i think it’s also notable in that scene that caitlyn follows vi’s route. she’s super slow and shakey and terrible at it, but she goes out of her comfort zone and does it

The brothel scene isn’t fan service in my opinion. Fan service is intentionally added to please the viewers, yes the brothel scene plays into what CaitxVi (Violyn) shippers wanted but one of the writers for the episode, Amanda Overton, said in an interview in response to a question on the “You’re hot, Cupcake,” line “Women who are attracted to women have experienced all too frequently what it’s like to have our feeling buried in subtext for all eternity, and Vi’s emotions here are actually very important to the story we were telling. Vi makes many decisions about Caitlyn later on that only make sense if her feelings for her are strong.” The whole interview is on The Holy Mother of Yuri if anyone wants to check it out.

Took the words out of my mouth. This are arguably my favourite scenes in the entire show. Not only because i love the character of Vi a bit too much and i adore pretty much every scene she's in, but also because i truly appreciate the subtle insights into The Lanes and how much this place has influenced and shaped not only Vi but the entirety of it's citizens.

calling the brothel scene “fan service” feels gross. just because its wlw doesnt mean its fan service, and im honestly sick of that narrative. their relationship is so important to the lore and story thats going to be developed and writing it off as fan service is so belittling. lgbtqia relationships are and should be just as normal as hetero relationships, and to boil down such an important scene to such a stupid description is tone deaf and ignorant. if vi and cait were replaced with a hetero couple, no one would have batted an eye. im so tired of wlw being used as attention grabbers, and now we FINALLY have an actual, genuine relationship between two women and people still refuse to treat it the same as the relationship between a man and a woman. it’s disheartening to still be seeing people be so tone deaf to such beautiful relationships because its two women. :/

My favorite part of the parkour scene is that after all that fancy parkour the old man with the cane gets there the same time they do, I laughed way to hard at that.

As a woman loving woman the first time i have seen this scene i ve seen it entirely from caitlyns perspective. I did not even watch it out my perspective. The clueless frustrated teen in me was dead silent. I felt with Caitlyn not me. Just later i freaked out bc this is one of the first times in media i have seen two woman openly flirting. Like omfg. And vi in general is such a GOOD female character, i hope well see more of in media

Two characters developing their relationship isn't fanservice - I find it odd that you referred to the brothel scene so frequently as that, honestly. They get info on how to find Sevika, we get to see Vi and Caitlyn in a new environment which teaches us about them, and they get to interact with each other in a relatively low stakes manner (compared to most of their interactions where one or both of them are injured or threatened in some way) - again, developing their relationship. I also think it was really smart on the writers' behalf to actively have Vi flirt with Caitlyn unambiguously so early on, because it sets the tone for even the most oblivious viewers to catch on to the romantic aspect of their relationship moving forward. Oftentimes people will accuse shows of queerbaiting or be taken aback when a relationship develops between two queer characters unless it's spelled out in neon lights (which can hinder nuances in storytelling), so it was smart to set the lens for Caitlyn and Vi early on (Vi hitting on Caitlyn, making it clear Caitlyn also prefers women in a way that's relevant to the plot, etc.). I mean, they did all this and STILL people question whether it's romantic between them. Like, bruh. I have no problem with fan service, but this wasn't it.

You see French influence in Piltover's architecture too. Take the metal work of the lift linking the Lanes to Piltover: Eiffel's influence. The rooftops are also a reminder of the Parisien rooftops made of slated tiles.

The moment when Cait decided to take the plunge encapsulates her so perfectly as a character and who she is as a person. She's a beautiful study of how someone can be ignorant to the truth but because of their good heart and a desire to seek justice, they take that first step, that plunge. They journey into the unknown to fulfill the duty they placed upon themselves. And through their journey, we see their methods, outlook, and understanding change even though, interestingly enough, their sense of justice and moral goodness stay consistent.

0:23 this part where we see Vi running from the side is one of my favourite moments of animation in my 30+ years on the planet. The way her entire body moves with every step, her hips, her spine, her shoulders, her arms above and below the elbow, everything is in motion to show just how fast she's going. And it puts her muscular physique on display, making us, the audience, believe that this is someone who really could take the giant leap that comes in the next scene.

