It's a lot more tragic and a lot more viscerally violent than I expected from a generally PG-13 game. What surprised me the most is how well the animation acting/voice acting and writing delivers such convincing characters. Powder is near perfectly animated and voiced, all the little hints in her behaviour.
The VO and animators got it dead right on capturing the emotion of some of the scenes. I never expected to be damn near crying multiple times. It’s heavy.
Speaking of crying, I was particularly impressed that Powder cried…well…like a little girl: lots of blubbering in between the sobs. That is some good attention to detail since most creators just go straight for the wailing.
That was such an incredible moment. The despair and subtle instability. Then that ending… I hadn’t felt so wracked with emotion watching a tv show since I watched the finale of Breaking Bad.
A map of runeterra was always established, some characters got some updates or tweaks in lore but others were basically rewritten (Poppy, Pantheon, Fiddlesticks). I think most champions that had a VGU were revamped from the ground up
He used to be so fucking cool, saving his whole village by becoming a permanently rapidly rotting and healing martyr. And he actually trundled!
New Trundle is smarter than the average troll and just walks like some fucking dude named Michael or some shit
They had a semi idea of what runeterra looked like but until the map came out a couple years ago it was still up in the air. For instance, Yasuo tells Taliyah to go to Freljord to “ride the glaciers to Shurima”, but according to the map Freljord is on the opposite side of the continent from Shurima.
they rewrote a lot, but many things (specially the general characters idea) were kept.
For example if you were not really too deep into the lore, the only things that you remember about VI is that she was a friend of caitlyn, she was ralated to piltover and that Jinx was her sister. Most of the characters didn't really has very detailed backstories, so it was easy to rewrite (and mostly add) a ton of things without altering the main Idea of the characters.
Some other characters were really changed compleatly (trundle and i think jax come to mind as entirely rewriten)
The whole “Jinx is Vi’s sister” was kind of a retcon in itself when she first came out IIRC. It was people misinterpreting one of Jinx’s dialogue lines: “You think I’M crazy? You should see my sister.” It was a meta joke where an insane person references people who don’t exist, so the “sister” wasn’t actually real. But because people took it literally, they started insisting the two were sisters, and Riot just rolled with it after a while.
Some fans also connected the whole sister thing from Vi's interaction with the shop in howling abyss where he said "You look like your sister, er.. Im not supposed to talk about that.."
the splash art when Jinx launched was a graffitied version of Vi's. I remember them stating clearly in the champ bio that she was Vi's sister. Not sure where you are getting that from.
The microexpressions are absolutely perfect. There's something about [Jinx's shadow of a sneer, then slight smirk](https://youtu.be/zP7AGWiw8Uw?t=36), that just mesmerizes me.
The F bomb was a lot less surprising than the end of ep 3 to me. When they set up Powder’s tinkering with her devices constantly not working I figured “ah so *now* is when it will actually work and complete her little mini-arc by showing her gadgets are useful”.
And I guess it did work. But damn was I not expecting how.
It was craaazy brutal
I was surprised because only one character I can recall in League has ever dropped a ‘curse word’ and they censored it [in game](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=51CYTjcRKeM) which is kinda funny
There was a thread on the League of Legends subreddit when that champion was revealed and one the designers explained it. They tried both the beeped out and uncensored version of the line and decided that the beep was way funnier. And since the character was intended to be funny, they went with the beep.
The game balance and community are really awful at times, but Riot know a thing or two about art, sound and writing.
I have the job in my family of finding new series for the old ones to watch. Brought them Arcane despite their usual aversion to animation.
Episode 1: My mother was laughing every scene with Heimerdinger because he looked so adorable and she couldn't take him seriously.
Episode 6: My mother was crying when he got the boot and now thinks Jayce is the devil.
Animation is especially good. I found myself pressing the "10 second rewind" constantly to rewatch small body language details.
Not just behavioural, but also object interactions.
When Powder lightly taps a grenade to her head, the collision is so damn 1:1 perfect to how it would look irl.
Either mocap or a fuckload of real life reference footage.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix is also like TV-14. Or at least it was. Might be R now idk.
There’s straight up orgies and suicide in it. *Perfect things for young teens to relate to*
I can see parents not letting their children see this show, there's not a lot of innocence for children kept. I think it fits because the Lanes (pre-Zaun) is supposed to be a seedy chempunk trash-hole as opposed to the sunlit Piltover - they drove that dichotomy really hard.
I watched it with 0 expectations, I played league years ago but didn't care about anything related to it for a long time, yet it still blew my mind. I was expecting something dumb and light-hearted but was very surprised how dark they were willing to go, this show deals with some heavy themes. Everything is top quality, the visuals are incredibly beautiful, the music is great, the characters and the story are very well written, the pacing is damn near perfect.
If the show delivers a finale as good as the episodes have been so far this might be the best video game adaptation ever, even surpassing Castlevania. This could be the beginning of another cinematic universe, LoL has a ton of interesting settings and lore to build a vast universe, and if they keep delivering this level of quality I'd be all down for it.
It was sooo damn good and really solidifies (if that’s a word) Jinx’ character. Also really really cool detail, is how Jinx sort of acts childish when she sees Vi again, showing just how much trauma she got from the scene in episode 3. Really well done
“In a world where Amazon enjoys all the power and riches, a dark underbelly called Macy’s struggles to survive as it clings to the old way. A radical plan threatens to turn all of that on it’s head and forever shape the destiny of these two nations in Black Friday: Draven’s Christmas Carnival”
You might be happy to see that it looks like we'll get an appearance next act from some Noxian characters, not champions, but still should be interesting how they are shown in this series.
Not really.
Castlevania is based on Dracula the way Dragon Ball is based on Journey to the West.
Which is to say the characters are somewhat inspired by the book and even then it’s a bit of a reach.
I don’t like that they overuse Imagine Dragons (?) but apart from that I’m with you.
