Jorok Goldblade
Member
RWBY |OT| Volume 5: I Know Wai-Fu
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RWBY |OT| Volume 5 starts October 14, 2017
- Thread starter VanillaCakeIsBurning
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PixelatedBookake
Junior Member
Sidenote: I'm glad RWBY got as popular as it did. I was a RWBY hater for YEARS until I saw a Fast Facts on RWBY or something and thought the world was super interesting. I powered through the first volume and ended up becoming really attached to the characters and the story. Volume 3 had me a full fledged RWBY fan and Volume 4, while not having the same highs as 3, had better character development, writing, voice acting, and ANIMATION compared to the past volumes. Volume 5 looks like it may even improve the fight scenes over last season. The Twitch stream is reminding me how glad I was that I gave the show a second chance.
shaowebb
Member
Blaz Blue Cross Tag is the only thing that made me wanna see what this was about. Show is fantastic with absolutely wonderful choreography and camera work for its action. Plus its characterization was great. Ended up binging through all 4 seasons in the past week and am eager to hit season 5.
Stead Fast
Banned
A lot of people I speak to who've gotten into it have under similar circumstances; in that you were able to see a lot more of it in a relatively short amount of time, and the indulgence really helped highlight the show's strengths against it's weaknesses. Whilst it does suffer from a lot of glaring issues right out of the bat with animation quality, VA performances, and seemingly generic storytelling (though after viewing all first 3 volumes as a collective first 'part', "story" is far from being a part the show's weaknesses imo), all of which put a lot of people off when they were willing to see Monty's new anime show, the shows low budget and format bred a first couple of volumes that moved at a snails pace if you're watching week by week.
It attracted a lot of criticism over this as it came across as a purely amateurish attempt at being some anime, without any real defining identity outside of some good character designs and combat gifs, and often regarded as trash - and when the shows output is so incremental compared to large budget animation productions, there was never really that much evidence to refute such claims, outside of the fights (though I'm not naive, I know it'll never really shake off the stigma).
I'm over the moon it's really started to show off it's own identity at this stage, and from it's start with Monty to the current staff it couldn't be more of a success in that regard.
You pretty much matched my same arc from hater to big fan (although it was a video of one of the Volume 2 fights that got me back on board).
SixMachine
Member
edit: whoops not twitch thread
RedHoodedOwl
Member
RWBY Chibi Halloween Special
Yandere Nora is frightening.
Yandere Nora is frightening.
crimzonflame
Member
I take it this show is never going back to the lightheartedness tone from the first two volumes? It reminds me of Naruto where once Sasuke left the village, it just wasnt fun for me anymore. This show handles its supporting cast a lot better though as I absolutely loathed Sakura and Sasuke.
Chained Prometheus
Member
I still think "RWBY |OT| Volume 5: The Phantom Pun" is the runaway winner here. Nothing's going to top that, I think.
Volume 4 kiiiinda dabbles back into that territory for a bit, but yeah, by and large I don't think the show is ever going to go back to the tone of the first two volumes. That's a big part of why Rooster Teeth decided to also make RWBY Chibi during the main volume hiatuses.
Jorok Goldblade
Member
Announcement video for the new RWBY after show, RWBY Rewind. Hosted by Yssa (Lead 2d animator, Fan Service cast member) and Chad (Boomstick from Screw Attack's Death Battle)
https://twitter.com/RoosterTeeth/status/918491463649914882
https://twitter.com/RoosterTeeth/status/918491463649914882
RedHoodedOwl
Member
The premiere for Volume 5 is getting close.
Star Orpheus
Member
So while getting hyped again for RWBY I caught myself up with Red vs Blue, and it's actually super interesting(well to me it is) to compare the voice actors performances between RWBY and RvB.
https://youtu.be/RDioJCQRZkE
In particular of note to me is finding out Blake shares a voice with the absolutely batshit Dr. Grey.
https://youtu.be/pvra1__UVh4
https://youtu.be/RDioJCQRZkE
In particular of note to me is finding out Blake shares a voice with the absolutely batshit Dr. Grey.
https://youtu.be/pvra1__UVh4
Novel Mike
Member
I said this in the Twitch Marathon topic but its so weird hearing Church's voice come out of Tai XD
Stead Fast
Banned
The last one came out as a way to sate people who couldn't get access to RT's site as traffic took it offline for a few hours on premier day, if I'm remembering correctly. I'm expecting a repeat for this year unless they've got they're better prepared for the amount of viewers this time.
