vheller - 2013-11-08 11:04:44

Deleting cos i think i did this years ago and the cringe is killing me 

tristian66 - 2013-11-01 01:47:38

All those Low ranking reviews see RWBY as an anime from japan, when Clearly, its not. Its a Short Web Series made by the people who make Red Vs Blue. They are a Low Budget Company, and people compare it to other companies who have tons of money to throw around and make great anime.

Clearly Monty said that it wasn't anime, it was something completely different. Something of its own. I for one Love the series, and Will watch it over and over again. Its really enjoyable, and the story is incredible. The animation does lack in some places, but thats where its great. The sound is wonderful, and character development is steady and easy to understand. Overall, I think this is a Masterpiece for what it is, and how it was made, and who it was made by.

If you Disagree, then you clearly dont see this as something on its own, and compare it with other companies who have all the money they want and can make high end animation.

leonardo82 - 2013-10-28 09:25:12

I'm editing opening paragraph here to say that this season in particular is a disappoint, and has yet to prove itself as essential or a waste of time. Only season 2 will tell. Now, remember this review reflects my thoughts on this season, and not the possibly good series as a whole, but this is all we got to go by so far. I will be honest and critical, as I did not like it, but some moments were worth it.

If you've seen a shounen series, name any one, it doesn't matter, you've seen RWBY. It's shounen at its lowest point. The academy, the training, the bullies, the teams, the unjustified leaders, the unsure headmaster, the light vs dark, the undefined MAGIC powers, please don't make me go on. The first season finale of the series doesn't even have any relation to what this season was about. But without it, "Someday in the Rain" would have had a run for its money. This is a clear lack of organization and heart. "Web series" is not an excuse for this lack of quality.

Monty Oum is (internet) famous for his fight choreography. Guess what RWBY doesn't have? "Fights" last no more than a few seconds, with the most insulting animation you've ever seen. It's cheap and I'm not referring to the budget. Effects, physics, models, even eye color will be inconsistent within these mere seconds. They are obvious issues, and no one is fixing them. RWBY airs on RoosterTeeth, Crunchyroll, and YouTube. I can understand if these mistakes were on RT's site. It'd be a neat reward to see RWBY in its default format. But there gets to a point where you clearly don't care about fan reaction. RWBY is Monty Oum's fan fiction...... Of nothing. :/

Hype understandably came from its trailers, more like the first two. The first two trailers felt more like somewhat-silent short animated films. The story of each was masterfully told through visuals and music. This is what was expected of RWBY. Then the third and forth trailers came, and we got..................dialogue.

Voice acting was a common complaint, but it was clear the actors didn't know what they were working with. The scripts had no structure, or any relation to the series. Once context was developed within the series the acting got much better. The dialogue remained as terrible as ever. Hummingbird features quotes. None of them will be interesting. The magic of the first two trailers was that dialogue didn't need to exist to tell a story about the character and their struggles. The last two were heavily reliant on dialogue and lacked any sense of art. Made more insulting when the treasured two first trailers depicted its characters entirely wrong.

Mindless action is what the last two trailers became, and that's most of the action you'll get. The series hits its high at the mid point with the action, but it's merely an entertaining climax. The finale was decent, but didn't live up. But whether you're here for story or action, you'll receive neither.

Instead watch it for the comedy. The comedy feels rather human when it's trying to be funny, but only when it's down to Earth. Not so much when a joke goes over the top, with exception of one joke relating to bunk beds in episode 9.

There is by far one thing this series has in its favor though: Jeff Williams' soundtrack. Jeff Williams is a god among men, and he needs to leave RoosterTeeth immediately, where his talent is wasted. The stuff he writes and composes is hardcore, epic, and beautiful. Especially when supported by his daughter's beautiful voice (Casey Lee Williams).

