Ranking all of the RWBY Episode 4s

Posted on October 28, 2022 by dreager1

We are back for another round of the RWBY episode rankings! You probably won’t be surprised at how well Volume 3 does but the question is if any of the other volumes can keep up. Will they get absolutely destroyed or will they have a fighting chance here? With a series as good as RWBY it’s always fun to see which episodes can really surpass the others in these battles. You can tell how about half of these episodes are more about setup though, but there are the action ones as well. It shows how balanced the series is as the action changes from volume to volume.

9. Volume 4

Volume 4 has to come in at the tail end here which is rough for the volume but this is more of a low key episode. We see Yang finally come to terms with not having her other arm anymore and it was nice to see the teachers off duty. I always like Yang as the really confident heroine so it was nice to see her get back in the groove. Meanwhile Raven and Qrow’s meetup was hype. We hadn’t known Raven too well by this point so any appearance was really appreciated. A lot of setup for future events occurred here.

8. Volume 7

Finally seeing the heroes become fully official huntsmen was great. It’s been a long time coming after all and it was nice of Ironwood to have kept this in mind with everything going on. That said, I still think the heroes act a bit too in awe of the Ace Ops here. Cmon they may be reasonably tough but RWBY and friends have dealt with much more powerful fighters. We see here that the Ace Ops don’t even see each other as friends so naturally that was going to hurt them down the road. The episode is really more on the calm side but seeing the heroes finally get some real recognition was great. They’ve saved the day on many occasions after all.

7. Volume 6

The cliffhanger for this episode is really what gets it a bit higher up. We have the heroes making their way to an abandoned village which has clearly seen better days. It’s a nice ominous way to end things off but otherwise this episode doesn’t have a whole lot happening. Everyone’s really upset at Ozpin for the fact that he kept more secrets and has no real plan. That’s probably the worst part of it because then he has been stringing them all along for ages without any big strategy. You’d think he would have thought of something over the years but I guess he just never got around to it. It’s a really bad look if you ask me. I was never a big fan of Ozpin but if I was then this would probably hurt even more.

6. Volume 5

Volume 5 will always be the most nostalgic volume for me even if it isn’t my favorite one. That’s because it was coming out right as I first got into the show and so I kept watching the episodes over and over. It may be a dialogue heavy volume but it handled itself in much more interesting ways than Volume 4 so it stayed fresh. We do get a quick Yang fight in this episode though. While the speed of the fight is a bit on the slow side, the choreography is still on point and that’s what counts. It’s also nice to see more of Raven and we’re gearing up for the big conversation there. I also liked that Weiss was able to break free on her own and didn’t really need to be saved. Of course if Yang was not there then she would have been doomed though.

5. Volume 1

Volume 1 has some more fun gags with Ruby and Weiss having their differences. I do wonder where Ruby popped out from though, has she just been beating up on a bunch of Grimm off screen? Admittedly it probably is her fault about the trees burning down since she should have seen Weiss while zipping around. It also is embarrassing to be having so much trouble with normal grimm when individually they should be able to defeat them all with ease. We also get to catch up with the other teams like Jaune and Pyrrha so it was nice to see them. The episode has a good blend of story and action while covering a lot in a small amount of time.

4. Ice Queendom

Now we’re entering the anime only original story and it works quite well here. We get a whole new environment and get to learn about Weiss’ psyche. It’s an effective way of showing her true thoughts the whole time without having to make it appear too forced or anything like that. It’s the right way to go about it. The visuals still look really good and actually getting a Ruby vs Weiss fight is something we’ve been waiting for throughout the franchise. The battle theme is also on point even if it seems like the show always uses the same ones. The lyrical moments are on point though and this show just continues to operate at a very high level. I’m eager to see how this plays out for the rest of the show.

3. Volume 8

Volume 8 continues to go strong in this episode. We get a really tense chase scene where Yang and company are trying to save Oscar. Unfortunately there are just too many Grimm in the way and they can’t keep up. They tried hard though. Ren is annoying in this episode though as the guy blows up on Yang and does a lot of complaining the whole time but it’s all undeserved. He’s the one not handling things well and trying to push that off to everyone else. It’s not the right approach to the situation and he’s hurting the team unity. That’s playing right into Salem’s hands. This would begin his downfall as Ren never really recovers throughout the volume. Well perhaps his downfall began in volume 7 but I remember thinking this was a particularly bad moment for him. The actual episode is just too hype to have any lower though and the song during the chase was on point.

2. Volume 2

This was the first time we really got to see Team RWBY fight..well as a team. They used advanced combination moves and really overwhelmed Torchwick throughout the fight. It was nice to see the combos and as always I liked seeing Blake and Sun team up here. I miss when Blake was the very rebellious one who was always leading the charge like this. She is really at her best here and Sun has always got her back which is great. Neo’s debut appearance was also exciting and seeing the bar from Yang’s trailer was a nice callback. It reminds you why you definitely don’t want to be skipping those trailers. The lyrical song that played during the fight in the episode was also masterful.

1. Volume 3

I have to admit that I was not surprised to see this one at the top because Volume 3 is full of stunning fights. This one had us finally see Mercury and Emerald get their first action scene. Considering that these villains have been around for quite a while, it’s something that has been a long time coming. What better way to show off their skills than to beat some of the most experienced students in the whole school? They won so easily too that it really made a statement too. To this day I’ve watched the fight many times over. The trash talk is also excellent.

That wraps up another comparison list for the RWBY episodes. Some more shake ups here but at the same time Volume 3 is still dominating so things haven’t fully changed yet. That volume was just so epic though, it really set the tone and pace for the series going forward. A lot of fun moments here though and it’s always nice to revisit the series. Will Episode 5 start to turn the tables? Well we’ll definitely find out soon! That said, the best comparisons will probably be once we hit the climax because every volume always ends with a bang with no exceptions. Measuring which climaxes were the best will be the exciting part.

Ranking all of the RWBY Episode 3s

Posted on October 21, 2022 by dreager1

It’s time for episode 3 as I continue this journey down memory lane with comparing each volume. By episode 3 it’s still more of a toss up on if the season’s going to have its next big action moment or if it will be more set up. Which volumes will come out on top and which will fall short? It’s time to find out!

9. Volume 2

Volume 2 has the team splitting up to check on different things as they approach the White Fang issue. It’s always nice to see them all working as a team like this and as always Sun is a great character. He just dove in and inserted himself and Neptune into the team mission and made it look easy. The guy is made of confidence and you love to see it. In the subplot we got more hints that Penny was a robot as she stopped the car although in universe she probably could have just played it off as a super strength semblance and everyone would believe her. No reason not too right? Weiss and her family drama is also set up a bit more here since she doesn’t want to talk to her father. A lot of setup going on and it’s a solid episode but would quickly be overshadowed by volume 3 the next year.

8. Volume 5

This was the episode where Volume 5’s pacing really started to slow down a bit. We got updates on the various plots but because of that there wasn’t a whole lot to all of them. In Ruby’s plot we had Ozpin decide to teach Ruby how to fight in hand to hand (I never bought that Ruby couldn’t fight tbh), for Blake she tried convincing the Faunus to fight back against the White Fang, but I can see why they weren’t on board. Sure the White Fang are evil but infighting among themselves would leave them wide open to attack from the humans. This was definitely a setup chapter but it was nice to see the Weiss plot. Her figuring out a way to escape was a great way to end things off.

7. Volume 1

Volume 1 is mainly still setting up the big forest fights here as the group actually begins the test. We get a lot of fun scenes to introduce the various characters like Nora and Ren while also giving Pyrrha some more screen time. This is definitely more of a character building episode and the humor from this era is still unmatched. I always did wonder where Ruby just vanished off to during the forest though. If she went off to fight it must have been really far away since Weiss couldn’t hear her at all. The place just went dead silent.

6. Volume 4

Volume 4 is a lot more low key which makes sense as that volume took this approach for the most part. In Yang’s plot she is still trying to cope with just having one arm now and it’s been a tough adjustment. Her trauma over losing to Adam is still raging strong as well. Meanwhile Blake gets her first fight as a giant serpent Grimm appears and Sun helps her out. Unfortunately this would be the beginning of the end for her character as she went from being very brave and ready to fight in the first 3 volumes to someone who was running away from fights here. She also seemed to get a lot weaker so don’t expect a lot of big wins for her in this volume. As it is the serpent Grimm seemed to have the edge for most of the fight. The actual fight is one of my least favorite fights in the series (Something had to be right?), there’s a lot of jumping around but it felt like very little actual fighting. Still reasonable but the fight doesn’t elevate the episode quite as much as you would expect. It’s still the best subplot in the episode though.

5. Volume 6

This was a really important chapter because we finally got the origin of Salem. Now this one was a doozy. I also blame Ozpin quite a lot here. I’m always harsh on the old guy but seriously, he really didn’t do anything to slow down Salem’s descent into madness. When she uses her powers recklessly he should have tried to talk her down or talk things over rationally. Instead he tries to run off with her kids in the middle of the night? No….that’s not a good idea at all. Additionally both of the gods just seem cruel (which is not surprising) so I can see why Salem wants to take them out. Ozpin deciding to avoid them is another option I suppose but yeah this episode wasn’t flattering for him. Still, it was a lot of fun because I’d been waiting for the origin story for a very long time.

4. Ice Queendom

Naturally Ice Queendom has a lot going on here as it wraps volume 1 up but makes the very unfortunate choice of cutting out the fight at the docks. I think they definitely should have kept that in but at least we did get the fight between Weiss and the Grimm which was really solid. The animation really shone during that part and this episode had a lot of good development for the characters. The cliffhanger was also really epic. We’re getting into the original plot now so I’m definitely hyped to see how that plays out. Ice Queendom is off to a fast start and has been keeping up rather well so far.

3. Volume 8

The AceOps got their big rematch here after being absolutely dominated by Team RWBY. I don’t buy their excuse about holding back to be honest but it’s still good to see them using more teamwork here. They were actually overwhelming Penny who is a maiden so that’s fairly impressive. Penny didn’t look great here but that’s how it goes. Nora also had her best moment in quite a while here as she handled the electric entrance. With a good amount of action this was definitely going to be a high ranking episode. You can see how Volume 8 started off really strong already.

2. Volume 7

This time we get to really see the AceOps in action. I do think the team is rough even if I always thought Team RWBY was stronger. We got to see their updated landing strategies as well and had some fun fights in the caves. There weren’t a lot of stakes here or anything but it was still nice to see the team all get to take down some Grimm. With all the big plots going on you sometimes just want to see them being Huntresses and taking these monsters down. They also start to feel some guilt over lying to Ironwood the whole time which is really good. They should be feeling bad about that since so far he’s been doing a good job. I would say it was clear from this episode that they were setting up an eventual fight though and we’ll talk more about that in a future episode!

1. Volume 3

Volume 3 jumps us right into the mix as Qrow takes on Winter. Still a great way to introduce us to the power levels of an adult huntsman. Ultimately Qrow would end up getting nerfed in the future but I still appreciated seeing the power gap right now. The music was on point and it was a great spectacle. Meanwhile we also got to see Cinder making her first move in rigging the tournament match as well as Ironwood have a chat with the other characters. His moves seem reasonable considering that Ozpin never seems to want to really have a conversation here. He thinks that Ironwood should not have brought his army but doesn’t say much to really make his case. To make this more convincing we would need some more good reasons since under Ozpin’s eye the villains have already infiltrated anyway. Qrow and Winter’s rivalry in addition to the fight easily makes this the best episode 3 of the bunch.

Well, I guess volume 3 has done it again. This was such a strong episode 3 and it reminds me why the volume had the best pacing. Something was always happening here to keep you excited. The other volumes will start to make some more competition for it as the volumes go on though because all of them tend to have great climaxes and the length varies so there should be a good amount of back and forth. Now the wait begins for the episode 4 comparisons!

Ranking all of the RWBY Episode 2s

Posted on October 13, 2022 by dreager1

It’s time to rank all of the episode 2s! The episodes in general are shorter than the premieres so there is less opportunity for quite as much plot development and action but at the same time that means we can really judge how the series tries to follow up the big premiere. Do they go small scale and try for character development or blow it all up and go as big and bombastic as possible? IN general I’d say the series goes for the former and that definitely makes sense. It’s rare that you do back to back battle episodes like that.

9. Volume 4

It’s been a rough start for Volume 4 as it has to come in at the end here. Mainly that’s because not a whole lot happens in this episode. We get a lot of info-dump as we learn a bit more about Atlas and Ruby’s team visits a village that was destroyed by bandits. Not the most exciting episode 2 but it’s not irregular. It was nice to see Whitley being supportive to Weiss though. Low key he never seemed like a bad guy throughout the show and he went through a whole lot while she was gone. Everyone ditched him but he still warned her about Ironwood’s arrival and genuinely seemed to care so that was nice. I think he tends to get a bad rap. It’s also nice to see the seeds about Ironwood getting a little aggressive start here.

8. Volume 6

In this episode the gang catch Ozpin lying to them again as usual and so we get quite a few heated arguments here. It eventually even leads to the genie finally appearing and the cliffhanger lets us know that we’re about to learn the truth about Salem’s past. So it’s a very important episode but the main reason it’s low is because it’s all set up for more exposition. Build up for a fight can be pretty hype but build up for knowledge is less so since you wish they could just fit it all into one episode. Ozpin is always annoying with his secrets as well since you’d think he could trust them more at this point. He also just made a big mistake with Lionheart so you feel like he should probably own up to that a little more.

Instead he goes on the defensive side right away and it looks suspiciously like he was going to attack Ruby at the end. So all in all it is a very important episode to be sure and a very interesting one at that but without any real action it couldn’t quite keep up with the others. The Cinder subplot was very intense though and since the opening was already hinting at the fight with Neo coming up, that’s definitely something that everyone was looking forward too.

7. Volume 1

The original volume’s a bit low this time around but that’s because it’s more of a build up episode. Aside from being super short, we don’t even get to the first challenge yet. The episode is mainly about the main characters finally meeting up a bit. It’s got a lot of nice humor like Ruby and Weiss meeting up or Yang dashing off with her friends. Since Weiss would eventually mellow out, it’s always nice to see her during her mean phase where she and Ruby didn’t get along at all. The banter between them is always a lot of fun. The show has a lot of spirit at all times and it was a fun appearance for Jaune as well. He cements himself as the big comic relief character right away here and can’t keep up with the others. Little did anyone realize that he would eventually become one of the big characters.

6. Volume 2

Like Volume 1, Volume 2 has a lot of that classic humor that I enjoyed. If it’s one thing that RWBY hasn’t captured nearly as much since the old days, it’s that fun humor that it always had. The heroes playing that Yugioh homage game was a blast. They got the trap cards and everything. There aren’t any big fights this time around and it’s a short episode so it’s not going to rank too high but it’s still a pleasant watch. We also have Cinder and the gang infiltrating the school at the end which is a big deal.

We even get a brief Ironwood appearance where he tries to talk with Ozpin but that conversation doesn’t really go anywhere so he leaves. It feels like nobody really wants to have an actual conversation with him which is rough since it does seem like he is trying hard at this point in time. It was also nice to have the team get Blake to open up to them instead of flying solo again. Flying solo is always fun but since the rest of the group is ready to help out, there isn’t really a need for that.

5. Volume 8

This was a fairly somber episode as the heroes are still trying to pick up the pieces in Mantle. The hero groups are also split up since they have different approaches to things. While it’s mainly a low key episode, we do have a very intense climax with the new hybrid Grimm coming out. There were a lot of fun theories about this possibly being Summer or another old character back in the day because of how it could talk and strategize. It was a great way to end the episode even if I think that Yang and friends looked a little too weak now. I have a hard time believing that they would have so much trouble against a single Grimm, even if he does have intelligence. The fight did boost this episode above a few of the other episode 2’s.

4. Volume 7

In Volume 7 we finally got to go inside of Atlas and actually talk to Ironwood. This is definitely a very dialogue based episode but it was a super important one with the major players finally getting to decide what to do about Salem. As interesting as it is, it can also be a frustrating one though with the heroes lying to Ironwood at literally every turn. By this point there is no reason to think he would make the wrong move and moreover, I don’t think he would have gone down the wrong path. Ironwood’s big plan here is to let the world know about Salem and the heroes are absolutely appalled. (In volume 8 they end up going with his plan anyway)

This is before Ironwood went off the deep end and I was supporting him every step of the way right now. Look, Ozpin’s plan of keeping everything a secret just didn’t work and he ended up just putting everyone in danger. In just about every other series, letting the world know the truth is the good option and even here it would be in the next volume. If Ruby and friends had sat down with Ironwood and told him the truth of all that they learned then they all could have finally started to do something. They could have come up with a plan and I believe they also could have figured out a way to help Mantle as well. They just didn’t help Ironwood at all and ultimately that would come back to bite them.

3. Ice Queendom

Once again the quick pacing really helped this one jump up near the top. You could feel the budget already dropping from episode 1, however they quickly increased it again for the climax which I appreciated. The fight with the Nevermore was a lot of fun and it’s always nostalgic to see the group in the old days. The episode speeds through several from volume 1 and makes for a really satisfying watch. It still feels like a best hits montage but of course we’re getting closer to the original story so then we can see how that stacks up. Will Ice Queendom still be one of the best or will this be where it falters?

2. Volume 5

Volume 5 is rather high this time eh? Well, we get a good mix of plot and action this time around. Weiss got to fight the hornet queen which was a lot of fun with that epic song playing in the background. Things may not have gone well for pilot boi but he did good while he was around. We also got the really epic subplot with Adam finally taking control of the White Fang. This would be one of his last really hype moments before the series started to drop the ball with him. This was a great example of his strategic awareness and making everyone his pawns. Even Hazel from Salem’s cabal wasn’t able to keep him in check. His speed was also really good since Sienna Khna wasn’t able to stop him.

It was a natural progression for Adam’s character and a big part in why this episode was so good. He really made a name for himself here and I was super eager to see how things would play out. The cliffhanger was also massive with Raven finally appearing for the first time. That’s something everyone had been eagerly awaiting for a very long time and the appearance lived up to the hype.

1. Volume 3

Volume 3 is on top again eh? Well, it’s not too surprising as this is the tournament volume though so you can expect a whole lot of action. We get two tournament fights in this one with Jaune’s team first and then Sun’s team. The fights themselves are on the weaker side of Volume 3 and aren’t even taken as seriously but it’s still fun to see the characters fight. The team that fought Sun’s group even got to appear quite a bit in the novels so it was interesting to see them here even if they still feel like NPC’s. The fight choreography of the old volumes is always just so good! The new volumes eventually did manage to catch up but for the most part the other volumes don’t have big fights in volume 2. That should slowly start to change though and then I think you’re going to see more of a shake up in the rankings.

So that’s all of the episode 2s. We’ll see how the episode 3s go. As always it’s nice to see how the animation style and tone changes throughout the volumes. You can also try to see common elements or strategies in the episode 2s for each volume but as of now I wouldn’t say there’s much of a pattern. It makes sense since each volume is all so different and so it’s not like you can always call episode 2 the setup episode or anything like that. Some will jump straight into the fights while others go for a more emotional feel.

Ranking every RWBY premiere

Posted on October 6, 2022 by dreager1

So we all know just how impressive the RWBY series is. It’s to the point where if someone asks you what the definition of peak fiction is….you’d show them an episode of the show. It’s that good and still reigns as the greatest show of all time. I figured it would be a good chance to try checking out every season premiere and rank them. I’ve thought about doing something like that for a long time but ultimately I just kept putting it off over and over again until now. I finally had the time to go in and watch all of these episodes. Below I’ll talk about each premiere and be they stack up against each other. Volume 3 may be my favorite season but it doesn’t necessarily mean it will win for the best premiere and that’s what makes everything pretty interesting here. So without further adieu, lets take a look at the rankings.

9. RWBY Volume 5

Volume 5 had less action than I remembered and by that I mean it had almost none. We get to see each member of Team RWBY in their various plots and the hype for this volume was that the group would finally be reunited. It had been a while after all so the build up had to be on point and the premiere does well with that. We see Weiss on her trip, Yang gathering intel, Blake preparing to make a stand, and Ruby getting to meet Lionheart.

Lionheart’s definitely not my favorite character to put it mildly so his scenes aren’t very interesting. The guy is nervous right out of the jump and the only time he talks tough is when he is trying to convince Qrow that everything is a bad idea. This premiere is really solid at the serious moments but can be a bit weaker than previous volumes on the humor side. Give me the bobble head RWBY scene over Yang bouncing the bandit across all the walls any time. It’s a solid premiere but not quite holding its own against any of the others.

8. RWBY Volume 7

Low ranking for volume 7 eh? Well, there’s not much action here either. We do get a brief skirmish with some Grimm and then the heroes are taken down by the AceOps. I was always a bit skeptical at how quickly they were taken out. Sure, it was a cheap shot but even taking that into account….I’m just a bit unsure about that. The humor also didn’t land quite as well as earlier volumes. I like Penny as a character quite a bit but her humor style doesn’t work as well.

Mostly this premiere was about seeing the tough state that Atlas was in and learning that maybe there is reason to doubt Ironwood. Granted, as a viewer I didn’t think so but you’re meant to be a bit wary at least. The place is under secure watch but given that the Grimm are around that makes sense. It’s an interesting premiere but for the first episode you usually want to start out with a bang and this one didn’t have that explosive impact.

7. RWBY Volume 4

Volume 4 is fairly low key on the action scenes as well. There is a fight as the heroes go up against a rock creature but the bulk of the episode is really about set up. We have the evil council meeting for the first time on screen so we get to see Salem’s cabal. That made for a pretty intense scene and of course it was a rough start for Cinder since she has lost her voice for a while by this point. Seeing her get picked on just feels so odd when usually she is the mastermind. Then you have the heroes having a little fun and stopping by a town.

It’s a very complete episode and fits in with the heavier focus on the story for the later volumes. That said, it still ends up being a weak premiere next to the other ones because it just isn’t as exciting. The rock fight just didn’t have the same energy or hype as the fights that came before it. I would say part of that is because as a rock giant it had no way to actually defend itself or fight back so the whole thing just didn’t feel very satisfying. Still nice to see the group work as a team of course and later on Volume 4 would go on to have one of the best team fights in the series against Tyrian.

6. RWBY Volume 8

Volume 8 has one of the more tense premieres but it’s also very light on action. There aren’t any big battles for the heroes as they’re starting to turn on each other and the pressures of protecting mantle are getting to them. The AceOps got whopped last time so they’re also still very sore about the whole thing. Clover only has himself to blame for being taken out but that’s just how it goes. The series decided to start making Ironwood more of an extreme villain in this episode by having him shoot someone which was also a bit on the weak side.

Still a very intense episode all around though. It has a lot of replay value that’s for sure. Ultimately for the heroes you’re rooting for them to save everyone but without a concrete plan to achieve this, it’s easy to see why a lot of the heroes were mixed on what to do. Salem really had the advantage here and her experience came in handy. If Ozpin had been more honest with the characters then things probably wouldn’t have gone this far.

5. RWBY Volume 2

Volume 2 brings in the famous food fight in the series. This one is talked about often and for good reason. It’s a really impressive group fight where everyone gets to have their moment to shine. It’s cool to see each character use their signature fighting style with the foods and they all have a moment to shine. Even though they are fighting for fun you can still gauge the power levels pretty well from this. For example, it’s clear that Yang and Pyrrha are a cut above the rest with how they handle themselves in this fight. Ruby probably gets the most surprising amount of hype given that she is able to effectively wipe out the whole team once she gets serious. To date it’s one of her most impressive feats.

The fight takes up most of the episode but we also have some fun humor moments here. Ruby trying to make things fun for the team as leader goes a long way and they all have some fun banter throughout. It keeps up that blend of humor and action that the series is so well known for. I’d also say the series was at its funniest during these opening volumes so this was really a solid premiere that could get anyone on board the RWBY train. Then there’s also the opening scene where Mercury and Emerald assassinate a bookstore owner for trying to leave Vale. It’s a fairly ominous moment all things considered and showed that the villains weren’t playing around. Bumping someone off in the opening episode already set the tone that things were going to be more dangerous in season 2.

4. RWBY Volume 6

Volume 6 really started off with a bang as it feels nice to have the full RWBY squad together again. They get to take on a bunch of Grimm to protect the train and it felt like the show was proving that the fight scenes were back on track. It definitely succeeded with this and that would continue to be the case as the fights in volume 6 were incredible. The enemies may have had no shot here but it was nice to see all of the teamwork and combos that we hadn’t gotten to see in a while.

This really ended up being one of the stronger premieres as a result and was an ideal way to start the season off. The song that plays during the fight (Miracle) was a blast and of course the opening was really good but that’s no surprise in the slightest. Volume 7 would have to work hard to surpass this one and it ultimately wasn’t up to the task.

3. RWBY Volume 1

RWBY’s first volume really starts off on a nostalgic note. I’ve seen Ruby take out those thugs many times in the past and the episode is a good way of introducing her character. She is clearly tough as she was able to take out the whole gang right off the bat and she even kept her composure enough to try and take some shots at Cinder and the ship in the end. The way the episode used the theme song as something Ruby was listening to was great as well.

The narration at the beginning gives the episode a very ominous feeling and the whole city seems rather shady as well. I’d say one of the advantages to the old animation style was that everything felt rather sinister so it was hard to know what was going to happen next. The fights are excellent here and the episode manages to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time so I really don’t have many issues here. This will always hold up as one of the most important episodes for obvious reasons but also one that has a lot of replay value.

2. RWBY Ice Queendom

I thought about it for a while and figured I should add Ice Queendom into the mix. No, I’m not adding RWBY Chibi but this one works like a volume so it makes sense. It’s also so high quality that it more than holds its own against the numbered volumes. The visuals were fantastic and it definitely moves through a good amount of material by knocking out 2 of the specials and the first episode plus some material from a volume 4 special.

The fights look great as Ruby takes down some goons and Blake destroys a bunch of mechs. A lot of effort went into this one and at least at this point and time you can really feel the high budget effort behind this. I would also say it does work well as someone’s introduction to the series. You quickly get the plot and learn about the characters so that’s a win/win. I was quite satisfied here. If I am recommending someone to the series I would actually show them this episode first and then transition over to volume 1 from where this one left off. If episode 2 is as strong then I may do the same for that one.

1. RWBY Volume 3

Volume 3 will always be known as one of the all time RWBY greats because of how much action was in each episode and how memorable the whole thing was. There were high stakes and it felt like the story really began here. The lore started to kick in and we even learned the end game boss. That said, would the premiere already be starting things in the fast track? I would say yes. Starting off with the tournament underway is a great way to start a season. It’s also one of the very few times in the series where we actually get to see the team…fight as a team. Usually it’s just 2 of them or something like that so having a 4 on 4 fight was a lot of fun.

The animation is top tier of course and the music is really energetic so you can get right into the mix of things. We get the instructions breakdown from the announcers on how this will work out and we also get some more foreshadowing that Mercury and Emerald are going to be making a move soon. The heroes are really unaware of what’s going to go down and could say that the villains have a pretty big lead right now on the information side. So I guess volume 3 did end up winning after all.

The original volumes mainly seemed to be higher ranked here as they always started out with big fight scenes. Volumes 1-3 all had big fights, 4 had a brief one, 5 had none, 6 had a lot of action, then 7 had a quick fight and 8 went on empty. Ice Queendom had a ton of action which is a benefit of being so fast paced. It was pretty fun to revisit each of the opening episodes for the series. RWBY is always peak fiction after all and you can really see the animation, story, and tone change throughout the volumes.

After all, the list is fairly relative as I enjoyed all of the episodes but there are definitely ones that are clearly stronger or weaker. So what are your thoughts on each of the premieres? Leave them below and I’ll see you in the next rankings.

RWBY/Justice League Review

Posted on September 18, 2022 by dreager1

It’s been a long time coming, but I finally got to check out the RWBY crossover event. It takes things in a very different direction than I was expecting though and I don’t think it works out as well as it could have. Doing a straight crossover would have definitely been the best bet. Still, it’s nice seeing the RWBY characters in a new adventure, that’s always a positive at least.

The story starts with the gang meeting up with Superman. He’s only recently been in town and his semblance is fairly powerful. As long as the sun is up he can do just about anything. Meanwhile Weiss meets up with Bruce Wayne who is rich and fairly good at cracking puzzles. That’s a good thing because people with powerful semblances are being targeted by someone and the heroes have to get to the bottom of it quick. Will they all be able to team up and put a stop to this?

Right away the main issue here is that instead of meeting the real Batman and Superman the heroes are meeting teenage versions of them who have semblances. Later on in the story we get a bit of a multiversal approach thanks to Jessica Cruz showing up but instead of making this a plot point at the end, it should have just been a classic crossover. Have a portal open and the Justice League fall out of it or something like that. Part of the hype in crossovers is seeing all of the interactions between characters but it doesn’t really count if they aren’t the characters that you were expecting.

Like if it was in the Justice League world and they met with an anti-hero named Ruby Rose who was some kind of huntress. It wouldn’t really be the same because it’s a totally different version. So this crossover completely squanders the crossover aspect of the crossover and has to survive as a stand alone story after that. It does to a decent extent but even then I wouldn’t call it a very good comic. For starters, the series seems more intent on having a lot of shipping and such over the actual plot.

At times the plot feels more like a backdrop than the focus. We have a little investigating as all of the heroes split up and everything but there isn’t really a huge focus on the whole thing either. The heroes eventually stumble onto the main villain and then we get a quick fight. It’s not particularly engaging though. It’s not boring but you’re never all that invested in the story and I feel like it’s because there are 0 stakes. Yes, people are being kidnapped and all but there’s absolutely no sense of danger. It feels more like a filler episode than a big adventure.

The art also isn’t very good. The details are not on point and it doesn’t feel like a whole lot of effort was put into the whole thing. The characters can go off model but mainly the faces are the issue. None of the action scenes are all that good and it feels like once again, RWBY got the short end of the stick here. More often than not the art isn’t great for the series and this is another example of it. I’m not saying it had to look 5 stars but a little better would have been good.

Now while this all sounds pretty bad, I do want to say that this isn’t a bad comic. It’s still got some good moments in there but you see all of the wasted potential and can’t help thinking about it. This could have been a really great comic and instead I would just call it good with almost no replay value. Seeing the RWBY characters is mainly the positive here like Yang being tough and Ruby getting to take charge. I wouldn’t say the DC characters look great though. Superman acts way too timid at times and Batman’s flirting way too much.

I guess that’s part of the problem of being Bruce Wayne 24/7 with no Batman persona to back him up. The decision to make Wonder Woman more of a total robot was definitely an odd one. I wasn’t expecting that but it’s not bad, just felt very random. The main villain at the end is okay but he wouldn’t have been my first pick for a DC villain because he’s basically mindless. Not completely or anything but you’re not going to get any fun dialogue out of him or quality banter. He’s just kind of around as an enemy to defeat. There’s just not a whole lot to do there. The best DC character here would probably be Jessica Cruz. I don’t buy her being stronger than Superman ordinarily but I can accept it in this version where he is totally reliant on his semblance and her powers still appear to be fully normal.

I guess another good thing here at least is that Team RWBY shows up the Justice League. It may be a small consolation since this JL isn’t even really a team or look all that impressive but I’ll take it. Team RWBY should have way better teamwork than the JL because they’ve always been a unit and it shows here. So I’ll take the wins where I can get them.

Overall, If the writing was better and we had a good story then this would have gotten a lot farther. As it stands this feels like a bit of an official fanfic with no real substance and weakened versions of all the characters. It’s a fun enough story for when you need some more RWBY content but I definitely hope the movie has a very different plot here. I need a true crossover with a lot of quality action and hype moments. Check this one out if you want a low key adventure where the characters get to talk with some DC inspired fighters. Otherwise it’s back to waiting for the next TV show volume!

Overall 6/10

RWBY: Ice Queendom

Posted on August 20, 2022 by dreager1

This one’s definitely off to a fun start, it’s certainly got the best artwork for a RWBY manga yet and did a good job of adapting the opening. I’ve got high hopes for this series and will definitely have the review up once it ends! More RWBY content is always a good thing

Overall 8/10

RWBY: Before the Dawn Review

Posted on March 19, 2022 by dreager1

At long last I have finished the second RWBY novel and am one step closer to being caught up with the novels. It feels like a big accomplishment to me at least since I’ve had them checked out since forever. I thought this one improved upon the first book too. It expanded the cast so we got to see more of the classic characters and we also got more fights. That’s a win/win in my book.

In this adventure Team SSSN is not having a good time. The various members are upset at Sun for always ditching them to do his own thing. In particular Scarlet is super upset about this and keeps on taking shots at Sun. Meanwhile there are a lot of people vanishing from Vacuo so Team CFVY is on the case. They also have to find out more about the Crown, a mysterious villain group. Sun has been investigating the vanishings too so he volunteers his team to help….without telling them first. With all of the drama and disagreements that this team brings to the equation, should Coco even let them join in? Also, can they possibly save the world while they’re all fighting each other like this?

It felt like there was always a lot happening in this book which was nice. After all we have the vanishings going around, the Crown mind controlling people, and the school acting really shady. The Beacon students have even opened up a little counseling session where they all talk about how badly they feel. Now some characters like Sun take shots at this and have fun names for it like the Baby room but it was a nice bit of world building. We see how this move to Shade Academy has not been easy for them. Apparently they’ve even been excluded and bullied to an extent.

Now, when it comes to the counseling room I can see why Sun finds this to be a bad idea. The group all huddling together does seem like this will further widen the gap with the other students. At the same time, it seems like they wouldn’t be included either way so it gets tricky. I would say they don’t need this room to be honest. It doesn’t hurt anything but I’d probably be skipping to do more training and everything. Got to keep on getting stronger and stronger after all.

The school environment is something that does limit what the heroes can do for a while. Unfortunately they are still students so there isn’t a whole lot that they can do outside of the rules. They could try to escape but then they may have pro huntsmen after them. I’m sure the heroes could beat them up but after a point you start doing more good to the very people you are trying to protect. I was glad when the heroes finally make a stand but it certainly takes a while since the school is so bad most of the time. Forcing the heroes to change teams, not doing any investigating, etc.

Now, there are some twists and dynamics here but in the end I would not say that the school looked good. For example I did not like the principal Theodore all that much. Sure, he talked really tough and was ready to fight at all times but you have to do a whole lot more than that if you want to score a big win. When the going got tough and the villains attacked, he didn’t beat a single strong fighter. That’s a really bad look for a headmaster. He’s better than Lionheart but that’s really all that I can say for him here. Bravado without anything to back it up is basically pointless.

His secretary Rumpole also doesn’t look good. She’s at a high rank but doesn’t really know how to balance her time and lets her guard down too easily. She is skilled to be sure but ultimately tends to just get in the way the whole time. Some events later on help her make a bit of a recovery but ultimately she’s got some work to do for me to consider her to be a very strong character. Shade Academy loves to hype itself up as everyone in Vacuo is a resident tough guy but they don’t seem to be on the front lines when it counts.

As for Team CFVY, they are still the main characters even if they have to share with Sun’s team at times. So they get a lot to do and are reasonably solid. Coco has to go through a lot with her new team as not being the leader anymore is quite the experience. You can tell that she likes being leader and won’t take orders very well. She gets some solid fights here and ultimately takes control when necessary so I would give her a lot of credit here. She may not be my favorite RWBY character but I would say she did better here than in the first book.

Fox’s role is greatly reduced here but he still gets to have some action scenes here. Being blind is a great advantage in battles where everyone’s vision is gone due to the sandstorm always around. Fox ends up coming through for his team more than once so he’s still the MVP here. Without him the heroes would really be in trouble. He’s got more of a mean streak than the others and that’s always entertaining.

Velvet still has some issues with not being the leader and so she’s always trying to prove herself as a big fighter. Unfortunately this does lead to her being defeated multiple times but she does always get up. Velvet is a strong fighter after all so you won’t be keeping her down for very long. I’m glad about her enthusiasm but I would like to see her get a big win soon. In Volume 3 she was able to take down the Atlas robot because of how good her copy abilities were. She needs to tune into that and just take out her opponents.

Finally you have Yatsuhashi and he gets a big role here. After all, his ability to alter memories is really the perfect counter to mind control if you think about it. Just rewind to before they were controlled. It’s even easier in the book since just making contact with someone allows him to overwrite the control. He was definitely crucial here, no doubt about that. He’s often very quiet but I appreciate his loyalty towards helping Velvet. You can always count on him to show up.

As for Team SSSN, Sun gets a really big role here. As always he is dodging his responsibilities and tackling things solo the whole time. It’s always tended to work out for him like helping Blake and stopping Torchwick but his teammates still aren’t thrilled. This means he has no real time for them and doesn’t really want to talk about it either. Ultimately I was cool with that as Sun is more of a loner. He shouldn’t be the leader for sure but Ozpin’s the one who made that decision. I don’t think Sun would think twice about it if he was kicked out. He barely cared when they switched teams after all.

He ultimately still gets more done than the others because he is always running towards the action and doing his best to fight. What does hurt is that he looks so weak here. Remember that in the show he was overwhelming Torchwick who had been crushing Blake. Then he effortlessly defeated Ilya who had been going even with Blake. In the show Sun is shown to be a true powerhouse that people put on Yang’s level for a while there. In the book he looks like a complete weakling which also ends up making the rest of his moments look worse. That’s where the book made a mistake if you ask me. He should have been a lot more impressive and that would have helped make him more reasonable.

As for the other members, well Sage barely talks at all. You could write him out of the adventure entirely and barely notice the difference. He’s not happy about what Sun’s doing either but doesn’t really talk about it. Neptune’s with Scarlet on this but is more of a pushover so he just lets Sun toss him around. He has a sad moment where Team CFVY jumps him and then beats the poor guy up. Losing isn’t bad in itself but he was humiliated and threatened a lot. The guy even sold Sun out in the end. This book did not help Neptune’s case at all.

As for Scarlet, I thought he went out of his way to attack Sun a lot. He clearly took the whole thing the hardest so you do feel bad for him but he probably could have rebelled in a better way. I wouldn’t have minded seeing them fight, that could have been interesting. Ultimately Sun would usually let the insult slide though. Their dynamic should be interesting when they return in the show if there is still any tension between the characters.

