League of Legends: Arcane

You know, there have been a few adaptations done by Netflix, some good, some bad, some needing a little more work done to them and so forth, however, Arcane is none of them, Arcane is on a high roll and I will gladly give my opinion on how I felt about this series to its entirety.

Firstly the art style is marvelous, it’s not only illustrated uniquely but it brings the characters to life, it’s as if you are watching a real person, not a drawing. There isn’t an episode in the total of 9 that doesn’t visually arouse the mind. Whether it’s the Ekko and Jinx clash, Vi and Jayce vs Silco’s men, or The Firelights entrance, everything you see makes you want more.

The story started slowly in Act 1, consisting of the first 3 episodes in which we are introduced to Vi and Powder who later during the series changes her name into “Jinx”. Their parents were killed during a revolt in which the underground people were fed up with the people of Piltover looking down on them, making them feel like second-rate citizens when in truth, Piltover and the underground are on in the same. This revolt was led by none other than Vander, the man who took in both Vi and Powder after their parents’ deaths.

Vander himself is pretty straightforward, he is the type of lad who’d do anything to keep his family and friends safe, even at the cost of himself. it is mentioned that before he met Vi and Powder, Vander was an unhinged man leaving blood wherever he’d been but that all came to an end when he saw the results of war, losing his comrades and brother in the process. “In war, no one wins”. This leads him to make a change for the future of the underground, starting with Vi and Jinx.

While Vi is the tomboyish, daredevil, always willing to take a leap of faith, Powder was the younger, innocent sister who feared to fight and hurt others. The change was not immediate but it had been gradually been growing with the need to be accepted by her brother Mylo who constantly belittled her at every turn, calling her a jinx as every time they did a score with her things would always go wrong.

Seeing the grown-up Ekko and Jinx clash at the end of episode 7 was spectacular with the graffiti art style, and the back and forth between the past and present left us speechless, all I could do was keep rewinding, I couldn’t get enough of it. Even though Ekko said to Vi that the old powder she knew is gone, I think he still had faith that she was still in there somewhere just like Vi.

This series is full of emotional torture, every character or should I say Legend has a deep reason behind every action they make, whether it’s greed, power, oneself, or for their city, every decision they made weighted it leading them to who they are today. I remember when I first started playing League of Legends and started hearing the rumors between the jealousy of Viktor and Jayce, in the back of my mind I liked Jayce because I saw him as a hero but now after seeing the series, I find myself liking Viktor more, because of his hardships, because I’ve seen where he grew up and where he wanted to go, Viktor just wanted to help the people.

Silco, the man we are introduced to as a villain who’d kill anyone who gets in his way is first brought to our screens as a man that either gets his way or eliminates anyone he considers his enemy yet you can’t help but seem to like his character. At the end of Act 1 we find out that he and Vander are brothers and as he was younger like Vander had nothing but anger towards the Piltover high society but that changed when he met Powder, he saw himself in her and adopted her as his daughter after Vander’s death. Silco quickly became my favorite character by Act 2 and 3, he couldn’t give up the one person everyone told him to throw away all because she experienced the same pain as himself, betrayal from your sibling.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, this is by far the best animated series I’ve ever seen on Netflix, the world-building is beautifully presented, the characters are intriguing and deep, the art style is amazing, and pacing on act 1 is sow however from act 2 it’s nothing but high skies. Can not wait for season 2.

Thank you for reading…