Don't watch it, just listen. Jeff Williams' music can be found on iTunes and Amazon, and whatnot.

west.kacie - 2013-10-07 22:40:30

RWBY is an anime-inspired web series and to be honest is a big disappointment. The story is dull and uncreative. The characters can be cliche and annoying. The animation in the fight scenes is good but at all other time is very bad. The soundtrack running through is decent and the OP is catchy and a decently good song. Because of the fightscenes and some characters it can be fun to watch at times but that fun is taken away by all of it's other issues.

mack24 - 2013-09-27 01:28:23

Now, before I start this review proper, I want it to be said: I liked RWBY from the trailers. That's the type of show I wanted. The trailers has awesome music, and some kick-ass action scenes. Because of the trailers, I was very hyped for the show. Was. Now, I know it hasn't ended, but 11 episodes in, we all know what a mess it's turned out to be.

RWBY could have been great. I wasn't expecting a masterpiece, but I was expecting quality. To be fair to the series, I wasn't going to rate it compared to an anime, but seeing as that is what Monty Oum wants us all to think of RWBY as, I will happily oblige. RWBY, as an anime, is terrible.

There are many fans of RWBY, who will claim that it's the best thing since slice bread. If you frequent Youtube, you'll know who I mean. The type who will bash anyone who dares to speak ill of RWBY, forcing their opinions on others, and raging like the fanboys/girls they are at people raising any sort of issue with the show, regardless of how logical that particular complaint is. I'm here to say: don't listen to them. They like RWBY because they put themselves into the mindset that it should be great, so it IS great. In reality, RWBY is a flawed mess of a show, with only 2 episodes that are decent.

Lets start off with the story. Well, as with most things relating to the concept and characterization of this series, it's a bag of cliches. Yeah, Ruby goes to an Academy, gets stronger, and eventually, Team RWBY is formed. And... that's basically it. The last episode was about a bully, the previous one before that was some crap involving Weiss and Ruby. Both of which can only really be described as pointless. No, the story is not good, and if you're watching this, I'm sure you can agree, it needs work. Another issue is how it tries so hard to be funny. I rarely remember laughing once. Low marks for the story.

Next is the animation. Now, as an indie project, the animation is fine. But, no, we're to consider this an anime. Very well. The animation is a clunky mess, with the characters facial expressions often looking out of place, such as a gurning grin during one of the more serious moments. Not to mention the fact that they look and move like wooden puppets. The action scenes however, are fairly well done, sadly, these are few and far between. Again, low marks.

Now, we have sound. The soundtrack is actually quite well done, and is without a doubt the best thing about this series. Nothing overly epic, despite what the fans, or rather, as I like to call them, the "RWBYtards", will say about the character themes. The music suits the series, and as such, scores high. Or, at least, towards the higher end of the spectrum. Well, wouldn't that have been nice? Except, the voice acting is atrocious, especially Yang's, so that can be bumped down a few marks. All sound very wooden, like they simply are reading lines, rather than, you know... actually voice acting.

Ah. Next up is characters. Well... not a whole lot to say except... they sure know how to ruin one. Blake is literally the only tolerable one, and I didn't appreciate the stupid twist with that book. Otherwise, we have Ruby, a cliched main heroine, who acts stupid at times etc etc, we've all seen Ruby done before, dozens of times, and done better. She acts stupid, but has a fierce sense for battle, and I really don't need to waste any more energy typing out her character. It's as cliched as they come. Next we have Yang. Well, may as well get the worst out of the way. Yang is a truly horrible character. A knucklehead, poorly-voiced, and simply downright annoying. That's Yang in a nutshell for you. Next up is Weiss. Weiss. Weiss could have been good, if she wasn't portrayed to be such a spoiled, stuck-up brat. Not very likable either. That's the 4 main protagonists. Oh, we also have this guy name Juane, but if I was ever asked to define what bland was, I would point straight to him. Bland, boring, and plot armour waiting to happen. Low marks here.

And then, there is my enjoyment. Well, I will say, episode 1 was a decent start, and episode 8 was very good. If the series was full of episode 8's, we would be looking at 8/10, which, considering it is being compared to an anime, is pretty damn impressive. But it's not. Episode lengths are frequently under 5 minutes, leaving you feel underwhelmed at best when it's over every week. And with 9 mediocre-poor episodes, compared to two good-great ones, then it's kind of hard for me to say I've enjoyed it. I haven't. RWBY has been a huge disappointment, because not only did the trailers allow me to buy into the hype, the action is good. It's just not enough. Too much is focused on the comedy aspects, which is just what I feared.

