The longer I got into the first episode alone only hammered down the fact that early RWBY thrived on the charm of being an animated internet show made with sticks, a few rolls of twine, and some Elmer’s glue, while also being blessed with a soundtrack way to good for its own good, and the creative mind of Monty Oum with its action scenes. While this just feels so… lifeless. It’s also pretty clear that this was not anywhere near to being a priority for Shaft, as this show looks more in line with something from Lidenfilms or Silver Link.
In the first three episodes, they took 2 hours' worth of content and crammed it into an hour's worth. Obviously, this creates a lot of pacing issues. And they try to remedy this with some of the most hand-holding dialogue they could’ve thought up. There are a number of moments in the original show where shits just kinda shown to you and your left to figure that shit out for yourself cause well, you do have eyes don’t you? But this shit spells it out to you every chance it gets. And I’m not gonna act like OG RWBY had great writing, no way, but it at least felt better than whatever this is. And all throughout the first few episodes, little charming moments from the original show are cut constantly. Like one example, the fight in the Dust Store, when Ruby turns her headphones off after going outside while stopping the robbery. Yea it’s such a little moment but it helped sell the scene and added charm. A charm that Ice Queendom severely lacks, even after getting to the anime-only stuff.
After the first 3 episodes that largely butcher its source material, we get to the real meat of the show. And the meats been left out too long and gone bad. What basically happens without spoiling too much of the show is, Weiss gets caught in an endless dream thanks to a monster, so the rest of team RWBY has to go into her dream with the help of a new character who’s so bland I can’t bother to even look her name up, and save Weiss from the monster and wake her from her dream of being a Neo-Nazi. No, I’m not kidding. In the world of RWBY, this makes no sense, which says a lot if you’ve seen the OG show, but I’ll try to give it some leeway here… just a little… no this still sucks. And it goes on for forever because Ruby apparently forgets about her semblance for a while and is going at this in the hardest way imaginable to try and save Weiss and waste our time in the process.
Visually, aside from the action scenes, this show looks so bland and lifeless. Character movements are stiff, the art for the characters goes down in quality constantly, and for a show made by Studio Shaft, this is one pathetic ass looking show. Even in the action scenes, when the show does look good, the directing of each scene is so uninterested to follow, especially in comparison to the originals action scenes. Also quick question. Why does the CG in the show look worse than anything the original had to offer back in 2013? There are some points where it’s not too bad but that’s when it’s used at a distance and not up close. I’ve seen shows that are look worse and move worse but by the standards of the studio that made this, to say I’m less than impressed is an understatement.
I won’t harp on this for too long cause the music in the anime is actually pretty decent with a couple of songs I’ll probably listen to again later on but damnit man most of the time this shit just sounds like any other anime OST. My favorite part of the original RWBY is the OST, I’ve listened to it too many times for my own good so yes there is a bias here but that doesn’t change the fact that this has got some generic ass music. It doesn’t sound bad, it doesn’t stick out in a bad way, and most of it largely fits fine enough but not enough for me to wanna listen to it again. The rendition of Mirror Mirror here is pretty good though ngl. And while I know this is mainly a story about Weiss and her bs and having her song, Mirror Mirror, here should be enough… but the fact that Red Like Roses and This Will be the Day are absent from this is as disappointing as you’d think.
I’m not the biggest RWBY fan, I haven’t kept up with it at all since the end of Season 5, it lost my interest, didn’t care for the directions the show was headed, the charm was gone, I didn’t care anymore. I didn’t expect this to be that good, but it didn’t even live up to the low expectations I had for it. I don’t see old fans of RWBY enjoying this, I don’t see current fans enjoying it, I don’t think you’d enjoy it if it were your first experience with RWBY, it’s just nothing shy of disappointing. I’ve seen shows that do look worse, and sound worse, but that doesn’t make this any better. I was hoping this was at the least be a guilty pleasure show for me but I come out the other side feeling nothing but disappointment for a show I had little expectations for.
