Ah, Studio Shaft, how I loved you. From the Monogatari series, to 3-gatsu no Lion, to Madoka Magica, I have enjoyed many of the amazing shows from Shaft that really pushed the boundaries of animation and storytelling. Let’s be real though, they haven’t been on their A-game for a while, and although RWBY’s visuals are a clear improvement to the original from Rooster Teeth, I can’t say that any other aspects were all that impressive and immersive.
This show is a bit of an enigma to me, because it feels drawn out and rushed at the same time. The first couple of volumes were rushed in the beginning, then we’re in the same setting for basically two-thirds of the entire series, and the pacing of the fights and the conclusion to the entire thing felt so quick.
My grading criteria: Story: /25 Art: /10 Music: /10 Characters: /20 Enjoyment /15 Thematic Execution /20
STORY: 10/25
The story is quite simple to understand. The world is being ravaged by the Grimm, which are nightmare-esque creatures that seek to put humans and the demi-human Faunus under their spell. Academies were established to train young people to hunt down the Grimm, to protect the world.
15 year old Ruby Rose always aspired to be one of these hunters, and had dreams to go to the prestigious Beacon Academy, but being too young, she couldn’t, until she fought off robbers and caught the attention of the academy headmaster.
This first part was probably the more enjoyable part of the series, and then after Ruby entered the school, Weiss, a member of team RWBY, fell victim to the Grimm, the main characters entered her dream, and found an entirely new world inside there. The power systems, the action, and the little backstories that we learned about were interesting, but since most of the show took place in this dream, it felt quite bland over time.
The biggest issue in the narrative lies in the pacing. The pacing at the start was excruciatingly fast, to adapt the first few volumes of the original RWBY series, and then, the pacing was a mix of being rushed and drawn out, as the dream sequence lasted for quite some time, and any resolution and conclusion felt half-baked and too simplistic.
ART: 8.5/10
Although not perfect, the animation was probably one of the stronger points of this show, especially at the start of the series. There were definitely some signs of degradation in the quality as the show progressed, with blends of 2D and 3DCG which felt awkward, but overall, I enjoyed watching the visuals.
MUSIC: 8.3/10
The OST hits hard in the important moments, and it’s solid, but the music seemed a bit underused. The OST direction could have been handled a bit better for better immersion, but it wasn’t bad. The opening from Void_Chords was okay, but compared to something like the OP from Princess Principal, it felt a bit lacking. The ending from well sung by Saori Hayami, though I wasn’t the biggest fan of it.
For a series that was heavily praised for its OST, I can’t help but just be a little disappointed. It’s still decent though.
CHARACTERS: 8.5/20
There’s nothing inherently wrong with the characters themselves, but I just found them very boring to watch. The traits each character has are very simplistic and don’t have enough depth. I think that some things could have been flushed out a bit better, such as Weiss’s backstory, or the relationship between the humans and the Faunus. Overall, quite forgettable characters, and I would imagine the original series wrote the characters a bit better than this series did.
ENJOYMENT: 7.5/15
I enjoyed some of the action sequences, but I found myself checked out at times, as I didn’t enjoy some of the pacing.
THEMATIC EXECUTION: 9.5/20
The pacing once again hurts the execution of the themes of the show. Like I said, some elements could have been flushed out more, and while sakuga can save the show a little, it can’t save it all.
OVERALL: 52.3/100
I have never watched the original RWBY by Monty Oum, but for one, I can say that he’d probably be proud of the visuals. The ideal combination would obviously be using these levels of visuals with the original storyboarding from Rooster Teeth. I can’t speak on which version of RWBY is better, but what I can say is, this anime was quite the up and down ride, and quite the average one, so RWBY fans, maybe just stick to the original.
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