Webtoon Spotlight

Random spotlight #4:Rwby hot takes

Spoilers for rwby volumes 1-6

Have you ever had that one show or series that you would never stop gushing with your friends about? That show where you would ravenously watch and react to? Well, for a while, that was Rwby for me. I saw it during the Death Battle between Yang and Tifa, and there was just something so mesmerizing about it. Like it was the coolest thing ever without even showing it. And when I managed to find it on Netflix, I pretty much binged the show and fell in love. After the dramatic Volume 3 and intriguing Volume 4, I was pretty much-expecting something least on oar with it. Then Volume 5 happened, and with the birth of my cynical and negative view of myself that is only quenched by picking apart everything I once loved, I realized this show wasn't perfect. And by the time the volume finished and I went to 6, my view of the show had changed from love to disappointment.

If the cards were played right, Rwby honestly could have been a flipping phenomenon that rivaled the big ones at the time. Though now I don't know where it's going honestly. Which is a shame because I think the biggest words that often are followed with this show is wasted potential. There are so many ideas that are so intriguing and interesting, but they honestly just keep getting wasted, which is why I think Volume 6 was for many the straw that broke the camel's back. I think the frustrating thing about Rwby as a whole is that it's a seemingly consistent thing is that it is vastly inconsistent at times. And hopefully, I can show why that can be something that breaks a show. I will try and be as unbiased as I can with this so I can get my point across and try not to anger the most amount of people. I am trying not to make this a rant book and as such, will try and get all my feelings out in one chapter.

Pros

If you weren't drawn in by rwby's seemingly gorgeous action, I would call you the world's biggest liar. The shows first two volumes are hand downs, some of the best action that I will ever see in my goddamn life. Monty Oum was and still is such a downright god of animation, and there is going to be a part of me that will always miss what we could've gotten from him if he was still with us. And while I know he will never know it, he is one of the people that inspired me to try to bring my stories to life. Every fight scene in this show had such high energy, characterization, variety, and synching with the music that it shows why animation is such a respected art form.

Rwby also has some of the best characterizations out there. Because of the combined fairy tale/color rule to the naming, every character feels utterly unique and specialized in their way. And having their weapons and semblances tie into their colors make the naming all the more important. Though I will admit that some of these names and colors completely went over my head(Looking at you JNPR).

Finally, the soundtrack is honestly the only thing that hasn't degraded. Volume 6,2 and 4 are my faves of the soundtrack. It does just highlight a fight scene or character whenever I replay. Unfortunately, with all that gone, we now have to go to the cons.

Power scaling

Rwby started as a fun action show with little plot, so I'm not expecting the scaling to be perfect, but this is just plain sad. Miles and Kerry have stated that Oscar in Volume 5 was stronger or as strong as Mercury and Emerald even though one was a trained mercenary, and the other has one of the most op semblances ever. And while yes an old man is hiding inside of him it shouldn't improve his overall physical abilities all that much. And speaking of Volume 5 and 6, can we just talk about how both victories for these finales feel so unearned? The big fights in 5 were basically 2 fully powered maidens, one of which at least being comparable to Qrow and being experienced with her power, A guy who should be comparable to Tyrian who was about Qrow's equal and was stronger than all of team Rnjr, a headmaster who should be a highly skilled huntsman and finally 3 other huntsman who are either just as strong as the main heroes or stronger. Yet even though our main heroes are essentially high school dropouts, a person who has never fought before and an actual professional huntsman, the bad guys are all get trounced off screen.