So what is the best fantasy TV series currently available? Well, it must be the Witcher or perhaps The Wheel of Time? Large CGI budgets, entire productions based around a single star (Henry Cavill playing himself and Rosamund Pike playing the mighty expositioner) and streaming giants promoting them.
Totally wrong. In the wake of Game of Throne's gritty reality, we've been treated to 2D characters and paper-thin plots. The first series of the witcher was utterly confusing and never went anywhere. I'm supposed to care about Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri but I really don't. There's no chemistry between any of them. That's bad enough, but the Wheel of Time makes The Witcher look like Shakespeare. Tons of over-earnest exposition and a hackneyed chosen one plot which was old when they used it in The Matrix. I bailed after two episodes.
Both shows are clearly aiming for an adult audience but using young-adult tropes.
Enter Netflix's Arcane:
Firstly Arcane is anime and the concept is based on the video game League of Legends. Let neither of these things put you off. This show is incredible. Very little exposition and some superb characters - all are 3 dimensional and helped by some excellent voice acting. The show takes no prisoners and expects you to keep up with the plot and characters - give it your time and you'll be rewarded by a fully realised world with characters you'll care about. Add to this a lesbian romance which is so natural and unforced it just isn't a thing - which is a good thing and you have the best original fantasy currently available by a country mile.
Of course, this is just my opinion, but if you disagree you're obviously wrong :-)
That's all for now.
John Howes.
