Arcane Season 2 debuts today with the first episodes of the Act I in a three-act final chapter on Netflix. It lives up to the beautiful imagery and deep story of Arcane Season One, which debuted in 2021.
Based on Riot Games’ League of Legends, Arcane is an animated steampunk action-adventure TV show that combines multiple art forms and has an unflinching adult storyline. The show was one of the most successful animated shows on Netflix ever, and Arcane Season 2 goes live starting today with more episodes appearing over three weeks.
The art is even better in this series as it has a now-familiar mix of 2D and 3D-animated imagery where just about every frame looks like a work of art. While this blended art style was fresh in 2021, it still looks stunning in 2024. The show had a dark story and strong characters, especially among the women in the story. FYI, I’ve got some minor spoilers ahead.
And there are now more scenes that are amassed from still images that are more like scenes out of comic books. At first, I didn’t like this because it broke the fourth wall of the story for me. But they grew on me as I felt like I didn’t really want to see yet another fight seen depicted in a typical way. The music tracks were also great and they turned scenes into music videos that also conveyed the story.
There were parts where the Season 2 animators got carried away with being too stylish, and I felt like the shorter episodes (often around 37 minutes) skipped over some major plot points. Season Two commits one particularly sin by shortchanging a big scene about two lovers.
It was out of character, for instance, for two main characters to kiss each other and then later treat each other as if nothing happened. We find in the very next episode, the very next time we see one of them, that one of those characters is sleeping with another minor character. What are they trying to tell us with these two scenes that have no explanation in between them, except some more animated battles? I thought to myself, “Oh yes, they got together in the 3D scene. But they must have broken up in the manga part.”
What I like about Arcane is that it depicts class warfare in a dark way. The elitist citizens of Piltover, the above-ground city, lord it over the lower class rabble who live in the sewers, a full underground city known as Zaun. Two Zaun sisters, Vi and Powder, become alienated over the tragic murder of their father.
Powder, renamed, Jinx falls under the spell of the evil Silco and becomes radicalized against the upper class while Piltover seeks to suppress terrorists underground. The other sister, Vi, mourns her lost family but finds friendship with Caitlyn, one of the officers whose duty is to protect Piltover against the likes of Jinx.
The violent suppression of Zaun — its ugly underground and its ragtag collections of criminals, survivalists and ordinary folks — gains your sympathy for the oppressed. The upper classes seem oblivious to toxic waste below ground and the creation of an addictive substance that spreads through the underground. The violence between the two classes spirals out of control and it becomes hard to tell who the good and the bad sides are. This civil war is brought home in the sister versus sister storyline.
The series closed with Jinx firing a rocket, enfused with magical Arcane tech, at the leadership council of Piltover, with the viewers left in the dark over who survived. Season 2 picks up as the dust settles on the explosion and the survivors contemplate war against Zaun — or a hunt for Jinx alone.
Caitlyn moves into her role as a vengeful enforcer, while Vi also believes Jinx has gone too far and must be brought to justice. There are new characters and some who we thought were gone but somehow come back.
In 2022, Arcane won the award for Best Adaptation at The Game Awards. It won nine Annie Awards and it won four Emmy Awards as well including Outstanding Animated Program. I’ve watched six of the episodes of Arcane Season 2. I’ve enjoyed it so far but have yet to get to the finale. Act II premieres on November 16 and Act III – the final act – premieres on November 23.
The second season carries on this dark story of irrevocable enemies. It’s a good story, but it’s also hard to follow. There are a lot of characters that you have to remember from the first season and the relationships between them as well. There is no recap, and you have to head to Wikipedia to remember the characters and the plot from before — or just rewatch Season 1.
The show was created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee. Executive producers include Linke, and Riot Games’ founders Marc Merrill and Brandon Beck. The animation studio is Fortiche Production. Voices include Hailee Steinfeld (Vi), Annie Award winner Ella Purnell (Jinx) and Katie Leung (Caitlyn), Reed Shannon (Ekko), Amirah Vann (Sevika), Mick Wingert (Heimerdinger), and Ellen Thomas (Ambessa), and Brett Tucker (Singed) among others to be announced.
Fortiche Production directed and produced the animation, under the direction of the founders Pascal Charrue and Arnaud Delord.
I believe that this team has found a way to elevate League of Legends, a game that is fundamentally about action, into greater awareness among non-gamers with the gift of a an epic dark story, awesome imagery, and deep characters that are memorable. It is yet another way to elevate gaming culture to mass culture. This is the theme of our GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games event on December 12 in Los Angeles, on the same day as the Game Awards. You can use this code, HG24DEAN100, for a $100 discount.
I’m looking forward to the final episodes.