When this show came out in late 2021, I completely missed it. Part of it must have been the fact I have never played the game this show is based on (League of Legends), and the other part might have been that almost nobody I follow said much about it except for one person (if you end up reading this, hi Jake ;-)). But this doesn’t say anything about the show’s quality because there are so many things to watch (I hate using the word ‘content’ for movies and shows) that many awesome things get noticed later on. But slowly, this show started to get mentioned as one of the best video game adaptations, especially with the success of The Last of Us (2023 – ?, my review here), so I finally decided to check it out. Plus, it’s currently rated 9.0/10 on IMDb, making it the #26 TV show of all time, so this should be nothing short of spectacular, right? Well…

I won’t say Arcane is bad, not by a long shot. But it might be one of the most overrated shows I have seen in some time, maybe ever. And before you pull out your imaginary pitchforks, let me attempt to explain where I am coming from. I will start with the positives because I did like the show overall, and I will check out season two when it comes out. There were a couple of things that made write the word ‘overrated’.

I liked the show’s unpredictability, how we were introduced to many characters, and you think you know where this is going, only for quite a lot of them to die early on. I won’t mention who, nor will I spoil this show, but this aspect reminded me of the best seasons of Game of Thrones (2011 – 2019), where you can never be sure and don’t want to get too attached to anyone. I also loved the sister dynamic between Powder and Vi; I wish the show had time to spend a bit more time on it, as we have so many characters to establish or keep track of, it felt like that was supposed to be the emotional core of this show, and it worked, for the most part, just not 100%.

Now, let’s discuss some things holding me back from being on board with this being “one of the best video game adaptations of all time”. You can argue it is (I presume) if you played the game. I can only guess that most avid gamers rated it highly because they loved how this world got converted from the game to this animated show. And all power to you. In that instance, it might very well be the best video game adaptation. However, I can tell you as someone who has not played the game and hasn’t seen any playthroughs, I wanted to know more about this world, and I don’t think this show does a good job of explaining things. For example, I understood that Hextech was effectively, a combination of magic and technology, but if you (like me) want to know more about it, you are shit out of luck. How did they combine it? What can be done with it, and what (if any) are its limitations? Everything Hextechy felt like the most coinvent MacGuffin, where it does what they need to do at that scene.

The Hextech issue encapsulates my biggest problem with Arcane – I don’t think the worldbuilding was up to par. Again, if you played the game, I am sure you loved it because you have prior knowledge, but as someone who does not, I wanted to know more about everything. Because even I could tell this world is full of wonders, magic, steam-punk, and somehow talking animals who live amongst the humans too. That was another thing; this show consists of 95% of humans, and the rest are some sort of animals…? I guess mixed with humans? Or did they evolve so they could speak and walk? Or was it the magic or Hextech? See my issue? I wanted to love this world, this show, but it’s hard if you don’t understand the basic rules. And don’t get me started on the Hexcore, as that was another ordeal (is it alive)?

That brings me to another technical point, which is the animation style. I want to word myself carefully here because I do not want to offend anyone who has worked on this show (although I doubt the animators would read my blog :-D). For the most part, the animation was stunning, mainly when it came to showing us this steam-punky, magical world. But I couldn’t help but notice (or think) that close-ups of different characters didn’t “match” the rest of the show. It didn’t happen all the time, but in a couple of episodes, some character designs (mainly facial features) felt like the animators didn’t have the time to render them properly. I understood this show has its own aesthetic, so maybe I am a fan of that overall aesthetic, so perhaps it just doesn’t work as well on facial features. It was a minor problem, but I thought I should mention it, as I love different animation styles. But this one, at one point or another, just didn’t hit me “right”.

Also, there might have been too many characters, and I thought we could have probably “saved” some for later seasons. As I mentioned above, the show wants the core, the heart of it, to be about these two sisters. And you see both in all episodes, however… There were a few episodes where you barely spent any time with them because there were all the other ones to introduce or keep up with. And some are, I will say, more pointless than others. For example, without naming anyone, there was a death in episode eight, and one of our main protagonists was mourning their death. Yes, I will use they/them pronouns, not revealing the gender of who dies. But I had to pause the show to check something because I didn’t really remember their character; to be perfectly honest, and yep, before this character’s death, they only appeared in one episode before. So, this meaningful death wasn’t really that impactful or meaningful to me, the viewer, because I hardly knew them.

And again, I do believe that character has had some arc in the game or something like that, which is cool. But it just didn’t translate well enough into the TV show. And here is where I come back to my original point – is the best video game adaptation something that is made primarily for the fans or the general audience? If you subscribe to the first option and play(ed) League of Legends, you will 100% disagree with my opinion, possibly telling me something like: “Well, you can always Google the information you want, or better yet, play the game!” But should I? I don’t believe I should. The best example of why not and how to transform a video game or a book to the screen would be something like The Last of Us or the Harry Potter series. I was familiar with both before seeing the films, and I could see how the creators behind those movies and shows changed it for those movies to fit on the big screen or for the video game to play well on the “small TV screen”. You didn’t have to read any Harry Potter books to understand the films, neither did you have to have played The Last of Us to love the show. Arcane feels “incomplete”, not because the season ended on a massive cliffhanger, but because I constantly felt that there was so much untold.

But, and this important, big but, I enjoyed it. I know this might be weird to read after what I wrote above, but I still see the promise with intriguing characters, unique animation and kick-ass action sequences (albeit some were a bit too edited and choppy, but only some) that I will stick with it and will check out the next season. But at this stage, only judging the show on the knowledge it gave me is massively overrated. I honestly hope the next season will prove me wrong.

Overall, Arcane is a show like no other, that is for sure. If you are familiar with League of Legends, you will probably adore it. If you are like me and have only heard the title but never seen anything from the game, let alone played it, you might still enjoy it while hoping there will be more exposition about how this and that works. I always say I don’t have to be spoon-fed everything, but if you want us to feel welcome in this half-magical, half-steam-punky world where we mostly have humans; but also some talking animals, you should drop one or two lines about it. That’s all I ask for. I would still cautiously recommend this show because I think there are enough good things to be positive about, and maybe the second season will make me write a review, saying that I was wrong and that this is, in fact, a masterpiece. Currently, I do not see it.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke