#rwby analysis

I really like how, in the Yellow Trailer, basically everything in Junior's club is red, white, black, or some combination of the above - the three colors of the previous trailers and the colors that made up almost all of the environment in those trailers (though red wasn't really a major part of the environment in the Red or White Trailers, it took until the Black Trailer for that, which also introduced the "lighting turns red to indicate violence will be happening" thing that the Yellow Trailer does too)

Anyway

We've got the red-white-black... and then there's Yang with her gold and orange and purple and brown, just completely standing out from her surroundings

Well

It is possible

Because these shots happen within minutes of each other, which means that thing has to be spinning ridiculously fast. I will be working that out after work today

Although that said, these shots should be taken with a grain of salt because if the way the Moon is shown in these here is actually how it appears in-universe... well, either those clouds are space clouds, or the Moon is inside Remnant's troposphere

This poem is the inspiration for Summer’s name and the source of the quote on her gravestone. It is quite an old poem, and looking through the actual text (see the Wikipedia article)…

The poem itself is, as the title says, about the last rose left now that summer’s gone and winter is coming.

It’s also about grief and loneliness and mortality – the first verse describes the last rose’s own bereavement and isolation, the second is a promise by the narrator to be with the rose in her grief and to mourn her when her own time comes, and the third and final verse is the narrator predicting their own impending death.

But right now, I’m focused less on interpreting the poem in general and more what its use could mean for RWBY – and straight away, there’s something that occurs to me.

'Tis the last rose of summer, / Left blooming alone; All her lovely companions / Are faded and gone; No flower of her kindred, / No rose-bud is nigh, To reflect back her blushes / Or give sigh for sigh!

This first verse could be describing Summer. We know very little about her, after all. But much more likely is that it’s describing not Summer herself, but her last Rose – Ruby.

Particularly the Ruby we’re presented with in the Red Trailer, who is wandering through the wintery wilderness alone after visiting a gravestone. Summer’s gravestone. Ruby is alone and grieving. Since the Red Trailer was made very early on, with very little nailed down, and that’s where the use of this poem is introduced, it would be fair to stop here… but the ideas and images in the Red Trailer were built upon and developed into the RWBY we all know and love, and its possible the poem did play a role there as well.

Looking more at the Ruby we see in the show, while it’s easy to assume that she actually doesn’t fit the poem after all, Ruby is lonely. She has her own loneliness, just as Weiss and Yang and Blake have theirs. She has to deal with people seeing her as the last remaining part of Summer, she’s quite possibly the last Rose and the last Silver-Eyed Warrior to keep both their life and their Silver Eyes… it wouldn’t be too loose a fit.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the next verse complicates this.

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one. / To pine on the stem; Since the lovely are sleeping, / Go, sleep thou with them; Thus kindly I scatter / Thy leaves o'er the bed, Where thy mates of the garden / Lie scentless and dead.

So, knowing the context for the “thus kindly I scatter” line completely changes what I think about that one. Until now, I thought it was from the perspective of the one being scattered, but now this is the one doing the scattering – like a mourner scattering the ashes – or in this case leaves - of the deceased. If we make Summer herself the subject of the poem, that suggests the narrator is someone mourning Summer – possibly Ruby. If we make Ruby the subject, as I suggested last paragraph, then… who’s scattering Ruby’s leaves?

And this is the point where I choose to shed all pretense at formality and confess that I read the line “I’ll not leave thee, thou lone one”, considered what that would mean if the lone one was Ruby, and immediately thought of Weiss as the narrator. I am now imagining Weiss, hopefully many decades post-canon, as the last surviving member of Team RWBY, at Ruby’s funeral.

And with that tangent over, on to the third and final verse:

So soon may I follow, / When friendships decay, And from love's shining circle / The gems drop away! When true hearts lie withered, / And fond ones are flown, Oh! who would inhabit / This bleak world alone?