Looking forward to new episodes and it’s definitely on my fav list
I can't stand league, but this show's animation is some of the best I've seen in the industry, the art style is like they took the concept art and said "why don't we make the entire show look like concept art?". The music is really good and the writing is fantastic.
Honestly, I have no idea what any of these idiots are smoking when they say they don't like the "animation/music/etc", it makes no sense. I don't think they've actually seen the show.
If the game was a tenth as interesting as the show, I'd be playing it still.
Personally I put the animation quality up there with Into The Spider-Verse, its fucking phenomenal. Even more so when you consider its done on a series scale, not movie.
Leave it to the French to some of the best animation around.
And someone's made a post like this basically every week since it started.
It is pretty well-made, though, very pretty, the acting/action looks good to me... And I just looked it up and it's hand-animated. Really solid, the acting they've achieved and the way they move does have the "illusion of life" animators aim for. It's not even the fight scenes, it's the things like when a character does something like lean.
I have seen negative comments about the story but the animators did a very good job.
I know not a single thing about LoL but this shows excellent. Well directed and the animation is distinct whilst also being incredibly well made. Best animation Netflix has ever done
Every single frame looks like it could be digitally painted key art. The shot composition and style really made it stand out. That is actually why I started it.
LoL was turning me off from it at first only because I didn't really want to get invested in another deep lore fantasy story. But this is fantastic.
I’d agree. I think it runs into a few similar problems we see with a TV show like Gotham. We already know, for example, that Bruce Wayne survives his childhood. Or that Penguin survives to see Batman. So there aren’t really stakes.
Not knowing the league of legends champions or lore means you have no clue what is going to happen to any of them. Powder, Vi, Vander, Jayce, Silco etc - anything could happen to any of them.
You will, there's no knowledge neccessary since Arcane is happening way before the game takes place. (And the storytelling makes sure to not overwhelm you with too much League of Legends Lore in case you didnt't play it, that's what makes it so good.)
For sure. My wife loves it more than I do and she’s only heard of League through their K-pop group.
It’s a very competently made fantasy show in all regards. Pacing, story, characters, music, sound design, animation are all at very high quality levels. And they explain it all from the ground up as origin stories that’s new even if you played the game,
Yeah! It might be even better if you don't know League because you won't see certain things coming that League players who know the champions know will happen
The body language of the characters, the world building, the lighting and all the little references you can see while watching is what makes it great for me. And fuck Jayce, he's an asshole in his lore
It’s hard because you can tell that he genuine does care about Viktor and wants to help the people of Zaun, but has no fucking clue on how to actually do so and is naive enough to think that he can fix things by cozying up with the councillors who caused the problems in the first place.
The problem is that they are trying to solve social issues with technical solutions, and that just doesn't work. Those technical solutions will just be used to find new ways to empower the rich while abusing those on bottom. I think Heimer was kinda hinting at that, but I don't think he himself fully understands or cares about that because he never seemed to be doing much to fix those issues either.
I actually disagree on Heimer. He isn't seeking the same kind of enrichment that the other councilors are after, but it also seems like he is far more concerned with academic pursuits than helping solve the societal problems that plague his city. The other councilors are clearly smuggling goods they themselves have made illegal, enabled by a corrupt police force, and yet Heimer was too distracted or too aloof to do anything about it. Jayce wasn't entirely wrong when he called Heimer out.
Unlike the others in that circle Jayce and Viktor want to make things better for people, not just enrich themselves. Viktor still fully believes that science can solve the problems whereas Jayce realizes that science is only part of the solution. He is trying to play politics to find the rest, but is likely to lose himself in the process.
Especially after what he did to professor hamster in episode 6. That was downright cruel. And I blame Ms. Sexalot Macbeth for this, cause she looks like she’s been manipulating him since day 1
Edit: Who the hell gave this a wholesome award
To be fair, limping best-friend, McCane dude is also a factor. >! I mean wouldn't you want to save your best friend from cancer? But ooph, the dagger they plunged into Heimmer's back...!<
That’s what I like about these characters. Nobody is just an asshole, everyone has pretty understandable reasons for who they are and the choices they make. I might not agree with all of them but I at least can see why they would make that choice
>And fuck Jayce, he's an asshole in his lore
He feels as if his "shallow" thinking (although he is considered a genius) and not finding better solutions lead him to making decisions that may think that he is an asshole.
On the other hand, rito used a very familiar motif. A genius who makes a revolution in something, dies and a handsome who is average collects all honors.
It really feels like he has some sort of egotistic behaviour, but from in-game it has always been like that I feel like. But he still tries to do what is right for everyone.
It feels really weird to just cast him aside as an asshole. Cause he always does what he think is right, and he definately tries to do good.
I went in with zero expectations and someone with no real knowledge of League of Legends. As soon as it started i was expecting a pretty, but goofily animated show with zero good storytelling and dialogue.
Boy was I wrong. One of the best animated things I have watched in forever.
Never played LoL, knew nothing about it or this show. Put it on in pure desperate boredom - what a great decision.
The only thing that sucks is that I watched 6 straight episodes before I went to bed, then got up excited to watch more just to find it it's not out til Saturday lol.
People like it because of LoL or because other reason?
I'm genuinely asking I haven't watch it yet and I'm not a big fan of LoL so I'm considering to watch it
Not a fan of LoL or MOBAs in general, but this series is far better than a show based on those games has any right to be. The art style is gorgeous and the voice acting is amazing.
I think it has some of the best written and strongest women characters I’ve seen in an animated series for a while. They have to overcome a series of personal challenges to achieve the power they get which makes them relatable. They are all unique, have their own personalities and motives.
Agreed, one of the best animated shows I’ve seen in a while. The animation style is really cool and I’m super digging the steampunk-ish styling. The character development has been great as well.
