Hello, everyone. Welcome to my new series, RWBY Years Later. In this story, I'll take a look at each volume of RWBY and look at it with the standards of today's RWBY to see how far the series has come, with what each volume did well and what they tripped up on. Of course, the first chapter is the first volume, so let's get right into it.
THE HYPE
RWBY may have premiered in 2013, but that was far from the beginning. RWBY was first announced in early 2013, and with the team behind Red Vs. Blue, the second-longest-running sci-fi series in history, working on it, with Monty Oum as producer, the hype reached incredible levels before trailers even got released. At the time I'm writing this, the Red Trailer has 12.9 million views on YouTube, and people didn't even wait until the Yellow trailer before making fanfiction, as the oldest fanfic on this site came out almost a week before the "Black" Trailer came out on YouTube. And yes, it's a White Rose fic.
The point is, the amount of anticipation for the volume was tremendous, but this wasn't even the peak of its popularity. Add in the "Anime or not" debates that still continue to this day, and you have a VERY large audience with VERY high expectations. Now, not being part of that initial fanbase and having only learned of the series thanks to the Yang v. Tifa death battle, I can't say for certain whether it disappointed fans at the time, but for me, I have to say the volume was definitely a disappointment from what I expected. But it wasn't all bad.
THE THEME
Now, I'm mostly going to focus on the music aspect of the opening theme, as that's generally the most important part. As for the animation, it's mediocre to say the least. This may be my opinion, and it may be unique, but I personally feel like the Volume 1 theme was rather cringey, even on its own merit with no reference to the other volumes. I say this due to the tune, mostly, but also the lyrics themselves. Part way in, the tune completely changes before immediately changing back again, for almost no reason whatsoever. It's not even a payoff to a build up; it just kinda... changes for a sec. But that's just my opinion, anyway.
To tell the truth, I had to look up the lyrics because I really just couldn't understand them, but once I learned them... well, the volume 1 theme is FAR from up to par with any of the others, and except for possibly volume 5, I feel it has to be the worst. Of course, this wouldn't be the first turn-off moment in the series, because as is the case with all season premieres, the theme comes at the end of the episode. To get to this point, you had to watch the entire pilot episode.
THE PILOT
While not completely terrible, the series pilot leaves much to be desired. After world building exposition from the voice of Cortana from Halo, which violates the ever-famous 'show don't tell' rule with questionable results, we cut to Roman Torchwick, as well as some mobsters and a few... silhouettes. Yes, silhouettes. As many, if not all of you, already may know, the first season, whether for want to save budget or lack thereof, silhouetted any and all background characters. If you saw someone with a face, they were going to be important, guaranteed. That or a shopkeep. But I digress.
Ruby, praise deus ex machina, is inside the store Roman is robbing, and beats up the bad guys in a fight scene that definitely disappoints compared to the "Red" Trailer. After the property damage she causes, she gets in trouble, and instead of being punished, she's sent to her dream school ahead of time, much like 90% of RWBY OCs. And then we take the time to meet the important characters in a way that kind of makes sense but is very coincidental to say the least.
THE MELODRAMA
Initiation seems to go off without a hitch, but almost immediately after, viewers are treated to the series' first melodrama, Ruby v. Weiss. This drama is poorly executed, in my opinion, with Weiss very much going out of her way to disagree with Ruby's methods. She offered Weiss advice and Weiss shut her down, almost at her own expense. After the pointlessness of the arc, the melodrama is resolved in a way that is actually very well done, having the two talk with separate professors who each give wonderful insight that helps each one see the situation differently, leading to them agreeing and strengthening their bond as partners. As poor as the melodrama itself was, the resolution was amazing. However, it's the exact reverse scenario near the volume's close.
The next melodrama is Weiss v. Blake, and some people might say they notice a pattern at this point. But this melodrama is masterfully done, with very good reason for its existence and overall being fairly logical. Blake slips up, and her team learns she was once a white fang member. Weiss, having been victim of the fang for years, hates her because of this, and she runs away. This is perfect, as we learn not only that Weiss did in fact have a rough childhood, it also creates a strange situation for Blake, with her cover now basically blown. Blake runs into Sun, and Blake tells him and the viewers (the latter indirectly) about her time in the fang, leading to some insight into her past and character. Weiss is still reluctant to forgive her or take her back in, as she should be. After Blake and Sun stop Roman (or more like Penny stops Roman), Weiss meets up with Blake again. And the melodrama is resolved because... Weiss 'had time to think.' Like I stated earlier, the ending for this melodrama was pretty terrible, concerning considering this is a season finale.
THE ANIMATION
After watching the later volumes, any one or multiple of them, the first volume becomes next to unwatchable due to the sheer drop in quality. This may have been due once again to budgeting, but outside of choreography, which still has questionable moments, the show's animation is poorly done overall, with running animations that look more like they belong on a 'try not to cringe challenge' video. It's also worth noting the occasional moment which I will refer to as a 'boop,' which is basically the addition of something more cartoony and 2D for a moment. The first example in the series is when Ruby sees all of the other weapons and temporarily becomes a floating chibi, or when Ruby is thinking about her possible partners (because it could only be Yang, Blake, Jaune, or Weiss and not a complete stranger. That would be statistically unlikely.), and when she hits the tree and has three beowolves run around her head. These moments are few and far between in later volumes if they even DO show up, and for good reason.
CONCLUSION
Do I feel like the show lived up to expectations? Despite not being part of the group expecting anything, I have to say no. The animation and poor writing, as well as a poor theme, definitely screwed the volume over. However, the series remained popular enough for a second season, and thank the lord we got one. One year later.