As for the villains, there are two main ones here in Jax and Gillian. So Jax wants to rule Vacuo because he believes that it’s his birthright so he should rule over everyone. His semblance is pretty good since he can mind control people. He can’t fight very well directly though and that’s where his sister comes in. Gillian can use her abilities to drain someone’s aura or give it to someone else. So together they can mind control people and then give them extra abilities. With extra aura you remain invincible from opposing attacks for a longer period of time which is really handy. As a result they make for a very dynamic duo in combat here.

Gillian appears as the more reasonable character the whole time. Ultimately she will follow whatever Jax says but she knows when to run away. Then you have Jax who figures that he can just keep on fighting and lose like a hero but it’s far better to escape and fight another day than to just lose like that. He wasn’t the best villain but I did think that this plot made for a more urgent one than in the first book. After all this is a full invasion this time with a ton of villains taking part. It wasn’t just your average fight and it was also a good way to finish up the plotline with the characters wondering if they could have done more in the first invasion. This was their chance to save a kingdom instead of letting it fall. (Not that there’s more that they could have done the first time. They’re just really hard on themselves about it)

Aside from the two main villains you’ve also got Umber who was a solid foot soldier. Her ability to freeze her opponents in place was extremely handy. After all if you can’t move then you can’t fight back. There aren’t many fighters who have a semblance that can counter this. I assume if you are strong enough then you may be able to break free but there’s no guarantee.

Then you have the villains from the last book. Carmine is still running around and causing as much trouble as always. You have to respect her dedication here, she just never gives up and always looks good in a fight. She crushes Coco here and shows that she is one of the more versatile villains around. Bertilak shows up as well but since he was betrayed last time, he isn’t really doing very well when the heroes see him here. He never lost his confidence though and heads off for revenge so maybe he will appear again at some point. There’s certainly more that you can do with this guy.

Ultimately these two books may not have made Team CFVY jump up the charts all that much but it’s nice for their fans that they got these two adventures. Additionally, a lot of random students from the background got some roles here like Olivia. Good luck remembering all of their names but if they ever get big roles in the TV show, now you will have more context on their abilities and personalities which is always handy. It helps expand the universe which is always good. There was also just a lot of action in this book and I’m always up for that. Maybe one day we’ll get an animated adaption of the novels, that would certainly be cool.

Overall, Before the Dawn is a solid follow up to the first novel. It felt like every plot line was addressed and the characters are all in a better place now. They’ve finally been able to come to terms with everything that happened and got to hone their skills. Everyone should get along a lot better at Shade Academy now and they will be ready for the future adventures. I’m definitely ready for the third book now. It might be a little while before I get to check that one out since the library doesn’t have it yet but I’ll be waiting. I definitely recommend reading this one in the meantime.

Overall 7/10

RWBY: After the Fall Review

Posted on March 8, 2022 by dreager1

I rented this book many months ago but it was hard to find the time to check it out. Well, I finally got to red the book and it’s always nice to have some more RWBY adventures. I’m personally not a big fan of Team CFVY, never have been since they got humiliated over in the tournament but I suppose this was the chance to explore their characters. They get a lot of development and we also get to see more of their abilities this time but I’m still not sold on any of the characters. I don’t think they’re ready to contend with the kind of threats that team RWBY goes after.

The main plot has the team heading over to the Vacquo desert after receiving a distress call. They save an old lady named Slate from a monster and then head into the village. The issue is that the Grimm keep on attacking the settlements. Peoples emotions are also going crazy for some reason and these events have been attributed to “Mood Bombs” The heroes have to figure out what is causing this to occur while also staying unified as a solid group. One of the more difficult aspects of this is that their teamwork has never been the greatest before now. Throw in their tempers and the mission will get a lot more dangerous.

Vacquo is a region that hasn’t gotten to appear much in the main series so this was also a chance for the book to flesh it out a bit. It’s also fitting because the next RWBY volume may be taking place there so the book is like a preview. We already know some of the lore like how most people don’t want to live here and everyone ends up being a loner but it’s good to see this place first hand. In the book we clearly see how the desert is super dangerous since there’s nowhere to hide when a Grimm inevitably shows up. Even without the mood bombs going off, you know that Grimm will eventually appear.

Between chapters the book will also give you some flashbacks for the characters. We see their point of view when they met up with the main cast in volume 2, their point of view during initiation from a year before volume 1, Velvet and Blake have a conversation on why Velvet’s always getting bullied, etc. They even helped out with the dance festival a bit. While you may just be waiting to get back to the main plot sometimes, it was nice seeing the familiar faces like Ruby and friends in the flashback so that part was nice.

The book’s a pretty decent length at close to 300 pages so there’s a lot that goes on here. There are quite a few new characters as well and the plot has a good amount of twists and turns. How good it is will depend on if you’re able to follow this team for a while. While I’m not the biggest fan, they did hold the book up well enough. We also get some quality fight scenes so that’s always fun.

As the leader a lot of responsibility is put onto Coco at all times which is part of the tension here. The other members aren’t always crazy about Coco giving out the shots and they aren’t afraid to say so. It’s also fair to say that she probably isn’t even the strongest member of the 4. I think that would have to go to Yatsuhashi. The others do need to realize that Coco was the best bet though as none of them would really fit in the leader role. Coco certainly makes her share of mistakes as things go on but all in all she tries her best and that’s what counts. Coco’s still learning and should get better as her adventures continue.

Then we have Velvet who is the nice member of the group but I’ve definitely got some more issues with her. Now, I cut everyone some slack on account of the mood bombs with how they attack each other but my issue with Velvet is that she’s too passive. For example, she actively allows herself to be bullied while at the school. Keep in mind that she could quite easily beat up just about any of the students who mess with her. We get a flashback where Blake has to step in and save Velvet, then Velvet still defends her inaction. She tries to say that it’s just easier to allow herself to be bullied so the bullies won’t go after anyone else. She also hopes to stop violence with peace.

Perhaps these are nice sentiments but it’s not the right way to go. Now, to an extent I think this is the novel trying to explain away the really early scene in the show where we see Velvet being bullied by the weak students at the class. I suspect this was before she was planned to be one of the year 2 powerhouses. So this is sort of an excuse for that scene but I would have just not acknowledged it. It exists though and the book double downs on it so Velvet ends up being the biggest pushover in the series. That’s not the kind of character I can get behind. Velvet really needs to toughen up and soon.

Then we have Fox and I didn’t even realize he was blind in the show. His role was extremely small though so I think that’s a fair reason for not noticing. The show delves into how tough it is to fight while blind and how he gets around it. His ability to use telepathy is certainly handy and by the end I would say he was the best character. He has a lot of witty dialogue and isn’t afraid to call the other characters out. By sensing his opponent’s position, he can get past his weakness of not being able to see. You feel like he had to put in a ton of work to get to where he is so that’s impressive.

Finally you have Yatsyhashi and his memory alteration ability. More specifically, he can cause you to forget things. It’s definitely a power that you have to use carefully as it can easily be something that villains end up using at will. His origin story is delved into here and we see that he did make a big mistake with it once. Now he is really cautious about using the power at all. Fortunately he is quite powerful even without that semblance so he is still able to protect his friends. He is also able to block the mood bomb far better than any of the other characters since he controls his emotions well.

So the characters have their moments and the only one I have significant issues with is Velvet. The other characters are decent but I just don’t find them too interesting even after reading the book. They get to clown on both Weiss and Ruby in the flashbacks to show why this team is so much better but of course I wasn’t buying that. If it was a fight then things would go pretty differently. Maybe they can finally get a role in the next show volume. Since these 4 are attending Shade Academy, you’d expect them to appear at least.

As for the antagonists, Bertilak and Carmine were both solid. They appear as corrupt Huntsman/Huntress at first and then continue to go downhill from there in terms of how they’re not exactly heroes. They have a bit of a good cop and bad cop routine going. Bertilak doesn’t give the main characters any respect and is always badmouthing them. Meanwhile you have Carmine who talks and acts really nice to the heroes but is still hanging out with Bertilak and not exactly going against him so….you have to keep that in mind. I imagine it is a tough situation for her as well but she could do more.

I did like these two characters though. Bertilak’s a tough fighter and he does have a lot of confidence in himself. It’s easy to see how he has survived so long in the world of Remnant. His fire semblance is also very handy in a fight. Carmine was good as well. Even if her pleasantness may not be genuine, she at least knows how to connect with the characters and get them to lower their guards. Her ability is also solid involving the wind. It’s hard to say what her semblance was exactly from the fight but it was definitely useful and a threat to the others right from the jump.

For the settlement characters there were 3 main ones. Slate was the unofficial leader and while she may be old, she does a good job of leading the troops and keeping morale high. That in itself is always a good trait for a leader. She was decent enough. Then there’s the old man Edward who used to be a tough fighter back in his day but he’s old now and his mind is slowly leaving him. This does make the situation rather difficult as he’ll randomly start walking away or zoning out. It’s certainly really frightening for his grandson Gus who isn’t sure how to really handle this. I wasn’t really a fan of both characters even if there’s not a whole lot they could have done to make things better. I do think their plan was not very good from the start though.

As a final note, we got to see Ozpin being shady as always. Calling in Velvet alone right after a heartbreaking mission where everyone died seemed rather harsh. This way she had nobody to rely on. Of course his reasoning was that he could definitely get an accurate story this time with no interference but the timing was rather abrupt. You also feel like Coco should have been called in as the leader instead. I was glad when the rest of the team burst in to protest against this.

Overall, After the Fall is a pretty good book. Alternating between flashbacks and the main story was a good way to give the characters a lot of development while also providing us with some action and real stakes in the present. Even if I would rather be reading about Ruby and friends, I understand the reasoning behind using these characters instead since it could be a very long time before they get the spotlight in the show if that ever even happens in the future. For all we know there just won’t be any time for that but I am hoping they could return for a fight. If you’ve only watched the show then their team has never beaten a real (Non-Grimm) opponent in the series which is unfortunate since they’re supposed to be one of the top teams around. I’ll definitely be reading the next book sooner than later.

