Arcane - Best SFF series 2021

[Arakan]

Hi friends :).

I was wondering that there isn’t a thread so far for Netflix‘ Arcane. To make it short: it’s Steam Punk Fantasy, based on the Online Game League of Legends (about which I have no clue) and it’s the best SFF series of 2021, no hyperbole there. 

The whole thing is CGI based animation, and oh boy…just watch it. There has never been anything comparable. Best CGI animation in human history so far. Nothing comes even close, neither smallscreen or bigscreen. 
 

 

[fionwe1987]

Yeah, the sheer smoothness of the animation evoked hand drawn animation at it's best, while the CGI allowed for incredible cityscapes which looked wonderfully alive and complex.

That would have been enough for me to watch the show, but it had a decent story, interesting characters, and a plot that surprised me quite a bit.

I'd agree it's the best SFF of 2021, though maybe the last season of the Expanse will overtake it. Nothing that's new, though. 

[Ran]

I would not go that far, re: best CG animation. "The Witness" from Love, Death, + Robots exists after all, and baffled and amazed even fellow professionals with its technique. Truth be told I think this show has taken some cues from Alberto Mielgo (who was also instrumental to developing the look and feel of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse). 

But it's very impressive, anyways, and in particular I thought the action sequences were very well done. Great design aesthetic for the characters and architecture as well. 

Some thoughts I posted on the Watched thread:

Story and character-wise, it's a bit derivative here and there -- Jinx feels like a blend of Harley Quinn and the Joker, and there's dialog that's cliched and hoary -- but it's genuinely very solid, and combined with the vocal performances, character and setting design, and the visual effects... it's definitely one of the big surprises of 2021 for me. 

Ends on a hell of a cliffhanger, though, I will say that much.

I'll be very curious to see what they cook up next.  As I understand it they do mean to follow-up the story.

One other thing I noticed about it is how it became increasingly more mature in its storytelling, which makes sense as it goes from the "YA" opening trio to increasingly dark and serious matter. 

I'm not sure how I feel about Heimerdinger as sort of cute Yoda-y type guy. He does have a serious role, but the character design and voicing and manner makes him incongruous with all the more grounded matter around. I feel like maybe delving into his past more might have lent the gravitas to the character that the characters around him obviously felt, but which I don't think the audience could really mesh with and just had to take it on faith.

 

Edited December 17, 2021 by Ran

[Arakan]

41 minutes ago, Ran said:

I would not go that far, re: best CG animation. "The Witness" from Love, Death, + Robots exists after all, and baffled and amazed even fellow professionals with its technique. Truth be told I think this show has taken some cues from Alberto Mielgo (who was also instrumental to developing the look and feel of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse). 

True enough re LDR-The Witness (LDR first season as a whole is awesome) though I have to give it to Arcane: one thing is a 12 min short but to produce a whole bonafide season of 9x40min (give or take) episodes with THAT kind of animation quality…I am speechless and whatever gods maybe, thank you for Netflix. 

I am simply flashed with the animation and this doesn’t happen often. As a kid the Lion King and Toy Story, Akira as a teenager and last year with TCW 7th season (the final 4-parter). 

The possibilities Ran, the possibilities…imagine this kind of Animation quality plus passionate story tellers (the big plus of animation,  be it Western or Eastern) and ASOIAF or maybe First Age Tolkien (and many others). Life-Action fantasy TV has come a long way since the days of Xena or Hercules but will or can it ever truly do visual justice to the source material? I fear not. 

Edited December 17, 2021 by Arakan

[Arakan]

47 minutes ago, fionwe1987 said:

Yeah, the sheer smoothness of the animation evoked hand drawn animation at it's best, while the CGI allowed for incredible cityscapes which looked wonderfully alive and complex.

 

Wonderfully put  . I got Akira flashbacks due to the sheer beauty of the art style. We truly live in Golden times when it comes to SFF in TV and Cinema. 

[Fez]

I posted a bit about in the "Watching" thread when it came out. I thought it was a really great series, either the best or second best show I saw this year (the competition is "The Great"), though admittedly I don't watch much TV. I was blown away by the animation quality, but thought everything about the show was really well done. And I enjoyed the worldbuilding enough that it got me to start playing Legends of Runeterra a bunch too, which is the spinoff card game from League of Legends (which I have no interest in, I don't like MOBAs). 

