Current review: Arcane: League of Legends (2021) – S01E01

Ok, I’ll keep watching

I’ve heard good things about Netflix’s adult animated series Arcane, so I’ve been meaning to check it out for ages. First impressions? Not totally blown away but I’m hooked just enough to keep watching. The pilot episode does have a strong opening, making me say “whoa” out loud at the heavy drama of the scene. We see the aftermath of what seems to have been a violent raid on a city, through the eyes of a pink-haired teen girl and a younger blue-haired girl, who are then picked up by a large male saviour. The scene certainly sets a grim mood and leaves you wanting to know what the flip happened here.

Cue the theme titles! Very cool, I like the slick, dark music and visuals; they demand I take this series seriously.

And we’re back. The battle-beaten streets are long gone and we see a huge, modern cityscape. There’s a lot to look at, my eyes are excited to take it all in. Then we meet our main group of characters: two of them are the pink and blue haired girls from before, now older, and the other two are teen boys with distinctive features (one looks like teen wolf and the other looks like a young underminer from The Incredibles, ha). The design of the characters is nice, though the animation gives me computer game vibes, which I’m not really used to – something not quite smooth about it. Is this inevitable with non-movie budgets?? Surely not… everything else looks great in the world they are showing us. A moment on the “world”: I spent the first episode wondering what kind of place we’re in: is this an alien world? (there was at least one background character that looked non-human) Is this a magical world? Or just futuristic sci-fi world? I’m not sure yet! One thing is clear – it’s a class-based world: the haves are on top, the have-nots are underground. So this gives us the chance to enjoy two very different created places, assumed to have evolved following the conflict that was alluded to in the opening scene. The have-nots include our group of 4 young people, who seem to be a kind of Fagin’s gang, looting rich people to take home to the large saviour man we met earlier.

The plot is very gradual on this first episode, with just a couple hints at what’s gonna be the series arc, most likely involving struggle between the underground scavengers and the up-top enforcers. We spend decent time being introduced to our characters, which I appreciate. There seems to be a nice relationship between the older and younger girl, I’ll look forward to their ongoing story and to learning more about their history. The strongest hint at big plot was the appearance at the end, of a creepy, satisfyingly villainous-looking guy who seems to be involved in creating mutants. Intriguing indeed!

So I will settle in and see how it goes with this 9-episode first season. Looking forward to action and drama! Based on what they did with a casual fight scene between our street gang and some rivals, I am expecting exciting action animation when the stakes get high!