RWBY Volume 5

[Steal Thy Kill]

This is getting kindof annoying. Yeah, sure, character scenes are really nice, and buildup is necessary, but you need plot too. I was excited when the first two episodes were up to 20min that we might get that length consistently... but nope. Been sliding down to 15.

Spoiler: Spoilery? Eh. Just being safe. Up to V5E9.

Who would've thunk that Blake would be giving us the most/only action at the midseason... although I'm sick of the fight scene blueballs. And the blueballs in general going on. justdoit.gif

And how about the in-Haven storyline with three of the four main cast which has completely fucking stalled. Need a subplot to keep them all busy? Fuck man, I dunno. How about finding Neptune? Isn't he from Mistral? If nothing else I'm pretty sure Pyrrha's from Mistral so you can go off and have Jaune commiserate with them. God knows he needs something to do. We'll probably get a training arc with him about unlocking his semblance which he'll bust out in the season ending fight, but still. Dude hasn't done shit... though nobody has once they've hit Haven. Yang getting mad at Oz completely fell flat and made no sense. Like... what are we getting mad at him for? He didn't cast shapeshifting magic on the Branwens as a curse. It's a sweet new ability that he gave them so they'd be better scouts and spies. Cool shit Oz. Wanna give the rest of us some of that hot magic action?

Only solace is that we're at least getting the big showdown at Haven in the last few episodes. Granted, Haven still feels pretty empty, so it's got that working against it, but still. It won't live up to the destruction of Beacon and general wrecking of Vale's shit, but should still be good.

 

[Easy]

It hasn't even been a good training arc. See, I liked Yang's thing in V4 because A) she really did have a lot of PTSD to get over, and showing her recovery step-by-step had more impact for me than if they'd just skipped to an "okay, she's over it now" sort of moment, and B) we actually saw the changes happening. Cue V5 where she takes on a bunch of redshirt bandits clean without taking a hit, even when she easily could have not given af about it. Okay, I'll take it. GJ Yang.

And then there's the RNJR training arc, where we've got four characters with a lotta stuff to work on, all getting private tutelage by the headmaster himself, instead of just one of Beacon's top fighters getting trained by her dad. Apparently Tai's just a natural hand at being a teacher, though, because the only progress we've seen RNJR making so far was... uh, Ruby getting beat up by LCB Ospin once, in the meantime. Then everybody cheered, and they went back to talking about getting stronger again.

Not very satisfying /10.

 

[Easy]

Okay, so I know you're feeling pretty gypped right now... here's a video with some fun fighting animation in it.

 

[Requiem]

I'm watching a week behind you guys, I think, but I can pretty much guess that the next episode is pretty unsatisfying if the show's track record keeps up.

Like... I just don't get it. It's like RT doesn't know why people are watching this show. It's about cute girls with super powers fighting assholes. We need character development, sure, but why aren't the cute girls fighting anyone? Why is it all political intrigue now? We've barely had any fight scenes this season and while that's not a game breaker in and of itself, without the rest of the show being interesting or worthwhile, what are we watching the show for?

I don't wanna sound hyper critical, but no meaningful change has happened at all. Salem wants relics, the white fang want fauness to be treated better, Ruby has silver eyes, they're still learning to be huntsmen and huntresses. What gives? When is the status quo gonna shift? We know where this story is going, so why won't it just go there already?

 

[Easy]

It was several minutes of drama, followed by several minutes of drama mixed with half-assed fighting, then a few seconds of cool fighting blessedly free of drama, then some more minutes of drama.

 

[Requiem]

Ugh.

And don't feel afraid to discuss the episode at length, I very rarely care about spoilers, especially in shows like RWBY.

 

[Easy]

Sadly, there really isn't even much to discuss about it in the first place.

 

[Requiem]

Ugh.

 

[Easy]

Like... I just don't get it. It's like RT doesn't know why people are watching this show. It's about cute girls with super powers fighting assholes. We need character development, sure, but why aren't the cute girls fighting anyone? Why is it all political intrigue now? We've barely had any fight scenes this season and while that's not a game breaker in and of itself, without the rest of the show being interesting or worthwhile, what are we watching the show for?