Knowing absolutely nothing about the background, the show managed to draw me into a brand new (to me) world very quickly and capably. There were a couple moments that felt rushed, but most of the time it just felt like there were no wasted moments; everything said and shown had a purpose. One thing that also helped was that, as an outsider, I didn't know which characters were a "champion" from League, and therefore didn't know who almost certainly would have plot armor. Now I do though, which I worry may impact Season 2; though I don't see any reason why they couldn't kill champion characters, except possibly fan backlash.

 

[Corvinus85]

At this point, this has been my favorite show of the year. The visuals are great not just from a quality perspective, but from being used with great effect to visually tell stories. I've greatly enjoyed the soundtrack, too, and have been listening on repeat to several of the songs, especially What Could Have Been, Goodbye and Guns for Hire.

It was risky to end on such a cliffhanger, but it works, and with the show's success it probably paid off.

[Arakan]

You know sometimes you just have to wonder about Netflix…no big fanfare, no stretching it out. No. Here guys and gals, enjoy this nice series. I love it. And I really hope that Arcane becomes something big. I feel there are so many stories to be told…

[Kalbear]

It really has no right to be as good as it was. I can only hope it inspires someone to do lies of locke lamora or dishonored. 

[Arakan]

45 minutes ago, Kalsandra said:

It really has no right to be as good as it was. I can only hope it inspires someone to do lies of locke lamora or dishonored. 

I increasingly get the feeling that the pure storytelling in „Premium“ Animation is so much better than in comparable life-action, a clear narrative, clear arcs, clear structure. But not only this, also the conveying of honest emotions, compassion, sadness, happiness, melancholy, joy, humor is so much better in animation. You really feel it. 

Relatively recent examples would be Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, Invincible, Trollhunters, Castlevannia, The Clone Wars and now Arcane. 

[Ran]

6 hours ago, Fez said:

Knowing absolutely nothing about the background, the show managed to draw me into a brand new (to me) world very quickly and capably.

Same. I know nothing about LoL besides it being a DotA clone, but came to realize awhile back that they've been doing a lot of world-building efforts and trying to go transmedia with it (I know a writer, Joey Yu, who has done some work for Riot/Tencent in this regard). This series really worked very well in establishing its setting and the idea that it's part of a larger world (highlighted by the arrival of Councilor Medarda's mother from Noxus)

6 hours ago, Fez said:

One thing that also helped was that, as an outsider, I didn't know which characters were a "champion" from League, and therefore didn't know who almost certainly would have plot armor. Now I do though, which I worry may impact Season 2; though I don't see any reason why they couldn't kill champion characters, except possibly fan backlash.

Also same. I mean, I heard people remark that it featured two champions, re: Vi and Jinx, but I didn't realize there were others because of the way people talked a bout it. I think maybe in part because Vi and Jinx are the ones who are actually in LoL, whereas the other are in the Legends of Runeterra collectible card game? But anyways, now that I know, it's interesting to see how they'll play with it. I do think they will be cautious about killing champions off in their stories, because of fan backlash... but OTOH they could tie it into the game and surprise people if the game interacts with the next season somehow. 

3 hours ago, Arakan said:

increasingly get the feeling that the pure storytelling in „Premium“ Animation is so much better than in comparable life-action, a clear narrative, clear arcs, clear structure.

Yes. Why adapting beloved fantasy to animation starts to feel a lot more appealing than all the compromises that come with live action adaptation. 

[Fez]

Its not just Jinx and Vi. Caitlyn, Viktor, Jayce, Heimerdinger, and Singed (creepy alchemist guy) are all champions too, and all of them are in mainline LoL I believe.

Something that helps though is that LoL itself is not canon within the broader "Runeterra" fiction, which at this point spans a lot of different media. Which is kind of funny considering it's the original and most popular. So there's already an understanding of some separation between gameplay and narrative. And there is at least one LoL champion that is dead in the lore; though my understanding is that he's always been dead. Which is a bit different from getting killed off.

Also, my understanding is that some of the lore in Arcane has been explicitly different from established lore elsewhere. They could lean more into that and if they do kill anyone just say that it's true for Arcane's story but not every Runeterra story that X is dead now.

[Rippounet]

It was good.

