League of Legends: Arcane

This is a western animation based on the ever popular League of Legends game.

Arcane is what I’d call a proper rollercaster ride. From episode 1 to 9, it will glue you to your seat, and I mean that. With absolutely stunning visuals and mind wiping plot lines, there isn’t much you can point your finger at for this show.

Well, you may point your finger at your screen, screaming “What?! Nooooo!”

I sure did.

……………………..

The animation is based on League of Legends. It is a game I haven’t played because quite frankly I am too old for it. I also no longer enjoy competitive online games. I am tired of competing in real life. I am not going to complete in a virtual world. I’ve had enough of it.

… Moving on, as the show begins you see two young female siblings who are trying to get by what appears to be a fucked up world. The cyberpunk theme place is call Zaun, an undercity of rebels and, well, those who are just trying to survive. Zaun is ruled by Piltover that sits above them. Piltover features a clean looking, refined, advanced society. It looks like an ideal city to live. Of course, everything has a shadow. The shadow of Piltover is Zaun.

Zaun is perpetually shrouded in the shadow of Piltover, displaying a a stark contrast.

Over the course of the story, people of Piltover and Zaun will fight each other for dominance. That is basically the gist of Arcane. Meanwhile, the show breaks a lot of cliches. It breaks norms. It will likely break your expectations as well, in good ways.

While the main protagonists are Vi and Powder (Later renamed to Jinx), the supporting characters of this show shine really brightly as well. Plot wise, there isn’t much, if any, you can find faults.

Animation wise? This animation looks unique. It is a good mix of 3D animation with 2D effects at times. Movements are absolutely smooth. Actions are thrilling, and its accompanying music is flawless.

In fact, Arcane has been the first one where I felt I didn’t need anymore when I was done with episode 9. The plot is executed so well that I could imagine vividly, so vividly, what would happen next. Of course, I wanted more, but I didn’t need a season 2 to see what would happen.

As someone in the animation would say, it is “perfect”.

I implore you to watch this. It does not matter whether you know League of Legends or not. I don’t, and it was a fucking wild ride. The nine episodes of 40 minutes each flew by like a click. And by the end of episode 9, my finger was pointing at the screen with a facepalm on my face. I screamed, “What? Nooooo!”

You are perfect.