They're not even fighting each other any more. T_T

 

[Requiem]

Just watched the episode we were talking about.

Ugh.

Ilia (sp?) is the only bright spot in this show right now. Nora is usually filling that role, but since she's stuck in the training arc where we see literally no actual training and just constant talking, that's not gonna happen.

I mean damn, the tournament arc was awesome because it did justice to not only the fighting, but all of the characters, their arcs, made the villains proper bad guys and compelling threats, on top of moving the lore of the show forward.

Now... We're still literally stuck in the same place we were at the end of the tournament arc with minor character development. Like I said before.

How do you have such a stellar season (for a web show) and then follow it up with two seasons of garbagio?

 

[Steal Thy Kill]

Spoiler: Up to V5E11

They Have The Meats

 

[Easy]

tfw I got the joke.

Pleasantly hyped for next episode.

 

[Easy]

Alright, well, fuckin'. That was a good episode. That was a good episode, and you should watch it.

It was good.

 

[Jeroth]

It was pretty good. Also fun fact, Joan of Arc's birthday was yesterday and so was the episode where we saw Jaune's semblance.

My only complaint for this season is the lack of vocal tracks. I think we had one in episode 2, but other than that it's mostly just leitmotifs that are piano pieces to their respective themes.

 

[Easy]

It was pretty good. Also fun fact, Joan of Arc's birthday was yesterday and so was the episode where we saw Jaune's semblance.

Damn, that is neat.

Episode 2 just had a remix of an earlier track, iirc. Hopefully they'll introduce some new stuff before it's over. Maybe Raven gets her own counterpart to Bad Luck Charm or something, that'd be pretty dope.

 

[13thforsworn]

So I finally caught up on Volume 5 last night in preparation for Volume 6, and maybe it's because I binge watched it, but I have to say this is the strongest season yet. Every 15- 20 minute episode flew by, I was immersed the entire time. My original plan was to watch the first 4 episodes, then it changed to 6, and before I knew it it was 5 am and I had watched the whole thing, because every episode left off on a cliff hanger and I HAD to see what would happen next. It seemed like every episode was the "meat and potatoes" that I hoped RWBY would from the very beginning of the series, everything that happened mattered. I purposefully haven't read any of the posts in this thread so I could post my unadulterated feelings on the season, but I'm gonna go back now and read what y'all had to say, maybe make a follow up post. I realize this thread is pretty fucking old, but hopefully I can spur some additional discussion.

 

[13thforsworn]

Alright, so I just read through your comments, and I can see that my viewing experience was definitely improved by the fact that I had all the episodes ready to go in front of me. Had it not been for the ability to hit the 'next' button, I probably would have felt as blue ballsed as y'all. The drama and talking scenes never felt stale and boring because it was more like one continuous movie as opposed to "watch people talk for 15 minutes, wait till next week for maybe a fight scene?". That being said, I like where this season has taken us.

One of my criticisms of the season is Adam's character. I get that he's blinded by spite, but I wish his character was a bit more nuanced than "I'm a mad kid". He just seems so childish compared to the younger characters in the show, but maybe he hasn't been through the kind of shit they have. Another thing was how Raven's whole thought process (unless her outward explanation was also part of her ruse) was "I just want my tribe and I to be left alone because we can't beat Salem", but then she wants the relic? Did she really need Yang to explain to her that taking the relic for herself would put a huge target on her back (and her tribe's)? Also, what is Yang's motivation for keeping quiet about the fallout of the fight? Raven hasn't given her a lot of reasons to have her back as far as withholding the fact that she's the Spring Maiden. I guess it just comes down to "we're family". But what about Ruby and Qrow? They're family and on the same side, keeping that information quiet seems counter-intuitive to the overall goals of her team. I hope we get an answer to this.

Overall, probably my favorite Volume after Volume 3.