It could just be semantics but I never saw the brothel scene as “fan service”. It’s just a scene of character development for Vi and Cait with a bit of a comedic tone. The Imagine Dragons cameo is more of what Id typically associate with fan service. Though even there Ive found it funny how people are so annoyed by their cameo yet almost never mention Ray Chen even though his cameo gets far more focus and screen time in the very same episode. I had no idea who either were until seeing it online later so honestly neither felt out of place to me. It just felt like a device to let them make the music in both respective moments diegetic the same way they’d done with the Last Drops jukebox or Powders victrola.

I don't think the brothel scene is fanservice. It establishs a plot line that becomes increasingly more and more relevant by the time the finale rolls around, that being the attraction between the girls. It is important to the story, just because it's romantic/sexual in nature doesn't automatically makes it fanservice. And while I wholly agree that that scene reveals a lot about the setting and Zaun's culture, the clear surface reading can't be ignored- this scene is meant to affirm the girls are both into women (clears up what their relationship is gonna be like moving forward) and that Caitlyn is a terrible actor.

I think about this whole episode on almost a daily basis. Also in defense of the brothel scene, as a lesbian I felt really confident that they were not queerbaiting by the end of the show because of scenes like this. I feel confident that the show is comfortable with queer people and queer characters. This was a really interesting deep dive! A really good defense! :)

The detail that the old person is walking up in Piltover when Caitlyn throws sighs and watches Vi jump, and the same old person is down in Zaun when Caitlyn gets down there shows that Caitlyn's safe way was also faster. This way was pure for Vi to stretch her muscles and feel the freedom.

One of the great things about Arcane is how much you get out of a second watching. The show makes previous episodes better than what they are on first watching. Not just the big things, or the details you didn't notice on the first viewing but how every little bit has meaning. Example; the Cait Jayce rain scene when Cait is young and Jayce has just been abandoned by the Kirammans; "My dad says you're a misfit and we can't be friends anymore" "So why are you out here?" "I'm a misfit too, I suppose" Once you know who Cait is and the age she is it so displayed a young adolescent struggling with her identity, not only in her wants and dreams versus her family's status and expectations but also likely her with her sexuality. 'Show don't tell' isn't just visuals; that line SHOWS so much about Caitlyn. BTW: my most underrated scene is when Jayce tells Mel about Victor's illness while she's painting right after they slept together. The use of the painter's trowel, colors, and strokes are a brilliant use of showing Mel's true feelings while letting her keep her cool composed mask as a Medarda, Council woman, and as the fox. I just can't think of any other framing or cinematography that would have communicated that character's inner workings as well while maintaining her outer character. That scene was when I knew Mel wasn't going to turn out to be a villain and that she wasn't just manipulating Jayce for political and economic advantage.

I've been searching for this video since I first watched Arcane. I've been a freerunner for most of my life and the attention to how perfect Vi's form was blew me away. Best form and realism I've ever seen in fiction.

i feel like i'm just repeating this comment section but the brothel scene isn't "fan service". that term implies it was shoe-horned in to appease viewers, etc, but it was purposeful and refreshing to see. amanda overton - in a tweet that's now been screenshot a hundred times and i still love seeing everywhere - talks about how she and others had to fight to keep even the iconic "you're hot, cupcake" line in. she talks about how women attracted to women mostly have their feelings "buried in subtext" but they wanted this scene to be different, to show how vi expresses her emotions. plus it's a moment between two characters that moves the story along, solidifying arcane as a character-driven show rather than plot-driven, which is yet another aspect i love about it. it's showing caitlyn's unease at her surroundings because of her gilded and repressed upbringing, dipping into vi's confidence as she's back in her element, but also showing how these two and their relationship, however you may view it, becomes almost as important as vi and powder/jinx's.

I can’t get enough of this show man it’s so damn good

Thank you, finally!! The "fan-service" part of the brothel scene is a happy, welcome by-product of it, because the scene is totally necessary for story & character development, and so well written, it doesn't feel forced, it doesn't feel "cramped in" just for the sake of it. In my mind, Vi is about 15-16 in the beginning, so yes, I immediately thought it was great to establish that at that age, she already must have known her every way around these places, that are unsuitable for kids, reflecting on the kind of upbringing and life she had compared to sheltered Caitlyn, who gets to "see the real world" here like she wished to. Caitlyn, who is very self-assured naturally, is out of her depth for once; we learn that she is terrible at pretending (another great youtuber pointed out how the core of her character is that she is real, authentic, and honest, in contrast to the scheming, pretense-filled Piltover high-society world, that's why she feels so out of place there), but at ease once she can be her true gay self; we learn both girls are into women and establish the sexual tension, and of course see a bit more of the dirty underbelly of Zaun. Great stuff about Parkour, too! All I can think about at the start of this scene is how fucking great it must feel to finally see your home again, and experience freedom and air and sky and freedom of movement, after all these years cooped up in a dark, horrible place. A tremendous bolt of happy energy, yearning to be let free, and she doesn't hold back. It's her way to kiss her new freedom hello. It also feels like a love-letter made by Vi for Zaun, for her roots, if that makes sense. It also shows what kind of person Vi is - passionate, impulsive, fearless. I love every second of it and I watched it a million times.