Overall, RWBY scrapes a 4/10, only because I'm feeling kind, and because I enjoyed episode 8. The rest of it can go to hell. And perish. And it's hard for me to recommend this, to anyone, although it won't take you long to catch up, I can't say it's worth it. Only 16 episodes, and 11 in, it's REALLY failed to deliver on it's potential. Screw RWBY. Screw it to hell, and then screw it some more.

EDIT 1: Over the remaining course of the show, I'll be adding edits to this review. Eventually I'll format it all, but just so it remains coherent, I'll keep it like this for now. The first one is enjoyment, which has been bumped down upon reflection.

UPDATE: Well, now it's finally over. What a trainwreck. Blake, the furry. I... I can't, I just can't. SImply awful. 3/10.

hermann.federico - 2013-09-23 17:35:11

This is a review based on the first 10 episodes currently out.

RWBY (apparently pronounced as "Ruby") is a web-series made by the production studio Rooster Teeth, a pioneer of machinima and known for their Halo-based show Red vs. Blue. RWBY is primarily made by Rooster Teeth's lead animator, Monty Oum (Dead Fantasy & parts of Red vs. Blue). While RWBY is indeed anime-influenced, it's pretty much new territory for Rooster Teeth.

The show itself was pretty much spot on what I feared it would be. The animation is overall actually pretty bad. The fight scenes are nice, if you like Monty Oum's signature style where apparently everything weights nothing at all. Besides the action scenes it's pretty hard to watch the characters do even the most everyday tasks like, for example, walking. Most of the time all background characters are just black silhouettes, and there's a scene with a TV reporter who's just a 2D drawing. That speaks a lot about the budget of the show.

Then the story, which honestly I'd not want to say anything about as the show hasn't finished and I think it's just stupid to judge a plot after seeing only half of the episodes. Still, after saying all that, the story needs to pull out some really crazy twists and do a 180 if in the remaining episodes if it wants to be even mediocre. Imagine a Best of album with all the anime cliches ever, mostly things from shonen series, because that's what the story is so far. The characters are also just walking stereotypes with all the most used anime tropes ever. Dialogue is the same, almost giving a feeling that you get from badly translated underground JRPGs.

The voice acting is.... well let's just say that I'm not a fan of dubs but there are a lot of dubs I'd rather listen to than RWBY. The voice actors (or at least those of the four main characters) are actually employees of Rooster Teeth, so nothing even close to real professional VAs. They did manage to hire Jen Taylor (voice of Cortana from the Halo franchise) for the first episode's intro, which gave me hope that the voice acting would not be as bad as I thought, but no. The score for the sound category is a mix of the voice acting and the soundtrack. Voice acting by itself would have probably gotten a score of 3 or 4.

Voice acting leads to one aspect of the show that I genuinely liked: the music. The soundtrack of the four trailers (which are original stuff, not traditional trailers; OVAs maybe?) is really good. Just like the music from the series itself. The soundtrack fits the action scenes well enough and if it was my decision, the show would be just about those two. No story, no dialogue, no non-fighting animation. Just one big long AMV.

In the end, I will watch RWBY (or at least season 1 of it, if there's more) to completion. With a higher budget and a professional team (specifically the writing department) this web-series could actually become something. What I do not understand though, is the obsession with RWBY's fanbase to make the show a "real anime". I will not debate whether anime is defined by the art style or country of origin. My point is that if people want it to be a "real anime", it will start acting like one, thus making it to sites like this and being judged with the same scale as series like Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion and Steins;Gate. That's my reasoning for why it shouldn't be called anime, but rather anime-inspired or fan-made anime. Because for what RWBY is now, it won't stand a chance in the big league.

madie.kuhlman - 2013-09-16 07:30:52

It's an okay show. I know it's anime inspired, but why is this here?