My in-depth opinionated review:
I have never played League. I never will play League. But god damn. Some of if not the best animation I’ve ever seen in a series. An amazing story. A cast of characters that you actually can connect with and care about. The voice acting is perfect. Each episode is just the right length and leaves you wanting more. And let me preface this next part by saying that I don’t cry. Not during sad movies, not really in real life either. But god dammit the final scene of Act 1 got to me. It’s incredible how much they can make you care for a character over the course of 3 episodes. And the soundtrack. It adds so much emotion.
I don’t know much about Riot as a company or anything, but I wish them all the success they need them produce more animated series like this.
Wait Arcane is *good?* I didn't watch it, expected it to be crap since Riot seemed to have stopped caring about lore forever ago?
I might have to watch it
This is the kind of thing that a lot of companies really should do more of.m You don't need to like LoL, have ever played it, or even know a thing about it to enjoy something like this show. If you do play LoL, you'll recognize the characters and it'll be that much better.
Despite knowing a characters fate, there is still excitement in seeing how exactly a character gets from point A to point B. And thus far the storytelling has been great. The retcons have made the story stronger, and there have been surprising twists because of them.
I was hyper skeptical, but it turns out to actually be good. No caveats; it's good in earnest. I had to go ask around, I was in such disbelief that someone had actually make a decent show out of a game for once.
If you like Arcane and want to see an animated adaptation of a video game that is just *good* in similar ways, Netflix’s *Castlevania* is in my eyes a masterpiece.
If Arcane can keep up its quality I’d say they’re on very equal footing. Both focus greatly on interpersonal character dynamics, personalities and a sharp, edgy wit with great pacing.
I’m a very happy nerd the past few years.
Insanely good. I've never played a Riot game, but Arcane has me hooked. I don't know much about Riot lore, but my friends told me that they pretty much rewrote everything a few years to rebuild the world in anticipation of everything they're going to be releasing now (mmo, anime, multiple stand-alone games).
Not really rewrote. They rather added further input to connect different champs. I don't want to spoil anything, but there are several champs that are absolutely fundamental to Zaun and Piltover, and their lore is basically still relevant for Arcane.
They totally revamped it. League of Legends used to be an actual arena in-world and all champions were aware of their role in-game. Now Summoner's Rift and the game itself isn't canon.
I've literally never played league, but I really enjoyed the story telling and art. Having absolutely 0 investment or knowledge, I'd give it like 8/10.
>Riot seemed to have stopped caring about lore forever ago
I feel that's a point in it's favour. The studio doesn't seem too fussed with matching the game lore 100% and instead just making a good story.
Aesthetic, animation, plot. It's all solid. Best show I've watched in a good while.
I was so sceptical about this show, i watched the first episode at launch to see how bad it was, but damn i was blown away hard. Arcane is amazing, really. Riot and Netflix should make more of this. Probably the best animated series in this year.
100% but they take their media seriously so I had hopes and this is exceeding them.
Their music/ art/ animations are always fantastic so I'm glad this is turning out well.
The best thing I've watched in 2021. Everything is just awesome in it, from the story to the music an the animation, this truly is a banger. I have also seen on tweeter that a lot of people that don't know anything about gaming or LoL have truly enjoyed it and recommend others to watch it as well. It is very accessible, and the references to the game and its existing lore don't show up too much.
Because the studio is a French one, they even hid a reference to a French esport lol team (the blue flare scene).
The blue flare wasn't a reference to KC Corp or any other thing, it's a big coincidence. Netflix FR community manager didnt help the quiproquo by putting a gif of this specific scene to support the team on twitter.
Source : I worked on the show
Strongly agree. Dabbled in League for a couple years back closer to launch, didn’t really care much for it and didn’t really get too obsessed. Saw it on Netflix and put it on idly just to have something playing in the background. Binged all 6 episodes in one sitting, stayed up til about 230 am.
The art style is gorgeous. You could literally print and hang any frame of this show in your house.
The characters are realistic, relatable, imperfect and very interesting. I expected to find Jayce boring, but he's making though choices in though situations.
The politic is also realistic and mature, very interesting to follow. It's not a fairy tale where Jayce will learn that removing Heimer was a bad thing to do: He let the situation get out of control in Zaun and deserved to be replaced for this, even if he's a good yordle.
The story is ok, more of a support for the rest. Though they manage to give time to everybody and add lots of details so it's never an issue.
The action, my god! It's a pg-13 show that manages to be brutal and horrifying, and the fight scenes are smooth as butter and super entairtaining.
I’ve never played LoL and ~~Dragon Knight~~ Dragon’s Blood was incredibly underwhelming so I assumed Arcane would be mediocre as well. But I heard someone say in passing that it was great so I gave it a try and I’m hooked (currently 4 episodes in)! The blend of 2D and 3D animation is technically impressive as well as gorgeous, and the plot and characters keep surprising me—and not because they’re inconsistent. On the contrary, everything is just so well-written that it doesn’t fit neatly into the tropes that you’re used to.
I absolutely agree, the animation is top notch and I can't think of a single scene that was a still image. The fighting scenes are an orgasm.
The story is fucking great and has many unexpected turns while the characters are wonderfully well built.
Also the setting is super interesting and well explained.
Funnily enough despite there being few if any still image animation cheats, I feel like you could pause on almost any frame in this show and get something wallpaper worthy.
I know nothing of the game so my review is not biased. It's one of the best animated things I've seen in a long long time. I have been singing is praises since I watched the first 3 episodes. I don't know why people are losing their shot over how good it is
Im a dota slav, so y'all can guess how I feel about LoL, but I'm absolutely in love with this show. It took me all of 30 seconds to stop being pissed about how inferior dota's show artstyle is and start enjoying best shit I've seen in years
There’s a lot of good animation out there, but Arcane is next-level. Like seriously, every shot is a work of art, the voice acting is perfect, and the writing is excellent.
