User blog:Joe021093/Emerald-Mercury vs Coco-Yatsuhashi Battle Review

Hello and good day to everyone. I'm Aozora and this is my first blog post in the wiki ever.

I thought it might be nice if I can write something for the episode, as I've been wanting to talk a lot about this episode, mainly about the tournament. However, I don't know where to do so (other social media doesn't seem to be as... convenient...), so it ended up, here. I'm convinced that writing my thoughts here is better as this place is the central of RWBY's fan-garnered information and media, indeed.

I guess that's all for introduction. We move on now.

My writing and review are more focused to the battle styles of those who are involved. As well as a little analysis on why Coco-Yatsuhashi can be defeated.

So without further ado, let's begin!

Emerald-Mercury vs. Coco-Yatsuhashi
From how things went in episode 3, I guess without many doubt, most of us would know that Coco and Yatsuhashi are going to be defeated by Emerald and Mercury. It pains my heart for that, really, because they are one of the strongest and coolest students in Beacon, it seems.

But, that might also be their problem.

Before the episode airs, I often pondered to myself how Emerald and Mercury are going to defeat them. By breaking down their battle style, I ended up in this: So I guess Em and Merc are going to take Coco and Yatsu by some speed and stealth and game. That's probably why Cinder picked them. It's pretty much like how Neo beat Yang in last volume.
 * Emerald-Mercury: Speed and stealth type.
 * Coco-Yatsuhashi: Powerhouses and area attack type.

After watching the show, my guess wasn't that far off, but I discovered some things, too. There are pretty many things, really. Their fight was interesting and is different from the previous fights in the tournament.

From how it goes, I assume the main reasons why Coco and Yatsuhashi can lose is because their lack of experience.

As a mere 2nd Year Beacon student, while their skills might be acclaimed, and they have slaughtered many Grimms (okay, that is their job), they do not seem to be accustomed to fight humans. All this time they've been fighting with mostly mindless Grimms who do not employ any strategy into their attacks, but merely by instinct. I noticed how Coco and Yatsuhashi seemed to be staying close to each other, which is pretty much like when teams are on hunt for Grimms. They do not stray too much far from each other. After all, what Grimms can do to you is mostly hurting you by their brute strenght. So what you can do is retaliate in power and employ a little strategy to defeat them effectively.

On the other hand, while we do not know of Emerald and Mercury's full pasts yet, from what we've seen in several instances they are on, they seem to have many experiences in battling humans, even having no qualms in killing one. That, combined with their stealthy life under the cover, would make them be more strategic in the battlefield. Many real life wars in the pasts have shown that when strategy is used properly in the battle, they are proven to be more effective to vanquish an army than those who are merely big in numbers and powers.

So by doing surprise attacks and separating Coco and Yatsuhashi, Emerald and Mercury might have the upper hand.

I'm going into their individual battle style/attacks, now.

Coco and Yatsuhashi seemed to rely on their strength. They do not seem to be like the most fast moving type, making them like the traditional powerhouse type. Large damage, but slow movement. This is shown during Mercury's first attacks on them, with Coco and Yatsuhashi seemed to connect and react slowly to Mercury's fast attacks. They also seem like the type that defeats enemy with powerful ranged attack so they can finish many and quick. But again, this strategy and style seemed to suit fighting Grimms better than fighting humans.

We've seen a lot about Coco in the last volume, and there is not much revealed about her style than we already knew. However, watching her when she's separated from Yatsuhashi, Coco seemed like the type of leader or person that is more comfortable having her team around her. She is cautious but doesn't seem as confident as when she is with Yatsuhashi. After she discovered that Yatsuhashi is beaten, her hand wavered. It doesn't seemed like she's angry, but more to the fear that she is alone and no one will help her. It appears Team CFVY employs some team strategy, and I guess it was a role share given to the member team. (Bear in mind that that is my thought regarding what would be their role. Like most members of RWBY's show, they surely are capable in more than one form of role or battle style.)
 * Coco -> main offense
 * Fox -> main speed
 * Velvet -> main dust/mage
 * Yatsuhashi -> main defense

So that there's only one person, the team cannot function properly and that's probably why Coco is scared, despite of her skill ( his was also the same when Yatsuhashi was panicked when Coco was pulled away from him). Coco's fear might also come from her not knowing what her enemy is going to do with her. She was panicked and thus was late reacting to Emerald's attack.

Now we get to see more of Yatsuhashi. Like I mentioned above, Yatsuhashi seemed to be the defender of the team. He's huge and he seemed to have tons of power (he can carry his large sword in one hand without much trouble). And as it was shown with us, he always get in the role of protecting someone (Velvet in mission and during Breach, Coco in this tournament).