I saw it more as a technical performance than anything else though. And to be clear, it is a performance: pace, graphics, animation, characterization, even music... It's all rather flawless.
OTOH I never managed to be interested in the story. I believe it took me at least a couple of weeks to get through these 9 episodes. I just couldn't bring myself to care about the characters and what happened to them. Partner said the same thing and didn't get past episode 4 or 5.
The main "problem" (imho) is that the characterization is too good. All too often, a character's personality is established within minutes of meeting them (and is at least in part reflected in their design). So they all look super cool, but everything they do seems super predictable. Also, the story is very careful about avoiding any kind of controversial position (it's all very consensual).
The third episode was a pleasant surprise on that front, because it was darker than I expected and the characters/plot were slightly surprising (it's what kept me going tbh, hoping there'd be more of that). The episodes after the time skip were a mixed bag: to be fair, there were a few surprises (and even a bit of darkness), but the story still didn't grow, remaining tightly focused on a few main characters, even though at this point the plot itself had in fact become much bigger.
Just a few scenes here and there showing what "regular" folks were doing (or thinking) might have been enough.

To sum up: it's more about building the backstory to the LoL champions than telling a story. Which, of course, is exactly what anyone would expect from the get-go. It's just that, given all the praise that was heaped on it, I thought it would be able to go beyond that. It really doesn't.

Edited December 17, 2021 by Rippounet

[Heartofice]

I'm only 5 episodes in and I do have slightly mixed feelings about it.

Firstly, it is the most gorgeous animation I've seen in a series. Love Death Robots has some better stuff, but not over such a long period, those just being shorts. To get to this high quality for a whole season is an amazing achievement. Its not even that the imagery and painterly effect is beautiful, because it is, but the animation is often incredibly subtle and well done. Facial features and movements convey so much emotion that I'm taken aback by it quite often. 

On top of that I think there are a few characters that put in great performances and did some things emotionally that I wasn't expecting. I thought Powder's outbursts and emotional screams were pretty gut wrenching and her transformation as she grows up I found pretty interesting (certainly a lot better than the movie incarnations of Harley Quinn anyway)

The story isn't hugely engaging for me though, it has taken me a while to get into it. Those first three episodes are a bit offputting, the YA nature meant I thought I wouldn't like it. But a time jump is something I always appreciate and find interesting. 

[IFR]

I found it decently entertaining, but as others have mentioned, the plot and characters are very derivative and tropey. 

It was a somewhat subpar story greatly elevated by its visuals. Hopefully they hire better writers for the next season.

[fionwe1987]

I agree that the animation is getting good enough that I hope wider audience starts realizing that animation is a genuinely excellent form of television, and we start seeing studios pitch major  stories (SFF or otherwise) as animated shows.

Edited December 17, 2021 by fionwe1987

[Ran]

Agree on Powder/Jinx. Terrific performance by Ella Purnell (and Mia Sinclair Jenness in the initial episodes). Also quite liked the performance for Silco, by Jason Spisak.

They really manage to convey feeling and emotion on the faces of the characters without ever triggering the "uncanny valley", probably due to the more painted texturing rather than attempting photorealism. 

I haven't seen any information on how much the project cost. Must have been a very pretty penny, though, probably on par with a prestige drama per episode.

 

 

[Arakan]

1 hour ago, Rippounet said:

It's just that, given all the praise that was heaped on it, I thought it would be able to go beyond that. It really doesn't.

Tell me about a 100 million USD production which so all encompassingly shows whats all wrong with society. That’s bold. All characters shades of grey, all with their own personal, understandable motivations, even Silco. What’s comparable? Squid Game? Joker? Again, the target audience for this is huge as I have learned (so not really comparable to shows like Ozark or Narcos Mexico for example).

I praise the creators. This thing has a huge reach and if it makes teenagers or the youth think about all the injustice going on in the world I am happy. This planet must wake up.

Wish others franchises would use their power to be so bold but that’s a different topic. 

Edited December 17, 2021 by Arakan

[Arakan]

48 minutes ago, IFR said:

It was a somewhat subpar story greatly elevated by its visuals. Hopefully they hire better writers for the next season.

The writing was good. Maybe a bit derivative but well it’s a first Season which had to pull so much off. Even the „classics“ (Sopranos, Wire, Breaking Bad) weren’t that great in the first season. Not counting literature adaptations for obvious reasons. 

Anyway, besides the animation and the Art Style, I was really impressed with the voice acting. Great job all around. 

Edited December 17, 2021 by Arakan

[Arakan]

15 minutes ago, Ran said:

Agree on Powder/Jinx. Terrific performance by Ella Purnell (and Mia Sinclair Jenness in the initial episodes). Also quite liked the performance for Silco, by Jason Spisak.

I would like to add Shohreh Aghdashloo (Grayson) from the Expanse cast. Minor role but still terrific job done .