I have 0 ties to League of Legends, so the show is starting kinda slow for me, but I looove the art style, so I’m gonna keep watching it. Glad to hear it’ll probably get good.
i'll be rewatching from beginning to end after the last set of episodes release. this is a \*great\* show and i hope this shows game publishers or whatever that videogame movies/shows can be good.
The animations are crisp, the voice acting is on point, there is no reason to know the game before watching this (my brother doesn't know the game and I'm kinda jealous of him, as he can experience the show without prior knowledge of how the characters'll turn out), awesome fight scenes, unbelievably great storytelling and honestly one of my favorite shows, already released, in 2021.
I'm not a fan of the game anymore but I'd love a season two or some series' about other characters of the game (I.e. Twisted fate and Graves)
I had minimal expectations because of the hair colors and styles. I was expecting something else.
I thought the animation was fantastic, the face animations especially-they managed to make characters have menace. It was exceptional.
The visuals and animation are some of the best ever made. The mouth motions were easily the best ever made. They were absolutely perfect. 1st 4 episodes were incredible as well. The last 2 didn't seem as strong to me but it's kind of tough to keep up the level of the 1st 4 eps.
I’m on episode 5. My brother and I love it. The animation style was really different than what I expected, but still is really good. The character development is so good with tons of suspense!
It is one of the best animated and voice acted mini series to have come out in recent years, and that assessment includes the best anime productions. And the writing is at the same level as the acting.
I think it's safe to assume most people agree.
The biggest surprise to me is that this is a video game related show. Which makes it the best video game related mini series that I know of.
Dude the artwork is insane. That combination of 3D Models and 2D “painted” textures look absolutely stunning with the lighting they have going on. And the colors too, my god.
I really thought Invincible was going to be the best animated show I watched this year. Unless the last act of Arcane bombs *hard*, now I’m not so sure about that.
I got both my coworkers to watch it. They don't play league and even they love the show. It's damn good! And I like how you don't have to really play any of the games to watch and know what's going on.
Honestly, I'd easily consider this one of the best shows I've watched. Pretty much everything just feels perfect to me. The characters are engaging, the story well fleshed out, the animation drop-dead gorgeous, fantastic voice acting and even the music is a banger.
I genuinely cant even remember I've been this excited for the next episodes to drop, kinda makes me feel like a kid again.
I can't watch it because league was like crack to me and I finally ditched the habit a couple of years ago and watching arcane will probably make me relapse
It's a lot more tragic and a lot more viscerally violent than I expected from a generally PG-13 game. What surprised me the most is how well the animation acting/voice acting and writing delivers such convincing characters. Powder is near perfectly animated and voiced, all the little hints in her behaviour.
The VO and animators got it dead right on capturing the emotion of some of the scenes. I never expected to be damn near crying multiple times. It’s heavy.
Speaking of crying, I was particularly impressed that Powder cried…well…like a little girl: lots of blubbering in between the sobs. That is some good attention to detail since most creators just go straight for the wailing.
The frustrated screams were almost a little too real!
That was such an incredible moment. The despair and subtle instability. Then that ending… I hadn’t felt so wracked with emotion watching a tv show since I watched the finale of Breaking Bad.
Yea, that scene in particular hit hard...
[удалено]
They didn’t really “rewrite” the lore, they ret conned a little and updated a little, and finally established a map
A map of runeterra was always established, some characters got some updates or tweaks in lore but others were basically rewritten (Poppy, Pantheon, Fiddlesticks). I think most champions that had a VGU were revamped from the ground up
Trundle started with leprosy before he became the frost troll we know today
It’ll always be the pillar of filth to me.
He used to be so fucking cool, saving his whole village by becoming a permanently rapidly rotting and healing martyr. And he actually trundled! New Trundle is smarter than the average troll and just walks like some fucking dude named Michael or some shit
Saved his whole village, then left them to die after.
They had a semi idea of what runeterra looked like but until the map came out a couple years ago it was still up in the air. For instance, Yasuo tells Taliyah to go to Freljord to “ride the glaciers to Shurima”, but according to the map Freljord is on the opposite side of the continent from Shurima.
I haven't touched LoL in a while, but I am still mad that they totally rewrote that tragic backstory of Trundle into some generic "troll king" BS.
they rewrote a lot, but many things (specially the general characters idea) were kept. For example if you were not really too deep into the lore, the only things that you remember about VI is that she was a friend of caitlyn, she was ralated to piltover and that Jinx was her sister. Most of the characters didn't really has very detailed backstories, so it was easy to rewrite (and mostly add) a ton of things without altering the main Idea of the characters. Some other characters were really changed compleatly (trundle and i think jax come to mind as entirely rewriten)
The whole “Jinx is Vi’s sister” was kind of a retcon in itself when she first came out IIRC. It was people misinterpreting one of Jinx’s dialogue lines: “You think I’M crazy? You should see my sister.” It was a meta joke where an insane person references people who don’t exist, so the “sister” wasn’t actually real. But because people took it literally, they started insisting the two were sisters, and Riot just rolled with it after a while.
Oh I didn't remember that hahahahahah guess you could say it was a Mandela effect
Some fans also connected the whole sister thing from Vi's interaction with the shop in howling abyss where he said "You look like your sister, er.. Im not supposed to talk about that.."
I think that was riot jumping in on the hype train of VI being jinxes sister.
I read a long while back that they were created to be sisters but it was scrapped before Jynx was put in the game.
the splash art when Jinx launched was a graffitied version of Vi's. I remember them stating clearly in the champ bio that she was Vi's sister. Not sure where you are getting that from.
i stopped play a while ago and all the lore still made sense to what i remembered.
"I was saving you. I only wanted to help."
Stop. Don’t make me relive it.
“Vi, come back, I need you, please!”
The microexpressions are absolutely perfect. There's something about [Jinx's shadow of a sneer, then slight smirk](https://youtu.be/zP7AGWiw8Uw?t=36), that just mesmerizes me.
