James I'm so stoked you're watching this - I would have never expected this to be my show of the year, but now I really can't get enough of it. Enjoy the ride, it only gets better!
@@JamesVSCinema This show is worth thinking deeply about and rethinking about. I learned something new on your reaction after too many re-watches and reactions. Glad to see you at it as well!
This was my surprise show of 2021 as well. This show lends itself to repeat viewings. Every episode is chock-full of foreshadowings/call-backs/eater eggs/duality themes/etc.
@@joshgreiner2599 yea but i heard here and there it was mostly waiting for Riot Games to give a final "ok" decision for each episode like the first 2 were pretty fast to make. There is a full documentary about the making of Arcane for mor info
"Arcane" was one of my favorite entertainment things in 2021. The animation and art are some of the best I've ever seen and from my understanding it's all hand drawn.
It's not, it's 3dcg. It does use painted textures and quite a few hand-drawn elements added in frame, though. Kind of a mix between the Dishonored games and Into the Spiderverse in terms of style and methods. Edit: just heard James shout out Dishonored. Dope, if you couldn't tell from my pfp I kind of like those games lmao
Mostly 3d with handpainted effects(fire, explosions) and handpainted textures. But the animation is in 3d space if that makes sense. That is why it looks so fluid. Def similar to Spiderverse, except they(spider) intentionally went with less frames to mimick the old hand animated style. But here it is the best of both worlds. Also for anyone thinking this is MO CAP animated. Everything is hand animated which makes it a masterpiece.
Mad respect to you James for giving the camera work a proper shout out. A major reason this show feels so profoundly cinematic is that the mandate at Studio Fortiche was to make as much of the show as possible look as though it was shot by an actual camera operator with a real camera. At the same time however, the camera setups and camera moves, while grounded in reality, are still incredibly creative and energizing. Masterwork cinematography through and through.
Remember putting this on thinking “probably won’t get much out of it story wise but the animation looks cool” and as something to play in the background. Boy was I wrong, the animation far exceeded what I was expecting and the story is really well done and surprisingly original. Glad you’re checking this out:)
So, All the things you are admiring... Animation, voice actors, music... So far it's been "just a taste". Enjoy the experience. I subbed so I can experience your journey into amazement.
Arcane has some of the best character development that I've seen in anything, ever, and you see it more and more through the series. It's important that the characters are first shown to use young, making mistakes, getting lectured by their "dad", etc., because that humanizes them. By the time we get to seeing the characters do things really superhuman, we've already seen them grow into it so we have a sense of their abilities and limitations. We've also seen their flaws and failures, which is important because it keeps them from becoming Mary Sues, even as we see them do things far beyond human norms. That slow build, full of flaws also helps the story and relationships flow naturally, so when a character makes a turn or gets involved with another character, it makes sense. It's damned good storytelling, which is mostly lacking in modern entertainment.
Cannot WAIT to see you react to the rest of this one man. If you're digging it so hard this early on, you're going to be continuously blown away with each episode!
Whats cool about this show is that every episode makes the previous episodes more interesting. there are so many layers to this and so many subtle details that just blink and you miss it but actually means a lot....from two episodes ago, and if you catch those little details, you just have to sit in wonder how they thought of all these connections. This series is such a breath of fresh air in a stagnant shallow,quick wiz bang industry.
Silco from this show and Father Paul from Midnight Mass were my favorite characters from this last year. After you finish this, I'd definitely recommend the latter.
This show surprised me too, the art style, the animation, the story, the acting is all incredible and i have watched this show more than once now and i still notice new things every time, i'm super excited to see what you think as the season goes on, glad your enjoying it so far
@@JamesVSCinema ooh definitely, the amount of time and passion for the material is felt in each frame and honestly each frame is stunning, Also the actress who plays Grayson is Shohreh Aghdashloo, and she did play Madani's Mother in The Punisher series buts i remember her most from her role in The Expanse and she's amazing in that too and the series is awesome too
I didn’t even notice till my second viewing that a certain character [Redacted- for spoilers] keeps stuff made by their child on their desk. Like a ashtray and coffee mug with crayon drawings on it, and it makes me love that character even more now that I noticed that.
You've been one of my favorite reactors for some time now. Your appreciation of good camera work and cinematography particularly stands out, and I think after watching Arcane you might find it to be one of your favorites.
Before I start the reaction, I have to say that this show was so good that it inspired me start drawing art again last month. Also looking forward to your filmmaker perspective since the cinematography just absolutely kills in this.