Jorok Goldblade
Member
If you're interested in comparing Rooster Teeth voice actors, you should watch the other crown jewel of RT Animation, Camp Camp
http://roosterteeth.com/show/camp-camp
Actors from RWBY who play roles in this series include:
Miles Luna (Jaune) As David
Elizabeth Maxwell (Winter Schnee) as Nikki
Yuri Lowenthal (Mercury, season 3 onward) as Neil
Michael Jones (Sun) as Max
Lindsay Jones (Ruby) as Space Kid
Jen Brown (Pyhrra) as Ered
Barbara Dunkelman (Yang) as Nerris
Samantha Ireland (Nora) as the Flower Scouts
Shannon McCormick (Ozpin) as the Quartermaster
It also has Dante Basco (Rufio from Hook, Zuko from A:TLA) as a recurring character.
Star Orpheus
Member
Yeah I've watched Camp Camp.
In terms of comparing voices Nikki and Quartermaster are definitely the most different to what I'm used to. Hearing Yuri Lowenthal swear like a sailor is pretty funny too.
RedHoodedOwl
Member
Camp Camp is so good. Max and David are the best.
McStickenstein
Member
I watched vol 4 with twitch and didn't expect the feels in this arc. Holy crapola, kinda of emotionally manipulative by the creators (not in a bad way), but I was in tears. Didn't watch S4 until now even though I watched 1-3 on release - the animation quality is on another level.
The not so good part is the lack of significant plot development, but I suppose a recovery volume given what happened in vol 3 is a good thing.
The not so good part is the lack of significant plot development, but I suppose a recovery volume given what happened in vol 3 is a good thing.
Yandere Nora is best Nora.
That Dude John
Member
Eh, where's it okay to discuss Episode 1 for the folks who saw it in theaters? Just spoiler tag it here or what?
RedHoodedOwl
Member
I want to see more of Pyrrha and Nora as Junior Detectives.
Chained Prometheus
Member
Just got back from the Volume 5 theater premiere.
I really hope they keep up this level of quality, it was by and large a big return to form for me. I was rather disappointed with how they handled some key aspects of V4 and this episode was a huge contrast to those problems by and large. Felt way more focused narratively speaking.
I really hope they keep up this level of quality, it was by and large a big return to form for me. I was rather disappointed with how they handled some key aspects of V4 and this episode was a huge contrast to those problems by and large. Felt way more focused narratively speaking.
I agree! Saw it as well, much more lighthearted but it kept the plot going and answered a couple of questions. Vol. 5 should be good.
Also the new intro is cool. I didn't get to let it grow on me because it was so quick, but the overall health higher quality in animation made it pretty good.
Looking forward to Vol. 5
Chained Prometheus
Member
I agree! Saw it as well, much more lighthearted but it kept the plot going and answered a couple of questions. Vol. 5 should be good.
Also the new intro is cool. I didn't get to let it grow on me because it was so quick, but the overall health higher quality in animation made it pretty good.
Looking forward to Vol. 5
I dunno if I'd say it was more "lighthearted." It was more humorous, but there's still a lot of that central seriousness from Volumes 3 and 4 in there too. I fully expect that the hammer is going to drop again as the volume goes on.
I especially loved that scene with Yang at the gas station. It was a great badass moment, while also doing a great job at establishing that she's still totally struggling through her PTSD.
Yeah more humourous, that's what I meant heh. I also agree with that scene being awesome.
TruSpindash
Member
I marathoned RWBY over this past weekend as part of trying to get up date with all the series in Blazblue Cross Battle. Ended likeing it way more than I thought I would. Actaully just got back from watching the volume 5 premier in theaters, and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to actively following the show going forward.
This is very good to hear. Can't wait for Saturday!
Star Orpheus
Member
So one thing I forgot about until the rewatch was Tyrian saying Jaune "interested" him. I wonder if anything is going to come of that?
Watching some past clips really put it into context just how far the show has come along in terms of animation and art. S4/5 seem to be a near fully realized version of Monty's ambition.
The villains suck, but I don't stick around for them.
There's anime inspiration everywhere, and odds are Bleach ripped it from somewhere else too.
That definitely seemed to intentionally be there.
