User blog:TheNewProtagonist/Volume 1: Why do you torture us, Monty?

Seriously, guy, first you tell us that season 1 is made up of 2 volumes (just gonna ignore how stupid THAT is), then you end the first volume on a cliffhanger of a reveal with Cinder and her two cronies and then you give the bullshit of "taking a break" before starting up volume 2? Why don't you just staple our dicks to the cieling and our pussies shut because I don't think you've cock blocked us enough!

Jesus, next you'll tell me you plan on teasing out Penny's "not a robot" reveal for the next vol-

-you're actually thinking of doing that, aren't you?

Oh, whatever. So, I noticed a number of people posting their thoughts on Volume one as a whole (because god forbid we have anything else substantial to talk about regarding the show now) and I thought I'd take a moment (read: hour-you'll-never-get-back) to throw in my two cents.

First I want to make clear how I intend to judge RWBY. I think we can all be mature adults - and by "we" I mean "you guys" because my eternal philosophy is "Fuck maturity" - and admit that RWBY is not an anime and actually a web series/homage to anime with the references and character archetypes and poorly explained mechanica etc. etc. you get the idea. That said, I feel like I'm at a disatvantage when adressing as Fairly as possible, particularly because the only other web series' I've seen for reference are Red vs. Blue, Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged and TOME; and if you don't count internet review shows and the dozens of let's players I watch regularly as "web series'" then I really don't have much to go on.

So to recap, this is an animated not anime being reviewed by a guy who has about as much experience in it's sub genre as the avererage nerd with second base. We good? Good. Now let's get started.

1. The Voice Work

Now, let's not tiddle around the subject, you guys. The voices in RWBY - much like a lot of what RT puts out - is a mixed bag of quality. You either have some characters who sound like it's their first perpetual time in a recording booth ala Groundhog Day or characters with voices that only serve to trick you into thinking you're watching a "cartoon" rather than an "animated series" like the new Ninja Turtles or Power Rangers (Wait, that's not a cartoon? Well, you could've fooled me!). it's not technically bad, it's serves it's purpose and I have listened to worse (not to name any nam- Digimon 02!), but everytime I hear "Great! Now we can die together!" or "What are you doing here?!" in regards to the trailers, it just takes me out of the experience and makes me wish I was watching DTAS or something intented to be laughably done.

Has it gotten better over time? Absolutely, but that doesn't change the fact that every new fan that comes around during volume 2 that decides to go back to 1 for a fresh start will be greeted by cringe worthy if not sub par performances.

6/10

2. The Animation

Now, anybody who's seen Dead Fantasy or even season 10 of RvB has a good grip on what to expect of the fight sequences in RWBY. They're loud, fast and when you cut'em they bleed awesomesauce and anybody who disagrees is a stupidface and doesn't know what s/he's talking about; like when a ten year old tries to critique Shakespere. Monty's skill in fight choreography has done nothing but grow since the days of DF. he's a man who knows what he wants to do, knows how to do it and hits every note with perfect harmony.

But then you have scenes where -not- actiony things are happening and that's where problems start to arise. Now, I just want to go on record by saying "I get it," alright? When a team as relatively small as RT tackles a project as ambitious as hell project like RWBY, mistakes are going to be made. Period. That said however, the only animation hiccups I know of are ones that I would've never known about if not pointed out to me by other people on this very site, so they can't be all THAT bad.

...right?

Well, considering Crescent Rose duplicating itself, Ember Celica being active when it shouldn't be and of course, Ruby inhaling a plate of cookies rather than EATING them, one could argue that the animation is... less than optimal. But again, I didn't even KNOW about these things until someone told me so here's an idea: next time, when Vol.2 rolls around, if you happen to spot one of these "mistakes," be a pal and keep it to your damn self so the rest of us can live in ignorant bliss.

7/10

3. The Presentation/Art Style

One thing I'll say about the art in RWBY is that it works. The simple backgrounds truly serve to make the characters pop in just the right way that it doesn't make the animaters seem lazy. When I first watched the Red trailer, one word that could describe my feeling could be "enraptured," and I'm not entirely sure if I'm using that correctly. Truly was I drawn into this world I was getting a peek into, like watching a moving painting. Simple, yet intricate. Also silent, save for the music, which I also like.

Does the rest of vol.1 follow on this trend? Well, objectively speaking, no; and that's not just because there's actual voices involved (although, comparatively perhaps RWBY would've greatly benefitted from being as silent as the first 2 trailers. who knows?). It's because the series itself seems to be more focused on homages to anime and the like rather than being it's own stylized thing like I thought it was going to be. That said, RWBY most definately has a lot of "it's own thing" going on so at least there's that.

9/10

4. The Characters

I think it's kind of unfair to judge the entire cast at once so for now I'll just focus on the main four. Ruby is fine, moe red riding hood/ death machine. Standard stuff. My issue with Ruby - if there's any issue to have - is how her intelligence is portrayed. I keep getting the feeling that she was at one point meant to be a blithering airhead who can only be taken seriously on the battlefield. Maybe it's just me, whatever. Next is Weiss...

She's a spoiled princess.

...

Moving on.

Blake, probably the most interesting to me, if only because her backstory is currently the most defined. To this day, I still can't decide whether I actually like her being a faunus or not. On the one hand, anime catgirl in a -not-  anime production, yay! For whatever reason they seem to be playing it straight, boo. I guess that's because of the whole faunus thing in general being a big controversy or whatever. Blake as a character is another can of worms. At times, it seems like the writers can't decide who they want Blake to be. At one point she's quiet cool and collected, even in the face of faunus haters yet is totally okay with jumping on the crazy train with Ruby and Yang and leaving Weiss to curse the gods that stuck her on this planet. Just a little odd, is all. Finally, there's Yang, unfortunately there's not alot to talk about with Yang due to her criminal lack of time in the spotlight. She's your classic blonde bombshell with mean temper if you screw with her hair, is protctive of Ruby aaaaaaaand... that's about it.

Overall, I'd say that while the character focus is pretty scattered and unbalanced, I'd only label one out of the four as actually unlikable, that one being Weiss, but whatever, she'll improve eventually.

8/10

5. The Freaking Story

When people ask me what the story of RWBY is, I always get saddened by the fact that I can't actually answer them outside of "4 magical girls but not really go to a school to learn how to kill stuff." I know there's a grander scheme of things going on but I couldn't tell you what it is. What's the big conflict here? Who's the big bad - is it Cinder? For all we know she could be just another puppet for someone even worse. That's not exactly a good taste to leave in my mouth at halfway through the damn season.

I'm not asking for much here, am I? I just wish there was a better defined conflict. A goal to chase after other than "Become a Hunntress" because honestly, you could just switch it with "Be a Pokemon Master" and it'd mean just as much.

I understand there's still a ton of story to go through, but as of vol.1 I just feel like things could've been handled better, that's all.

6/10

Final Score: 7/10

RWBY is a very troubled series at this point, I find. It wants to do great things but in the effort of doing those things it loses sight of maintaining the finer details like properly establishing conflict, as stated above. I still enjoy the show greatly and I most likely will for a long time. If you've had no interest in it so far, vol.1 probably won't change your mind but if you've stuck with it like I have, you have nothing but hope that things can only go up from here.