We’ve always had a family tradition of watching animation together — Studio Ghibli was our starting point when the kids were little — and Arcane naturally found its place in that same rhythm. Season 1 pulled us in from the start — the MiniCKs and me, all equally curious about where it was heading. The art, the pacing, the characters; everything felt richer than we expected. When we started watching Season 2 at the start of the year, my eldest and I decided to continue watching it together. We went back to Season 1 partly to enjoy the story with fresh eyes, and partly because we’d forgotten more than we realized. By episode three of Season 2, the number of pauses we were taking made it obvious we needed a full rewatch of the first season.
(No actual spoilers here — just reflections on the experience. But you may want to wait to read until you're done with both seasons.)
Watching the show again only reenforced our appreciation for the mesmerizing visuals: Arcane’s quality isn’t an accident. The animation is breathtaking in a way that makes you want to print still frames as paintings. Fortiche didn’t just animate a story; they built a world that breathes. There were scenes where I found myself thinking, I’d hang this on a wall. That doesn’t happen often with television.
But beyond the visuals, it’s the characters who carry everything. Vi and Jinx, especially, sit at the heart of the show. Their relationship is complicated, painful, and believable, and it anchors both seasons. Even when the story branches out into politics, mysticism, and the deeper mechanics of Hextech, it always comes back to the people affected by those forces.
Season 2 shifts the tone in an interesting way. The magic and technology that felt like background texture in Season 1 take on a more mystical, almost esoteric quality. Viktor steps forward as one of the central forces of the story—not as a villain, exactly, but as someone whose desperation becomes its own kind of gravity. And the runes, which seemed almost decorative early on, end up shaping much of the season’s climax. It made the ending engaging but also a bit challenging. My daughter and I paused more than a few times, trying to make sense of what we were seeing.
I’ll admit, not being immersed in League of Legends lore meant some things went over my head. After finishing Season 2, I had to look up an explanation video just to understand the layered mechanics of the ending. But that level of complexity seemed intentional. Arcane doesn’t treat the audience like it needs hand-holding. It expects you to follow along, think a bit, and sometimes just sit with not knowing everything right away. That approach gives the story a sense of maturity that kept us engaged even when we were confused.
Watching Arcane with my daughter brought back a familiar feeling from my own childhood—the sense of discovering a world unlike anything around me. Back then, I was usually watching shows like Robotech, Nausicaä or other animation series alone, because no one else I knew was into that kind of animation. Sharing that experience now, with my kids, adds something the younger version of me never had. We talked through scenes, compared interpretations, tried to predict where things were going. It made the whole thing more meaningful.
Now that we’ve finished both seasons, there’s a bit of sadness lingering. The kind you get when you close a book after living with its characters for a while. You’re not done with them, but your time together is. I miss Vander, in particular—his presence in Season 1 gave the story a grounding force, and even when he reappears in Season 2 in a very different form, you can still feel the echo of who he was.
There’s also a real admiration for what Fortiche accomplished. If they ever take on another project in this style or genre, I wouldn’t hesitate to watch it. They’ve created something rare: an animated series that respects its audience, challenges them, and gives them something to think about after the credits roll.
Will I watch Arcane again? Probably—in a few years. We’ve already gone through Season 1 twice, and Season 2 once. I can see myself revisiting both when the memory softens and the world feels fresh again. But for now, the plan is to shift back into Stranger Things with my daughter, and then finish Andor Season 2 with my son.
Arcane left its mark. And that’s usually the sign of something worth returning to.
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