Arcane Season Two, Episode Four, Paint the Town Blue Review: A Very Familiar Wolf Man.

Arcane Season Two had a great start with Act One.
Episode One delivered the Piltover Perspective, Episode Two the Zaunite one, and Episode Three brought those perspectives together with the tragic fight between Vi and Jinx.
Having seen Act Two, I can say Season Two’s middle portion of episodes are just as good, with one of them being my favorite of the season so far.
As for Episode Four, “Paint the Town Blue”, it is another great one, ending on a long-awaited reunion, which would have been surprising for viewers who did not know League lore.
The episode begins just like most of those from Act One, with a music video, the titular “Paint the Town Blue.”
This music video is used to show the progression of time since Episode Three.
In my review for that episode, I predicted we would not be getting a time skip until maybe Episode Five, since we had yet to see Jinx become a symbol.
Well, turns out I was wrong because the time skip is in Episode Four, and it covers probably only half a year, compared to the few years I was expecting.
In the music video, we see Ambessa and Caitlyn’s forces cracking down on Zaunites who have come to revere and emulate Jinx following her attacks on Piltover.
As for Caitlyn, we catch up with her after the opening and see that, in the aftermath of her fallout with Vi, she has been hooking up with Maddie.
I find it funny that, with all the other insane stuff to happen in this episode, Caitlyn and Maddie drew in the biggest shock from the fandom.
Although, there is a theory going around that Maddie is a spy for Ambessa, so that would be interesting.
It would certainly give a point to Caitlyn’s squad existing, since those characters all seem pretty useless to Season Two’s plot so far.
Is there any evidence of Maddie being a spy?
Well, she does remind Caitlyn that the Noxians are there to “keep us safe”, and Ambessa later says that Maddie is “quite the familiar face these days.”
So, make of that what you will.
Whether Maddie is a spy or not, Caitlyn is still setting her sights on capturing or killing Jinx.
Speak of the devil, we next see the Loose Canon as the ring master of a brutal fight between two giant insect monsters.
This turns out to be a hilarious misdirect, as Jinx is merely putting on a show for Isha with two tiny insects.
She has taken Isha under her wing following Episode Three, seeing who she used to be in her.
Isha certainly proves she has Powder’s drive because she later poses as Jinx to help save some of her fellow Zaunites from Ambessa’s right hand man, Rictus.
Right from that moment, I thought I knew where the episode was going.
Jinx would be reluctant to step forward as Zaun’s hero, so Isha would keep posing as her until she got herself killed, leading to a vengeful Jinx finally taking on the mantle.
Kind of like an Achilles and Patroclus situation.
Thankfully, this is not where the story goes but I was still constantly expecting Isha to die at some point throughout Act Two.
The writers had constantly proven themselves cruel enough to do so, after all.
Instead of being killed, Isha is captured by Rictus, along with many other Zaunites from different factions.
Unfortunately for the Enforcers, they also arrest Singed, who has the advantage of having a giant mutated werewolf in his basement named Warwick.
All it takes is a drop of his own blood for Singed to activate Warwick, which begins pursuing him.
When Jinx learns of Isha’s arrest from Sevika, she sets off to Stillwater to rescue her.
Before doing so though, she once again hears voices tormenting her.
I think this goes to show just how good her bond with Isha is for her mental health.
She seemed to have a lot less hallucinations when Isha was around but the moment she gets taken Jinx experiences a breakdown.
Thankfully, it is not big enough of one to halt her and Sevika’s rescue attempt, which is filled with about as much hijinks as you would expect.
First, Jinx distracts an Enforcer long enough for Sevika to knock them out, allowing Jinx to disguise herself.
Their interaction is also pretty funny, with the Enforcer not believing Jinx’s identity because of how she is dressed.
Another comedic moment follows when Jinx flips off an Enforcer who attempts to flirt with her.
But, man, that guard was pretty incompetent, considering he failed to notice Jinx’s mechanical finger had a smile spray painted onto it.
Guess he was too embarrassed to realize.
The comedy vanishes, however, when Ambessa passes Jinx and Sevika inside Stillwater and looks like she might stop them for a moment.
Instead, she keeps walking, and Jinx and Sevika execute their escape plan, freeing the Zaunites, and allowing Jinx to see firsthand what she means to her followers.
They each pass her, touching her shoulder as they go, and even the Firelights look grateful.
The happy times end quickly, however, with the arrival of Warwick.
What follows feels like something out of a Doom game, as Warwick bloodily tears through the Enforcers while the heavy metal soundtrack booms.
While Sevika gets Isha to safety, Jinx fights Warwick.
The two Singed experiments go head-to-head, with Warwick eventually winning, only to be stopped from killing Jinx when he sees her bomb and remembers her as a child.
“Dear Friend, Across the River” begins to play, and the violence fades from Warwick’s eyes, revealing a very familiar face.
“Powder?” The resurrected Vander asks, bringing an end to the episode.
Having read Warwick’s lore before Season Two, I knew he was most likely going to be Vander.
Despite knowing this, it did not stop the emotion from hitting me full force when he recognized Powder.
It made me a little teary eyed, to be honest, which served as the perfect setup for Episode Five where the water works really started for me.
Keeping on topic with Episode Four, “Paint the Town Blue” was a great start to Act Two.
It did a good job of building up Jinx and Isha’s bond, along with showing off how Jinx has become a symbol to Zaun, and, of course, features the return of Vander as Warwick.
I was incredibly excited to watch the next episode after this one and, boy, did it not disappoint.

Arcane Season Two, Episode Three, Finally Got the Name Right Review: A Tragic Fight.

