What Arcane is, is this rich, shiny, city of progress, of inventors, politicians, and opportunity; where everything looks clean and hopeful on the surface, this city of Piltover, this city of progress.This rich, shiny, city of progress, of inventors, politicians, and opportunity, this city of Piltover, this city of progress.
The whole film is caught in that state between the two, between the ones who have everything and the ones who are scraping by underneath their feet, who are breathing in the fumes of a city that doesn't even acknowledge they exist... Zaun is literally underneath it.
At the center of it all are two orphaned sisters, Vi and Powder, they are out here trying to survive and make a name for themselves in Zaun's rough underground streets, running with a found family of other kids who've had to grow up way faster than they should have, their relationship is honestly the heart of the entire show, the kind of sisterly bond that's messy, protective, and painful all at once. Vi is the hard-boiled, secretive type who's always been protecting Powder from the world, and Powder is the soft-spot, sensitive, type who is always trying to show others that she is not the weakest link.
Early on , they get sucked into a heist, which is supposed to be easy, up in Piltover and they get something valuable and they get out , Well, nothing goes according to plan, except that one thing ends up changing the course of both their lives, and that's the fate of both cities for that matter, then things go a lot of ways that I had not anticipated, It was very hard to watch the girl change into this unpredictable and dangerous person, Powder, because she's going through so much trauma and she's feeling so much guilt, as it all comes crashing down around her, it will be up to Vi to cope with the loss of her sister she knew, yet trying to cling to what remains of her past life.
Then there's the idealistic inventor, Jayce, who craves to master a new form of magic-science fusion, hextech, and who's all but told on the other side that it's too volatile to handle, His research becomes one of those invention that changes everything moments , ones that always have unforeseen consequences , and little by little, the two cities embroil themselves in a longstanding conflict, then there's Silco, a Zaun crime boss who's brutal but oh so much nicer, someone who truly cares about his people but for the wrong reasons, He's this weird warped dad to Powder and the relationship between them is enough to get a lot of emotion out of the show.
What really struck me is that the movie is not going to provide you with clean-cut heroes and villains, everyone has a motive for their actions, everyone is flawed, and even the characters you should probably despise, you learn something about and are sometimes worth cheering for, the politicians in Piltover aren't just evil for the sake of it, they are products of a system built to protect its own comfort, the criminals in Zaun aren't just violent because they are, they are faced with years of being ignored and having to turn to other methods of survival, every battle seems more weighty because there is no easy way, and once it gets heated up between the two city-states, it's not clear who would you want to win.
And not to mention the animation! It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, it does not look like normal animation, each scene is beautiful, even the ones that are just violent, or dark, it is painted, and has this moving feeling of artwork, which makes it look intentional, and beautiful, Accompanying that pacing, the music, and the subtle build up of tension between the two cities which doesn't take to great extremes except to explode, it's all very well-crafted.
Not only is this not good for a video game adaptation, but it is one of the best animated movies out there, period.... If you aren't a gamer and you've been lying in your bed and you are sleeping on Arcane, just get up..... this is one for all.
Rating: 85/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.
