Intuition would dictate that Arcane should have been terrible. Adapting video games is a tricky art at the best of times, but League of Legends? It seemed a stretch too far. You can imagine everyone's surprise therefore when it turned out that not only is Arcane good – it is stratospheric. Rarely have the goalposts for what animation can do moved so dramatically, not only on a technical front but on an emotional one. The shock and awe of its early success is dampened slightly by the weight of expectation, but season two is still a standard bearer for all other animated television shows.
Following season one's unbearable cliffhanger ending, season two of Arcane sees Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) trying to pick up the pieces after her destructive, estranged sister Jinx (Ella Purnell). Her loyalties, strength, and relationship with Cait (Katie Leung) are all put to the test. Meanwhile, Jayce (Kevin Alejandro) and Viktor (Harry Lloyd) take increasingly divergent paths concerning hextech, which takes them both on unexplainable personal journeys. At the same time, Mel (Toks Olagundoye) and her ferocious mother Ambessa (Ellen Thomas) contend with a threat that has followed them from home. It all results in a battle where the stakes could not be higher, with the future of Piltover and its citizens on the line.
Arcane feels light years ahead of what other studios are doing in terms of visual detail, inventiveness, and style. Divergent styles crash and collide on the screen to sensational effect, be it for melancholy or sheer adrenaline. The animation's lightning pace, combined with some inspired editing, makes for sequences that beggar belief, while some of the camera shots prove to be utterly mouth-watering in their beauty and drama. Nowhere is this better executed than during Vi and Jinx's fateful confrontation, which comes earlier than you might expect but proves to be the crowning moment of the show's choreography, pace, and aesthetic. Accompanying the action is a pitch-perfect soundtrack, which somehow goes above and beyond season one's fine collection of tracks and never fails to fit the moment like a glove (or gauntlet).
Animation is not only how the world imprints itself on the screen, however. Arcane is also startling in its use of techniques and artistry to place the viewer in a given character's shoes. Be it sharing in their mourning or diving deep into their psyche, everything from charcoal to watercolour vividly brings states of mind to life. It envelopes you in what that character is experiencing and doubles down on the emotional impact (which is profound, particularly following a crippling loss and a mid-season revelation about one character's original identity). This is most tantalisingly seen with Warwick, whose introduction is built up to slowly before he devastatingly explodes onto the scene. The POV shots of him following the smell of blood are visceral and thrilling in equal measure. That this all sits so smoothly alongside the 3D animation despite the second season taking more dramatic artistic risks is a testimony to Fortiche Productions' judgement and craftsmanship.
For all of its technical mastery though, it is the characters who carry Arcane, and suitably they are all starting to buckle from the burdens they bear. Their voices feel heavier, their optimism snuffed out, and they are all in some way or another licking their wounds. Their depth and dynamics are thought out prodigiously, as all of the survivors play their part in a story that carries timely warnings about overreaching power. It doesn't make for as riveting a story as the class war dynamics of season one, although you still cannot help but be transfixed. All of the cast excels, but Purnell especially feels as if she has grown into the role with a newfound sincerity and pathos. Able to switch from Jinx's trademark maniacal unpredictability to a more vulnerable shadow of her former self, she rounds off her character's story in a deeply satisfying manner. The brief and moving hiatus of episode seven, showing what could have been for her and Ekko (Reed Shannon), allows her to share a more nurturing side that the brutal reality of their world rarely permits her to show.
The jaw-dropping shock factor of season one is slightly lacking, as is the perfectly polished pacing. But if they go begging, it's only because of Arcane's soaring ambition and since this time nobody went in expecting anything other than a triumph. Everything is maxed out as the show goes hell for leather, rounding off its journey far sooner than we perhaps expected but in a way that delivers on every front. The emotional depth and stunning animation remain, capping off one of the best TV shows of the year and ensuring Arcane cements its legacy on a thumping, dazzling, and poetic note.
Arcane season two is available to stream on Netflix now.