SixMachine
Member
Berserk looks like it has the same animation budget as season 1 South Park, they just wiggle the models to move them around.
I heard it was something about wanting to keep the framerate the same as 2D animation, but of course it just ends up looking worse off much of the time. We've come to the point where RWBY's visuals now look far more palatable than the likes of something like the Berserk anime.
Apologies for going off topic here, but we don't have a general Rooster Teeth thread (and the most recent one ended... poorly). Based off of the first two episodes Camp Camp is really good. I am seriously impressed. Also, Miles Luna is a treasure.
I really should get into RWBY, huh?
I really should get into RWBY, huh?
I would definitely recommend doing so.
Stead Fast
Banned
Okay so I whipped this up after seeing a few online, getting full house should be easy!
Novel Mike
Member
Were back!
Thoughts on this episode, spoiler tagging since its not up for everyone yet.
Thoughts on this episode, spoiler tagging since its not up for everyone yet.
First season to start off without some kind of big battle, thats different. Mostly an info dump this episode.
So the Maidens are needed to use/get the Relics? So since Salem doesn't have it does that mean Amber had done something with it or perhaps Ozpin used her or hell even a former fall maiden to move it to another location to protect it?
Lionheart was just okay, I like his design well enough but I kinda wish they wouldn't have spoiled he was working with Salem, I mean its super obvious but still would have left room for more discussion about him. I'm getting a 'Cowardly lion' vibe from him from his design and name.
I really like how they had the Volume 4 bonus scene just weaved into the story with Oscar meeting Qrow. That was a great decision.
Yang still has some PTSD but I was surprised shes going after Raven, the ending of Vol 4 totally made me think she was going after Ruby so... what?
Raven having the Spring maiden isn't really a big surprise as even Qrow says that she 'has someone thats powerful' with her and he directly says hes not talking about her so he did seem to know whom she was referring to.
So this former friend of Blake is really being fleshed out as a big character. I didn't think she was all that interesting in Vol 4 or the short but I guess it gives something for Blakes storyline while everyone else is in Mistral.
Oscar turning up to bring home a drunk Qrow was hilarious. Then he reveals hes Ozpin before the episode ends which is clearly setting up the next episode where hopefully we'll finally understand who or what Ozpin/Oscar actually is.
The new opening is pretty good with it largely showing various sets of characters and places. I think its pretty clear that it also seems to revealing the Spring Maiden. I liked it, as well as the group shot at the end of team RWBY vs. Salem, perhaps showcasing that by the end of this volume they'll be back together?
Predictions:
So I think the opening can tell us a lot. Judging by that I think we'll see this arc lead to a confrontation with Raven's group. Salem will of course now know where the Spring Maiden is since the one guy was listening in which she will likely send a now recovered or mostly recovered Cinder to bring her to their side (which is why you see them both together in a shot in the opening) which will of course lead to a confrontation between Salem's forces, Raven's forces, and Ruby's team. I think Yang will already be there trying to learn more about her mother, while I think we'll see Ruby meet up with Weiss before joining them since she seems to be on a direct course to Mistral but they could also completely miss her since I think she was going there to meet up with Winter. There is also a shot of Yang vs. Mercury again so that also sounds like we'll be seeing more of him and likely Emerald with Cinder. Odd they didn't include Emerald fighting Weiss or something but I guess we'll just have to see.
Adam and the one big guy are clearly going after the head of the White Fang (I always thought that was Adam anyway until the last volume XD) either to get them to ally with Salem or perhaps to kill them and have Adam take over, not sure if/how/when Blake will be there to confront them but it remains to be seen, I'm not even sure where the WF's HQ actually is, it didn't seem like it was on the Island with Blake and her parents but I could be wrong. Blake might not even be apart of it, the few shots of her in the opening have her with Sun in a city on the water as well as fighting the one former friend of hers I mentioned above. Nothing paired with Adam this time.
Team shot at the end has me hoping that we'll see them all join up by the end of this season. I think its pretty easy to see Ruby/Yang/Weiss join up by then but Blake is no where near them and doesn't seem to be going anywhere so IDK how that'll happen.
So the Maidens are needed to use/get the Relics? So since Salem doesn't have it does that mean Amber had done something with it or perhaps Ozpin used her or hell even a former fall maiden to move it to another location to protect it?