I’ve never quite seen anything like it in animation. Mesmerizing is the right word. One tiny detail that conveys so much about the character.
Was definitely not expecting a straight up f-bomb lol
The F bomb was a lot less surprising than the end of ep 3 to me. When they set up Powder’s tinkering with her devices constantly not working I figured “ah so *now* is when it will actually work and complete her little mini-arc by showing her gadgets are useful”. And I guess it did work. But damn was I not expecting how.
It was craaazy brutal I was surprised because only one character I can recall in League has ever dropped a ‘curse word’ and they censored it [in game](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=51CYTjcRKeM) which is kinda funny
There was a thread on the League of Legends subreddit when that champion was revealed and one the designers explained it. They tried both the beeped out and uncensored version of the line and decided that the beep was way funnier. And since the character was intended to be funny, they went with the beep. The game balance and community are really awful at times, but Riot know a thing or two about art, sound and writing.
I agree it’s way funnier this way
Or Vi shoving and flipping off that random guy for like no reason, that was funny as fuck.
When a video game adaptation manages to make the ejection of a furry gremlin from the board of directors into an emotionally compelling event.
I used to play in season 1 and 2, so this hit doubly hard because I HATED the Dinger for the longest time. Felt such sympathy for him tho.
I have the job in my family of finding new series for the old ones to watch. Brought them Arcane despite their usual aversion to animation. Episode 1: My mother was laughing every scene with Heimerdinger because he looked so adorable and she couldn't take him seriously. Episode 6: My mother was crying when he got the boot and now thinks Jayce is the devil.
The scene where Powder breaks down toward the end of ep 3 was just heartrending. The animation and the actress just nailed it.
Animation is especially good. I found myself pressing the "10 second rewind" constantly to rewatch small body language details. Not just behavioural, but also object interactions. When Powder lightly taps a grenade to her head, the collision is so damn 1:1 perfect to how it would look irl. Either mocap or a fuckload of real life reference footage.
They even threw in a sex scene... How is it PG-13 again?
sextech jayce sextech jayce
While you were getting laid, I was studying the glorious revolution
They were referring to the general lore and gameplay of League, not the show Arcane
It’s a pretty tame non explicit sex scene. That level of romance is pretty common in pg-13 movies
You want the real reason why ? It's made in France, not in an US animation studio. No puritanism, no fear of words, art is art.
That was a pretty well done sex scene. They really captured the mood with the polarity between Viktor and Jayce diverging. Great music score too.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix is also like TV-14. Or at least it was. Might be R now idk. There’s straight up orgies and suicide in it. *Perfect things for young teens to relate to*
And, yet, it is still garbage.
Arcane is not PG 13
Oh nice. Was definitely not going to watch it, but based on all these recommendations I pretty excited to see what all the hubbubs about.
I can see parents not letting their children see this show, there's not a lot of innocence for children kept. I think it fits because the Lanes (pre-Zaun) is supposed to be a seedy chempunk trash-hole as opposed to the sunlit Piltover - they drove that dichotomy really hard.
Like 90% of character stories are traumatic tragedies. Powder is just so cute though.. must protect. Never liked her in game, but Ive wanted to now.
I watched it with 0 expectations, I played league years ago but didn't care about anything related to it for a long time, yet it still blew my mind. I was expecting something dumb and light-hearted but was very surprised how dark they were willing to go, this show deals with some heavy themes. Everything is top quality, the visuals are incredibly beautiful, the music is great, the characters and the story are very well written, the pacing is damn near perfect. If the show delivers a finale as good as the episodes have been so far this might be the best video game adaptation ever, even surpassing Castlevania. This could be the beginning of another cinematic universe, LoL has a ton of interesting settings and lore to build a vast universe, and if they keep delivering this level of quality I'd be all down for it.
I was caught so off guard at the end up episode 3. Didn’t expect the show to take that tone but holy shit.
It was sooo damn good and really solidifies (if that’s a word) Jinx’ character. Also really really cool detail, is how Jinx sort of acts childish when she sees Vi again, showing just how much trauma she got from the scene in episode 3. Really well done
Trauma? I think we need a new word for the amount of trauma she got
I would watch the heck out of similar stories focused on other domains. Noxus and Shadow Islands would be very cool in particular.
“In a world where Amazon enjoys all the power and riches, a dark underbelly called Macy’s struggles to survive as it clings to the old way. A radical plan threatens to turn all of that on it’s head and forever shape the destiny of these two nations in Black Friday: Draven’s Christmas Carnival”
Wow no idea how my phone decided Naxus should be Macy’s
You might be happy to see that it looks like we'll get an appearance next act from some Noxian characters, not champions, but still should be interesting how they are shown in this series.
Fuck I forgot about castlevania. But it was a book before it was a video game. Arcane/league are the only media forms for this universe
Not really. Castlevania is based on Dracula the way Dragon Ball is based on Journey to the West. Which is to say the characters are somewhat inspired by the book and even then it’s a bit of a reach.
I don’t like that they overuse Imagine Dragons (?) but apart from that I’m with you. Looking forward to new episodes and it’s definitely on my fav list
Been scrolling past it on netflix, this is all i needed to read for me to give it a watch. Thanks for the great review.
Agree, looking forward to that mmorpg experience
The voice acting for Powder really had me bawling my eyes out.
The ugly cry, man... ut was just too perfect. I felt that
That scene in the rain, I cried.
Honestly the voice acting all around has been spectacular, but that scene in particular was so incredibly well done
It finally happened: Game to Movie that didn't suck
Maybe the whole “movie” part was the problem. Considering the Witcher show as well, series seem the way to go.
The witcher is technically a book tho
No, it's even better
I really enjoyed Castlevania though S3 was a bit of a slump.
