I had a total blast with League of Legendsā Netflix series, and all I knew about that game was it being a MOBA that exists.
You probably have read a lot of glowing reviews about the prequel League of Legends series. Six years in production, this series is visually a 10/10 spectacle that focuses on few of gameās playable characters (from like 150), particularly on sisters Vi and Powder, the latter being destined to become the crazy anarchist Jinx. Their conflict is set in Piltover, which is divided on upper and lower city. The second main plotline focuses on Jayce, a young inventor from the upper city, that wants to improve lives of people by discovering how to harness the power of magic through science.
Letās say already this is hands down the best video game adaptation ever, maybe excluding some visual novel adaptations that I didnāt watch. But when it comes to adaptations of mainstream video games, Arcane is the undisputed king. Sure, it is a prequel, but LoL is the same type of game like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat or Overwatch ā basic premise first, character designs next, any serious thoughts about lore and story only after a commercial success. Who cares today that Raiden was going to destroy the Earth, upon his possible victory over Shang Tsung? Neither you should care about things that Arcane changes in LoL lore, actually good writers are in charge now. My past most favorite video game adaptation was the adaptation of Super Robot Taisen OG2, but even that was a title that was by fans for fans, not for general audience. Thanks to its stellar world-building, Arcane is new audience friendly and to enjoy it you donāt need to know anything about League of Legends (MOBAs are not my type of game, so initially I didnāt even know about Jinx).
But Arcane isnāt just a groundbreaking video game adaptation. Itās a groundbreaking western animation that has a chance to change the landscape of the industry, and introduce to the mainstream Seinen-like type of animation. Itās a full-fledged steampunk fantasy title that touches such motives as corruption and price of technological progress, and how it impacts society and human relationships. Itās the kind of series that they tried to make with Legend of Korra, but without hack writers. When mainstream producers on the west think you canāt sell to its audience serious and mature story, without making a live action version of it, which results in butchering anime and Disney, Arcane proves them wrong by demonstrating how animation is enhancing such stories.
This is why Arcane works so well. When the series is happy, itās colorful. When the series is bright, itās filled with wonder. When the series is being idealistic, itās with utmost sincerity. And when you watch action sequences, they are awesome. Because itās an animation, where things can be exaggerated in such a way, and it doesnāt look out of place. Because itās an animation, you let yourself to be tricked, you lose yourself in the moment, you forget you are watching a series that has opened itself with little children seeing war crimes. And then the series reminds you what youāre watching. It reminds you that you are watching a tragedy where genuine good intentions can turn completely horribly. This series plays this trick over and over again, and it always works out. When Disney movies have dark moments, like death of Mufasa, they serve to set up the triumphal victory of its heroes. In Arcane, light set ups the impending darkness of its foregone conclusion. When Disney is an animated classic comedy, Arcane is an animated classic tragedy. Thatās how it gets you. Itās not an innovative story, many of its themes and character ideas were already done elsewhere. But itās an incredibly well told story, that takes full advantage of its medium and, nowadays, really does aim higher than others.
On technical level, Iāve already said the series is 10/10 visually. Characters are constantly moving, including their expressions. Cinematography is great, directing is on point and action scenes are kickass, oftentimes stylish. And everything looks good. If the series wasnāt so good written, you still would be able to watch it for the stellar spectacle alone. Music also is good, but can be sometimes weaker.
So, how do I rate it? When I give game or a story 9/10, I say it is great. It means that it has accomplishes something great (my past 9/10 accomplished a great finale to a just enjoyable silly series), and itās generally flawless. But when do I give 10/10? When do I call something a masterpiece? When it not only fulfills all requirement for a 9/10 title, but is also groundbreaking. When they can change the medium. And I do believe that Arcane can change western animation. Its success can show executors that you donāt have to butcher stories that work better in animation, by turning them into less suited live action. And it also shows how mature stories can be told in animation. This is why I believe Arcane earns 10/10.