Lionheart was just okay, I like his design well enough but I kinda wish they wouldn't have spoiled he was working with Salem, I mean its super obvious but still would have left room for more discussion about him. I'm getting a 'Cowardly lion' vibe from him from his design and name.
I really like how they had the Volume 4 bonus scene just weaved into the story with Oscar meeting Qrow. That was a great decision.
Yang still has some PTSD but I was surprised shes going after Raven, the ending of Vol 4 totally made me think she was going after Ruby so... what?
Raven having the Spring maiden isn't really a big surprise as even Qrow says that she 'has someone thats powerful' with her and he directly says hes not talking about her so he did seem to know whom she was referring to.
So this former friend of Blake is really being fleshed out as a big character. I didn't think she was all that interesting in Vol 4 or the short but I guess it gives something for Blakes storyline while everyone else is in Mistral.
Oscar turning up to bring home a drunk Qrow was hilarious. Then he reveals hes Ozpin before the episode ends which is clearly setting up the next episode where hopefully we'll finally understand who or what Ozpin/Oscar actually is.
The new opening is pretty good with it largely showing various sets of characters and places. I think its pretty clear that it also seems to revealing the Spring Maiden. I liked it, as well as the group shot at the end of team RWBY vs. Salem, perhaps showcasing that by the end of this volume they'll be back together?
Predictions:
So I think the opening can tell us a lot. Judging by that I think we'll see this arc lead to a confrontation with Raven's group. Salem will of course now know where the Spring Maiden is since the one guy was listening in which she will likely send a now recovered or mostly recovered Cinder to bring her to their side (which is why you see them both together in a shot in the opening) which will of course lead to a confrontation between Salem's forces, Raven's forces, and Ruby's team. I think Yang will already be there trying to learn more about her mother, while I think we'll see Ruby meet up with Weiss before joining them since she seems to be on a direct course to Mistral but they could also completely miss her since I think she was going there to meet up with Winter. There is also a shot of Yang vs. Mercury again so that also sounds like we'll be seeing more of him and likely Emerald with Cinder. Odd they didn't include Emerald fighting Weiss or something but I guess we'll just have to see.
Adam and the one big guy are clearly going after the head of the White Fang (I always thought that was Adam anyway until the last volume XD) either to get them to ally with Salem or perhaps to kill them and have Adam take over, not sure if/how/when Blake will be there to confront them but it remains to be seen, I'm not even sure where the WF's HQ actually is, it didn't seem like it was on the Island with Blake and her parents but I could be wrong. Blake might not even be apart of it, the few shots of her in the opening have her with Sun in a city on the water as well as fighting the one former friend of hers I mentioned above. Nothing paired with Adam this time.
Team shot at the end has me hoping that we'll see them all join up by the end of this season. I think its pretty easy to see Ruby/Yang/Weiss join up by then but Blake is no where near them and doesn't seem to be going anywhere so IDK how that'll happen.
The only thing stopping Salem at Beacon from grabbing a relic is that she doesn't know exactly where it is and that it's an active "warzone" (hunters/huntresses are actively trying to reclaim the area).
Raven's bandit camp is near Haven, so they're basically setting up Yang and Ruby's reunion.
They definitely have a deeper relationship than what was first implied in V4.
Better than V4, but still not as good as V1-3.
10/10
killer rin
Member
The first two volumes really are a large hurdle. Not from a story perspective, but more so from the animation perspective. If you look online the main criticism to people getting into the show is getting past those first 2 seasons before the animation quality really kicks it up a gear. I kind of feel like if Rooster Teeth pulled a RvB and reanimated the first two seasons, it could do wonders for the shows popularity.
Also it would make it a lot easier to advertise the show as a fan because we wouldn't have to deal with the "It looks like an early flash animation" criticism.
WE'RE BACK BABY!!
A lot of knowledge was dropped this episode, though we already knew a good deal of it from before, it was nice to get a recap for those who may not have taken part in the twitch marathon for a refresher course. Lionheart seems like a cool guy, too bad he's already been compromised by the enemy. Good job on his VA for doing some solid work.
Ilia and Blake definitely have some previous history with each other, and I'm sure that will be expanded upon as we progress further into the season. That scene had the subtlety of a steamroller in trying to convey that those two were quite close back in the day. Give me the yuri lore rooster teeth, give it to meeeee!
