As the story continued, a development emerged that made Mika feel even more unsettled.
Powder's well-intentioned mistake had caused a catastrophe. Her actions led directly to the deaths of her companions and her father figure. As her older sister, Vi's fury was inevitable. She broke down completely, screaming at Powder in anguish.
"You are a Jinx! I told you not to come, why did you come anyway?!"
Her anger overwhelmed her reason. Afraid she might completely lose control, Vi walked away, desperate to put distance between herself and Jinx, and her father's lifeless body. She collapsed against a wall in the shadows of a rain-soaked, smoke-choked alley, trying to steady herself.
At that very moment, Silco emerged from the darkness, approaching Jinx with a knife in hand.
Meanwhile, Vi was discovered by a Piltover Enforcer still operating in Zaun. Drugged and subdued, she was taken away.
From Jinx's perspective, her sister's sudden departure, and disappearance around the corner, meant only one thing: she had been blamed and abandoned.
Already mentally fragile, insecure, and deeply dependent, Jinx collapsed into complete despair. She cried out in pain, sobbing uncontrollably.
Silco watched the blue-haired girl in silence.
Her abandoned figure reminded him of himself, of the moment Vander had turned his back on him years ago.
In the end, Silco did not killed her.
Instead, he lowered his knife… and embraced her.
He spared her life and chose to take her in, adopting the child who now had no one else left.
At this point, Mika felt uncomfortable.
Wasn't this man the one who had just killed Vander?
Even if Jinx believed Vi had abandoned her, how could she so easily accept the very man responsible for her father's death?
After all, Vander's death was the result of Silco's scheme, and Jinx's mistake. Even if Vi had ignored her for days, or even weeks, out of grief and rage, wouldn't that be entirely human?
Vi had only stepped away for a few minutes to calm herself, only to be captured by the Enforcers by sheer misfortune. And yet Jinx immediately concluded that the world had abandoned her and accepted her enemy as a new father?
Mika's blood pressure spiked watching this unfold.
In her heart, Vi's standing rose even higher, while Jinx was instantly branded an ungrateful, blind-eyed traitor.
The ending theme, Invincible, began to play, signaling the close of the third episode.
But Mika was far from calm.
Normally someone who went to bed early, she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
In Rei's previous life, thanks to works like Puella Magi Madoka Magica, anime fans were well aware of the so-called "Three-Episode Rule."
In truth, it's simply a reflection of market reality.
Fast-paced series hook viewers immediately. Slow-burn stories must reveal their true core by episode three, otherwise, most audiences won't have the patience to continue.
Japan may not use the term explicitly, but viewers instinctively understand the rule.
And Arcane's third episode delivered a shock far beyond expectations.
Character deaths can feel hollow or even laughable if mishandled, but when the groundwork is deep and the emotional investment is strong, they hit like a hammer.
The first three episodes of arcane devoted over seventy percent of their runtime to building the bond between Vander and his daughters, and the sisterhood between Vi and Jinx. Just as the audience began to believe that Vander would be rescued and the story would take a hopeful turn, the narrative slammed them with a brutal reversal.
When the episode ended, the forums erupted.
"That Jinx is an absolute walking disaster!"
"I'm laughing out of pure rage. Does she think the whole world owes her something?"
"Vander, Silco, Vi, Jayce, Viktor, every one of them is written brilliantly. Even Silco, despite being the villain, is a driven idealist willing to sacrifice anything. I don't hate him. But Jinx? She disgusts me."
"If she makes you feel that way, then Shirogane-sensei succeeded. He absolutely knew how audiences would react."
"I seriously can't accept that Jinx didn't just stab Silco in the rain. Instead, she immediately believed Vi abandoned her and hugged the man who killed her father?"
"Honestly… people like that exist in real life. Those who cling to others, once their anchor disappears, they'll grab onto whoever's nearby, no matter who it is."
"Either way, my scalp went numb watching this."
"I actually cried. Vander didn't deserve this. He was blown half to death by his own daughter's bomb, still stood up to fight Silco's men, got stabbed from behind, fell into Shimmer, yet with his last strength, he drank the potion and saved Vi, telling her to protect Jinx…"
"But even if Vander were still alive, he wouldn't blame Jinx, would he?"
"At this point, I just want to see what happens next, how Vi escapes the Enforcers and comes back to settle things with Jinx!"
"That little bitch Jinx should just die!"
"Honestly, I hate bratty kids more than anything, in real life and in anime. Jinx is easily the most infuriating character I've seen in years!"
After the first three episodes of arcane aired, the word-of-mouth reaction was almost identical to what had happened in Rei's previous life.
Jinx faced near-universal condemnation from viewers.
Her very name, Jinx, literally meant bad luck, and her actions in the first three episodes lived up to it perfectly. Overnight, she became the single most discussed character in the entire series.
Of course, while the audience was furious, their anger was directed at the character, not the work itself.
By this point, viewers had a clear understanding of Arcane's production quality, narrative ambition, and overall tone.
So when the ratings came in the following day, they spoke volumes.
The third episode of arcane recorded a 5.93% viewership rating, overtaking Blade of No Light for the first time that week. At the same time, its scores across major anime review sites surged sharply.
After all, Arcane is an ensemble cast series. Even though everyone hated Jinx, she wasn't the sole protagonist, so her unpopularity didn't drag down the show's overall reception in the slightest.
Still, the simultaneous rise in both ratings and reputation set off alarm bells across the industry.
Something felt… wrong.
This couldn't be happening again, could it?
For the past two weeks, most professionals had acknowledged Arcane's high production value while criticizing its slow-paced storytelling.
But after episode three, the narrative suddenly changed.
Comments began appearing online calling Arcane "an anime adults should be watching," and claiming it was "ten thousand times better than those brainless, assembly-line shows."
Was it possible that Shirogane truly never failed, not even once?
From 5 Centimeters Per Second to Arcane, that made six works in just four years.
Six releases. Six market hits.
Even the early adaptations of 5 Centimeters Per Second and Tonight into films had earned hundreds of millions at the box office last year.
Even if you were a genius…
Rei, are you seriously able to read the minds of Japan's anime audience?
And wasn't this season only nine episodes long?
If the third episode was already causing this kind of reaction, what would the ratings look like once all nine episodes had aired?
Surely it wouldn't…
Surely Arcane wouldn't end up chasing down Hunter × Hunter's viewership numbers all over again, right?