Team RWBY is back together at last. That doesn’t mean the good times are ready to
roll again. In fact, on the road to
Atlas, things are about to get a whole lot worse. For a long time, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang
have wondered what it is they’ve been fighting against and if they have a
chance to win. When they finally learn
the secret behind Salem and her dark history of Remnant, their resolve will be
shaken like never before. As Ruby and
her friends trudge through their toughest ordeals yet, old enemies are making
new alliances and growing stronger, looking for revenge. The times may look bleak for Remnant…but
never count out Team RWBY.
Volume 6 of RWBY might’ve been my most anticipated season
of the hit Rooster Teeth series yet.
After two years of waiting, the band was back together at last. Made stronger from their separate trials and
ordeals, it was time to see Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Blake kick some ass and make
some good forward progression in the story.
But Volume 6 turned out to be one of the biggest mixed bags. Was there good stuff, well always, but I cant
help but feel like some aspects were a little underwhelming compared to Season
4 or 5.
The most critical of new developments is Salem, the big
bad of the series, finally gets a backstory and man is it a doozy. This girl has got some legit reasons for
becoming the way she is, but I never expected those roots would go all the way
back to the beginning of time. Salem’s
origin was the ultimate history lesson that felt like one part “The Second
Renaissance” from The Animatrix and one part “Beginnings” from The Legend of
Korra. I feel like I’m kind of holding
back my full on “WOW” thoughts for sake of spoilers. But let’s just say the revelations gleamed
from here rocked everyone, yours truly included, to the core. It’s a crucial piece of RWBY lore that asks
some good questions as to how Salem can truly be stopped.
Salem’s Origin might’ve just been one of the two main
high points of the season, and that was super early on as well. The middle part of Volume 6 is beyond a doubt
some of the toughest bits of RWBY to watch since the gam changing second half
of Volume 3. The team really hits a low
point and it is very, very disheartening to see them this way. I was hoping that things would perk up a
little now that the team was reunited. I
wasn’t expecting full on bouts of humor (though they did peek their head in every
once in a while and were very welcome).
But I wasn’t expecting despair on this level. Even fan favorite source of comic relife Sun
was jettisoned from the show for a side quest we never see (though that did
give Blake and Yang shippers plenty of time to cheer about). For the first time since Volume 3, I was
terrified for Ruby and the others. This
season pushed them hard and belief was in short supply for everyone. On the one hand, this was still some powerful
stuff that I hope pays off more in Volume 7.
On the other hand, it’s the darkest RWBY has ever been and it can be a hard
watch at times. So neither complete
praise nor a criticism…it’s a hard call for me to make really.
Helping things take a bit of a lighter turn is the
introduction of Maria Calavera, who is basically RWBY’s Yoda. Once a kick ass huntswoman, this blind old
lady had spunk, cool teched googles and a plethora of wisdom and wit that I
feel the gang has lacked for a long time.
With Ozpin being cryptic as always, it helped to have some straight
forward and no nonsense advice given by a kind old woman who has been around
the block and can still hold her own with the best of them. Seeing her and Ruby’s interactions in
particular made me wish Maria had been introduced far sooner than this, but
better late than never. And Maria wasn’t
the only source of levity. Some of the humor was back in the second half of the
season, especially when we met Jaune’s sister, her wife and her Zwei levels of
adorable son. And, of course, there’s
Ruby Rose herself. This girl needs a hug
more than anyone. She holds out hope for
all even when its at its lowest point in the season and its stunning to see her
growth. Ruby’s come the farthest from
Volume 1 I think and its inspiring to see her face off against giants with no
fear and all the confidence in the world, producing some of the best F YEAH
moments in the shows history.
Now for the low points that I think held this season
back. Once again, I felt like for all
the deep character introspectives, the same that made Volume 4 work, we’re
still taking baby steps towards the larger fight to come. The Battle of Managerie that closed out
Volume 5 felt substantial due to the reunion of Team RWBY. The Battle of Argus has scale for sure
including a giant robot and a monstrous Grimm known as a Leviathan. And yet, at the end most of that battle
boiled down to Ruby and company battle a tiny old general with a stick up her
ass who refused to listen…kind of feels like a step down to be honest. There’s also the matter of Cinder and Neo
teaming up. Though they get a stellar
fight scene early on, theyre out for the bulk of the season, clearly being
saved for Volume 7. Maybe my
expectations were too high or I expected Salem to have a more direct role now
that her backstory was on the table. In
the end, the finale felt too much like the end of Volume 1 or 2, a lot of
epicness and yet with little progression.
Naturally, it wouldn’t be a RWBY review if I didn’t talk
about how freaking awesome this show continues to look year after year and
Volume 6 is the best looking one to date.
The action moves more fluidly than ever and some of the best set pieces
were in this Volume (Neo vs. Cinder, Maria’s flashback as the Grimm
Reaper). But there crème of the crop was
definitely Yang and Blake vs. Adam. Not
only did it close out a very important character arc for Blake and axe off one
of RWBY’s long time villains (spoiler?), but the fight looked so stunning and
well choreographed. No matter how much
the show drags its feet in terms of getting to the end game, the animation and
action will always take your mind off of that for a little bit.
RWBY Volume 6 had a lot of to live up to after the
success of Volume 4 & 5. In the end,
it does plenty with the lessons learned from those Volumes and delivers some of
the best exposition, lore and action that I expected. But slow plot progression and a rather
lackluster finale held things back quite a bit.
With Volume 7 on the horizon, I think its time for RWBY to start making
some serious headway and quit teasing the bigger conflict to come and just get
to it. That aside, the characters are
stronger than ever (especially the core quartet) and there were some fun new
faces added to the mix too. Volume 6
wasn’t bad by any means and it continued to both hype me up and break my heart
(sometimes both at once). It just didn’t
quite measure up to Volume 5, my favorite Volume so far. Ok Volume 7…you’re up next.
7/10
Sorry it took me so long to get to this, I’ll try to not
have the wait for next year be so long.
But you know how this goes. If
not, well, I do RWBY reviews in bulk, which means waiting until the end of
seasons which generally begin in October and last through the end of February
(usually in and around Katsucon time).
So, I’ll throw out a tentative February 2020 date for my review of RWBY
Volume 7. Til then, see ya next week
for the start of some Halloween spookiness and epic monster hunting action with
Hellsing Ultimate.