In Season One of Arcane, they always saved the best episode of every act for last.
It seems Season Two will be no different because Episode Three, “Finally Got the Name Right” is definitely the best episode of the three, setting up a lot of ominous events and having a spectacular and tragic fight scene.
The episode begins with, you guessed it, a music video scene, just like the past two.
This one explains how Caitlyn’s strike team is controlling the Grey.
It turns out her mother had ventilation systems constructed in the Undercity to stop the factories’ fumes because, “The people of the underground deserve to breathe.”
Well, Caitlyn takes her mother’s good intentioned act and corrupts it, weaponizing the Grey as chemical warfare.
She and her squad flood areas with this dangerous gas to incapacitate the Zaunites and then move in to make arrests and get information.
Now, you could argue the people they are using the Grey on are gangsters but, even then, the montage makes the horrible effects the Grey can have on the body quite clear.
It is also easy to imagine civilians getting caught up in the crossfire, so I would argue Caitlyn is definitely not in the right here.
Vi picks up on the way Caitlyn is changing for the worse and talks with her alone, begging her not to change.
This leads to their first kiss, an emotional moment which I knew would not end well because of the teaser showing Vi as a cage fighter.
While Vi and Caitlyn go to confront Jinx, Ambessa is having troubles of her own.
She meets with Amara, who you may remember as the merchant Jayce made a deal with way back in Act Two of Season One.
In a truly unexpected moment, Amara reveals herself to be some kind of witch associated with the Black Rose, a mysterious group which killed Ambessa’s son.
Ambessa is able to eventually gain the upper hand and kill Amara, but this is far from the end of the Black Rose Threat.
Mel is one step behind her mother, investigating her actions through an informant but, before she can do anything with what she knows, it is revealed that her own assistant Elora is either part of the Black Rose, or been possessed by them.
She is consumed and Mel is kidnapped to who knows where.
So, whoever the Black Rose are, they now have a stranglehold on Ambessa since they hold her daughter hostage.
Maybe Ambessa distancing herself from Mel would have kept her safer, if she had not told Amara how much family meant to her.
Along with the mystery of the Blase Rose, there is also the mystery of what is going on with the Arcane.
We see Jayce explain the concept of Wild Runes to Ekko and thus us as the audience.
Wild Runes act as fingerprints of the Arcane, but in a wild and unpredictable manner.
These fingerprints are then seen underground by Heimerdinger when he, Ekko and Jayce travel to the Hextech’s failsafe.
Before Heimerdinger can warn the two about the fingerprint on the ground, it transports the three of them right to a Wild Rune just as Vi and Caitlyn are confronting Jinx.
Vi calls her sister by her new name, while Jinx calls Vi out for using the Grey on Zaunites.
While Jinx is certainly no saint, it is hard to argue with a lot of her points about Vi’s actions.
Both sisters are walking down dark paths.
Jinx is a terrorist and Vi has engaged in chemical warfare.
Now both are prepared to fight to the death.
Neither is alone, however, with Sevika and Caitlyn also duking it out, all the while Jayce, Ekko and Heimerdinger are affected by the afflictions of the Wild Rune.
What follows is an intense fight sequence, with Woodkid’s “Ashes and Blood” playing in the background.
This is already one of my favorite Arcane OSTs and I have listened to it multiple times since watching the episode.
Its vocalist’s deep voice and the wild orchestral chanting works incredibly well with the tragedy of the fight, as we literally see Jinx and Vi smash through graffiti of their childhood innocence.
At the same time, Jayce’s interactions with the Wild Rune cause the Hextech to go crazy, influencing the fight and giving Caitlyn the chance to defeat Sevika.
The interference ends when Jayce strikes the Wild Rune with his hammer, leaving his, Ekko and Heimerdinger’s fates unknown.
Caitlyn overcoming Sevika allows her to take a shot at Jinx, shooting off her middle finger.
Vi tackles Jinx down onto the alter and prepares to deliver the final blow, to which Jinx says, “I’m glad it’s you. Had to be you.”
So, when Jinx said in Episode Two that she was planning “to finish what’s left of my family” was she referring to herself?
Well, thankfully, it does not end here for Jinx because, at that moment, Isha jumps in to save her, putting a gun between her and Vi.
I am not sure if Jinx’s following “No!” is because Isha is interfering with her suicide attempt, out of concern for her, or a plea for her not shoot Vi.
Probably a mixture of all three.
Isha’s interference snaps Vi out of it and she steps in Caitlyn’s way when she attempts to shoot Jinx, despite Isha still being in the way.
This gives Sevika enough time to activate Jinx’s plan, sending the Grey up to Piltover in colorful fumes which pollute the city.
The force of the fumes blows Vi and Caitlyn away and we expectedly get the big break up scene.
Caitlyn is angered that Vi stopped her from killing Jinx, but Vi calls out Caitlyn’s own actions, which results in Caitlyn hitting Vi in the gut with her rifle.
She then leaves a crying Vi behind in a moment that is extremely reminiscent of Vi leaving Powder.
The big difference there is that Vi only left Powder to cool off before she was kidnapped.
Caitlyn does not come back for Vi, showing how far she has fallen since the death of her mother.
And, if the ending of the episode is any indication, Caitlyn’s morality is only going to grow greyer (if you will excuse the pun).
Following the Grey being unleashed upon Piltover, Ambessa suggests naming a general to lead their forces against Zaun and nominates Caitlyn.
Councillor Salo is shocked at this, clearly having expected himself to be chosen, but it is no surprise that Ambessa chose Caitlyn when you look back at how Salo himself described her.
“She’s gotten no closer to Jinx. But that doesn’t seem to steal the stars from anyone’s eyes… it’s not the girl. It’s the name (Kiramman). It bewitches people.”
Ambessa’s face shows intrigue during this scene, revealing exactly why she chose Caitlyn.
Her actions against Zaun and important family name have made her a symbol for Piltover.
Ambessa also believes she can control Caitlyn, literally calling her a child.
Whether Caitlyn will remain childlike under Ambessa’s thumb or if she will break free we do not yet know.
What we do know now is what the symbolism in the opening means.
We see Vi and Caitlyn getting closer, foreshadowing their kiss, before Caitlyn shoves her away, representing their breakup.
The next visual shows Caitlyn cradling her face in despair, while her shadow makes it look like she is wearing a crown.
This symbolizes her rise to becoming Piltover’s general and essentially a dictator, which is going to naturally haunt her.
Caitlyn is not the only character in the opening Episode Three gives symbolic understanding, because Ambessa holding a black rose and Mel being surrounded by shadowy hands represents the kidnapping plotline.
As for Ambessa herself, it is also revealed this episode that she really was behind the memorial attack.
She will do anything so long as it benefits her family but, again, she will probably be locked in a stranglehold with Mel’s kidnapping.
Episode Three then ends with a final Singed tease in which we see what he was doing with the body of the two-headed wolf he killed.
It is revealed he is using it to create a giant werewolf monster.
I will discuss the implications of this in an Act Two prediction section, which you will find below.
In conclusion, “Finally Got the Name Right” is definitely the best episode of Season Two’s Act One.
The final fight is excellent with its tragedy, incredible animation and score.
As for character arcs, Caitlyn is on the fast-track to being a puppet dictator and I am personally enjoying this dark turn for her character.
I hope she can pull herself out of it.
Finally, the third episode also does an excellent job of raising plenty of mysteries for the following acts to resolve, namely the ones surrounding the Black Rose and the Wild Rune.
I would call “Finally Got the Name Right” a top five Arcane episode, and I am eager to see if any episodes in Acts Two or Three can surpass it.

