Arcane

Season 1 4K Blu-ray Steelbook 

AUD $79.99

Based on one of the most popular multiplayer online battle arena games from Riot Studios’ League of Legends, Arcane comes from a pedigree boasting an active player base of around 160 million since its 2009 debut. Created and financed in-house by Riot themselves, the series Arcane was originally put forward in 2015 by Riot Creative Director Christian Linke and Creative Designer Alex Lee. Given the scale of the project, it took six years for Riot and French animation studio Fortiche to complete their work, with Netflix picking up and premiering the series in November 2021.

The story of Arcane follows a number of League of Legends ‘Champion’ characters in an origin-story of sorts. It takes place in the fictional city of Piltover – a prosperous town that prides itself on progress and innovation, filled with scientists, inventors and traders. Below Piltover lies the Undercity which, in contrast to its neighbour, is filled with crime, pollution and poverty. Following a failed rebellion against Piltover by a section of the Undercity, sisters Vi and Powder become inseparable orphans. Under the care of adopted father-figure and failed rebellion leader, Vander, they survive in the tough undercity through street-smarts and petty crime.

After a botched robbery, Vi, Powder and Vander become trapped between Undercity crime boss Silco, who will stop at nothing to see Undercity free of its upper masters, and Piltover’s police force, the Stormtrooper-like ‘Enforcers’. Tragedy drives the sisters into divergent paths which will later violently collide. Meanwhile, in Piltover, a magic gemstone with immense power has been discovered which propels the city into a new era of prosperity and enrichment, thrusting its founder Jayce Talis into the political snake pit that is Piltover’s governing council.

Guided by shadowy figures, driven by ambition and tormented by responsibility, there is a sense of tragic destiny in the various character arcs. Each is fighting their own way forward, but every path, no matter which way is forged, inexorably draws them towards a future they cannot control. We see worlds collide as the various machinations of Silco, Jayce, Vi and Powder threaten to culminate in war between Piltover and the Undercity.

Starring an incredible voice cast which includes talent like Hailee Steinfeld (Bumblebee), Ella Purnell (Fallout), and Kevin Alejandro (True Blood), Arcane smashed Netflix records hitting 34 million hours watched in its first week and reaching number 1 in 52 countries on Netflix. Even three years later, it currently sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 96% audience score. That kind of popularity has led to a second and final season which premieres on November 9th 2024.

One of the things I was surprised and appreciative of in a blind watch was that while Arcane was built on the lore of League of Legends, there is absolutely nothing you need to know about the subject in order to watch and appreciate the show. The story stands alone as an incredible piece of dramatic art and introduces the characters, locations, technology and factions in an organic and sensible way.

UP CLOSE

Available in several formats, we are looking at the 4K Steelbook release of Arcane’s first season, which went on sale on October 8th 2024. The first three UltraHD discs cover all nine episodes for 360 minutes of entertainment plus a Blu-ray disc for special features. The main series displays at upscaled 4K (from the original 1080P source) in 2.35:1 aspect, with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio. While 4K might seem unnecessary for a native HD release, importantly, it comes with Dolby Vision and HDR10 and an average video bitrate for each episode of around 80Mb/s (add 10Mb/s for Dolby Vision). This yields a far superior viewing experience which is subtly noticeable in the comparison images, but far more so in direct viewing.

Watching through a Panasonic UB9000 and my Sony XW5000ES, I was amazed at the incredible visuals presented by Arcane. The upscaled HD image was predictably softened, but the benefit of this was no aliasing on sharp edges, giving some scenes a film-like appearance. The limited source resolution, completely artificial production pipeline and reasonably large bandwidth on offer mean limited opportunity for imperfections to creep in, resulting in an image completely devoid of any visible gradation banding, noise or defects – allowing you to fully immerse in the on-screen action without ever being jolted to reality by some jarring visual glitch.

While the world of Arcane takes visual cues from fantasy, steampunk and sci-fi, the animation itself flips between several styles in a manner reminiscent of Sony’s Spiderverse series. Most of the action sits within the 3D animation realm, with the studio’s excellent work on lighting leaving a real sense of depth to the image. Other scenes can vary into an almost painted looking two-dimensional appearance. We also see transitions into street-art styles for some sequences. Each serve to keep the entire season feeling fresh all the way through. Supported by a collection of well-thought-out camera angles, amazing character animation, great emotional depth of the characters and the breathless pacing of the series – there is never a point in the six-hour runtime that you feel uninterested or wanting to take a break.

If the animation sets Arcane up for success, then the soundtrack is the bonus multiplier. Clocking in at 48kHz/24-bit, with an average bitrate of approximately 3.8Mb/s, Youlean Loudness Meter analysis reveals an average integrated LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale) of between -19.7 and -21.1 LUFS, with peaks as high as -1.9dB. This indicates a mix with a slightly elevated average loudness, but this results in good vocal intelligibility. While the integrated figure alone suggests a focus on overall loudness, there was a good sense of dynamic range across most of the season and an overall positive balance of clarity and low-frequency extension which supports two of Arcane’s defining audio features.

Firstly, there are many action sequences across the nine episodes, and the audio brings out every earth-shattering thump and explosion, with strong contrast to some of the more delicate sound cues found throughout the rest of the series. Secondly, continuing the Spiderverse comparison, there is an incredible soundtrack of rap, rock, soul and classic sprinkled throughout. Whether it was the theme song Enemy by Imagine Dragons, Sting’s What Could Have Been or Woodkid’s Guns for Hire. The stylised, genre-bending tracks add drama and intensity to the show, and prevent it from becoming boxed in exclusively as a fantasy or period drama. There were many points throughout the series where the story, action and music came together in a crescendo, a poignant marker of an irreversible action. A fork in the road with reverberating consequences, these moments were felt as deeply as any piece of drama I have watched.

As satisfying as the soundtrack may be, it would be remiss of me not to point out that in 2024, it should be a criminal act to release a 4K disc without Dolby Atmos. There are many clear and obvious visual cues which would have been well supported with 3D audio objects. Particularly as, in my opinion, animated sources lend themselves well to eccentric Atmos effects which might otherwise come off as unrealistic in a conventional movie format.

THE VERDICT

Arcane is highly emotional storytelling brought to life by incredible animation and a rich soundtrack. Best of all, it’s not something that only appeals to fans of the game, or of animated shows – but a series that almost anyone can enjoy. This is highlighted by its incredible audience and critic scores. The 4K Blu-ray release is a must-have for fans of the show, and whether it’s your first or fortieth watch, is the best way to experience Arcane Season One.