In battle, Yatsuhashi seemed the type that mostly would rely on his sword. H e used his sword many times to deflect and attack Mercury, mostly using slashing movements to do his attacks. In one instance he managed to caught Mercury, if he could, he could be attacking and punching him in place, but that doesn't seem to be his style. Instead, he threw Mercury and tried to split him in two with his sword. But alas, he wasn't fast enough that Mercury actually have time to block his attacks.

We move on to Emerald and Mercury.

I can't say much about Emerald, as her attacks are mostly not revealed on the screen. She seems to employ wind Dust to her weapons. And she can use her sickle and chains to move between trees in fast succession. She is also seemed like the stealth type, as she is more stealthy than Mercury who confronts the other two directly. That's why she is back in the trees or shadows.

Compared to Mercury, we see more of him and I doubt it is all of his capabilities. Mercury is the type that is more frontal on doing his attacks. It's very interesting to see him employ more strategies and trickeries rather than just kicking his way, like when he trapped Coco into shooting Yatsuhashi or when he appears from behind them and attacked them to separate them. I would also believe if it's said that Mercury landed Yatsuhashi's head on geyser on purpose. He seemed like the type that would do that.

The show also revealed him creating white projectiles. The projectiles are shown like some kind of spinning white birds(?) which are capable of creating fog that can disables enemies' view. It is unknown if this is his semblance or it's the work of Dust. Either way, he was sort of break dancing while creating tons of them and it's pretty cool.

(Though with slight regret, this ability is similar like one of my fan character and I do not know how to react on that matter).

That is pretty much all I can see on this episode regarding their battle style. It was very interesting to see a battle that is not merely display of skills and power but also wits. And this is properly and more beautifully done compared to team JNPR's strategy, as this use of strategies and wits are more to the display of perfect teamwork, and not just one command to another. We can see that Emerald and Mercury seemed to know way back to do their things together in perfect sync. Even if they're not together, I have the feeling they are confident in each other's style and individual abilities.

(That is, if Cinder didn't announce to them who is their opponent and what is the biomes they're having for the battle. I really do hope she didn't because that'll ruin my expectations on Emerald and Mercury, even if she decided who's their opponent.)

So, to sum up:
 * The reason why Coco-Yatsuhashi can lose to Emerald and Mercury is because they lack experience in battling humans who employs strategies in battle, and also due to the weakness of their battle style.
 * Team CFVY seemed to employ team strategy and roles. When the strategy and roles are faltered, they seemed to be unable to function properly, even as individuals.
 * Coco-Yatsuhashi is the typical powerhouse and area of attack type that is slow, making them unable to match to Emerald and Mercury's fast and speedy style.
 * There is not much about Coco to say, but she seemed like the type that prefers frontal attack combined with team works.
 * Yatsuhashi is the defender of the team, and he uses his sword for his defends and attacks. He seems to be incapable of other fighting style.
 * Emerald and Mercury are the type that relies on speed and stealth, as well employing more strategies in their battle.
 * Just like Coco, there's not much to say about Emerald as most of her attacks are out of screen. She seemed to employ more stealth aspect into her attacks.
 * Mercury prefers more frontal attack, and he's capable of using more trickeries and strategies to his attacks, rather than just kicking.

And, some extra note about the battle (or the whole tournament scene) that is more personal.
 * Did Neo follow Emerald and Mercury to the arena? Other than that, I don't have any explanation about Yatsuhashi's sudden appearance near Coco. I'm so glad this farce is quickly cut by Port's announcement.
 * This might be the reason why Emerald are so stealthy. It's hard to conceal a third person if they all are being so front in the battle. This is probably why Emerald choose the woods as her place, to conceal the third person easily.
 * There is also a chance that Emerald is capable of generating illusion, however that is, but I'm more leaning into Neo actually followed them.
 * I wish we can have a proper battle on urban biomes.
 * I like looking at Coco's fans who wears her hat and sunglasses. I wonder what she actually does outside the Beacon to gain some fans. Is she a model? A fashion designer? Or maybe a fashion blog star (if that thing exists in Remnant)?
 * I like looking at Fox who tried to comfort Velvet. I wish we can see them more in action some time later.
 * I felt sad hearing the boos for Coco and Yatsuhashi's defeat, and felt sadder remembering it's caused by a slight "cheating", even if Emerald and Mercury's skill are genuine.
 * Since when Cinder sat behind Team RWBY?

That is all for this blog entry. Thank you if you read everything up till down here! It may not be much, but I tried my best. Please comment if you have anything to say. Thank you very much and have a nice day!