Arcane Season 2 Initial Review | Fortiche has Done it Again

Arcane Season 2 is finally here, and it comes three years after the release of the first season which took the world by storm thanks to its incredible animation and gripping story. While it first seemed to be a show only League fans would appreciate, it turned out to be the perfect introduction to the world of Runeterra for those unfamiliar with the franchise.

Given how dazzling the animation of Season 1 is, it’s no surprise that it has taken studio Fortiche Production three years to make the second season. Fans of the show won’t have to wait after this for the story’s continuation though as Season 2 serves as the conclusion of the series.

We can’t say yet how good this wraps up the story given that we were only able to watch the first six episodes. What we can do is share our initial review of Season 2’s first two acts.

While we won’t get into spoiler territory here, we can say that Arcane Season 2 is a treat, mostly.

Moving Story That Flows a Bit Fast

Season 1 ended with a bang, literally, as Jinx fired her rocket launcher at the Piltover council. Season 2 then picks up right after, showing viewers who survived and who sadly didn’t.

Much like the first season, this second and final one is divided into three acts. Season 2’s first act explores the ramifications of Jinx’s attack, and as such, we recommend brushing up on what happened in the first season as the first three episodes move at a fast pace. If you’ve forgotten some of the story details already, you may have a hard time following what’s happening, especially as there’s no “previously on” provided here.

This isn’t much of an issue as there are plenty of Arcane Season 1 recaps out there (you can also simply rewatch Season 1 if you have time). What is more of an issue is the breakneck pace. While the first season also moved fast, the second season seems to move too quickly between plot developments.

We understand why the pace had to be fast as this is the last season, and we can see from the story’s trajectory that there was a lot of thought put into how the story developed. When watching though, there are some moments we wished were fleshed out more, while some scenarios felt a bit too convenient to keep the plot moving.

That’s not to say the story here is bad, far from it. It’s just that the first season set such a high benchmark that we became a bit nitpicky with the story here. Taking the pacing issues we had aside though, Arcane Season 2 still has a gripping story that delivers when it comes to character moments and reflects current world conflicts.

Again, we can’t say for certain if the show will stick the landing, but we were moved plenty of times while watching the first six episodes because of what the characters go through, as well as how the conflict between Piltover and Zaun is relevant now more than ever.

Another thing that we liked is how it fleshes out the world and characters of League even more. It’s hard to explain why exactly without spoiling specific details, but we can at least say that the second season will change your mind about some of the League champions featured in the show.

Thanks to these moving character moments and lore reveals, we were able to look past Arcane Season 2’s uneven flow at times. What also helped in this regard is the animation. Once again, Fortiche proves why they are one of the top animation studios in the world right now.

Arcane’s Animation is Still Top-Notch

Arcane Season 1 featured tons of memorable moments, including the Ekko vs Jinx fight as well as the explosive finale (shoutout to Sting’s “What Could Have Been” which was the perfect accompaniment). For Season 2, Fortiche delivered even more incredible scenes, both in terms of emotion and fight choreography.

Pretty much all of the six episodes we saw had brilliant fight scenes, and not just in a technical sense (i.e. the fights are easy to follow). These battles also had their own style, complete with pitch-perfect music choices. Some fights had a big emotional impact, while others were just rip-roaring fun, and both these styles work well during their episodes.

Fights aside, the animation of various scenes was also incredibly creative visually, perhaps even more so than the first season. As it’s a bit of a futile exercise to describe how beautiful these scenes are with words, we’ll instead offer points of comparison.

Remember how Across the Spider-Verse took the Into the Spider-Verse style and pushed it even more? That’s kind of like what Fortiche did with Arcane Season 2 as the first six episodes already featured plenty of scenes with a unique look. For instance, one scene looked like a watercolor painting come to life.

Aside from the Spider-Verse team, perhaps only anime studios like Trigger or Science SARU are comparable right now in terms of delivering this dazzling maximalist animation. As such, from its visuals alone, Season 2 is a must-see.

Arcane Season 2: Initial Verdict

Based on the first two acts, Arcane Season 2 is worth the three-year-long wait as it delivers incredible animation with great music that elevates the impactful character moments, all while presenting themes of conflict that are resonant in today’s climate. It also has plenty of interesting story and lore developments that are sure to delight League fans.

Perhaps the only thing we didn’t love about the second season so far is the pacing as story developments can happen a bit too fast, leading to some unevenness for us. Still, this is a minor issue as episodes 1-6 are still a treat to watch.

Hopefully, the final three episodes deliver a proper conclusion to the series. Based on how Act 2 ended, we already can’t wait to find out what happens next.

Arcane Season 2 Act 1 is now streaming worldwide, exclusively on Netflix. Acts 2 and 3 will be released on November 16 and 23, respectively.