User blog:Baylaust/RWBY Episode 8 Review

Alright, guys, here's my review of the rather incredible episode we saw yesterday.

Audio Review:



Text Review:

  What’s up, guys? This is baylaust, and welcome to my review of RWBY episode 8. First off, this WILL contain spoilers, so if you haven’t watched the episode yet… watch it. Right now. Just do it. I’ll wait.

 Okay, you done watching it? Good, then let’s get started.

 Episode 8, Players and Pieces, sees the end of everyone’s adventures in The Emerald Forest. First off, remember in my last review when Blake looked up at the sky and appeared worried, and I thought it had something to do with her past or something she knew or some deep philosophical bullshit? Yeah, turns out, she was just looking at Ruby falling from the sky. So hey, I fail again.

 Anyway, everyone unites at the temple and grabs their artifacts. Now, they just need to get out of the forest, and their initiation is complete. But with the Deathstalker and Nevermore hunting them, that’s easier said than done.

 Okay, so I’ll get some of the flaws out of the way first. There are a couple moments where the voice acting gets a little bit iffy near the beginning. In addition…. no, actually, I think that’s everything. And now onto the good parts of the episode, and hoooollllyyyy shit, there are a lot of them.

 First off, there are people who feel like the episodes have been too short, and feel that not enough has been accomplished by the end of each episode. Well, if you’ve been patient with the series, this is the episode that rewards you. Episode 8 is nearly 15 minutes long, and it’s just pure awesomeness from beginning to end.

 Next up, I’ll dive into what makes this episode so great: the action. Episode 1 had a pretty good action scene, and episode 6 had some good ones too, though not spectacular. Episode 8 puts them to SHAME. The stuff we see here SURPASSES what we saw in the initial trailers. And if that doesn’t get you excited to see it, then this might: in the nearly 15 minute runtime, a good 3/4 of that is just pure action. In addition, we get a kickass new song to listen to as the battle gets more and more intense. Props to Jeff Williams for being a truly great composer, and Casey-Lee Williams for being an outstanding vocalist.

 However, asides from the sheer intensity of the battles, there are two things I really like about this in particular. First off, no one gets left in the dark. Everyone gets their moment to shine. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora… hell, even Jaune has his moments. Not exactly fighting, but he steps up and takes charge when it counts, and he proves that he DOES have a strategic mind and the potential to be a great leader. And speaking of Nora, we finally get to see what her weapon is. Now, honestly, I really didn’t know what to expect when it came to what she’d use. But man… a grenade launcher / hammer? They sure didn’t hold back on these melee / gun combos. What surprised me even more is that, despite being rather reckless, she’s probably the best fighter out of Team JNPR. In addition, they truly do fight as a team. Both team RWBY and team JNPR aren’t just throwing random attacks at the enemies and hoping they win. They’re all working together, and working damn well together at that. In particular, the combo attack to defeat the Nevermore near the end of the episode was just incredible, in style, animation, music, just about every category.

 And the second thing I liked about this action was that it wasn’t just mindless battle. Despite all the explosions and stuff, there was enough time for the characters to develop. Once again, Weiss and Ruby’s relationship sees the most progress in this episode. Despite the fact that even at the very start of the episode they were still at each other’s throats, the two of them make peace when Weiss saves Ruby’s life from the Deathstalker. Weiss points out that Ruby DOES have a lot of problems, and even admits that she’s to blame as well for them not working well together. But they’re gonna be in situations that will place them at risk of death on a regular basis, and tells Ruby that they have to work together now, and while they do, both of them can work on their problems. And we immediately see development in both of them on this front. When Ruby confesses that she just wanted to prove herself to Weiss, Weiss comforts Ruby by telling her that she has. And when everyone reunites at the temple, Ruby acts more logically, telling everyone that now that they had the relics, there was no point in fighting, they just had to escape and live. Already Weiss is learning to lighten up, and Ruby’s learning to use her head more. Do they like each other? I wouldn’t go so far as to say that, but they definitely respect each other, and for now, that’s more than enough.

 And speaking of using heads, Ruby and Jaune both step up this episode and prove that they have what it takes to be great leaders. We already knew that Ruby was a talented fighter, but now she’s learned how to work with others, and is arguably, one of the main reasons why both Teams RWBY and JNPR made it out of the forest alive. She hated the idea of coming out of her shell earlier, but now she’s leading people into battle and creating plans to get everyone out alive. I mentioned earlier that Weiss and Ruby would make a great pair because they both had things to teach each other, and it’s already taken effect, particularly in Ruby. And there’s even a nice little scene of Yang watching as Ruby leads all the others towards the cliff. She doesn’t need to say anything; you can just see how proud she is of her little sister.

 As for Jaune, his battle skills are still questionable at best, though he did get in a few blocks. But in the wise words of Doc from Red vs. Blue, “Leadership isn’t just shooting guns and stabbing people. Leadership is telling OTHER people to shoot guns and stab people.” And Jaune takes this to heart. While he doesn’t get in any strikes himself, when he sees a potential weakness in the Deathstalker, he helps his team exploit it to the fullest, and he doesn’t hesitate for a moment. He still has a ways to go, but we now know that deep down, Jaune has what it takes to be a truly great leader.

   We finally see the official teams made. From my understanding, there are partners that you’ll be working with for the rest of one’s time at Beacon, but when it comes to major assignments, two groups of pairs will work together, and those are the teams. As expected, we get team RWBY (Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang), with Ruby herself appointed as the leader. In addition, we get to see Team JNPR (Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, Ren), with Jaune given the role as leader. However, we also get to see a third team: Team CRDL (Carden, Russell, Dove, and Lark). Now, I’m just going by the series rule of “If they have a character model, they must be important,” but I’m curious to see what impact they have on the plot, if any at all. Also, I’m hoping they’re voiced by the Achievement Hunter guys, but we’ll see.

   And finally, we get to see Roman Torchwick for the first time since the pilot episode. From what we’ve seen here, it’s obvious what he’s trying to do: gather as much Dust as possible. What is still up in the air, though, is what exactly he needs it for. Is he just trying to make a few quick bucks, or does he have much larger schemes in mind? Well, it’s safe to assume the latter, but as for what exactly he has planned, is something we’ll just have to wait and learn for ourselves.

   In summary, this was, without a doubt, the best episode of RWBY so far. Strong action, strong soundtrack, more than enough comedy and development to keep it from being “just mindless fighting,” and even a Red vs. Blue reference. For those of you who have loved RWBY from the beginning, this will no doubt be the embodiment of why you love this show. And if you’re one of the people who’ve been disappointed with RWBY thus far, this is the episode that you’ve been waiting for. Whichever camp you’re on, I have the same verdict for both of you: watch it, and watch it again.