Having the ability to watch RWBY from start to finish all in one go has really shown to me how much Weiss has changed and why she remains to be one of my favorite characters as her developments come incredibly natural. Even though her time in this episode was fairly short, the fact that she wanted her pilot to take her down to the ground to save those in trouble speaks volumes about how much she has matured from the prissy little heiress that we met back in Volume 1. And seriously, I cannot wait to see her knight summon fuck shit up. Let's go!
After the last shot of her in the previous volume I figured Yang was going to search for her mother again, and it appears this time she will be successful in doing so. I'm very interested in seeing how their relationship will play out, because from what we've seen of Raven so far, she doesn't strike me as the type who is either willing or able to express her softer side -- something that I would love to see in her interactions with Taiyang back in the day-- so I'm curious as to how she will interact with Yang, as the latter will obviously have a number of questions about her, most importantly: why did she abandon her family? And for real, they better touch upon the first meeting they had back at the end of Volume 2. I want answers! More importantly, I want my Bumbleby reunion! Did you see that Bumblebee team up move at the end of that intro/outro? 4th dimensional subtext yuri chess baby! Believe!
Ilia and Blake definitely have some previous history with each other, and I'm sure that will be expanded upon as we progress further into the season. That scene had the subtlety of a steamroller in trying to convey that those two were quite close back in the day. Give me the yuri lore rooster teeth, give it to meeeee!
Having the ability to watch RWBY from start to finish all in one go has really shown to me how much Weiss has changed and why she remains to be one of my favorite characters as her developments come incredibly natural. Even though her time in this episode was fairly short, the fact that she wanted her pilot to take her down to the ground to save those in trouble speaks volumes about how much she has matured from the prissy little heiress that we met back in Volume 1. And seriously, I cannot wait to see her knight summon fuck shit up. Let's go!
After the last shot of her in the previous volume I figured Yang was going to search for her mother again, and it appears this time she will be successful in doing so. I'm very interested in seeing how their relationship will play out, because from what we've seen of Raven so far, she doesn't strike me as the type who is either willing or able to express her softer side -- something that I would love to see in her interactions with Taiyang back in the day-- so I'm curious as to how she will interact with Yang, as the latter will obviously have a number of questions about her, most importantly: why did she abandon her family? And for real, they better touch upon the first meeting they had back at the end of Volume 2. I want answers! More importantly, I want my Bumbleby reunion! Did you see that Bumblebee team up move at the end of that intro/outro? 4th dimensional subtext yuri chess baby! Believe!
Stead Fast
Banned
So, here's my thoughts.
Tl;dr potentially a fresher re-imagining of how to start a RWBY volume, potentially a worse. When it comes to shows I love like this, I still steer towards the positive, so I'm looking forwards to next week.
Whilst it was perfectly sound to show us a bit on Mistral's social and physical structure, this was all information that was put across to us well enough in WoR. It's not that it's done bad here, in fact it gives, say, a casual follower of the show the core essential of this kingdom's premise; the mountain, and how far up it you are signifies how far away you are from the poorer and criminal parts of society. I guess my gripe is that, given RWBY has a short airing time each volume, and (whilst I know this episode has 23 minutes to it) a smaller airing time per chapter, this was treading the same piece of exposition we got over a year ago. Had I avoided WoR this would've been a much more interesting scene, but it was 2 or 3 minutes of air that I just sat knowing more or less what Qrow was saying before he finished talking.
Haven looks fine in animation, but it's a bit bland. Even during RWBY's hayday Beacon looked a whole lot more identifiable and unique since it was a castle of sorts. We've seen so much or rural Mistral at this point that the parts of Haven we were shown here look, well, generic: white, non descriptive walls with dark roofs. I'm not too concerned here, since Lionheart's office alone seems to have more character, and we've seen one or two externals thus far so I am sure there's more to say about the school as the volume goes on.
Lionheart, I dunno, for the cowardly lion he commands too much presence in his scenes - outside of the fact that he falls over when he encounters Qrow. Here you portray him like the Cowardly Lion, but from that moment onward you don't make him more bumbling and unsure of himself like - to use a Harry Potter comparison as it was kinda what I expected him to be like - Professor Slughorn. That would be a guy who is, to Watts, a pushover compared to Ozpin. Not devious or motivated by self-preservation, but lacking in courage when not surrounded by allies. Once he's on his feet he seems a lot more rock-steady, and whilst it was obvious that he's feeding info to Watts, his plan made sense, sense enough that I'd disagree with Qrow: Oz was all about taking precautions and not rushing into danger, he'd have wanted them to wait had he been headmaster of a stretched Kingdom lacking Huntsmen.
