Arcane Bonus Features Magic - Or, How to Link the Cogs of Animated Progress

I want to see GOGGLES, people!

I don’t want to highlight the header jokes too much, or assume they'll land with everyone, but any opportunity to share this comedic gem is too much to ignore. So let my rampant assumption on your hopeful knowledge reign! 

In the meantime, self-indulgence (^^ to wit) is a key topic within Arcane discussion circles right now, all of which are centred around the alleged cost of production across its two, admittedly limited, seasons. Especially where episode numbers are concerned. And while we’re not here in this post to go deep into that, it’s worth mentioning because while the show is there for you to watch in your streaming library, we’re about to tell you to go spend $60-odd dollarydoos on the first season’s Blu-ray release, which is out now in a perfect storm of topical timing for the IP given the above discourse and the rollout of Season Two.

At the time of publish, S2 of Arcane has only had Acts I and II dropped, meaning there are six episodes available to watch. And if you’re a binge-type person or someone who doesn’t like the idea of waiting between Act releases or appointment television at all, chances are you’re waiting until it’s all available for you to watch at your own leisure, and for that, we can’t blame you. If you’re the opposite and you’re currently jonesing for Act III to release on November 23, then you have some time on your hands as well. All of which is a perfect opportunity to go back and rewatch Season One, though we’re going to suggest you do it old-school -- Blu-ray styles.

Blu-Ray Review

What’s The Pop?: Arcane Season One
From: Sugoi
Release Date: October 23, 2024
Author: Stephen Farrelly
Date: November 19, 2024

What is a Blu-ray?

Silly rabbit. Blu-ray is how we used to watch cool stuff back in the yesterdays. And what made (makes) Blu-ray cool, beyond its name and UHD capabilities, is you had (have) Bonus Features -- the sort of thing still not overly common in the streaming world of film and television. This means, for collector and nerdy types, Blu-ray was (is) a choice platform to throw yourself deep into the wares you love. In this case -- Arcane.

Coming back down to reality and in a world in which Blu-ray really still has relevance, the Arcane Season One offering is quite the spectacle. Spread across three discs to take full advantage of upsampling the source material, which was originally created in 2K, this 4K version of the series is simply stunning. We reviewed on an 8K panel as well, which also upscales, giving us an incredible re-watch -- seeing a new dimension to the already vibrant and highly-detailed animation definitely gave us a new level of respect for just where a lot of that huge budget went. We’re still warm and fuzzy over the full watch.

But whether you view this on a 4K or 8K screen doesn’t matter, what you can definitely know out of the gate is that while it looked good upon release on a decent panel via Netflix, as a physical release it’s on a whole new level.

Click on our “Would you like to know more?” box out for… MORE!

Would you like to know more?
In terms of the technical specifics that this release comes with, geared up peeps will be able to experience an upsampled 4K Dolby Vision eye-candy feast, with 5.1 Dolby TrueHD lossless audio to fill your ear-holes. Being as young as it is and as unique from an animation and production perspective, we didn't expect anything less, really. But that doesn't stop this just popping and reminding us why we fell in love with it in the first place -- easily one of the most vibrant Blu-ray releases going around at the moment.

Feature Set

In terms of additional features for the standard release of the Blu-ray (which is what we reviewed), you get “Bridging the Rift: The Making of Arcane” alongside a Featurette titled “Making Mel”. Both are full of incredible insights into the depth the writers, showrunners and studios went to, to bring this world and its characters to life beyond the videogame. But it’s also a bit lite-on for ours given releases like this for Streaming entities don’t always happen.

"There’s also a number of “Breakdowns” for a handful of choice scenes from across the first season that give fantastic insight..."

Additionally, “Bridging the Rift” already lived a life as a series of YouTube episodes, which are collected here, so there’s not a lot new for people who already dabbled there. Though it is good having them as part of this collection. Beside the above there’s also a number of “Breakdowns” for a handful of choice scenes from across the first season that give fantastic insight into not only how they were constructed, but why certain settings or design decisions or narrative moments were produced or utilised in the way they were. In an ideal world, we’d have loved to see a lot more of these to help bolster the Bonus Features content, though what’s there is still very, very good.

Cordon Bleu (ray)

Hopefully the success of the first season (which won four Emmys) as well as the release of Season Two helps get this Blu-ray release into the hands of eager Arcaners, enough to even push for a Blu-ray release for its follow-up. There’s a lot more that could be explored from a Bonus Features perspective, but we’re also greedy and nerdy. What we are thankful for is that this is not only a fantastic presentation of an already incredible series, it’s up there with being one of the best-looking modern animated Blu-ray releases, period. Like, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse-levels of good. And at just $60-odd for the three-disc set, you could do far worse while killing time between Act drops and any other free time you have, for whatever reason.

This is definitely worth getting up and physically actioning a disc and player for. 

What’s Boss?

  • An even better way to watch what was already an image de force
  • Incredible lossless audio via 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
  • A reversable sleeve with stunning art on the inside for the Standard release
  • Available in a Steelbook Collector's Edition
  • Some great Bonus Features outlining the making of and how certain scenes came about

Not Boss Enough?

  • More Bonus Features would have been welcome
Learn about our reviews

About the Author

Written By Stephen Farrelly
Stephen Farrelly is a veteran journalist and editor with more than two decades experience in the worlds of gaming, entertainment, lifestyle and sport under his belt. He is a proud pug dad, loves art in all forms but particularly street and tattoo culture, and is the director of Swear Jar...
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