Act Two Predictions:
So, let’s start with talking about the massive werewolf Singed is creating.
This wolf is clearly Warwick, whose lore I looked up before watching Season Two.
In all likelihood, he will turn out to be a resurrected Vander.
Ordinarily, this would ruin the impact of Vander’s sacrifice, but Warwick looks to be a completely different character, making his resurrection tragic.
This tragedy will be amplified when Jinx and Vi have to fight him, as seen in the Act Two teaser.
We see Jinx shooting at Warwick in one shot, and Vi facing off against him in another.
The Vi shot is ironic, considering the back of her jacket has a two-headed wolf on it, the same creature Singed used to create Warwick.
There is also the matter of the predicted time skip where Vi becomes a cage fighter.
Originally, I thought this time skip was going to be right at the beginning of Act Two but, given how we have yet to see Jinx become a symbol, it will probably be Episode Five or Six when it happens.
When we do get the time skip, I expect that Ekko will be presumed dead by the Firelights.
I believe this because you can see his face on the mural with other dead characters.
This probably means that whatever happened with the Wild Rune caused Ekko, Jayce and Heimerdinger to be trapped in some alternate dimension.
The shot of Jayce in the teaser looking grizzled and with a beard supports my theory.
What I am less sure about is what will happen to Mel.
We see her attempting to escape the Black Rose, only to be pulled back by its red tentacle-like force.
There are so many mysteries for the rest of the season to unpack and I, for one, cannot wait for Act Two.

Arcane Season Two, Episode Two, Watch It All Burn Review: The Zaunite Perspective.

After Episode One’s great start to Season Two of Arcane, Episode Two, “Watch It All Burn” proves to be even better.
Focusing on the Zaunite plotlines this time around, the episode begins with a Zaunite funeral, parallelling the Piltovan one we saw last episode.
This time, we see Jinx laying Silco to rest in the waters of Zaun, a fitting resting place for him, considering it is where he was reborn in a sense when Vander tried to drown him.
After letting Silco go, Jinx watches his body sink from view and then hears his voice in her head, “Have you had enough?”
This line is from Silco’s narration at the beginning of Season One, Episode Three, and its placement here makes me wonder if Silco told Jinx this at some point.
Jinx’s response, to scream into the water, shows that, for now at least, she has not “had enough” and intends to keep fighting.
Following the opening, we get a music video scene, much like in the first episode.
This one is less somber, though, and used to illustrate the chaos that has emerged following Silco’s death, and the lone path Jinx is currently treading.
This sequence is temporarily interrupted by a kid who the subtitles name Isha.
They are being chased by some of the Chem-Barons’ goons until they literally fall on Jinx.
She protects the kid, killing the goons with ease and earning herself a follower.
While this is happening, the Chem-Baron turf war is continuing but there are issues, as we see the Yordle Chem-Baron Smeech find one of Margot’s stashes overcome with a mysterious fog known as the Grey.
Smeech later meets with the other Chem-Barons, where Sevika, is proposing they unite rather than fight.
Smeech instead proposes handing over Jinx to appease Piltover.
He insults Sevika when she shows her reluctance stating, “Bird without a wing is just a funny-looking rat,” in reference to Sevika’s missing arm.
It speaks to the strength of Sevika’s convictions, when she is unwilling to hand someone over, even when that person took her arm and killed the man she followed.
About the latter point, though, I don’t think Sevika knows that Jinx was the one to kill Silco.
She knows Silco is dead, but she never acts accusatory towards Jinx in their following interaction.
The two meet at the Last Drop where, despite their mutual disdain, they connect through their memories of Silco, ending with Jinx leaving to fix Sevika’s prosthetic arm.
This leads to her almost being tracked down by Vi, Caitlyn and the rest of their squad who it is revealed are using the Grey to storm parts of the Undercity.
Here, Vi retrieves Claggor’s goggles, and Jinx realizes Vi has joined the Enforcers, but she manages to slip through the cracks.
It is also here that we see how brutal Caitlyn is becoming, as she fires off a shot in frustration at not catching Jinx, which does not bode well for her future morality.
Caitlyn using the Grey to attack Zaunites also explains why Smeech was so eager to hand Jinx over to the Enforcers, because he knew they could not withstand such attacks.
He attempts to capture Jinx after her run in with Caitlyn’s squad, taking advantage of her poor mental state from seeing Vi, and poor physical condition from being affected by the Grey.
He attempts to intimidate her, but this has the opposite effect, resulting in her intimidating him when she tells him she killed Silco.
Smeech’s shock is another reason I think Sevika does not know it was Jinx who did the deed.
Good thing because, if she did, she probably would not have saved Jinx.
The fight between Sevika and Smeech is top notch in terms of animation and soundtrack, as she battles him with the new arm Jinx constructed.
Only Jinx could build a prosthetic arm with weapons based on the outcome of a slot machine.
It makes for a fun and very satisfying fight.
Sevika even gets to throw Smeech’s insult back at him by asking, “Who’s a funny-looking rat now?”
With the fight over, Sevika notices a look in Jinx’s eye and comments on it, to which Jinx ominously responds that she is planning “to finish what’s left of my family.”
This brings Jinx’s storyline this episode to an end, but her storyline is far from the only one.
First there is Ekko and Heimerdinger’s story where they notice that the Firelights’ tree has become infected by what looks like Hexcore corruption.
I like Ekko and Heimerdinger’s interactions, but I think it’s weird that Ekko does not blame him for any of Zaun’s suffering.
There should at least have been a scene of them addressing Heimerdinger’s involvement.
Well, at least he is helping out now.
To find out what is happening, the two sneak into Jayce’s lab, only to be confronted by the Man of Progress himself.
As for Jayce, his storyline this episode began with Viktor’s emergence from the strange cocoon formed when he was merged with the Hexcore to save his life.
His body now primarily made of Hextech, Viktor breaks his partnership with Jayce after he sees the Hextech weapons Jayce is designing.
He also clearly feels betrayed by Jayce not destroying the Hexcore as he asked.
My one criticism of this scene is that Viktor revealing Sky’s death is glossed over pretty quickly by Jayce but, otherwise, his and Viktor’s separation is emotional.
From here, Viktor travels into the Undercity, going down to its depths where he is confronted by Huck and the other Shimmer addicts, hoping to rob and kill him to fuel their addiction.
Instead of fighting Huck, Viktor helps him, using the power of the Hexcore to heal his addiction, replacing and augmenting his Shimmer infected parts with metal.
Viktor tells a healed Huck and the rest of the Shimmer addicts, “You need not suffer anymore.”
And so, Viktor emerges as a messiah-like figure with his own band of followers.
He even hallucinates Sky, which seems to tell Viktor that he is doing the right thing.
However, I would argue that things are going to turn out to be more sinister than they appear.
Huck’s appearance is identical to the floating figures from the trailer.
Along with this, the place where Viktor heals him is clearly a decayed version of the technologically advanced place also seen in the trailer.
This makes me think the Hexcore inside Viktor is probably using Sky’s image to convince Viktor he is helping these people when, in reality, he is actually contributing to some kind of nefarious goal.
We will have to wait for Act Two to learn more of what Viktor’s plans are though.
The episode then ends with another Singed teaser, showing he is experimenting with blood cells and keeping the heart of the two-headed wolf beating.
What he is using this for is shown in the next episode but, for now, it adds to the intrigue.
“Watch It All Burn” is a better episode than the first, with ominous development for Viktor, and an alliance forming between Jinx and Sevika, along with a great fight to boot.
But, in typical Arcane fashion, they saved the best episode of the Act for last.

