What kind of upside down world are we living in when Marvel and DC can’t produce nuanced characters but League of Legends can?

Arcane: How to have a Female Lead as the main protagonist and do it RIGHT.

Arcane writers: What if we kept the diverse characters but wrote them like actual people? Viewers: This is acceptable.

When you write characters as a actual people and not caricatures of their gender, race or sexuality...Arcane was glorious.

“Based on an online multiplayer shooter of all things.” All right he got the spirit, drinker a little confused but he’s got the spirit.

The "drinker recommends" has quickly become a seal of quality we can trust.

Arcane created a "Bad Guy" so well developed and so sympathetic his death is a literal tragedy.

I don't care if takes another 5 years for season 2. I just want them to do whatever it takes to maintain this level of narrative, character arcs, voice acting, animation etc. It's going to be a very steep hill to climb. If they pull off season 2 with this level of quality, this show will be cemented as legendary.

"can anything be so undoing like a daughter?". this line made silco probably one of my favourite antagonists on a show. in the end, he understood vander.

Everyone: Good videogame adaptations cannot be done. _Silco: We'll show them. We will show them all._

When Silco told Jinx "I never would have given you to them, not for anything. Don't cry, you're perfect.". My God, as the father of a daughter, that hit hard. I think Silco was my favorite character, but I didn't realize it until that moment. He really did have a father's love for an orphan that needed him when her only family abandoned her. And he was true to that until the very end. She was just too broken.

I've recommended this series to so many people, and 90% of them just ignore it because it's animated. Arcane is an absolute masterpiece, and I hardly ever use that word to describe anything.

"Based on an Online Multiplayer Shooter of all things." Drinker, you absolute Mad Lad. Try not to shank _too_ many fan boys with the broken bottle you'll be using to fight them off...

Turns out you can make Multi-Ethnic, Feminist, LBGTQ positive artwork. Just as long as you make your characters human beings with flaws and not Mary Sue cutouts to prop up your own worldview. Shoutout to riot games for showing how it’s done.

Arcane felt natural in its "message". The protagonists were strong female characters not out of nowhere, they showed us WHY they BECAME strong. They were fragile, with low self-esteem, guilt. But guess what? Even if they are stronger now, maybe they actually aren't: and they show us that they still have to grow, despite how strong they appear to be from the outside. They are adults now, but they still need to mature. They are far from perfect, they made a fuckton of mistakes, they have regrets, they had to compromise. They are so, oh so, so much... Human. That's why I love them.

Arcane is a masterclass on how to write strong female characters without making them infallible omnipotent demigods.

See, we aren't against strong female characters with bad haircuts. We just want good stories. Can't wait to watch this. Thank you for the review, Drinker.

The fact that they can show lesbian attachment without bringing the plot to a screeching halt to dwell upon it or cheer 'huzzah, lesbians!' was masterful. It is possible to show an a personal aspect of same sex attraction without tripping over it.

Arcane was such a rare treat amongst the garbage feast we’ve had last couple years.

One of the things that really stood out to me is that I kept waiting for that cliche moment where Silco would give a sinister laugh and tell Jinx that he never cared, he was just using her all those years. But...It was the opposite. By the end of the series, I was more convinced than ever that he genuinely loved her as if he were her father. And not only that, he really did believe in the dream of Zaun's independence, and the moment of him sitting at Vander's statue talking to him was quite revealing. He did some absolutely horrible things to achieve his goals, and he's still past the point of redemption, but it was never out of malice or greed, it was out of conviction. And considering how corrupt the Piltover council is, it's hard to say that he was any worse than them. Really, it's not often that you see an antagonist in fiction who is ultimately revealed to have been a better person than they seemed.

When a show has a ruthless drug kingpin and his psychotic, mass murdering enforcer be genuinley more sympathetic than alleged "heroes" like Captain Marvel and Wanda Maximov you know it's special.

This show is incredibly daring by allowing characters to make mistakes with consequences. That just doesn’t happen in stories anymore.

Silco is probably one of the best examples of a good antagonist. You know that he is a terrible person but you can still understand why he is the way he is. Most stories give the villain a sad backstory trying to justify the villain's cruel actions. Silco also has a sad backstory but it isn't used to justify his actions, instead it is used to help explain his motives and state of mind.