andres29 - 2013-09-15 15:38:55

The animation is in a different style then most, it's 3d and created in Poser10. The show starts off a little slow and it benifits to watch the RWBY trailers first. With 8 episodes being out right now you can see that the story and the action is picking up and getting me refined. The unique weapons add a lot of badass fight scences. The characters are lovable and the art style is realy unique and fun.

tpagac - 2013-09-09 09:45:47

If Monty Oum says that RWBY is anime, then who are you to say that it isn't? I credit this video for being able to eloquently address the issue, in ways better than I could put it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p51neLsWE-4

Yet, I understand those who live in the dream world, where anime is only produced in the magical land of Japan. Once this series is done, I'll review it like any other anime, with the hope of a season 2.

nicolas.martin - 2013-08-23 01:14:32

RWBY is an anime inspired web series made by RoosterTeeth Productions. It was created by Monty Oum, who has previously worked on series such as Red vs Blue or his Dead Fantasy fan series.

The story for RWBY is very cliche, but it still is a very enjoyable story to follow, up til after episode 8 where it becomes entirely predictable. It centers around the four main characters, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xio Long, and each girl has her own weapon of choice. The series then switches over to a focus of team JNPR after episode 8 up til the last 2 episodes. The story has some very cliche typical anime moments, and characterizations and at first it's enjoyable to watch, but then the cliches happen frequently to the point where it's not enjoyable anymore. As a bonus for people who don't like fanservice moments there wasn't any at all within the series.

Animation wise RWBY makes me cringe. A 3D model program is used to make RWBY so walking and other normal movements are almost mechanical. You rarely see hand motion, and you usually only see a characters head move, when talking is the main focus. Voice to mouth synching was off the entire series. There was never a point where things matched up. All throughout the series peoples arms, weapons, hair, etc., would clip through objects. Fans have come up with reasons for all of this by saying it's a web series, or that it's a small animation team, but you would think that since it's done by RoosterTeeth, who are quite popular and huge, that it would be a lot better. The animation was absolute garbage.

RWBYs' sound was terrible. Most of the sound effects used in the show are the kind you can find online or free. There was never a time when I thought, 'Oh well this sounds decent'.

RWBYs' soundtrack, however, was one of the best I've heard. Every song was well composed and the vocals for each were beautiful. It was probably the best aspect of RWBY.

The voice acting in RWBY was terrible. When most of the characters spoke, it sounded like they were just reading a script, and not actually voice ACTING. The character I noticed this most with was Yang, who had the worst voice acting out of the bunch. Now there were a few characters who had amazing voice actors/voice talent. Professor Ozpin, Jaune Arc, Roman Torchwick, and Sun Wukong all had amazing voice overs. You could tell the voice talent for them, was actually voice acting and not just reading a script.

Character wise RWBY only had a few characters that were worth caring about. Most had no character development. Only one character I could see had character development and he wasn't even one of the main characters! None of the main four characters had any development. A lot of people who watched this praise the character development, but there was basically none. Including the trailers RWBY has enough run time to equal 2 maybe 3 episodes of an actual anime if content is stretched out and has had things added. That is not enough time to show actual character development.

I barely enjoyed RWBY since the first episode. The terrible animation, mediocre voice acting, and predictable as all get out plot line have all been a factor, but there was one thing that wasn't even in the show that was a factor. There was a fan of the series who didn't like the voice acting for Yang, and he/she posted something about it on Tumblr. The fan said that they enjoyed the series and the other voice acting, just not Yangs'. The creator Monty Oum responded to that on twitter, with the basic message of "If you don't like it, don't watch it.", which is incredibly childish. Another instance is when Monty Oum started basically attacking a RWBY fan account on Twitter. When a creator of a series does this, whether it be a actual anime, a cartoon, or a web series, I feel that a shows' enjoyment factor goes down for me.

Overall RWBY is a series meant for people who like lore, which RWBY has a lot of, amazing soundtracks, and people who are looking for a quick watch. I believe you can watch RWBY in about an hour. RWBY gets a 3 out of 10 from me. Unless you're into lore, amazing soundtracks, or are just looking for a quick watch, RWBY is a do not watch.