On November 9th, the second and final season of Arcane was released after a long awaited three years since the first season.

‍

Arcane is a Netflix produced animated show released in 2021 that exploded in popularity. It is based on the video game, League of Legends, but tells a completely different story. Through sci-fi, action, and drama, the show follows Vi and Jinx, two sisters who live in the impoverished city of Zaun. But what makes this show so special, and why do people love it so much?

‍

There is the obvious appeal of the show: the amazing 3D animation, a soundtrack featuring many well-known artists, the creative fantastical world, and action-packed fights. But what else?

‍

Most importantly the show has a good story and complex characters. It explores elements and subjects that anyone can connect to. Even though it has lots of pizazz and cool fights, at its core, it’s a show about relationships and the connections between different people.

‍

For me, one of the highlights is how the show writes women and portrays queer relationships. In the action genre, women are often portrayed as overly masculine and/or sexualized. Typically, it is superficially overemphasized how amazing it is that there is a strong female character. However, in Arcane, both main characters are female and the majority of the side characters are as well. Instead of constantly highlighting how physically strong the women are, the show treats them as they would any of their male counterparts. They are strong fighters who happen to be women. Secondly, the queer relationship between the main character and her partner are portrayed in an extremely casual way. They are never sexualized by the show nor does it draw a lot of extra attention to them being queer.

‍

The biggest reason I think people like this show is because it’s unique, creative, and original. Yes, it is based off of a video game, using characters and weapons from it, but the story is original. It is extremely artistically creative in the way it’s animated and how it uses many different illustration techniques.

‍

As we’ve seen in the past few years, most new TV shows and movies are either sequels, live action remakes, or just another version of something that already exists. People don’t want to keep seeing the same stories over and over and this show—as well as the few other original stories in Hollywood recently—proves that. Just because a new project doesn’t immediately have a pre-built fan base does not mean people won’t like it. 

‍

Everything needs to start from somewhere.

‍