If this last episode just spins it all on its head and shows that rwby had condemned people in their haste to be the hero and made things worse, then I will hold my hands up and say I condemned the volume too soon. Itâll still be my least favourite, and this latest episode is still trash, but a good ending could potentially save what little interest I have in RWBY.
Wait what?? What did I miss with the vol 6 ending?? I don't follow neath or any rt on social media
neath basically hyped up the ending of vol6 on twitter, because what happened in the vol7 premiere was supposed to be the finale for vol6. we were supposed to land in mantle and see penny, and neath hyped it up on twitter with that in mind.
only for it not to happen, for the finale to be completely underwhelming and boring and for neath to look at best, as someone who got too into his own hype and at best, a liar who just wanted to hype people up for views. all of that couldâve been avoided if rt just said hey, we ballsed up on the episode and this isnât neathâs fault.
so in conclusion rt stop hyping up your shit bc you never deliver or you let your employees take the brunt of the shit bc youâre cowards
Well, that was... an episode. I honestly had difficulty writing this review and needed a few days to think things through properly, especially with the ending and some important characters coming back. So, letâs just get into it!
The biggest thing that jumped out to me was the Monochrome food. I loved it, Monochrome is one of my biggest OTPS, and the small details during that scene with Jacques and Weiss, as well as the rest of her teamâs reactions, they were just so good. Ruby seemed confused and upset, Yang was yangry, but Blake looked furious. She knows what itâs like to be in Weissâ shoes, and the hand holding just shows that sheâs there for Weiss, as well as the rest of the team.
Adding onto Rubyâs small expression changes with Weissâ counter to Jacques. Sheâs sad when Weiss says theyâre not friends, likely because not only is this coming off the revelation that Harriet doesnât see her team as friends, but reminds her of her and Weissâ less than great start in Beacon. Weiss wasnât there to make friends, and she and Ruby clearly didnât get along, so hearing her say that after everything they went through scared Ruby.
But thatâs not what Weiss meant. Ruby isnât her friend, because sheâs her family. With that last bit, Rubyâs expression completely changes to happiness because Weiss is acknowledging that, yes, Ruby is not only a teammate, a partner, and a friend, but sheâs Weissâ family.
Theyâre all Weissâ family now, and for someone who actually has the biggest family of the girls and yet felt the loneliest, that seemed like the best thing for Weiss at that moment. Jacques may be her father, but heâs not family.Â
It definitely makes up for the ballsup with Weissâ âWhite Guiltâ complex in the last episode that I really hated, and Iâm just glad for more interactions between the girls that arenât partners.
On top of that, the way Team RWBY is played off of the Ace Ops following Harrietâs confession is interesting. While Iâll note something that I didnât quite like later on, I did enjoy that how Ruby views her team and how Harriet views her team sets the two kingdoms apart nicely. Ozpin believed in working together, that your partner was someone you would have to trust and work with, along with your team, for the four years they were at Beacon, and even after they graduate.
He encouraged the girls to be children, to have fun and not worry about the war that was going on in the shadows, and itâs clear that above all else, he wanted the teams to be ones that work together not only professionally, but emotionally as well. It fits into not only his personality, but his whole goal. He wants everyone to be united and that starts with the students under his care.
James is more practical and professional. He treats Ozpin and Glynda like close friends, and heâs nice enough to Ruby and the other students, but he makes no mistake in letting them know that heâs the general and that heâs not their friend. He pushes for the Academy to funnel into the military, and isnât against Atlasâ push for unity and conformity regardless of what the individual might want.
Itâs reflected in their teachings. While Ozpin wants his students to remain kids and not worry, Ironwood already pushed for his students to be ready for war, regardless of whether theyâre still children or not. He told Penny in the earlier volumes that they were no longer at a time of peace, and that she had to be ready, and he was the most clinical and professional when telling Pyrrha their plan to take Amberâs remaining maiden powers. He isnât as callous as Qrow, but he doesnât try to soften the blow or show disapproval to the plan like Glynda and Ozpin.
So while Team RWBY have come to see their team as family thatâs gotten stronger because of all the hardships theyâve been through, the Ace Ops just see it as part of the job. Theyâre a team, they are supposed to protect and fight alongside each other, but that doesnât mean theyâre family. Yet itâs interesting that the rookie of the group, Marrow, doesnât seem to share that sentiment. It could be that he hasnât been in the mindset for very long or his personality just doesnât work with that ideal, but weâll have to wait and see if anything comes of it.
The only downside I have to it is that it wouldâve driven it home better if the Ace Ops didnât act so chummy with each other. I never wouldâve thought Harriet didnât consider her team friends from her interactions with Marrow last episode, with teasing him over the fact that they have to âbabysitâ him. Or how close Vine and Elm seem to be. It just wouldâve helped if they stayed professional with each other to counteract how close and personal with each other Team RWBYJNR are.
