What makes the most expensive animated series of all time so captivating?
Even if you’ve never seen the show, there is no denying that the name Arcane sounds familiar to many of you. There are many layers behind the multi-Emmy-winning show Arcane that make it the cinematic masterpiece we see on the screen today. With its second and final season ending less than a week ago, much attention has been brought back to Arcane, with it hitting the number one watched show on Netflix consistently and currently, at the time of writing, remains in the top 5. So, what makes Arcane such a fascinating piece of media?
Stunning Animation and Unique Art Style
It’s possible that when Arcane is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is its animation and art style, which has become an integral part of the series. The series uses both 2D hand-drawn art and 3D animation to react to its iconic striking art style. The art itself is highly detailed, with beautifully sculpted faces showing each character’s unique facial features. Due to semi-realism in its art style, facial expressions are portrayed perfectly on screen, enhancing the series’s emotional aspect and the characters’ emotions. For a series with many emotional moments, this is crucial; it helps uplift these scenes and gives a clearer insight into what the characters are experiencing at this moment. The power of animation is how everything is purposefully added in; every body movement a character makes takes hours to animate and pose, every look a character makes is planned carefully to portray their feelings, and every scene is meticulously planned out. Arcane is definitely a series that uses this to its advantage, with its animators and writers paying close attention to the body language of each of its characters to portray them correctly.
One reason why animation is a beautiful way of storytelling is how artistic expressions can be used to show the character’s mental state or to enhance emotions, which Arcane does beautifully. This is especially seen through the eyes of Jinx, arguably the most crucial character in the series. Impact frames are used in the animation to enhance the feeling of chaos and disorder to the viewer as they are bombarded with vague and childlike drawings over the more eloquent animation of the show. These impact frames provide a visual insight into the character’s heads and how they view the world, adding more to their development and making the reader understand them more.
The Carefully Planned Development
The series’ development was announced in 2019, with a release date in 2021. However, Riot Games had been working on the series since 2014, a whole five years before the announcement. So why was there such a delay in announcing the show?
There are many possibilities as to why Arcane’s development was announced so late; however, it is known that Arcane gave its scriptwriters a long time to ensure the story was well planned, which paid off in the long run as season 2 only took 3 years to be made as opposed to the long create of season 1. The series was a massive undertaking for Riot Games, one they were not expecting to take as long as it did. However, they did not rush the scriptwriters and animators, which is apparent in the final series, as much care was put into everything. Hand-drawn backgrounds are just one way in which the clear care of the animators paid off. Arcane itself has a $250 million USD budget for both seasons, making it the most expensive animated series ever made. The animators were paid well for their work and created the visually stunning masterpiece we see today.
The Captivating Story
Arcane is a series based on the hit game League of Legends. However, as much as the series has the base of League of Legends and shares some of its characters, it is much more than just a spin-off. The series is written in such a way that the story is cohesive and completely understandable if you have no, ultimately, no knowledge of the game. I myself know very little about League of Legends and have never played that game. However, the series is equally as enjoyable and impactful as someone with no background. However, for long-term fans of the game, the series will only build off it.
There is no denying that the worldbuilding of the series is incredible, with the series taking place in a gorgeous city with stunning visuals. However, there is also a much bigger message behind Arcane’s setting: a clear theme and plot point; the difference in social and economic class. Arcane takes place in Piltover, a shiny and remarkable city known for its scientific progress; however, the series starts in a place called Zuan, otherwise referred to as the Undercity, as it is located directly beneath Piltover. This place is filled with polluted and barely breathable air, and children, such as our protagonist at the start of the series, struggle to find food and are forced to steal. This apparent divide builds a dystopian world right from episode one, showing a clear divide between these two places despite ironically once being considered one place. Classism is a clear theme throughout the series, with those from the Undercity being clearly looked down upon in Piltover and vice versa. This sets up many exciting character dynamics in the show, such as a guard from Piltover and the daughter of a council member and from a wealthy family working with a criminal from the Undercity whose sister is the very same person they are hunting down. Or two scientists who are both as intelligent as each other and working on the same project, but one is from Undercity and the other isn’t.
It’s Well-Developed Characters.
