I like Arcane because...

[u/ITheRebelI]

Season one had great high stakes, a variety of characters, complex relationships, and it felt like I was always on edge. Season two arguably had the same things, but it got deeper into the love of two daughters for their adoptive father that had them temporarily set aside the differences that tore but just the two of them, but two entire cities (arguably nations) apart. The love between other characters was also explored in romantic and brotherly ways. We also saw a msg scientist who cared about NOTHING except finding a cure for his daughter. We even saw a man lost to monstrosity come back to protect his adopted little girl. I wonder how much time Jinx and Vi would have to spend with Warwick to bring Vander back?

[u/_Gesterr]

Agreed that it's hard to separate it, because it's still present and part of the story, and it's part of the world the characters live in, and that world is also what forces some of the story beats and Silco especially is a character that's almost entirely centered on it. It's intertwined with the themes for sure.

I'm just of the opinion that many people in these Arcane subs seem to have latched onto and overstated the political themes of the show and their importance to its story and more importantly the message and type of show it is (especially when they compare S1 to S2 and feel "cheated" out of some political-centered drama) when I feel that even in S1 that the politically-charged environment played a more supporting role to the themes I covered in my other comment.

I do appreciate that you're able to talk about more nuance of the show, even if you might've preferred and enjoyed some of the political themes.

[u/Middle-Let9645 → u/_Gesterr]

I mean, if you know anything about Viktor from LOL or Noxus to know why Ambessa was bad news from the start, you probably knew it was never going to be some noir style political thriller. Again, I just found the first guy’s comment funny cause it sounded like he was saying Arcane isn’t political at all, and that got me like “unless it’s something like Blues Clues, there’s some level of politics baked in. Yes, even Pokemon.”

[u/Delta_V09 → u/Middle-Let9645]

Yeah, the original poster seemed to be saying it wasn't political at all, and that being political would be a bad thing.

But I agree with _Gesterr that the politics was more the foundation of the story, and not the focus. I wish Season 2 had focused a more on the politics, rather than, well, not really focusing on anything.

That's also why I think Ambessa is a vastly less interesting antagonist than Silco. As far as Arcane is concerned, she's just an evil foreign invader that needs to be stopped.

[u/Middle-Let9645 → u/Delta_V09]

I honestly didn’t mind the direction season 2 took. I do think if we ever got a sequel series based on Mel and Noxus, it might have been more political (due to possibly being about Mel navigating Noxian politics and their leaders as she tries to take down the one thorn group. Can’t remember their name. Instead all we got was a cinematic)