The Final RWBY Episode Review

RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 8 is the final RWBY episode review. After this week, there won’t be any more RWBY reviews until I review the full series when it finishes. Why? Because there are only so many ways I can say it’s a garbage series.

I don’t enjoy watching RWBY. It’s not good. And it’s not even bad in an entertaining way. It’s bad in a boring way. I genuinely enjoyed watching Ex-Arm more than RWBY. It’s actually trash. I never understood why people liked RWBY when it first came out and I still don’t know why people like it.

It amazes me that there are real people who exist who think RWBY is good. And if this is your favorite series, you need to reconsider your entire life. What’s wrong with you? Why did you end up like this?

Imagine all the better anime you could watch instead of RWBY. You could even not watch anime instead of watching RWBY. You could go commit crimes instead of watching RWBY and I’d probably still think better of you. Anything is better than a RWBY watcher, to be honest.

I’m really struggling here to see what people get out of watching RWBY. The characters are bad. The story is bad. And while there’s a very small amount of good animation, that’s bad too, for the most part. There’s not a single thing this series does that other series don’t do far better.

Consider this: Boruto is better than RWBY in every way possible. Boruto, the laughing stock of shounen battle anime. That’s how far down RWBY is. I’m 263 episodes into Boruto and still reviewing it weekly. I can’t even get through 12 episodes of RWBY. That should tell you everything you need to know.

Another Failure

I guess we’re far enough into this review for me to start talking about what happened in the episode. So, Team RWBY failed again. What else is new? I feel like I’m watching Haruhi Suzumiya‘s Endless Eight. It’s almost impressive how little progress is being made.

I get it. Each time they fail, Team RWBY learns something new to put them closer to success. But, none of these lessons they learn are interesting enough to start over.

The first time we learned Ruby needs the power of teamwork to beat the Nightmare. Duh.

The second time we learned that the Nightmare can be used against itself. Okay, but why did nobody point that out earlier? Jaune was sitting there wasting his immunity while Team RWBY messed around.

And now, we learned that they need to understand Weiss better to save her. No kidding. That’s why her friends have to save her.

What’s next? I’m betting that they realize they need Weiss’s help to defeat the Nightmare. That seems fairly obvious, to me. Weiss is part of Team RWBY. And how can the others claim to know her well if they can’t even get her to side with them?

The next episode might prove me wrong immediately. I don’t care. I’m not going to be reviewing it anyway. Feel free to tweet at me telling me how wrong I am about this series and how I made a mistake by dropping the reviews.

I know some people are going to try to say that it’s only RWBY: Ice Queendom that’s bad. They’ll say the original series was good. My response to that is, “no shot.” There’s no way the original series is good. You can pay me if you want me to watch it.

We Have to Go Deeper

At the end of the episode, Ruby awakens in a dream within a dream. I didn’t realize I was watching Inception. Now, here’s the part of the review where I saw one good thing about the episode. Well, here’s the part where I hope there’s one good thing.

I’d like to believe Ruby’s dream world can’t possibly be worse than Weiss’s. Something tells me we won’t be spending much time there. But, even if we get half an episode away from Weiss’s dream world, that’s an improvement.

If I have to listen to a door talk about “Sillies” anymore, I’m going to lose it. Okay, so we haven’t seen anything of Ruby’s dream world yet. But, at this point, I’ll take that over the previous 6 episodes.

Considering Ruby’s Nightmare infection, I have a few questions. For starters, was Ruby actually infected by the Nightmare? Or does her infection only exist within the dream world? I assume it persists in the real world since the Nightmare is an infection of the mind. But, that might not be the case.

Also, how is Ruby going to be freed from the Nightmare? Are Yang and Blake going to dive deeper into the dream world? Are they going to find dream Shion so they can go inside Ruby’s dream within a dream?

That seems unlikely. There are two more likely scenarios I can think of. The first is that Ruby somehow frees herself from the Nightmare. I don’t know how she would do this. But, I’m also not expecting any good writing in this series, so anything’s possible.

The second scenario is that Yang and Blake get Weiss to help them save Ruby. That could be interesting. But, it probably won’t be if it happens.

Conclusion

What do you think of RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 8? Is it worse than Ex-Arm? Are you enjoying seeing how bad it is? And how many levels deep do you think Nightmare dreams can go? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of RWBY: Ice Queendom as a whole is available now.