As a parkour athlete myself, that scene was absolutely beautiful. Parkour is about absolute freedom in your environment and Vi was absolutely free in that scene.

One thing that could have been a really cool feature of the parkour scene would have been if Vi had stopped dead in her tracks to keep from falling, because the undercity's building layout has changed while she was in jail, breaking her old route so she has to improvise to get back track. I think it could be done without bloating runtime or dragging on the pace too much and it would underline both that: 1: The undercity is no longer what it was when she left 2: She is tenacious, having to improvise to get back on track is merely a minor setback to her (preferably including some giant leap. Like the one she already did in the show, maybe)

I also want to give a shout-out to the opera scene with Jayce and Mel, because that scene doesn't get as much credit as it deserves.

I have watched a bunch of French movies that have to do with inner city life and coming of ages movies of growing up on the streets of Paris. And now that you mention Fortiche being a French studio, I can DEFINITELY see how they conceptualized Zaun to be very reminiscent of Paris shanty towns.

also one of the most important thing about this scene is that moment when vi finally sees the whole of zaun there was a vanders zaun right before she went prison, and here before her is brand new silcos zaun she's seeing first time i can only imagine the mixed bag of overwhelming feelings she must be experiencing looking out at it all in that moment here it is, her home, but all changed... that mix of shock and nostalgia

Vi: "Too risky" Also Vi: *would rather do super dangerous parkour instead*

I've already said that so many times, Arcane is a masterpiece in every aspect. This scene truly emphasizes that again. I have never ever seen a show being so realistic and fictional both AT A TIME. I really don't know how you could criticize this show except not being a fan of the artstyle, which can be subjective (even though I never watched something like that and immediately loved it)

it is the moment when vi realizes she is free again after 7 years in prison and she knows that she can run and jump and move with no restrainments, back to her city, her home and back to her sister

I didn't necessarily have the background to appreciate the potential of the parkour scene as being particularly important for a French animation studio -- but I love hearing those additional perspectives. It's a scene I already appreciated, for how visually impressive and just straight-up Cool it is, but also what we learn about Vi. We can feel that freedom she must feel, finally getting to stretch her legs and use the space in the way she's missed all these years. Your point about Vi loving Zaun is a great one as well. She loves the food, it's where the people she loves all come from (well... prior to the timeskip, at least). She's so comfortable there. She doesn't hate living in the Undercity -- she hates how Piltover steals from and oppresses those living there. Of course, she comes to find that it's not quite what she remembers, both because Silco has actually changed things and probably because her memories put a bit of a rosy tint on things. But she still moves around the Undercity with relative ease.

The leap when vi takes cateliyn to zaun is shown so early on that you forget about how vi jumps like Spider-Man or something

One aspect that I considered interesting is that while Vi took a fresh breath with parkouring through Zaun and seemingly to escape she actually reunites with Caitlyn. Despite Caitlyn slowly fumbling her way down to catch up. Vi could have easily shaken her off, like she did the more trained enforcers at as a kid. Instead of that Vi gets herself a new jacket waiting for Caitlyn ~ who's to her knowledge more or less a standard enforcer. Plus Vi basically already got all the infos regarding Powder that Caitlyn had to offer.

AH I'm so happy to watch someone break down this scene! It's been my absolute favorite since I first watched the show

As someone whose favourite character is Vi I'm so glad this is basically just a video dedicated to scenes and her exclusive perspective on them

I appreciate that even though you're vegan you didn't demonize the people of the undercity for being meat reliant. It shows your compassion and your attention to detail.

No scene in Arcane is underrated for me. Everything is ART.

im not a simp, BUT Vi shaked my foundation at your service, my QUEEN !!!

