Lol I\'ve been waiting for someone to write this exact review ever since the show ended. How do I say this... the show has palpable mass appeal because the story is written like a live-action TV crime drama. It\'s the kind designed to keep you watching from moment to moment but when you slow down and take a look, there\'s nothing to get attached to, at least in my opinion. That\'s because it\'s entirely composed to cliches. Now every work has a few cliches technically but what makes the cliches stand out here is that there aren\'t any innovative elements to go along with them besides the visual style. They don\'t spare the time to characterize the characters to make them feel fleshed out aside from their cliche role in the plot nor endear them to the viewer, because they\'re too busy moving the plot along, so despite the animation allowing for poignant displays of emotion, they\'re constrained to their archetypes and roles. If they had, the cliches would\'ve been excused. But even if you just look at it from a pure plot/drama perspective, the relationships and changes of character are mostly rushed. The most egregious of this is Powder/Jinx\'s 180 which would have required them to plant seeds of insanity/psychopathic behavior from the beginning rather than just insecurity. Next up would be Vi and Caitlyn\'s relationship which was not given enough time nor the proper interactions...
About the teenage feeling, the Imagine Dragons style music is the most prominent indicator.
All in all, these are reasons for why the show is a 6 or 7 and not a 9 or 10. As I said it\'s a very likable show, but I wanted something more out of it.
On a related note, I\'m noticing this trend in western cartoons where if they decide to make it for an older audience, if it\'s not a comedy then they almost always write it like a live action TV drama where it\'s more plot focused and we follow around the machinations of various individuals with various motivations. I think this leaves little room for innovation compared to anime, which is mostly just as generic every season but at least they have a few interesting shows each year that try to do something new.
I mean, we’ve run into each other enough across various TV tropes reviews over the last decade such that that I say this with some affection, but brother? You’re at least a little contrarian. It’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with your knee-jerk reaction being suspicion of popular consensus, as long as it doesn’t lead you down the dark path of trying to defend terrible reactionary stuff.
I haven’t seen the show, but for what it’s worth I’m always suspicious of people criticizing something for being “unoriginal.” There was a time not so long ago when everything was trying way, way too hard to trick and swerve the audience, to the point where it turned into mean-spirited cheating and lying, and I’ll take a lack of originality over something that decides to be stupid rather than conventional any day. It is the great lesson Star Trek Generations teaches us.
I don\'t think it\'s necessarily contrarian to disagree with the popular opinion on a show because most people don\'t spend a lot of time critiquing shows so a crowd pleaser like this is bound to have everyone raving.
As for originality, originality doesn\'t necessarily come from subverting tropes and in most cases it doesn\'t. That\'s what Rian Johnson thinks and his movies end up so twisted and convoluted they lose their integrity. It comes from a spark of inspiration and a unique attitude or tone, or enough focus on the characters and their development that what\'s cliche becomes specific enough to be original. That is, the HOW you do something makes it original. As I said, Arcane felt like it was JUST playing out the tropes with nothing on top of it. Its mistake wasn\'t a lack of subversion but rather it felt like it was sleep walking through the execution without the \"spark that makes your ideas bright\" as the Boondocks says.
Wasn\'t the problem with Star Trek: Generations that it was under an executive mandate (to use at least one major name from the old show) that the writers were unsure how to handle?
Stories don't tell us monsters exist; we knew that already. They show us that monsters can be trademarked and milked for years.
To make a long story short: there were many individual problems with it, but the biggest systemic problem was that they kept rejecting logical and emotionally satisfying story moments or payoffs to long term stories from the show as “cliché“ or “obvious“ and instead chose to zig instead of zag whenever and wherever they could. They put “originality” at a premium over being good.
And that is as much as I feel comfortable responding to from my phone without having watched the show in question to see whether or not I agree. I will only say that I disagree on principle that originality is inherently good, or that “it’s been done” is inherently bad.
@Spectral, well it`s certainly not deliberate contrarianism then! I`m not out to disagree with other people`s tastes in shows for the sake of making waves. But I try to acknowledge how divisive shows are getting; how instead of simply liking or disliking entertainment, it gets tethered to some sort of ``culture war``, and so I have to restate my position on that sort of thing each time.
Also, there's a difference between being unoriginal and being clichéd, I think Arcane tips into the latter.
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Your review lacks substance. Too much of it comes down to \"I hate that this show is really popular\". Its only in the third paragraph that you explain anything you dislike about the show and it comes down to you saying \"this show is cliche.\" I admit I\'ve fallen into the trap too, with my review about the anime Cowboy Bebop, but in that review I broke it into different sections discussing the various aspects where the show had drawbacks.
The difference between unoriginal and cliché is very thin at best. I can name my favorite show and you can name your favorite show, and somewhere in the dusty tomes of history, we\'ll find plots that are very similar to what we like. Your dislike seems to stem from a list tropes being included, some of which I argue, stem from what is inherent of the show\'s premise, \"a steampunk action show based on an MMO filled with fantasy violence\". It might not be your cup of tea, but it was probably never going to be without completely changing all together. I, myself, hate historical romance shows, but I\'m never going to review shows like \"Outlander\" and \"Scarlet Heart\" because I\'d be wasting time watching something I don\'t even like.
You wrote a review of Cowboy Bebop? Where is it? EDIT: ah, you meant the anime.
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IT'S ABOUT FAMILY
I promise I'm not a contrarian. Looking back over my own reviews I find myself often either criticising popular shows, or defending ones being widely criticised. Again, I promise I'm not a contrarian. I thought I should make that clear before I talk about the new Netflix series Arcane, which the internet is currently treating as the Second Coming.
To summarise, Arcane is a animated, steampunk fantasy ensemble series about the brewing conflict between social classes, rulers, gangs, intellectuals, and siblings. It's based on a game I haven't played, and fortunately this isn't something you need to do before watching the show. To be clear, this isn't some cheap cash-in adaptation. It's immediately obvious that a lot of work and love has been put in to the craft, from the tightness of the writing, to the passionate voice acting, to the often imaginative framing, to the painterly art style (which feels heavily influenced by that of the beautiful Dishonored games). it's a very pretty show to look at and listen to.
But despite all that effort, I've not come away particularly impressed. All that creativity is in service of an overly familiar and uninspired story. You have all the clichés of a Victorian/Steampunk fantasy, from the physically stratified classes of the poor living in sewers below the ivory tower elites, to the thieving street urchins, to the magical airships and scientists playing god. There's an evil villain with an evil disfigured eye, and there's an evil super serum that turns ne'er-do-wells into into Hulk/Bane monsters. I don't think I saw a single new idea on show.
There is also something adolescent feeling about the approach of the show, as though they've deliberately made the melodrama accessible for the sake of children. Whereas that's acceptable in a show that's actually made for children, like Avatar the Last Airbender, Arcane is strictly a show for young adults and up, so the melodrama comes off as corny and excessive. This show would probably be great for 13-14 year olds with a limited exposure to this sort of YA fantasy. But for adults or fantasy fans, its going to feel a bit mediocre.