Moving onto the scene at Amity Arena, it was... there. I didnât hate it, I didnât like it. Iâm just... meh.
I did like that the group were interacting with each other outside of not only their partners, but their teams. It was nice to see Yang joking around with Penny, or that Weiss was chatting with Ren before Nora came in. It makes them actually feel like friends that want to talk to each other, rather than having to be in the same scene because theyâre the protagonists. However, I got annoyed because no one mentioned OSCAR. Heâs once again been shafted from the group.
No one even asks where he is, no one even thinks about saving him some cake, or sad that he couldnât join. It just makes it seem once again that the group just donât care about him, and after all the bullshit they put him through last Volume, Iâm beyond annoyed anymore. Please CRWBY, stop shafting my son.
I like that once again, Ruby is isolated herself from the group, just like she did in the Brunswick farm and after the fiasco with Jaune and Oscar in the last volume.
She seems to shoulder all her negative feelings by herself, but this time, rather than her just happening across Maria or Qrow busying himself with a drink, Qrow extends help out to her. Ruby is finally able to talk about whatâs bothering her and Qrow isnât thinking about his own problems without a care for anyone else like last volume. I was so happy when we finally got Summer lore after like seven volumes of hardly anything about her, and we see under the surface about how Ruby truly feels about her deceased mother.
Itâs not much, but Iâm glad itâs there. It was interesting that she kept secrets from her team and even Ozpin, and that the mission she died on wasnât one that Ozpin sent her on, so the annoying ass theory that heâs somehow responsible is taken out back and put down like Old Yeller. Though I do wish it was Taiyang and Ruby talking about her, just because thereâs barely any interactions between them despite Ruby also being his daughter, but it was only a mild thing for me. Overall, a very cute scene.
That being said, the topic about it... wasnât. It was trash.
Iâm tired of the whole âRuby lying is totally different to Ozpin lying!â because itâs really not, and Qrow trying to spin it that Ozpin was keeping the truth from everyone while Ruby is letting people in is... bullshit?
WHO has Ruby let in? She couldnât control whether her team, Qrow and Maria knew the truth because they were there when Jinn told her. She told Team JNR not because of any practical reason, but purely emotional reasons. She told them not because âOh theyâve proven they can be trusted so they can know now.â, but âTheyâre my friends and I have to tell them.â
She hasnât told anyone else. She hasnât told Penny, the Ace Ops, Winter, even Ironwood. When should she tell them? What do they have to do to prove to Ruby that they can be trusted? What about Penny sharing the very classified information about her being a robot to Ruby, or Ironwood telling them about his plans that only a hand selected few know? Is that not enough for Ruby to think âOkay, they trust me with this, so I should trust them.â
And Ozpin trusted the Pod Squad with way more than anyone else. They knew about Salem, the war, Maidens, Magic, the Gods, everything that Ozpin himself knew except that Salem canât be killed. And what would be the point of saying? Tell them that, freak everyone out, and just have them more likely to leave because thereâs no point, even though they can still do some good by protecting the people from the Grimm that definitely wonât leave even if they could kill Salem? Or keep it from them and have them continue fighting because otherwise what else could you do? Roll over and let everyone die?Â
And the worst thing is? Ruby lying wasnât a bad thing. It was interesting, I wanted to see how sheâd cope with knowing that maybe Ozpin had a reason to lie, that being betrayed over and over and over again for centuries has a way of fucking up someoneâs ability to trust, and that now sheâs in the leadership role without Ozpin to fall back on like in her Beacon days. Itâs a complex issue, and if this scene is just Qrow saying this and now feeling like the show itself is pushing it, then I would be fine.
Itâs how a character sees a problem. Just because Qrow believes that Rubyâs different from Ozpin doesnât mean itâs actually right, but Ruby isnât being challenged on that. Oscar isnât there to give that counter argument, and the rest of the team is so hypocritical that it would just annoy me if they did. Blakeâs kept secrets, Yangâs kept secrets, Qrowâs kept some pretty big secrets, and now with the latest episode, Weiss has a secret to keep as well.
That doesnât mean theyâre horrible people, and Ozpin keeping his doesnât make him an asshole like the team, and by extension some of the FNDM, likes to think.
I hope Team RWBY and Ozpin can reconcile, and not just have one or the other be the only one in the wrong. The way the show is going, however, Iâm worries that only Ozpin will be shown as in the wrong and have to apologise.
Moving on to the final scene, Iâm so happy that Whitley came home. I missed my son.
