Welcome to the Playground
Vi and Powder are the only children left in the world after a devastating war. They’re taken away from their home by Vander, their guardian, to live in a safe place. Vi and Powder watch as their mother is killed on the battlefield. ..
Piltover is a utopian city that contrasts starkly with Zaun, the seedy undercity. Powder and Vi climb onto the rooftops to get a better view of Piltover, and are amazed by the abundance of food. ..
Inside the workshop, the kids find a variety of tools and equipment. They also find Vander, who is using the workshop as his personal storage. The kids try to get him to leave, but he’s not interested in leaving. Vander then tells the kids that they can’t stay because he has to leave for work soon. The kids are disappointed, but they head outside anyway. ..
Powder finds strange glowing blue orbs inside her backpack and decides to take them with her. However, there is a problem. Rapping at the door sees Powder drop one in surprise. It rolls across the bedroom, letting out brilliant blue crackles of lightning before exploding. The kids’ cover is blown. Horns sound across the city as our four characters are forced to run.
After getting away from their pursuers, the foursome find themselves in a fight with a group of people led by Deckard. This is the first time we see the action in this series, with slow-motion shots that accentuate each stiff punch or kick. For Powder, it’s all too much and she runs away while the others are fighting. ..
Powder is cornered on the docks with nowhere to go. With little other choice, she throws her bag of trinkets into the water. Mylo is not happy when he finds out, claiming she jinxes every job they’re on.
After a failed mission, the kids head back to the underbelly of this world. Here, they find neon lights, rusty metal and a much more chaotic hierarchy. This beautifully rendered and coloured world is a welcome change from the clean streets of their home world. ..
Vander is the barkeep in these parts and oversees proceedings in the Lanes. When he notices the kids trudging in, he quizzes them about the explosion.
After the explosion, Vander implores the others not to go near Northside. He tells them that stealing from Piltover won’t solve their problems – it’ll just cause more of them. Vander says that the bag has been dropped in the water as a blessing in disguise, and that it’s time to lay low and hope for the best.
When Vander leaves his kids at Benzo’s, he heads over to meet with Little Man. It was here that the kids received the tip-off about the workshop, courtesy of a man known as Little Man. More concerned than anything, Vander warns that there is someone playing dirty in their ranks and reiterates the story about Vi and Powder being cornered in the alley. “There are worse things out there than Enforcers,” He says gravely. ..
Benzo’s workshop was attacked by Piltover enforcers, and one of the enforcers is well-known to Grayson, who is familiar with the Kirammans. It turns out that the workshop belonged to the Kirammans, a powerful people.
The Council in Piltover is looking for someone to blame for the city’s current state, and they believe that Grayson is the best candidate. If he doesn’t return with an army of enforcers, the Council may have to name someone else as the city’s leader. ..
Vi tells the story of how she and her friends, Powder and the blue orb, came to be in the city. Vi tells of her strength and how she will always stand up for what is right, no matter what. She promises that the city will respect them in the future.
Deckard, the man beaten in the streets earlier on, is brought before his superiors. He breaks the news that the kids are responsible for the explosion, as this strange man prepares for his next move. Especially when he learns Vander is in trouble. This man seems to be a scientist, and after a strange experiment decides to use Deckard as his next subject. ..
The Episode Review
Arcane is a really accessible series for those who have never played League of Legends. The lore and ideas are easy to understand, even for those who have not played the game before.
The animation is beautifully presented and the world, divided into rich and poor, is a nice way to echo and exaggerate our current climate in the western world. The first episode gets things off to a great start too, with a simple but effective introduction to our characters, lots of drama and plenty of intriguing history and lore. Little touches, like the plate of cupcakes left outside in the sun, work well to give the show a sense of visual thematic relevance, and hopefully that will continue through the rest of the series. ..
This isn’t the first time French animation studios have excelled in videogame content though, with Wakfu doing a similarly great job with its material. ..
The ending of this episode does hint that we may have a much darker set of episodes ahead, so we’ll have to wait and see what this one has in store for us. Either way, Arcane gets off to a brilliant start. ..
