Monday, August 31, 2015

RWBY Vol.2

(I know it’s far late but I still dedicate this review to the memory of RWBY Series Creator, Monty Oum, who passed away February 1, 2015)
The new semester has begun for Team RWBY and everything is about to change.  The teams dynamic is stronger than ever but it’s also about to be tested like never before.  While things may seem peaceful and exciting at Beacon, the looming unseen threat in the darkness is getting stronger.  And what’s worse, the enemy may be right under everyones noses at the school.  Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang will face stronger foes but also strengthen their sisterhood.  For if they cant stand alongside their fellow Huntsman and Huntresses in a united front, Beacon will fall.  All this plus mecha, monsters and the cutest little mascot you’ve ever seen in your life.

The first volume of RWBY may not have been perfect by any means but it was always a lovable show.  The Anime inspired artstyle, characters, action and storytelling were all nearly universally well received by fans.  So you can bet anticipation for Vol.2 was high.  And for the most part, the next chapter managed to surpass the first one in almost every way…even if some problems hadn’t been quite fixed yet.

First off, I gotta say I was so stunned by the fact that every single person in Beacon was animated.  In the first season, anyone who was a main or secondary cast member was a grey scaled occupant.  This year, everyone has color and personality right down to the smallest detail.  I knew from that first notice alone that this was going to be good.  And then we got right down to the best return of the core favorites, Team RWBY and Team JNPR we could have ever asked for…AN EPIC FOODFIGHT.  Ruby’s bold declaration pretty much summed up my hopes for the season as a whole, “Justice will be swift, justice will be painful.  It will be…DELICIOUS!!!!” 

Well it was delicious.  RWBY Vol.2 ended up being a tour de force of everything that had come before.  The action that creator Monty Oum was famous for was kicking all kinds of ass.  He even stepped it up having Ruby and her friends take on not just bigger monsters but giant mecha as well.  The highway chase gave Team RWBY a chance to show how far they’ve come since we last saw them with perfect displays of teamwork and specially designed moves from full team to pairs.  The other fights to follow were good, if I bit too many.  But we did get a nice cap off to this element with a no holds barred smack down fight between Ruby and her classmates and an invading army of Grim.  This is action imagination on display at it’s finest and another reason why Monty Oum will be forever missed…more on that in a moment.

The characters were all given some great moments to shine, not just in the action category.  Our core four heroines were better than ever. The lessons from Season One had been learned and characters like Ruby and Weiss never fell back into old rivalries.  And everyone only got stronger from there.  A very tender scene for Blake and Yang involved strong shows of friendship and a surprising dark backstory for both Yang and Ruby.  Team JNPR got some good and sad times when it came to Jaune and Pyrrah.  The couple everyone wants to work out continues to grow closer but yet still be so far apart when it comes to potential romance, Jaune still attempting to hook up with Weiss rather than see the girl who clearly cares more for him.  Son, introduced at the end of Season One, got some time to shine with his cool old friend Neptune, both characters providing much of the comic relief this time around.  We also got the introduction of the inevitable RWBY mascot, the ever adorable Zwei, Ruby and Yang’s little grey corgi who is instantly loved by anyone…and can double as an intentional projectile…AWESOME!!!!

However, Vol.2 did have many of it’s Vol.1 problems still present.  As cool as the action was, maybe there was too much of it and not enough focus on bringing more of the plot of the villains to light.  We’re two seasons in and we still have no inkling as to who or what is the main force of evil, I doubt very much it’s Torchwick.  We saw several of his allies infiltrate Beacon this year but they didn’t do much besides snicker in the background, reveling in being right alongside Ruby and her friends without them realizing they’re the bad guys.  We got more and more annoying hits to the growing darkness but im wondering how far into this series lifespan we will actually see it and get some answers as to what the heck is going on with the White Fang, the Grim, Torchwick, everything.  Also, still no sign of that tournament they hyped up at the end of last season and I was waiting all season to see. 

Sadly, as many of you know, Series Creator Monty Oum passed away back in February, so RWBY Vol.2 is not just the last part of RWBY he’d ever work on but the last work of his life.  It has been confirmed by Rooster Teeth that RWBY will continue with Vol.3 later this year.  That being said, even if it does lack a proper conclusion, RWBY Vol.2 was the final masterpiece from a man who loved to do what he did: animate, imagine, dream and realize.  And though I think it has it’s faults, like Vol.1, I still enjoy it and cherish it’s energy and imagination and incredibly loveable characters.  RWBY is the final love letter/immortalization of one mans love of anime and his desire to create a story based around that medium.  We lost someone special this year, but with RWBY, Monty’s legacy will live forever…and I cant wait to see how it continues with his blessing.
8/10

September arrives next week and right before I get into the long awaited second season of Black Lagoon, we’ll be taking a look at another recent hit inspired by the creators love of Anime.  French Techno group sensation Daft Punk and legendary Anime creator Leiji Matsumoto joins forces to bring us: Interstella 5555-Secret of the Five Star System.  See ya next week everyone.

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