cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/47059398
I just finished act 1 and was wondering what the community thinks of it. I thought it was good, but a step down from season 1.
The animation is as gorgeous as ever, maybe even better than season 1. The writing and pacing was kind of messy, though. The music was just overzealous too. They have a random music video with cheesy lyrics in each episode now. Just ruined the mood for me a couple of times.
All in all, I quite like what I’ve seen thus far. The fight scenes are good, the emotional drama and tension are there and the characters are still really interesting. I do have some complaints, but I think this is a way better start to the season than Invincible season 2, which I didn’t like all that much.
Possible spoilers from this point on
Let me begin by saying that all of this is my own opinion and by no means the correct one. If you liked a certain point that I didn’t, that’s great, maybe leave a reply with your own perspective, I’d be interrested in reading it.
I must say that I was a bit worried after watching episode one. The way the characters processed grief felt kind of unnatural, almost like the writers just went through a phychology textbook and were trying to tick all the boxes. They felt kind of stiff, with some of the dialog feeling awkward. However, my worries were quickly eased after watching the second episode.
I really enjoyed episode two. It’s my favourite of the three. The pacing felt right, the fight scenes were fun and it had some really intense moments. This show has always been great with its sympathetic villains and that’s especially evident with Jinx and Sevika. I’m rooting for everybody and nobody at the same time and that’s awesome. The characters just feel human. This one really was on the level of season one.
Now, episode three is there the pacing issues start to show. I still managed to follow everything, but I’m a bit worried that the story will get too splintered and’ll loose its thread. The main fight of the episode is again fun to watch, but I alredy know how it’ll end, we are only one third of the way through after all.
The fight scenes we’ve seen up untill now have been really good, but I do fear that I may get bored of them. They don’t carry the same weight that the Ekko vs Jinx fight in season 1 did, but I do still enjoy the “music video” feeling they give off, at least for now. Another point I’m not too keen on is the introduction of new character without actually establishing them. I really don’t care all that much about the three officers that join Caitlyn and Vi. One of them is literally just a homeless guy that suddenly becomes an enforcer. I don’t think much would change if these characters were excluded all together. Why waste time when we have more than enough threads to follow as is?
Now, let’s end this on a high. The animation is breathtaking. Fortiche really outdid themselves. It’s fluid, creative, and pure eye candy.
I really don’t care all that much about the three officers that join Caitlyn and Vi.
Yeah the unnamed shield officer was especially bizarre. They had to have cut out some scenes related to him during production or something because he shows up, drinks with Vi for a bit, and joins the party with zero context.
Arcane season two is on my TV Shows To Watch List. I’m currently watching The Legend of Vox Machina. I just finished season two last night. I highly recommend it if you haven’t yet seen it.
I’m stoked to watch season two of Arcane!
The animation is as gorgeous as ever, maybe even better than season 1.
The animation is good but lacks the fluidity of Season 1.
The writing and pacing was kind of messy, though
My biggest issue are the fight scenes in ACT 1, writers know they need the characters to survive till the end and they keep pulling punches, same happened in the ACT 3 fight.
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Smeech went a bit soft on JInx, and by being not that important to the storyline got pounded by Sevika and Jinx.
I’m taking it slow this time and have only seen the first two episodes of Season 2. So far it’s really doing it for me and reminding me why Season 1 was such a spectacle to see. I actually thought the “music video” parts worked pretty well, mainly because instrumental music seems to drive most of the action to where these felt “earned” but I’ve only seen those first two episodes so that could end up wearing thin for me too by the fourth time it happens.
At the risk of discussing too much before I get through the rest of the episodes, did you feel the writing just got messy in general or does it seem like they were stretching stuff out in order to split the season up into multiple parts to delay the conclusion?
did you feel the writing just got messy in general or does it seem like they were stretching stuff out in order to split the season up into multiple parts to delay the conclusion?
This will be the last season, actually. I felt like some plotlines were moving a little too fast, especially in episode 3.
Dang I originally just saw the “9 Episodes” count for the season and thought they were all out and more were on the way, not realizing that only three episodes are released at a time with the next parts just being the other six episodes. Netflix has been big on the “one season split into multiple parts released at different times” that I thought there was going to be Season 2 Part 2, not even realizing it’s just a weekly release schedule with three episodes per week. Turns out I’m not watching this as slowly as I thought I was haha.
I ended up binging it today. I do think the pacing was a bit quick, but I don’t think it was too hard to follow.
Mainly I think it helps if you’re coming right off of season 1, since it plays out almost like an act 4 with how immediately it just keeps going with the plot.
I loved the music choices, too, for what it’s worth. It does a lot visually/atmospherically that exposition alone wouldn’t be able to cover. But I guess it helps more if you like the actual music.
