Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-34633327-20171110205409/@comment-4010415-20171112170315

Shounnen wrote: 1. Regarding JN_R, I meant that V4 they seem to have a lot of screen time, now they are mostly doing nothing. Which is understandable? But they are still not done growing as well.

2. In Volume 1 we see her comforting Jaune, and she also grew a lot when growing with Weiss, and other examples.

3. The only thing that I would criticize is the fact that it took them 8 months to show some sort of grief or development between the characters about it. It should have been sooner, even before arriving to Anima.

4. It's not natural for Ruby to lose her cool after all, we just recently saw it a second time (the first time being in V4). So I'd say is part of her nature to not being so open with her feelings yet. That, in my perspective, shows a huge deal of strength from her part. Is just my perception though. Sure, I get it, but I believe that sometimes words are not necessary to show development as ironic as it might sound. Actions speaks louder, and Jaune's words were on the silver plate to make her feelings go from sad and regretful for a "thank you". 1. I kind of see it like what happened with Blake in Volume 3. Blake got a pretty strong focus in Volume 2 and the end of Volume 1, so throughout the first half of Volume 3, she took a back seat for a while until it was time for something important to happen to her again in the end of Volume 3. A lot of fans were freaking out and upset like "Why is Blake suddenly in the background now?! Why is she on a back burner?! Miles, Kerry, why are you doing this to her?!!" She had already had quite a bit of focus and she was going to get some more later, so it was actually a good move to give her a break. Those fans just didn't see it at the time.

Plus, when a character (or multiple characters) takes a short break after getting a large focus, it allows other characters who haven't had as much focus lately to step up to the spotlight.

2. Volume 1 was the absolute best volume for Ruby character-wise. We got to see a lot about her as a person, beneath the surface. She felt more like a real person in that volume. But then, from Volume 2 to 3, she started feeling more and more like just a walking, talking plot device to a lot of people. We stopped getting to see her being a person so much and started seeing her more as just "that hero" who was doing plot things and reacting to whatever was happening right in front of her face at that moment. Once a moment was over, she stopped showing how it affected her, as if she just brushed it off like water off a duck's back. A lot of fans don't like that because it makes her feel like a Mary Sue who doesn't get affected by anything that happens.

In Volume 4, we saw a little bit of how the Fall of Beacon affected her, but the focus for that was mainly on JNR and WBY, with Ruby mainly just getting to step into the spotlight either because of plot things (Tyrian going after her) or as support to Jaune and his characterization. She's way behind Jaune and WBY when it comes to characterization, and while she did get a little in Volume 4, it didn't feel like quite enough to make up for the deficit.

3. Indeed, another reason why it would've been so much better if Volume 4 hadn't timeskipped or had barely timeskipped. Also a good reason why Miles and Kerry went back and said "Nevermind, it wasn't 6-8 months, it was an unspecified amount of time, just don't apply a number to it at all."

4. In one of the exclusive cast interviews that was shown at the theater screening of Volume 5 Episode 1, Miles said that Ruby is bottling everything up and that will all come out at some point. In RWBY Rewind, Lindsay said that Ruby's attitude is "I don't have time for my emotions. I gotta make sure everyone else is okay." So, Ruby losing her cool is just a sign that the bottle is getting too full, the cracks are starting to form. Eventually, it's all gonna come out because she can't hold everything in forever.

However, it's one thing for a writer and her voice actress to say that this is what she's doing, it's another for the show to finally show that to us, and I can't wait.