Arcane Season Two, Episode One, Heavy is the Crown Review: Greatness Returns.

Arcane had the best first season of any show I have had the pleasure of watching.
The characters and story were fantastic, the animation was stunning, and I still listen to the soundtrack years later.
After watching it, I immediately knew I was willing to wait however long it took to get a second season of the same quality.
Well, the first act of that season has finally aired.
Personally, I have had a pretty miserable week (and I will leave it at that), so having Arcane back certainly improved my mood.
The three episodes of Act One all blend together well, with the first episode covering the Piltovan plotlines.
Episode One, “Heavy is the Crown”, picks up by instantly resolving the epic cliffhanger of Season One.
Jinx’s attack expectedly results in the death of Caitlyn’s mother, Cassandra, along with Councilors Bolbok and Hoskel.
In contrast, Councilors Salo and Shoola are alive but injured, with Salo being paralyzed from the waist down.
The real interesting detail though is Mel and Jayce, who are both unharmed, despite being right in the missile’s path.
The reason for this is not shown yet, but I think it will eventually be revealed that Mel’s mysterious golden armor saved them.
It was not enough to save Viktor, though, who is on death’s door from the blast, until Jayce merges the Hexcore with his body; a decision I think he will soon come to regret.
Following the resolution of who survived the Season One cliffhanger, we get the new Season Two opening.
Imagine Dragons’ “Enemy” is still the song for the intro, but the visuals are entirely different with a lot of symbolic meaning, although that meaning is not clear until Episode Three.
After the opening, we get our first of quite a few music video moments, but this one is solemn, as we see Caitlyn at her mother’s funeral.
The somber, grey coloring of the funeral makes the vibrancy of Vi and Caitlyn stand out, perfectly reflecting Caitlyn’s grief and Vi’s guilt.
In the aftermath of the attack, Ambessa quickly gets Salo in her pocket, leveraging his need for revenge, which only Mel is able to combat, if slightly.
In the meantime, Vi and Caitlyn go through their own issues, with Caitlyn struggling with her own desire for vengeance against Jinx, while Vi spurns her offer to become an Enforcer because, well, the Enforcers killed her parents.
This eventually leads to Vi meeting the future members of her and Caitlyn’s squad.
There is a man who resembles Vander and seems to be struggling in similar ways to Vi, a fish man, and a young woman named Maddie Nolen.
Maddie’s is the only name of the three we know at the moment, which I think was a bit neglectful on the writers’ part.
I mean, if we are going to care about these characters’ survival, we need to know their names, right?
In any case, Maddie makes an interesting comment that Caitlyn said, “If every Enforcer had a heart like yours, we could take on Noxus itself.”
Funny she should say that because it is made very clear by the end of Act One that Ambessa’s Noxian forces definitely do not have Piltover’s best interests at heart.
For the time being, “Heavy is the Crown” makes the Zaunites out to be the big threat for Piltover, with them attacking a memorial for the Councilors.
This attack is headed by Renni, the Chem-Baron whose son was killed by Jayce last season.
Out for revenge, like many of the other characters in this series, she makes a play for Jayce’s life and would have succeeded had it not been for Vi, who then teams up with him, while Caitlyn and her squad attempt to fight Renni’s Chem-Tanks.
The whole fight is extremely well-animated and tense, ending with the arrival of Ambessa and her Noxians, who kill all of the Zaunite attackers, including Renni.
The attack, and a last message from her mother, convinces Caitlyn to lead her new strike team into Zaun, all to the tune of “Heavy is the Crown”, which the episode is named after.
It is during this moment that it is revealed someone helped the Zaunites attack the memorial.
I am sure the immediate cut to Ambessa’s face after this is said is entirely coincidental… no, I’m not being sarcastic, why do you ask?
Vi also makes her choice, joining the Enforcers to help end the violence between Piltover and Zaun, appearing to walk in Vander’s footsteps.
Although the following episodes prove she is going about it in a darker way.
Speaking of the Hound of the Underground, the final scene of the episode shows a two-headed hound being hunted by Singed for reasons unknown, a tease which will be shown at the end of every episode in Act One.
Overall, “Heavy is the Crown” is a great start to the season.
It shows off Piltover’s perspective perfectly, which flows nicely into Episode Two, where we get the Zaunite perspective.
My only major criticism is that we do not get the names of some new characters we are introduced to.
Hopefully, we will find out their names in Act Two.
Otherwise, “Heavy is the Crown” starts the season well, and Act One only gets better from here.

All of Us Are Dead Review: High School of the Dead.

After another rewatch of Train to Busan, I suddenly remembered the trailer of a South Korean zombie show I had never got around to watching, All of Us Are Dead.
Based off the manhwa by Joo Dong-geun, the story is set at a high school where a zombie outbreak occurs and then spreads to the rest of the fictional city of Hyosan.
The show then follows the students and various other survivors in the city as they attempt to survive the outbreak in twelve episodes.

*All of Us Are Dead* follow its characters’ attempts to survive in a fun but slightly drawn-out season.

