Arcane: Season 2 (2024) Cre: Christian Linke & Alex Yee
- Ridley Coote
- May 22
- 2 min read
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Having flown through the first season of this hit steampunk fantasy adventure series, created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee, and based on the popular 'League Of Legends' game, it was only natural that I should seek to watch the follow-up season soon after. With the way season one had ended, I was extremely intrigued by what the second season would provide.
From a visual perspective, this season went from strength to strength. I have really fallen in love with the art style used for the animation. I think it stands out, it's memorable, and it eccentuates both characters and colours with so much vibrance. I think the animation style has also lent itself to the cinematic nature of the series very nicely, and has allowed for some very cool looking scenes.
The season's overarching story was a little more chaotic than the previous season's, and not quite as strong, but I liked that there was clear effort put into fleshing out some of the lesser featured characters. I also really enjoyed the numerous uses of montage sequences to get a lot of storytelling done quickly and efficiently, which kept the narrative moving and focused. The final couple of episodes felt incredibly rushed, especially the finale. So much happened in very little time and not all of it was explained well.
Ella Purnell is quickly becoming one of my favourite actresses working presently. I think she is so talented and evidently quite versatile. I thoroughly enjoyed her voice acting this season, and have been impressed with it for the whole runtime of the show. Hailee Steinfeld has also been a strong and consistent presence in the series. I don't think she was quite as good as Purnell this season, however, that shouldn't take away from what were some very respectable vocal performances.
Of the rest of the cast, the main standout was Katie Leung, who delivered some very intense scenes, especially those with Steinfeld, which I appreciated. Credit should also go the way of the likes of Harry Lloyd, Kevin Alejandro, and Toks Olagundoye, who all turned up the wick with their respective voice roles. I wish that some of their character's storylines had been explored better, but I can't fault the efforts of the voice actors themselves.
Overall, although I still enjoyed this season a lot, I found it to be a little bit messy, and for its ending to be somewhat underwhelming. Despite this, I have really enjoyed this show, and kind of wish there had been a couple more episodes, especially for this second season, because it really needed at least one more. I hope that there will be more to come from the world of League of Legends, especially if this is the kind of product we shall receive.
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