Poll: RWBY volume 4 character short analysis

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

Well, volume 4's trailer came out to the public after a showing at RTX and I have a few words:

-Shading of the characters and environments looks better than the RTX but still feels plasticine and glossy on close ups of Ruby compared to the darker tone of the show
-The big thing I noticed: the action choreography has degraded to wild swinging with no coordination or effort put into it. Like, I don't have an understanding of how to use a scythe as a weapon but something feels both repetitive and off about this one. In addition, Ruby's movements feel jerky. Like i know they are going for a quick almost teleporting speed character but Virgil from Devil may Cry had a stance and flow in his movements that worked. Also, the hit confirmation seems simple like they didn't try to multiply the hit (time stamp 5 min, 27 sec) or they cut too rapidly for the hit to take effect:

Frankly, the action seems less capable than Thunderbolt Fantasy, a show which i did a write up on and which uses puppets, physical puppets where the action is limited by joints, gravity and camera compared to animation:

Finally, my concern about future content; what tone will they do? They did comedy before but are they now going to go full dark tone and dark fantasy or are they going to cut in some comedy into the proceeding. If so, how will the transitions between dark and comedic be handled. Frankly, I have too many concerns about this project.

Comment below

Edit: the poll is supposed to have Low and No comment on it but it doesn't seem to be editing so if your opinion is one of those, please state in reply.

 

[Goliath100]

Good by RWBY standard or regular standards?

 

[Outcast107]

I think the animation and fighting looks light years better than season 3. Where half the time they were standing still or the fighting just look...odd.

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

I think the animation and fighting looks light years better than season 3. Where half the time they were standing still or the fighting just look...odd.

compared to Thunderbolt Fantasy or even some average action anime, it looks amateurish with no impact when Ruby was bouncing between the Grimm

Hell, if RWBY manages to get to this level:
I will be impressed

 

[Saltyk]

I do have to wonder how much time is supposed to have passed since the finale of Season 3.

As for Ruby's fighting style, it seemed like a natural evolution of her style. She was always supposed to be faster than others. Her special ability is that she's able to rocket off like a bullet, right? It's kinda hard to have weight when you're supposed to be moving at incredible speeds half the time. I'll wait to see how they do fights against other people before I comment on the choreography. It was fine as it was, but she's also fighting brutish monsters, they don't exactly have the skill to really push the abilities of any of the heroes.

I won't say the animation is perfect, but it's more or less what I expect from RWBY. It's certainly improved from Season One. There were a few moments that could have been better, but I have certainly seen worse.

Now, you asked about the tone. I haven't a clue. It certainly looks a bit dark here, but that's hard to say going off this. It was obviously meant to showcase how far Ruby has come and to hype us up with some action. I expect we can expect some decent action in this season. But I wouldn't count comedy out. Her current team does have some people who I can see them playing off of for jokes and such. And when the RWBY team does inevitably meet back up, it'll probably defuse the tension with comedy. So I suppose, you should expect it to be dark, but have levity here and there.

Will it be good? I don't know. It seems this will be far less of Monty's vision at this point. Which I think was always the best thing about the series. Maybe this is the direction he planned to take it, but I doubt there's any scripts he will have worked on at this point. If we're lucky, he had some ideas for later seasons and the people working on it, no, know those ideas to build off of and make it work. It really depends on it the people leading it now can channel Monty properly.

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

As for Ruby's fighting style, it seemed like a natural evolution of her style. She was always supposed to be faster than others. Her special ability is that she's able to rocket off like a bullet, right? It's kinda hard to have weight when you're supposed to be moving at incredible speeds half the time. I'll wait to see how they do fights against other people before I comment on the choreography. It was fine as it was, but she's also fighting brutish monsters, they don't exactly have the skill to really push the abilities of any of the heroes.

