Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-79.97.93.179-20140519172222

Warning, long-winded rant coming and some of it might sound unflattering to the series, so as a disclaimer I'd like to point out that I actually really, REALLY like this show.

Is it me, or was Yang not really given enough time to shine in volume 1? Especially compared to the other three members of her team. Okay, so she had some fun interactions and dialogue from maybe episodes 1 through 8, but after that she quite literally does nothing. Seriously, I cannot think of a single notable thing Yang did after the Nevermore fight. Ummmm... she headbutted Russel, I guess? She made a nonchalant, mildly-concerned remark or two when Blake went missing? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's about it.

Actually, that's another thing that bugged me a bit - Yang had literally no role in the whole "Blake is missing and an ex-terrorist" storyline. You know, Blake. Her own partner. You'd think she'd have some sort of contribution to the arc in which the person whose back she's supposed to have for the next four years ups and runs away, almost gets killed in a Dust heist, reveals her tragic background, gets worked up and actually cries (a big thing, considering how stoic she normally is), right? Surely she'll help Blake out in the climactic fight-- oh, nope, she was getting starbucks with Weiss. Okay, fair enough, no doubt she'll step in and comfort her partner with that nearly-motherly attitude of hers once Weiss says her piece-- oh, no? Really? Still just standing there in the background? Okay, cool, maybe there'll be a swerve and she'll actually get mad at her for not trusting her enough as a partner to tell her she was a faunus-- oh, nope, doesn't look like there's time for that... ummmm, is she gonna at least say hi?

...Are they gonna look at each other before the credits hit-? Oh. Well, that answers that question. It almost feels like Barb had to leave town in a rush and couldn't record any more lines or something, lol.

In fact, the BY partnership didn't really feel like much of a partnership at all over the course of season 1. Sure, there was that bit in episode 2 or 3 when Yang interrupted her reading time and they both kinda irritated one another. Then one or two scenes of them traipsing through the Emerald Forest, though a lot of that was glossed over to give the RW team more screentime. Which I found understandable at the time, since I figured Blake and Yang were gonna get some time to shine later in the season. Sadly, I was wrong, since Blake suffered from the same screentime problem after that, but the penultimate episode and the finale more than made up for that and gave her a fleshed-out backstory to make up for all that lost screentime. Which is a fair trade, really, since eps 15 and 16 made Blake my favorite character in the show, but I digress. Once they found their chesspiece, what did Blake and Yang really do together after that? I'm pretty sure the only interaction they had was Blake slapping Yang when they met Penny. Which was amusing, but not nearly enough. Don't get me wrong, most of the character relationships are actually done pretty well in this show. For example:

With Ruby and Weiss, you get the feeling Ruby is doing her best to put up with Weiss's gratingness, Weiss is doing her best to adjust to Ruby's immaturity while trying to tone down her innate gratingness, and all the while they're slowly bonding.

With Blake and Weiss, you can plainly see two teenagers who are perforce on completely opposing sides of the fence as far as status and upbringing go, and by all rights should absolutely despise one another for it. Yet you see Blake tolerating Weiss's haughty attitude all throughout season 1 until Weiss finally lets her pretty bigoted views come out and she snaps, and you see Weiss eventually straight-up saying she doesn't care about Blake's past and that all that really matters is the present, despite now being fully aware that Blake was part of the organization that literally made her childhood horrible. It's pretty heartwarming stuff that highlights what big people they both are, really. This is probably the most complex relationship in the show thus far, mind you, and they're not even partners.

With Ruby and Yang, it's pretty simple so far (though no less touching). Yang is the loving older sister who just wants what's best for her total dork of a sibling. The songs and trailers hint that there's something dark and just a little bit tragic behind it all but we'll just have to wait and see what's up with that.

But with Blake and Yang... frankly, you get the feeling they barely know each other. They've hardly talked, and when they have it's mostly just been banter. Extremely one-sided banter, at that. Nothing really meaningful or deep. You can see how Ruby and Weiss are getting closer and learning to coexist over time (heck, the same applies to Jaune and Pyrrha, who aren't even part of the MAIN-main cast), but there's literally been none of that with Blake and Yang. I mean, the seeds for interesting stuff are definitely there - you have someone who loves the sound of her own voice, and someone who hardly ever uses hers. Someone who's about as warm, accepting, friendly and caring as they come, and someone who's spent her entire life being persecuted, hated, feared and just generally forced into an outsiders' role. Hotheaded and brash meets mellow and aloof. Extrovert meets introvert. Light meets shadow. There's even more stuff there to play off of, but I think I got the point across with the first statement.

By the way, I know what you're all thinking and no, I do in fact not ship any of these people, lol. Not adverse to it if it does end up happening (Roosterteeth have never shyed away from stuff like that, after all), but I'm not one of those tumblr guys whose heart starts hammering in his chest every time he thinks about his OTP. I'm just studying for a psych major and read waaaaaay too far into this stuff.

I especially question the need for giving us four episodes of pure JNPR (eh, scratch that, Nora and Ren were barely in it, it was more like four episodes of pure Jaune) at the expense of Yang and Blake, who were sorely in need of some screentime together at that point. And still are, really, even with Blake's moment in the sun with the finale. Don't get me wrong, I like JNPR well enough, I'm just far more interested in seeing the main four grow together and develop before they start focusing on the B-team, especially considering we know very little about their pasts besides Blake and it's no secret that Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang pretty much all have something mysterious or cryptic to their backgrounds. My personal guess for Ruby's is that her huntress mother was KIA, based on the trailer headstone and her second song. Weiss's is that she actually got the scar from her father because of the whole White Fang situation and her trailer was a reflection of her inner turmoil and not a real fight (okay, that one might be reaching since I honestly have no idea if mister Monty and co. are actually gonna go that deep). And Yang I'm assuming was involved in the criminal underworld somehow based on her exchange with Weiss in episode 16, along with her nighttime activities in the trailer - I'm guessing bounty hunter of some kind, but I'm not sure. There's not a lot to go on for her. We can at least glean some tidbits from the others' personal songs, but I Burn is just Yang singing about how great she is, so yeah. 