**WARNING POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ‘ARCANE’ PART 1**
“League of Legends” is one of the longest-running and most successful video games of the modern era. Bringing in millions of dollars yearly and having millions of fans around the world, the game has become famous for its wide cast of over 100 playable characters. As part of its promotions, Riot Games, the company behind “League of Legends” would often release CG-animated trailers focusing on different characters in the world, most of which have received praise from fans and newcomers alike. As such, people were practically begging for Riot to create an animated series for the game, explaining the game’s surprisingly deep lore.
It seems as though those prayers have finally been answered with the first four episodes of “Arcane” being released on Netflix today, November 6. With the intent of setting up what will hopefully be a large-scale project for “League of Legends,” this initial batch of episodes starts the foundation of its first season and the story it hopes to tell. Luckily, though it does falter occasionally, its tale is one that is interesting and told well, having a handful of intense moments and comedy alike that combine into a great look into one of gaming’s most complex worlds.
In a world where magic initially brought mankind to its knees, this story focuses on the city of Piltover, where science is at the forefront of advancement and there is a silent conflict stewing between the top and bottom sections of the city. Within this conflict are multiple stories; there is Vi, the intense leader of a small group of misfit kids dedicated to making money for her adoptive family, there is Jayce, a disgraced noble trying to figure out how to infuse magic into scientific uses, and there is Vander, Vi’s adoptive father figure who keeps the peace in the lower half of Piltover to the dismay of some of the city’s more questionable figures. With political intrigue and the turf war inching closer to a head, these stories look to come together to change life in Piltover as its people know it.
As previously mentioned, Riot Games does beautiful things with its CGI trailers, and luckily that has translated to making a gorgeous-looking show. All of the locations feel unique and are beautiful to experience, from the pristine architecture of the Piltover Council to the grimier but cozy underbelly of the city. Moreover, all of the characters are easy to identify and fit their roles perfectly, with all of them having great details put into their appearances. The more I look at each character model, the more I noticed. The show hits the perfect mix of grit and color with its art style, being just vibrant enough to mesh well with the darker story it tells.
Speaking of that story, this first arc of the show proves to be a great intro to the show and to this world. “League of Legends” is set within an incredibly substantial world, filled with tons of named locations and backstory behind each of them. “Arcane” deciding to place itself within Piltover allows for multiple stories to come together at once, involving several of the game’s champions and telling their origin stories on a grander scale.
This allows for plenty of action sequences that have you on the edge of your seat, suspenseful moments where you do not know what will happen to certain characters, and even relaxing dialogue between characters. Although the pace of the show may be a bit slow for some peoples’ taste, the show lets you immerse yourself in this world, and it explains it well with minimal exposition and a great amount of visual storytelling. Very rarely was I bored with the show, and it deserves great merit for that.
While the world itself is a great time, most people are going to watch “Arcane” for one reason: the characters. With so much of the premise being on the origin stories of some of Piltover’s finest champions, gamers were concerned as to whether or not the characters they loved would be handled properly.
From my perspective, not only are they written believably, they are all engaging and a blast to watch. Vi is equally vulnerable due to her and her sister Powder’s dark past and a gradually improving leader of her crew, and seeing her grow in what she does for the people she loves is heart-wrenching. A great deal of this is due to Hailee Steinfeld’s performance, which is marvelous to watch. Some celebrities do not handle the transition from on-screen acting to voice acting, but Steinfeld made the jump seamlessly with how much she fleshes out Vi with each line of dialogue.
In fact, “Arcane” has impressive voice acting all around, from its major characters to side characters alike. Yuri Lowenthal plays the braggart thief Mylo with the right amount of annoyance and smarts, Kevin Alejandro shows Jayce’s struggles to legitimize his studies with as much dedication as possible, and Jason Spisak has the right amount of nuance and intimidation as the menacing and mysterious Silco. Though these three particularly stick out, nearly everyone in the show does a great job with their lines, aside from a few lines in the show. Everyone in this show was clearly dedicated to bringing as much life to their roles as possible, and they did that in spades here.
“Arcane” may only be starting out with these first four episodes, but it feels like it does so much so well in so little time that you will be craving more by the time the credits roll. With gorgeous visuals, strong characters, and a story that mixes great setups and payoffs with future plot hooks, “Arcane” shows off how ambitious it is and backs it all up. I can only wait with anticipation for the next batch of episodes and for another chance to explore this world that I have only known vague facts about for so long. Whether you are a newcomer like me or an avid fan of “League of Legends,” “Arcane” has the right amount of substance and style to make this a story most everyone can enjoy.
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