Untwisting the Sign

It’s wild that we’re 7 weeks into the summer anime season and the worst 2 anime I’m watching are by Shaft. Both RWBY: Ice Queendom and Luminous Witches are by Shaft. What happened to animating good anime, like Monogatari, Madoka Magica, and 3-gatsu?

I can’t overstate how bad RWBY is. The only reason I’m still watching it is that people (you) read the reviews. Please, if you’re reading this, tell me why in the comments. Do you actually like RWBY? Do you just want to see me suffer?

Anyway, we finally got some sort of explanation for the sign near the “entrance” to Weiss’s dream. It’s not a real explanation, but it’s good enough for now. When Team RWBY helps along events that Weiss wants to happen in the world, the sign untwists a bit.

The other two times we were in the dream, White Fang successfully derailed the train. That’s something Weiss doesn’t want to happen. This time, Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Jaune defeat the White Fang attackers. When they do this, the sign untwists a bit, implying they’re on the right track.

If this is actually what the sign represents, I’m not a huge fan. It does make sense, though. There’s an object right near the “start” of the dream that displays the state of the dream world. When the whole thing becomes untangled, Team RWBY will be able to save Weiss from the Nightmare.

I’d rather the sign represent something a lot more cliché, which I wouldn’t normally want. But, because the sign points in various directions, I’d rather it represent how Weiss feels. Different aspects of her personality are pulling her in different directions. For example, there’s what she wants vs. what her family wants.

Railway to Weiss’s Heart

I guess Shion told Ruby not to interfere with the Faunas’ attack on the train the first time as a precaution. If Ruby got involved right from the start, that could have made her investigation harder. And, at that point, it wasn’t clear how it would impact the dream.

One of the first things we learned about Nightmares is that they can cause the victim’s heart to lock itself up. If a perceived threat appears within the dream, it can prevent the victim from ever being saved. This is the last thing they want to happen to Weiss.

But, Ruby, Yang, and Blake know Weiss better than Shion does. Shion doesn’t actually know Weiss at all. So, after they gained some experience in Weiss’s dream world, they knew rescuing the train was okay. In fact, as I already mentioned, it was the right thing to do.

The question now is, “why was that the right thing to do?” Is it because Weiss wanted White Fang defeated? Is it because she wanted the train to reach the city? Or, could it be because that’s what she thought her father wanted? My bet is on the latter.

But, that doesn’t quite add up with what I said earlier. I said the sign represents how far along Team RWBY is at doing things Weiss wants to happen in her dream. So, it could be that these are things Weiss needs to happen to escape from her father.

Even when the train was going to make it to the city for the first time, she hesitated to open the doors. But, by opening the doors, she’s choosing to let her friends in. And she’s destroying the “utopia” governed by her father in her mind.

Mini Weiss Army

Something I’m struggling to understand is why Team RWBY would waste their trump card. Remember that whole thing about Jaune being “immune” to the Nightmare? Why didn’t they actually take advantage of that? Is there something I’m missing here? They made him play the wrong role.

Jaune can slip past the Nightmare. Because he still has its DNA within him, the Nightmare views Jaune as its own creation. Even if Jaune is acting against the Nightmare, it can’t recognize that. So, the obvious choice would be to have Jaune locate and slay the Nightmare before his immunity wears off.

It’s possible that Jaune wouldn’t be able to slay the Nightmare and save Weiss on his own. Weiss’s close friends might need to be the ones to save her. Or, maybe the Nightmare is too strong for Jaune to defeat on his own.

If either of those is the case, then Jaune should at least open the path to the Nightmare. As long as he can get to the Nightmare, he can help Team RWBY make it there as well. But, Jaune instead plays the role of the distraction. This makes no sense.

Jaune’s the one person the Nightmare can’t see and recognize. So why is he the one causing a commotion and drawing the Nightmare’s attention? All he’s accomplished by doing that is invalidating his immunity to the Nightmare. Now it knows exactly where he is and that he’s causing trouble.

Sure, that takes some of the heat away from Team RWBY, for the time being. But, anyone could have been the distraction. Why did the series bother setting up that Jaune was immune? Okay, he was able to walk right into the Sillies Jail. So what? Any of them could have done that.

Conclusion

What do you think of RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 7? Could you untwist the sign with your bare hands? How many times do you think the train failed to reach the city? And how many mini Weiss could you beat in a fight at once? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 8 is available now.

