RWBY Vol.6

 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.