A Tale of Two Cities (and sisters)
Not to be confused with the critically acclaimed Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties
The name of this blog is very ambiguous, vague, and honestly kinda stupid. But that’s what we do around here: stupidity. Most of this post will probably be that vague also. I have a good reason for that, though. I don’t want to spoil anything for you. Please go watch this show.
Arcane is magical.
Thankfully, I am not a League of Legends player. I was able to go into this show with no knowledge of the video game it was based on. I also likely would not have any IRL friends if I was a league player.
Now, for those of you who don’t know what League of Legends is, it’s just a super sweaty video game with an extremely toxic community. I honestly don’t know too much about the game. I believe I have played it for less than 5 hours. And it’s been probably 7 years since I played it last. What I remember of it was that there were three lanes, and you try to fight your way to the end of the lanes. You’re fighting against CPU enemies and also other players. It’s a 3v3, and if you get to the end of the other team’s lanes, then you win. It’s kinda like Clash Royale but for losers. I can already smell the stinky nerds in my inbox emailing me about how awfully I described the game.
This is a pic from the game. Doesn’t it look so fun?!
Guess what? It doesn’t matter what the stinky nerds think of my description.
Apparently, the show has nothing to do with the game. So that means plebs like you and me can enjoy the show just as much as the sweats.
Let me tell you about the show now.
A quick summary of the background for the story is that magic is mechanized in a steampunk-ish world, and then chaos ensues.
The show had me hooked right there. I’m already a sucker for steampunk worlds and magic worlds. And then they went and combined the two...
The main plot lines are about two sister cities and two actual sisters. It’s about the relationships between the two in each pair. How they fight with one another, the passion for their differing goals, the joy they have the ability to bring together, and the tough love between each sister pair.
There are also a few side stories going on as well that weave into the larger stories of the cities and the sisters. It’s impressive how smoothly each plot line is connected together throughout the whole story.
This show doesn’t talk down to you, either. It will lore drop in an episode and then reference that same lore drop three episodes later, and it won’t explain it to you. It trusts you enough to remember and make the connection. I love shows and video games that expect you to have a certain level of intelligence. I hate hand-holding in any kind of media. I don’t need my hand held. I am a big boy!
There were many points in this show where I just HAD to watch the next episode. The story was never dull or boring. There was 0 fluff. Everything seemed to matter: it either moved the plot forward or continued character development. There are only 2 seasons with 18 episodes combined. It was a pretty quick watch. I stretched it out over about three weeks to enjoy it as long as possible. Trust me, every moment of free time I had, I considered using it to watch this show. It was living in my mind rent-free. And it still is.
My favorite thing about the show had to be the characters. All I can say is wow. Every single character was incredible. Each one had so much depth and intentionality behind their design. Their motivations were intriguing, and their actions made sense. The relationship between the characters was peak. I cared deeply about each character and wanted them to survive and thrive. Even with some of the villains, I was able to sympathize with their feelings, not necessarily their cause or methods, though. Seeing the development of each character throughout the story might be the best I’ve ever seen in a show. And to do it all in 18 episodes is even more impressive.
Ah, it’s so good. I want to rewatch it just thinking about it. And I never rewatch shows like this.
Semi-spoiler warning for next paragraph. If you plan on watching this show and want to figure out all the themes and analogies in this show on your own, then skip the next paragraph.
So, I actually didn’t realize that there was an analogy playing out the whole time of the relationship between the sisters and the relationship between the cities until the end of the show. I already loved the show, but realizing the depth of the story was the cherry on top. It gave me a huge “ah ha” moment. It makes more and more sense each time I think about it. I just think things like that are so cool. They don’t shove it in your face or anything like that. You could even miss this analogy if you don’t think deeply enough about it. I love that.
Okay, you’re safe from spoilers now. Sorry, I am very spoiler sensitive. You can ask my girlfriend. I hate spoilers. Even if something isn’t “technically” a spoiler, I don’t want to hear it. I need to go into things completely blind to get the most out of it. If I go into something with a preconception or knowledge of something that’ll happen, it will ruin my enjoyment of it. I do my best to avoid all spoilers, small or large. I will always give warnings about spoilers in these blogs, even if it’s unnecessary.
I think that’s enough gushing about this show. I just need you guys to go watch it and report back to me. It’s now sitting as the third-best TV show I’ve ever watched. Yes, I keep track of that. I use an app called “Marathon” to keep up with all the TV shows I’ve watched. It’s the LetterBox for shows. You should get it, too.
So go do two things after you read this.
Download Marathon and add me as a friend
Go watch Arcane
That’s all. Have a nice day now.