The Battle for Weiss’s Heart

RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 6 is terrible. After completing the episode, I lowered my score of the series from a 4 to a 3/10. And, I’m very tempted to drop the series. I don’t see what people like about it.

The one thing this adaptation of the series had going for it was the animation. But, the good animation is no more. Episode 3 may have been the last one to have good animation. And in this episode, RWBY decided to go back to its roots animation-wise.

I never got into the original RWBY series. Why? Because it looked like garbage. I know people are nostalgic for it, for some reason. But, it looked like trash. If you think otherwise, you’re coping extremely hard. This anime is the best RWBY has ever looked by a longshot. It’s not even close.

That’s why it’s so unfortunate that the animation has melted. Episode 6 decided to go back to the poorly-animated CGI that RWBY was originally infamous for. The battle against Negative Weiss could have been great. Instead, we got a lot of characters floating around and looking awkward.

I also noticed that most of the visuals from the OP of the series are reused from the first 2 or 3 episodes. If that means the rest of the anime is going to be as bad as Episode 6 was, I have no interest in it. I’ve already had no interest in the story and characters from the start.

RWBY is an action series. What’s an action series without good animation? And since Negative Weiss is the main villain of the story, a battle against her needs good animation. Imagine if the Naruto vs. Sasuke fights in Naruto had animation this bad.

Mission Failed (Again)

Let’s move on from my complaining about animation to complaining about the progression. At the end of the episode, Team RWBY is going into Weiss’s dream world for the third time. First, Ruby went in alone. Then, Yang and Blake joined her. And now, Jaune is coming along too.

At first glance, it might seem like this is pretty good story progression. Ruby scouted out the world before bringing Yang and Blake in to help her save Weiss. And when that failed, they regrouped, learned from their mistakes, and picked up Jaune.

Is that really how the story has been progressing, though? I don’t see it that way. Ruby’s first attempt at saving Weiss amounted to nothing. It’s hard to even say she learned anything from it. When she went back in with Yang and Blake, she was going to make all the same mistakes again.

The only reason the second attempt got farther is that Yang and Blake were there. If they went with Ruby from the start, we could have skipped an attempt. The same is true after this second attempt failed. The third attempt seems like it’s going to invalidate the second.

This might be a bit less obvious. Ruby, Yang, and Blake all came up with new plans to help them succeed on the third attempt. We don’t know what those plans are yet. But, the fact that they came up with these plans implies that they’ve learned from their mistakes. That’s good.

The problem is Jaune. It’s only now that we’re told Jaune can actually bypass the Nightmare’s defenses. This isn’t something that was just discovered. Shion knew this and never mentioned it. An author shouldn’t hide important information for plot convenience. There’s no good reason to do that.

Nightmare Immunity

I’m going to attempt to be a little less negative in this section of the review. If we learned of Jaune’s immunity to the Nightmare earlier, it could have been interesting. By this point, I’m tired of the series. But, it’s a decent development on its own.

The Nightmare recognizes intruders in the same way your immune system does. If someone from the outside enters the dream, you can think of it as having different DNA. The Nightmare created everything in the dream world, and so it all shares the Nightmare’s DNA.

Ruby, Yang, and Blake were not created by the Nightmare. So, they’re viewed as something different and therefore dangerous. Jaune is a special case, though. Because the Nightmare infected him earlier, he has its DNA inside him. This allows him to slip into the dream world undetected.

Jaune’s current condition was likened to having an immunity to the Nightmare. But, we should really be looking at it the other way around. Jaune isn’t immune to the Nightmare. Instead, Jaune functions like a cancerous cell in the body of the Nightmare. It thinks he’s one of its own. But, he’s actually going to be causing all sorts of damage.

Assuming that Team RWBY saves Weiss on their third attempt, Jaune will be the one with the biggest role. While Ruby, Yang, and Blake distract Negative Weiss, Jaune will be the one causing the real damage. By the time the Nightmare realizes Jaune is an enemy, it will be too late.

And, it’s possible that even if it recognizes Jaune as an enemy, it won’t be able to do anything. We don’t know what limitations Nightmares have. It might not be able to attack what it perceives as itself.

Conclusion

What do you think of RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 6? Are you even still watching the series at this point? Do you like this more or less than the original series? And, how successful do you think Jaune’s intrusion into the dream world is going to be? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 7 is available now.

Positive and Negative Weiss

RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 5 wasn’t a good episode. I haven’t been a fan of the series so far. But, it’s been tolerable. Now that we’re 5 episodes in, I can feel my tolerance beginning to wane. Unless there’s some crazy animation, I’m not all that interested.