Starting off with the positives, the characters are all pretty well done, for the most part.
The characters the writers want you to like you like, and the characters the writers want you to hate you really hate.
In particular, I want to commend Lee Yoou-mi’s performance as Lee Na-yeon.
She played Ji-yeong in Squid Game.
I mention this because, whereas I really sympathized with her character in that show, I absolutely despised her character in All of Us Are Dead.
It really showed off her acting range.

It is really difficult not to despise Na-yeon after the first few episodes.

As for characters I liked, I personally found myself gravitating towards the side characters more than the main ones, like Yang Dae Su (Im Jae-hyuk), the group’s cheerful heavy hitter.
That is not to sell the main characters short, though, because they are all pretty good.
As for the zombies pursuing these characters, they are all threatening, what with their speed and resemblance to the ones from Train to Busan (which is referenced).
There are also things which make them fairly unique compared to other zombies, such as the concept of “Hambies.”

The zombies of *All of Us Are Dead* bring new things to the table while also feeling familiar.

Just as interesting are the characters ways of surviving the zombies, usually twisting their school supplies into methods of survival.
While it is a plus to see how smart these characters are in certain situations, it unfortunately makes times when they make mind blowingly stupid decisions standout.
This, sadly, happens often, culminating in the most unnecessary self-sacrifice I have seen in a long time, making me roll my eyes.
There are also quite a few moments of convenience and, to top it off, I would say that there was an overabundance of subplots.
I think at least a few of the extra storylines could have been cut down or removed entirely and not much would change.

Moments of extreme convenience, like this one, drag the show down,

Still, despite these many criticism, I would still recommend All of Us Are Dead.
Yes, the story can be pretty frustrating with characters making stupid decisions, moments of convenience, and a few too many subplots.
But, on the other hand, the zombies are threatening and have some unique qualities, the methods used to combat them are interesting, and the characters are engaging, whether they are likeable or purposefully unlikeable.
It will be a while until Season Two, though, since filming is supposed to take place in 2025.
When we eventually do get it, I hope it does not repeat Season One’s flaws.

Arcane Season Two Trailer Breakdown: November Cannot Come Soon Enough.

It is just my luck that when I was about to go to bed, a new trailer for Arcane Season Two dropped.
So instead of doing the healthy thing and going to sleep, I spent the next hour going frame by frame and trying to guess what was happening.
Now, I am ready to put my thoughts down.
This trailer is great and does an excellent job of making me more excited for Season Two than I already was.
It once again does not reveal the fates of Jayce, Viktor and Mel, whose fates were left uncertain by the first season’s cliffhanger, which I appreciate.
It begins with a voiceover of Vi telling Caitlyn that she was right, and her sister is gone told over shots of Jinx shooting the rocket at the council.
Emerging from the smoke onto a battlefield, Caitlyn says, “I want to tear that laugh from her throat forever.”
This, combined with evidence from the prior teaser trailer, makes me more certain than Caitlyn’s mother was killed in Jinx’s attack.
Vi declares she is ready, but the shots of her looking unsure of herself in an Enforcer uniform and then screaming and crying as she beats a punching bag tells us she is anything but ready.

Out of all the characters in this shot, Vi looks the most unsure.

Next, we see Ambessa telling someone, probably Mel if she survived, that they must declare martial law.
We see the effects of this as Ambessa’s Noxian forces arrive, Enforcers set up barricades, and an Enforcer even beats one of Ekko’s people with a baton.
Since the Firelights are also a target, that means Ekko is probably going to have to reluctantly work with Jinx, since she has become a symbol for Zaun in the wake of the attack.
Sevika herself says this, as we see shots of Vi looking at artwork of Jinx and Vander, and people touching Jinx as they pass her.
These people also seem to have dyed their hair blue to resemble Jinx, showing their devotion to her.
Further proof of Jinx’s revolutionary status is someone, who the trailer implies to be Jinx, holding up a blue flair to which the citizens of Zaun raise their fists.
However, despite what the trailer implies, I do not think it is Jinx holding up this flair.
The hand does not look slender enough to me, and there is no nail polish.
Could it be someone co-opting Jinx’s cause?

There is another reason I do not think this is Jinx but I will get into that later.

The following shots are far from reassuring, as we see Vi reaching out for someone while appearing distraught, and a match falling, after which Jinx says she wants, “to watch it all burn.”
The match hits the ground, and we see a mixture of paint and smoke bombs explode throughout Piltover.
As the trailer declares that “This November every ending has a beginning”, we get more action shots of Theriam/Chuck taking part in the fighting, Ambessa leading her forces, a strange circular structure exploding next to a bell, and Warwick emerging to wreath chaos.
We then get probably the most bizarre shots of the trailer, as we see a group of similarly dressed people.
Their bodies begin to glow, their eyes turn white, and they begin levitating up, while strange patterns emerge on their skin, both natural and metal looking.
These metal looking parts makes me believe Viktor has something to do with this, since his leg looked similar after he messed with the Hex Core last season.
“The Arcane is waking up” an ominous female voice states, while this is happening, only furthering my belief Viktor is involved with whatever is happening here.

Looks like whatever Viktor’s up to this season might be the big threat.

Yet more action shots follow, as we see more of Vi’s fight with Jinx, Caitlyn and her squad fighting the Chemtank goons, Ekko and the Firelights taking part in a battle, Jinx shooting something, and Heimerdinger being thrown to the floor by an explosion.
The shot of Jinx shooting is of particular interest because one of her fingers is a prosthetic.
It has been theorized that Caitlyn will shoot it off and, if this does happen, then that only adds fuel to the fire of my theory that the person raising the flair is not Jinx because their finger is perfectly fine.
With these action shots done, Ekko then says, “sometimes taking a leap forward, means leaving a few things behind.”
It would not surprise me if he was talking to Vi about Jinx in this scene.
We then see what I think might be a younger version of him pulling on some kind of chain.
Another shot of Hextech shenanigans follows, before we see Vi decked out like some kind of punk rocker, standing in a ring and raising a fist to a cheering crowd.
This shot is interesting because it makes me believe even more that we are going to get a time skip, most likely after Act One.
There are multiple points in this trailer where characters are sporting different outfits and hairstyles.
Some of them, most notably Vi, even look a little older, making me think at least a few years have passed.

Time skip or not, Vi has clearly had it rough.

Back to the trailer itself, we then see Sevika potentially about to kill Caitlyn, before an explosion blows them apart.
As Vi declares, “this has to end”, we see Jinx crouched down with a bloody nose.
This shot may not seem important at first glance, but I would argue it is because of the environment.
Earlier in the trailer, we saw Ambessa looking threatening against an orange backdrop.
The shot of Jinx having a bloody nose has an extremely similar looking background.
This makes me believe we will get a fight between Jinx and Ambessa.
Ambessa certainly has plenty of reason to want Jinx dead, considering she attacked her daughter with the rocket and may have even killed her.