Awesome video! Love these scenes in Arcane so it's great to hear you discuss them in detail and describing why each moment is so significant for world building, the connections to our own world and what it means for the character Vi and others living in Zaun. 😊🙌

I have theorized for a while that Vi was a client to the Brothel before the events of Act 1. It's shown in the Intro to Zaun scene that the Brothel have to no problem serving to youngsters when the matron offered to Clagor. So i can imagine hormonal teen Vi in the middle of her sexual awakening (?) saving up some money in order to get a taste with a Pro.

I also love how we run into the old guy getting on the lift at the bottom.

I gotta rewatch this show as there is so much depth to it and so much to appreciate, great explanation man!

It'd be interesting to hear your view on how the parkour scene reflects on Cait - her first shaky steps into a new world, and a new way of looking at the world

Thanks for all your arcane videos.

If it would be a story only about the children of Zaun then pretty much the whole exploration of Mel's background would be completely pointless. Thus I have to disagree on that point, but think that relationships to parents outside of the Zaun is in general a theme of the show, like seen in Caitlyn and her parents and Marcus and his daughter as well.

take a shot every time this video shows cait sliding down a ladder and being frustrated

7:01 That was an excellent editing choice timing the "No" from caitlyn to yours. Amazing analysis and video, earned a sub.

I quickly fell in love with this show after playing league for 10 years its so awesome to see the characters coming to life. Love the perspectives you provide. Great job :)

This video was top notch, thanks for this insight!! I agree with all of your points and it makes me want to rewatch it (again) LOL

0:17 the music fits so well for this scene

This is one of those things that blindsides me as a fan who doesn't get very involved in the fanbase at large... I can't fathom for the life of me how people decided that the brothel scene is fanservice. Do people think that any plot point that touches on 18+ themes is fanservice now? Anyways, putting that head-scratcher aside, I'm very happy to see the parkour scene getting some love. It was incredible and really formative for my impression of Vi. Real good vid!

As a person who does Parkour I agree 100% with what you said about the animation and all of that and you touched on it but not a lot and that is that Parkour is the freedom of moment in anyway and freedom from societal norms and to be free.

I absolutely love the first scene. When I first watched it I was screaming “Free running montageeeee!” Out loud lmao.

🌺This is a fantastic video 🙂✨ I feel like you've just summed up what makes Arcane great 🌿

I really like that song during that scene th-

Also - I don't know if that was already mentioned - but Caitlyn having to follow Vi is also a beautiful metaphor for her character slowly stripping off the restraints and shackles of an ordered world like Piltover and literally following Vi into the realm of Zhaun.

The food stall scene is relatable for many people in latin america. We do not know how to eat meat, (except some countries like Argentina) especially our grandparents they cook it until it is dry and stiff, we cut it in a way it covers a lot of area but is thin and tuff, but our traditional animal based food is mostly guts, stomach, liver, gizzard, heart, blood, skin etc. We love it because that is what we had to eat when slavery was common, and we made it delicious, me and my family eat it like a treat, like something special, and it is (My favourite soup is Locro de Librillo, a potato and peanut soup with the softest cow stomach). The diference is that we also have a diet that makes us easy to live like vegans, a lot of fruits, grains and roots, to list a few in their spanish/quichua names: Chocho, habas, mango, lenteja, fréjol, choclo, garbanzo, arbeja, papa, melloco, frutilla, achotillo, mandarina, aguacate, remolacha, oca, etc. Our traditional dishes are mostly grains, later we added little sides like flour based food, an rice, also meat (yes it feels like acompaniment even if the plate name suggest it is the star of it) for example, a plate of Hornado (literally means "cooked in the oven") contains pork slowly cooked then the meat pulled, with some of its skin fried until puffy and crunchy (cueritos) a full corn, other kind of corn called "mote" tha requires peeling each grain and has to be cooked slowly in water until it kind of opens up, but is really soft, cheese, mashed then fried potatoes in what can only be described as a flat pile of mashed potatoes whit a crispy exterior, avocado, Maduro (a different kind of banana, sweeter and softer, must be fried), some "tostado" (other kind of corn, fried till golden brown and dried completly), and finally "agrio" (a mix of red onion and tomato with herbs such as parsly, with water that in some regions is sour and in others sweet). As you can read, there is more vegetables and fruits than meat, and we love it like that, that mixture of plant based food must never be absent or the plate will feel empty.

Très bonne vidéo, j'ai vraiment adoré !

Dude I rewatched this scene like 20 Times before continuing the episode

Yes! By far one of my favourite scenes!✨🙌

Anyone else notice the scenes where Vi takes her first breath of fresh, Piltover air, and how almost foreign it feels to her. That, vs the less toxic air of the Undercity she takes a deep breath of the air and seems to get more relief? Like “wow. Undercity air. I’m home”

God, Vi is soooo hot.

