artistic flair, but also this sketchy roughness to it, it’s a perfect mix of a clean and messy style of animation, almost like a Don Bluth product. It’s using the benefits of both 2D and 3D to create something special; the 2D’s ability to produce raw emotion through simple line-work really allows for great fast facial expressions as well as unique moments of action and surreal imagery, and the 3D allows for more dramatic angles during the fight sequences and allows the world to be visually memorable. Both Piltover and Zaun look fantastic and feel like fleshed out environments.

Arcane is truly something special and to think that it not only came from a game-based property (considering how often those can fall flat) but also that its exclusivity for Netflix might mean some don’t even know about it. It’s safe to say that considering this got an 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, it definitely clicked with a lot of people that have seen it, and as more coverage comes from it, a lot more people are going to pay witness to its genius. Even if people have no idea what League of Legends is, this is a fantastic series with a great story, characters, and visuals. If this was a stand-alone single season series, it would be worth the watch, but to know that there’s more coming, it’s certainly going to have people itching for more. This is an absolute watch when you get the chance and see how this in only the span of nine episodes, entered the realm of legends.

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