I want to address this. Virgil from Devil May Cry is probably faster than her but whenever I see Virgil fight, his impacts have power behind them and even against low power monsters, he had control and power to him

Plus, the question I have is "is Ruby using her speed well?" because I don't see her swing her scythe at speeds beyond the eye or use her speed in tactics. Like I could imagine her making afterimages or multi strikes but this feels like a misuse. Why the hell would you charge directly at them and not leverage speed to go around and target key areas

 

[Elvis Starburst]

What is this wooshy flying flowery petal filled warping bullshit I'm seeing? I know I'm questioning how possible a thing is in RWBY of ALL things, but her weird warping stuff seems to be stretching things a little. Maybe I missed something in season 3, I dunno. If they added the shading and better looking environments in the same smooth animation style as before, I feel there'd be a happy medium. But you're right, there wasn't really and any choreography this time around. Not to mention the animation looks like it's running at half the FPS as before at a chunky 25-30FPS, which looks awful compared to the 60FPS smoothie we had before.

As far as the tone... I have no idea. I dunno where Monty wanted to take it. But even if this was his plan, I can't help but feel disjointed from the whole series now that he's gone. I haven't even watched season 3. I fell in love with the trailers for season 1. I liked season 1 and wanted to see it improve. Things got a bit strange in season 2 but it was still good. Then Monty left it all and I can't be bothered to go back. Which is too bad, cause despite whatever the show becomes, I LOVE the idea of RWBY. Monty helped create something really cool. I can't shake the feeling what it is now is just a puppet version of his ideas without him being there

 

[Gizen]

Well, volume 4's trailer came out to the public after a showing at RTX and I have a few words:

-The big thing I noticed: the action choreography has degraded to wild swinging with no coordination or effort put into it. Like, I don't have an understanding of how to use a scythe as a weapon but something feels both repetitive and off about this one.

Frankly, the action seems less capable than Thunderbolt Fantasy, a show which i did a write up on and which uses puppets, physical puppets where the action is limited by joints, gravity and camera compared to animation:

Frankly, it feels like your argument loses all merit when you deride something for 'wild swinging', and then point to a supposedly 'better' example that has the same problem but in an even larger quantity. Like, I've never seen Thunderbolt Fantasy, so maybe you just picked a bad clip, but if you're gonna be calling fight choreography bad for wildly flailing a weapon meaninglessly, that was a terrible choice for a more 'capable' example. The reason you don't have any understanding of how to use a scythe as a weapon is because no one does. A scythe is not, and never has been an actual weapon, as much as people like to pretend it is because it looks badass. So at least there's an excuse for what looks like sloppy use of it.

Plus, the question I have is "is Ruby using her speed well?" because I don't see her swing her scythe at speeds beyond the eye or use her speed in tactics. Like I could imagine her making afterimages or multi strikes but this feels like a misuse. Why the hell would you charge directly at them and not leverage speed to go around and target key areas

Charging in headfirst has always been Ruby's go-to strategy, and when you can one shot monsters the moment they're within range faster than they can strike you, why wouldn't you? Her weapon is too big and unwieldy for multi-strikes, and afterimages are Blake's semblance, so it's clear that's not a skill anybody else has. She does eventually start fighting more tactically once brute force proves ineffective, when she starts dancing around the gorilla-grimm and aiming for its ankles.

Personally, I felt the animation was a nice step up from a large number of season 3 fights, and other smaller touches like the way her hair and cloak moved (compared just to how flat they were in previous seasons) and ESPECIALLY the facial expressions were drastically improved.

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

Well, volume 4's trailer came out to the public after a showing at RTX and I have a few words:

-The big thing I noticed: the action choreography has degraded to wild swinging with no coordination or effort put into it. Like, I don't have an understanding of how to use a scythe as a weapon but something feels both repetitive and off about this one.

Frankly, the action seems less capable than Thunderbolt Fantasy, a show which i did a write up on and which uses puppets, physical puppets where the action is limited by joints, gravity and camera compared to animation:

Frankly, it feels like your argument loses all merit when you deride something for 'wild swinging', and then point to a supposedly 'better' example that has the same problem but in an even larger quantity. Like, I've never seen Thunderbolt Fantasy, so maybe you just picked a bad clip, but if you're gonna be calling fight choreography bad for wildly flailing a weapon meaninglessly, that was a terrible choice for a more 'capable' example. The reason you don't have any understanding of how to use a scythe as a weapon is because no one does. A scythe is not, and never has been an actual weapon, as much as people like to pretend it is because it looks badass. So at least there's an excuse for what looks like sloppy use of it.

