The 2nd season of the successful series Arcane has just been released on Netflix. The story of the sisters Powder and Vi may be concluded, but thanks to new background details from the production, you might view some scenes from a different perspective.
Attention Spoiler: The article discusses events from episode 7 of the second season of Arcane.
Which scene is it about? In Arcane, many characters showcase their abilities known from League of Legends. Some of them can only be discovered if you pay close attention. In episode 7 of the second season, the somewhat eccentric Professor Heimerdinger reveals a completely unexpected talent and surprises with a musical performance.
In an interview with ScreenRant, Alex Seaver, composer of the Netflix hit, reveals that there is more to the scene than meets the eye (via Vida Extra).
At least part of Arcane’s budget must have gone into localization.
“Only Arcane would do something this crazy.”
What is special about the scene? As Seaver reveals, Heimerdinger’s performance has been translated into all 25 languages in which Arcane is available. The composer himself worked with the voice actors of the different versions.
Seaver speaks about the surprising musical number: “The Heimerdinger song in episode 7. That’s one of those things where you think, only Arcane would do something this crazy, but actually do it really well. And we had Mick Wingert, the fabulous voice actor of Heimerdinger, he sang it so beautifully.”
However, they wanted to create a special moment that viewers around the world could experience. Therefore, in other countries, you do not hear Mick Wingert, but the respective voice actor who sings in the local language.
While it may seem like a small, if not trivial, detail at first glance, it involves an enormous amount of production effort.
It was a lot of work, but that was one of the cooler moments of the season, I think. It’s crazy. We have great partners who helped us with the localization in general. The voice actors for all countries are very important to Riot. This is not something done casually. It’s more about their concern for who the cast is in China, who the cast is in Germany, and who the cast is everywhere.
In Germany, by the way, it is Santiago Ziesmer, whom you might have heard in his role as SpongeBob SquarePants or as the regular voice of Steve Buscemi. You can find the other German voice actors of Arcane with our colleagues at Filmstarts.
While it is not unusual for large productions like Arcane to be translated into many languages, musical units are often kept in their original language and simply subtitled. That the song has been translated into so many languages demonstrates a special love for detail.
Especially in the German-speaking area, we are very spoiled regarding localizations. However, many people fundamentally reject the German voiceover and prefer the original, especially in anime. The reasons for this could be explained by MeinMMO demon Cortyn: Why German localizations are so bad in anime
