Arcane

I've had an aversion to abstractness since I was a kid, and in the case of Arcane this was helped by my long-standing dislike of League of Legends. I didn't believe you could make a quality animated series based on fictional characters that didn't have as sophisticated a background as other similar previous projects that didn't even land well themselves. Wonder never cease, and especially this minor point: Arcane actually achieves nearly 6 stars out of Whirlpool's 5, and even that rating is still a few percent off in my biased eyes. While the story is fairly unoriginal and alternates between the stale plot standards you'd see in any similar sibling rivalry story whose scope has significant geographical and political ramifications (ok, maybe not enough of them fit that description), it's truly put together in a detailed way. The solidly depicted bipolar world is filled with characters with deeper motivations, rational and conversely psychotic reasoning, under the baton of perfectly tight direction that gradually adds to the fire until the anticipated ecstatic finale. I absolutely must single out the excellent sense of art as the camera leans towards exploring previously unrecognized angles and excellent visuals (it took about an episode to get used to it), enticing you to explore every millimeter of it, which you never fail to do, gladly and repeatedly. The action is dense: Whether whizzing past or in slow motion, machine-gun battles or mano-a-mano, not holding back even from a glimpse of less comfortable images. The modern pop soundtrack didn't blow me away, but I would praise the fitting dubbing. Arcane is exceptionally over-the-top in just about every column, and a rare treat for both younger and older viewers. Despite its narrative clichés, a near perfect animated spectacle. (18.01.2022)

It's been 12 years since one of the immensely popular online games “League of Legends” and we've finally seen the first project, and of course thanks to Netflix for making true the dream all nerds, gameboys and anime freaks. If it wasn't for them we might have to waity another 10 years. For my part I feel a strong foundation here to create a similar universe to Marvel, I wouldn't be surprised at all if there are like 5-10 different series with different characters, and we’ll an Avengers style carnage in the finale, that would be cool. I've been playing the game for a few years now so I was really looking forward to it, and while Arcane is a great thing in many ways, there were still a few things that didn't quite satisfy me as I'd hoped they would. It’s a story about two sisters, about war and peace, about loyalty and betrayal, about the rich and the poor, all mixed together in a nice steampunk animation that is really beautiful. The music is good too, with at least three tracks already running in my playlist, the emotions work, the story is interesting and engaging enough, and the action is great too, but there is less of it than I would have expected and wanted for my taste. It's CGI, it's the game, and the makers have bet more on the now popular drama and story, albeit of top quality, but it's a shame that not a single action scene matches even one CGI trailer from Riot. What also slightly bothered me was the fact that for how dark, adult and evil everything is, how little blood there is, and I would definitely have liked to see more involvement from other game characters (I felt there were too many random and side or unknown characters featured). Even though I come across as slightly disappointed and my expectations aren't quite met, this is still one of Netflix's best crafted anime series and a rightfully deserved hit this year. Best Character: Jinx (Harley Quinn) Story 4/5, Action 4/5, Humor 2/5, Violence 2/5, Fun 5/5 Music 5/5, Visuals 5/5, Atmosphere 5/5, Suspense 4/5, Emotion 4/5, Actors 4/5. 8.5/10. (17.12.2021)