It’s time to take a look at RWBY Volume 6. This show is still the greatest of all time and volume 6 is a real return to form in many ways. We get to see some old characters, questions from way back in volume 1 are finally answered and even the fight scenes are back to their prime. While Volume 3 is still the best, Volume 6 easily climbs its way up to being the second best volume. It’s just a great time to be a RWBY fan as we also have the current manga going and other projects lined up. It’s all most impressive I must admit.
Volume 5 ended with the team finally managing to secure one of the 4 relics. They now plan to go to Atlas in order to have Ironwood secure the relic while also getting a lead on the next one. Unfortunately getting there won’t be very easy as Salem’s group, Cinder’s Group, and other enemies all plan to stand in their way. Fortunately, team RWBY is finally united once more and together they can stand up against any force. Physical threats may not be what they should fear though as certain truths come out which force them to re-think their entire mission.
As always the soundtrack for this volume is quite amazing. RWBY has never had a weak volume, but that just makes this all the more impressive as it’s tough to just keep on churning quality tunes like this. The best themes are the Neo theme, Adam theme, and Miracle. Then we have other high quality songs like the volume 6 intro and the emotional theme for Pyrrha. The only theme that I’m not crazy about is the one for when the team fought the robot, but of course it was just a small sample so we’ll see what the full theme sounds like. It’s hard to say how the soundtrack stands up to previous volumes, but it’s definitely 5/5 star material.
Then we have the animation which is great. As I mentioned in the intro, the fight scenes have been vastly improved. We’ve already seen the potential that this post volume 3 animation style brings through dynamite fights like Qrow vs Tyrian and Raven vs Cinder, but Rooster Teeth seemed to be having some trouble really getting the heroes to fight the way they used to. Well, whatever they did between volumes worked as we get a dynamite action scene in the premiere and then we get other battles like Cinder vs Neo and Adam vs Yang which are top notch. As fight scenes are one of the reasons why the series got so big in the first place it’s great to see them return. It’s no small reason as to why the volume was so good.
Of course, then we also have the excellent writing to thank as well. The series has always been able to grab your attention with ease and this one is no exception. I’m definitely enjoying the plot and the character interactions are always on point as well. We’re finally getting most of the questions in the series answered to the point where it feels like we could reach the end game soon. As each volume is about as long as a movie I think we could reasonably end the whole saga by volume 9, but there are also enough supporting characters and sub-plots going on that it could last til way after that as well. Either way I’m cool with that. If any part of the writing can be a little weak it’s in the humor. The characters from Atlas seem a little too extreme at times. Calavera and her rival aren’t particularly amusing. Nor are the two bodyguards. Still, it could be way worse of course. I’ll take a little forced humor over crude humor gags which the show has always avoided.
A big character in volume 6 is certainly Adam. He got his own short before the volume aired and the writers hyped him up quite a bit. After 5 volumes of appearing once in a while, his character arc was finally going to end here. His character has had a very mixed history over the years. While he was well liked in the first two volumes, people started to lose faith in him by 3. Volume 5 wrecked him for most fans to the point where it was too late by volume 6. He’s still my favorite character in the series, but you can definitely see why he isn’t for everyone. I’ll probably write some kind of article on him soon so I won’t go too into detail here. He gave us some great fights in 6 and has solid dialogue throughout. He may not be a fan favorite, but he definitely works well as the big boss of the season.
Another character who got a lot of attention here was Salem and through her development we saw more of Ozpin as well. This was the longest episode in the season which makes sense because it finally told us the true origin of this end boss and why she turned to the dark side. It’s a very interesting episode and you ultimately have to decide who was right, Ozpin or Salem. Personally I was on Salem’s side. While the power did start to go to her head, she still stayed very sane and reasonable during that stretch. Ozpin is the one who decided to pretend that he was on her side only to try running away with their kids. If he had actually tried to talk to Salem face to face then I think they would have been okay. He’s the one who was very unreasonable here.
Ozpin is pretty content to work with the gods even though they’re the ones who messed up Salem in the first place and appear to be rather malicious. They did come close to ending the human race after all. You now have to question Ozpin’s decision to gather all of the relics as doing so will just bring the gods back to murder them all. Meanwhile it’s hard to say why Salem wants them. I’m hoping she is planning on attacking the gods or something which would be pretty cool. It’s too early to guess at the exact goals right now, but I’m definitely rooting for Salem to take down her rival once and for all.