I like the fact they're addressing just how fucked the whole world was following the fall of Beacon. It's only really the second time an outside source spoke of the fall, the other being Jacque and the Atlas fundraising crowd, and considering they were themselves Atlas, they didn't really buy the portrayal their own robots turned on people as intended by them. Seeing things from Mistral's point of view makes that whole segment so much more politically disturbing. It's something I hope they continue since I'm curious to see how far down the rabbit hole Ironwood's paranoia and need for control will take him if he's continued to be viewed as a tyrant by the world at large.
Based on the trailer, I was convinced Weiss was gonna jump ship and summon after hearing that distress signal, a resolution to the pilots justified stance of "my ship, my rules" - as a matter of fact, that would've made for a great trailer in retrospect: what if Weiss were to find herself within Mistral's range (thereabouts) but had to walk the rest of the way since she ditched the ship, and found herself crossing paths with a) Raven or better yet b) Yang? I mean, we all want the four to reunite, but why not get the less dramatic reunions out of the way first? Odds are this is totally wrong and next we see of her she's landed in Mistral, but that shot of the knight flying down to battle has to go somewhere, and a lot of footage seemingly is from early in the volume based on this episode.
Blake... URGH! I dunno! She's doing something other than running away, taking a more proactive role in her own plot by whistle-blowing the White Fang to the other faunus. However, we learn this second hand from Blake telling Ilia. Why? Ilia (of whom I'm very fond of so far) didn't need to be here, at all, we already presume given her role in the White Fang she'd know about this anyway. The confrontation scene with Blake, Sun, and her father with those two foxes would've been a WAY BETTER first scene for Blake. For an episode that was deemed by Rooster Teeth to be conversation-filled, why not have a conversation with Qrow and Lionheart that is relatively light-hearted (if he were to be a bit more goofy), juxtaposed with a conversation filled with tension and threat like Blake openly revealing her hand to those foxes? At least that way there'd be a more dramatic ebb and flow to this than Blake and Ilia being all sad.
Yang's was fine. A little short, but fine. The only thing of note is, imo, she's was surely going for Ruby, but now it's heavily building up to her actually getting an audience with her mother. I'm all for it, sure, but after watching the Yang character short, and rewatching Volumes 2 and 4 last night, it makes me respect her a whole lot less if her whole shtick about not letting this search control her, when she clearly still has a lot of love and guilt about Ruby going alone, for her to start chasing Raven now. If this is the case (they could pull a bait and switch since Yang is still being vague by looking for "someone", and then noting Raven's name as an aside) I dunno if I'd be inclined to take her motivations seriously going forwards, since it's hypocritical to portray herself as Ruby's guardian and, when given a clear opportunity to live up to that, she chases her own goals regardless.
What were Ren, Nora and Jaune doing in the final scene? I often wonder this when characters are just... there before the events of a scene take place. Ruby establishes she's reading a comic, do they have, like 1 between the 4 and they're all waiting their turn? It's not even a nitpick, just a little funny especially since there's more life and vibrancy from damn near the same shot, but in the OP song. Glad we've got Oscar where he belongs already, and given the tone this scene looks to be a nice injection of awkward humour I've been waiting for from this show.
Finally, that OP. I can see what Chained Prometheus meant by the music, it's really strong, better for me than 3s or 4s. The animation is still more subdued but that clearly have a more anime-esque theme going here, and now trying too hard to make it fluid like last volume just comes off as weird. I like it on the whole, I won't be skipping it each episode so it's got that going for it above 3s and 4s.
Overall, I'd say I will like it based on what I get next week. A lot got said here, a lot of key points for the plot were established: We need to get Raven and the Maiden, We need to establish Oscar and his role in their plans, We need to get Weiss to Mistral, We need to get Yang to (hopefully) Mistral, We need to expose the White Fang in Managerie. Mission objectives defined early, so perhaps the next two or three episodes is them showing us, not telling us how they go about ticking these objectives off - I know Raven and the Maiden will likely be the final act of the volume, but the others are ripe with potential action. If episode 2 has this much talking again, this will be the weakest opening by a country mile. If one of the four do 'something', I'd feel this episode justified it's existence. I wasn't overly fond of Volume 3s premier fight, Volume 1s wasn't nearly as spectacular as, say, the Trailer fights, and whilst I liked the conclusion of Volume 4s, it was a bit lame. Honestly only the foodfight really delivered on RWBY's fighting standards as far as premiers are concerned. If Rooster Teeth can choreograph a fight like Qrow V Tyrion, they can still entertain. If they need to drop redundant and seemingly forced 'fighting' episodes to do this, then so be it.