Fun fact. The writers of this show were first time writers. But they worked on league of legends beforehand and the animators of this show did all the character trailers for the games. What this shows to me and others is that if you give a certain franchise true passionate fans control of their favorite anything. They will go above and beyond. I’m looking at you Disney

Really wish Hollywood or just modern writers, in general, would actually take notes from this show. You CAN have female and diverse characters be actual characters with motivations and weaknesses and show them getting their asses kicked just as much as the guys and still have them be strong independent leads. Arcane is everything people want when they ask for "show, don't tell", and I really hope this sets a precedent for better storytelling in future movies and shows.

I'm gonna put it like this: Arcane scratched an itch that has been present for years now. It finally gave me female characters that are well-written, kick-ass, and genuinely likable.

I just finished watching Arcane based on your recommendation. I would never have watched it otherwise. I watched it over two days. It was epic! My granddaughter knows of the game but not the show. She’s going to watch it this weekend. Thank you drinker , we will have something to bridge the generation gap. I will go away now.

Years later and I still dont think a show has topped the brilliance of this one.

Arcane is proof that it was never about the representation, but about the execution. Because here's an example of it done right.

I honestly didn’t even notice the female empowerment, inclusivity, or anything else included from “the message”. And that’s exactly as it should be. Brilliant series.

Hey Drinker, You are so right…as a old goat over 70 years old, I watched Arcane… Perfectly correct, not politically correct! What a well written story.. never did I ever have an identity crisis of the color, ethnicity, gender or sexual preferences, I truly enjoyed these characters enveloped in a evolving crisis between two worlds of the same people. Praying for a Season 2!

Drinker: “I’ll keep it relatively spoiler free” Also the drinker: spoils the death of jinx’s friends and shows the final scene as well as silco stabbing vander

The only flaw with this show is that it might trick people into thinking League is good.

Do you hear that? It's Kevin Smith and Seth Rogen, crying their eyes out that they got upstaged by an online game developer, who managed to create an animated show with diverse cast and strong female characters that people actually fucking enjoy.

I WILL NEVER STOP TALKING ABOUT ARCANE. The cinematography, the storytelling, the characterization, the voice acting, the soundtrack. Just perfect.

I haven't felt as bad for a characters downfall since Darth Vadar as I did jinx. I spent the entire series practically begging for her to be redeemed.

Probably the smartest move by Riot was to use their in-house animator studio "Fortiche", not some overblown Hollywood studio with egomanical directors that thinks they can do everything better and crap on the lore. These people are hungry to prove themselves and want to deliver the best they can do and it shows. Plus they are deeply embedded with the lore since they created many animations for years for RIOT and help to create the style people are gushing over on Arcane. Imagine Blizzard did that instead of turning to Paramount.

The strong female protagonists did not even cross my mind, I loved Vi smashing everyone around with purely her strength. A masterpiece done right.

Funny how all of the "Mysoginistic" people who dislike the crappy woke movies/shows all love Arcane. It's almost like it has nothing to do with being mysoginistic and more to do with disliking terrible writing that uses someone's sex as a character trait opposed to treating character's like a real person. People want to be entertained, Not lectured. Bravo Riot and Fortiche.

I like seeing Drinker being happy about a show and recommending it. EDIT: Watched it, and it is everything that Drinker says, it's magnificent.

As George rr Martin said about writing great female characters, it all comes down to seeing women as people

My teenage daughters both binge-watched the whole series [separately] when it came out and had pestered me for a week to give it a try ... so this 50'ish yo dude (who had never heard of League of Legends) gave it a try ... I finished the 1st episode around 8 pm on Saturday this last weekend ... I ended up finishing all 9 episodes before I went to sleep Sunday morning. It has been a very long time since I have seen something as excellent in every way that matters as this series. A+ for every category ... animation, voice acting, story, plot, score ... name a category.

Probably one of the best scenes I remember from this show was when silko was standing next to I think a statue of vandor saying that he now gets what the latter ment when he talked about what price he would be willing to pay for freedom

A MASTERPIECE OF A SHOWWWW! i was actually so blown away by episode 3 and that wasn’t even THE PEAK

arcane does "strong females" in a way that is not obnoxious or insufferable, and it doesn't require the belittling of their male counterparts to artificially lift them up the characters feel like actual people in their own universe, as opposed to tools used for ulterior motives. incredibly refreshing series!

If you asked me "where can I find good writing?" I wouldn't have answered "an animated TV show based upon a decades old MOBA game."

Just finished watching arcane for the second time and it still holds up ever so beautifully

I showed this show to my mother on my birthday. After I left to go to have dinner with my Dad and brother, she called me saying how devastated (in a good way) she was at the ending of episode 9. This is the same woman Who rarely watches anything outside of British crime dramas and hallmark films and She finished it on her own. AND she’s excited about season 2!