Okay, first of all. Hi Atlas Arc (I’ve talked before about how I think that one of the things the Atlas Arc as a whole, and Volume 7 in particular, was about was “friendships decay[ing]”, while “gems drop away” could be applied to Ruby and Team RWBY as a whole falling in the Volume 8 finale).

Second of all, having read it in full, I actually think this is another case in RWBY of multiple interpretations applying simultaneously. Ruby is the subject – the last rose of summer, alone, grieving, away from Yang (flower of her kindred), scattering rose petals like leaves – and the narrator – the one mourning Summer Rose

Ah, the first episode of RWBY. I was around 13 when I first watched it, and looking back at it again with an adult perspective will be extremely fascinating. From here on out, I'm also going to be augmenting my RWBY Rewatches with information from the Director's Commentary, along with trivia from the RWBY Fandom Wiki if applicable. To avoid going "according to the Director's Commentary 🤓☝️" every two lines, just assume any factoid I say comes from the Director's Commentary. Capisce? Alright, here goes.

I know Hbomberguy isn't a fan of the intro, but I've always held a soft spot for it. It does so much at once! It front loads all the important details (humanity's origins, Dust, Grimm, a look at Remnant and the Four Kingdoms) so as to no detract from the action later on; It's storybook presentation fits thematically, seeing as so much of RWBY is based off of fairy tales; It hints at larger things in store, with the narrator's sudden cruel tone at the end marking her as an antagonist, and Ozpin's response suggesting a deeper relationship between the two. And taken by itself, Jen Taylor's performance is phenomenal. You may know her better as the voice of Cortana from the Halo games, and she was in L.A. at the time when she was called in to do the intro. She did a perfect take on the first try.

As great as the intro looks, the same can't be said for the rest. Frankly, this show is hideous. The animation from the Color Trailers was phenomenal, but they consisted mostly of Monty Oum directed fight scenes. Anything in RWBY that isn't a fight doesn't even look decent. Roman's walk cycle looks wonky, there's a general lack of lighting despite the scene taking place at night, and the background figures consist only of weird-looking shadow people (which RWBY Chibi would joke about years later). Everything looks like a particularly stiff early-2000's Miku Miku Dance video.

There are also numerous, nasty animation errors, like this random blank T-posing model standing in the middle of the street, Ruby's detached arm clipping through her sleeves, and (most egregiously) a visible constraint cube on Ruby's hand when she's eating from a plate of cookies.

If someone today tried to watch RWBY and dropped it on looks alone, I wouldn't hold it against them. I know a lot of RWBY fans have a huge cloud of nostalgia following them at all times, but I really need to reiterate that even if RWBY looks better down the line, the first couple of Volumes are rough to look at. From Frieren, Arcane, and basically any Pixar film, people generally expect better things from animation. Being turned off from the visuals in an auditory-visual medium is no nitpick. But speaking personally as someone who grew up watching the early Volumes of RWBY, I don't mind the look of the show one bit. In fact, I find it charming and hilarious, like a toddler mispronouncing every word in a sentence.

(In fairness, Monty Oum was working on the Yellow Trailer at the same time as this episode. While this doesn't perfectly excuse the visual quality of the show, those animation errors can probably be chalked up as honest mistakes.)

So Roman and his goons waltz into the Dust store and steal some Dust from Shopkeep. Oh, Shopkeep! In case you've forgotten, Shopkeep is a background character from the earlier Volumes whose whole joke was that he had a different job in every appearance. He's a joke character, but a damn good one.

The voice actors for these goons aren't great, but I can look past that. According to the Volume 1 Cast Commentary, they're apparently voiced by kids from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Yes, the CAST Commentary, which is different from the Director's Commentary. Supposedly there are also Cast, Animator and even Technician Commentaries from the Volume 2 Blu-ray. There's basically no information about these other Commentaries online, and I would LOVE to know more about them someday.

