Arcane: League of Legends – Season One Limited Edition 4K Steelbook Review

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Arcane: League of Legends is a steampunk sci-fi fantasy television series created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee based on the Riot Games video game League of Legends and set in the game’s universe. The series was produced by French animation studio Fortiche under the supervision of Riot Games.

This first season is nine episodes that setup the world of Arcane – which is easy for anyone to slide into even if one, like myself, has never played the game – while introducing and expanding the characters.

Set in a world where there is strife between the wealthy, technologically advanced city of Piltover and the cast-off underbelly, known as the undercity of Zaun, the series sets two sisters from Zaun, Vi (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld) and Jinx (voiced by Ella Purnell) find themselves at odds in a conflict between the two halves of the society and emerging technologies or “magic” that threaten to destroy the very fabric of life and civilization.

This series starts a bit slow and seems intimidating at first, but the writers brilliantly craft a story arc that involves interpersonal narrative, political machinations, and action sequences that allude to the video game without being kitsch. For instance, the father-like relationship between character Silco (voiced by Jason Spisak) who becomes the de facto leader of Zaun and Jinx, is impressively written and voiced, as is the struggle between the two sisters to try and reconnect after years apart and the mistrust that has developed.

The animation is at times a little wonky, as this whole 3DCG digital look is not my favorite style of animation, I must admit, outside of Pixar and DreamWorks movies. Overall, however, there are some very inventive designs that offer a smorgasbord of eye-popping visual styles to keep one glued to the screen, from the colors, the details in the character designs, and the changes in animation styles, from faux hand-drawn styles to what seems like rotoscope at times. This is an effortlessly engaging animation series that throws off any weight of being tied to a video game and welcomes all viewers.

Purchase Arcane: League of Legends – Season One Limited Edition 4K Steelbook on Amazon.com

The Video

Arcane is a digitally animated series and done in 1080p and uses a 1080p/2K master. This 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray is upscaled from 2K. There is very minor banding in some spots, but for the most part this is a very clean transfer with good detail. The 2.35:1 HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) Dolby Vision encodement has nuanced shadows and excellent pops of color. The visual effects in things like explosions or energy weapons do not have the usual brilliant specular highlights from the Dolby Vision grading, but the colors look fantastic.

The Audio

Arcane is given a lossless English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix that I have only one minor quibble with and that is that the low end could be a little bit deeper. Other than than, I cannot find much fault with this mix. It has a good balance of sounds, it is easy on the ears, the ambiance is blended with mostly short to medium reverberation so there is a lot of clarity and crisp, punchiness to the sound effects and dialogue. The mix has a lot of directional panning and is very active, plus the score is balanced and dynamic as well.

The Supplements

Shout! Studios places all the special features for Arcane on a separate Blu-ray Disc. They include the five part “Bridging the Rift” featurette that explores the adaption of the video game into a series and five scene and character breakdowns. The disc is also housed in a beautiful SteelBook case with a matte finish and embossed print.

Special Features Blu-ray Disc:

• Bridging the Rift: Part I – I Only Dream in Risky (1080p; 00:26:24)
• Bridging the Rift: Part II – Persistence (or When Your Best Still Sucks) (1080p; 00:23:39)
• Bridging the Rift: Part III – Killstreaks Meet Keyframes (1080p 00:30:35)
• Bridging the Rift: Part IV – Musical Misfits (1080p; 00:29:15)
• Bridging the Rift: Part V – We Gave it Our Best (1080p; 00:34:46)
• Breakdowns:
  • Making Mel (1080p; 00:18:22)
  • “Happy Progress Day!” Scene Breakdown (1080p; 00:17:36)
  • “When These Walls Come Tumbling Down” Scene Breakdown (1080p; 00:20:08)
  • Ekko vs Jinx: Scene Breakdown (1080p; 00:13:51)

The Final Assessment

Magnificent entertainment, with a fascinating story, strong character development, excellent voice acting, and an excellent 4K steelbook release. Highly recommended for animation fans, for fans of the game, and for those who have never played the game.

Arcane: League of Legends is out on Limited Edition SteelBook October 8, 2024 from Shout! Factory

• Rating Certificate: TV-14
• Studios: Fortiche | Riot Games
• Distributors: Netflix | GKIDS | Shout! Studios
• Directors: Pascal Charrue | Arnaud Delord | Bart Maunoury
• Run Time: 365 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: Dolby Vision
• Primary Audio: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
• Secondary Audio: English Audio Description 5.1 | Spanish DD 5.1 | French DD 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH | English | Spanish | French
• Street Date: 8 October 2024