Oh yes. I hope you will or have liked it. As a lol player since 3 years I have really anticipated this show which was on working for more than 6 years. The animation is from a french studio named Fortiche. They did some other cinematics for Riot Games. The idea to make map painting 2D for the background combined with 3D animation for the characters and a "cinematographic" staging was brilliant. Fortiche and Riod killed it. Some love from France, i followed ur channel since more than a year and it's still consistant :)
I could geek out about the art style forever, did you see that bit where Vander is rolling around the message tube thingy Grayson gave to him? I had a crisis about how this was accomplished when I saw that lol. Their motion and faces, the freaking PHYSICS interactions, the impeccable lighting cohesion on these gorgeous "3d but looks like a 2d oil painting" models, it's all so ridiculous. And yes, the camerawork is phenomenal, you mentioned liking when shows deliver impact and inertia, and I saw you light up during that chase sequence when you could just feel the momentum and impact. If that wasn't enough, the show has the same influence on the viewer everywhere else, with the way the shots are framed and the lines are voice acted, and the masterful use of music, the immersion levels are off the charts. Brace yourself for emotional impact, this show played me like a fiddle in the best of ways.
Yes the chief Enforcer is voiced by Madani’s mom, Shohreh Aghdashloo. She is amazing, honestly, anything she’s done she turns into a beautifully complex and entrancing character. She’s also one of the most intricate and fascinating characters in The Expanse, if you’ve ever gotten the chance to see it.
There is also a music video to Enemy (opening song). It uses animations from the show, but all of the footage is unique to the video. It adds to the character of quite a few of the characters- I highly recommend it. However, best viewed (in my opinion) between episodes 4-7.
..."nothing like some good old-fashioned traumatic childhood trauma"...you have no idea how terribly right you are. This series is as heartbreaking as it is incredible.
as an aspiring visual artist, this show had my eyes SHINING all the way through lmao, its so much of what i hope to accomplish skill wise and knowing how incredibly difficult and complex animating, drawing, and painting THIS GOOD only makes me appreciate it further, aside from it being obviously the COOLEST visuals EVER, your "im so happy!!" reaction was exactly me all the way lmao, i love this show and it also impresses in story telling and character writing wise, im so excited to see your reactions to it!
So glad you're getting into this! 🔥 I'm getting older and maybe jaded in a way, but I absolutely loved this show! If I could resume this show in one word it's "Style", in every aspect of it. The animation was made by a french studio, so being french myself I have to give a shout out to them :) Anyways, as usual, keep up the good work and positive attitude! 👍 Live long and prosper! 🖖
just saw this and so far enjoying your reactions haha i'll just going to say this, but many of us league fans, especially lore fans, have been asking for this. riot has shown they can do stuffs like these, from their animatics, comics, and the other lore stuffs they put, we were just waiting for an animated show. and honestly this show delivered more than what we asked for xD
I think the only real "Easter Egg" type thing in this episode was the cupcakes on the balcony during the rooftop traveling area. One of the characters has an ability that's a bear trap, and it uses cupcakes as bait (purely decorative).
Excited you are checking this one out! The animation, writing and voice acting are all just top notch, making it one of my favorite shows from last year which surprised me. Always love jumping into something I know nothing about only to be completely blown away. Think I’ve gone through it 2 times now and watched a few specific scenes a lot more, along with listened to the soundtrack a good bit. Its wormed it’s way into my subconscious and now its always on my mind to varying degrees.
Oh yeah!.. this series is a masterpiece, so glad you are doing this.. I binged it like three times.. myself and then with my daughters.. made my wife watch it as well.. they all loved it..now I get to enjoy it all again with your goodself! 😎✌
this show had the same effect on me that watching avatar the last airbender did as a kid-- i saw it and thought "i didnt know you could do that with animation. i want to do that." arcane is a great show AND a big inspiration for me as an artist!
You are correct. The lead enforcer is played by the actress from The Punisher. Shohreh Aghdashloo has also been in some video games including Mass Effect. Her most famous TV role is Chrisjen Avasarala from "The Expanse" and is one of the best scifi politicians portrayed on screen, imo. If you are a fan of hard science fiction, "The Expanse" is hard to beat.
I think part of what helps the show work so well is that it feels like it was filmed in universe. It feels like someone went out and got all this with a camera.
I could rewatch the opening scene for years and I would never get tired of it. Perfect visual storytelling in beautiful animation, all without dialogue, and letting us immediately know what kind of show we're gonna watch.
