Arcane: A Tale of Two Cities
Netflix’s animated TV series Arcane is a stunning masterpiece in visual storytelling.
As someone who dabbles in animation shows from time to time, I certainly didn’t expect anything noteworthy from a show based on the popular game franchise League of Legends. After all, most game to on-screen adaptations aren’t that successful (with a few notable exceptions like The Witcher).
Yet it somehow surpassed my expectations. Frankly, I was spellbound by every episode in this action-adventure series.
The visual animations are phenomenal: the animators working on the show paid incredible attention to create exquisite detail in every aspect of the story. By meshing together computer-animated graphics with digitally hand-painted backgrounds, they created evocative illustrations that rival the pages of a graphic novel.
This is especially apparent in character and setting; the shift in focus between both interior and exterior shots in each scene creates a balance between realism and cartoon. I became mesmerised by certain scenes that conjured such an illusion. It made me wonder whether I’m watching a story or viewing a piece of art.
The setting projects a steampunk vibe that is mirrored between the progressive city of Piltover and its undercity Zaun. Not only that, but the discord between the cities is ever-present in the class divide highlighted throughout each shot. The gloominess of Zaun’s seedy districts is a stark contrast to the prosperous Piltover’s gilded high-rise architecture.
Additionally, the animation style introduces the audience to a compelling story. A plot that follows the coming-of-age narrative between the protagonists:the orphan sisters Jinx and Vi who grow up in the underbelly of Zaun. From a writing perspective, it’s a fascinating character study to observe two sides of the same coin. Both share a harrowing background, yet their traumatic histories somehow propel them onto different trajectories from one another.
This gritty plot is beautifully amplified by the texture of characters; complex facial movements and raw emotion enhance the conflict brewing between Jinx and Vi as the story progresses into adulthood. This is especially evident when you’re later exposed to the bright neon scribbles in Jinx’s head - a reflection of her inner turmoil and broken mind.
As the story unfolds, each city deals with its own warring disputes: the rising potential of Hextech research in Piltover (technology that combines science and magic as one), to the distribution of “Shimmer” – a drug that transforms humans into monsters. Despite the dissonance between these cities, it emphasises the widening gap of inequality between both worlds and escalates the tension further.
Not only does Arcane manage to capture all of this lore in a tightly-woven narrative between a cast of eclectic characters, but it excels in the splendour of worldbuilding. Having no prior knowledge of League of Legends as I watched this series, I found myself enraptured by the beautiful animated lore unfolding throughout the story.
Clearly, this nuanced approach to animation is unparalleled in terms of storytelling. If you’re usually not interested in animation, the dedicated attention to detail in this series is enough to beguile you into bingeing the entire show.
Finally, the beauty of Arcane is that you don’t have to be aware of any of the characters’ extensive backstories from League of Legends. The series doesn’t overemphasise elements of the game, allowing it to thrive as its own tale. It’s not trying to achieve a bucket-list for the fandom, but rather Arcane enthrals the audience with stellar storytelling and an unprecedented animation style.
My Rating:
5/5 Bookmarks
Day 19 - This piece was posted as part of the 31 Days of Content Challenge that I undertook in March 2022.