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After the harrowing events of Volume 8, our heroines are thrust into an unknown world–the Ever After! However, once Team RWBY explores this strange and mysterious realm, they quickly discover it might not be quite as unknown as they first assumed. As they journey to find a way back home, they'll have to overcome some of their toughest challenges yet–the struggle of their own identities, and whether or not they're equipped to stop Salem.

Volume 9 is the ninth season of RWBY. It premiered on February 18th, 2023,[2] and ran for 10 episodes.[1] The volume was preceded by Volume 8 and RWBY: Ice Queendom. It was followed by Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Parts One and Two. It streamed exclusively on Crunchyroll first unlike past seasons and is set to be available on Rooster Teeth on March 30th, 2024.[3][4]

Overview[]

After the fall of Atlas, the Huntresses of Team RWBY land themselves in the strange world of the Ever After. Not knowing what happened to their allies and the refugees in Vacuo after Cinder's attack, they hope to find answers within the Great Tree resting at the heart of the realm. Surrounded by uncertainty, they explore the alternate world, encountering its wonders and dangers throughout its diverse acres.

Team RWBY meets a talking mouse whom Ruby names Little, and the Curious Cat who promises to guide them to the tree. Soon, they realize their similarities to Alyx in the story The Girl Who Fell Through The World, and question the nature of this alternate realm. While Ruby struggles with her identity and role to play in the war against Salem, the group discovers that they weren't the only ones to fall.

Characters[]

Major Characters[]

Other Characters[]

Minor Characters[]

Episodes[]

Main article: Episodes
Chapter Episode Title Original Air Date Run Time External Link(s)
Teaser Trailer / Volume 9 Teaser July 1st, 2022 0:54 Rt-favicon Volume 9 Teaser
Yt-favicon Volume 9 Teaser
Trailer / Volume 9 Trailer January 24, 2023 1:44 Yt-favicon Volume 9 Trailer
1 107 "A Place of Particular Concern" February 18th, 2023 17:41 Cr-favicon A Place of Particular Concern
2 108 "Altercation at the Auspicious Auction" February 25th, 2023 17:43 Cr-favicon Altercation at the Auspicious Auction
3 109 "Rude, Red, and Royal" March 4th, 2023 20:23 Cr-favicon Rude, Red, and Royal
4 110 "A Cat Most Curious" March 11th, 2023 18:48 Cr-favicon A Cat Most Curious
5 111 "The Parfait Predicament" March 18th, 2023 16:37 Cr-favicon The Parfait Predicament
6 112 "Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds" March 25th, 2023 20:50 Cr-favicon Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds
7 113 "The Perils of Paper Houses" April 1st, 2023 18:23 Cr-favicon The Perils of Paper Houses
8 114 "Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble" April 8th, 2023 16:26 Cr-favicon Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble
9 115 "A Tale Involving a Tree" April 15th, 2023 15:40 Cr-favicon A Tale Involving a Tree
10 116 "Of Solitude and Self" April 22nd, 2023 26:22 Cr-favicon Of Solitude and Self

Development[]

Main article: RWBY Development

On October 3rd, 2019, at the New York Comic Con 2019 RWBY Panel, a month before Volume 7 began airing, the crew announced that Volume 9 was greenlit for production.[5]

Scriptwriting began in June 2020[6] and was completed in September, 2020.[7]

Voice recording sessions for key characters began in August, 2020.

Volumes 8 and 9 are being created together and are unofficially even called a single volume production-wise with how things flow together.[8]

On July 9th 2021, a clip of Chapter 1 was shown at the RTX @ Home 2021 First Night event.[9]

Joey Clary V9 2022 release 8-26-21

Joe Clary's announcement that Volume 9 would be delayed to 2022

On August 26th 2021, Co-Head of Animation at Rooster Teeth Joe Clary revealed that Volume is slated to be released in 2022.[10]

During RTX Austin on July 1st, 2022, a teaser for Volume 9 was released and stated that it would begin in early 2023 instead. An extended preview for Chapter 1 was also simultaneously released.[11][12]

Due to Jeff Williams' retirement, Casey Lee Williams took over as the series music director and composer and was joined in the role by Martin Gonzalez. Yssa Badiola also joined CRWBY as an episode director for Volume 9. [13]

On January 24, 2023, it was announced Volume 9 would be released on February 18th, 2023 exclusively on Crunchyroll.[3] The official trailer released on the same day.[14] Later, a Q&A on the Rooster Teeth Website revealed that the volume would be made up of 10 chapters and that it would run from February 18th, 2023 to April 22nd, 2023 with no midseason break. The episodes would be available on Rooster Teeth FIRST exactly a year after they aired on Crunchyroll and would be made free sometime after that.[1]

Kerry Shawcross posted his tweet on Twitter an hour after "Of Solitude and Self" released, stating his heartfelt gratitude towards the RWBY creative team as a whole. He stated that a core theme of the Volume was "imposter syndrome", followed by stating that he struggles with every day. Kerry later stated that during the making of Volume 9, he started being better to himself. He also stated that Ruby's journey throughout this Volume meant something extra special to him.[15]

During the RWBY Panel at RTX 2023, it was revealed via an animatic shown to the audience, that Volume 9 was initially going to be a total of 12 Episodes. Subsequently, it was revealed that Chapter 12 was scrapped entirely while Chapters 8-11 were condensed to become the final Chapters 8-10.[16][17]

Trivia[]

  • Volume 9's setting is based on the 1865 novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and its 1871 sequel "Through the Looking-Glass".
  • Three days after the final episode of the Volume aired on Crunchyroll, Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part One was released.
  • The art direction for Volume 9 was inspired by M. C. Escher and other modern surrealist artists such as Giorgio de Chirico.[18][19] This includes the volume poster which was inspired by Escher's 1946 work "Gallery."
  • According to Eddy Rivas, the idea of Volumes 7, 8 and 9 was always to end it with a more personal story focusing on Team RWBY, Jaune Arc and especially Ruby Rose herself as its climax.[20]
  • The Volume 9 Opening Song, "Inside", was released as a single on the same day as the first chapter of the volume. This is the first time the full opening song was released alongside its corresponding volume.
  • The themes of Volume 9 according to RT Discord is "trauma, therapy, imposter syndrome, and emotional growth".[21]
  • The episode names for the Volume appear to have a theme, just like Volume 8's only being one word except for the final episode. This time, the titles make heavy use of alliteration to create a sense of whimsy, followed by the episode description beginning with "In which…".
  • Concept art of Summer Rose implies that there were originally going to be more than ten episodes in the volume, as the concept art is labeled with "episode 11" as the episode it was made for.
    • The Volume 9 Crew Commentary confirmed that Chapters 8-10 of Volume 9 were originally Chapters 8-11.[22]
    • The original Chapters 8-12 of Volume 9 had to be trimmed down from 80 minutes to 40 minutes, which led to chapter 12 being cut entirely (and pushed back to Volume 10), while 25 minutes had to be cut from Chapters 8-11.[23]
    • An animatic of the Volume 9 Epilogue was shown to the attendees of the RWBY Panel at RTX Austin 2023. [24] The animatic was labeled "RWBY9_Ch12", indicating that Volume 9 was going to end with a 12th episode, and this animatic would've been the post-credits scene to close out the Volume. The scene was then stated by the crew to likely appear in some form at the start of Volume 10, albeit with obvious tweaks.[25]
    • Eddy Rivas posted two images of the Epilogue's script on Twitter.[26]
  • Much of the production of Volume 9 took place at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.[27]
  • The writers consider this volume to be the characters' therapy.[28]

References[]

RWBY
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