Ruby’s Solo Adventure

RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 4 sidestepped one of my big questions from Episode 3. I wondered whether Blake would be able to enter Weiss’s dreams. To enter someone’s dreams, you have to have a close relationship with that person. So, I thought Blake might not get in.

Unfortunately, I don’t get an answer to that question yet. It turns out that Black and Yang didn’t go into Weiss’s dreams. Ruby was the only one sent in. And the reason given for this is that it’s easier for one person to sneak around within a dream than three.

Ruby’s current mission is to locate the Nightmare holding Weiss hostage in her dreams. Then, Blake and Yang will go into the dream as well to help Ruby fight against it. So, it’s possible that I’ll get my answer about Blake’s eligibility to enter Weiss’s dream next week.

One problem with this strategy of sending Ruby into the dream world alone is that it didn’t work as intended. Even though Ruby was the only one sent in, it didn’t take long for the Nightmare to notice her. And, the Nightmare isn’t the only one to notice her.

Whitley, Weiss’s younger sister, spotted Ruby and reported her movements to Weiss. It’s unclear why Whitley is currently taking the form of a bat. But, I’m going to assume she looks this way due to the distortion of Weiss’s dream world. Though, it’s also possible that Whitley has the ability to transform into a bat in the real world.

Something else that’s unclear is whether Weiss realizes this Ruby is the real Ruby. We don’t know if Weiss knows she’s trapped in a dream. But, she did seem surprised to see Ruby. So, maybe she knows something.

Weiss’s Dream World

Weiss’s dream world is a weird place. It’s not quite as surreal as Juane’s. But, it’s a lot larger and more complex. There’s a massive city, land outside the city walls, and thousands of people of all shapes and sizes.

That last point is what makes Weiss’s dream world so strange. In Juane’s dream world, he was the one who took on a different appearance. His dream world was all about how he views himself. Weiss’s is the opposite. It’s all about how she views those around her, so they’re the ones with altered appearances.

Whitley resembling a bat is only one example. Weiss’s mother — or who I assume is her mother — is a shadow on the wall that doesn’t stop laughing. And one of the butlers of the Schnee household is a literal door to a prison cell.

In Weiss’s dream world, we get a chance to see how she views other people. For example, most of Team JNPR are in “Silly Jail” acting like cats. Pyrrha Nikos is noticeably missing from the group. This is because while Weiss looks up to Pyrrha, she looks down on the other members of Team JNPR.

There’s also a laughing shadow on the wall, which I assume is Weiss’s mother. This could imply that Weiss doesn’t have much of a relationship with her mother. On the other hand, Weiss’s father is everywhere in the city. This reflects how overbearing he is.

From what I remember of the first episode, these depictions of Weiss’s parents seem right. I don’t remember seeing her mother present during her exam. And her father was doing everything in his power to dissuade her from applying to Beacon Academy. I didn’t notice her sister having batlike tendencies, though.

I Don’t Really Understand It

We’re four episodes into RWBY: Ice Queendom, and I’m still not understanding the appeal. Everything about the series feels very generic. And, a lot of aspects of the series feel rushed — this episode included. Though, I don’t know if that’s due to the original story or this adaptation.

Regardless of which it is, it’s an odd choice to jump into Weiss’s dream world so soon. The series hasn’t explained very much about its world to us at this point. For example, I still don’t understand what a Semblance is other than it turns Ruby into a flying piece of fabric.

I’m sure longtime fans of the series understand it. But, I’m not so sure that gearing this adaptation to longtime fans is the best idea — or even the goal. This is a reboot of the series by an entirely different team. It shouldn’t be gatekept.

It’s possible that the original series didn’t explain anything either. I haven’t seen it and have no plans to. But, if that’s the case, then I still don’t understand why we’re rushing into Weiss’s dream arc. The introduction to who a character is shouldn’t come from an arc that takes place in their mind.

To be fair, we do already know a bit about who Weiss is. But, I wouldn’t say it’s enough for me to care about the inner workings of her mind. Like, we haven’t even seen Team RWBY do anything together besides the team formation exam.

Imagine if in Naruto, before Team 7 even went on a single mission, we learned about Sasuke’s past. We don’t actually learn about it until Episode 84, by the way. But, what makes his past interesting at that point is that we’ve already gotten to know him.

Conclusion

What do you think of RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 4? Why do you think Weiss views Ruby as a snowboarder? Who has the worst depiction in Weiss’s dream world? And does the story feel rushed to you? 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 5 is available now.

