RWBY: Thoughts, Takes, Tangents

I am very aware that this has nothing to do with kpop, but similar to GAP, I needed to rant. I just finished bingeing the show, and I have some thoughts.

1. The only thing I knew about this show before starting it was that at some point Yang and Blake were going to get together. So, imagine my surprise when the first five volumes are building up implications for Blake and Sun, only for him to completely disappear as a character. Don’t get me wrong, I love Blake and Yang, and think they are so cute, but it seriously felt that they spent so much time building up this potential relationship only to throw it away and then in volume six, start hinting at Bumbleby. I’m not exactly sure why this happened. Maybe fans were insistent enough that the writers actually made it a thing? I only just got into the show, so I don’t have any context about what was happening in the fandom over the years.

2. There are too many villains in this show. I get that Salem is supposed to be the “big bad”, but before that became clear, they kept changing who it felt like was going to be the main villain. First it was Roman, then Cinder, then Adam, and finally Salem. Also, I felt that they spent so much time building up Cinder, and then she just got put on the back burner for a while when Adam and Salem came into the picture. 

3. The power system in this show is never explained very well (Or maybe it is and I wasn’t paying attention). We never get much detail about how seblances, and aura work. From what my understanding is, a semblance is an ability that one awakens once they strengthen their aura enough. But that doesn’t make much sense, because we don’t get an explanation on what aura is exactly. Is it a life force? Does it power their semblance? The way I’ve been thinking about it, is that it is similar to chakra in Naruto. But then why do they never worry about running out of aura during battles, or not being able to use their semblance? I just think that the whole concept of aura could be fleshed out more.

4. Why do they never run out of dust during a battle? It actually does not make any sense, especially considering that semblances were not created equally, and it does not make any sense that some character could do what they do without dust. Speaking of which, why are semblances so unbalanced in what they can do? Masking emotions is not going to help in a fight like glyphs do.  Additionally, it seems like all the characters have superspeed, and strength even when it is not their semblance. At the start of the show, they say that Ruby’s semblance is superspeed, but all of the characters could move just as fast in most cases. I’m glad that they flesh out her semblance more, making it more about the fact that she can break down her body at a molecular level, while moving, than superspeed itself. The only time it truly seems to be a semblance is with the ace op.

5. Bullets never do anything in this show. A character will be pinned down, and people will actively be shooting at them. It’s not like they can use their weapon to block the bullets, yet the come out of the situation completely fine. Either the bullets are just going straight through them, or the people shooting always have really bad aim.

6. For some reason, I first thought that when Nora and Ren were introduced, Nora would just be pining over Ren the entire time. Similar to a Chloe and Adrien, or Sasuke and Sakura type of dynamic. I was honestly so glad to see that they were just friends, and at least from my perspective, had more of a sibling type relationship. Which is why I hated when they got together. This is something I often don’t like in shows, where two opposite gender characters who are best friends start dating. It reinforces the stigma that boys and girls “can’t be friends”. Another show that comes to mind is Kim Possible. I remember being furious when Kim and Ron started dating because it did not make any sense with the show. They made it very clear that they were just best friends, and did not want to be in a relationship, and even after they started dating they still felt more like friends than romantic partners. I get that relationships change, and I understand why people like Nora and Ren, but personally, I don’t.

7. I think they should have done more with the appearances, and abilities of faunus. For almost all the characters, they are just humans with a singular physical trait. I think it would have been cooler, if they at least gave the faunus abilities that aligned with their animal. Besides, claws, and Ilia’s chameleon ability, we don’t get to see much of this. For example, Blake could have enhanced hearing, and maybe only faunus like cats and owls could see in the dark. Maybe bunnies, or other animals that change fur color, have some camouflage ability. These are just some suggestions. I think it would have been more interesting if the reason why humans oppressed them was out of fear of their enhanced abilities that were separate from a semblance.

8. What happened to Glynda? I don’t remember her dying, but she just disappears. In fact, so many characters just disappear, and are never even mentioned once they are no longer relevant to the plot.

9. This is just random, but it is an inconsistency. In one of the early episodes, Velvet is being bullied because she is a faunus, and they make it seem like she is helpless. We later find out that she could have very easily beaten up the dudes who were bullying her, and she also has a team who cares about her, so I'm sure they would have stepped in if they needed to. I get that she started as a plot device to set up how faunus were treated in society, but I just thought I’d point out how unrealistic her being bullied was.

10. Another very random thing is that Coco’s weapon is terrible for this universe. As I said earlier, bullets do not do anything in this universe. Most fighting is close combat, and a machine gun is not very useful in this situation. And what do you mean, her only means of close combat fighting is swinging around a little briefcase. I just think that for someone who is supposed to be smart, since she is the leader of her team, she could have picked a weapon that was a little more versatile.