Meanwhile this may be Ruby’s best volume yet. She’s really gotten used to her leadership role and this is the first time where we actually see her giving out orders. She’s stepped out from Qrow’s shadow and her character arc appears to be complete. She’s close to mastering her silver eyes as well which is good. Weiss gets the least development from the 4 in this volume but she already had a lot in 4/5 and it looks like 7 will be another big one for her so that makes sense. Blake and Yang get their closure with the Adam plot so that was important. Yang is effectively over her trauma now and Blake’s resolve to never run away again is confirmed. She’s definitely come a long way. While Blake is still my least favorite of the main 4, she could possibly pass Ruby for 3rd at some point. It was just her bad luck that this would also be such a great volume for the group’s leader.
For characters who didn’t look so good, we’ve got Oscar and Qrow. Qrow spends most of the volume whining and really not looking like the reliable guy you can count on. His abilities also don’t seem nearly as impressive as they once were. He feels like he would be on an even playing field with the main 4 rather than being a large step above. After the Grim Reaper said that Yang has surpassed her as well, it really shows that the grown ups just can’t keep up. Meanwhile Oscar is annoying as he takes things super personally and then vanishes in the middle of the night to do some shopping. There still doesn’t feel like there is much point to his character. Take Oscar away and the series really wouldn’t change to be honest.
Back to the Grim Reaper for a second. While I’m not a big fan of her, I did really like the flashback sequence we got where she fights off a group of bandits. Her fighting style is a lot of fun and it’s certainly nice to finally see another silver eyed warrior. She did get a little outshined by the shark tooth girl but that made the whole thing even better. While brief, the two can definitely be considered to be some of the stronger characters in the series.
Salem’s main minions don’t get a lot to do here, but we do have some scenes to explore what Mercury and Emerald think about the whole situation. It’ll be interesting to see what they do from here. Mercury’s days of hype do seem to be gone now though so his next fight will probably be his last. I could see Emerald having more to do, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Salem or Cinder ends her. Either way I don’t see her escaping alive. Tyrian, Watts, and Hazel don’t do much of anything, but we should at least get to see the first two fight in the next volume.
There’s not too much to say about Team Jaune. Nora and Ren still feel extremely weak and desperately need some kind of power up to make them relevant again. Jaune is basically holding the team together at this point and hopefully he has something up his sleeve for when the team fights their next opponent. If he can use his aura amplification to do something with his sword then he has got a lot of potential there.
I do think this volume felt a little too short though. While the episodes started out rather long like with the Salem adventure, the final episodes were all extremely short. Perhaps not more so than previous volumes, but with the increased budget and mainstream attention I’d like it if we could get more full length adventures. I’m assuming Gen-Lock took a lot of time out from RWBY, but hopefully for next season we’ll get more footage. After all, we lost a whole episode here to limbo. (Gen-Lock looks fun of course, but not in the same league as RWBY so I still want Rooster Teeth to give this title the bulk of its attention) Also, the big Kaiju didn’t make for a great final boss. He ultimately went down in a single hit after he was frozen which doesn’t make for the most intense final boss. I think shifting it so that the Adam scene was the final part of the climax would have worked a little better. I don’t see Adam returning, but with the way the scene went it’s definitely possible as a shock value twist.
Finally, we got the big return of Neo here. It’s been a very long time since she last appeared so I’m glad to see her return. The scene was handled perfectly as her theme music is one of the best in the series. It amplifies the hype a lot more than if the scene had no music. Her fight with Cinder also reminds you just how good she is. Without Cinder’s Maiden abilities she certainly would have lost so it’s fair to say that Neo is high tier and can probably take on just about any non-maiden. We’ll see if she ends up being a little nerfed or something, but otherwise her partnership with Cinder is probably enough to take down team RWBY+Qrow+Team Jaune+Oscar I’d say. Of course with a large scale battle like that it is possible that teamwork will make all the difference. Also it’s unlikely that such a fight will happen since we have so many other parties running around like Salem’s group and the Atlas fighters.
As for the after credits scene, it’s pretty weak to be honest. Salem is making more Grimm…that doesn’t seem like a threat though. By definition Silver Eyes eradicate Grimm with no exceptions. We found out that the ability is straight from the light god so I don’t think Salem could override that. Most likely they will serve as a diversion or something to keep the military busy or Ruby’s friends. Still, I feel like if they go up against any named character they would just be fodder. It makes sense to have a Grim invasion for pure numbers of course, but it shouldn’t have been the big cliffhanger scene.
