The video game turned television show, “Arcane,” was a huge hit when it was fully released on Nov. 20, 2021. Even though most viewers never played the game “League of Legends,” which it is based off of, the story was still as intriguing as any other. Season two fully released three years later with nine episodes on Nov. 23, 2024 and everyone was excited to see what would unfold.

Season one ended with Jinx, one of the main antagonists, shooting a rocket towards the area of a council meeting in the rich city of Piltover. The city was divided up into two, Zaun, the undercity where the poor lived, and Piltover, the topcity where the rich lived. Ironically, the meeting taking place was to vote on if the two sides, the undercity where the poor citizens lived, and the topcity were going to have peace. While all members were voting ‘yes,’ a rocket made a clear decision on which side didn’t want peace, and a full on war was on the brink of starting because of the action Jinx just made. 

The first episode started off with a bang, metaphorically and literally. Caitlyn suffered losing her mom which led her to take on huge responsibilities because of the family’s royalty status. The animators did an excellent job portraying Caitlyn and Vi’s emotion and how they handled their different challenges. I thought it was pretty funny that the writers made the first attack from the undercity happen while at a memorial, but another thing to note is, how did they even get the ability to perform the attack with all the high level security? Funny thing is that right before the attack was about to happen, Vi notices, tries to get to Caitlyn to tell her, but does not once try to scream that there is an attack or even try to say something. I thought she could’ve tried a bit more than sneaking past people, but she could’ve had another vision. At the end, Caitlyn really showed her true battle side by telling the remaining leaders her game plan with the undercity and how she would deal with them using her new squad and advances with hex core, a magic in this universe that really does anything and everything.

In the next episode, when the topcity enforcers including Vi and Caitlyn paid Jinx a visit, the toxic gas confused me so much. Not only did Jinx not pass out, but she still was able to escape with complete haste. The animators did make her eyes get all red and make her cough, but I feel they should’ve weakened her movement at least a little. More odd things I noticed was how none of the enforcers heard her cough or heard her running around. That just seemed like an easy thing to hear. As well as this, how did the topcity have crazy high tech magic and all sorts, but not have any sort of thermal optic? Seems like an obvious thing to have if someone is entering through gas, but who am I to tell them. One more questionable thing about that scene was how Jinx was fully capable of running from four men who had pinned her down merely five minutes after the gas event. I know she did have help from a friend who made them take their eyes away from Jinx, but I definitely would not have let that slide. After those scenes, when we followed alongside Viktor, who I can’t forgive for completely abandoning Jayce, he basically turned into the Arcane form of Jesus. How he knew he would be able to heal those suffering from wounds and starvation we just may never know.

The third episode gave me lots of mixed emotions. The very first odd thing was the moment Caitlyn and Vi shared their kiss. Everyone who watched season one knew it was coming, but I feel no one thought they would kiss when they did. I mean having the first kiss after saying ‘sorry my sister killed your mom, but please don’t change now,’ is a little crazy. During the fight between the sisters, I was glad that Vi disrupted Caitlyn from taking the shot at Jinx because of the kid, Isha. It helped show the difference of who is more mature. The random parts that would zoom in on Jayce, Ekko, and Heimerdinger were distracting since I was more interested in the fight, but I’m glad it made more sense in the later episodes. Also, the whole deal with the black rose stuff was kind of confusing. Either I didn’t remember it from the prior season, or it was a completely new thing. At that moment, Ambessa seemed super cool, but her army was a little scary and she probably wasn’t a good mom to Mel.

I will never get over how Caitlyn started having a thing with one of her enforcers, Maddie, in the next episode. I think Maddie was a super big downgrade, especially compared to Vi, and well Maddie is Scottish and looks twelve years old, but on another note, Isha is such an instigator. Her imitating Jinx led to others getting hurt for no reason, but I guess she tried. The best thing about this episode is how we found out that Vander is still alive but in a different way. I was so ecstatic to see him again.

Episode five has the same random cuts to a different scene which I’m not a fan of. I know both scenes majorly impacted the story, but I didn’t like that they separated them. At one point, I would be super interested in seeing Vanders new form, and then at another point, I was looking at Mel escaping the black rose. I just wanted to see one thing, although I did love seeing the backstory into Vanders old life. Caitlyn’s character development is actually insane over the past couple episodes. After being taken under Ambessa’s wing, Caitlyn became the one who didn’t like to play games and wanted everything to get straight to the point. I really liked Vi’s new look, which looked like Rhea Ripley, and I’m happy she and Jinx spent time together. Viktor’s voice was really scary and I am not having it. I wish he and Jayce could be partners together again, but right now, it doesn’t look like it.

The sixth episode was actually amazing. The visuals were so beautiful in every single moment, so it was really visually appealing to watch. Viktor actually seemed like a good guy in this episode because he was trying to help Vander become normal again. Seeing the emotions on Viktor’s face while he helped Vander was super insightful because viewers could see the damage that was done to Vander. I was so so so happy to see Vi and Caitlyn reunite. The funniest thing was how Caitlyn always folded whenever Vi called her ‘cupcake.’ I love how the creators always save the twists and turns until the end of the episode. The flashbacks they gave to make the scenes make sense really shock the audience. Seeing Caitlyn, Vi, and Jinx on the same team is super cool because no one ever expects it. I hope Isha’s sacrifice never goes unnoticed, she was adorable and became a younger sister to Jinx.

I absolutely hated the seventh episode. I know people won’t agree with me because they liked seeing what would happen in a different universe, but it was super super boring. Ekko and Heimerdinger literally carried and I didn’t need to see Jinx look like Chloe from Life is Strange. Very mid episode. I hated it.

In episode eight, Jinx was freaking stinky bro. She was just being a depressed teenager who thought everything was horrible. The fact that she didn’t think she should be punished for her actions is pretty insane. I think she was super entitled that entire episode and had no care for family at all. Vi literally came to be there with her, as a family, and Jinx didn’t care and just locked Vi in her cell. Super messed up of her and I hated it, again. It seemed that Jayce and Mel were the only people who cared about saving everyone. They were the real heroes. People need to be more like Jayce and Mel. I also really did not need to see Caitlyn and Vi… doing stuff in the cell. I thought I wouldn’t need to skip, but man it went on for a long time. I’m not homophobic, though, I promise, ask Ingrid Bonner. 

The last episode was the one everyone was waiting for. Seeing Piltover and Zaun come together to fight against one common enemy was amazing. I loved how Jinx was able join the battle at just the right time to disrupt the enemy lines. I still can’t believe that Maddie turned out to be a spy from Ambessa’s army, but I didn’t like her anyway, and I’m glad Mel was able to stop her from shooting Caitlyn. Once again, Mel and Jayce were the best and tried their hardest to save everyone with Mel on the battlefield and Jayce in the neurological war with Viktor. I’m super glad Mel was able to overcome her mom’s grip on her and have the ending come out the way she wanted. Hands down Ekko was the literal goat. Saving everyone at the last second was insane and I’m glad he was the person to save the day. I’m also upset at Vi for kind of making Jinx sacrifice herself. There was no reason she should’ve stayed on the collapsing metal with the new demonic Vander. I know she knew that Vander wasn’t going to come back into light and remember Vi and Jinx, but she just had to watch him die again. She should’ve listened to Jinx because there was no reason Jinx had to sacrifice herself. However, the very last scene had a glitch, similar to Jinx’s style, which could possibly mean she would return if there was a season three.

Overall, “Arcane” is probably one of the most visually appealing and best animated series out there. I enjoyed watching it so much, and waiting those three years was worth it.

Absolute cinema.