Arcane: League of Legends – Season One (4K UHD Review)

Reviewed by: Bill Hunt
Review Date: Nov 12, 2024
Format: 4K Ultra HD

Director

Created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee, Directed by Pascal Charrue and Arnaud Delord

Release Date(s)

2021 (October 8, 2024)

Studio(s)

Fortiche/Riot Games/Netflix (GKids/Shout Factory)

Film/Program Grade: B+
Video Grade: A+
Audio Grade: A-
Extras Grade: B+

Review

Based loosely upon (and set within) Riot Games’ League of Legends video game universe, Arcane is a steampunk action-adventure series that depicts the simmering tension between the wealthy and utopian city-state of Piltover and its poor and chem-soaked undercity Zaun. Piltover is a place where people like Professor Heimerdinger (Mick Wingert), inventor Jayce Talis (Kevin Alejandro), and their assistant Viktor (Harry Lloyd) are working to tame arcane magic with science to power extraordinary “hextech” technology. But that kind of power always comes at a cost, typically paid by trenchers like Violet (or “Vi,” voiced by Hailee Steinfeld), her younger sister Powder (Ella Purnell), and their friends down in Zaun.

Since Vi and Powder’s parents were killed in a fight with Piltover enforcers, they’ve been raised by Vander (JD Blanc), Zaun’s former leader turned bartender in the conflict’s aftermath. But Vander’s childhood friend Silco (Jason Spisak) hatches a plan to use a compound called Shimmer—which gives its user temporary and monstrous strength, with terrible side effects—and Piltover’s own hextech against it, even as Jayce and his enforcer friend Caitlyn (Katie Leung) seek to end the threat from Zaun once and for all. Caught between them are Vi, who’s imprisoned as an adult by Piltover forces, and Powder, who is transformed by years of trauma into a gun-toting and unstable mistress of mayhem known as Jinx.

Taking the pop-culture world by storm upon its Netflix streaming debut in 2021, Arcane offers a compelling, if somewhat derivative, story that draws on everything from Charles Dickens, JRR Tolkien, and Jules Verne to George Lucas and even the exaggerated hyper-realism of Zack Snyder. A key example is the character of Jinx, which seems like nothing so much as a hybridization of DC Comics’ popular Joker and Harley Quinn. But the series’ real charm storywise lies in watching its many characters, and the two cities in which they live, grow and change from act to act.

Arcane also features visually stunning CG-animation that references French bandes dessinées, Japanese anime, cyberpunk, and both Art Deco and Art Nouveau. Rendered by Paris studio Fortiche Production SAS, in partnership with Riot Games in Los Angeles, the series’ style is every bit as important as its substance, with vibrant, moody, and atmospheric visuals, evocative lighting, “handheld” camerawork, and digitally hand-painted textures for its unique blend of 2D and 3D-animated elements. This is matched with an electro pop, rap, pop rock, and orchestral score by Alexander Temple and Alex Seaver of Mako, with theme music by Imagine Dragons featuring JID, as well as contributions by Ramsey, BONES UK, Be Miller, and others. Ex-Police frontman Sting even lends his vocals to a track, What Could Have Been, that’s arguably the singer’s best performance in years.

Like most CG-animated productions today, Arcane’s computer-generated imagery was rendered in 2K resolution, in this case using Autodesk Maya, Blender, and MotionBuilder software for 3D imagery, along with After Effects and Nuke for 2D elements like Jinx’s mental glitches, backgrounds, and other visual effects (smoke, sparks, explosions, etc). Most of the footage is rendered at 24 fps, with action rendered at 12 fps, all of it done using abundant video reference but keyframe animation only—no motion capture—to help maintain the stylized appearance. The finished product was framed at a 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio for streaming. For its release in Ultra HD, that source was upsampled to 4K and graded for high dynamic range (both Dolby Vision and HDR10 are available). And to maintain the highest possible data rates (roughly 70-80 Mbps), the series’ nine episodes were encoded onto three 100 GB discs (each holding three episodes each). The result is a gorgeous 4K image that offers vibrant color, with an abundance of subtle shadings, as well as lovely dimensionality, deeper shadows, bolder highlights, and a modest uptick in texture detail over the HD streaming version.

Audio-wise, the 4K disc offers lossless audio in English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD. The mix is pleasing and immersive, if far from aggressive. Panning is smooth at all times, but directional effects are more subtle than lively, though things do get a bit more active in fight scenes. On the whole, this is a largely front-focused soundstage, with the surround channels employed mostly for atmospherics and ambience. Clarity is excellent though, with clean dialogue, and robust low end. Music is presented with outstanding fidelity. English Audio Description and both Spanish and French audio mixes are also available in 5.1 Dolby Digital, while optional subtitles include English SDH, Spanish, and French.

Distributed by Shout! Factory, GKids’ 4K release is a four-disc set that includes three UHD discs along with a Blu-ray of bonus features (a separate Blu-ray only version is also available) in Steelbook packaging. The discs include:

DISC ONE: ACT I (UHD)

Welcome to the Playground (4K – 41:38)
Some Mysteries Are Better Left Unsolved (4K – 38:34)
The Base Violence Necessary for Change (4K – 42:39)

DISC TWO: ACT II (UHD)

Happy Progress Day! (4K – 38:50)
Everybody Wants to Be My Enemy (4K – 38:48)
When These Walls Come Tumbling Down (4K – 40:17)

DISC THREE: ACT III (UHD)

The Boy Savior (4K – 38:15)
Oil and Water (4K – 38:23)
The Monster You Created (4K – 39:08)

DISC FOUR: BONUS DISC (BD)

Bridging the Rift
- Part I: I Only Dream in Risky (HD – 26:24)
- Part II: Persistence (or When Your Best Still Sucks) (HD – 23:39)
- Part III: Killstreaks Meets Keyframes (HD – 30:35)
- Part IV: Musical Misfits (HD – 29:15)
- Part V: We Gave It Our Best Shot (HD – 34:46)
Breakdowns
- Making Mel (HD – 18:22)
- Happy Progress Day!: Scene Breakdown (HD – 17:36)
- When These Walls Come Tumbling Down: Scene Breakdown (HD – 20:08)
- Ekko vs Jinx: Scene Breakdown (HD – 13:51)
- The Monster You Created: Scene Breakdown (HD – 16:21)

Bridging the Rift amounts to a feature-length documentary that charts the development of the animated series from its initial pitch to its final production and release. All the key participants on both sides of the Atlantic are featured, with French speakers subtitled for English viewers. Breakdowns in turn offers a closer look at the design and construction of key sequences in the series’ first season. Other than an audio commentary with the series’ writers and directors, a design gallery, or perhaps a few deleted scenes (if any exist), it’s hard to imagine anything more that you’d want in terms of special features. This is a very nice batch of extras.

As I write this review, the second and final season of Arcane has just debuted on Netflix. If it’s as good as the first, which won no less than four Emmy Awards after being revealed as one of the highest-budgeted animated series ever, it should prove memorable indeed. For sheer visual splendor, Arcane ranks alongside Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse (2018) and the recent work of Studio Ghibli as one of the most striking and unique animated releases in recent memory, and GKids’ Ultra HD release is by far the best way to experience it. Whether you’re a fan or simply an A/V enthusiast, it’s well worth a look.

- Bill Hunt

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