Caitlyn does this parkour in heels

When I heard the songs u using I thought I left the speaker on. Good on u sir, fellow neffex fan

Every frame of arcane is art and worthy of a frame.

2:43 "Even in 'Arcade'"

3:15 - 3:17 their eyes r so adorable aaarkjhks

You are projecting a lot into these scenes but isn't that what great art does? It's a means for us to look into dreams and nightmares, to find our own meaning amidst the madness and come out feeling like we went on a journey even though we never left the room.

Everyone who watches this show or reviews anything or so, PLS remind yourself that Netflix didn't have any direct influence on the show except money. It's called a "Netflix Original" even though Netflix only gave a part of the budged to the table. So pls stop referring and comparing it to other Netflix series in which for example Netflix chooses the director and so, that didn't happen here! It's full on Riot, full credit on them, Netflix only put money on the table when they already were in the middle of their production of arcane.

The carcasses bit was a but much, I took that food at the stall was more as a sashimi type of freshly cut fish in sauce

I think one of the most underrated scenes comes in the first episode, when Vi is attempting to console Powder on the bed. Almost every react video gets the scene wrong.. they all gush at how supportive Vi is, and how she's cheering up her little sister.. but Powder isn't cheered up at all in that scene.. in fact, Vi makes it worse. What makes the scene so brilliant is that you have to tie together a ton of plot themes to fully understand why Vi fails to cheer Powder up in that scene. At a glance on the surface, it looks like one thing, but when you watch it closely, it reveals so much more.

I LOVED the parkour scene. It lives in my head RENT FREE CONSTANTLY. It shows Vi back in her element, her turf. It provides some world building and showing what shaped Vi's childhood. It's almost a relief for Vi, it's something familiar to her. Because Vi also represents the past (a tool used to allow the audience to catch up on what's 'new' in a natural way, through Vi's eyes, since she was in prison until this point for years), the parkour scene allows a transition for Vi. And then Caitlyn. Caitlyn takes a plunge into a new, unfamiliar world, and it's the start of a turning point for her. She quite literally had to accept the call to action and possible danger. Not to mention the animation was EPIC.

okay but this totally has to be a reference to spider-gwen who’s voiced by the same person as vi, haylee steinfeld

I honestly don't understand why everyone thinks the "you're hot, cupcake" line is Vi hitting on Caitlyn. It's like they completely forget the entire context of the line. Vi: "You know what your problem is? You expect everyone to give you what you want. If you want people to talk to you, you have to let them think you have what they want" Caitlyn: "And what do I have?" Vi isn't hitting on Caitlyn, she's telling her _"you're physically attractive and you should be using that. Seduce people to get them to talk"_ It's not "You're hot, cupcake😘", it's "You're hot, cupcake🙄"

I loved all the scenes honestly, a masterpiece

Art student who's in their Alphons Mucha phase rambling: This is quite an interesting detail here: A LOT of the elements in this scene are art nouveau (new at, however else you want to call it) related. I could go a whole while about art nouveau, it's relation to Paris etc etc. But here is what mainly caught my attention. Art nouveau is EXPENSIVE, it is complex. And most importantly, handmade mostly, made and designed by craftmen. This also shows a lot about the world this is set in. This show quite well the difference between the levels of zaun (promenade, Entresol, sump) AND the differences with piltover. Art nouveau has this organic side to it, the main inspiration to it is nature and it's made to *seem* chaotic but it's actually organized such as nature is. Zaun, at least the promenade isn't *poor*, The ajority is, but main groups with leaders and influence and businesses actually flourish here. so uh this doesn't really go anywhere but basically: - Piltover: architecturally squarish, looks more polished and "dead" it's very artificial from my point of view. They are protected. -Zaun is dangerous, toxic, hard to live in, savage. Just like plants, weeds ( link to the tree at the fireflight's base) they are forced to live however they can. They are incredibly crafty. could probably make a better "analysis" of this, but eh I'm kinda dumb and tired

i love her hair

this is one of favorite scenes ok probably my favorite

Another note, underlying the parcour scene with Neffex is brilliant :)

okay, this is crazy bc I was just rewatching the episode where vi finally parkours into zaun again post-prison release and telling my friend about how it's one of my favourites in the show, and then youtube recommends this to me???

I didn't think the brothel scene was fan service at all. It builds the characters. Where's the fan service lol. Can ppl not hit on ppl.