Overall 7/10

RWBY Review

Posted on October 18, 2021 by dreager1

RWBY may be the greatest TV show of all time but I hadn’t gotten around to checking out too many of its other media endeavors before now. I played a few of the games which were mostly all solid and have read the manga titles but not the comics yet. Well, it was time to check this one out from the library and it is definitely a fun read. It’s nice to see what the characters were up to around volumes 3-5 with a lot of stories spread in throughout different time frames. It’s a fun way to see more of Team RWBY.

So there are 14 issues in the comic, you’ve got the intro and epilogue, then each character gets 3 stories. The intro is really a quick catchup for people who may not be too familiar with the franchise. We get a recap of what happened in the first few volumes and where the characters are at currently. There’s not much to say about this story but I think it does cover all of the big events well enough where you should be able to follow along well enough.

The first RWBY story splits itself between present and past. It starts the collection off with a bang because it has my single favorite scene in the collection. In the present Ruby and team Jaune manage to defeat a bunch of Hollow wasps and we see how far she has come. It’s a good segment and I always like a good action scene. In the past segment Ruby is still torn up about losing Summer so Yang tries to cheer her up by lying about a lot of great things Summer has done.

It’s all well intentioned but the problem with stories that are fake is that it leads to Ruby being crushed when she finds this out. How does she find this out? Raven decided to fly over and start tearing these lies to shreds while also badmouthing Summer. This just comes out of nowhere to the point where it’s funny. It’s so exaggerated that you think Ruby is dreaming but it was all real. On a more serious note, it does show that Raven was watching over Yang at least to the point of being around the house on a regular basis which was cool. It adds a little development to their relationship and maybe Raven is more of a caring parent than she lets on.

The second Ruby story involves the team heading to a village that won’t let them in because the people believe that all huntsmen are evil after the events of volume 3. As a result they are isolated when fighting the grimm and it isn’t going well. Ruby and co. fend the grimm off and Ruby gives them a stern lecture. I remember her speech made a lot of waves because people said it was too harsh and seemed out of character. I think it seems harsh because of how the art makes Ruby look extremely angry at these people. The actual speech isn’t too bad, admittedly it is hard to picture Ruby lecturing them to this extent though. It’s another solid story though with good action and a realistic look at how some villages would have treated the heroes. It’s nice to see the call backs and references to volume 3 since the tournament was on tv so a lot of people would have seen it.

Ruby’s final story has her take a walk through a garden as she deals with all of the friends she has lost up til now. The bird gives her a pep talk and it all seems to just be an illusion caused by the magical garden. It’s the most low key of her stories. It’s a good way to wrap up her stories here and she had to deal with the feelings of loss at some point. It may not stand up to the other stories but it’s not really supposed to.

The first Yang story has her go help an old lady with her harden and other miscellaneous tasks. At first she resents this because she figures Tai only did this to patronize her. Later on she thinks that maybe there is a prize waiting for her and this was a test. Ultimately it was neither one of those things and Yang realizes that he is just treating her normally which is what she wanted. Yang may not look great here but she is coming off a traumatic incident so it makes sense. It’s low key but a decent story.

The second Yang story actually shows us the aftermath of Yang ditching Ruby in episode 2. It was nice to see Tai confront her about this because while it worked out and was more of a gag than anything else, it was a bit distressing for Ruby. The issue has Yang overcorrect the whole time by being really clingy to everyone until Blake helps to set her straight. It’s a fun issue and really shows how Yang can mean well and still go way too far the whole time. It’s probably the most light hearted comic in the bunch and fits her personality well.

The final Yang story has her thinking about the morals from the first two as she continues to search for Ruby and Raven. She’s confronted by a biker gang member which turns out to be a big mistake on his part. She beats him while also trying to teach him the lessons she learned but of course it’s hard to just get someone to learn that straight off the bat. It doesn’t work but the rest of the bandits know not to mess with her after that. It’s another fun story and while the bandit never stood a chance, it’s always fun to see Yang getting more wins.

The first Blake story deals with how she first met Adam…so you can probably sense some retroactive retcons coming in. Adam is one of those characters that is strongly disliked in universe as well as out of it. While he was a very nuanced character initially that is not the case in the present and this comic makes it seem like he was insane from the beginning. He cries and also revels in how many humans he murders. I’d say he was out of character the entire issue and it also makes Blake look worse because suddenly she knew he was crazy from the start but stayed with him anyway. This would have to be the weakest story in the collection because I have a hard time buying any of this. It’s nice to see more of Blake growing up since we don’t know as many details on her past but Adam just doesn’t seem consistent.

The second Blake story is about her finally confiding in her mother about why she was so nervous to come back home and how she ditched her friends. Her mom consoles her about this and reminds her that she’s always welcome there. It’s effectively an expansion to her coming home moments in the show. It’s a good emotional read but is probably the second weakest story in the bunch. What are the odds that Blake would have the weakest stories right? She’s always been my least favorite RWBY member (Although she started out great in the first two volumes) and her volume 4 plot didn’t help matters. I suppose even the comics couldn’t make this part more interesting.

The final Blake story has her and Sun save a group of travelers from some Grimm. That’s when she realizes that one family she recognizes from her days with Adam when he murdered one of them. She decides to come clean about this much to Sun’s horror and allows the mother a chance for revenge. The traveler decides not too since she doesn’t want to continue the cycle of violence. It’s another decent emotional story and I’d say it beats the first two. I do think Blake put herself in a tricky spot here since if the mom wanted vengeance then what? Blake has a lot of responsibilities at this point so she can’t just let herself die. Hopefully she would have split or volunteered to help out from time to time or something.

The first Weiss story takes place in early volume 1 as we see a bit of rivalry between her and Cardin. Cardin was basically insulting everyone as usual and showing off but this time he went after Weiss and she wasn’t having that. So she humiliates him in the next round and everyone is thrilled about it except for Blake who thinks it went too far. I was not on Blake’s side in this one though. Weiss didn’t cheat and simply beat Cardin. She used her abilities to trick him but it was all technique. I understand you don’t want to always go for revenge but Cardin really makes everyone’s lives miserable. Maybe he would think twice after this. It was super nostalgic seeing everyone back in their volume 1 costumes. I’d say this was one of the stronger stories.

The second Weiss story has her and Willow go on a hunt. It’s one of the rare times Weiss has to bond with her but then she gets stabbed in the back as Willow claims the credit. Willow’s personality here is certainly interesting. She is still drunk as always but instead of being hopeless she seems to have a very fake sense of happiness? Like she’s completely faking it but doing a decent job of it. I was not expecting her to betray Weiss like that either. It’s easy to see why Weiss does not trust her family at all after this. It was a good story as it leaves you just as confused as Weiss at why Willow acts the way that she does. Definitely makes for a toxic relationship.

The final Weiss story is one of the highlights of the collection. She decides to finally have a big act of defiance against the family before leaving and she does so by freeing a bunch of Faunus and animals from the estate. She even has to fight Willow to pull this off and naturally wins that battle. It was a good way to show how Weiss has developed and will defend herself now. She has come a very long way from her old self and the comic captures that. Seeing her summons in action is always cool.

The epilogue story is wholesome as we see each character gear up in the present and a few more moments from when they were kids. I think the scene of Willow finally standing up to Jacques may be a bit early since in the show she never takes a stand like that but the book probably wanted that to cinematically close out Weiss’ part. It’s not really a big deal either way and you close the book feeling good. It was a solid choice to end the collection with.

Really my only issue is that the artwork’s not very good and is even bad in some instances. Personally it just didn’t match the artstyle of the show very well and was going for more of a water paint kind of look that just isn’t as streamlined as it could have been otherwise. A smoother and more colorful artstyle would have been perfect for a RWBY adventure like this. It’s not awful or anything though with characters usually staying on model. The quality writing keeps this up anyway.

Overall, This was a fun collection. The scene with Raven badmouthing Summer has to stand out as the best in the whole thing. That was just a blast. The art may not really be my thing but the writing is solid enough where I can get past that. It’s just great to see the gang again and I look forward to checking out more RWBY comics in the future. There are a whole lot of stories you could tell in this universe that there wouldn’t be time to expand on in the show. Hopefully the franchise continues to expand.

Overall 7/10

RWBY Volume 8 Review

Posted on March 30, 2021 by dreager1

It’s always great to have RWBY back in action because the world of entertainment just isn’t the same without it. RWBY is the greatest show of all time and Volume 8 continues to operate on that high level. The show just has the perfect blend of action, story, and excellent musical themes to accompany the scenes. Throughout the season it’s always fun to watch reactions and learn new things about the show through interviews and such. There’s just a lot to take in and you can bet like last year I’ll have a few editorials for the show up before the next volume ends. Lets dive into Volume 8 and what it added into the table. Keep in mind this review is meant to be read after you have seen the show as it will go into a detailed discussion of important plot details

The show starts off with the heroes still in a dangerous spot. They are currently on the run from Ironwood and the Aceop’s but ultimately they do have more leverage since Penny is now the Winter Maiden. Ironwood orders the heroes to give her back or he will be forced to take drastic measures. Meanwhile Salem has finally arrived and intends to destroy Atlas while obtaining the next relic which is the staff of creation. Team RWBY is also having some issues among their team with each person wanting to try a different plan. Ruby wants to go with Ironwood’s initial plan of getting Amity Tower up to try and contact people around the world to help out while Yang wants to prioritize saving Mantle first. They’ll need to split up which is dangerous.

