Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-43756665-20200201165427/@comment-43749004-20200202085453

Just personal preference:

4 > 7 > 3 > 6 > 2 > 5 > 1

4 is my favorite because I love the shift in tone, the character development, the quieter and more somber atmosphere. In general, with RWBY, I tend to like it more when it's darker, so 4, the second half of 7, and the second half of 3 really hit that sweet spot.

Actual judgement:

7 > 3 > 4 > 6 > 5 > 2 > 1

I think 7 is the best because it is the most cohesive thematically, has the most updated/polished music/animation/etc, amazing fights, voice acting, character development, etc.

In general, I personally tend to judge RWBY's volumes by how well they revolve around, incorporate, and build up to their particular "theme." 7's was fear, which in my opinion was excellently done. 3 was centered entirely around the Vytal Festival so I felt it was really well connected, and probably the best plot-wise. 4 was all about recovery, which I felt it perfectly embodied.

So, in general -- 7, 4, and 3 are the top 3 volumes IMO.

6 is certainly good and fixed a lot of 5's problems, but it didn't have much conflict and honestly felt a little too fast to me. I think the whole Volume happens in the span of, like, a week? Which, V3 did as well, but unlike 3, nothing really important happened in all that time (apart from Adam.) 6 was the only volume where the "final boss" felt completely insignificant to me. It was more of a bridge volume between 5 and 7.

5 had a lot of really great parts (Chapter 1, Weiss vs Lancers, Qrow's bad day, Belladonna Home fight, Yang and Raven at the vault, etc.), but it was rather disorganized and all over the place, and the Battle of Haven was frankly poorly done.

1 and 2 and good but, like 6, they don't really have much serious conflict -- they mostly serve as setup for V3. I love school days and happy RWBY but it's mostly fluff and building character relationships.