Arcane, the show based off the video game League of Legends by developer Riot Games, just finished season two, with the first act airing on November 16th, 2024. This season was long-awaited-for from fans of the game and/or the show. Arcane has a lot of mini details hidden within the show, 

Arcane’s story structure is remarkably interesting but effective. There are 9 episodes total in each season, and 3 episodes would come out every week in “acts.” These episodes worked as a normal three act story structure would: the setup (episode 1), the confrontation (episode 2) and the resolution (episode 3). The only thing is that the third episode was not a resolution, it acted more as a climax.

What is fascinating about this is that the acts are also structured like this: the set up (Act I), the confrontation (Act II) and the resolution (Act III). Act I is supposed to be “boring” since it is just the build-up, but since there is technically a climax within the act it still keeps the watcher interested in the show and willing to wait another week for the next part.

The animation in Arcane is nothing short of amazing. It is not surprising, though, since the budget for season two was a grand $250M, making Arcane the most expensive animated series in history. Every frame of Arcane is meticulously made and includes the tiniest of details that make the experience of watching the show ten times better. One of many scenes that can represent the careful planning of the animation in Arcane is Act III, Episode 7.

In episode 7, the scene where the characters Ekko and Powder start to dance, the animation is slowed to 4 frames per second. This is an allusion to what will soon be Ekko’s power later in the episode. Alongside that, another way to interpret this is Ekko wanting to stay in that moment and ‘slow’ down time and be with Powder forever, knowing that he would have to leave her eventually and go back to his universe.

Arcane’s animators are so good at conveying emotions and the story through animation that one could analyze most scenes like the one in the earlier paragraph and understand what is going on without even listening to it.

Of course, Arcane has its strengths and weaknesses, but there is no doubt that there was a lot of work put into the show. It’s still highly recommended to watch it and look out for the small details, you might learn something new about Arcane.