‘Arcane’ Season 2 review: The best fantasy show of 2024, run down

Oh Arcanehow I missed you.

Netflix’s League of Legends-based series rocked my world when it first came out in 2021 – and I didn’t know the first thing about it League! But despite my lack of knowledge about the source material, I got it Arcane it had everything I wanted in a fantasy series: a richly developed world, diverse groups full of flawed relationships, and amazing magical powers and action sequences. Again, there is no getting past that animation.

With Arcane Season 1 set the bar so high, I was worried there was no way its second (and sadly final) season could reach that level. Thankfully, Season 2 measures up in every way imaginable and then some, with the first six episodes made available for review that raise the stakes to incredible, often unexpected heights. Painful, beautiful, and utterly devastating, Arcane Season 2 needs to be seen when each new batch of episodes drops.

What Arcane Season 2 about?

Let’s start with the main reason for wanting to watch Arcane Season 2 super fast: finding out who survived the explosion at the end of Season 1.

For three years, we’ve been wondering if Hextech creator Jayce (voiced by Kevin Alejandro), Piltover Councilor Mel (voiced by Toks Olagundoye), and founder Viktor (voiced by Harry Lloyd) survived the -Jinx (pronounced It fallsElla Purnell) shark rocket attack on the Council of Piltover. Arcane we didn’t waste time letting us know that there are actually survivors (I’ll give you time to find out who they are). However, there were also several tragedies, and these losses drove Piltover’s reaction to the explosion.

While the Council voted to grant Zaun’s subjugation sovereignty just seconds before the Jinx rocket hit, that possibility of peace is now officially off the table. Now, the twin cities threaten to erupt into endless wars. Mel’s mother and Noxian warlord Ambessa (voiced by Ellen Thomas) are ready to break martial law. But Enforcer Caitlyn (portrayed by Katie Leung), herself recovering from a deep loss, has other plans. He assembles a strike force consisting of himself and Jinx’s sister Vi (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld) to take Jinx down once and for all, especially since she has become a symbol of resistance to the Zaunites. Now, the stage is set for a battle between the sisters.

Arcane Season 2 it gives a painful look at the war, and much more.

Ambessa gathers her forces for battle in “Arcane.”
Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

That Vi-Jinx show, when it comes, is the perfect combination of what you do Arcane‘s way of conflict is so brilliant. Yes, there’s something undeniably cool here: We’re watching two giant fighters fight each other with gauntlets and guns, complete with long slow-motion shots to emphasize the badassery on display. Yet all the character work that led us here is shown again, with everything Jinx and Vi do stemming from the love they once had and the horror of what the other has become. It’s tragedy triumphing over cool, and it’s the same Arcanea large display of war in League the world.

That’s because war pushes them all Arcane character to extremes, sometimes taking them completely apart from Season 1. Vi meets the Enforcers, even though they kill her parents, because she thinks it’s an unavoidable necessity. A heartbroken Caitlyn becomes a destructive beast in her pursuit of Jinx, unleashing hell upon the Zaunites. The latter is especially painful to watch, as chemical warfare and police brutality have become the norm in Zaun, and like the characters we’ve grown to love the corruption of power and the need for revenge.

Jinx and Vi fight in “Arcane” Season 2.
Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

But just like that ArcaneMarketing is pushing that this season is all about the war and how it relates to the breakup between Vi and Jinx, Season 2 actually takes some steps in a very strange direction. Innovation in the Hextech space is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in Piltover, sparking conversations about transhumanism in disturbing and thought-provoking ways. That these negotiations took place on the sidelines of the Piltover-Zaun battle is a reminder that the world Arcane it is much bigger than these two cities – and many people do not know it.

That strangeness is also reflected in the arrival of new types of magic and new groups of Arcane‘s players to compete. And as exciting as that expansion is, it also threatens to cause problems for the series in terms of landing gear. Can the three episodes of the season I haven’t seen wrap up these loose ends, especially given them ArcaneIs it breakneck pacing? (Sometimes, I wish these episodes were an hour long instead of 40 minutes, and I’m not saying that.) Arcane I still don’t get it right, but the judge still wants to know if he can fully stick to it when he combines so many complex ideas and stories.

Arcane continues to push the boundaries of animated TV.

Hextech gets weirder in “Arcane” Season 2.
Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

Anyway Arcane it doesn’t fully seal its finish, there’s no doubting how good it looks. Fortiche’s pictures were always clever, though Arcane Season 2 somehow steps up.

Once again, we’re blown away by the show’s combination of hand-painted graphics and computer animation, bringing to life the soaring towers of Piltover and Zaun’s grimy underground. Well, now Arcane it plays continuously with animation styles that speak to the ideas of certain characters. We saw a bit of this in Season 1, with line drawings written and text placed in certain scenes that brought Jinx’s vision to life. In season 2, a new football game.

Once again, we get busy drawings of Jinx. But we also get complete sequences made of black and white charcoal drawings, neon panels straight out of a comic book, and watercolor flashbacks. The strange constraints in Hextech allow the animation to disappear with metal, three-dimensional space scapes, and strange structures reminiscent of twisted biology. Annihilation. In one of Season 2’s biggest throwbacks, the series puts us in the vantage point of Warwick’s werewolf creature, until all we see is the ominous sound of blood-red trails and clawed hands leading us forward.

Diversity of ArcaneThe art style is one of the many reasons why it will hurt so much to say goodbye to this series, even if it does reach a definitive end. However, according to the Nov. 6 ka Variety, the series was originally planned for a five-season arc. Variety he also reported Arcane it cost about $250 million to produce, making it the most expensive animated show of all time. Because of its high price, it’s unlikely we’ll see anything like it again – at least, not for a few more years. Until then, we can keep you informed Arcane unsurprisingly: a real gem of Hextech in a difficult environment.

The first three episodes of Arcane Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix, with three more episodes dropping on Nov. 16 and Nov. 23, respectively.