I'm looking forwards to next week all the same.
Haven looks fine in animation, but it's a bit bland. Even during RWBY's hayday Beacon looked a whole lot more identifiable and unique since it was a castle of sorts. We've seen so much or rural Mistral at this point that the parts of Haven we were shown here look, well, generic: white, non descriptive walls with dark roofs. I'm not too concerned here, since Lionheart's office alone seems to have more character, and we've seen one or two externals thus far so I am sure there's more to say about the school as the volume goes on.
Lionheart, I dunno, for the cowardly lion he commands too much presence in his scenes - outside of the fact that he falls over when he encounters Qrow. Here you portray him like the Cowardly Lion, but from that moment onward you don't make him more bumbling and unsure of himself like - to use a Harry Potter comparison as it was kinda what I expected him to be like - Professor Slughorn. That would be a guy who is, to Watts, a pushover compared to Ozpin. Not devious or motivated by self-preservation, but lacking in courage when not surrounded by allies. Once he's on his feet he seems a lot more rock-steady, and whilst it was obvious that he's feeding info to Watts, his plan made sense, sense enough that I'd disagree with Qrow: Oz was all about taking precautions and not rushing into danger, he'd have wanted them to wait had he been headmaster of a stretched Kingdom lacking Huntsmen.
I like the fact they're addressing just how fucked the whole world was following the fall of Beacon. It's only really the second time an outside source spoke of the fall, the other being Jacque and the Atlas fundraising crowd, and considering they were themselves Atlas, they didn't really buy the portrayal their own robots turned on people as intended by them. Seeing things from Mistral's point of view makes that whole segment so much more politically disturbing. It's something I hope they continue since I'm curious to see how far down the rabbit hole Ironwood's paranoia and need for control will take him if he's continued to be viewed as a tyrant by the world at large.
Based on the trailer, I was convinced Weiss was gonna jump ship and summon after hearing that distress signal, a resolution to the pilots justified stance of "my ship, my rules" - as a matter of fact, that would've made for a great trailer in retrospect: what if Weiss were to find herself within Mistral's range (thereabouts) but had to walk the rest of the way since she ditched the ship, and found herself crossing paths with a) Raven or better yet b) Yang? I mean, we all want the four to reunite, but why not get the less dramatic reunions out of the way first? Odds are this is totally wrong and next we see of her she's landed in Mistral, but that shot of the knight flying down to battle has to go somewhere, and a lot of footage seemingly is from early in the volume based on this episode.
Blake... URGH! I dunno! She's doing something other than running away, taking a more proactive role in her own plot by whistle-blowing the White Fang to the other faunus. However, we learn this second hand from Blake telling Ilia. Why? Ilia (of whom I'm very fond of so far) didn't need to be here, at all, we already presume given her role in the White Fang she'd know about this anyway. The confrontation scene with Blake, Sun, and her father with those two foxes would've been a WAY BETTER first scene for Blake. For an episode that was deemed by Rooster Teeth to be conversation-filled, why not have a conversation with Qrow and Lionheart that is relatively light-hearted (if he were to be a bit more goofy), juxtaposed with a conversation filled with tension and threat like Blake openly revealing her hand to those foxes? At least that way there'd be a more dramatic ebb and flow to this than Blake and Ilia being all sad.
Yang's was fine. A little short, but fine. The only thing of note is, imo, she's was surely going for Ruby, but now it's heavily building up to her actually getting an audience with her mother. I'm all for it, sure, but after watching the Yang character short, and rewatching Volumes 2 and 4 last night, it makes me respect her a whole lot less if her whole shtick about not letting this search control her, when she clearly still has a lot of love and guilt about Ruby going alone, for her to start chasing Raven now. If this is the case (they could pull a bait and switch since Yang is still being vague by looking for "someone", and then noting Raven's name as an aside) I dunno if I'd be inclined to take her motivations seriously going forwards, since it's hypocritical to portray herself as Ruby's guardian and, when given a clear opportunity to live up to that, she chases her own goals regardless.
