Talk:Blake Belladonna/@comment-92.112.53.90-20170830071021/@comment-4010415-20170905081204

You're right that Blake did end up very relaxed with Sun's presence and only pushed him away and lashed out when he was being annoying.

And yes, she should have at least given Sun a message to tell her teammates that she needs to go take care of something herself, though that is a flaw that she herself has as a character. She thought it would be easier to just leave when she thought no one was looking, to ensure that no one would try to go with her. That was wrong of her, and that is something that she will (hopefully) work on.

As for her not seeming afraid in Volume 4, she was focused on trying to work up the courage to apologize to her parents, and maybe she thought that Corsac and Fennec really weren't going to do anything. We don't know how much time passed between Corsac and Fennec visiting and then Ilia appearing, but it had to have been a very long while. Since the CCT system is down, there is no instant communication across continents. Corsac and Fennec had to send a letter or send a person to tell Adam that Blake was in Menagerie. Once Adam got the message, he had to send Ilia all the way over to Menagerie. Perhaps, since things had been so uneventful and she had not seen any White Fang, she let her guard down.

Overall, they really did not do a good job helping us understand how much time passed in Volume 4. Sometimes, it felt like only a day passed, but then we find out or realize that weeks passed, instead. For example, while training with her father, Yang says that they have been training for weeks. It was a little surprising. I thought "Already? They skipped entire weeks? It feels like just yesterday that she put the arm on."

I've said it before elsewhere, but I'll say it again. It would have been much better if they had not done a time skip for Volume 4. It would have been better if Volume 4 took place only a short while after Volume 3, and it would have been better if it had let us spend time with the characters while they dealt with everything.

RNJR:

Show us RNJR grieving for Pyrrha, learning how to fight better out in the real world, traveling to Anima, and traveling at least part of the way toward Mistral.

Weiss:

Show Weiss interacting with Jacques and Whitley more, and maybe even introduce her mother, too. They could have had Jacques tell Weiss about the charity ball he was planning, and then in the meantime, have scenes that show how Jacques usually treats her when she is not misbehaving. There could have even been a scene where she practices singing, and just like the manga said, Jacques does not praise her. He simply says that the quality of her performance is "as expected".

Maybe there could have even been a scene where Jacques reminds her that he wanted her to study at Atlas instead of Beacon, tells her that she should have done as he wanted, and slips in a little "You're nothing on your own" kind of thing like the songs say that he has done before.

Blake:

Show Blake on her way across Sanus to get on a ship to Menagerie, and she discovers Sun following her while she is on her way there. She tries to get away from him. Maybe, at first, she succeeds in getting away, but after a while, he appears again. They could've also used Blake's travels as an opportunity to show discrimination toward Faunus instead of only having characters tell us about it. Maybe, at one point, she arrives in a village in the middle of nowhere, and the innkeeper won't let her stay the night there, so she has to camp instead. Maybe Sun shows up and pretends that he just happens to be camping near her camp, and she turns her back to him and tries to sleep or something.

Yang:

Yang's recovery felt rushed, but at the same time, it wouldn't have been a good idea to drag it out for too long. With more time, taking things slowly with Volume 4, they could have found a good balance for showing Yang's recovery. Maybe they could have even included something about the fact that Tai was really depressed after they lost Summer, so he knows what it's like to deal with depression.

Oscar:

The process of Ozpin convincing Oscar to go to Mistral probably wouldn't have been as rushed or as sudden if they took things more slowly in Volume 4.

Villains:

The scenes in Salem's base could have still happened, and I'm sure they would have figured out what else they could do with the villains.

It seems like they were just way too eager to hurry up and get to whatever is going to happen in Volume 5, and because of that, the characters did not get to develop as smoothly or behave as reasonably as they should have. They rushed, and the writing suffered even more than usual.