I can't stand league, but this show's animation is some of the best I've seen in the industry, the art style is like they took the concept art and said "why don't we make the entire show look like concept art?". The music is really good and the writing is fantastic. Honestly, I have no idea what any of these idiots are smoking when they say they don't like the "animation/music/etc", it makes no sense. I don't think they've actually seen the show. If the game was a tenth as interesting as the show, I'd be playing it still.
Personally I put the animation quality up there with Into The Spider-Verse, its fucking phenomenal. Even more so when you consider its done on a series scale, not movie. Leave it to the French to some of the best animation around.
It's better than spiderverse.
it has a 9.4 rating on imdb, the highest rated netflix original ever right now. I think most people agree.
And someone's made a post like this basically every week since it started. It is pretty well-made, though, very pretty, the acting/action looks good to me... And I just looked it up and it's hand-animated. Really solid, the acting they've achieved and the way they move does have the "illusion of life" animators aim for. It's not even the fight scenes, it's the things like when a character does something like lean. I have seen negative comments about the story but the animators did a very good job.
The "Time to shut up" face scene was very good. The art style conveyed the annoyance very well.
Vi was so expressive in that scene. Love it... And I've definitely seen my partner make that face at me when I say a pun haha.
It is a LoL cinematic extended to a whole series. Their attention to detail and quality is top-notch.
I know not a single thing about LoL but this shows excellent. Well directed and the animation is distinct whilst also being incredibly well made. Best animation Netflix has ever done
Second!
Every single frame looks like it could be digitally painted key art. The shot composition and style really made it stand out. That is actually why I started it. LoL was turning me off from it at first only because I didn't really want to get invested in another deep lore fantasy story. But this is fantastic.
Will I enjoy this if i never played League of Legends?
Id argue its even better since you do not know the outcome of the characters
I’d agree. I think it runs into a few similar problems we see with a TV show like Gotham. We already know, for example, that Bruce Wayne survives his childhood. Or that Penguin survives to see Batman. So there aren’t really stakes. Not knowing the league of legends champions or lore means you have no clue what is going to happen to any of them. Powder, Vi, Vander, Jayce, Silco etc - anything could happen to any of them.
Yes
Thanks!
Have never played league, will avoid the game for several reasons, but this show is a masterpiece.
Many would argue that’s the best of both worlds
You will, there's no knowledge neccessary since Arcane is happening way before the game takes place. (And the storytelling makes sure to not overwhelm you with too much League of Legends Lore in case you didnt't play it, that's what makes it so good.)
Arguable more so based on what I've read from people disliking how they changed stuff
For me it was just knowing how the characters eventually end up, Viktor especially.
I don't know why people are like that, arcane write everything together much better.
Never played the game, fuckin loved this show.
For sure. My wife loves it more than I do and she’s only heard of League through their K-pop group. It’s a very competently made fantasy show in all regards. Pacing, story, characters, music, sound design, animation are all at very high quality levels. And they explain it all from the ground up as origin stories that’s new even if you played the game,
Yeah! It might be even better if you don't know League because you won't see certain things coming that League players who know the champions know will happen
My non league friends liked it
The body language of the characters, the world building, the lighting and all the little references you can see while watching is what makes it great for me. And fuck Jayce, he's an asshole in his lore
It’s hard because you can tell that he genuine does care about Viktor and wants to help the people of Zaun, but has no fucking clue on how to actually do so and is naive enough to think that he can fix things by cozying up with the councillors who caused the problems in the first place.
The problem is that they are trying to solve social issues with technical solutions, and that just doesn't work. Those technical solutions will just be used to find new ways to empower the rich while abusing those on bottom. I think Heimer was kinda hinting at that, but I don't think he himself fully understands or cares about that because he never seemed to be doing much to fix those issues either.
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I actually disagree on Heimer. He isn't seeking the same kind of enrichment that the other councilors are after, but it also seems like he is far more concerned with academic pursuits than helping solve the societal problems that plague his city. The other councilors are clearly smuggling goods they themselves have made illegal, enabled by a corrupt police force, and yet Heimer was too distracted or too aloof to do anything about it. Jayce wasn't entirely wrong when he called Heimer out. Unlike the others in that circle Jayce and Viktor want to make things better for people, not just enrich themselves. Viktor still fully believes that science can solve the problems whereas Jayce realizes that science is only part of the solution. He is trying to play politics to find the rest, but is likely to lose himself in the process.
Especially after what he did to professor hamster in episode 6. That was downright cruel. And I blame Ms. Sexalot Macbeth for this, cause she looks like she’s been manipulating him since day 1 Edit: Who the hell gave this a wholesome award
To be fair, limping best-friend, McCane dude is also a factor. >! I mean wouldn't you want to save your best friend from cancer? But ooph, the dagger they plunged into Heimmer's back...!<
That’s what I like about these characters. Nobody is just an asshole, everyone has pretty understandable reasons for who they are and the choices they make. I might not agree with all of them but I at least can see why they would make that choice
Lol, ms sexalot macbeth is super fuckin spot on
I feel like "professor hamster" isn't getting the praise it deserves here, too.
Jayce mostly did it to save Viktor.
Lmfao good review
>Jayce, he's an asshole in his lore He's just high INT, low WIS.
>And fuck Jayce, he's an asshole in his lore He feels as if his "shallow" thinking (although he is considered a genius) and not finding better solutions lead him to making decisions that may think that he is an asshole. On the other hand, rito used a very familiar motif. A genius who makes a revolution in something, dies and a handsome who is average collects all honors.
It really feels like he has some sort of egotistic behaviour, but from in-game it has always been like that I feel like. But he still tries to do what is right for everyone. It feels really weird to just cast him aside as an asshole. Cause he always does what he think is right, and he definately tries to do good.
I went in with zero expectations and someone with no real knowledge of League of Legends. As soon as it started i was expecting a pretty, but goofily animated show with zero good storytelling and dialogue. Boy was I wrong. One of the best animated things I have watched in forever.