Weiss Has Been Demoted

It’s official: Wiess Schnee is no longer my favorite of the four main girls in RWBY: Ice Queendom. Weiss did everything in her power in Episode 3 to make herself unlikable. At least she’s still pretty cool. She got the only action in this week’s episode.

I guess we’re starting this review off by going over everything Weiss did wrong. So, first up, Weiss gets mad at Ruby for cheering her on. I know she says she’s mad because Ruby was telling her what to do. But, it’s clear that wasn’t Ruby’s intention.

Next, Weiss attempts to have herself designated as the team leader. I’ll concede that Weiss might be more skilled than Ruby is. But, she hasn’t once shown that she has the qualities to be a leader. Who was the one who took charge during the exam? It was Ruby, not Weiss.

Let’s also not forget that Weiss defends the practices of her family’s company. I know we’re supposed to be seeing both sides of the company vs. the White Fangs. But, the Schnee company is your typical, evil overlord corporation. They have a monopoly on a natural resource.

Defending the Schnee Corporation (I think that’s the name) is like defending Amazon. All it does is show how out of touch you are. And, it doesn’t help that there’s a significant dose of racism mixed into all this. Who are the enemies of the Schnee Corporation? The Fauna (animal people).

Continuing on with racism, Weiss herself is racist. It’s not only that she supports a racist business. She believes that all Fauna are terrorists and criminals.

I’m tired of the animal people representing minorities trope. It’s so overdone. And isn’t that trope itself a bit racist? Comparing people to animals?

Hunting Nightmares

The middle part of the episode seems to have set the stage for the rest of the season. We got an introduction to Nightmares — Grimm that prey upon insecurities. And every single thing mentioned about them made it clear that Weiss was going to fall victim to one.

Of course, at the end of the episode, that’s exactly what happened. But, before then, Juane was the one a Nightmare attacked. He served as the guinea pig so we could learn all about how to defeat a Nightmare. Who would have guessed that it requires the power of friendship?

When a Nightmare infects a host, it puts them into a coma and seals them within their own dreams. During this time, the Nightmare uses the host’s Aura (magic) to produce other Grimm. Are all Grimm produced this way? I don’t know and it doesn’t matter.

What does matter is that the only way to save the victim from the Nightmare is to enter the dreamscape. And, as far as I understand it, Shion Zaiden is the one you need if you’re going to do that. I guess if she’s not around, you’re out of luck.

But, hold on. That’s not all. Remember, we need the power of friendship to defeat a Nightmare. As it turns out, the only people who can enter the victim’s dreams to save them are their close friends. If anyone else tries, the victim’s heart will close itself off.

The other three members of Team JNPR were able to go into Juane’s dreams and defeat the Nightmare. So, naturally, it’s the remaining three members of Team RWBY who are going to save Weiss.

Or, you know, they could kill her to solve two problems at once. No more Nightmare or Weiss.

The Catgirl is the Best Girl

Due to Blake’s large ribbon, it was clear the inspiration for her design was a catgirl. But, it turns out that she is a catgirl. I noticed that she had some cat-like qualities — such as her reflexes. Still, I didn’t expect her to actually be one.

So far, we haven’t seen that Blake has a tail. Based on the other Fauna in this episode, though, we can assume she has one. And I hope she stops hiding it soon. A very important trait of any catgirl is that she has a visible tail.

Anyway, now that Weiss got demoted to trash-tier, Blake is the new best girl of the series. I still think her whip-guns are dumb. But, aside from that, I’d say she’s good. She has a pretty nice character design and she doesn’t have a terrible personality.

I wonder if there’s going to be an issue with getting Blake into Weiss’s dreams. Weiss hates catgirls. So, wouldn’t that mean that Blake won’t be able to get into Weiss’s dreams? I thought it could also be the other way around. But, that doesn’t make sense.

It can’t be that Blake has to view Weiss as a friend to get into her dreams, right? Weiss must be the one to view those entering her dreams as friends. That’s why it’s her heart that gets closed off if it detects non-friends. Or, it might work both ways. I don’t know.

I’ll be a bit disappointed if there’s no issue getting Blake into Weiss’s dream. Wasn’t the whole point of mentioning only close friends can enter dreams to set up a potential issue? It’s going to be pretty lame if Weiss actually made up with Blake as she claimed at the end of the episode.