I’m so glad your watching this. This is easily the best show last year. A close second would be invincible. Honestly Arcane’s animation is something extremely special.
stoked for this, it’s absolutely phenomenal! I can absolutely relate to nerding out about every little awesome aspect of this series, just like randomly bursting out into laughter about how awesome it is and how I can’t even believe it’s real.
Oh man...can't wait for you to see two particular episodes on this series...im pretty sure, like every single person who watched the show, will not blow your mind but your whole body! One of the best TV shows in the last couple of years not just 2021.
at 5:41 I didn't even notice that they animated a dolly zoom while powder was sliding down the roof. The amount of animated cinematography in this show is insane, what a masterpiece of content.
Very hype to see a channel I enjoy finally get to this series. Best and most inventive animation I've seen since Into the Spider-verse. I don't think I could even say which is better they're both just perfect. Also, don't worry about not knowing League of Legends, it's not required, and in fact I would say is preferable. Not knowing allows you to just immerse yourself in the story without little distractions. When you said "I don't know if anyone was really asking for this" it really drew my mind to the thing that makes this show so good. You're right, the fanbase wasn't really asking for this, the creators just really wanted to make it. League of Legends is an interesting game but no matter how much they develop the lore of it, the game itself is incapable of telling the stories they want to tell.
Unique stories and animation like this and Into The Spiderverse are why i wanted to go into this field in the first place. I'm so happy this medium is finally becoming something unique again! It fills me with so much motivation to create.
The reason I'm so enamored with this show is that I haven't seen animation quality like this for adult cartoons. There's tons of Pixar/Dreamworks types of films but there's hardly any mature adult pieces of art like this.
I dropped everything to watch this. I'm so fucking psyched, man. EDIT: As I understand it, this episode was only about 20 people or so. It grew as the show advanced, but the talent and skill in this is insane. I've rewatched it 4 times and it still impresses me with new details every time. Yeah. I think it's time. I gotta get on your Patreon to see the full eps of this. I'm SO psyched.
We are finally here!!! Want to vote on what I should watch next? Click here! www.patreon.com/jamesvscinema First time watching One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest tomorrow. Enjoy the day!
As for League of Legends, we're getting glimpses of early characters before the League. Powder/Jinx is a good example. What you see right now is not what she becomes, but you get to see how she evolves and why. This is such amazing story telling. Kudos to everyone involved in this tale. It's also fun to watch James fanboy out. 😉
Man i love your reaction, i'm not an expert in animation or film or anything like that, but the quality in this is evident, you have to be someone really very distracted or who has never seen any animation not to have realized that there is something extraordinary here, I really enjoyed how you couldn't contain the emotion and amazement in every detail, and of course you notice more things than we average people notice, it's as if I saw a reaction that really appreciates what Arcane is, because many have reacted to her for her story, which is great, but if you add all the technical details to that, I have no doubt that we are facing a watershed in the animation industry.
0:33 speaking of love death and robots you should check out the animatrix it's like LDAR in the sense that it's a anthology series but it takes place in the matrix and there is like 5 or 6 episodes in it and the sequel is coming out soon sooo yeah :)
FINALLY. *settles down for all the animation/cinematography insider info, and all the surprised reactions to excellent story writing and shot placement*
im so freaking excited to see what you think of the rest of this show! the show goes above and beyond on every aspect. Im so excited to see a filmmakers perspective!
First two episodes draw you in with visuals and world building, after that, the story becomes so strong and the characters so deep, you forget about the visuals and just lose yourself in the story.
OMG YOU'RE WATCHING IT! Love your analysis, you're going to have a field day with this show. It's incredible. You're in for a ride my boy. P.S. I still get chills every time I hear "The Bridge" scene. The themes carry such weight throughout the series, the more you hear them the more context they get.
"I don't think people have been asking for this".... You... Have no idea... We've been begging for nearly a decade, and they've been working on it for 6 years lmao xD
you can't appreciate everything seeing it once, when you see it for the second time, the admiration will increase, it's very rich in details, it's a work of art of animation, the final episode is exceptional
Can't wait to see your thoughts on the rest of the season. Literally, its the only show I have ever watched where each episode is better than the last.
I'm on Episode 5, and holey moley are you going to appreciate this masterpiece of a series. I haven't been this impressed by an animated work since the days of AKIRA, Ghost in the Shell and Spirited Away.
Yes James! This is easily one of the most watchable and truly beautiful shows out there! 2021 gave us Arcane and Squid Game! Two truly special shows that gave us great entertainment and full of feels!
I am so excited for you to finally get around to this amazing piece of art. Genuinely one of my favorite shows of all time. Can't wait for you to watch the rest of season 1 and definitely can't wait for season 2 myself.
