Archive for the Eric P Category


Arcane: League of Legends, Season 2 on Netflix

December 18th, 2024

Promotional poster for Arcane: League of legends, Season 2. A girl with blue hair looks at us from the bottom of the poster, Her read-haired sister looks to the left from the top of a cast of characters.by Eric P., Guest Reviewer

Back in 2021, a certain animated series called Arcane: League of Legends debuted on Netflix. It made a certain mark, and fans eagerly anticipated the inevitable follow-up in those three years since. The trailer for it dropped, with the announcement of it being the Arcane storyline’s final season coming as a shock of those fans. Would just one more season really round out to a finale that did justice to the story they followed and felt was something special? All they could do to find out was wait until Season 2 finally arrived.

Where last we left off, councilwoman Mel and hextech creator Jayce called together the special council of Piltover to finalize a peace treaty with the counterpart undercity of Zaun. Meanwhile, sisters Vi and Jinx had reached the point where seemingly too much irreparable damage was done to save their relationship. The only response Jinx could unearth from her loss and anger was aim her powerful hextech cannon at the special council, and all Vi and her potential girlfriend, enforcer Caitlyn, could do was watch it happen.

Picking up right where Season 1 stopped, most council members have been severely injured or even killed in the explosion, Caitlyn’s mother included. Jayce and Mel stand as the only two survivors without a scratch, but how is that possible? That is just the first mystery introduced, and Season 2’s narrative wastes no time in getting going as the characters of both Piltover and Zaun react to the domestic terrorist act in their own separate ways, growing a whole new chaos. Ambessa, Mel’s mother and warlord of the nation of Noxus, seems to take special interest in taking advantage of it all by influencing Caitlyn to lead a military rule. Mel contemplates where she should stand, Jayce grows more convinced hextech itself was a grave mistake, and Vi and Jinx go through their own struggles in figuring out where they now fit or can fit in everything.

One of my favorite subplots is where Vi and Jinx’s childhood friend, Ekko, is transported via hextech to an alternate world—and offered a glimpse of what could have been. This is where hextech was never created, Piltover and Zaun live in relative peace, people that died in the past are still alive, and Jinx is still Powder. She and Ekko were allowed to blossom a whole new relationship that was just not possible in the original world, and yet it is that world Ekko makes it his mission to return to. Is it partly because the original world is the “right” one, and this 2nd world is “wrong”? Ekko admits there is nothing wrong at all with the 2nd world—he just cannot stay for the simple reason that he did not earn it, as well as due to his own responsibilities that anchor him to his home world.

This is just one of several narrative elements to appreciate and enjoy about Season 2, and I mean several, delivering much more than just the star relationship relevant to Okazu. Mystery and complication keep following one after the other like a running stream, with new and returning characters continually being added to and taken out of the mix from the beginning all the way to its epic end. Upon reaching the start of the final episode itself, it especially left this reviewer wondering as well as worrying—can this really stick the landing? Yes, it has been announced that there will be branching spin-offs, but with everything they have already done on this one series alone, can they properly wrap up the Arcane storyline on a reasonably satisfying closed loop before making way for new bonus chapters?

Short answer—I would say yep. After the wild, crazy, often unbelievable ride the animation took its viewers on, after all the tragedies that often bluntly overtook the triumphs, we get payoffs and full-circle resolutions galore that hurt so good like they should, just as much unexpected as well as partly expected. One of many things I appreciate about this story’s ending is that it makes clear regardless of whoever wins the final battle, it does not mean peace and harmony of any kind will follow. As long as humanity exists there will forever be conflict, and for that we can only do the best we can and never be off our guard. That kind of message is especially resonating in our world now more than ever, for better and for worse. This message is also what helps set up (along with the ambiguity of a couple characters’ fates) the promised future stories that could go literally anywhere from this point, and I have no doubt plenty of fans are already intrigued to see what the creators cook up next.

Ratings:

Art-10 This is said to be the most expensive animated series ever made, which absolutely shows and is well-spent on a handful of gorgeous imagery I certainly have never seen before—while also illustrating no matter how brutal and grim the world is, there remains an underlying beauty regardless

Story-10 Almost overwhelming while just succeeding in not being messy, it is really hard to imagine what could be improved when all is said and done. Then again, I heard somewhere that the final episode was originally a full 90 minutes, which I never would have guessed but makes me hope we might get the uncut version for this season’s possible Blu-ray release

Characters-9œ There was a traitor reveal toward the end that I did not care for, but I may well be in the minority on that. Otherwise, the characters all have their moments of making morally questionable choices, but it shows they are just people doing what makes sense to them and their personal circumstances, rather than just simply be protagonists one unconditionally roots for

Service-4 There are really only two scenes of serious intimacy I can recall offhand, but they pack quite a bit especially in the second one while managing to stay confined within its PG-13 rating

Yuri-7 Vi and Caitlyn are inevitably canonized. Beyond that, it is a payoff (amongst many) one should see for oneself

Overall-10 Once again, just see for yourself—assuming you have not already




GunburedXSisters Volume 3 & Volume 4, Guest Review by Eric P

August 2nd, 2023

Two women with Catholic church-themed clothing glare at us, holding weapons.Where last we left off in Volume 2, Shannon had been clued into Maria’s non-human nature, Dorothy came across colder than ever in her intentions with Maria, and the insane Doctor J vowed to take Maria’s power while leaving the latter a clue of her sister’s well-being—then the volume left us with an image foreshadowing that Maria may well not like the official answer.

