RWBY Vol.3

The Vytal Festival Tournament has finally begun.  Teams from academies across the kingdom gather for an all out but friendly brawl for victory. And Team RWBY is ready to prove their worth to the world.  But there are others who have their own plans for the tournament.  Cinder, Emerald and Mercury finally begin their plan which has been ages in the making.  A darkness descends upon Beacon, the likes of which has never been seen before.  For Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang and their allies, this will be the battle that tests them like never before.  And when the dust finally settles, nothing will ever be the same again.

Following the unfortunate passing of series creator Monty Oum last year, the future of RWBY was uncertain.  But Rooster Teeth announced that Oum’s series would carry on and return to fans within the year.  And RWBY did indeed return.  But I don’t think anybody was ready for what this season was going to bring.

This is easily the darkest RWBY has ever been.  It kind of harkens back to the first few character trailers before the series began.  The action, music and pacing seemed pretty dramatic and it wasn’t until we saw Yangs trailer that we found some of the series humor.  Now the humor is still there but that’s mostly placed in the first half of the series before the rug is ripped out from under us in the second half.  Merciless is how I have been describing the events of Season 3 to most people.  And I know that a lot of what goes down, especially in the finale, is going to divide the fandom straight down the middle.  Will anyone stand against what the creators did to so many beloved characters or will they embrace change?

Me?  I actually embrace it.  That doesn’t mean it’s hard watching characters get killed or maimed.  But one thing I felt was particularly lacking about the first two seasons was a sense of tension and danger for the girls and their friends.  Everything felt like it was building up to something but we never got a proper payoff.  Now there is still the elaborate chess movement of characters and plot points that is still continuing in this season as well.  The difference is that there’s payoff here and I like that there are bold moves made that cant be reversed (right now anyway but who knows).  The two halves of Season 3 are distinct.  The opening half is all of what we love about RWBY and more: the action, the team dynamics, the still kick ass music.  But half two is when everything falls apart, literally and you feel like youre on the edge of your seat more than ever.  It’s always a risky move to shake up a world like this.  But I cant wait for Season 4 with the hopes that the new direction sticks while retaining much of RWBY’s charm and humor…but no laughs during the season finale folks, it was all tears and WTF’s.

Even with the much missed presence of Monty Oum (made harder by the fact that they had to recast Wren, who Oum voiced) you can tell that the Rooster Teeth staff is doing their damnedest to honor his memory.  Season 3 is, in my opinion, the best looking season to date.  There’s a more natural Anime kind of feel to it and it just looks much smoother and polished (probably helps that they didn’t release RWBY in the summer like they usually do and waited for Fall).  All of the characters you know and love are back as well.  Though with the redirected closer focus on Cinder, Emerald and Mercury, a couple of fan favs kind of get left to the side like Sun and Neptune, at least until the finale.  I feel like a little more could have been done with Weiss’s sister, Winter, especially with her relationship with Qrow.  And man, after all the hype, Qrow did not disappoint with his drunken arrival.  You can tell why Ruby and Yang are so energetic and optimistic in their adventures by just seeing how great they are around him.  Also helps that Qrow is voiced by Vic Minogna (aka Edward Elric of Fullmetal Alchemist fame).  How RT managed that I don’t know but theyre awesome for it.

There’s a great sadness that will stay with you long after the Season 3 credits roll.  But there’s also a fire, that burned in me at least, to see Season 4 pronto so all of this could be resolved.  Binging this season was a lot like binging Madoka Magica.  You feel wide eyed in wonder at the beginning and then leave teary eyed and a little pissed…but in a good way, in a good, GOOD way.  RWBY Season 3 will be the most controversial season yet but whether fans love it or hate it, like me they’ll be back for more when Season 4 commences sometime this year.  Cause no matter what happened to them this round, through the fire and the flames, Team RWBY will carry on.

9/10