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| From left to right, the "heroes" of RvB: Simmons, Grif, Sarge, Church, Tucker, Caboose. |
Hello people of "The Wired" my name is Quan, I hope you've had a better week than I did, and welcome to 'Footnotes". Today, I'll be giving my evaluation of RWBY, what it is, and where it could potentially go. This is something I've been wanting to talk about for awhile, so let's get right into it. Here we go, and start with that video below(rhyme unintended).
So, if that's the first time you've seen this video, you're probably recovering from just how freakin' awesome it is. Personally, when I first saw this video about a year and a half ago, all I wanted to know was what the hell this was. What it was was the world's(and Tumblr's) first introduction to RWBY, an animated series collaboration between indie production studio Roosterteeth(basically a bunch of cool guys who use gaming engines to make short videos and films, who were previously famous for the thing we'll be talking about later) and animator/combat designer Monty Oum, who was previously known for things like the fan-made film series Dead Fantasy, and being a guy who can choreograph any fight in a way so that it becomes awesome. With the release of this video(called the "Red Trailer"), and three others(called the "White", "Black", and "Yellow" trailers), I think some people, including myself, got very, very hyped. Part of it I think was that the show was so...well maybe "groundbreaking" is a strong word, but it stands as maybe the only of its kind. It's an animated web-series done in an anime style...but made in America, by a bunch of gamers nonetheless. This of course causes controversy, one that still is debated today, whether RWBY is an anime, an "american anime" or something new entirely. People didn't really know how to judge it either, since it's a top-tier web-series, but if you compare the animation and voice-acting to a full-scale anime, it's really below par. So of course, as you should do with anything, I decided to judge RWBY on its own merits, and maybe it was because I liked the four trailers so much, but when the first 16 episodes finished airing(entitled "Volume I"), with the later announcement that a "Volume II" would air soon(which it now is), I thought its merits were a bit crap. Sure the fighting was awesome, and the music was amazing, but when looked at from plot and characters, RWBY suddenly didn't really seem much to me. Until now, because two things have changed my mind.
Firstly, yes, the second Volume of RWBY has pretty much surpassed all expectations I could have possibly had for it. OK, yes, it still isn't really that good, it isn't quite up there with a typical anime but everything has been a +1 since the first Volume, and I feel that is something to get excited for, especially since Monty Oum already has said he's working on Volume III. If this steady rise in quality keeps up there's no reason why RWBY shouldn't be able to compete with anime that are made by full scale production companies. Yes, the animation might(and probably will never reach) the quality of those companies, but if the story and characters can hold up, well, that's all you really need if we're talking about weaving a compelling narrative. You could stop me here, though, I really don't have any proof that RWBY will continue to get better from this point. There's no saying that Volume III will be any better, or even any worse; RWBY could just be some mediocre thing that's always running in the background overshadowed by all the other shows coming out in any given anime season. Expect, before we say that, let me talk about my second point. What you need to remember is that Roosterteeth isn't the typical production company. They create their material with their own small group of picked writers; the things they make aren't based on any source material, not a manga, or a show, or a light novel, at least not in the terms of adapting the story. And when it comes to writing a legitimately good story with great moments and dialogue, I trust their talent. Why? Because I've seen them do it before.
Warning: contains some uncensored swearing, so feel free to cover your ears.
