Arcane: Season One 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Arcane: Season One 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Arcane Season 1 is an action-packed adventure with elements of science-fiction and steampunk storytelling. Arcane may also be referred to under the alternate title of Arcane: League of Legends. Adapted from the League of Legends video game series released by Riot Games, Arcane Season 1 is animated in the style of Japanese anime with CG animation.

Created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee, who also serve as showrunners for the series, Arcane Season 1 features the opening theme “Enemy” as composed by Imagine Dragons and JID. Arcane Season 1 was created as a joint collaboration – a production involving both France and the United States. Arcane Season 1 was also distributed via streaming platform, Netflix.  

Executive produced by Christian Linke (Blood Sweat & Tears), Marc Merrill (League of Legends, Majority Rules), Brandon Beck (League of Legends), Jane Chung, and Thomas Vu (League of Legends Origins, Frequencies), Arcane Season 1 receives a gorgeous physical media steelbook release (and separate standard editions) available from distributor GKids and Shout Factory. Produced by Fortiche and Riot Games, Arcane is adapted from the massive multiplayer online role-playing game – and fans will be appreciative of the Netflix series receiving a physical media option.

“Vi” / Violet (Hailee Steinfeld) and “Powder” / Jinx (Ella Purnell) are two rebel sisters who are trying to make their place in the world. Vi and Powder are both struggling to get by and to even find a decent living in the world of Zaun and its dark alleys. The two sisters are working on a huge heist that both sisters hope will help to bring them wealth and success – bridging the gap between their struggles within the underground and the wealthy elite. Piltover is a wealthy oasis and a land of success for powerful elites while Zaun is a struggling, low-income environment. Can Vi and Powder pull off a successful heist and change their fortunes?

Arcane Season 1 features excellent production designs by Arnaud Baudry, Julien Georgel (Sahara), and Kevin Aymeric. The production design elements are well-done and add to the style of the series. The epic sense of scale is enhanced by these designs. The CG elements showcase the designs and create wider vistas for the series.

In some respects, the animation is the strongest component of the production. Arcane Season 1 is a beautifully animated production. The aesthetic is one of the highlights of the series. The colorful art impresses with beautiful design elements and there is a lot to appreciate about the style.

The scale showcases the differences between the upper-class and lower-class worlds of the elites and the struggling citizens of Zaun. There is a great attention to detail from the animation team. The animators did excellent work on the series and provided a lot of creative elements to the show. Showcasing the top-notch art direction by Julien Georgel and Anne-Laure To, Arcane Season 1 is something beautiful to behold.

The landscape art and background animation are interesting and compelling. The artwork is better than expected for CG animation and the art style does manage to evoke Japanese anime on some level. The end result is a series that will appeal to anime fans and to audiences who appreciate a robust CG animated series with a grittier aesthetic.

The costume designs by Dion Demetries (Dream Life, Take My Heart) are top-notch, too. The designs work perfectly alongside the character design artwork. The costuming is well detailed – fitting these character designs well. The lead characters have especially noteworthy costuming and it adds some extra vitality to the series aesthetic.

Edited by Gilad Carmel (Night of the Zoopocalypse, Monster Zone), Roberto Fernandez (Imagine Dragons x J.I.D: Enemy), and Nazim Meslem (April and the Extraordinary World, Ernest and Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia), Arcane Season 1 is well paced adventure. The editing style is fast and exciting. The fun editorial oversight helps provide the action- adventure that the series demands.

Composed by Alex Seaver (Soufra, Storied Streets) and Alexander Temple (League of Legends: A Twist of Fate, League of Legends: A New Dawn), Arcane Season 1 features solid music – the score adds a lot of wonder to the production. The music is epic in scope and scale. The score a solid backdrop to the big action set pieces. The world of Arcane Season 1 is all the more engaging because of the music.

With scripts from showrunners Christian Linke and Alex Yee, Arcane Season 1 is a compelling introduction to the series. The story explores class divide – in both the economic and political stratospheres. The writing also explores character moments alongside the action- adventure that is inherit in the series.

