After 6 years of production, Riot Games & Fortiche Production have quite possibly created the greatest videogame adaptation to date. From the masterful writing to the absolutely stunning animation, everything about Arcane is brimming with polish and spectacle. This series is very clearly a love letter to League of Legends fans that have become invested in the League lore over the years.  Even if you’re a newcomer to League of Legends, Arcane does an amazing job of integrating the uninitiated.

As a League of Legends nerd myself, I was quite impressed by how closely Arcane stood to the in-game lore. They were able to flesh out the universe by introducing entirely new characters to our champion’s existing stories. With the help of the new, heavily involved supporting cast, the League champions were injected with shimmering personalities.

Arcane was first announced in October 2019 during Riot Game’s 10th-anniversary event. We didn’t hear a single peep about Arcane afterward until 2021. The official League of Legends YouTube page also released a music video (based in the world of Arcane) one week prior to the premiere. It serves as a sort of prequel to the series’ first act and a sneak peek into the art direction for the series. The music video does tie into the show in spots, so I recommend watching the video to give yourself more dots to connect.

As for the story of the show itself, Arcane does not pull any punches. It’s a coming-of-age story for a few Piltover League of Legends champions such as Vi, Jinx, Jayce, and Caitlin. There are a few more characters that are revealed over time, and a few more cameos that’ll make League fans giddy. The drama surrounding each of our characters is engrossing. There isn’t a character that shows up on-screen that’s boring. Each and every character gets their moment to shine and none are neglected.

They were also brought to life by superb voice actors that embodied the characters perfectly. Special recognition goes to Mia Sinclair Jenness for bringing a gripping performance as Young Powder as she enters the initial stages of losing her sanity. Harry Lloyd and Hailee Steinfield were other standout performances as Viktor and Vi respectively.

The pacing is near flawless with a constant flow of tension and release. I absolutely loved how every character’s motives and actions were contrasted against each other. From the very start of Arcane‘s 9 episode run, we see how similar and different the sisters Vi and Jinx are. As we get deeper into the series, there are many more payoffs from previous events that put these parallels on display.

Whether it’s approaching science cautiously vs progress at any cost, the lifestyle of top-siders in Piltover vs bottom-siders, enjoying the fruits of labor vs not having enough time to enjoy, and many many more, the series is full of parallels. Navigating this web of storytelling has been some of the most fun I’ve ever had in watching a show. It kept me engaged in the unraveling plot and gave me moments to geek out about.

Another thing I loved about Arcane was that there weren’t any exposition dumps about the world of League of Legends or the characters. The story just hits the ground running. They expect the audience to be able to keep up with character dialogue to form their knowledge of the Piltover’s undercity and topside, along with any other League of Legends terminology. This shouldn’t be a problem for newcomers since the dialogue is so entertaining and the League terms are kept to a minimum.

The French-based studio Fortiche Productions deserves all the praise and accolades. The presentation of Arcane was something special to behold. From the gold, utopian topside of Piltover to the smog-covered undercity, the locations were populated and felt lived in. Every texture was painted, grand amounts of detail were put into the character animations, and the 2D animated visual effects accentuated action movements. Every character’s animation makes them feel unique and really sells their personality.

Arcane is a stellar League of Legends show that rarely trips up on any level of production. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the creative liberties that were taken throughout the story. In the lore of League of Legends, Riot Games doesn’t really expand upon more mature themes and subjects. Arcane takes these mature themes and tackles them head-on in a way that fits the League canon.

The show a more mature take on League of Legends that puts its characters under the microscope for an intense character study. The bustling city streets and landscapes are as beautiful as the character designs and the writing is full of interwoven plot points. The only weakness of the show was that it left us on too big of a cliffhanger with many character stories unresolved. Season 2 has already been confirmed, but will we have to wait another 6 years to watch the follow-up?

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Arcane

10

Score

10.0/10

Pros

• Solid Character Study
• Great Storyline
• Flawless Pacing
• Fantastic Voice Acting
• Friendly for Newcomers

Cons

• Huge Cliffhanger Ending