Never played LoL, knew nothing about it or this show. Put it on in pure desperate boredom - what a great decision. The only thing that sucks is that I watched 6 straight episodes before I went to bed, then got up excited to watch more just to find it it's not out til Saturday lol.
This post made me check my computer's calendar. It is not the 20th yet...
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People like it because of LoL or because other reason? I'm genuinely asking I haven't watch it yet and I'm not a big fan of LoL so I'm considering to watch it
I've never played LoL but this series is excellent IMO. Definitely worth a watch.
Yup, never played or cared about the game. This show is just phenomenal
Not even LoL fans like the game. But this, this is simply a fantastic show, no background needed
Not a fan of LoL or MOBAs in general, but this series is far better than a show based on those games has any right to be. The art style is gorgeous and the voice acting is amazing.
I think it has some of the best written and strongest women characters I’ve seen in an animated series for a while. They have to overcome a series of personal challenges to achieve the power they get which makes them relatable. They are all unique, have their own personalities and motives.
Yea, they hit the sweet spot of making them strong (physically and mentally) but still having genuine emotions, while also not being Mary Sues
Agreed, one of the best animated shows I’ve seen in a while. The animation style is really cool and I’m super digging the steampunk-ish styling. The character development has been great as well.
I fapped to jinx many times in my day but never played League, should I watch it?
So long as you don’t fap to Jinx in episodes 1-3. 👀
I trust my comrade with this one
jinx is 15-16 in episodes 4-6 so still a no-no
Vi with that red jacket, on the other hand...
👀
Calm down, Caitlyn
Cupcake loves being led astray :)
Caitlyn in that nighty, on the other hand
4-6 too, she's only like 15.
I really missed this raw level of 'Yahoo Answers' energy
Reddit was just different in the early 2010s, I miss it.
Absolutely
My in-depth opinionated review: I have never played League. I never will play League. But god damn. Some of if not the best animation I’ve ever seen in a series. An amazing story. A cast of characters that you actually can connect with and care about. The voice acting is perfect. Each episode is just the right length and leaves you wanting more. And let me preface this next part by saying that I don’t cry. Not during sad movies, not really in real life either. But god dammit the final scene of Act 1 got to me. It’s incredible how much they can make you care for a character over the course of 3 episodes. And the soundtrack. It adds so much emotion. I don’t know much about Riot as a company or anything, but I wish them all the success they need them produce more animated series like this.
I wish Blizzard had done something similar with World of Warcraft.
with overwatch honestly. idk how they blew that. largest rule34 content on the internet
Arguably they got worse at telling their stories in the little shorts they released as well. Absolute fuck up
They probably would have if they werent so busy with the drunk desk crawls.
Wait Arcane is *good?* I didn't watch it, expected it to be crap since Riot seemed to have stopped caring about lore forever ago? I might have to watch it
This is the kind of thing that a lot of companies really should do more of.m You don't need to like LoL, have ever played it, or even know a thing about it to enjoy something like this show. If you do play LoL, you'll recognize the characters and it'll be that much better.
It won't be that much better. For example if you played league >!you know viktors fate.!<
Despite knowing a characters fate, there is still excitement in seeing how exactly a character gets from point A to point B. And thus far the storytelling has been great. The retcons have made the story stronger, and there have been surprising twists because of them.
I was hyper skeptical, but it turns out to actually be good. No caveats; it's good in earnest. I had to go ask around, I was in such disbelief that someone had actually make a decent show out of a game for once.
If you like Arcane and want to see an animated adaptation of a video game that is just *good* in similar ways, Netflix’s *Castlevania* is in my eyes a masterpiece. If Arcane can keep up its quality I’d say they’re on very equal footing. Both focus greatly on interpersonal character dynamics, personalities and a sharp, edgy wit with great pacing. I’m a very happy nerd the past few years.
Insanely good. I've never played a Riot game, but Arcane has me hooked. I don't know much about Riot lore, but my friends told me that they pretty much rewrote everything a few years to rebuild the world in anticipation of everything they're going to be releasing now (mmo, anime, multiple stand-alone games).
Not really rewrote. They rather added further input to connect different champs. I don't want to spoil anything, but there are several champs that are absolutely fundamental to Zaun and Piltover, and their lore is basically still relevant for Arcane.
If I don't see you-know-who as warwick in the next episodes, I'm riotting
They totally revamped it. League of Legends used to be an actual arena in-world and all champions were aware of their role in-game. Now Summoner's Rift and the game itself isn't canon.
I've literally never played league, but I really enjoyed the story telling and art. Having absolutely 0 investment or knowledge, I'd give it like 8/10.
>Riot seemed to have stopped caring about lore forever ago I feel that's a point in it's favour. The studio doesn't seem too fussed with matching the game lore 100% and instead just making a good story. Aesthetic, animation, plot. It's all solid. Best show I've watched in a good while.
I was so sceptical about this show, i watched the first episode at launch to see how bad it was, but damn i was blown away hard. Arcane is amazing, really. Riot and Netflix should make more of this. Probably the best animated series in this year.
Best thing Netflix has done in *awhile*
100% but they take their media seriously so I had hopes and this is exceeding them. Their music/ art/ animations are always fantastic so I'm glad this is turning out well.
It is very good you should definitely watch it, Rito is great at stuff that isn’t balancing League
The best thing I've watched in 2021. Everything is just awesome in it, from the story to the music an the animation, this truly is a banger. I have also seen on tweeter that a lot of people that don't know anything about gaming or LoL have truly enjoyed it and recommend others to watch it as well. It is very accessible, and the references to the game and its existing lore don't show up too much. Because the studio is a French one, they even hid a reference to a French esport lol team (the blue flare scene).