Directed by Pascal Charrue (Blood Sweat & Tears, Welcome to Noxus: Bite Marks), Arnaud Delord (Rocket & Groot, A Dark Gambit), and Bart Maunoury (Blood Sweat & Tears, Welcome to Noxus: Bite Marks), Arcane Season 1 is ambitious and epic in scope. Fans of Japanese anime and CG animation will find something of note with this sprawling production. Arcane Season 1 is no slouch as a series – there is huge scale and a sense of imagination. Fans of the game as well as newcomers will find something fun and worthwhile.

Arcane: Season One 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on 4K UHD by Shout Factory and GKids, Arcane Season 1 is presented in HEVC / H.265 2160p in an upscaled 4K UHD presentation quality in the original broadcast aspect ratio of 2.35:1 widescreen. An engaging 4K UHD presentation and one that offers a superb upscale to 4K. The 4K resolution looks great with good detail and depth to the image. The video quality benefits from a higher video bit-rate and solid encoding. The release provides an average video bit-rate of 79.41 mbps.

The release also has multiple options for HDR encoding – HDR10 (standard) and Dolby Vision. The HDR10 option is the baseline HDR grade and it provides a deeper color spectrum between the blackest darks and brightest whites for a more compelling color grade. The HDR adds more depth and visual fidelity to the video presentation. The Dolby Vision option provides an additional layer of metadata for some extra fine tuning from Dolby for those quipped for the option. Dolby tends to add some subtle differences in metadata on to the base HDR10 grade.

Arcane: Season One 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented with a selection of audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (presented as lossless with 24 bit-depth encoding), Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, and English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio descriptive option. The lossy audio options on the release – the sub-audio selections are also provided with reasonably solid 640kbps encoding. A good selection on the 4K release.

The lossless option for the primary English audio presentation is the most robust selection, of course, with a wider dynamic range, higher bit-rates, and the best audio encoding at 24-bit depth for true high-resolution audio. The lossless audio provides excellent clarity, detail, and immersion. The soundtrack sounds robust and the detail in the sound presentation brings out the best in the score, sound effects, and sound mixing. The end result is a more fantastic audio track and presentation. The audio track is a good match for the 4K video presentation and adds to the quality of the release.

One of the most significant advantages of physical media is the lossless audio encoding. The main audio option on the release does provide the improved dynamics of lossless encoding. Streaming isn't quite a match when compared – enthusiasts will appreciate those differences (especially those with nice A/V equipment and sound systems).

Arcane: Season One 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The limited edition steelbook release comes packaged in deluxe steelbook packaging. The steelbook is matte but has a nice print quality. There is some spot gloss on the steelbook design and it adds to the presentation of the collectable. The steelbook will make a nice edition for fans of the series – it looks incredible in hand and will look fantastic on the shelf.

Disc 4 – Bonus Features:

Bridging the Rift –

Bridging the Rift Part I – I Only Dream in Risky (HD, 26:24)

Bridging the Rift Part II – Persistence (or When Your Best Still Sucks) (HD, 23:39)

Bridging the Rift Part III – Killstreaks Meet Keyframes (HD, 30:35)

Bridging the Rift Part IV – Musical Misfits (HD, 29:15)

Bridging the Rift Part V – We Gave it Our Best Shot (HD, 34:46)

Breakdowns –

Making Mel (HD, 18:22)

"Happy Progress Day!" Scene Breakdown (HD, 17:36)

"When These Walls Come Tumbling Down" Scene Breakdown (HD, 20:08)

Ekko vs Jinx: Scene Breakdown (HD, 13:51)

"The Monster You Created" Scene Breakdown (HD, 16:21)

Arcane: Season One 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Arcane Season 1 is an ambitious action-adventure epic. The series features compelling animation, wonderful production values, and impressive storytelling – especially for something adapted from a video game. The animation is top-notch and one of the key highlights of the series.

The 4K UHD has fantastic 2160p video, lossless audio, and a huge assortment of bonus features. The limited-edition version also comes packaged in a gorgeous steelbook – a nice edition for fans of the series. Recommended.