Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26986589-20161029210635/@comment-26986589-20161031144042

114.79.57.27 wrote: this is a great opinion about this show,

well i myself did not get the 'deep feels' about the story and the character in vol 3-4  like i feel in vol 1-2 ( i don't know why, maybe a lot of factor X)

Ain't it so? I watched and love RWBY chibi. I loved Neo breaking the fourth wall with her signs and her relationship with Roman, how she supports him and consoles him despite his failures and setbacks. I loved how RWBY goes along with Ruby's desires and projects and plays along with her like a group of friends would. Jaune's antics to improve himself and get Weiss's attentions, Ren's interactions with Nora, and how Cinder fails at being evil. There is more characterization in those 2 minutes than an entire volume combined, and I just fall for the antics going on between the characters.

In the main show, however, the characters lose alot of that characterization. Jaune, for example, somehow managed to get into a school which focuses on combat without any combat skills whatsoever. And we are expected to believe that this guy had the skills to forge transcripts to get into one of the most prestigious schools of warfare there is in Vale. Won't it be more interesting if Jaune was someone who cheated his way everywhere? He fights dirty, uses tricks and is generally an underhanded bugger. But when faced against someone, or something, with the power to shrug his tricks off, Jaune is helpless. His arc then becomes finding a way to actually become strong, to fight without relying on tricks, which is why he has to train with Pyrrha in order to become stronger.

Why is Cinder evil? In the shorts, Cinder is evil because she is, and thus Cinder takes great pleasure in just coming up with evil schemes that go nowhere and just being evil for the lulz. Which gets the audience laughing as we want to see how Cinder is going to screw up or fail again. In the main show however, Cinder comes across as a sociopath with a plan. But I don't see any reason why; why go after the Fall Maiden? Is there some connection or relationship between them that warrants that personal hatred? Why be a villain in the first place? Confidence? Trauma? Why pass of as students instead of a teacher or just guests? All I know is that Cinder is an evil genius. That's it.

Finally, the Faunus/Human conflict. Strawmen arguments on both sides, Faunus hate humans because humans oppress them. Humans oppress them because Faunus are terrorists. But such situations are rarely so simple, and it would be interesting to see a more in depth clash of two different species and their cultures. Its rare to see a good clash of cultures when humans and some other races are involved, the Witcher series is, in my opinion, a good example. RWBY, unfortunately, isn't.

In the end, every element of RWBY serves as a simple engine on four wheels that would get you from one place to another. Its not a story, but a platform from which an author tries to talk about his or her own views about the world. Social commentary if you will, which results in the characters being simplistic placeholders for particular points of views or ideas, instead of people with stories I want to listen to.