Arcane : The Show Everyone Should Watch
By Prahalad Biswal
With the rise of popularity of anime and similar shows across the world, more and more people have their eyes glued to their screens. As if to meet the rising demand, more and more shows have been produced every season. Due to the dearth of time in our hands, it becomes almost imperative to identify a small number of shows every season and sticking with them. And I write this to introduce you to (in my opinion) the best animated show of last year, Arcane.
Many companies have tried to advertise their video games as anime over many years. From the iconic Yu Gi Oh! and Beyblades to the recent Princess Connect and Guns Girl Frontline , they are either etched in our memories or dissuade you from following the franchise (I am looking at you Scarlet Nexus….) . Arcane stands apart from them.
Based on the massively popular game League of Legends, Arcane is based around the twin cities of Piltover and Zaun. The former is the industrial and technological hub of the continent, a place of prosperity and comfort, with innovation and progress being the norm . The residents of Piltover (called Topsiders) enjoy comfortable and worry-free lives.
Its less fortunate sister Zaun is lucky even to be deemed a city. Below the valleys surrounding the shining city of Piltover, lies the undercity of Zaun. Streets chafed with poisonous gases, houses lacking basic amenities, Zaun is a slum through and through. There is no order and gangs led by Chem-Barons run riot. But amongst the fog lies their strength. The obstinate and hardy citizens of Zaun live on a day-to-day basis, not knowing when their next meal arrives, nor if the person coughing beside them has caught the flu or is about to fall dead.
The show follows a handful of characters, most of whom are actually playable in the game. But the story of Arcane is less about the characters and more about the two cities and the unrest between them. Piltover sees Zaunites as less than human, while Zaunites want to fight for their freedom from the oppression of Piltover. Arcane at its heart is a story of class divide, ambitions, political power, value of one’s dreams and (probably the most important) family. This is the main driving point of Arcane. While most video game adaptations concentrate on the characters, Arcane lays its focus on its world building.
The show is divided into 3 acts of 3 episodes each, with the narrative following different perspectives, each following different subplots, but slowly meshing into each other as the show goes on.
There are 3 main plot lines, from which many more sub plots branch out, that dictate the main events in the show. The first is of the poster girl Powder and her sister Vi. The story follows the mental breakdown of the events that led the sweet Powder fascinated with explosions to become the unhinged Jinx in the future, and how her sister came up at odds with her.
Second follows the life of Jayce, a failed academic who wants to push the boundaries of Science with the power of magic, a new craft he calls Hextech. After countless failures , he is finally given the boot by his Academy, from which point onwards he illegally experiments in order to achieve his dream.
The third, and the most entrancing, plot line is of the tension between the two cities itself. As Zaun tries to rebel against their oppressors, Piltover sees them as terrorists risking the lives of the citizens. The politics of the Council in Piltover is well foiled by the Leader of the resistance in Zaun, Silco. While both want peace, Silco believes that Zaunites have to fight for their freedom by taking down Piltover by force, while Piltover treats all Zaunites as criminals and untouchables.
The main selling point of the show is not that it uses the characters of the video game well (a rare feat actually) but that it does not require you to play the game to enjoy the show. Its main selling point is the world building and the fact that while we do follow a handful of characters, in the rare event that we followed another set of characters ( on the condition that we still see more of Vi (my favourite character)), the show would still be equally as enthralling, merely for the power of a good set
The music in the show is very well thought out, with each background score either complimenting or elevating each emotion. The opening song is sung by Imagine Dragons (and if you are not addicted to it after listening to it once you are in denial :) ) .
And the animation. The animation is simply beautiful. Crisp animation for both the emotional and the fight scenes, with each movement fluid. You will be hard pressed to believe that the animators who worked on this have never actually done a show before.
To conclude, Arcane is simply a wonderful show. Albeit the first episode is slow, I guarantee that by the third you will be marking your calendars for season 2. If there was one show you could pick up this month, Arcane is an excellent bet.
PS : I know that Arcane is not an anime, but given the supremacy of Japanese animation in recent years, a western animated show to be comparable to the top anime of all time , in my opinion , deserves a shout out .
