User blog:Baylaust/RWBY Episode 10 Review

Video Review:



Written Review:

     Episode 10, The Badge and the Burdon part 2, picks up immediately where episode 9 left off. Weiss, magically in her normal attire again, takes on Edgar the Hedgehog over here while Ruby, Blake, Yang, and Jaune, who magically appeared in the classroom, spectate. During her attempt to prove herself to everyone around her, Weiss’s frustration with Ruby continues to grow, and after her duel, their feud finally reaches its boiling point.

     Alright, so episode 9, as I stated last week, was my least favourite episode of the series, though I still enjoyed it. While the humour was great, I wasn’t particularly fond of how Weiss had immediately reverted back to her old self. So, I was cautiously optimistic for episode 10, and hey, it turns out that this is currently my second favourite episode so far, with episode 8 still being the best one for me. Stick around, and I shall inform you why.

     Now, I’ll deal with the flaws first. The animation is more awkward her than it is in most episodes, and I think I know the reason behind it. The animation was never perfect in this series, but because the characters were always doing something, always in motion, always in action, it was harder to notice those problems. Now, however, a great deal of the episode involves the characters remaining stationary and talking to each other. And when you’re dealing with 3d animation from a studio with no budget and a small team with little professional animation experience, the question arises: how do you have characters stand still and avoid appearing lifeless? And to be fair, they never come across as lifeless, but some of the gestures they use do appear to be a bit stiff. Though, in all honesty, this is still better than anything I could ever make, but still, something to work on in the future.

     Now for the rest of the episode. We start right off with a solo action scene with Weiss taking on Edgar the Hedgehog, and it’s pretty good. It’s not the longest fight, but it accomplishes what it needs to: it increased the tension between Ruby and Weiss, and it showed off Weiss’s combat skills. Short, sweet, and effective.

     And now, the main event: the tension between Ruby and Weiss finally reaches a head. Which means yes, once again, I’m gonna be focusing on Ruby and Weiss for this review. Now last week, I was upset that Weiss had seemingly completely forgotten about what she said in episode 8, and I speculated that she seemed to be jealous that Ruby was the leader. Well thankfully, Ruby addresses this herself, asking why Weiss is acting this way after her talk about teamwork in the emerald forest. And why is she acting this way? Because she’s jealous that Ruby was the leader. So hey, for once, I was right about something.

     Anyway, I liked how their conflict was done in this episode a lot more than it was in the last episode. Weiss had some (though not full) reason to be upset with Ruby: she was constantly shouting out at her while she fought, distracting her and causing her to take several hits. Did Weiss overreact? Yeah. But it felt more natural in this episode than it did in episode 9.

     Next, both girls get their fair share of development, as Ruby talks to Ozpin about being afraid that she was the wrong choice as the leader, and as Weiss talks to Professor Port about how she feels that she deserves to be leader over Ruby. Now first off, I’m just going to say it right now: I freaking love Professor Port. I’m not kidding, I freaking love him. Everything he says just makes me laugh, even if he’s not saying something funny. I don’t know if it’s his voice, the way he talks, his personality, but there’s something about him I just love.

     Next up, Ozpin. In this one episode, he has more lines of dialogue tan in the last 8 episodes combined, so that’s a plus. And next, we get to see a bit more insight into him. Ozpin is in my opinion, in addition to Blake, the most mysterious character in the show so far. And while we don’t get to see much more into him, we do get a few more details about him, if you look closely. In particular, his line about making tons of mistakes speaks volumes about him. He’s a man who as lost a lot in his life, who has made choices that had grave consequences, and he feels he can never make up for them. At least, that’s what I took away from it. Also, I’ve noticed that Ozpin only ever seems to open up when he’s in Ruby’s presence. Normally in the show, he appears distant, almost robotic, but whenever he talks directly to Ruby, it’s almost like he’s a totally different person. Could he have some connection to Ruby? It’s confirmed that he appears to know Ruby’s uncle, but does their connection run deeper than that? Maybe, maybe not, we’ll find out.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">     And then there’s Ruby. In my last review, I mentioned how Ruby was taking her role as leader in stride, and was all about having fun. Well, Weiss’s words to her in this episode seem to hit home, and she realizes that maybe Weiss is right about a few things, and fears that she was the wrong person to be given the role of leader. Upon talking to Ozpin, she understands that she is absolutely not a failure, but she also can’t rely on people liking her for her job as a leader. She does have to take charge when it counts, and prove to her team that she’s the right person for the job. Now, Ruby trying to prove herself is nothing new, but it feels different this time. When she was trying to prove herself to Weiss earlier, it felt more like an “I want you to like me,” sort of thing, while this time, she’s working to prove to Weiss, her other teammates, and herself, that she is the right person to lead Team RWBY. I said before that she has the potential to be a great leader, but now it’s time for her to unlock that part of her, and I’m looking forward to seeing her do that.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">     And finally, the woman of the hour, Weiss, sees the most substantial development out of all the characters. After blowing up on Ruby about her lack of leadership skills, and telling her that Ozpin made a mistake in choosing her, Weiss confides in Professor Port, admitting her jealousy to him. In typical fashion, Port flat-out tells her that she wouldn’t be a good leader, and finally makes her understand why. Weiss undeniably is dangerous on the battlefield and a very hard worker, but her attitude absolutely sucks. She’s someone who’s gotten everything she could have ever hoped for as she was raised, and because of that, developed a sense of entitlement and superiority. Now that Weiss didn’t get something that she wanted, she’s throwing tantrums in the hope that someone will give her what she feels she deserves, and if she really wanted to prove herself, she should instead strive to be as good of a person as possible.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">     First off, I like how unlike everyone else, Professor Port was able to read Weiss like a book, and figure out exactly what the issue with Weiss was, despite only having a single class of experience with her. However, what impressed me the most is that it really did drive the point home for Weiss. She isn’t someone who was robbed of what she deserves; she’s just being a spoiled brat, and dragging everyone else down with her as a result. And all of this leads to probably the most touching moment of the series, where Weiss finds Ruby asleep after studying so hard after class, and promises her that she is going to be the best friend that she can possibly be. And I have to give props in particular to Kara as the voice of Weiss, because while she was always able to nail the harsher, angrier side of Weiss (no doubt due to her experience with knocking ice cream out of the hands of little kids), she did a fantastic job of showing the softer side of Weiss in this episode. This is a side of her we’ve never seen before: the Weiss who has given up trying to be the best, and instead wants to redeem herself in the eyes of her team, and it’s pulled off great, in my opinion. The plotline about the rivalry between Ruby and Weiss is finally over in this episode, and as someone who think it should have been over 2 episodes ago, I loved how it was resolved.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">     All that’s left, is what I think the future holds. And honestly, I really want to see more of Blake now, as she’s the RWBY member we know the least about. We’ve seen Ruby develop, we’ve seen Weiss develop, we have a clear understanding of what Yang is like, but most of Blake is still shrouded in mystery. True, in the last few episodes, we’ve seen the quirkier, more fun side of her, but we still know nothing about her as a person, and that’s what I’d like to see more of.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">     So in summary, loved this. The animation is a bit stiff at times, and I still wish the Ruby / Weiss plotline had ended in episode 8, but the way it all came to a close was fantastic. We’re continuing to see both of these episodes grow, we’re learning more about the side characters, Port is awesome, there’s humour, and there’s even a short but sweet action scene. For me, this is the 2nd best episode thus far, and I’m eagerly awaiting next Thursday.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family: "TimesNewRoman","serif"">     So that was my review, hope you enjoyed it. Tune in next week for my review of episode 11. baylaust out.