T5W#274-Top 5 Reasons I’m Taking a Break from RWBY (more than usual)

It’s been a little bit since I’ve said anything about Rooster Teeth’s RWBY and there’s been multiple reasons for that.  At least twice now this year, I’ve slotted the 7^th Volume into the review rotation.  And at least twice, I haven’t followed through on that.  Incase anyone was curious as to why this has become a thing, today’s Top 5 Wednesday is here to address this little decision of mine.  Now, I’m not saying I wont pick back up on RWBY, it’s just not as high a priority on my list as it has been in the past.  How can this be?  Am I calling it quits on an almost annual tradition (considering I review seasons once theyre completely uploaded to either Rooster Teeths main page or Crunchyroll)?  Well, I’ve held off on talking about this for a couple of months now so let’s not waste anymore time.  These are my Top 5 Reasons I’m Taking a Break from RWBY (more than usual).

#5-There are a bunch of other titles to review in the meantime

This isn’t anything unusual.  In fact RWBY is only of a few titles that’s come up on my review cue, only to be replaced with something else before I can get to it.  Heck, 2020 has seen at least 4-5 unintended titles come along (K-ON!!, Gundam SEED, SEED Destiny and AGE off the top of my head).  While I have thrown myself into the blog more heavily than ever given how this year has gone, RWBY’s just become another casualty of “Hey, I know I said I’d review this but (X) just popped up on Netflix and I’ve been wanting to see that for years.  RWBY can wait”.  The long wait in between seasons doesn’t help either really.  I reviewed Volume 1-3 pretty close together because Vol.1 and 2 were on DVD and 3 wrapped after I reviewed 2.  I tend to wait until the entire season is available in full to watch and that can take about a year if not a little more, that’s a definite momentum killer and it’s hard to get excited for it again when there are other shows in the cue I’m more excited to take a look at. RWBY’s just not a priority atm and wont be for the foreseeable future (frak I need to get on the series I have planned for January, more on that in a few weeks).

 

#4-The Zeitgeist has worn off

When RWBY arrived in 2013, it was a pretty big deal.  It was one of Rooster Teeth’s first big projects outside of their popular web series, Red vs. Blue, and it had the creative talent of Monty Oum, famous for his Master Chief vs Samus and Dead Fantasy series, behind it.  RWBY exploded into something unexpected and was (and to my knowledge still is) widely accepted into the Otaku fandom.  And while there’s still plenty of cosplay to be seen, there’s no denying RWBY’s impact has lessened over the years.  The loss of Monty Oum in 2015 definitley put a damper on things (more on that in a bit) and whether or not that’s affected the show’s quality is a debate of it own.  It’s just not nearly as popular as it was in its debut and it’s admittedly hard for me to get excited for new seasons after Season 5.  A major spark is needed to reignite my interest cause right now, I might just wait until the show wraps (if it ever does) to finish the review since I’m usually committed to a full series once I start it (most of the time).

 

#3-The lore isn’t grabbing me (I don’t think it ever did really)

RWBY is the kind of series that creates a brand new world to explore, complete with a rich history and lore and a constantly changing user manual as to how everything works.  And if im honest…it’s not only gotten harder and harder to keep track of who’s connected to who, who’s using whose body for their own ends, who has the ultimate super weapon in their soul etc, im not sure I cared that much about it to begin with.  I’ve enjoyed the characters and the action still maintains that Monty Oum spirit. But the more world building and historical factors that get thrown in, the more im just kind of tuning it out at this point. 

 

#2-It’s gotten really depressing

As much as I hate to say this, RWBY’s highest point has become it’s own double edged sword.  After two seasons of not a lot of progression, Volume 3 tore down the foundations of the series by its end and it was probably the best of the Season Finales to date.  But the tone of RWBY has gotten far more darker and serious than ever, so much that there’s barely any humor in it at all.  Part of me wonders if this had anything to do with Monty Oum’s passing and I’ll talk more about the series’ overall plan (or lack thereof) in a second.  Hell, Volume 6 saw Ruby and company battle Grimm who were literally hopelessness and depression.  It was the darkest and heaviest season to date and that definitely impacted me when I was already having a rough go in life when I watched it.  We are so far removed from the epic food fight that opened Volume 2 and I’ll just say, even when it finally decided to start taking itself seriously, Red vs. Blue never got this grim (no pun intended)

 

#1-Has there ever been a road map?

My biggest criticism about RWBY for years is now stronger than ever: if the series has an endgame, it’s not in a hurry to get there.  This became even more evident when an 8^th and 9^th Volume were confirmed just after Volume 7 began its run.  We know Ruby will face Salem because Rules of Anime.  But RWBY has never been the most briskly paced series.  In fact, there are moments in earlier seasons and definitely Volume 6 where the show has felt stagnant and lacked momentum.  There have been times where I feel like the writers are plodding things out just to keep RWBY going on as long as possible.  To be fair, I’ve felt the same way about Red vs. Blue since the end of the 13^th Season (I forgive Season 14 too cause that was the shows creative high point).  RWBY needs to make it clear just how much more it has in the tank and reevaluate if it will have the momentum to get there.  Otherwise, the lack of epoch Zeitgeist that I talked about earlier will see it limp to the finishline rather than finishing as strong as other Anime inspired animation projects like Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, both of whom didn’t have the same momentum problems RWBY has had (ok Korra had them but Korra was shorter and far more memorable).  Just sayin…maybe 9 Volumes is a good stopping point guys.