Skip to the date where the anime is based and Dust is used by trained professionals to grant them magical powers. These professionals (Huntsmen and Huntresses must first be trained at specialist schools, like Beacon academy where the story is set. Ruby wants to be a huntress and even though she's two years too young, she impresses the head teacher enough to join Beacon Academy along with her elder sister Yang. There she meets Weiss, a stuck-up rich girl and Blake, a quiet book nerd. Together they form the group RWBY, pronounced Ruby. The web series then follows these girls and some other people as they train physically and mentally to become the best Huntresses/Huntsmen they can be.
Not an exceptionally novel idea, but plenty awesome nonetheless! I always love a story that revolves around a magical school and RWBY does not disappoint. I enjoy the cross between magical girl and bad-assery that makes this show simultaneously cute and hardcore. Hardcore cute. But the episodes are only 12 minutes long each and there's only 14 of them at the moment, so the plot is only now picking up. I have high hopes for it's development and I look forward to see where the plot goes now but I can't give it much of a review right now.
I almost never watch anime dubbed. So watching something in the English Dub (yes, I mean the original dub) is slightly disorientating. But at least it's not a bad dub! Slightly awkward admittedly, but with a budget like theirs they've hardly hired professionals. Given that, they've done pretty well.
I also have to consider the budget when critiquing the animation too. It's 3D CG and there are some really off parts. For example, when some mean people are supposed to be grabbing a pair of bunny ears, the ears and the hand are out of alignment. Awkward. Also, during the fight scenes the fluidity is inconsistent, I think it's largely due to awkward angle changes but it must be said that some of the moves do not match up. It is not all bad though! For a start, I love the art style. Often I'm not impressed by 3D anime because it usually doesn't look right, but RWBY literally looks like anime with some extra D's. It's revolutionary. It doesn't always move well, but the choreography of the fight scenes is ingenious. Mostly thanks to the awesomeness of every one's weapons! Seriously, Ruby has a scythe that turns into a gun. That wins all the awards. Every one's outfits are pretty too, inappropriate, but pretty.
So more about Ruby. "Ruby Rose". What a ridiculous name! Who decided that "Ruby Rose" is a good name? Was it decided from birth that she was going to start wearing a red cape, dye part of her hair red and just generally devote her life to the colour red. That brings up my next question actually: what is with the cape? She wears it casually at the store and she wears it on top of her school uniform. Why? Why? She even gets caught by her cape but continues to wear it. Don't misunderstand though! She's not all bad! Her weapon is the best thing ever and her almost autistic personality is just brilliant. Just ditch the cape and all would be good!
Do you want to know a cool fact? Each of the characters are based on fairy tale characters. Ruby Rose is Red Riding Hood (rubbish excuse for a cape); Weiss is Snow White, unsurprisingly; Blake is apparently Belle from Beauty and the Beast (I'm not too sure about that one); finally, Yang is Goldilocks (hence the yellow hair).
Anyway, so this is my fist time watching a web-based anime and I think it's tough to understand that obviously they don't have the same kind of budget that most the anime I watch has. Alas, it is super entertaining. It's funny, action packed and feel good. What more could I ask for? I am slightly concerned about how cliched the whole show might be heading but until it reaches a pinnacle of cliche I can't complain.
Pie:
Zero pie???
ReplyDelete