After the typical monster-of-the-week formula of the first two volumes, things are finally ramping up to something serious—against the church, the town, and even other members of the grotesque. Standing front and center of the building apocalyptic chaos is none other than Noelle, the beloved sister Maria had devoted all her time and being into searching for. All personal relationships are put to the test, for it is no longer a simple battle between good and evil which, in retrospect, it certainly never has been. Shannon’s loyalty to Dorothy—and cartoonishly obsessive infatuation (they made Dorothy dolls as a hobby)— has amounted to no payoff as they recognize the bond between her and Maria, and their desperate resorts afterwards only puts them at odds with Dorothy and make them question whether they can continue as a Holy Knight. And Dorothy, the same deviant nun who we came to know as confident and cleverly manipulative of the people around her, has discovered she herself had been manipulated her whole life. Conspiracy gets unearthed of the Church’s true relationship with the vampires, and their actual objective in maintaining balance/power with the town, shaking her world and putting her at a loss for once in her life. The ultimate question becomes whether our protagonists can pull together, individually as well as a team, in time to fight for what matters most, and especially figure out just what that is.

Reading Mariko S.’s review of the first volume intrigued me enough to check it out, while at the same time remain cautious in whether or not this was the kind of series I would continue reading. I was left curious enough to check out the next volume—before I knew it I consumed all four and found it to be a strangely pleasant surprise. The best way to describe GunburedXSisters to give newbie readers an accurate idea of what they are in for is like a cross between Chrono Crusade and Murcielago. It has the religious-themed fantasy action entertainment of the former, while spiced with the borderline deviant humor/morality of the latter—not to mention the hardcore ugly lesbian sex.

A girl with animal ears, holds a nun in red in her arms.This series had just the right amount of crass humor and profane language that fit the characters as well as the story’s tone, making it feel it could work as hard R-rated entertainment if it were ever adapted. For that much I give kudos to the translator for bringing a natural-sounding art to the voices. Where I would knock one point back in the translation is Shannon’s pronoun reference. Shannon is made out to be non-binary as I came to understand, but especially in Vol. 3 the same characters seem to bounce between referring to Shannon as a “she” and “they” in the same few pages, which at least I found confusing.

If you were starting to think the whole Yuri focus of this series would center on Dorothy and Maria with Shannon on the side, you are in for a treat as the story’s second half broadens its scope to Shannon and a love-at-first-scent werewolf girl named Kiki, who knowingly places herself as Shannon’s rebound girl without shame/apology. And with the escalating crisis, two veteran Crimson Sister nuns named Helen and Miranda are called into action, a duo that the author himself admitted was inspired by a certain Sailor Moon couple. It can be enough to make readers think back on Helen and Miranda and realize, “Ah yes, I see it now.” Even with all the additions it is of course the star couple of this series that shine more than ever. Dorothy, who right out of the gate came across like a sadistic sociopath, we find out that she—still technically is, but does have a heart in her own way regardless. And Dorothy and Maria’s relationship is able to evolve from the slave dynamic to that of true partners on every level, in a way that made sense for both them and their story, while contributing to the evolution of Maria’s powers.

Everything culminates to a fitting climax, if not so much a definitive conclusion. While the story does finish on a closed loop, the open end still leaves room for a continuation if the author ever feels like returning to this title—an idea he entertains in the afterword, and something I certainly wouldn’t mind happening when all is said and done.

Ratings:

Art—10 It’s as good as it should be for a series like this, with facial expressions especially top notch

Story—8Âœ This was pretty much a story about how only outcasts and people of otherness are able to bring needed change to a set system—a prevalent theme without going deep and deterring from the mindless action/sexual romp that the series was still meant to be

Characters—9 Everyone comes into their own before the end, and all new characters like Kiki were able to easily jump in without throwing anything out of place

Yuri—9 Chloe is the only odd girl out in a series that ended up otherwise packed out in Yuri-friendliness

Service—10 Yep, enough said

Overall—9 For everything it was supposed to be and set out to do, I believe it did it well enough—the only problem being that there could’ve been more to it, which there may or may not be in the future.