Overall, RWBY is in great hands as always. I have high hopes for volume 7 as expected and it’ll still be tough to beat this volume. Still, with all of the characters in motion there is definitely a real chance that it could be the best volume yet. We should be getting a ton of action scenes there so I’m glad that the crew has confirmed that they are already working on the next volume. The more development time on that the better and you can never start too soon. If you haven’t started RWBY yet then I recommend binge watching the whole series and fixing that ASAP. It’s no exaggeration to say that this is the greatest TV show of all time.
Overall 10/10
It’s time to look at a film with a title that you figure you would
have seen more over the years. After all, black holes are pretty
interesting and when you throw in some sci-fi wrinkles they get even
better. While this film had a good premise and can be fairly
interesting, it also starts to drag on a little by the end which
limits its ultimate potential.
The film starts off with a Star Trek type crew wandering trough space
when they notice a distress call from a ship stuck near a black hole.
Naturally they are obligated to go and help but everything about this
scenario seems highly suspicious. This ship is from an expedition
launched 20 years ago and the crew was presumed dead. Well, one member
apparently survived but regrettably the others did not. This doctor
was able to create a robot army though and now he wants to try and
slingshot his way through a black hole. The captain realizes that this
guy is insane, but it may already be too late to leave.
The plot is fairly standard but always a good premise for a title like
this. It’s basically a Star Trek episode with the crew quickly
realizing that a guy marooned on a lost ship was able to advance the
art of robotics more than a planet of scientists with proper
equipment. It’s pretty surreal. Naturally the main villain isn’t all
that subtle with his ambitions. From the start you know that something
is a little off about the guy. Too bad the scientist of the main crew
couldn’t realize that though. He is ready to abandon the Earth in a
heartbeat so he can go through a black hole with the villain. It’s
almost tragic because that basically means that there’s not much
waiting for him at home. Still, it doesn’t excuse how slow on the
uptake he was. The guy nearly doomed them all.
Then we have the main heroine who isn’t all that subtle on learning
that the main villain is nuts. I guess I can’t blame her for trying
over and over to help the scientist see the light since staying behind
would certainly be lethal but I think she should have prepared herself
for what was to come.
The captain is pretty solid. He basically takes all the good qualities
of Captain Kirk without any of the bad ones. He’s a capable leader and
probably the best character here. He’s suspicious of this whole thing
from the start and is always on guard. I think if you take him away
from the flick the whole movie gets weaker.
I do have to also give some credit to the main robot though. Typically
the robot companion ranged from rather weak to just being very
ineffective. This robot is none of those as he has perfect aim and
even manages to take on one of the big villains. I may not have been
sold on him at first, but he backed up the tough talk by the end. You
can’t deny that his confidence is well warranted.
Where the film suffers a bit is that it can feel aimless once in a
while. The plot is very straight forward. The heroes voyage through
space and try to learn more about the universe. They see a ship and
you know that the man inside of it is very dangerous. It’s not like
any of this is unexpected for the audience so you feel like you’re
just going through the motions until the end. There is a decent amount
of suspense, but it’s drawn out just a little too much. You get the
feeling that this film could have been trimmed down.
There’s really nothing negative about this film which is also pretty
important. It can be hard for a film not to make some kind of error
during its duration so whenever this does occur it is pretty
impressive. It’s not as if you will be super bored or anything during
the film either so I wouldn’t dock the score much for it. The writing
is pretty solid and while not all of the characters are likable, I
think they’re handled pretty well. You can clearly see why the captain
was selected as the leader because the other members would surely lead
the crew to ruin.
The end of the film does try to be a little too “deep” and moving
though. We get a lot of trippy colors and the heroes effectively
travel through hell in order to get back home. It goes for a very 2001
vibe although fortunately it stays classier than that film could ever
try to be. It’s a very odd way to end the film as it doesn’t seem to
match with anything we had seen earlier, but maybe the film had some
extra budget leftover and wanted to use it. I can’t really fault them
for that and it can be a little humorous unintentionally.
Overall, The Black Hole is a fairly good sci-fi film. I can see why it
didn’t get too popular since the film does start to drag on by the end
but it’s still a fun enough story. It doesn’t get too detailed in
explaining the universe, but goes far enough for you to understand
what you need to. If you haven’t checked this film out yet then you
should. It’s an interesting look at how a Star Trek from Disney
probably would have played out.
Overall 7/10
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