Written by Cain Noble-Davies
Value: $16.00
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cast:
Hailee Steinfeld, Kevin Alejandro, Jason Spisak, Remy Hui (voice cast)
Intro:
…is incredibly good and definitely in a class of its own, both as a video game adaptation and as a general animation work.
The curse of video game adaptations has been slowly but surely fading over the past few years. As with all movie categories, the bad ones never completely go away (hello, Five Nights at Freddy’s). But after years of dealing with the likes of Double Dragon, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, and Uwe Boll’s numerous hacking jobs, audiences can realistically watch. We expect quality from these characteristics. There’s Edgerunner, The Last of Us, the ever-better Sonic movies…and then there’s Arcane. And following its release on home media (with season 2 scheduled for later this year), it’s worth considering within the context of a larger trend.
Arcane stands out for two main reasons: its treatment of original IP and its presentation. As for the former, this is clearly an outlier due to its fascinating bespoke world-building and character work (rather than inherited from League of Legends). Sure, the game itself doesn’t inherently have a plot, but that hasn’t stopped filmmakers and showrunners from doing so, either later or first.
As the show explores class disparities between Piltover and Zaun, the sibling rivalry of Vi and Jinx, and a cautionary tale about the cost of scientific progress, it requires no familiarity with the original games and feels very refreshing. You can Even if you don’t know what a “MOBA” is, you’ll be able to feel the surprisingly intense drama unfolding.
When it comes to exhibitions, this presentation stands out not only from other game translations, but also from almost every animation work currently in circulation.
French studio Fortiche has consistently collaborated with LoL developer Riot Games on this property over the years, bringing their signature painterly approach to 3D animation to coincide with the release of an eye-catching music video. , and breathes raw, expressionistic life into everything visible. From gorgeous golden sunsets to heart-wrenching etchings on the brink, from quiet melancholy to high-energy surrender, this film always looks impressive. Even in a post-Into the Spider-Verse animation market where maximalism and eclectic experimentation have become part of the mainstream, the film holds its own with equal parts surreal magic and sophisticated technology. are.
Seeing the creative process in bonus features on the Blu-ray release of the first season deepens the experience. Seeing Fortiche’s design principles firsthand is a fascinating look behind the curtain, as are the vibrant testimonies of the writers and actors who brought this world and its people to life. However, the most obvious aspects are gradually shown through the “Destruction of the Rift” series, where showrunners Christian Linke and Alex Yee get into trouble during production.
In what is considered a golden age of video game-based media, viewers may easily take for granted that works like this even exist. To the outside eye, this is a Netflix show based on a game with an obnoxious fanbase, designed to run on the most basic potato PC, and whose previous major TV work was Rabbids. It was created by the animation studio and game studio that originally created Invasion. Neither has attempted anything like this before, although brotherhood-like workplace cultures have already come under the microscope. It would be easy to see this with the League of Legends subtitle and dismiss it as just another piece of tie-in content. How good is that?
Well, Arcane is incredibly good and definitely in a class of its own, both as a video game adaptation and as a general animated feature. It’s still too early to tell whether this production will be able to stand up to the gilded halls of all-time greats in either category (as any Game of Thrones fan will tell you) season can change everything about a show’s reputation). With its expressive animation, masterful use of the soundtrack, and deeply absorbing writing, it’s more than enough to give you hope that it might finally take its place. There is. But regardless of what happens next, season 1 can lay claim to being one of the more adventurous and ultimately successful attempts at making viewers feel the heart beneath the pixels. Masu.