However. Iād give this series 9/10, if it was anime, not western animation. And it isnāt only because anime do have more examples of good Seinens. Arcane does have flaws, although most amount to nitpicks. Even the biggest flaw I see just makes me shake my head with slight disappointment. But itās a flaw that is related to the main tragedy, and it takes time and opportunity away from touching its true core. Itās also an example of shoehorned representation taking away from otherwise great writing, while also being an example of a plain bad writing excused by its representation. More in the spoiler section.
Just imagine either as a dude Ā
Caitlyn and Vi oh-so-subtle lesbian romance subplot is the weakest part of the series. If you donāt see it that way, you would have, if they were a heterosexual pair.
I didnāt read into LoL lore to check how close they are. From the barebones I get, female commissioner Gordon hired a female Batman. If Arcane took this angle and showed them respecting one another due to their differences mutually complementing them, it would be much better. If they want to develop them into a pair, thatās a material for Season 2. If they wanted to tease it more explicitly, they could have Jinx talking about knowing her sisterās tastes.
The series does establish why Vi and Cait get along better, with Vi proving herself useful to Caitās investigation, and Cait saving Viās life, and then Vi saving Cait. Thatās a solid foundation for bonds of friendship, upon which you can build your lesbian romance. You donāt skip straight to romance, especially when you establish neither as being into girls until their meeting. Before meeting Vi, Caitlin was romancing with Jayce. As for Vi, she was too preoccupied with her sister and getting street creed to swing either way. But sudden lesbians find out they are into each other, but things donāt work so well, and they must split. The tragedy of oil and water! Give me a break with this rushed forced nonsense.
This romance is detrimental to characters, not just Vi and Cait, but also Jinx. But letās first focus on the pair, by demonstrating why they suck. And we can do that by imagining either as a dude.
So, Caitlyn and Vittan. The naĆÆve proper lady policewoman, and male cynical former leader of a teenage gang, in search of his unwillingly abandoned younger sister. Caitlyn was previously romanced by Jayce, but she didnāt like a man of science and success that tried to be overly protective of her, so she found somebody who is more rough on her. He screws with her, tricks her into pretending to be a prostitute, but at least helps her to advance with her investigation. He gets stupidly injured and keeps important secrets from her, but she saves his life. Then he saves her from his sister, but remains an impulsive man that prefers to do own thing, because using Caitās motherās connections didnāt work. Though he still used what he has learned from her, to talk her friend Jayce into helping him out with his vendetta against Silco, behind her back. Vittan is quite an asshole, but Cait is set up to choose him over Jayce.
So, Caito and Vi. The naĆÆve proper gentle policeman, and female cynical former leader of a teenage gang, in search of her unwillingly abandoned younger sister. Vi is driven by her guilt and knows that her sister does awful things now, but prefers to believe she does it for the sake of self-survival. She initially canāt stand Caito, so she tries to mess with him, and then finally gets rid of him. She does it in the simplest way possible, by leaving the horny man with a prostitute. Sure, Caito ends up saving her when she messes up on her own. But that blockhead not only withholds that his true aim is a stolen technology, but also ruins her reunion with her sister. Vi thinks she still has to find her sister that is under bad influence, but chooses to save Caito instead. Caito drags her to a place that turns out to be his bedroom, because for some suspicious reason he didnāt want to use main doors. Supposedly, Caito has in the council a friend with the opposite gender. And between said friend, the prostitute from the club, and Vi, Caito sure likes jumping the flower. When Vi decides to stop working with Caito, he suddenly asks āwhat about us?ā, really quickly escalating the relationship between them. That dude sure is stupid and lustful. And maybe itās still wrong to kill him on Jinxās request, but somehow Vi acts all heartbroken over it and is meant to eat up his dull advances.
Lesbians in media. Isnāt it insulting for women, to write them as shut-ins that rebel against their parents and escape from them, after stealing everything valuable they have, over a piece of juvenile punk-star genitalia? Apparently not, if said piece of genitalia is a vagina ā Gone Home got critically acclaimed this way. Go figure.