Conclusion

What do you think of RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 3? Did this episode hurt your opinion of Weiss? Should Team RWBY even bother saving Weiss? And, did you already know Blake was a catgirl before the reveal? 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 4 is available now.

The Beacon Academy Test

For the second episode in a row, Hiroto Nagata is carrying the series on his back. RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 2 looks like garbage except for the part animated by him. The backgrounds were especially bad. Most of them looked like the artists used Microsoft Paint.

I can’t emphasize enough how distracting the poor quality of the visuals is. I couldn’t help but focus on the backgrounds in both the airship and the forest. If we ever get an episode that doesn’t have Hiroto Nagata on it, I’ll have nothing good to say about it.

So, with that said, let’s move on to complaining about other aspects of the episode. Of course, this series has to have an episode dedicated to a battle exam. Battle exams can be good — look at Naruto. But, I can’t say RWBY did it well. It felt very arbitrary.

There are many reasons why the chunin exams in Naruto are great. In fact, I should write an article dedicated to that. But, in short, it introduces the supporting cast, expands the world, and sets up conflict. RWBY tries to do all these things, but only succeeds at the first.

I’ll admit, this exam introduced three of the four new supporting characters well. Pyrrha, Juane, and Nora were neat. I wasn’t impressed with Ren, though. But, the exam didn’t introduce anything else. It didn’t expand the world. And it didn’t really introduce conflict.

By conflict here, I mean long-term conflict. You know, like Orochimaru doing things during the chunin exams. We got a new character saying that there’s a dangerous Grimm somewhere within the exam area. But, nothing came of that. So, it’s possible that this was setting up for some future conflict.

I can’t say it was a very good setup, though.

Formation of the 4-Man Squad

Okay, we need to talk about the creation of the 4-man teams. This is how I know RWBY doesn’t actually have a plan. They didn’t even try to come up with a good excuse for creating the teams.

All that’s said is that the first person you make eye contact with is your partner. And then two teams of two will pair up at some point after that (we didn’t get details for this part upfront). Later, it’s explained that pairs team up based on the chess pieces they selected.

So, yes, the characters did pair up based on who they first made eye contact with in the forest. But there’s no reasoning behind this rule. It’s an arbitrary rule with no way to enforce it. Like, any other reason would have been better than what we got.

I could leave my complaint about forming the teams there. But, why do that when I can give an example of a better way to do it that was in an anime from last season? Have you seen In the Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki? There are teams of ninja in that anime, and how those teams formed was simple, yet effective.

In that series, the characters have to reach a certain spot. That’s all they’re told. But, when they arrive there, whoever they arrive with becomes their team. Why is this the case? Because if you arrived with people, it means you were able to work together with them.

Would that work in RWBY? Absolutely. The characters divided themselves into two teams of four on their own to fight off the Grimm. So, don’t mention teams at the start of the test. And then when they finish, group them based on who finished together.

Teams RWBY and JNPR

By the end of the episode, we have two new teams who are going to be together for the next few years. It’s said that the teams last through their time at Beacon Academy. But, I’m going to assume that these teams persist even after graduation.

If you’ve worked together for four years and are all going into the same line of work, it makes sense. And as far as I know, there aren’t different Hunter companies. So it’s not like there’s a company that’s going to scout Blake, but not the rest of team RWBY.

Speaking of team RWBY, the names of the teams come from the names of the team members. So, RWBY stands for Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang (duh). I’m sure everyone knew that from the start, but I figured I’d mention it just in case. It also stands for red, white, black, and yellow.

The team I’m more interested in, though, is JNPR. This is Juane Arc (good name), Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Ren Lie. There are two main reasons I like team JNPR more. First, their team name isn’t phonetically the same as their team leader’s name.

And second, I like these characters — except Ren –more than the RWBY characters. Pyrrha seems pretty neat. I like Juane’s personality (and name). And Nora is cute.

I suppose it’s also worth pointing out that the first letter of the team names represents the team leader. And how were the team leaders selected? By the role they played during their respective fights against the Grimm during the exam.

See, that’s a good way to choose team leaders. If only choosing the teams themselves worked in a similar way. Maybe it did and the explanation given was a lie.

Conclusion

What do you think of RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 2? Do you agree that it looks like garbage other than the parts animated by Hiroto Nagata? Do you prefer team RWBY or JNPR? And, who’s your favorite of the JNPR characters so far? 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 3 is available now.