I was SO SURE that Powder’s/Jinx’s bomb that went wrong in the beginning would end up being a dream or something because of how low stakes shows are nowadays but instead we got an insanely emotional series of events

Finally: A diverse show that doesn't rely on THE MESSAGE

I stumbled across this show at complete random, never saw any hype or mention of it, never played league so I don't know the lore or characters, I just thought the art style looked cool in a netflix thumbnail. When it first started I was sucked in pretty quick, but was still kinda just watching it like it was some random kids show about a rag tag group of teens in the ghetto that was actually good, then when powder blew up all her friends I was like, holy shit, this show isn't pulling any punches at all. After that point I was entirely absorbed and the show just kept doubling down. It's not just a good guy vs bad guy scenario, it's a masterfully crafted tale of blurred morality and isn't afraid to crush your expectations and emotionally abuse the viewer. As a 3d designer, this show also is one of the most gorgeously detailed things I've ever seen, the amount of detail in ever single shot is astounding, like I can't even wrap my head around it, even the back ground characters are fully realized and unique and have their own personalities, all the things most people might take for granted like the objects on shelves and tables, and the boxes and buildings that fill the sets, it's all so brilliantly done down to the tiniest of details that you barely see for just a few moments. I mean I guess they have a lot of assets available from game development but the amount of love and passion that goes into every single frame, it's truly incredible. Apparently the studio has a ton of stories they plan on creating going forward and I am super excited to see what else they make, because this show was one of the greatest things I've happened to stumble across in a very long time.

What's noteworthy is how Arcane touches upon almost every topic brought up by modern Progressivism without ever feeling propagandistic. It all feels so natural: • Themes of wealth inequality and class conflict? ✔ • Diversity (regarding immutable biological characteristics), but just so happens to also include a diversity of ideas? ✔ • A mentally ill ("neuro-divergent/neuro-atypical"), blue-haired STEM girl? ✔ • A butch lesbian who solves problems with her fists enters into a relationship with another blue-haired girl, who decides to become a career woman rather than remain a sheltered brat? ✔ • A black revolutionary who builds a commune of vigilantes to fight the dual injustices of Silco's drug trade and Piltover's inaction? ✔ • A brilliant, yet disabled scientist who grew up in the Undercity ghetto is overshadowed by the brilliant, yet privileged golden boy who grew up in the utopian Piltover? ✔ • A bully Enforcer who engages in police brutality unwittingly does a deal with the devil, but rather than come clean and redeem himself, sinks deeper into corruption? ✔ • A city councilmember whose conservatism (in response to chaos and unrest) leads to a prosperous, stable society, is the same conservatism that leads to the disenfranchisement of those who can not climb the social ladder and need radical change in order to escape their condition? ✔ • A self-serving politician who grants special favors in exchange for political prestige learns to set aside her personal ambitions for the good of the downtrodden? ✔

You say Jinx and Vi are the emotional core of the story and you're not wrong. That being said, Viktor and Jayce's relationship is what made the show for me. Brothers by choice vs sisters by birth. Good parallel

This show is not a hero’s journey, it’s a f*cking Shakespearean Tragedy 🎭 It’s strangely gratifying that it seems to fall into the category of being one of those rare near flawless animated shows like Avatar TLA or Batman the Animated Series. I simply can not recommend this show enough. If you’re on the fence about watching it just watch its first act and be blown away by it. 💥 “Don’t cry, you’re perfect”

I didn't watch this show for the longest time because i assumed a show based on League of Legends would suck. It is easily in my top 3 series of all time. It truly is remarkable how well done literally every aspect of the show is.

I couldn’t agree more. Just emphasizing that you could watch it with the sound off and it would be worth it - every frame of this series could hang in a museum - it is simply a stunning.

Haha I like that you started with "lets keep this small on spoilers" and then tell the whole plot hahah

"looks gorgeous" might be something of an understatement, given the surprisingly effective way this show married 2d painted aesthetics and drawn animation in a 3D world with stylish but grounded and intensely emotional character animation in such a seamless, immersive, and spectacular way. It's like a peak inside a concept artists head.

The writing and sequence for this show was absolutely on point. This is how diversity, representation and empowerment is done. This is a show my daughters and I watched together, and we loved it.

I watched the first minute of this video, paused it, watched the entire season over about 4 days, and just came back to finish this video. Arcane is not a show I ever would have tuned into on my own, I'm not one for animated shows much anymore, but the story was awesome, the art design was amazing, and honestly it just refreshed my mind after trying to watch so many shows only to have them be terribly written and directed. Good call, and I'll happily recommend this show to anyone.