Now this is where the animation starts kicking into gear. 3D CGI shines best when showing off minute mechanical transformations, making Ruby's unfolding weapon look especially badass, and the Ruby's fight itself is short but sweet. And look, I know how awful he was and how much trouble he caused for Roosterteeth, but Gray Haddock does a fantastic job here as Roman. Roman was originally going to be a much smaller character when the first five episodes were being written, but Haddock's charismatic, luscious performance cemented him as a big player. Thank goodness.

I really love the shot of the moon here. Apparently Remnant's moon is broken because Monty thought it would look cool. I agree. Enormous, weird looking moons are a cliche that I happily eat up every time.

A huge Bullhead comes up seemingly out of nowhere to save Roman, but when he tries to blow Ruby up, she's saved in the nick of time by Glynda. We see our first good look at Cinder in the cockpit, and she switches places with Roman to fight Glynda. Glynda and Cinder pull off all sorts of wacky bullshit against each other, like shooting lasers out of their hands, creating storm clouds that rain metal-piercing crystals, shaping concrete debris into spears, and summoning pillars of fire. Glynda's Semblance is merely telekinesis, so for the sake of sanity I'm going to chalk all this up as Glynda using Dust and Cinder using her half-maiden powers.

This part where Ruby asks Glynda for an autograph is interesting to me. Huntresses and Huntsmen having celebrity status is a cute idea that had some focus in the early Volumes. Pyrrha, famously, had her face on a cereal box, and there are cheering Coco fangirls in the Vytal Tournament. It's a detail that's been mostly ignored in the later Volumes, so I wanted to point it out here.

Instead of an autograph, Glynda decides to berate her, but she's not the only one in the office. Ozpin comes in with a plate of cookies and his iconic mug of coffee, noting Ruby's Silver Eyes (this is what we call foreshadowing). Dialogue is exchanged revealing a bit of worldbuilding detail, like how Signal is a beginner school before Beacon, how Ruby's uncle, Qrow, was a teacher who taught her how to use a scythe there, and that her sister, Yang, is also training to be a Huntress. As Ruby is yapping, an important thought struck me; I really, really like her voice here. It's still high pitched, but she actually sounds like a normal human being, as opposed to her Elmo-huffing-helium modern voice. Odd to think that Ruby's voice is deepest when she's at her youngest.

Ozpin, as eccentric headmasters are so wont to do, enrolls Ruby to Beacon immediately, and we smash cut to Yang embracing her little sister on the airship to Beacon.

A fun detail, Dustin Matthews animated Yang's boob bounce here. Thank you, Dustin, very cool.

A news report is shown talking about Roman Torchwick's recent crimes, but more importantly is our first look at the uncontested best girl in all of RWBY, Lisa Lavender! She's super funny because she only appears three times in the whole show and her look changes every time until she has a 3D model in Volume 4. This is her first and worst appearance. Aside from her eyes, she doesn't fit into the show's art style at all. As for what she's actually saying, it's just some stuff about the Faunus and the White Fang. Nothing to say there, clunky racism metaphor, yada yada yada.

Glynda introduces herself to the students via hologram, and we see some city shots that aren't as gorgeous as the passenger reactions may warrant. We do see the airship itself though, which looks nice. I've always found the look of RWBY's tech to be the most underrated part of the show. It doesn't look especially unique, but with all the glowing lights, improbable shapes, and mostly white colors, the look embodies the platonic ideal of "cool sci-fi shit."

And look over there. Jaune. Oh boy, I can already tell that I'm going to be talking about him a LOT in the following posts.

The episode ends with the airship coming up to a genuinely stunning view of Beacon from the backside, with its enormously precarious cliff and port at the bottom.

As with any serious anime, the first episode ends off with the OP. I just think it's fine. The music is totally banging, but the visuals mostly consist of characters posing around or moving about, and there's this goofy, hideous, shaky, desaturated, in-and-out of focus filter over everything. I do like how it references the Color Trailers (there's even a cameo of Adam that I never realized was there), and we see some first looks at characters that won't appear for some time, like Summer Rose, Mercury, and Emerald.

