“When people look up to you, you don’t get to be selfish…”

❗ One-Liner

Surprisingly good video game adaptation with nuanced characters, stylized animation, and a lot of swag.

💭 Thoughts

Throughout the years, we have been plagued with bad video game adaptations. One reason for this is that Movies are a passive experience while Video Games are more active. The feeling you have of being in control of the main character, deciding which route to take, and fighting enemies is difficult to replicate in a movie. Likewise, the plot between video games and movies varies greatly; as time, budget, and other constraints unique to the medium affect the quality of the writing.

However, Arcane is one of those video game adaptations that manages to overcome those problems. It has a unique and interesting story filled with nuanced characters while also maintaining an animation quality that is one of the best I’ve ever seen.

Arcane is a series that you know just by looking at it that it was made with love. Everything from the start to finish was brimming with style – from the colors to the set pieces, to the sound design and textures. Heck, even the minor details such as tears and drool were animated with perfection:

I also really love how the animators blended the use of 2D and 3D. The combination really made the show authentic. None of the effects felt forced or out of place.

Music choice was also a chef’s kiss. Some scenes looked so polished that they seemed straight out pulled from a music video. TBH I’m not going to be surprised if some of the editors/animators previously worked in Music Videos. It seems that a lot of good, creative, and talented editors today come from that industry.

The action choreography was also very polished. I’m a huge fan of martial arts and action films in general, and I rank the action in this series as high-tier. Motion was smooth and fluid during fight scenes, while the 2D effects gave the punches more weight and style.

In terms of story, the show managed to tell a compelling narrative tackling themes on PTSD, Inequality, and Prejudice. Every character had an interesting back-story and motivation. The story was pushed by how these complex characters interacted with one another and how their decisions affected their world. The plot is not your typical good vs evil storyline with one note and expendable villains – like your average Marvel film. Every major character in this story had a good reason to fight, which made the battles 10x more intriguing and hard to predict.

Overall, Arcane is one of the best-animated series I’ve seen in recent years. It’s a show I’ll definitely recommend to my friends and anyone who’s looking for a good quality show to enjoy.

😍 You would love this if you were:

1. A player of League of Legends, as this was a fleshing out of the game lore.
2. A fan of action-fantasy films.
3. Looking for artsy and heavily stylized animation.

🤔 Films I’m reminded of:

1. Spiderman: Into The Spider-Verse (2018) – Also another heavily stylized animated film that utilized 2D and 3D effects. Similar to Arcane, sound design was also really impressive with this film. Scenes were music video-esque and made with tons of love!
2. Prince of Persia (2008) – Although not a film, this game also made good use of 2D and 3D animation. I loved this game growing up. If you’re a fan of platformers definitely check this one out. The design and gameplay held up well even after more than a decade!
3. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) – Yes, a weird choice. But I’m reminded of how the war between the Apes and Humans was established because of a misunderstanding between the two “species”, which led to an inevitable arms race to protect their own kind. The same goes with Arcane’s citizens of Piltover and Zaun – two different social classes inevitably pitted against one another due to a series of preventable mishaps.

💡 Insights:

In hindsight, I guess one of the advantages of Arcane relative to other video game adaptations was that it was based on a MOBA (League of Legends). Usually, video game adaptations are based on plot-heavy triple-A games which give writers little room to add new characters and edit essential plot points suitable for the big screen. Movie writers for these games face two major dilemmas:

1. Changing the plot might be an unfaithful retelling of the video game story
2. The plot and pacing of the video game is nigh impossible to translate into a movie

Meanwhile, MOBAs are different from your typical story-focused action game. First, it has a unique and relatively-known cast of characters. Second, players do not require a deep plot to enjoy the game. These give writers the ability to create their own plot points, add new characters as required, while also having a multitude of existing characters to choose from with unique personalities, skills, and malleable back-stories and quirks. Arcane enjoyed these advantages to the fullest, adding new characters such as Silco and Vander whose characters were both essential plot devices to push the story forward and make it more compelling.