That fight scene between Jinx and Echo on the bridge is an absolute masterclass in visual story telling and choreography. I really loved this series!

I was extremely suprised that they didn't just pull the card "Rich people are bad and poor people are good", we have a character like Heimerdinger in Piltolver while we have characters like Singed in Zaun, that shows the moral complexity of the show, running of the gag of Rich = Bad and showing that the place you were born doesn't necessarily define you, we see that in Viktor too.

The thing I loved most about this show might be weird to a lot of people but the fact that they turned the piltover enforces from robots to humans just made this show so much more impactful to me. Also the soundtrack just SLAPS

I stayed up all night and finished it in one sitting. “I wouldn’t have given you to them, not for anything…” … 😭😭😭

"is there nothing more undoing than a daughter?" The god damn feels this generated and I don't have kids.

I love how the show wasn’t scared to really fuck over the characters multiple times. It’s been ages since I last saw characters going through so much shit. That’s the main thing I love about this show. Another thing I love is that the characters didn’t act how I thought they would and they didn’t conform to the cliche baddies and goodies, I can empathise with every single character in this series! Damn

Drinker, you never disappoint. I never would've watched this without your recommendation. I watched it all the way through in a single sitting and it was fucking awesome. Been lingering in my head for days, Jinx's character is so well represented I can't stop watching and dissecting her scenes. It doesn't help that I am totally into crazy girls and it reminded me why I am a moth to the flame.

It honestly amazes me how good of a year 2021 was for TV Shows. -Invincible -Squid Game -Arcane -Helluva Boss(this is more of an online show but I'll still count it) -Better Call Saul All successful within their own right.

"In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good" That line gets to me everytime, reminding that greatness and the way forward are not always in the best interest at times and how the road to hell can be paved with good intentions.

*"In the Age of Subversion, the real subversion was a show that is actually good."* - Binglebad Bonkins

Welp MY expectations were exceeded by hundreds of miles. I binged it over two days and holy crap there needs to be more. It's been repeatedly said, but THIS is what good writing can do. The team polished this gem to utter perfection.

Sometimes I come back to this just to feel some semblance of hope for creative integrity.

At first I thought "how did he think it was an online shooter," but then remembered the entire game is just people taking shots at my mother and realized he was ahead of me on that.

The Drinker nailed it. Not a lot to add. Arcane is just a beautiful example of what can happen when creators respect their audience and their characters. It’s sad that this is so rare. When things like gender, race and sexual orientation aren’t treated like the be-all end-all of a character’s personality, but simply pieces of the whole, you actually wind up with well rounded, fleshed out, believable and likeable fucking people. Can all of Hollywood please take note?

I just watched Arcane per your recommendation. When you opened up the review with an enthusiastic "Fuck Yes" I thought damn, Drinker is really pumped about this one. I didn't watch your whole review until I finished the show. Good show, good review and good recommendation. Thanks.

someone else mentioned elsewhere that something they particularly love about this show is that it beats Vi up, a lot. many shows and movies nowadays seem so scared to lay a finger on their strong female protagonists and instead resort to making them invincible badasses that can trample anything in their way without a single scratch. and not that Vi wasn’t a badass, but she definitely wasn’t perfect. she gets beat up _hard,_ and ended up bruised and bloody, but each time she got back up and learned through the punches. mad respect for this show, it’s truly a masterpiece.

It's not everyday you get a character so consistent and interesting as Silco, it's like modern writers feel like you're not allowed to make respectable villains.

Silco seemed like he was going to be some crap villain who is evil for evil's sake. He turned out to be one of the best characters in the show.

I watched arcane a number of times by now, and it has a certain effect to it I never experienced: each time I watch it I love it even more, to the point I can't watch anything else because it all falls short by a mile

I didn't know anything about Arcane before watching your vid - went on to watch it and found myself loving every second of it . Thank you very much for the recommendation.

Everybody: "Animated show based on League of Legends can't be that good." Riot: "We'll show them. We will show them all." Critical Drinker: "Online multiplayer shooter!"

When I first heard of it I was 100% convinced that we'd get the typical stereotype stuff going on but they subverted my expectations. In a good way. I was afraid that Vi was this invincible flawless fighting machine. But she was not. She gets hit, injured even, loses fights, and man, those fights are brutal. Even when she wins she doesn't get to walk away like she just left a spa. I was afraid that Jinx would be this Harley Quinn clone. But she was not. Jinx's insanity is not portrayed as something quirky or cool but rather as something tragic that weights on her. The show makes it very clear that she's a danger to everyone around her. I was afraid that every man would be either portrayed as cowardly, stupid, incompetent or comically evil. But they weren't. In episode 3 "The base violence needed for change", a father gets to protect his family while a woman messes up (in 2021!). Even the male villain gets a moment of humanity when he sees a little girl crying her eyes out. Especially considering current day media, Arcane is really good and I'd recommend everyone to watch it. I still cannot believe that we get good media entertainment from League of Legends of all places.