Ruby and Yang

I always thought RWBY looked dumb, ever since it was first released. And that hasn’t changed. I still think it looks dumb. But, Shaft is animating this series and I get the feeling it will be somewhat popular, even if not rated highly. So, here we are.

It also should go without saying that since I’ve never watched RWBY before, I know nothing about it. Well, I know that each of the four girls has a corresponding color. There’s red, white, black, and yellow. But, other than that, I’m going into the series blind.

So, the first complaint I have with the series is the color-coordination thing. This isn’t unique to RWBY at all. And many anime also give characters names that connect to their colors — like Akari Akaza in Yuru Yuri. Aka is the word for red. And Akari has red hair.

So, why do I have an issue with this in RWBY? Because it’s in English. Ruby Rose is the name of the red character (surprise). And when these color-coordinated names are in English, it’s much easier for me to see how stupid they are. Though, that’s not to say I don’t find it stupid in Japanese, as well at times.

Anyway, I don’t know if one of these four girls is the true protagonist or if they’re all on the same level. But, if I had to pick one, I’d say Ruby Rose is a bit more of a protagonist than the rest so far.

Ruby also has a sister (adopted?), Yang, who’s two years older than she is. By the end of this episode, both Ruby and Yang enroll in an academy for Hunters, heroes who fight against the Grimm. And the only thing we know about the Grimm is they’re bad.

Weiss (The Ice Queen?)

Of the four main girls, Weiss might be my favorite so far. Yang is the worst, and Ruby isn’t much better. Weiss and Blake are the two good ones. But, for now, I’m going with Weiss because I found her fighting style to be more entertaining.

Weiss has a sword, uses ice magic, and potentially uses fire magic. That’s pretty neat. She also had one of the better fights of the episode. If Weiss vs. the Grimm knight was as good as the fight animation and choreography were going to get, I’d still take it.

But, Ruby actually had the best fight of the episode. When I saw Ruby’s fight, I immediately recognized Hiroto Nagata as the animator. He also animated all the best parts of Magia Record. His action scenes are pretty insane, so I’m looking forward to seeing more from him in this series.

Anyway, back to Weiss. I don’t know what the subtitle Ice Queendom refers to. But, I’m going to make a guess and say that Weiss is the “Ice Queen.” Her color is white, she uses ice magic, she’s from a wealthy family, and she has a crown-looking thing in her hair.

If the subtitle has nothing to do with Wiess, that would be a huge surprise. The problem, though, is that if the subtitle is about Weiss, you’d think she’d be the protagonist. She’s a protagonist. But, I didn’t get the feeling she was the protagonist from this episode.

Also, because I haven’t watched any RWBY before this, I don’t know if this series relates to the old series. It seems like a fresh start to me. So, maybe Ruby was the protagonist of the old series and Weiss is going to be the protagonist of this one.

Blake the Terrorist

While I like Blake’s character design, I have a few issues with her. First of all, there’s her method of fighting. She seems to use a gun that she throws and then pulls back to her with a leash, or something. It looks like the most impractical weapon imaginable.

I’m not sure how I’m supposed to take any fight scene with her in it seriously. By comparison, even Ruby’s gun/scythe makes more sense. And while I don’t know what kind of weapon Yang uses yet, it has to be better than this.

The second issue I have isn’t necessarily with Blake herself. It’s a separate issue that’s highlighted by her existence. You see, Blake is a terrorist. We meet her while she’s performing a raid on a train carrying Dust (magic stuff). But, she decides to betray her allies and seek a better life for herself by applying to Beacon Academy.

So, what’s wrong with the path Blake has chosen for herself? Well, it raises the question of how the admissions process for Beacon Academy works. We don’t know what Yang did to gain acceptance into the academy. But, there was no implication anything out of the ordinary happened.

Ruby isn’t old enough to attend and didn’t even apply. Instead, the headmaster scouted her after she thwarted a Dust robbery attempt. And Weiss fought a Grimm within the confines of her own home. So, I guess her family has connections and got her into the academy based on that?

What about Blake, though? She was somehow able to enroll in the school while acting as a terrorist? And there was no sort of background check for this? Was it a written exam that she could mail in? Was the headmaster impressed by her terrorist activities?

Conclusion

What do you think of RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 1? Have you seen the old RWBY series? Did you watch the first 3 episodes of this one when they came out early? And, which of the four main girls is your favorite so far? 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 2 is available now.