It’s been three long years, but it’s finally happened. Season 2 of Arcane has arrived and has begun its three weekend, three episodes at a time release. And after the first batch dropped yesterday, it’s very clear the series has maintained its sky-high quality. I did not even have to look to know that it would be reviewing at 100% among critics with a high audience score, and sure enough, that’s exactly what’s happened.
Arcane season 2 has a perfect 100% score among critics right now with 15 reviews in, but I do not expect that to change as more arrive. It also has a 96% audience score, exactly matching season 1. I am not being hyperbolic when I say that Arcane is in serious contention as possibly the single best show on Netflix, even among thousands of options. I know we all think of high-quality entries like Mindhunter, but that frustratingly ended without really ending, which was a bummer. That will not happen with Arcane, as this was designed to be a conclusive final season.
I also think it’s in the running for the best animated series ever made. If not, then the best looking animated series ever made, with an art style completely unseen in the industry before and one that has not been replicated since. It reminds me of when James Cameron made the only truly amazing 3D movie ever with Avatar and literally none have been on that level since.
Using math, the combined audience and critic score across two seasons of Arcane is something just not matched on the service. Something like Heartstopper is close, 98% and 95% respectively. Fellow animated video game adaptation Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is at a 100%/95%, but that was only one season. Even the beloved Mindhunter is at a 97%/95%. There are many 100% rated shows, but essentially none with matching audience scores this high.
I’ve watched the first three episodes of season 2 and yes, it deserves these ratings. Not just in terms of emotional impact and character development and that gorgeous animation, but two of the three episodes feature two of the best animated fight scenes I’ve ever seen. Just incredible, creative stuff. I cannot wait for the other six, and I genuinely like this format of releasing three episodes per weekend for three weeks, a nice middleground between what Netflix normally does, which is either a full binge drop or this weird middle split with a half-seasons airing a month apart. This is much better.
Arcane is just unmatched, that’s all there is to it. Supposedly there will be more shows set in the League of Legends universe, hopefully with the same animation studio, but you can see why it takes eons to get these out with how high quality they are. Hopefully in time that can be reduced, but even if it’s not League, I would watch anything anyone involved with this show does in the future. It’s that good.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