This actually felt like work was put into it so credit to those still respecting their work. We need more of you.

It is nice to find someone with the same feeling about the problems with modern media and able to put it into words better than I ever could. This show is amazing. The art, the music, the plot line, and mostly the characters. I hope that aspiring writers take a look at this show as something to learn from.

I love that Drinker didn't just make a review of Arcane, but a Drinker's Recomend. A well deserved one at that

the reason arcane hit me so hard was that it was finally a show about fatherhood and father figures that explored the concept in these various facets, with vander, with silco. And it didnt disrespect the role of a father, as hollywood is frequently prone nowadays to do. Edit: Marcus as well is a father in the story that does what he must

I hope we get to see more of Ekko and Caitlyn being badass next season. Those two need some time to shine next season, especially Cait. I like those characters since they seem like the most morally good in Arcane.

This show was so fucking good, I've never seen anything quite like it. The animation quality, the character and environment designs, the expressions on their faces! All of that in addition to the quality writing and plot just make it an enjoyable watch. Absolutely cannot wait for season 2.

When we usually hear "diverse cast, representation and female empowerment" however this time they did it correctly, it was subtle, not shoved in our faces and most of all it was implemented smartly in the story and not at its expense. Another evidence that its not hate for women, minorities or anyone that makes us critisize films and tv shows... its the fact that they usually suck. Plain as that.

Cannot. Agree. More. This review is spot on... and this show is a masterclass in showing us, well, everything that Drinker said in his 'digression'.

This show by far has a plot that is so damn good and rich I really hope they continue this series.

I felt like a kid again watching this show. I was awed. And completely drawn in.

One thing I would like to add is that, despite having access to more than a hundred characters from the game, they didn't cram as much as they can into the show. They just focus on a few that serves the story and only put minor references here and there.

My 14 year old son suggested that we should watch this back when it first came out back on Nov. 6th and I figured "what the hell, a chance to bond with my angsty teen who rarely has time for his dad now anyway, why not?" Holy SHIT am I glad I did. This series was PURE FUCKING GOLD! And way, way more mature without being raunchy then I had even remotely dreamed of.

One of my favorite Drinker reviews! Arcane is an absolutely masterpiece! This show caught me by complete surprise, I've never played League of Legends and just started watching it when it launched on Netflix as the art caught my eye as fan of cool animation, and I was completely blown away and binged all 3 parts as they were released. Arcane is not only one of the best animations shows ever, but one of the best shows, animated or live action, period! The storytelling, the world building, the characters and their story arcs, the cinematography, the directing, the voice acting, and some of the most brilliant and stunningly beautiful animation I've ever seen! I've recommended it to everyone I know, when something is done this good, it can't help but be successful.

Honestly this show gets better and better each time I watch it. I love hearing everyone’s opinions on it and how it affected them. There is a video on Silco talking to Vanders statue that completely recontextualized that scene for me. But all in all, the Star of the show for me was Vander. Talk about someone to look up to. A real father figure. I man who sacrificed his dream to protect his adopted family. Who gave everything for them. I love everything about this show.

Don't like animation? Check. Don't like League of Legends? Check. Found Arcane to be one of the best pieces of TV entertainment I've seen in years? Most certainly!

Vi: Gets the shit beat the shit out of her as she grows with each fight in her life to be become an actual beast of a woman. Jinx: Improves on her tinkering even though they fail again and again, becoming one of the most ingenious criminal out there. Caitlyn: seees humanity and compassion in every one althrough her high sociaty up bringnig. This is how to write female characters thank fucking god there might be just some hope yet...

This show is an absolute fucking master piece, and I've never in my life wanted lightning to strike the same bottle twice as I do with season 2. My girlfriend recently told me that she loves how critical I am of Mary Sue and (Paraphrasing) "character devices of THE MESAGE" and yet still completely idolize Jinx and other female characters simply because they're written beautifully. Seriously, my office/game room is JINXED TF UP. Despite never having any incling to play LoL, or any other MOBAs for that matter.

Gave this one a try and jesus christ, this is absolutely amazing, Im currently at episode 3 and Im tearing up