I have to watch that running scene once a day

istg i coult take a random screenshot from this series and it would be stunning enough use as a wallpaper

I found it hard to believe after being locked up in a prison for multiple years and be able to do all the extra difficult parkour stuff

I was very tired the first time i watched Arcane. But the parkour scene was a standout for me.

One thing ppl are very wrong, is that Vi has beeing in jail since we left her in the first act, as a child. It is implied she has been living another life and hasn't seen Ekko. But characters say, before hand, she has changed over the years, but nothing says she was arrested right before the first act. What I think, is that she was envolved with criminal activities and got arrested for a long time after. That explains her knoledge of the underworld crime (deeper then she would know as a child) and her change of caracter. A SUPOSE what lead her to jail was her acts as a gang member with Sett, Jhin and others (a kind of old fan theory with some hints in lore, even before Sett was introduced to LoL).

Parkour, loved it! 💕💪

I agree...strongly

What i'm getting from this is that episode 5 has many gems

I would argue about your point on what is called a Netflix way of shows, Netflix has nothing to do with it its a directors and a lot of talented people's vision so am not sure what your talking about to be honest, credits to all who worked on the show creating this masterpiece by the way amazing!

If by "underrated" you mean "I watched this on loop for multiple days," then yes, I suppose it is underrated.

Also do u have video of yourself doing parkour? 👁️ Is it on insta or somethin ?? Am curious

Wait, who exactly underrated this scene? Are you sure it wasn't just you past tense? I've been watching a lot of reaction videos and this scene tends to get a lot of reaction. Plus, most people seem to rate EVERY scene highly. So I've no idea where you're coming from on this fan critique. Also, this is first I've heard anything about the brothel scene being fan service. Like where are hanging out and hearing these things?

So if parkour is rebellion from norms, then consider also Caitlyn's small, timid steps in attempting to follow Vi. Steps which would eventually lead to her publicly chastising the council.

I CRIED THE SHIT OUT OF ME

When I watched this ep , I thought Vi was crushing on Cait. It took me 3 more episodes to realize that it was actually the other way around.

ive watched arcane 4 times now, but i could still go for one more man...

The brothel scene is awesome. :D

yeah I really like this scenee Its amazing

bruv she wanted to take you on a date but you were like PARKOUR

I don't want to go on a rant, so I'll keep it simple. France has a ginormaous history with telling stories using drawings or animations. Here are some examples : comics related (not really comics but mind my english, I do not know the right term in your fucking fish and chips eaters language) Mézières (Star wars? hell of a lot inspired by this guy), Moebius (exceptionally talented men, friend with Myiazaki, worked on Dune project alongside Jodorwosky, the Incal, etc...), movie related : check out the King and the Mockingbird (Le Roi et l'Oiseau) started in 1952 (or 1948? up for debate), came out in 1980, you won't believe your own eyes, pretty much inspired the creation of Studio Ghibli, yeah, I shit you not. Oh and check Persepolis, the author is only french by adoption but hell, she's as much French as she is Iranian at this point. And those are but a few examples. Ps : Of course I'm making jokes on Brits, it's just good business considering our shared history (I'm French, duh.). And by the way the expression "Mind my french" is totally justified, but don't tell others that I told you (french swearing is like wiping your ass with silk so...) . PPS : Almost forgot, what a superbe con je suis, great video, keep up the good work :)

Every single scene in the under ground is dope as FUCK🤤🤤🤤🤤🤩🤩🤩

Fan service isn't 'fan service' if its forwarding the plot or informing the narrative intent of a sequence. The term itself isn't really a valid critique in a literary sense. It's more of a pop culture phrase people use as a catchall for a myriad of narrative hang-ups they may take issue with... but even taking it as a valid CONCEPT it doesn't apply to two characters growing a romantic bond for the first time over the course of the narrative. Is Romeo and Juliet considered fan service because there's romance? No? Neither then is it so in Arcane. Fan service as a complaint, while not a REAL critique, only applies conceptually where such inclusions interject between the themes that we are supposed to be taking from the scene. In other words, if 'fan service' is the POINT of the scene and what we're meant to be taking away from the scene, then it isn't fan service, its just a scene about a thing some people attribute as commonality with fan service they see elsewhere. If the fan service is NOT the point of the scene, but stitched between the threads of the continuity between more important information that IS forwarding the intent of the scene THEN and ONLY THEN is it valid to complain about it as fan service.