Enter Red vs. Blue(or RvB), the thing that quite possibly made Roosterteeth what they are, and what launched the Roosterteeth website and made it was it is today. As you saw in that video which is the very first episode of the show, basically all the series was at first was a bunch of videos recorded on the video game Halo's engine, and consisted of two groups of utterly inept soldiers: The Reds and Blues, standing around and talking armed with witty dialogue. And thus began an Internet sensation that has yet to calm down, which now just finished airing its 12th season. Now, why do I use RvB as an example? Well it might be hard to tell at first. The first problem is that RWBY and RvB are two extremely different shows. While RWBY will have the occasionally joke in its episodes, RvB is a full-fledged comedy(a quite good one at that), that at first existed for no other reason than to make the viewer laugh. You'd think this would immediately cut off any possible comparisons; RWBY is trying to form a narrative, one that will get you engaged in the world it's presenting, while RvB is essentially a bunch of people standing around and doing bugger all, but then something changes. I recently finished watching the entirety of RvB recently myself, and what any person might notice is that at the beginning of Season 6, the show is a little different. Yeah, the first 5 seasons of RvB are funny without much substance, but once season 6 rolls around, the show starts to become so much more than that. A plot is introduced, an actually pretty good one at that, and character development, tons of it, and since RvB is also where Monty Oum got his start at Roosterteeth, we also start getting these cool animated fight scenes inter played with the story. Now don't get me wrong, the show still is primarily a comedy, and wears it as a badge, but it caught me off guard off just how good it actually is. Not just good considering that it's a web-series of 5-10 minute episodes filmed on a video game, but good in terms of comparing to other media. And that's kind of remarkable.
So you can probably see where I'm getting with this. If the guys over at Roosterteeth can make something good out of people messing around in a video game, just what can they do with RWBY, a show much more plot-driven show that they are investing a lot of time and energy into? It's exciting to think that RWBY, which right now probably is not anywhere near as good as RvB is in the later seasons, could become something eventually to match that on an anime battlefield. It's not like the two shows aren't linked either. Miles Luna, who co-writes RWBY with Kerry Shawcross and Mony himself, also works on RvB, and again, Roosterteeth is working on both shows, which means a lot more than it would with some bigger company.
OK, with all that presumptuous idealistic things I wanted to say out of the way, I'll now let my cynical side take over for a bit, the same jerk who thinks Avatar:The Last Airbender isn't good just because it's a kid's show, or who tells me that I can't enjoy things like Nisekoi because things like Welcome to the NHK exist. For a moment, let's get cynically, buzzkill...ly, realistic. It's easy to say that just because Roosterteeth can handle RvB's good story doesn't mean they aren't relying on the ever present backdrop of comedy. Success with RvB could be argued irrelevant, RWBY expects you to take it seriously when the plot kicks into overdrive; RvB, while it would appreciate you trying to get involved when the plot goes to darker places, always will throw in one joke just to win back a viewer who isn't buying the plot, because they don't need to, because... it's a comedy. And hell, is RvB even really that good in the later seasons? Well, yes in my opinion it is, but transferring that same quality to RWBY wouldn't necessarily mean it would be as good. Some of RvB's quality comes from the surprise of it all. Here you have a comedy parody of a video-game, presenting you a story that is better than it has any right to be, of course it's hard not to get caught up in that delight. RWBY is supposed to be semi-serious, a good plot wouldn't quite have the same effect. And really, even with Luna on both ends of the scripts, ultimately, RvB and RWBY are two extremely different things. Roosterteeth might not even be aiming as high with RWBY as they are with RvB, and may be content to keep it exactly where it is, right below decent and right above bad. And while that sucks to think about, it's something to keep in mind.
So there you have my idealistic happy thoughts on what RWBY could be, where everything is awesome and it becomes my new Baccano! and you have my pessimistic view where RWBY stays in the pit of mediocrity where all K-On! clones will someday rest. But when I take it at face value, with both sides in mind, what do I think? I think that I like RWBY. I think that RvB, even with all those arguments I just held against, is funny as hell and has an awesome plot. I think that I trust Roosterteeth. RWBY may not be the next anything, but I feel like it's more justified to look to the its future hopeful rather than not. It's in the hands a small group of extremely talented people, people that can, with time, turn something average like RWBY into something extraordinary. So I'm going to watch RWBY every week and wait anxiously for the next episode. If it takes as long for RWBY to become good as it took RvB, well I'm fine with that. I've got time.
Goodbye for now guys.
Here's some more 'Footnotes": click here for my thoughts on what makes a "deep" story.
Or here for how important I think fun is when watching anime.
Or if you'd like a review, my anime review of My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU is here.
Follow me on Hummingbird or Twitter.
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