The story itself has beautiful worldbuilding, such as the place they’re in and the technology of the world, Hextech. However, the series is equally character-driven. Each character in the series received beautiful development throughout the two seasons, making them more likable and realistic. Particularly in season 2, many characters received spotlights and their own arcs, which fleshed them out much more.
Jinx is considered to be the protagonist. However, she is not always the focus and is nothing like the traditional ‘good hero.’ In fact, she is a criminal from Zuan and is manic and impulsive. She does horrible things in the series and is the cause of many character deaths. However, she is not a villain, more so a tragic character. She suffers from PTSD and survivor’s guilt after she, as a child, accidentally caused the death of her family and her sister left her. In the end, she becomes the symbol of revolution for those from the Undercity to have equal rights and to have a better life, even though that was never her goal. This is just a very brief summary of how the characters are written in a captivating way.
There are no pure ‘good’ characters in Arcane, which makes them so intriguing. Each character has flaws and mistakes, which they need to overcome throughout the series.
Just a few examples are:
- Vi has to face the consequences of abandoning her young sister, Jinx, and being extremely aggressive to her after their family dies. Her actions lead to Jinx becoming who she is in the series, a dangerous and manic criminal.
- Caitlyn faces grief of her mother’s death from an attack Jinx caused, forcing her to become an unfit commander due to her grief, young age, and anger. This leads to her becoming elitist and prejudiced towards the undercity, even toward Vi, who is extremely close to her.
- Jayce and Viktor deal with the repercussions of creating Hextech, which causes many deaths when in the hands of the wrong people. Jayce himself becomes extremely arrogant due to the fame of creating Hextech, and Viktor strays down a villainous path.
All of these show how flawed and human these characters are and how, much like in our world, in Piltover, no one is perfect. This is a critical message for Arcane, which will be discussed later. Even though all of these things are clearly flaws, they all had some form of justification from the character’s point of view:
- Vi was filled with grief and anger at her family’s death, which her sister inadvertently caused
- Caitlyn was filled with rage towards her mother’s killer and was forced into a high-ranking position unprepared.
- Both Jayce and Viktor believed they were helping the world progress with new technology, unaware of its power. Jayce also had to fill the shoes of someone who suddenly gained fame for his creation, and Viktor believed he was doing the right thing by using their creation, Hextech, to its fullest by making humans perfect.
The fact that each wrong act has some form of justification only enhances the depth of these characters, making the show even more well-built. However, despite these faults, each character overcomes them in one way or another:
- Vi reunites with her sister and is forgiven for what she did
- Caitlyn overcomes her prejudice and chooses to do the right thing over being the commander.
- Jayce and Viktor destroy Hextech together, with Jayce regaining his humility and Viktor realising his wrongdoings.
In the end, each character faces the results of their actions head-on and grows from them. This draws more people to the series, as characters are always an integral part of a story and need to be written to carry that level of importance.
Its Wide Range of Diversity
One reason Arcane has become so widely loved is its diverse cast of characters. Its characters represent different ethnicities and backgrounds without being stereotyped, allowing anyone watching the show to have someone to relate to in one way or another. This ranges from socioeconomic class and culture to disabilities. Often, characters with disabilities are misrepresented, if represented at all; however, Arcane contains a disabled character, a mute character, and an amputee within its core cast, widening its diversity beyond the typical race, which is done perfectly. As much as a diagnosis for the protagonist Jinx is heavily debated, it is clear that she, without a doubt, has PTSD and Survivor guilt, adding to the neurodiverse representation. Whether she has any other mental health conditions is unclear. Different accents are also used, ranging from American to British to Eastern European. None of the diversity in Arcane is forced, and it feels entirely natural for the viewer, showing the care put into the characters. It is also important to mention the music within Arcane and how songs sung in other languages or made by international artists are used in the show, some including songs sung in French and Mandarin and a song made by a famous Korean band.
In conclusion, there are a plethora of reasons why Arcane is so highly rated. Being the first show in IMDb history for every episode in a season to be rated above a 9, it’s no surprise that a lot of work went into the series, from both the writers and animators. There is also exciting news for the future, as three new spin-offs have been announced to follow the Arcane saga. Thank you for reading my article.
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