At the start of the episode, we get an explanation of Positive Weiss and Negative Weiss. Positive Weiss is the real Weiss. Negative Weiss is the Weiss that resides within the dream world. Why is this an important distinction to make, though?

For us, this distinction doesn’t matter all that much. We know the difference between the real Weiss and the dream Weiss. But, for Ruby and the gang, the line between what’s real and what’s fake is blurry. To them, it feels like the Weiss they meet within the dreamscape is real. How she acts could be how the real Weiss feels.

This is why the distinction is important. Team RWBY needs to remember that Negative Weiss is not their friend and team member. Negative Weiss only exists in the dream world because of the Nightmare’s influence. It could be problematic if they mistake Negative Weiss for the real thing.

Now, I don’t like the names Positive and Negative Weiss. This implies that the two are complete opposites. But, that’s not actually the case. Instead, Negative Weiss is an extreme manifestation of Weiss’s negative thoughts and emotions. It’s not the real her but it’s not entirely fake either.

Although it’s a bit cliché, Dark Weiss is a better name for Negative Weiss. Having a normal Weiss and a Dark Weiss doesn’t come with the same polar opposite implication. Or, they could even call her Dream Weiss. The name doesn’t matter as long as there’s a distinction.

Team RWBY Enters the Dreamscape

After settling on a name for Negative Weiss, all 3 remaining members of Team RWBY enter the dream world. For the first reconnaissance mission, Ruby went on her own. It was better to send only one person in to avoid detection.

Now that they have a pretty good idea of where the Nightmare resides, it’s time to take it out. And for that, the whole team is going to be necessary. Though, Ruby initially tries to convince Blake and Yang to let her go in alone again.

It’s a good thing Blake and Yang didn’t listen to Ruby. Ruby blew through her coins the first time around. And she was going to do the same this time, as well. But, Blake and Yang were able to stop her from wasting her coins. She wanted to use one almost immediately.

Another good reason for Blake and Yang tagging along is that they’re far stronger than Ruby. Well, at least they are within Weiss’s dreams. I guess this explains why Weiss doesn’t view Ruby as being fit to be the team leader. She views Ruby as the weakest of the bunch.

This also brings up a question about how Ruby’s weapon manifested within the dream. Does it fire out of the wrong end because Weiss thinks Ruby would get mixed up like that? Or, does it fire out of the wrong end because Weiss doesn’t understand how it works? I hope it’s the latter.

Finally, Blake and Yang are also the ones who make finding the city’s interior possible. Ruby spent all her initial time in the dream wandering around lost. Blake and Yang are much more observant. Ruby may be the leader, but those two know what they’re doing.

RWBY Is Pretty Cringe

No part of the episode was particularly good. But, the worst part of the entire thing was the part with Pyrrha. And that’s unfortunate because I’d say Pyrrha is one of the better characters so far. At least this bad part involved dream Pyrrha and not real Pyrrha.

Ruby finds Pyrrha in Silly Jail — the jail for sillies, of course. The last time Ruby found herself at a Silly Jail, the other 3 members of Team JNPR were there. But, notably, Pyrrha wasn’t. I assumed this was because Weiss didn’t view Pyrrha as a “Silly.”

Now that we’ve seen Pyrrha is in Silly Jail too, I don’t know what to think. But, that’s irrelevant right now. What I actually want to complain about is Pyrrha breaking out into song. Randomly breaking out into song is cringe. And so is the stuff Pyrrha was singing about.

Pyrrha’s song was all about being lonely and included a lot of mirror symbolism. Her song was about how Weiss feels. And the problem I have with this is that we didn’t need this spelled out for us. The song adds nothing other than making Weiss’s feelings very clear.

Was this something we needed? Not at all. How Weiss feels should be clear enough from the way she acts. We can infer her feelings from her interactions with her teammates and others around her. And we can also infer this from what the world in her dreams looks like.

I hate when series go out of their way to explain the obvious to the viewer. You’ve definitely heard this before, but it’s better to show than to tell. And the fact that Pyrrha had to explain what was obvious to us in with a song made it much worse.

Conclusion

What do you think of RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 5? Do you have a better name for Negative Weiss? Which of Team RWBY’s dreamscape designs do you like the most? And how do you feel about spontaneously breaking out in song? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 6 is available now.