One of the things I love most about RWBY is that the experience of introducing the show to someone and watching it with them for the first time is tremendously satisfying in a way that I feel is truly unique.
Like, obviously different people have different reactions to RWBY. Some people are hooked straight away, some people never get into it. But one of the most common trajectories for people watching RWBY for the first time is to think Volume 1 is trash, Volume 2 is slightly better but still trash, and Volume 3 is actually pretty good. This doesn’t sound that unique when I lay it out like this, but let me frame this in a more narrative fashion.
You are a RWBY fan. You post about the show constantly. You’ve watched the show multiple times and know it inside and out. You have at least one ship that occupies permanent real estate in your brain. This alone is not satisfying, it does not fully scratch the itch in your brain. You need someone to share your passion with, you need a friend who’s as deep into it as you are.
You tell your friends that they should watch it. They laugh at you. You swear it gets way better after season one and takes a bunch of twists they never expect. No one believes you. The animation looks like someone strung together all the cutscenes from an old Tales Of game. The voice acting and sound mixing is almost unlistenable. The writing is agonizing. It’s just trying so, so hard to be anime and falling so flat. Also there’s catgirl racism. There is no way this show can ever get good.
Not only do they think the show is bad, but you now look like a crazy person for liking it. What does this say about your taste? About what you prioritize in a piece of media. You feel like you’re going insane.
Not only does no one believe you, but no one will ever believe you.
But then, one of your friends decides to give it a shot. Maybe they’re willing to watch it drunk for a laugh, like how people watch The Room or Birdemic. You’ll take what you can get. The two of you struggle your way through Vol 1. They mock the show at every turn. They alternate between hysterical laughter and stunned disbelief. “How could they possible publish this?” “How could ANYONE think this was good?” You think about defending the early Volumes on the basis of low budgets and a rushed production schedule. You decide to hold your tongue. It will only make you look worse.
Volume 2 goes a little easier. They’re halfway between laughing at the show and laughing with it. The lack of shadow people is a welcome sight. The fight with the Atlesian Paladin is actually pretty cool. Burning the Candle is… surprisingly well executed. But they’re still not sold. The show is still trash, it’s just slightly less trash than before. They’re still watching for a laugh. You rub your hands together like Birdman knowing what comes next.
You watch Volume 3. At first it’s more of the same. Maybe they notice the lighting improvements. Maybe they comment on how the dialogue feels a bit more natural now. Still, they struggle to see how anyone could make this a fundamental aspect of their personality. What could posses someone to become fixated on a show which is, at its best, decidedly meh?
You watch Beginning of the End.
“huh, this is weirdly dark for this show.” You sense their mood begin to shift. You brim with anticipation.
“Holy shit” they say. “No fucking way.” You are practically vibrating with excitement.
You watch Battle of Beacon, then Heroes and Monsters, then End of the Beginning.
“What the fuck…. what the fuck….”
You are filled with glee.
“But she’s not like….. dead dead, right?”
Now they’re hooked. They actually care about these characters that just a few hours worth of content ago they saw only as shallow thrice-copied caricatures of anime archetypes. They are feeling real emotions about Yang and Penny and Pyrrha. They need to know what happens to RNJR. They need to know why Blake ran away. They need to know who the evil milf at the end of the episode is. “Fuck you” they say “fuck you for making me like this show.”
You have not just introduced them to RWBY you have inflicted it upon them. They now wear the shameful badge of being a fan of this show that the majority of the internet thinks is nothing but raw cringe. They have Opinions on ships they would have made fun of people for caring about just a few weeks prior. And they desperately, desperately, want to share this with someone else.
Because even though they know it gets good, there’s no way to communicate that without making someone experience it for themselves.
They feel like a crazy person for liking this show. They know it gets good.
But no one will ever believe them