Plus, the question I have is "is Ruby using her speed well?" because I don't see her swing her scythe at speeds beyond the eye or use her speed in tactics. Like I could imagine her making afterimages or multi strikes but this feels like a misuse. Why the hell would you charge directly at them and not leverage speed to go around and target key areas

Charging in headfirst has always been Ruby's go-to strategy, and when you can one shot monsters the moment they're within range faster than they can strike you, why wouldn't you? Her weapon is too big and unwieldy for multi-strikes, and afterimages are Blake's semblance, so it's clear that's not a skill anybody else has. She does eventually start fighting more tactically once brute force proves ineffective, when she starts dancing around the gorilla-grimm's and aiming for its ankles.

Personally, I felt the animation was a nice step up from a large number of season 3 fights, and other smaller touches like the way her hair and cloak moved (compared just to how flat they were in previous seasons) and ESPECIALLY the facial expressions were drastically improved.

on the first point:
-With the Thunderbolt Fantasy clip, there is actually hit multiplication, better hand to hand that allows me to understand the hits, a better camera. But I do understand that you have a point but the other fights are spoilers so I picked this one. In addition, I could make the argument that the Wuxia style of the show helps make the swinging less dissonant as well as the fact that if animation can't do better than puppets, what are you doing

-As for how Ruby should fight, while she did start being tactical, i found that the scene where she dodges in the air, zips around and then drops back down is a bit of bad use of energy. As for the Scythe, i still think Ruby should be smart enough to use the "scythe" in it's glave form as there is a much better deadly arc and a longer reach.

 

[Fox12]

It looks significantly better then the new Berserk show

...

Spoiler

 

[Aeshi]

Kind of off-topic, but I recommend watching it with the subtitles on if you haven't already. RWBY subtitles are always good for a laugh.

On a more on-topic note I am cautiously optimistic for Volume 4. It's looking good so far, but Volume 3 killed off most of my favourite characters either emotionally or literally.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I do have to wonder how much time is supposed to have passed since the finale of Season 3.

In the description it said about several months!
That got to be the shortest timeskipped eve especially when I thought it could be a yea or two due to their new attire.

OT- I guess I'm looking forward to this eventhought I don't like the team splitting. Yes I know they will eventually reform somehow.

 

[Saltyk]

As for Ruby's fighting style, it seemed like a natural evolution of her style. She was always supposed to be faster than others. Her special ability is that she's able to rocket off like a bullet, right? It's kinda hard to have weight when you're supposed to be moving at incredible speeds half the time. I'll wait to see how they do fights against other people before I comment on the choreography. It was fine as it was, but she's also fighting brutish monsters, they don't exactly have the skill to really push the abilities of any of the heroes.

I want to address this. Virgil from Devil May Cry is probably faster than her but whenever I see Virgil fight, his impacts have power behind them and even against low power monsters, he had control and power to him

Plus, the question I have is "is Ruby using her speed well?" because I don't see her swing her scythe at speeds beyond the eye or use her speed in tactics. Like I could imagine her making afterimages or multi strikes but this feels like a misuse. Why the hell would you charge directly at them and not leverage speed to go around and target key areas

Yeah, but you're comparing animation which I can only assume has a much higher budget. I'd compare it more to Sonic, honestly.

I can't say. I mean if anyone has superhuman speed, there's really no excuse for them to ever get hit, unless an opponent has an explosive attack that hits everywhere at once. I'd say she's using her speed as well as the series needs her to.

I do have to wonder how much time is supposed to have passed since the finale of Season 3.

In the description it said about several months!
That got to be the shortest timeskipped eve especially when I thought it could be a yea or two due to their new attire.

OT- I guess I'm looking forward to this eventhought I don't like the team splitting. Yes I know they will eventually reform somehow.