A Jinx vs Ambessa fight would certainly be hype.

Ambessa will have to get in line to take a shot at Jinx though because we see Caitlyn apparently attempting to do just that, as she powers up her Hextech rifle.
We then get another shot of Ambessa fighting but this time she curiously seems to be battling Enforcers, unless my eyes are deceiving me.
Maybe it is just a training session for the coming fight against Zaun but those weapons she wields look plenty deadly for this to be just practice.
The next shot sees Vi carrying an unconscious person out of a building, as the top of it explodes behind her.
The trailer does a good job of obscuring the person’s face so I cannot tell who Vi is rescuing.
They do appear to be wearing an Enforcer uniform though, so it is probably Caitlyn.

Vi seems pretty determined to save this person.

Speaking of Caitlyn, we see her glaring up at a hooded Jinx, who may be post time skip due to how different she looks, although it could just be an outfit change.
The shots are probably not connected though because it looks like Jinx is piloting an airship here, something which she said she wanted to do all the way back in Episode One.
It would be a good way to bookend the series.
Arcane begins with Jinx saying she wants to fly an airship, and it ends with her in an airship.
Jinx is also wearing a hood, possibly meaning that she is the hooded figure we see earlier in the trailer, but her hood has a different pattern, so I doubt this.
Following Jinx’s declaration of, “Then stop me”, we see Ekko giving Vi a ride on his hoverboard.
Ekko also has Jinx graffiti on his chest, possibly signifying they are fighting her.
The two shoot up into the sky, ending with Vi leaping off to fight.

This could be Vi trying to reach Jinx in the airship she is piloting.

The trailer then ends with a series of quick shots which I had to go frame by frame to see what was happening.
The first shot shows a mysterious figure holding a ball of energy similar to ones seen earlier in the trailer.
The figure reminds me a lot of the man who saved Jayce when he was a kid so maybe that is connected?
We then see someone carrying a much younger Jinx away.
This probably takes place at the bridge where she and Vi lost their parents, before Vander adopted them.
Following this, we get a shot of Ekko pulling a cord on some device, causing it to light up.
Next, we see Caitlyn struggling against a Chemtank.
The subsequent shot possibly shows us Viktor, as we see a figure with a cane and Hextech emerging from their wrist.
Then we see a shadowy figure resembling Silco.
This shot most likely confirms that Jinx is going to be hallucinating Silco this season.
In one of the most epic shots of the trailer, we then very briefly see Vi facing off against Warwick.
She is also wearing the jacket I think older Vi is wearing, so this confrontation will likely take place post time skip.

This is one of the confrontations I am looking forward to the most, based on a theory about Warwick’s identity.

The final shots show Heimerdinger pressing a button, followed by an explosion during the Jinx and Vi fight, though the two are probably unrelated.
And, with that, the trailer comes to an end, hyping me up even more for November.
That being said, it will not be easy for a lot of people to go into the Second Season blind, what with it leaking and certain people just loving to ruin things.
I have also probably been spoiled, unfortunately.
Right after the leaks came out, I saw a post spoiling the fates of a few important characters before I could look away.
I have no idea if what I saw was a legitimate leak or just somebody trolling (I sincerely hope the latter), but, either way, I am still excited for the season.
Hopefully, it can be just as fantastic as the first and, if the trailers and brief scenes we have been shown so far are any indication, it certainly will be.
I shall be counting down the days until the Second Season airs in November.

Arcane Season Two, Teaser Trailer Breakdown: The Final Chapter?

I still remember the first time I finished watching Arcane Season One.
I immediately started screaming “10 out of 10!”
No one was there to hear me, but I was screaming with glee over how fantastic this show was.
I had been initially reluctant to watch it, and yet Arcane delivered the best first season of any series I have ever seen.
So, naturally, I was already eagerly awaiting the second season after finishing, even though I knew that season would be years away.
Well, those years have passed, and we now have our first teaser trailer for Season Two, which I will attempt to breakdown and predict what happens to the best of my ability.

This disturbing poster speaks of an even darker season than the first.

The teaser begins in the wreckage of the council room, with what appears to be a POV shot from someone beneath the rubble.
We then hear voice over from Ambessa saying, “Your council is dead. Wrath must be met with wrath. You will have justice.”
So, we know that some characters survive Jinx’s attack, and some do not.
I am confident that Jayce, Viktor and Mel will survive, due to whatever magic we saw Mel utilizing at the end of the first season.
As for the rest of the councilors, they’re probably dead since they do not add much to the story.
The one of them who does is Caitlyn’s mother, Cassandra, who I am also confident is dead.
When Ambessa says, “You will have justice,” the shot focuses on a determined looking Caitlyn, implying she lost her mother.
The other reason I am confident Cassandra died in the attack is that apparently, in the German dub of the teaser, Ambessa tells Caitlyn, “We will avenge your mother.”
Cassandra dying would certainly throw a wrench in Vi and Caitlyn’s relationship, especially since Vi stopped her from shooting Jinx right before she blew up the council chambers.
As for Vi herself, we see her emerging from the darkness in an Enforcer uniform, which she looks entirely uncomfortable in.
Her joining the group who killed her parents so she can stop her sister will put a massive weight on her shoulders.

I doubt Jinx will take this well either, since this will tie Vi in more with Caitlyn.

A title card then reveals that this season will be the “final chapter.”
However, this is in regard to the Piltover and Zaun conflict, rather than meaning the end of the Arcane universe.
The writers have stated multiple times that they want to explore other characters in this world.
Personally, I am completely on board with this.
Not only is it good to know they have an ending planned for all of the Arcane characters, but I also want to see more of this world fleshed out eventually.
Following the title card, we see Caitlyn holding a meeting with a strike team, explaining their three objectives, “locate Jinx, dismantle Shimmer, and neutralize any agents still loyal to Silco.”
It is interesting that Caitlyn’s plan is to “locate Jinx” not “kill.”
If Jinx really did kill her mother, then Vi must have been incredibly persuasive to get Caitlyn to back off vengeance.
We then see that the strike team does manage to locate Jinx, as Vi wanders into one of her traps.
The teaser then briefly focuses on the Yordle Chem Baron from Season One, who we see standing before a giant statue of a woman.
At first, I thought this statue was of Jinx, but others have pointed out that it seems more similar to one of the unnamed Chem Barons.
This is the most curious shot of the trailer, for me, as I have no idea what it means.