What were Ren, Nora and Jaune doing in the final scene? I often wonder this when characters are just... there before the events of a scene take place. Ruby establishes she's reading a comic, do they have, like 1 between the 4 and they're all waiting their turn? It's not even a nitpick, just a little funny especially since there's more life and vibrancy from damn near the same shot, but in the OP song. Glad we've got Oscar where he belongs already, and given the tone this scene looks to be a nice injection of awkward humour I've been waiting for from this show.
Finally, that OP. I can see what Chained Prometheus meant by the music, it's really strong, better for me than 3s or 4s. The animation is still more subdued but that clearly have a more anime-esque theme going here, and now trying too hard to make it fluid like last volume just comes off as weird. I like it on the whole, I won't be skipping it each episode so it's got that going for it above 3s and 4s.
Overall, I'd say I will like it based on what I get next week. A lot got said here, a lot of key points for the plot were established: We need to get Raven and the Maiden, We need to establish Oscar and his role in their plans, We need to get Weiss to Mistral, We need to get Yang to (hopefully) Mistral, We need to expose the White Fang in Managerie. Mission objectives defined early, so perhaps the next two or three episodes is them showing us, not telling us how they go about ticking these objectives off - I know Raven and the Maiden will likely be the final act of the volume, but the others are ripe with potential action. If episode 2 has this much talking again, this will be the weakest opening by a country mile. If one of the four do 'something', I'd feel this episode justified it's existence. I wasn't overly fond of Volume 3s premier fight, Volume 1s wasn't nearly as spectacular as, say, the Trailer fights, and whilst I liked the conclusion of Volume 4s, it was a bit lame. Honestly only the foodfight really delivered on RWBY's fighting standards as far as premiers are concerned. If Rooster Teeth can choreograph a fight like Qrow V Tyrion, they can still entertain. If they need to drop redundant and seemingly forced 'fighting' episodes to do this, then so be it.
I'm looking forwards to next week all the same.
Tl;dr potentially a fresher re-imagining of how to start a RWBY volume, potentially a worse. When it comes to shows I love like this, I still steer towards the positive, so I'm looking forwards to next week.
Just watched the Yang short, and I think this is the first time I really had a big problem with the combat post-Monty. It just didn't feel like that's how Yang fights, if that makes any sense.
Too much smooth movement and fluid transitioning between moves and not enough... I don't know, "pop?" To me Yang fights have always felt more like BANG popopopop paKOW, and this was too much sliding and spinning with no "hitstop" to borrow a fighting game term.
Too much smooth movement and fluid transitioning between moves and not enough... I don't know, "pop?" To me Yang fights have always felt more like BANG popopopop paKOW, and this was too much sliding and spinning with no "hitstop" to borrow a fighting game term.
Stead Fast
Banned
I know what you mean, she feels lighter and easier to toss around here. One of the many things that made the Neo fight so jaw-dropping was that Neo doesn't really land many hits on her, just redirects Yang's own weight against her flawlessly. Yang looks heavy in that fight. If she got one punch in she'd have likely ruined someone as petite as Neo. You were constantly waiting for that punch to land, because both visually and instinctively, Yang had done enough in RWBY fights to show her punches are as loud, flashy, satisfying and brutal as fuck. She's well grounded in all her others too, if she's airborne it's by her own making, or she's immediately regaining central balance, and just uses any throws, knockbacks, or launches she receives as a form of momentum (think back to that scene in her Yellow Trailer where she gets flung back by those two girls, only to propel forwards with the help of her gauntlet's blast, or when she managed to take Flynt's trumpet waves through sheer stength and momentum). She's never far from being back on her two feet at any one time, whereas here you could mistake her for Ruby given how agile she is.
That being said, this is actually a bit more of what I would like from Yang going forwards. It might be from the lack of the shoulders pads in her new outfit, but in her Volume 5 attire she looks lighter, and her old model being re-imagined in Maya only exaggerates this for me. If she took some of Tai's lessons to heart, it may be more prudent to be less of a bulky power-house that she originally was since she was often screwed over by that tactic. It's just weird to see it be expressed during a very clear flashback.
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