Arcane's Animation & World-Building Is Just On Another Level

Riot Games and Fortiche really came in and changed the game for animation.

Arcane: League of legends is an animated Netflix series that won the Emmy award for Outstanding Animated Program of 2022.

The series has a unique art style that it follows throughout the series with amazing consistency and flair.

The series also has a lot of promise after the release of its first season.

This is mainly due to the fact that the first season barely scratched the surface with all of the lore it is attached to since it is a part of the League Of Legends universe.

This means that we have yet to cover land and characters who may definitely increase the world-building the series has to offer to its audience.

Six years in development and everything to show

Riot Games and Fortiche took their time in creating Arcane. Six years is not a joke for production.

The time taken to make Arcane is surely something that may have had a great impact on its staff.

When the project was greenlit, the staff was dwindling to just 15 members when the creation of Arcane was initiated.

Thankfully, Fortiche, the french animation company already had experience with what Riot Games has in mind for their animation style and feel of the characters as they had a very close relationship prior to making Arcane.

Fortiche is the same animation company that makes all of the advertisements for the League Of Legends game which gave them a major headstart in knowing exactly what they needed the series to look like.

As of now, 300 members are working on the creation of the second season of Arcane is rumored to release in 2024 or 2023 at its earliest.

This might bring in the obvious question that would instantly come to mind.

How can season 2 be made in less than half of the time it took to make for its first season?

The answer is, the workforce for season 1 started off with 15 members, whereas the staff for season 2 started with 350 members.

According to Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent, he promised in a tweet that the wait for a second season shouldn't be as long:

So yeah, we are working on #arcane season 2.
The good news: you won’t have to wait for 6 years (the time it took us to making season 1)
The bad news: it’s not coming in 2022 😢 https://t.co/IQoPyLnw1J

— nicolo (@niiicolo) November 21, 2021

The animation itself is top-notch. The mixing of 2D with CG animation creates this paint come-to-life visual that is just too hard to peel your eyes away from.

With six years for its production, it is needless to mention that Fortiche really pulled out all the stops for this series.

The World-building in Arcane is off the charts

The pre-existing lore that League Of Legends has for Arcane to build upon is jaw-dropping.

The LoL universe has 13 regions in its lore so far, not to mention the 150 different characters to choose from, it would be an understatement to say that Arcane has more than enough content to make multiple seasons out of.

The fact that Season 1 did so well is mainly its focus on the two regions, Zaun and Piltover.

The dynamic color themes and moral rivalry between the two regions have made the audience a lot more comfortable rather than overwhelming them with as much lore as they could fit in into one season.  

Even though the main focus has mostly been on the two regions, a third region was also hinted at when Ambessa Medarda made her appearance.

She is introduced as a Noxian warlord and the mother to Mel Medarda.

Therefore, it can be said that season 2 may explore other regions of the LoL lore to not only further its story but to also keep the series feeling fresh and alive.

It is truly a sight to behold whenever Arcane presents a city landscape shot within the series as not only is it so detailed, but it also makes the characters and story feel even that much more immersive and alive.

The two elements complement each other to an amazing degree

Having great animation is already a great achievement for so many productions, but to have such a massive and immersive world-building to follow up with it is awe-inspiring, to say the least.

However, that is exactly what Riot Games and Fortiche have managed to achieve within the span of six years.

Lighting, colors, shades, designs, stylistic liberties, all of these play into just how much thought was put into creating this masterpiece of a story between two sisters who have their relationship tested over the battle of the two regions that have caused so much trauma to the both of them.  

Will the next season of Arcane: League of legends be able to follow up with everything that its predecessor has managed to build up so far?

We can only hope so and pray that the animators are not overworking themselves to the bone to create beautiful animations for the series.

As with any other work of art, it takes time, patience, and skill.