We also see the Yordle Chem Baron fighting Sevika, who now seems to be working with Jinx.
I say this both because Sevika’s new prosthetic is covered in Jinx’s graffiti, implying she made it for her, and because we can literally see Jinx standing behind the Yordle for a second.
The situation must truly be dire for Jinx and Sevika to be working together.
We all know Sevika is going to be furious when she learns Jinx killed Silco.
Back to the teaser, we get a small look at other characters like Singed, Ekko and Heimerdinger.
There is also a shot of Warwick roaring in shadow.
Warwick is a character I am super excited to see, given theories about who he is, but I will not get into that because of spoilers.
Another mysterious character is a hooded figure we see, who I believe is Viktor, since there seems to be a quick shot of him unhooded, using his new abilities for an unknown purpose.
Vi then says that her sister is gone and that “this has to end”, before Caitlyn fires a Hextech-powered rifle.
The teaser seems to be suggesting that she is shooting to kill at Jinx.
The final scene of the tease shows Vi and Jinx’s long-awaited confrontation.
Vi calls out her sister’s new name in her hideout, and Jinx responds by saying, “Finally got the name right, sister.”
The teaser then ends with a showcase of their upcoming battle.

This fight looks like it will be both emotional and intense.

So, we know the structure of the season, right?
It will all build to this single Vi and Jinx fight.
Well, perhaps not.
There is a popular theory that all the of shots we have seen are only from the first three episodes, meaning the Jinx and Vi confrontation will only be the climax of the first act.
Where the season goes from there is anyone’s guess but there could very well be a timeskip to mirror the one from the first season.
Also, one of the Enforcers in promo material does look similar to Marcus’ daughter and, if it is her, it would make no sense for her to appear that old without a timeskip.
We will have to wait until November to see if any of these theories are correct.
I waited for Arcane Season Two for years, I will have no trouble waiting five more months.
As for the teaser trailer itself, it did a great job of hyping us all up for this final installment.
The animation looks glorious, the soundtrack sounds good, and I am eager to see how these fantastic characters’ stories will end.

Blue Eye Samurai Review: Bloody, Animated Revenge.

It took me a while to hear about Netflix’s Blue Eye Samurai.
Created by Amber Noizumi and Michael Green, I only became aware of it when a YouTuber I follow gave it a glowing review.
Hearing about its animation similarities to Arcane, which I loved, I decided to check it out and was rewarded with a compelling and thrilling revenge story.
The story is set in Edo period Japan, where the Shogun has expelled all white men from the country.
However, some do remain in the country illegally.
Hunting these men is Mizu (Maya Erskine), a samurai whose father is one of these white men.
Shamed for the blue eyes of their father, Mizu seeks their revenge and, oh, is that revenge bloody.

*Blue Eye Samurai* is one of the bloodiest animated series I have ever seen.

I had heard Blue Eye Samurai was violent, but nothing could prepare me for the sheer amount of animated bloodshed I was about to see.
I would say the animation looks stunning, and it does, but the constant grizzly kills had me wincing quite a few times.
Not that I am complaining about that.
Another positive, alongside the animation, is the characters.
Mizu is a relatable main character, and their past perfectly shows how they ended up on the violent path they are now set upon.
This past of theirs results in some truly fantastic episodes, like Episode Five, “The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride”, which is the best episode of the season.

Episode Five is tragic, full of mystery and, of course, extremely bloody.

Mizu also goes through a lot of growth, as they often have to choose between their revenge and the lives of their allies.
These allies consist of Ringo (Masi Oka), a sweet handless man who insists on being Mizu’s apprentice, Tagen (Darren Barnet), a cocky swordsman who was once a childhood bully of Mizu’s, and Akemi (Brenda Song), a princess trying to escape the bounds of marriage to powerful men.
All of these characters are great and have their own arcs, especially Tagen and Akemi who switch perspectives by the end of the season.
Just as good is the villain of the season, Abijah Fowler (Kenneth Branagh), the white man Mizu hunts.
Terrifying, eloquent, and also gross, Fowler has many great scenes displaying his villainy, my favorite of which being when he attempts to make a bargain with God.

Fowler’s monologue is one of my favorite scenes in the series.

Arrogant and depraved, Fowler makes for an excellent antagonist, although he unfortunately does suffer some writing issues in the final episode, when he has multiple chances to kill Mizu but just runs away instead.
The writing for this final episode was quite inconsistent overall.
There were great scenes in it but there were also quite a few rushed and poorly written moments.
Sadly, the last episode was not the only inconsistent thing about the show.
Another such thing is Mizu’s fighting ability.
In one episode, they go from being easily defeated by common thugs, to defeating a master swordsman in their very next fight.
It felt a bit jarring to see.

Mizu’s changing fighting ability is my one criticism with Episode Five.

Still, the slightly inconsistent nature of Blue Eye Samurai did little to dull my enthusiasm for it.
The story is compelling, the characters and their arcs are interesting, and the animation is both beautiful and bloody.
I am already anticipating Season Two, especially since a new location was teased.
If you have not checked out Blue Eye Samurai yet, it is more than worth your time.

Avatar: The Last Airbender, Netflix Adaptation Review: A Great Divide of a Season.

When the Netflix live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender was first announced, I was cautiously optimistic about it.
This optimism faltered a bit when the creators of the original show departed, but my hopes started climbing again when I saw the trailers, which were quite good.
Well, the show is out and the consensus is in.
Turns out, the fandom is as divided as the two tribes in “The Great Divide” episode.

I have seen plenty of people hating and liking the adaption.

As for me, I quite enjoyed Netflix’s adaptation of Avatar.
Is it as good as the original?
No, but it was never going to be.
Going into the show, I wanted a retelling of the story with changes that stuck true to the soul of the original and, for the most part, I got that.
Like the cartoon, the adaptation follows Aang (Gordon Comier) who, as the Avatar, is the only one who can master all four elements of Water, Earth, Fire and Air.
However, after being frozen in ice for a hundred years, he awakens to find that, in his absence, the Fire Nation has been waging war on the world and killed all of the Air Nomads.

The depiction of the Air Nomad genocide was grim but thankfully pulled its punches where it needed to.