Anyway, the badness of this romance is also detrimental to Jinxās character, so letās move onto thatā¦
Lost focus on how the monster was created
Jinx can hate Caitlyn and be hallucinating things about her, but that whole jealously over a girlfriend (or even a boyfriend, if that was the case) is distracting the viewer from the core of Arcaneās main tragedy ā Jinx is Viās creation, Silco only accelerated what Vi had put into Powder.
And itās a great tragedy. Powder is a result of outside influence (looking at the crows and reading into the lore, there is possibly an even more dreadful influence over her), same as Vi. They both share a tragic past and live in a harsh world. Even when Vander helped them, both with preparing them to face their harsh reality, and also ensuring some peaceful order in it.
But Vi was driven by her anger towards Piltover and its enforcers. Again, perfectly understandable, they were responsible for the situation in undercity and death of her parents. This is why Vi wanted renown and street creed. This is why she had her fuck the police attitude. This is why she was willing to rob a man that has done nothing wrong to them (and actually was nice to her little friend), just because he was from the upper city. And Vi put all that into Powder, made her idolize her being eager to prove herself (robbing Piltover without consulting Vander) and rebelliously independent (withholding stolen crystals from him). She encouraged her to her learn shooting at people. She approved of her learning to make bombs. All so Powder would make her happy by demonstrating her usefulness to her cause against Piltover.
Jinx is made out of all of those things. As a kid, Powder knew no right no wrong, but what she has picked up from her sister. And Viās first act character arc was learning to realize that actions have consequences, that picking a fight with Piltover will result in confrontation, which very possibly will result in Powder losing her life. Vi has learned her lesson, which is why she decided to sacrifice herself to Piltover. But things happened, Vander needed saving, Vi had no time explain her newfound worries to Powder, and then everything went downhill. Silco picked up Powder and encouraged her towards the exact same direction Vi had, just without any restraint.
Really, nails grenade. Powder always was desperate to prove her worth, even if by killing somebody. Vi was both stuck in the past and blind about past signs of Jinx forming herself.
And that could be the focus of Jinxās obsession over Caitlyn. She was literally an enforcer of Piltoverās will, her and her sisterās natural enemy. And she intended to prevent Jinx from giving the lower city an edge over the upper city. And Vi was helping her now? Sure, anything useful to reunite with her sister. If thatās the case, Vi shouldnāt have a problem with killing the stupid enforcer woman, once she outlives her usefulness. Oh, Vi is hesitant, because the enforcer has saved her life? Suddenly not into wronging any upper city twit? Suddenly it matters when they are alright? What has changed, since we had robbed her nice to us boyfriend and blew up his apartment? Why donāt you love me when I only follow your example, Vi? Why did you want me to learn how to shoot at people and blow them up, Vi!? Did you tell her the things you were happy with me doing as a kid?! Hey, my sisterās girlfriend! Tell me ā did I go insane, or was she the insane one in the first place!?!
The final song of the series begins with the words āI am the monster you createdā. This is the intended core of Arcaneās beautiful tragedy between Vi and Jinx ā the supposed heroic sister is responsible for her villainous sister, nobody else. Vi has failed Powder, and was constantly failing her since the beginning. Now only Jinx remains, Viās creation.
Nonetheless, Arcane has still done a groundbreaking job with Jinx. The show has picked up a Harley Quinn knockout, le crazy wacky girl, and has done tremendous job with turning her into something better. There is no shame anymore in Jinx being based on another character, like there never was any shame in Batman being based on Zorro. Jinx is now her own tragic figure ā an unfortunate confused girl that has been corrupted by wrongs of her world, turned into a living reckoning against it. She has outgrown the wacky psychiatrist that ended up being manipulated by the Joker.
And thatās a testament to Arcaneās stellar, even if leaving a room for improvement, writing.