Naturally quite a lot happens along the way from there. So lets take things one step at a time. The first half of the season deals a lot with a new villain called The Hound. It’s a powerful Grimm to be sure and it was really giving the heroes a hard time. It’s got a cool design and I like the concept behind it. I would argue that Team RWBY shouldn’t have had as much trouble with it as they did though or team Yang when the Hound embarrassed them in the first skirmish though. Ordinarily I’d expect Yang to have taken the creature out pretty quickly but they ended up freezing for a little too long. With this Hound out of the way I expect Salem to be bringing in more of them soon. Potentially at least different Hound variations for Summer and Hazel.

We also get Cinder’s backstory at long last. It’s a play on the Cinderella fairy tale but a much darker twist. Cinder was effectively a slave working for a rich family that would torment her with a shock collar for quite a while. Eventually she was able to harness her abilities and escape but not before having to murder a huntsman as well. It was a pretty intense origin story to be sure and had one of the most impressive tracks in the season. Interestingly that song is one that already existed as opposed to most RWBY songs debuting in the volume they appear in. Cinder’s backstory shows that she didn’t quite start out being as evil as she is now but that certainly escalated quickly.

Rhodes really helped push her to the next level here since he was very quick to attack her. I would have to put pretty much all of the blame from the origin story on him. He knew about all the crazy things that were being done to Cinder or at least it would be hard to miss since they spent so much time together. Additionally he was telling her to be careful and such so he had an idea that things were dangerous but he never tried to help her out. Escaping with her or something like that would have solved the issue but instead he just trained her and told her to wait a few years. Ultimately she did try to wait but one day the family caught her with the swords so she had no way out. He was also the first one to draw his weapons and prepare to attack after this.

In the current story Cinder’s certainly an absolute villain and an unrepentant one so since then she has clearly taken it to heart that she needs absolute power. We can see why she is always trying to get stronger now. Her role in this season is really good. While she does have a rep for taking quite a few losses over the years she has also earned quite a lot of great wins. Up until now she has beaten Pyrrha, Ozpin, Winter, Jaune, and a whole lot of other fighters. I would say that she has certainly earned the amount of hype that she has gotten and is still one of the best characters in the show.

Another big event in the season is Salem finally arriving. We are 8 volumes into the show so this was definitely a big deal. Everyone is always very afraid of Salem but we’ve always had to wonder exactly why. The Maidens are incredibly powerful after all. It was hinted that the reason everyone fears Salem is because she is immortal but would there be more to it than that? So far it doesn’t appear so. I would make the case that right now Salem really isn’t all that impressive. Of course she will have plenty of time to show off more of her abilities soon since I don’t see her going away anytime soon. I still think Cinder will ultimately be the one to take her down though in a big betrayal scene.

Salem dies here and we find out that she has been destroyed several times by Hazel. Due to her immortality she is able to regenerate pretty quickly though so it’s only a minor setback. She showed some decent speed in the fight before going down, but as of right now I would still take any of the Maidens over her in a fight. Salem’s a fun villain though. She may not be quite as interesting as Neo or Cinder but as an immortal leader of the Grimm it’s nice how she manipulates the other villains so well. She also got a pretty tragic backstory a while back so you can potentially see why she wants the relics. We don’t know for sure yet of course but in theory she will want to bring the gods back so she can try to wipe them out or so they can wipe out the planet.

This volume introduced some pretty interesting new angles since we now know what the staff of creation can do. It can create pretty much anything although at the expense of something else. So now you have to start asking yourself some questions because it seems like this could easily destroy Salem. Create a box filled with fire or holes where you can put weapons in and keep destroying her over and over again, have her fall into the endless void. Well, the void leads to another realm seemingly so that might not do the trick but if that place isn’t connected to the main world that would be interesting. Finally, just open one of the vaults, throw her in and then close it again. Presumably if she could open a vault then she wouldn’t be searching so hard for the Maidens. None of these plans would be all that easy but this is why Salem needs more than just immortality. To recover from her showing this volume she’s going to need to go all in during the next volume.

Ironwood gets a big role in this volume as you would expect. After all, in the last volume he and RWBY really differed on their approaches on how to do things. He even went as far as to shoot Ozpin so he wouldn’t get in his way anymore. He went from being a fairly unremarkable character to completely stealing Volume 7 and helping to escalate it to the second best volume of the series. Well, it seems like his approach may have went too well. This volume decides to take him to the extreme of being a complete villain filled with ominous backgrounds like in his TV broadcast to suddenly just shooting people for not much of a reason.

Now you could say part of this is his semblance but despite being confirmed on a writer’s zoom call, I don’t put much stock in it. Ultimately there is no visual or audio queue to the semblance in the show and it is never referenced so for all intents and purposes it just does not exist. What seems to have happened here is that they wrote Ironwood too well as a morally gray character to the point where a lot of people were rooting for him. You’d look online and almost nobody was supporting Team RWBY in their debates against him.

The main reason for this is really that Ironwood at least had a plan but whenever Team RWBY was asked for specifics they didn’t seem to know what to do next. That happens in this volume as well when Mantle is being attacked so one of the Happy Huntsmen shows up to tell them it’s time to evac but Ruby insisted on staying. When they pointed out that they have been getting wrecked by the normal Grimm and the numbers are about to multiply Ruby didn’t have an answer except a vague “We’ll get through this”. Not having a plan is always the quickest way to lose support. It’s similar to a debate that happened in Attack on Titan although there we still have the gray character staying that way.

Maybe it was always the plan for Ironwood to go totally off the rails but I do feel it’s more likely that the writers saw how a ton of people were rooting for him and knew they needed to weaken his case quickly or people wouldn’t be happy with Ruby and co. So in this volume Ironwood is just straight up evil most of the time but he’s still a fun character to have around. He’s a little on the gullible side at times but at the end of the day he’s still a fighter. His battle with Winter is really solid and really cements him as one of the strongest characters in the series. To think, at one point he was considered the heavy underdog in that battle. Personally I think there’s still a decent chance he is alive. His ending was intentionally rather vague with no body shown so it’s not beyond the pale to say that he would have escaped. I doubt Watts would be as lucky though.

Ruby gets a solid role here. She does lose her will to fight at one point again but it is a pretty tough time for the team. At this point Weiss would probably be the best option for the leader as she’s gone through the most and has really matured into being a character everyone can count on. She’ll always support Ruby though so the team is in good hands. Ruby’s speed also makes her a very capable opponent in any fight. I look forward to her getting to fight more in the next volume. Here she may have mostly just taken losses but when up against foes like Neo and Cinder that is to be expected.

Weiss is great as always. She may be a little hard on Whitley but it’s hard to just get over something like that with what she had to put up with over the years. I’m glad that we’re seeing her use her glyphs more in combat now like the old days. If she keeps that up I could see her potentially becoming the strongest member of the team since those abilities are just so versatile. There’s a lot you can do with glyphs from gravity control to elemental attacks. Then she always has her summons available too.

Yang has a lot to do here since she gets her own solo quest and also has the task of cheering up Ruby. I would have liked her to have fought more in the climax but it also makes perfect sense that the villains would try to take her out of play right away. If you take out the strongest hero on the team that will always be the safest path to victory. She has to be the mediator quite a lot in this volume since Ren also deals with some issues here.

Blake gets to fight the Hound and has some good blows in the finale as well. Her role here is quite solid. She may not have quite as many individual moments as the other 3 but she did just have her big volume with Adam back in 6 so that makes sense. She still makes the most of her moments although she absolutely needs a new weapon soon. I still say she should use Adam’s sword since that would be cool but either way she has come a long way from her early days on the team and isn’t really a loner anymore. I expect she’ll be getting more hype battles in the next volume.

Jaune’s role here is small for the most part but he’s low-key a very solid leader. He knows how to handle each character and add moral support. He’s just a very well rounded character but I have to admit that I heavily disagreed with his choice at the end of the volume. Effectively Penny asks Jaune to murder her to that Cinder won’t be able to do so. The idea is that you die when you are killed so this can Penny can control who she gives the maiden powers to. I’m pretty surprised that she didn’t give the powers to Ruby to be honest but maybe she knew Winter was going to need those abilities more. Jaune just shouldn’t have obliged her in this case. By stabbing her like that he was basically conceding defeat to the villains and admitting that there was no way out. There’s always a better way and he should have just fought til the bitter end.

I have to say this was a very weak volume for Ren though. He looks pretty bad the whole time. Ren started his path of panicking ever since last volume but here it gets worse as he intentionally attacks each character using their pasts like Jaune and Yang while not actually contributing to the situation. It looks like he’s getting back to his usual self by the end of the volume so he should do better next volume but he was easily one of the worst characters here. Nora does a lot better as she is also attacked with feelings of self doubt but just pushes through them and helps the heroes as much as she can. Now that she is close to fully recovered I expect to see her fighting more soon.

Penny is a character I’ve never been a huge fan of. Her super cheerful persona isn’t a bad thing per say as I still like characters like that but I guess she just felt hollow. I don’t know, I got more from her in the first few volumes before her first death. It’s quite ironic that she was brought back only to die again although a lot of people did suspect this would be the case. At least she got to briefly wield the powerful abilities of a Maiden. I’ll still take her over Oscar/Ozpin though. I’m still waiting for Ozpin to betray the heroes but at this point I’m not sure if he could. Part of the issue for Ozpin is that he has not done very well at all against Salem over the last thousand years. Evidently he’s not as great a tactician as he thinks he is. He really accomplished nothing over many years which is why so many people left him. It looks like he is trying to do better this time but I have my doubts.

Oscar’s at least trying his hardest but every time he uses magic, the two of them fuse even more so at this point I wonder if Oscar still exists. Is he still really separate or at this point are they basically the same character? I could see the next volume delving into that a bit more. The AceOps are all still here of course but you could make the case that Harriet is the only one with a real role. She is the most extreme of the group and the only one who is ready to listen to Ironwood without hesitation. While the others are portrayed more as following orders, I would say Harriet goes into full villain mode. She just wants to blow everyone up as part of the mission so she fits in with Ironwood.

