Hear the sounds of colorful explosions and beautiful mayhem? Get ready for Arcane, an impressive project based on League of Legends and produced by the infamous company, Riot Games.

While the popular Netflix show Arcane only lasted nine episodes, the production time took an impressive six years with a budget that could’ve been anywhere from 90 – 100 million dollars. There has already been released information on a season two release date, the earliest being in 2023.

League of Legends is a renowned multiplayer pvp game. It is most known and popular in esports competitions, with 159 champions so far. Riot Games creates online games and published League of Legends October 27, 2009.

I absolutely adore Arcane, and while the season was short it contained so much plot and characterization that was imperative to all stories that were presented by a multitude of  characters. I have viewed Riot Games animations in the past and am usually very satisfied.

Having risen in player selection in the League, Jinx, Vi, and Caitlyn are three fun and iconic characters for both design and personality. According to Dot Esports Jinx’s original 4.3 pick rate has increased 15 percent, a rather impressive feat. Vi’s overall pick rate has risen 8.4 percent against all other champions. And lastly Caitlyn, an already infamous and popular champion, has risen 3.3 percent.

Accurate to the show, Vi and Jinx are siblings in the game. Fans of Jinx would already know that she originated from an underground nation named Zaun, but the show provides a more clear explanation for their nemesis status. In addition to clearing up the backstory of Jinx’s descent into madness, Arcane has no issues with killing off characters despite the emotional attachment that I developed through storyline and overall actions. However, going into the series I knew a happy ending wasn’t a possibility since I have a basic background of the playable Jinx, Vi, and Caitlyn. 

Jinx is also an obvious conduit of schizophrenia which influences many of her actions. According to The Crossover, Jinx’s schizophrenia is well characterized and doesn’t use it as an excuse for the root of her issues. I can see that she has abandonment issues, most likely created by losing her parents at an early age, as well as self doubts.

Not only is the storyline emotionally beautiful but the usage of imagery, animation, and colors are splendid. The storyline involves many different characters (mostly the League champions) paired with scene transitions that flow well with the overall plot. 

Arcane is very good at utilizing their soundtrack; I definitely felt more immersed in fight scenes and the beauty of the show’s surroundings when the songs rolled in. One of my favorite songs was Enemy by Imagine Dragons, most commonly in the intro. The song even got placed No. 1 on Billboard’s Top TV Songs chart.

The ending of the show nearly made me cry with the strong visuals that express the grief that Jinx is in after killing her surrogate father, Silco in a fit of rage, and losing a relationship with Vi. Realizing that she cant return to her old identity, Powder, she dons her new title, Jinx and says her goodbyes. Moments before the end of the episode, she uses her ultimate attack, which is common in the game, to kill all of the council just as they were preparing to make peace negotiations with Zaun.

While not necessarily a family friendly show I look forward to another season. I would like to see more involvement with certain storyline characters. I’m eager to see how everyone responds after the disaster that JInx brought upon the nation of Zaun and Piltover.

Arcane is a show that uses all characters in an important transformation that structures the plot perfectly. Riot Games has truly made an involved and emotional show.