But more seriously, Iâm glad they actually showed that, yes, Whitley is being abused just like Weiss is, and without Weiss there for him to keep his walls up, weâre finally able to see him as the vulnerable teenager who scared and alone. His voice actor did great in portraying the nervousness and fear that Whitley was clearly feeling, and we know itâs not because of Watts because Whitley just sorta glares at him when he finally appears.
Itâs Jacques that Whitleyâs scared of. Even as the âGolden Childâ, Whitley isnât exempt from the same abuse that Winter and Weiss went through. Hereâs to hoping they donât throw yet another male abuse victim under the bus by making Whitley evil or something.
And on the topic of Watts, heâs just becoming more and more of my favourite villain. Hazel and Tyrian still outrank him, but these past two episodes have done more to endear him to me than the past three years heâs been in the show. Only downside is that âhave your cake and eat it too?â line felt kinda cheesy and didnât really bring home how intimidating Watts as a villain could truly be.
Given that Jacques knows him enough to call him by his first name, Iâm curious to see whatâs more for our Lorax Hacker Man.
So thatâs it. Definitely the best episode of the volume so far given that I couldnât find any BIG problems with it like the last episodes, and even though it was definitely slower, there was still tension in it without there being any fighting. Eddie did a great job with this episode and Iâm looking forward to more of his works.
Did Owlet get banned again? It says something about the FNDM that my first assumption (instead of being on vacation or something) is that they would all report her for having a f***ing opinion
Sheâs been banned like twice now but sheâs back!
It says a lot that sheâs now been back for a couple of weeks and hasnât been immediately banned again, lmao
Iâve now resigned to my fate of pushing out reviews a week after the actual episode came out. Still, at least other fans will have watched it before reading, so letâs just jump right in!
It seems that the episodes are gradually declining for me this volume. I didnât expect the third episode to be as good as the third episode of Volume 6, as that was my favourite out of the entire series. The bar was too high, so I didnât hold out too much hope to avoid being disappointed, and it seems that I made the right choice.
Onto the positives first, the biggest thing that I liked in this episode was the whole arc surrounding Ozpin and Ruby lying to Ironwood. The girls are moving away from the hive mind they all had in the previous volume, with different sides and views being taken. Yang and Oscar are not all that happy with Ruby lying, while Weiss and Blake acknowledge that they couldnât trust Ironwood with how far mentally heâs fallen.
Like I said in my previous review, Ruby isnât really in the right or the wrong for this. Itâs certainly hypocritical given that they were quick to demonize Ozpin for lying yet deciding that lying and withholding information is actually a good choice to make, but you can understand why she thought she had to do it.Â
Yang is really interesting in this scene. Iâm not angry with her, sheâs my favourite character, so Iâm more intrigued why she was the one to pipe up about Ruby lying. Yang is one who has a secret too, Raven being the Spring Maiden. Itâs a serious secret to keep given that Raven is essential to Salemâs plan, and with Cinder still kicking around and knowing Ravenâs secret, Iâm sure itâll come up eventually.
Even if the information canât be used right then and there, itâs not really Yangâs secret to keep, and she canât get angry at others for lying when sheâs lying by omission. Eventually, the group will have to learn that Ravenâs the Spring Maiden and that Yang knew, but Iâm not mad because this is an interesting flaw for Yang to have.
And Oscarâs question was amazing. Isnât that exactly what Ozpin did to us?
By Rubyâs reaction, she seems to know that sheâs doing what Ozpin did, what the group shouted and derided him for, and this is the perfect thing for Ruby to grow. She canât be naive anymore, she has to realise that being the leader means that she will have to make choices that arenât always whatâs right, and that she will make mistakes.Â
Moving on from that, I can safely say that CRWBY has bumped the Ace Ops in my list of favourite characters. I especially love Marrow, he reminds me more of Louis from The Walking Dead Game, and his and Harrietâs relationship is funny and cute. The fact that the Ace Ops clearly outrank the protagonists very much drives home that, no matter what they did to get there, they still have a long way to go before they can match the older Huntsmen, and Salemâs group.Â
A bit of world building in this episode is nice. The implied connection between the mine explosion and the explosion that killed Iliaâs parents make it feel connected, and that Ilia isnât just thrown into the void now that sheâs no longer useful.Â
Also, I will admit that some of the outfits donât look so bad in motion, compared to still images. The first one would be Jauneâs hair. I donât know what happened, but the person responsible picked the most unflattering angle for him when they first showed the models, but now that heâs moving around and showing it in different angles.
The same could be said for Weissâ braid. In some angles, it looks fine, but then when you see it when sheâs looking straight ahead or showing more of the right side of her face, you can see just how awkward and clumsy it looks. Itâs too far from her head, itâs rendered poorly, and I still donât like it. Overall, they are still my least favourite outfits in the series and CRWBY really dropped the ball on them.Â
The final positive I can say is that Tyrian continues to be my favourite villain in the volume. I missed him and was happy when he was in Volume 6, so now that heâs given more screen time and room to move without the surplus of villains bogging the pacing down, he continues to be up there in character and writing.
