Arcane
Arcane is a short Netflix series in adaptation of the popular game 'League of Legends'. It follows the relationship of two sisters: Violet (Vi) and Powder (later known as Jinx) through the social, political and economic problems between Piltover and the Undercity. In anticipation of the second season of the series I thought I would express my thoughts about the story to get more people to see it or to remind them of this amazing series. This is your last warning to see the series for yourself before giving you spoilers, especially if it is on your watchlist; it has nine episodes, every episode taking 40 minutes or less.
The story takes place in a fantasy world in the city of Piltover, a city very interested in technological progress and its lower-class society of the Undercity. They are antithesis to each other, the first being very clean and luxurious but very ignorant of the latter, which is always swept under the rug, filled with criminal activities in which fights for power and wealth are very prevalent. The people of the Undercity are fed up with the conditions they live in and the way they are treated by the upper class so, for many years they tried to revolt. In one of those movements started by Vander, the two sisters' parents die, the girls being adopted by Vander, a very powerful and loved leader of the Undercity. Ever since that event, Vander has pushed for peace between the two sides. This decision was not received well by the people of the Undercity who wanted independence in the form of an autonomous state, the city of Zaun. As a consequence of his inaction, Silco kills Vander in an action-packed scene. Powder sides with Silco after the traumatic event and Vi is arrested. After a few years we get to experience the aftermath of the story, in which Silco and his adopted daughter (Powder under the new identity of Jinx) run the Undercity with a drug named shimmer, while Piltover worked on Hextech, a new form of technology thanks to Jayce a smart engineer trying to source magic through tech. One of the investigators of Piltover gets Vi out of prison to learn more about Silco and his plans to form the city of Zaun.
I appreciate the themes that this story has to offer, because Arcane isn't just a simple story: it talks about war, subjugation, power, family, the price for progress and so much more. Only after watching it for the second time did I understand that it is also about mistakes and their consequences, because the world is portrayed either as cruel and unforgiving (in the Undercity) or ignorant (Piltover) and we later see the aftermath of this ignorance. Not only that but I find that the story can be appreciated for its powerful cast of characters and how it makes you root for the bad guys as much as for the good guys, portraying that no side wins in war. The story presents the characters with moral dilemmas, and since we already know where the character comes from, we understand both sides of the conflict.
The medium of the movie (3D animation) in this series suits the narrative very well and the direction it pushes animation is something praised even by movie critics. In 2018, the movie "Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse" started a new movement in the animation industry, and Arcane is one of the pioneers of this style that combines 2D and 3D animation and also traditional styles of drawing and more recent techniques. I recommend you to stop at any moment in the story, pause it and see for yourself how every frame is a masterpiece.
My final thoughts on this series are that I cannot recommend it enough. It is a must watch for everyone, for how short it is, for the amazing story writing, for the lovable and powerful characters and for the stunning visuals the animation studio offered us. No matter if you played the game or not, the story gets more and more bitter-sweet the more you watch it.
Antonio- Matei Arcuș , clasa a XII-a E
Sursa imagine: Internet