User blog comment:Gundam Legilis/RWBY Schedule/@comment-4010415-20150521083259/@comment-25555436-20150523203535

Actually it's the contrary. They (or at least Monty) already decided what RWBY is going to be: A Shonen Anime. What they can't decide is how make it one, and of what kind. As such, they watched many shonen animes for examples...which influences in Miles's predicament.

It's very well-known that shonen animes, each 9 out of 10, has painfully bad writing, and more importantly extreme lack of originality. One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Fairy Tail, and many others. The only thing that prevents them from being shit depends on it's own genre. For comedies, is the jokes (Baka Test for example). For action-focused shows, is the action (Fairy Tail, for example). For others, it's other things.

From what I can see in the show, Monty planned RWBY as an Action Shonen anime with Comedy, Drama and Slice of Life elements. But that's the part where they can't decide. They try to use comedy, but end up cheesy and narmy. They try to add drama, but they focus too much on action for that. They try to have Slice of Life, but it's implemented in a way that feels more like filler, too secondary most of the time.