Arcane: League of Legends, the animated series, had first released its show to the public eyes on Netflix on November 6th, 2021. The series is announced to have nine episodes, divided into chapters, so-called Act I, Act II, and Act III in order, and are being released as three-episode bundles over the course of three weeks.
Throughout the course of three weeks that Arcane (2021) has been released on Netflix, it has been the talk of the town for days and everyone’s talking about it everywhere. If you ask me how it feels after watching this show, I would say to you “go watch it and you will understand.” Yes, it is THAT good.
After years of making, Riot Games finally launched their new Netflix Original Show titled on-screen as Arcane (2021), in which the stories are based on one of the world’s most popular video games, developed by Riot Games, called League of Legends. The show presented a neutral representation to the audiences: welcoming the newcomers who are not League of Legends fans, and satisfying the royal League of Legends’ fans by creating interesting characters and their storylines in the series. Apart from that, there are so many elements that make Arcane (2021) one of the animation masterpieces, such as the strong but easy-to-follow plots, great original soundtrack, the richness of its motion-picture, most outstanding facial expression of the characters, and little details along with the story.
The world of Arcane is majorly divided as a parallel storyline as its divided cities. The movie is mostly set in the topside city called Piltover switching alternately with the underground city called the city of Zuan. The series portrays a turbulent world where it shows the conflicts between the wealthy and the poor. Due to the limited access to the proper resources, such as air, food, et al. Through the story, the audience could see how life is completely different between the surface city and the underground city. Thus, it leads to the boiling point when the people from the underground had enough being suppressed by the people from the city above. The tension between two different worlds will get more and more intensified from Act I to Act III
According to the evolution of technology, two enthusiastic scientists Jayce, known as the man of progress, and Viktor create “the Hexgates” (i.e. magic). The Hexgates allow those topside citizens the accessibility to the power of science, known as magic, in contrast, the people who live underground are being exploited by it, having no power to fight back and feeling more vulnerable. The city of Piltover becomes “The City of Progress,” and the city of Zaun becomes no less than “The Wasteland.” Some of the underground citizens start to question the topsiders by taking self-consciousness initially desires to live as a human being. Ekko (the Zauntie) said, “It’s not enough to give people what they need to survive, you have to give them what they need to live.” When there is barely anything left for underground people, they start to strike back at the authorities who have been oppressing them. This induces the revolution, the part where characters in the story have to make their own decision about which side or ideology they stand for.
“The world’s growing smaller every day, thanks to Hexgates. And now, we’re cut off. The topsiders are leaving us further and further behind,” said Silco
The representative of bipolarity – a system of world order in which the majority of global economic, military and cultural influence is held between two groups. As utopia Piltover gets bigger, on the other hand, dystopia Zaun gets smaller, in both power dynamic and the resources, the character named Silco who represented to be the leader of the city of Zuan start a plan to strike back the authorities by proposing his will to establish the nation of Zaun. It portrays an antagonistic or exploitative social relation: Silco said, “The sons and daughters of Zaun deserve more than their runoff.” The relationship between the surface and the underground which exists in a different dimension of social space creates the major conflict that affects every character in the show.
There are a lot more in the series that offer to the audience. One of the outstanding offers is character development. Throughout the show, the change of each character has been masterfully presented to the audience. The development is reasonable and relatable, it feels rather real. As a non-fan audience, I could feel along with each of the characters as they make their decisions by understanding their point of view or by their past. This level of character development somewhat feels so real as it isn’t scripted to be made. The complexities of the individuals and the plot are artistically crafted. Arcane truly offers the audience more than just a simple animation: its stunning visuals, outstanding soundtracks, and thrilling plots.
Arcane is an excellent show exceeding its overall scores by audiences and critics. After a week of releasing its final Act, it currently settles at 97% on the recommendation resources for quality entertainment called Rotten Tomatoes and the Tomatometer score. It’s indeed an iconic must-watch series of the year 2021.
What makes Arcane special? I would say that every element in it. It’s a 10 out of 10 series. The cinematographic spectacle combined with well-done plots. This series will blast your senses with the feeling of euphoria and satisfaction. Even though Arcane is based on the League of Legends universe, you would never feel even so little alienated from the plot or storyline because the show welcomes every newcomer to watch it with an open arm. You don’t have to have any background acknowledgment about League of Legends at all. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy a good animation. That’s all.
For those who become a fan, good news for you all because Netflix’s Arcane’s production team has already announced the season 2 on their official page. Stay tuned.