Yeah, I was thinking a year or two may have passed. But thanks for the information!

It really depends on how they handle the team splitting up. Done well, I think it can work. Not done well, it will come off as pointless or forced. Honestly, they shouldn't reunite until the halfway point at earliest.

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

I love season 3 and this looks pretty good so far. I will agree the animation looks a little bit to fast but I like some of the effect they put into the fights. overall I'll over to see where this goes.

It looks significantly better then the new Berserk show

...

Spoiler

to be fair Berserk's animes never had good animation but still sad to see a web series look so much better than a big budget tv show.

 

[Paragon Fury]

With all the petals floating around, I half expected this guy;

 

[Fox12]

I love season 3 and this looks pretty good so far. I will agree the animation looks a little bit to fast but I like some of the effect they put into the fights. overall I'll over to see where this goes.

It looks significantly better then the new Berserk show

...

Spoiler

to be fair Berserk's animes never had good animation but still sad to see a web series look so much better than a big budget tv show.

I've never actually seen RWBY, but I can't lie, that looked pretty exciting. Stylistically it really popped with color. When I look at the new Berserk, it reminds me of PS2 era graphics. Square Enix had them beat over 16 years ago. RWBY at least looks like an actual show with some heart put into it.

 

[Gizen]

I do have to wonder how much time is supposed to have passed since the finale of Season 3.

In the description it said about several months!
That got to be the shortest timeskipped eve especially when I thought it could be a yea or two due to their new attire.

OT- I guess I'm looking forward to this eventhought I don't like the team splitting. Yes I know they will eventually reform somehow.

Yeah, I was thinking a year or two may have passed. But thanks for the information!

From what I read, while the timeskip is only 6 months, season 1-3 took place over the course of a year, so it's still been at least a year and a half total since the series started. Since the character models haven't been seriously updated since the beginning though, it looks/feels like the timeskip was longer because they had to cram nearly 2 years of aging and style changing into a 6 month time span.

 

[Saltyk]

I love season 3 and this looks pretty good so far. I will agree the animation looks a little bit to fast but I like some of the effect they put into the fights. overall I'll over to see where this goes.

It looks significantly better then the new Berserk show

...

Spoiler

to be fair Berserk's animes never had good animation but still sad to see a web series look so much better than a big budget tv show.

I've never actually seen RWBY, but I can't lie, that looked pretty exciting. Stylistically it really popped with color. When I look at the new Berserk, it reminds me of PS2 era graphics. Square Enix had them beat over 16 years ago. RWBY at least looks like an actual show with some heart put into it.

RWBY is the brain child of Monty Oum. He did some really incredible animations, including Haloid (a Halo/Metroid crossover) and Dead Fantasy (a Final Fantasy/Dead or Alive crossover). Both of which are highly regarded. It seems they got him recognized and Rooster Teeth brought him on to work on Red vs Blue. Eventually he got the go ahead to make RWBY.

I can say that Season One wasn't the best, but it certainly improved in Season Two and Three. It is certainly colorful. Each of the main cast has a distinct color that goes with them which probably helps with this. I won't try to hype it up for you, as I'd hate to make it sound way better than it is, but you might wanna give it a try if you liked that trailer.

You should also look up the Haloid and Dead Fantasy videos he did. Though, sadly, Dead Fantasy is incomplete.

I do have to wonder how much time is supposed to have passed since the finale of Season 3.

In the description it said about several months!
That got to be the shortest timeskipped eve especially when I thought it could be a yea or two due to their new attire.

OT- I guess I'm looking forward to this eventhought I don't like the team splitting. Yes I know they will eventually reform somehow.

Yeah, I was thinking a year or two may have passed. But thanks for the information!

From what I read, while the timeskip is only 6 months, season 1-3 took place over the course of a year, so it's still been at least a year and a half total since the series started. Since the character models haven't been seriously updated since the beginning though, it looks/feels like the timeskip was longer because they had to cram nearly 2 years of aging and style changing into a 6 month time span.

Probably artistic license. To show how much characters have changed since we last saw them.