Arcane is Magical
Introduction
There are few e-sports titles around that have the same lasting fanfare as Riot Games’ League of Legends. Despite the franchise never really having that much in the plot department to go on, so colour me surprised when Netflix announced that they were going to conjure up a series based on the limited narrative material at their disposal.
Outside of a few oddballs, video games adaptations were doomed to fail from the start. However, that did not stop the writers from creating something truly magnificent with 2021’s Arcane. Arcane is a CGI animated series developed by Fortiche, an animation studio that has worked with Riot before, designing several promotional materials for the games.
When it comes to the direction for this 2021 fantasy series, both Arnaud Delord and Pascal Charrue don’t have much under their belts regarding their directing credits with Delord’s only piece of work being a Groot and Rocket Racoon mini-series. This realisation comes as a massive surprise as almost every scene in this series is sculpted to near perfection.
Setting and Plot
The series takes place in Piltover, the progressive capital of the world and its rock-bottom underworld, the Lanes. Arcane revolves around a group of Lanes dwelling street urchins whose botched burglary in Piltover sparks a chain of events that lead the city to an all-out civil war.
Despite its colourful palette, Arcane can be very gritty at times depicting the Lanes as a hostile crime fueled stain on the world. On the other hand, Piltover’s upper city is over-populated by ignorant rich folk who have no idea of what is going down in the slums below. The show can jump from a true-crime series to a political drama on a whim and still manage to keep us entertained in the process.
Arcane uses several characters from the game’s roster as its central cast, with Jinx(Powder) and Vi taking the limelight as the main protagonists. We watch as these people evolve from their humble beginnings into the “legends” they are now.
Animation and Presentation
Arcane’s character designs look like they came from Life is Strange with their brush-stroked textures, but with David Ayer added Street flare to them. This style is also reflected in the backgrounds, with several of them can be classified as glorified paintings.
Foritche, the animation studio behind this show, is a relatively new firm but their uniqueness with their approach bears many similarities to Sony’s comic book stylised Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse, an animated movie I recommend everyone to watch.
Characters and Performances
Jinx(Powder) is probably one of the best things in this series, and that says a lot about Ella Purnell’s deranged yet brilliant performance magnifying the blue-haired bomber’s traits a billionfold. Watching as this nervous train wreck of a human being diving headfirst into a life of syndicates and explosions out of spite but so wanting to be saved by her sister is both brilliant and tragic at the same time.
Vi, on the other hand, is voiced by the up and coming Hailee Steinfield, who does well portraying her as the protective older sister who would rip a new entry hole into Piltover’s underbelly to make sure Powder(Jinx) is safe. We also need to talk about Vi’s and Cupcake’s (I mean Caitlan’s) blossoming relationship. The two characters compliment each other well and are probably one of the more natural relationships on the silver screen. Katie Leung’s polite and high-class Caitlan is the perfect foil to Vi’s rugged exterior, softening the pink-haired protagonist.
Then we have the secondary crew of Jayce and Victor, two scientists who want to harness the power of magic but are plagued with political interference from a corrupt council and the constant warnings from their old mentor, Heimerdinger.
Jayce’s character moves from a humble scientist to an arrogant politician as the council’s bureaucracies and shady practices shift him away from his ideals. Kevin Alejandro oozes similar confidence to Marvel’s playboy philanthropist Tony Stark.
Arcane manages to treat its massive cast with respect, allowing each member of the game’s roster to shine while also enhancing the presence of the secondary characters. They could have gone for some fairly generic quirks for the personalities of Mylo, Craggor and Vander but instead stepped up and provided us with some fully fleshed out individuals.
Silco, the main antagonistic force of the show, is also a complicated construction of ethics and emotions. His introduction presents him as a revolutionary with tunnel vision to re-established the country of Zaun within the Lanes but evolves after realising that he has something to protect.
Conclusion
If you want evidence of video games being well-executed on other mediums, look no further than Arcane: League of Legends. With its intriguing narrative, enthusiastic cast and drop-dead gorgeous visuals, it can capture the heart of any sceptic.
Netflix is on a roll with its video game to series adaptations, enticing a whole new fanbase to come and watch their content. Series such as Arcane, Castlevania and Dota show that the future of video game adaptations is looking bright.