I like her as a villain though. She keeps the heroes on their toes and having super speed is such an incredible semblance to have. Aside from Ruby’s which has super speed as well as flight, I don’t think there’s any other semblance I would take over that one. It’s just way too good. The fact that she was dunking on Qrow is still solid even if the guy can’t catch a break lately. Qrow went from being one of the best characters in the series to fading fast. Qrow was fantastic in Volume 3, Excellent in Volume 4, and then I liked him quite a lot in Volume 5. The cracks in his armor began to show a bit as he had trouble with Lionheart but you could attribute that to animation. Fine, I can accept that.

Volume 6 Qrow was brutal though. He was so lost in his own misery and apathy that he nearly let Ruby and Yang die right under his nose. That would have happened without him doing a single thing about it. His depression just held him back real hard and when mixed with the fact that he seems to have been extremely nerfed, it’s not a good look for him. Losing to Harriet is just yet another loss to the mix and since Ruby was winning/put up a way better fight…that’s not good for him. I’m hoping he can make a comeback because he needs it.

Now Winter is a character who looks really good here. I’m not really a fan of when characters just follow rules even if they are evil ones. It can be a bit much or when a character goes against the rules but does so too late. Here Winter ultimately made a stand before that happened and then stood up to Ironwood. Since that goes against everything she had been working towards, I can appreciate her resolve and drive to stay on the path. I think she’ll make for a fantastic Winter Maiden as well and look forward to her going up against the villains more soon. It’ll be a tough matchup against Cinder though with the whole fire vs ice thing but if anyone can pull it off, Winter can.

Emerald also gets a considerable role here as she finally joins the heroes’ side. It’s definitely been a long time coming. Originally she was the pure evil one while Mercury was the guy questioning if this was the right path like in Volume 2 when Emerald was having a blast watching people get eaten by the Grimm while Mercury didn’t seem happy. That changed in Volume 3 as Mercury began to revel in the misery while Emerald no longer enjoyed it. Her only real tie here was to Cinder the whole time and Cinder really treats her poorly so the other side would definitely sound better. Now, if Cinder comes back asking Emerald to join her, will she stay strong or defect again? Personally I think Emerald’s a hero to stay now. She may end up dying for it but I think she may get to live through her redemption arc. If Mercury goes for a similar position, I don’t think he’ll survive as the guy has a lot of death flags written all over him.

Meanwhile Hazel finally got his big ending here. I was never a big fan of the guy personally, just because he’s ultimately working for the lady who murdered his sister. He blames Ozpin for sending her on a suicide mission and yes that’s fair, but how can you work for the one who ultimately orchestrated her death? Hazel would make a lot more sense as a third party kind of villain. Still, he eventually saw the light and I have 0 complaints about the way he went out. Hazel ultimately went out on his own terms and you can’t really do much better than that. Again, we don’t see his body so he may be alive but with Salem right there at best he can hope to be a living grimm or something but death would probably be preferable for him.

For Robyn there’s nothing much to say. You may still be confused why she is in the show since she’s had close to 0 impact on the entire franchise. Well…maybe next volume will be when she finally pops off. I have my doubts personally but she has to have been kept alive for a reason right? Watts had a solid volume as well. I like him as a charismatic villain. He may not go into the field a whole lot but the guy has guts to talk to Cinder the way that he did. I can respect that and while he may have ultimately been manipulated, I don’t think he would have had much of a way to escape anyway.

Finally there’s Neo who is always fun. I’ve always considered her to be a demi maiden power-wise just because of how effortlessly she handled Yang back in the day and how she even had the upper hand against Cinder until she activated her maiden abilities. This volume continues to support that as she completely shattered Yang’s aura in a single hit (Surprise attacks don’t affect aura as far as we know so that’s still a power feat) and then she was handling both Blake and Ruby teaming up with ease. I really hope she doesn’t die anytime soon because I want to see her get some more action. Her moveset is just very unique and I like the fighting style. Ruby just needs to convince Neo that Cinder is more to blame for Torchwick’s death which is fair since it’s a Grimm that ate Torchwick. It’s not like Ruby did anything to cause that.

Now for the volume ending stinger, I think the safest bet is they’re now in some kind of lost pocket dimension that the gods built but forgot about. That’s probably why they were warned not to go there since it’s so desolate the whole time. It is for the best that the show quickly confirmed the team was alive though because I don’t think anyone ever thought they were really dead. Even if the show only kept Yang as the one who had fallen down, she’s just too important of a character to go down like that. If a member of RWBY dies it wouldn’t be until the last arc and even then I would be surprised to see it. It’ll be interesting to see what’s down there especially since Neo and Jaune are crashing the party. If Jaune gets a big power up that will definitely be cool to see.

In theory with the delays to this volume and all the next one probably won’t start until November but hopefully it debuts earlier since that would be great. At least in the meantime we should be getting the CD soon so the full music tracks will be online. We’ll see if the next volume has any animated shorts like the Adam special or if those are going to be gone for good. If it helps to speed up airing the season then it’s worth it I suppose but those are always a lot of fun.

Now lets compare the volumes. It’s always fun to update the rankings as each volume airs. Naturally Volume 3 is still the all time best if you ask me. It was the absolute peak of the series’ nonstop action along with the plot settling in. The stakes were raised immensely and you just could not change the channel. The second best volume would be 7. Ironwood was just developed into a fantastic character here and the battle with RWBY vs AceOps is still the best one in the series. Mix that in with one of the best OSTs and it’s hard to see this volume getting beat.

3rd place would be Volume 6. It’s a pretty close one but the Adam climax was a really powerful one to end the series on. Additionally, the Grim Reaper’s origin as well as the return of Neo are scenes that are hard to be beat. Bringing her back into the fold was a fantastic idea. It’s also when the new animation style really got going. 4th would be Volume 8. It was a great volume and we got to have the heroes make a comeback and take a big win. It’s been a while since they made any serious headway against the heroes so it was nice to see how they could coordinate here.

5th would go to Volume 5. I tend to waffle between this one and 2 a lot because it’s pretty close. I would say 2 probably had longer stretches of hype fights and action but 5 had the better climax. The Raven vs Cinder fight is just fantastic. The More the Merrier episode is probably the biggest missed opportunity in the show just because the setup was absolutely perfect with all of the battles going underway but then there wasn’t really any animation to them. Volume 5 will always be the most awkward volume for fights in that sense but the story beats were still right up there. 6th is Volume 2, the big Neo fight was hype as well as the battle with the Giant mech. I always liked seeing Torchwick in the focus as well and it’s just a volume that really holds up quite well.

7th would be Volume 1, where it all began. The climax with Torchwick is a lot of fun and it’s always easy to forget that at the time you could make a legitimate argument for Blake being the most powerful member of Team RWBY. She had more real life experience than the other 3 and even went on her own to fight Torchwick. It didn’t go well until Sun stepped in but it was a good effort. Last place would be Volume 4. A very solid volume to be sure since this is all relative by RWBY standards but there was a lot of info dumping here and not a lot of action. The Tyrian fight is really the only big battle in the volume until the final episode. Qrow vs Tyrian was worth it though as it’s still one of the best fights in the season but it just couldn’t keep up with the others.

So that’s the rankings for now. 3, 7, 6, 8, 5, 2, 1, 4. I imagine as I continue to revisit each volume that could change but the rankings are pretty solid. Really the closest ones that I can see changing is the middle group (6-2) but the top two and bottom two volumes would be pretty hard to move at this point. I imagine with the series in the middle of so many events all future volumes will be in a pretty good spot as well as they aim for the top. Can any possible dethrone 3 though?

As always the animation is top notch here. The character models are really smooth and I wonder why all CGI shows can’t look this sharp. I understand it’s now using MAYA technology as opposed to POSER from the first 3 volumes which is completely open software, but it should still be possible for professional studios. Yet, I have yet to see a CGI show look as good as RWBY. It really shows how talented the staff is to make this a reality.

The writing is excellent as well. While I have my share of complaints with how Ironwood was written into a villain, that’s a narrative choice more so than a writing flaw. They just wanted him to be as evil as possible. The episodes are all very engaging and you want to see what happens next. The soundtrack is also excellent. I wouldn’t say it matches 7 quite yet but I liked the theme that played during the snow chase with the hound as well as the one during Cinder’s origin. Every volume usually has at least 2 stand out themes and those would be the ones for me. I’m definitely looking forward to the CD coming out though since I’m hoping some of the normal episode themes also make it in since there are a few instrumental battle themes that also stood out like the one in the final episode.

There’s certainly always more to talk about but I’ll start wrapping it up here. There will be at least 2-3 editorials about RWBY before the next volume comes up so if there’s any big discussion topic I need to bring up I’ll certainly write something about it. The possibilities for going forward are definitely pretty endless. With Atlas down the villains are also one step closer to destroying all 4 of the kingdoms. Haven is all but destroyed, Beacon isn’t doing great, and Atlas is certainly over. Vacuo is the last place standing in full health and it’s less of a formal kingdom and more of a bandits lair type of place so that’ll be different anyway. That’s why I definitely want to see their reaction to all of this.

Overall, RWBY is definitely as great as ever. The toughest part here is going to be waiting for the next volume. Each volume continues to be excellent so I look forward to seeing what they’ve got coming up for Volume 9. Ideally I’d like to see Raven return and for Yang’s Dad to finally get a fight. As a member on such a powerhouse team that guy has got to be a good fighter. Then once we get the team back to the surface I’m expecting a lot of big battles for sure. It feels like we’re getting closer to the ultimate climax although I would still expect that not to happen until around Volume 11 or 12.

Overall 10/10

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