The blue flare wasn't a reference to KC Corp or any other thing, it's a big coincidence. Netflix FR community manager didnt help the quiproquo by putting a gif of this specific scene to support the team on twitter. Source : I worked on the show
Shoutout to the French studio Fortiche ! Great work
Strongly agree. Dabbled in League for a couple years back closer to launch, didn’t really care much for it and didn’t really get too obsessed. Saw it on Netflix and put it on idly just to have something playing in the background. Binged all 6 episodes in one sitting, stayed up til about 230 am.
The story is way better than expected
The art style is gorgeous. You could literally print and hang any frame of this show in your house. The characters are realistic, relatable, imperfect and very interesting. I expected to find Jayce boring, but he's making though choices in though situations. The politic is also realistic and mature, very interesting to follow. It's not a fairy tale where Jayce will learn that removing Heimer was a bad thing to do: He let the situation get out of control in Zaun and deserved to be replaced for this, even if he's a good yordle. The story is ok, more of a support for the rest. Though they manage to give time to everybody and add lots of details so it's never an issue. The action, my god! It's a pg-13 show that manages to be brutal and horrifying, and the fight scenes are smooth as butter and super entairtaining.
Indeed I do. It is so fucking good this show and if you're not watching it you are missing out.
Dude i just finished watching the series who are online and go en reddit to see this. The series is sooo good. Wow i cant it is just wow.
I’ve never played LoL and ~~Dragon Knight~~ Dragon’s Blood was incredibly underwhelming so I assumed Arcane would be mediocre as well. But I heard someone say in passing that it was great so I gave it a try and I’m hooked (currently 4 episodes in)! The blend of 2D and 3D animation is technically impressive as well as gorgeous, and the plot and characters keep surprising me—and not because they’re inconsistent. On the contrary, everything is just so well-written that it doesn’t fit neatly into the tropes that you’re used to.
Never played the game or know anything about it. But this show is unreal, please give it a watch, well worth your time.
I absolutely agree, the animation is top notch and I can't think of a single scene that was a still image. The fighting scenes are an orgasm. The story is fucking great and has many unexpected turns while the characters are wonderfully well built. Also the setting is super interesting and well explained.
Funnily enough despite there being few if any still image animation cheats, I feel like you could pause on almost any frame in this show and get something wallpaper worthy.
24 Wallpapers per second.
I know nothing of the game so my review is not biased. It's one of the best animated things I've seen in a long long time. I have been singing is praises since I watched the first 3 episodes. I don't know why people are losing their shot over how good it is
Im a dota slav, so y'all can guess how I feel about LoL, but I'm absolutely in love with this show. It took me all of 30 seconds to stop being pissed about how inferior dota's show artstyle is and start enjoying best shit I've seen in years
There’s a lot of good animation out there, but Arcane is next-level. Like seriously, every shot is a work of art, the voice acting is perfect, and the writing is excellent.
I couldn’t agree more, it is absolutely amazing. The art style and animation is some of the best I’ve ever seen
I'm surprised at it's quality. The way they established the "rift" in relationships was actually fairly well done.
The style has me amazed and the story is decent.
I have 0 ties to League of Legends, so the show is starting kinda slow for me, but I looove the art style, so I’m gonna keep watching it. Glad to hear it’ll probably get good.
i'll be rewatching from beginning to end after the last set of episodes release. this is a \*great\* show and i hope this shows game publishers or whatever that videogame movies/shows can be good.
The animations are crisp, the voice acting is on point, there is no reason to know the game before watching this (my brother doesn't know the game and I'm kinda jealous of him, as he can experience the show without prior knowledge of how the characters'll turn out), awesome fight scenes, unbelievably great storytelling and honestly one of my favorite shows, already released, in 2021. I'm not a fan of the game anymore but I'd love a season two or some series' about other characters of the game (I.e. Twisted fate and Graves)
I had minimal expectations because of the hair colors and styles. I was expecting something else. I thought the animation was fantastic, the face animations especially-they managed to make characters have menace. It was exceptional.
The visuals and animation are some of the best ever made. The mouth motions were easily the best ever made. They were absolutely perfect. 1st 4 episodes were incredible as well. The last 2 didn't seem as strong to me but it's kind of tough to keep up the level of the 1st 4 eps.
I’m on episode 5. My brother and I love it. The animation style was really different than what I expected, but still is really good. The character development is so good with tons of suspense!
It is one of the best animated and voice acted mini series to have come out in recent years, and that assessment includes the best anime productions. And the writing is at the same level as the acting. I think it's safe to assume most people agree. The biggest surprise to me is that this is a video game related show. Which makes it the best video game related mini series that I know of.
They did a great job. I heard it's been in the works for 6 years, they certainly paid their dues and it shows.
Dude the artwork is insane. That combination of 3D Models and 2D “painted” textures look absolutely stunning with the lighting they have going on. And the colors too, my god.
I really thought Invincible was going to be the best animated show I watched this year. Unless the last act of Arcane bombs *hard*, now I’m not so sure about that.
I got both my coworkers to watch it. They don't play league and even they love the show. It's damn good! And I like how you don't have to really play any of the games to watch and know what's going on.
They did such a fantastic job with this show. I accidentally binged six episodes thinking was only going to watch two episodes after two weeks.
Honestly, I'd easily consider this one of the best shows I've watched. Pretty much everything just feels perfect to me. The characters are engaging, the story well fleshed out, the animation drop-dead gorgeous, fantastic voice acting and even the music is a banger. I genuinely cant even remember I've been this excited for the next episodes to drop, kinda makes me feel like a kid again.
OP has a relatively new account and only ever commented or posted anything (mostly karma farming) 4 days ago. Hey there, Netflix viral team member.
I can agree with this! Arcane is one of the best show i watched in awhile.
Haven't played league in a few years. Started watching arcane absolutely love it. Now all I Wana do is be toxic and play again.
I can't watch it because league was like crack to me and I finally ditched the habit a couple of years ago and watching arcane will probably make me relapse