Arcane: The Boogeyman Paints In Pink
Arcane was first aired in November of 2021 and produced by Studio Fortiche Productions. The character and story come from the universe of League of Legends, using this universe as its primary original source. The story follows two characters Vi and Jinx and their journey through the undercity of Zaun and the top side of Piltover. After the emerging conflict reaches its apex their paths diverge after losing everything as they find themselves on opposite ends of a new brewing war. Now faced against each other they need to figure out either how to work together or get rid of the other.
Arcane is one of the shows that, as it currently stands, is a masterpiece in film design. I mean it when I say the amount of thought from this one show exhibits an entire lifetime of careful panning with how expertly it’s crafted. From the power systems to the politics to the glorious fight scenes, this show has everything. Now first off, this isn’t a show for your kids. It’s gritty, intense, and most importantly it’s violent. Very violent. But within good reason.
Arcane stands above the rest in terms of both aesthetics and story. Its visuals are breathtaking in ways that I never knew possible. The blending of pseudo-3D graphics with 2D special effects was a decision I hope more creators decide to make in the future. And from a design point, it’s genius! Think about the time and cost a 3D graphic of smoke would impact the show. It’s honestly hilarious because it’s minimal. That’s right it takes more time to do the smoke the way they did instead of 3D.
But why is that? It’s because the creators of this show knew it would look better. It would harken back to the roots of League of Legends. It’s a statement of blending the old with the new. And it’s done phenomenally well.
Arcane has this feeling to it that I haven’t seen elsewhere in fiction. It’s Grimdark, like Warhammer but far more real. Instead of focusing on confusing overarching narratives, it keeps it about a story between characters. Not events, they play a backseat. I mean proper and raw character storytelling, because when you focus on the characters then the story falls into place. Arcane nails this. And it makes sense, they have years of lore for these characters already established. Now they need to make them blend in a way no one has seen before.
Now Politics in anime tend to fall flat, they try to be philosophical without ever getting to that point. And typically, it falls through. But Arcane does an amazing job of making its politics simple and to the point. There is no need to write overreaching political standings that define a character! That sentence is important. Because there is a character that only thinks about his trade in episode four and voices this opinion. And it is clearly exploited by others in order to get his vote on certain things. We have seen this happen more than once.
It’s obvious. It’s blatant. But most importantly: It’s clever.
You don’t need to be complicated. The more you try to lecture your audience the more they don’t want to listen. So, show them how effective character X is by how they influence character Y without explicitly telling us that character X is smart.
There are many ways I can go on about this show and I think I will do more than one post especially now that season two is out. Keep in mind I haven’t seen season two yet and I may not even cover it. It’s not because I think it’s bad or less than season one. There are just topics in season two that I don’t exactly think will fit with the themes and ethics of this website.
But for now, I will leave with this Arcane post. Give the show a good watch. It’s meant to provoke thought. So go do some thinking.