Arcane: League of Legends - Season 1

What do people see in LoL? It is just a more colorful DoTA, right? However, there must be something behind the massive success of this multiplayer online battle arena video game. The more I thought about it, the more I got the impression that Riot Games had developed it and made it all much better. They have developed better and more colorful graphics, more interesting gameplay, and it looks like they are constantly changing the game and adding things to it. The marketing is good; you simply cannot deny that they have really invested a lot into it. Now, there is an animated TV series that kind of confirms my beliefs about Riot Games' vision because they have put a lot into this one as well. I am talking both in terms of funding, marketing support, and the effort and passion of the developers themselves. There were a lot of significant decisions made regarding this show; these included the choice of the animation studio that created what I thought was the beautiful, original and compelling graphics. The screenwriters also managed to create an interesting and suspenseful narrative with beautifully drawn characters that I started to care about within moments. OK, so the soundtrack is not so good, as I found most of Imagine Dragons' songs to be kind of oddly tired and often did not seem to suit many of the scenes. The other music they used also rarely suited the mood well and was not very impressive. However, I could not give a damn, because I still enjoyed this show a lot! I liked the dark atmosphere, the twists, and the unexpected subplots that the narrative had. I also liked the excellent, dynamic and gripping action. Plus there is also the fact that every character in this show is very complex and well portrayed. These are not cookie-cutter characters, but rather realistic characters with strengths and weaknesses, whose decisions usually make sense and whose future journey matters to me. Arcane: League of Legends has clearly struck gold with me, and I would be happy to see the (already confirmed) follow-up. I would also be happy to watch anything else they throw at me from the world of LoL. It is not going to get me to play LoL because I lack the skill, patience (I am too greedy), and steady nerves. However, the anime series got me excited and animation-wise, and the last time an animation caught my attention like this was probably Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. 9.5/10. (21/11/2021)