Arcane - Season 2 Premiere Review - The Hall of Fame Video Game Adaptation Is Back With a Vengeance

[@enormicon]

The animation style is absolutely gorgeous

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Hell yes. And the show somehow keeps raising the bar on what we can expect.

[@jackgreenway4679]

This is the only animation to me the rivals the look of the Spiderverse movies. The budget for these seasons are insane they spent 250 million on each season so that’s like 13 million per episode making it the most expensive animated show ever. But unlike a show like Rings of Power there’s great storytelling too!

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Money well spent. Unlike some shows like the Acolyte it feels like the money all ended up there on the screen.

[@LPR44]

It is $250M for both seasons, but that still makes it the most expensive animated series afaik, and you can feel how they leveled up from S1 to s2

[@TRKPurgatos]

If I had to choose I would actually choose Arcane BCS I think it's even cleaner to look at.

[@v.h.rodriguez7997]

Thanks for this review! I can't wait to check out the new season. 'The Thing' (PS2) was an excellent video game "adaptation" (actually a sequel) of the John Carpenter movie where -- in addition to typical video game tropes like collecting gear, and health -- you have to build trust with the NPCs, or they start to suspect you are The Thing, and mayhem ensues. Did I like it better than the movie? No; it's one of my top twenty favorite movies of all time. But I did play the game to 100% completion -- it's that good.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Mörk Borg!

[@HomieFiguro]

The studio that animated arcane is the same one that wants to adapt the manga Vagabond 🤯

[@Jaemy_art]

Wow really???

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I've had the first volume of Vagabond gathering dust on my shelf for years. About time I gave it a read.

[@tjk3430]

These 3 eps were loaded. I caught season 1 long after all eps were available. It was my first experience into the 'League' world and it was almost too much to binge, sensory overload. Really liked just having the 3 eps to savor this time around.

[@jmil843]

Cyberpunk Edgerunners is a great adaptation as well

[@syndrax8554]

But this is miles better.

[@jmil843]

@ agreed

[@CZJames20]

I prefered the story and the world of Cyberpunk, perhaps the characters as well. But the animation is on another level in Arcane.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Very cool! I'll hunt it down. Loved the 2077 once all the initial bugs were worked out.

[@CZJames20]

@@geekinwithJamesHancock For sure, highly recommend it. CDPR has a real talent for writting, they wrote the story for Edgerunners as well.

[@jalcome4201]

An important review, to have someone that only enjoys Arcanes spectacle side. Not that i endorse it, but its a tastement to the shows ability to not forget ENTERTAINMENT. And also an important trait to have, to flourish in an environment as Netflix. A service where a movie like Red Notice has been top 5 for months lmao

[@shaytal100]

Well, I would guess more than 80% of the LoL player base does not know much about the "story" of the game. Because there is no story in the game. There is lore, but you don't play a story. And there is no lore knowledge necessary to play and to enjoy the game. You play 5vs5 on the same map every game. But all 10 players choose a different champion out of like 140 or so. But nevertheless, this french studio did a really great job making Arcane. I agree with James here. The best thing for me is the art style / the animation. This little (previously) unknown french studio makes Disney and Pixar look amateurish imo. Also not very interested in the story, but I like the characters and the acting. Jinx might be more interesting, but I do like Vi and Caitlyn and most of the other characters as well. I have only seen the first episode of the 2nd season so far, but I will change that now!

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I wish I could get into League of Legends but I much prefer a game where I get to keep the progress on my character over time. I'm currently working my way through Kingdom Come Deliverance in anticipation of the sequel next year.

[@SEAKPhotog]

Nice! I loved season 1. Don't paly the game but man, season 1 was a terrific ride with a great Jinx transformation. Agreed - she's the best character. Gotta go start watching Season 2. Enjoy your weekend!

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Very fired up for the rest of Season 2. If Jinx finishes the season standing atop a mountain of dead bodies, that works for me.

[@AnotherJenn42]

Viktor was my favorite character from season one. I am so excited to see where his story is going. (Don’t play the game, this is all new to me.)

[@salomaonplanetsaturn]

First season was great. World design is very similar to game Dishonered. French creators 😇

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I've heard nothing but good things about Dishonored. I need to give it a try. Right now I'm obsessed with Kingdom Come Deliverance. Getting my game face on for the sequel early next year.

[@chrismeandyou]

Tales of Borderlands story game was better than most TV shows.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Nice! I've never seen it, but I'll hunt it down.

[@chrismeandyou]

@@geekinwithJamesHancock Sure. But just the FIRST game though. The second Tales of Borderlands game is very bad and a huge disappointment that the original devs didn't continue the original game's story.

[@enriquecabada8841]

your right about netflix movies there philosophy must be quantity over quality they drop so much original films that if they have a good one it will get lost with the other bad ones, all year long i have only seen hitman and rebel ridge if it didn't get a theatrical release i generally think its not very good it might not be true but theres so much crap to have to search through

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I think Hitman and Rebel Ridge both deserved a proper theatrical release and could have made some good money. I'm seeing more and more news about filmmakers turning down offers from Netflix in favor of getting a theatrical release with a company like Amazon. I feel like Netflix has some room to bend with this debate where they could enjoy the best of both worlds.

[@TheMattyNation]

Everything about it is incredible

[@nickhtk6285]

Not a big game player so I find that adaptations try to walk that line between game and tv series... and most fail miserably alienating one or the other. Ill definitely check this out.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Well worth hunting down. Even if League of Legends did not exist, the show would still be worth a look.

[@jacketernity4609]

Won’t be able to watch this for a couple more days but glad my favorite show of all time is back! I hope 🤞🏻 S2 can live up to my probably unrealistic expectations. 😂. Keep it up. 👍🏻. Will come back to watch this after I get the opportunity to watch the first 3 episodes.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Well worth the wait. Hope the diehards are pleased with S2.

[@jacketernity4609]

@@geekinwithJamesHancock I found the 1st act fucking glorious! I hope 🤞🏻 you end up reviewing the next 2 acts. Keep it up. 👍🏻.

[@Aedeus]

The show is absolutely fabulous

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

It is like feeding chocolate right into my eyeballs.

[@amcaesar]

Fuck, I haven't heard of this before.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

Season 1 was a total phenomenon. Let's see if lightning can strike twice in the same place.

[@sirdromos2769]

Trust me we are not ready if we go to noxus for the next saga

[@flatline8580]

It was my first reaction to episode 3, as a motion comic. But yeah, that doesnt do it justice. Never seen the like.

[@geekinwithJamesHancock]

I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in my reaction. That sequence was absolutely stunning.

[@wickdaline8668]

Vi and Caitlyn shippers unite!

[@univeriseman8008]

Its not an adapdtion. Riot said Arcane is canon.