In response to the announcement that Volume 10 of RWBY has been greenlit, I have decided to celebrate by writing my long-overdue analysis of the Volume 4 Character Short.

The Volume 4 Character Short was released on October 3rd, 2016, via Entertainment Weekly, Youtube, and Rooster Teeth website.

Now, try to remember what the mindset was during that time. Monty Oum was dead. Beacon was destroyed. The status quo established for two seasons was gone. For 8 months since Volume 3’s “The End of the Beginning” aired on February 13th, 2016. Then, on October 3rd of that year, we get this.

A lone figure in a red cloak, walking through the woods. Look familiar? 

Functionally, the V4 Short acts as an extended callback to the aesthetic of the Red Trailer. Ruby Rose, all by herself, approaches a cliff. But she’s not visiting any graves. Ruby’s world has expanded significantly since that solitary pilgrimage to her mother’s memorial. 

To drive this home, our next shot is within the village seen from the cliff. Houses are on fire, people are fleeing from the Beowolf Grimm. Immediately we go to a close-up on Ruby’s face, suggesting that she sees what we see.

As Nevermores fly by, Ruby uses Crescent Rose to hitch a ride. Yet another callback, this time to the initiation at Beacon Academy. Ruby and Weiss tried to ride a Nevermore back then, but lost control. Here, Ruby not only rides her Nevermore with ease, but kills it once she’s done. Remember, it took all of Team RWBY working together to kill their Nevermore back in “Players and Pieces”.

On the whole, the Character Short is a demonstration of how much Ruby has grown since leaving Vale. And she shows it off with gusto. There’s a great bit where Ruby destroys a statue of a hooded figure and takes its place, symbolizing how Ruby is slowly growing to replace the old regime.

I won’t bore you with a blow-by-blow analysis of Ruby’s battle with the Beowolves, but I would like to point out a few good moments. First off, Ruby’s opening move is to show off how her Semblance has evolved. Far from merely a boost in speed, she’s now a fluid storm of petals. And while she’s dicing up most of the Grimm, one Beowolf tries chucking rocks at her from a distance. I feel this symbolizes that outside the kingdoms, even basic Grimm are smarter and more dangerous. Of course, this also gives Ruby a chance to demonstrate her Semblance’s splitting technique to catch it off guard. So while more difficult, it’s just more of the Red Trailer, right?

Wrong. This big boy shows up. He’s not only bigger, faster, and stronger than a Beowolf, but this killer ape is way more durable. The Crescent Rose that could cleave through Beowolves can’t even scratch the Beringel (What the Grimm is called in official lists). And what’s more, at one point it chucks Beowolves at Ruby- not as an attack, but to create an opening to ambush her. Ruby is put on the back foot, going from fighting mooks to a boss in the blink of an eye. A boss that smashes her down once it gets close enough.

I would say that this whole ordeal represents how the enemies of the series are getting stronger and more dangerous- or maybe they’ve always been this monstrous, and we’re just learning about them now.

But just like in the end of the Beacon Saga, just because Ruby falls doesn’t mean she has to stay there. She rises, and throws herself back into the fight. And changes tactics.

I like how Ruby’s next moves are designed to throw the Beringel off-balance, using her scythe to trip it, then her speed to push it into the air. All so she can put herself into position for the final blow.

After killing the Beringel, Ruby gets a call from Team JNR, reminding us that she’s no longer alone. Especially with more Grimm to fight.

Creativity and our ability to express ourselves are what define our individuality, what defines humanity as a species.

There's a reason why authoritarian systems always long to squash creativity. Things like imagination, dreams, and the expression of one's ideals are antithetical to an authoritarian mindset.

Then you have the concept of names coming from colors and how the color spectrum has always embodied diversity.

On top of that, you have the cold, calculating logic of some characters and the any-means-necessary mentality that exists with the assumption that understanding is impossible. Adam denies the very idea of coexistence and understanding. Raven denies the concept of weakness and communication. Ozpin embodies control and the necessity of secrets. Jacques forfeits weakness and empathy for profit and power. Characters like that exist within the story to tell the protagonists that understanding and empathy are not only impossible but detrimental. In hindsight, the likes of Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Blake stand as the polar opposites to those viewpoints.

