I respectfully disagree regarding the part about the cliché and the characters, but I see why you\'d think that, so I won\'t judge.
On the other hand, your analysis of Jinx/Powder is, honestly... disturbing and full of Unfortunate Implications to me. I mean... dude. Are you seriously trying to argue that whenever someone goes wrong following poor treatment and trauma it\'s always because they were bad seeds deep inside in the first place?! I mean, I know Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse is a thing, but it\'s one thing to say some people are more emotionally fragile and vulnerable to trauma or bad treatment than others; it\'s another to suggest that them snapping is always their fault to begin with...
"Are you seriously trying to argue that whenever someone goes wrong following poor treatment and trauma it's always because they were bad seeds deep inside in the first place?!"
You broadened what I said to just "going wrong" in general which may be anything from having a bad attitude, to being a killer. I specifically said "psychotic murderer" and "school shooter" when referring to the type of person that Jinx is. The type of person to go engage in an act of terrorism to blow people up just to impress Silco and prove herself. Low self esteem and trauma-laden guilt do not make a person violent by themselves because different people will react to Powder's circumstances in different ways. They'll "go wrong" but most likely in a much more harmless way.
I never said it was her fault she snapped. She snapped because of the inciting incident. But the way she went after she snapped was due to own character or lack of character beforehand. It's not all nurture. You don't cause WWI JUST BECAUSE Archduke Franz Ferdinand got killed. If things had gone better, if the inciting incident didn't happen, if she didn't have anyone bully her, she wouldn't have become Jinx but she would have still suffered from massive insecurity, attachment issues, and a lack of empathy. There's this idea that oh, if only Powder remained on the side of "good" if bad circumstances didn't dictate otherwise, but on the "good" side she would likely have done relatively harmless but petty things like trying to damage Vi's close relationships because she wants Vi all to herself. It's undeniable she was a volatile person, ready to be set off by anything. Was she a victim of bad circumstances? Absolutely. Was it also partially her fault? Yes. The other problem is that the show makes it seem like Powder is this cute and innocent little sister that only wanted to prove herself, and then made her turn into Jinx, ignoring the fact that such transformations are highly unlikely unless they portrayed small flashes of Jinx in Powder. But it just wouldn't be as melodramatic or beautifully tragic if people recognized that Powder wasn't totally innocent.
Now if you want to argue about how she lost both her parents at a young age and was emotionally traumatized enough as a kid to suffer from such insecurity, attachment, and ego issues COMBINED WITH a lack of empathy for others, I'd be willing to buy that. But then they would've had to show a more comprehensive view of her childhood to show how this set of experiences specifically lead to violent impulses and a lack of empathy and not another set of symptoms.
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Couldn't get me to care
I can see why everyone would think it's really well made but I thought that it was too busy trying to be a serious live-action drama full of politics, complicated relationships and ever-shifting characters. Which isn't really much of a criticism as much as a personal preference since I don't like to watch live-action dramas like that, but I'll explain why I have such a preference.
The ideas behind the various elements of Arcane were cliche and they were cliche in execution because they rushed all the development and never bothered to give me a reason to care for these characters by making me like their personalities. I mean sure, their psychology is given depth, but their personalities are one-dimensional—- for example Vi is just "tough street girl". It's the kind of show that's highly entertaining in motion, because its plot and characterization is complex and nuanced and all that, but not likable at a standstill. That is, I wouldn't want to watch any of these characters go on an episodic action adventure. Still, if the show had bothered to focus heavily on a character, a lack of personality would have been replaced by my sympathy for the character and sheer attachment due to the amount of time I spent with them, but no, Arcane opts to divide its attention between a large cast a characters. So despite being character driven, characters feel like they follow plot more than plot follows characters. Even after all this, some shows don't do either of these things; especially likable personalities or especially sympathetic characters, but they at least have a unique feel synthesized from the sum of its other qualities; music, tone, visuals, setting, etc. The feel of Arcane, or rather its tone primarily, was very reminiscent of crime dramas I've seen and I haven't even seen that many.
I also didn't like the whole focus on Jinx. Personal insecurity is not an excuse for becoming a psychotic murderer and neither is it a full reason. They're trying to make one of those sympathetic half good half bad characters but people don't become like her unless there was something very wrong about them in the first place, and the inciting incident was merely the spark that set off a ticking bomb. If this was true then every kid who's ever had low self esteem and faced bullying would be a school shooter but most do not; school shooters are people who are messed up in the head independent of what happens to them. Powder had always cared more for her own ego than anyone else and always had some type of murderous intent in her. But then again, I never understood the appeal of Harley Quinn either.
I give it a 6-7 out of 10. Obviously it's well made and all the characters and themes have been thought-out, but personal preference dictates that there's a ceiling for the kind of show that Arcane is.