Teaming up with Katara (Kiawentiio) and Sokka (Ian Ousley) from the Water Tribe, Aang sets out of a journey to master all the elements to save the world, all the while being pursued by the disgraced Prince Zuko (Dallus Liu) and his tea loving uncle Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee).
For the most part, I would say that the actors chosen to play these iconic characters do a good job portraying them.
My favorites of the bunch were definitely Ousley as Sokka, Liu as Zuko, Sun-Hyung Lee as Iroh, Daniel Dae Kim as Ozai, and Ken Leung as Zhao.
Ousley in particular is excellent as Sokka who, while some of his character growth is unfortunately cut, still portrays the character with a lot of spirit and humor.

Ousley was, in my opinion, the perfect casting for Sokka.

The comedy of the adaptation is definitely in keeping with the original, with a lot of great laughs from both Sokka and the interactions between Zuko and Iroh.
The maintaining of this humor was good to see since this adaptation is darker than the original cartoon, what with the showing of the genocide.
The series also has plenty of good emotional moments, with the hardest hitting being an added scene at Lu Ten’s funeral.
This scene had me tearing up, although I will admit that this was mostly due to the context I had as a fan of the original show.

The added scene between Zuko and Iroh will leave fans in tears.

So, the adaptation definitely maintains the soul of the original in regard to its tone with the good mixture of humorous, dark and emotional moments.
Where it deviates from the original is what I was most interested to see going in.
I wanted to see how the writers would introduce characters in different places and blend them into other storylines.
I think the writers nailed this in some areas and failed in others.
For example, I think episodes three and four did the mixing of different storylines and characters to create a new and cohesive storyline excellently.
However, I think the writers also dropped the ball with it, as Episode Five feels quite disjointed and like things were only added for fan service reasons, rather than them being necessary.

Hei Bai’s storyline takes a considerable drop in quality.

I would not say that Episode Five is the weakest episode, though.
No, I think the first episode is, what with its constant clunky exposition.
This clunky exposition is an issue which sadly persists throughout the season, and I hope future seasons can improve upon it.
Another thing I hope they improve upon is the CGI.
Don’t get me wrong, the CGI is not bad.
There are a lot of moments of fantastic computer-generated environments across the season.
It’s just that sometimes, when the actors interact with these environments, I could clearly tell that they were looking at a green screen.

Some moments in the season definitely could have used more work in the CGI department.

And then there are a few things that the adaptation did which I just think were straight up bad ideas.
The first of these is the portrayal of Roku (C.S Lee).
He is the first past Avatar we see in the original show, and he is by far the most important as he warns Aang about Sozin’s Comet.
In the adaptation, however, he is overshadowed in importance by Kyoshi (Yvonne Chapman) and Kuruk (Meegwun Fairbrother), and he feels completely different from the Roku of the original.
The second, and by far the worst thing the adaptation did was Aang not learning Water Bending.
Seriously, this season is an adaptation of Book One.
You know, the book named Water.
Each season of the show focuses on Aang learning an element.
Book One is water, Book Two is earth, and Book Three is fire.
Aang not learning to Water Bend is honestly baffling to me.

The Avatar is supposed to learn to bend the elements, yet Aang takes no time to do so, even when there clearly is.

Aang is probably going to learn to Water Bend in between now and the next season, and I really hope the show does not do the same for earth and fire.
Still, there are a couple of changes that I think are actually improvements the original show.
Having Zuko’s crew be the division he saved, and having Han be an actually pretty nice guy were both great decisions.
So, with plenty of positives and negatives in this first season, it is easy to see why the fandom is divided.
For me, I would say that I am satisfied with this adaptation, so far.
Yes, there are some questionable deviations but there are also plenty of good changes as well, and the soul of the original show is still there.
I look forward to seeing the next season of this adaptation and hope they can improve upon it.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Trailer Breakdown: The Quenchiest Trailer.

The first trailer for Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender did an amazing job of hyping up fans for the show.
Now, we finally have the second trailer, which easily topped it.
The first part of the trailer seems to be narrated by Monk Gyatso, who we then appear to see briefly fighting Fire Lord Sozin during the Air Nomad genocide.
From the brief shot we get, it looks like Gyatso has subdued many attacking Fire Benders before Sozin intervenes.
Seeing Gyatso’s last stand will be a great addition, since we did not get to see it in the original cartoon.

I am curious to see if this will be the first scene of the show, or a flashback when Aang visits the Southern Air Temple.

The trailer then shows Aang being freed from the iceberg, which is much more explosive than in the cartoon’s first episode.
The music from the original show also kicks in here, bringing a comforting feeling of nostalgia.
From here, we get a brief look at the performances we will be getting for the show.
Kiawentiio sounds good as Katara, and Ian Ousley seems to be a perfect live-action Sokka, with his bits of comic relief.
Dallas Liu also looks great as Zuko, and we get shots of him rescuing Paul Sun-Hyung Lee’s Iroh.
We also see Azula using a bow and arrow, which is interesting because I don’t think she ever used one in the original show.
They could just be holding off on showing her blue fire until the second season.
As for Gordon Cormier, he seems to play Aang’s uncertainty of his destiny well, as we see him being comforted by a wonderfully animated Appa.
Momo also looks great when he jumps on Sokka’s head in another solid comedic bit.

The humor of the show looks to be on point.

The trailer then shows us brief shots of many characters from the original.
We see June, Hei Bai, Zhao, and Aang fighting alongside the Blue Spirit.
There are even hints of some of the conjoining storylines we will get in Netflix’s version of the story.
For example, we see Aang flying with Teo but, rather than being at the Northern Air Temple, they are clearly in Omashu, where Bumi’s storyline takes place.

I hope the shortened or condensed storylines still work.

Speaking of Bumi, we also see him briefly fighting with Aang.
The shot of him doing this is intercut with many other action shots, which flow togethor beautifully in a fantastically edited moment.
It’s the best moment of the trailer, which shows off the fighting styles of characters like Bumi, Aang, Zuko, Katara, Sokka and Jet perfectly.

The last few action shots are perfectly edited together.

The trailer then ends with the iconic music playing over Aang going into the Avatar State at the Southern Air Temple.
The first trailer for Netflix’s Avatar was great, but this second trailer brought my excitement to a whole other level.
My only criticism is that there is one CGI shot of Aang accidentally Airbending himself into a statue which looked a bit dodgy.

Something about the physics of Aang’s body hitting the statue here just didn’t look right to me.

Otherwise, this trailer was perfect.
The CGI was mostly pretty good, the acting looks fun, and the action was edited to flow into the trailer nicely.
I am now more excited for this show than ever.
February 22nd cannot come soon enough.