Onto the negatives, and there were plenty that lowered the overall quality of the episode for me.
On top of her design being my least favourite of the group, Blakeâs change being the only one to be acknowledges is... ugh. I actually think that Yangâs flustered attempts to compliment her was cute, but I donât like that Blakeâs change was the only one to be acknowledged, and that Yang was the only one who noticed. Weiss and Ruby changed their hair too, theyâve all changed their looks, itâs stilted and awkwardly done when it couldâve been a nice scene between the girls.
While I enjoyed the dust mine exposition, there were a few things that annoyed me.
Firstly was Weiss blaming herself for what the Schnee Dust Company, and therefore her father, did. This becomes a problem when weâve had a whole song and dance in Volume 4 about how Weiss isnât responsible for her fatherâs crimes, that she isnât a bad person just because she was born a Schnee, but now she feels complacent in the companyâs subjugation of the Faunus when she was just an abused child with no real power?
And Blake just doesnât say anything. She puts her hand on Weissâ shoulder and comforts her, but she doesnât actually say that Weiss isnât responsible for what the SDC is doing.Â
On top of that, the two Faunus that were actively affected by the discrimination and the SDC in Atlas are not there.Â
Ilia lost her parents in that dust mine explosion, becoming an orphan, and had to hide who she was in a deeply racist society, even more so than Beacon. Her friends werenât like Blakeâs friends, they actively badmouthed the Faunus, calling them racist slurs that Ilia had to join in on or risk being outed. This is her home, her experience, and sheâs not there. Sheâs instead shoved out of the show because there was no room for her, even when CRWBY continued to add one off characters that ultimately take up space.
Adam was branded. He was enslaved by the SDC from when he was a child, likely has no parents of his own, and it ultimately cost him his sanity. This Volume could've had a villain who was personally connected to the SDC and the Faunus racism, but instead he was killed off just after showing that he was horribly subjugated, and now weâre floating around with no real villain to tie this all together.
All we have is Blake. A Faunus who isnât from Atlas, who lived on an island surrounded by her own kind, in a mansion, has two loving parents, and has never come into contact with the SDC until she fought them in the White Fang, meaning that she never met them when she was in a position of vulnerability. Her abuse at Adamâs hands had nothing to do with her Faunus heritage, her friends are all understanding, even after Weissâ racist gremlin tendencies in Volume 1 which she grew out of, and now sheâs the only Faunus thatâs in Atlas and connected to this arc.
CRWBY really wrote themselves into a corner with this, and itâs telling that Miles and Kerry wrote this one given this wildly out of character moment.
Moving on, the scene with Qrow and Clover was alright. Up until the talk about his Semblance.Â
Itâs so awkwardly worded and clunky, and itâs strange that Qrow would tell Clover straight away when it took him seventeen years to tell Ruby and Yang. People try to say that itâs because he was on a mission and Clover needed to know, but thatâs still wierd given that it paints Qrow as someone who would rather keep his Semblance a secret from his niece, whoâs put herself on this dangerous mission because he told her that Cinder was from Haven and thatâs where heâs going next, and stay away from her even when she was in danger.
Ruby nearly died when she was attacked by Tyrian, Qrow barely reached her in time, but if he was honest and stayed with her throughout the journey to look out for her, and tell her his secrets like he expects Ozpin to do, then he wouldâve been there from the moment Tyrian attacked.Â
But he tells Clover immediately. Sure.
On the topic of Clover, I have to say this. I donât like him. Heâs really boring and I find myself caring for the rest of the Ace Ops way more than him. His weapon is dumb, his personality is just meh, but the positive is that his design is pretty cool. He has the Ace Ops uniform to tie him to his team, but with his own twist. I like all the good luck charms on his person, even if it does scream in your face that heâs meant to be lucky.
Iâm sure no one was surprised when he said his Semblance was Good Luck. Itâs as obvious as Qrow âBad Luck Charmâ Branwen and Leonardo âHeâs the Cowardly Fucking Lionâ Lionheart.
So thatâs it for the episode. Itâs certainly my least favourite of the Volume so far, given that itâs full of really annoying scenes that pull down the good, the fight with the Giest was over pretty quickly given how menacing they made it look in the trailer, and character moments that made me roll my eyes to the back of my skull.
Still better than âSo Thatâs How It Isâ, though.
Whitley was honestly a highlight of this episode for me. Jacques immediately yelling at him was really upsetting, anyone seen blaming him or saying shit like "he's just a smug asshole" can kindly fuck off :)
