After a groundbreaking first season that seemed to herald the coming of a new era for TV animation, "Arcane" has come to an end. It seems it really was a dream to have animated shows with the quality and production values of feature films without also requiring budgets so big that no studio — even a giant gaming studio — would want more than two seasons at a time.

Still, we'll always have "Arcane" and the truly astonishing work studio Fortiche did in translating the uber-popular "League of Legends" video game into an epic animated show with impeccable visuals, vast worldbuilding, and memorable characters. Season 2 clearly suffered from the show's cancellation, the pacing faltering due to what was obviously a 5-season plan being condensed into just two seasons, forcing many plotlines to be dropped or severely shortened — like the lives of many a character. Still, even if the ending of season 2 was underwhelming,...