Creativity, empathy, and diversity are key aspects of human nature that run counter to destruction and hatred. It's what justifies our existence, what can balance out the infinite amount of evil we unleash into the world.

That sounds like such a natural endgame focus! Literally having different colors overcome division and hatred!

Why are we not seeing Salem's outlook towards humanity explored this way? Why are we not seeing her belief be shown-not-told via the self-destructive nature of the worst of humanity? And afterward, why are we not seeing the narrative actually build a counter-argument to her nihilism?

We started the show with her narrating about human nature, we had WoR segments with her and Ozpin pondering the nature of humanity, and yet, where do we end up?

Instead, we have pseudo-religious Brother Gods and Chosen Ones appointed by (yet another) god, with the endgame being pseudo-biblical endtimes judgement by "gods" using magical McGuffins.

We wasted the Kingdom known for discrimination, racism, and classism by just having it be a backdrop for nothing, as we have our characters job to a pillar and then have a disappointing sea monster fight and slap a child, as they rush to the next place.

We turned the symbol of Faunus discrimination and the hell that they live in into a fun, cozy tropical paradise. And into a Twitter post about "burning and looting being bad".

We wasted the Kingdom known for corporate greed, Faunus discrimination, calculating logic, and human folly by just sidelining any semblance of conflict for the sake of some character assassination, Four Magical McGuffins, and a Giant Monster.

We literally destroyed the Kingdom of Everything's Fine Centrism offscreen in a PowerPoint presentation.

Why? Where are the themes? Where's the continuity? Where's the debate, the counter-arguments being presented by the narrative? Where's the villain's point being made apparent? Where are the arguments the good guys can use to counter it? Where are characters facing their own flaws and mistakes? Where's the character conflict embodying their ideals? Where are the characters having to overcome their differences? Where's the exploration of trust and how hard it is to come by? Where's the thematic crux of the story?

You'd think those would be the first things the show would figure out before jotting down any subplots up ahead...

Yet...

In the comments of my video criticizing the constant bad faith hostility in Hbomberguy’s RWBY video, I was directed to Kaiser Shonen’s video criticizing the fandom for what is perceived as our “obsession” with Hbomberguy.

Specifically, one of his main criticisms is that he feels we complain a lot without meaningfully addressing the issues we complain about.

This is one reason I’m very happy @armedweiss actually went through FRWBY and documented their thoughts. Being able to talk about and cite specific things from direct experience offers a much stronger base on which to criticize something.

To my surprise, at the end of the video Kaiser actually directs people to my channel, and not for negative reasons. He points people to my channel as a way to show how when someone puts in the work to offer counter-narratives (specifically on YouTube, where RWDE thrives), the FNDM doesn’t show up to support it to nearly the same degree as RWDE shows up for something like FRWBY.

And you know what? He’s right. We are perfectly capable of showing up in droves, and yet we do not do so consistently.

We also don’t make active and positive analysis on YouTube to nearly the same degree. I’d argue the depth of the analysis here on tumblr could be wonderfully adapted into essays on YouTube, but regardless the point is that one might argue to some degree we’ve ceded that platform in regards to analysis.

The FNDM often show up for reactors (though that’s not always consistent either) and to some degree for AMVs, but analysis like mine or Xel Writer’s on YouTube is both rare and not consistently supported with the numbers we know the FNDM has.

In contrast, here on tumblr one can often rely on at the very least a half-decent ecosystem of reblogs—at least in my experience.

Anyways. Something to consider.

(Within Ice Queendom, which is itself a surprisingly source-accurate adaptation of The Snow Queen, unlike certain Disney movies one might name, the Mirror is represented by the Nightmare, which also represents the Snow Queen. In the main show, those roles are covered by Jacques and Winter respectively)