Arcane

I’ve played League of Legends maybe twice in my life and I’m not likely to ever go back to it. It just isn’t my bag and most MOBAs aren’t. That’s a personal truth that will preclude me from playing a fair few games that friends of mine regularly enjoy together. It’s okay though, because I’ve got Arcane, which increasingly feels like the best thing to ever come from the League of Legends property.

Netflix’s Arcane brings the depth of its characters to the forefront and makes them shine in one of the most gorgeously animated spectacles I’ve ever seen. I’m not one to rewatch shows that aren’t just my standard rotation of sitcoms, but I’ve sat through Arcane more times than I care to admit, simply to marvel at it in motion. Watching Vi pummel someone (and get pummeled in the process) is an absurd joy thanks to Arcane’s beautiful blend of 3D and 2D animation. And yet its animation is just the cherry on top of a mature show that tackles, among other topics, the disenfranchisement and abuse of the impoverished as well as the pitfalls of a society that blindly places its faith in technology and the would-be messiahs proselytizing about it. It’s as much about San Francisco and Silicon Valley as it is about Piltover and the undercity of Zaun. Arcane is a video game adaptation, and a damn fine one at that, but it’s also so much more. — Moises Taveras