RWBY has begun

[Legendairy314]

As a huge fan of Rooster Teeth I was ecstatic to find out that today (now yesterday) was the day we'd get to see their new project. And all I can say is, I'm hooked. It phones in A LOT of anime tropes but the stylistic choices and the heart and soul that the staff put into this really shine through. Also they got Jen Taylor, who voices Cortana, to do the intro.

[link]http://roosterteeth.com/archive/?id=7872[/link]

So what does the escapist think? An interesting take on anime or does it not stick out enough to watch more?

I'm excited as all hell but I've seen everything Rooster Teeth has created so you could call me a little biased.

EDIT: I'd also like to point out that the intro (outro) is one of the best I've seen in a while. I seriously will load up that page just to watch it over and over again.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I watched it, and it just seems really...unfinished to me.

I mean, I wasn't particularly excited to begin with, I didn't even keep up with the trailers (I only saw Red and Yellow), but the whole thing just doesn't appeal to me. Hell, I even watch tons of anime and it still doesn't appeal to me. I got the same feeling from it that I get from a lot of mediocre anime that I end up dropping after 3 episodes.

But yeah, I just didn't really like the dialogue...or the voice acting...or the art direction...or the animation. All of it just seemed kind of rough. Hopefully it gets better, but at this point I can honestly say I enjoy pretty much every other piece of content that Rooster Teeth makes more than I liked this first episode of RWBY. Maybe it'll grow on me though.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I like it!!!

It actually alot better then I expect it to be! I really like the fantasy elements to it (the duel between the Huntresses). Sure you could say Ruby scythe gun offset the fantasy element but heh I can assume she is the new generation while the other is the older gen (new and old style of weapons to used). I do got to say that called the power source thing "Dusk" seen underwhelming.

I gotten used to Ruby voice now since I realise that when Red Vs Blue started off, Gus, Geoff and co weren't exactly professional actors but look at them now! They voice has somewhat become iconic now so I guess I given the new members of Roosterteeth a chance at their role in RWBY.

 

[Terratina.]

First off, I thought it was alright - a little unpolished, but alright. Then at the end I just thought, "Bleh, another story that starts off like this?" The whole setup kinda reminds me of Naruto a bit - main character wants to become best of the X, goes to X academy, does X missions... Though, I can't help but free the cuties will be broken at some point and they'll dispense with the happy tone.

 

[MoreThanANoob]

I kind of liked the first episode. Yeah, it wasn't the most refined piece of work, but since it's just getting started, I'm willing to forgive some of it while the team gets into the swing of things. To quote MovieBob, "Harry Potter didn't really figure out how to be good until the third one," so the hiccups get the benefit of a doubt from me for now. If it improves, gets more polished, etc. I'll stay with it until the bitter end. And if it stays around the same quality level, or even gets worse, it doesn't exactly cost me anything to watch it.

Spoiler: Now to break down the episode piece by piece for no other reason than boredom

>Initial monologue
I won't say too much on this. There are better ways to introduce a world, and there are worse ways. I would have preferred a more spread out description, little tips in the world, etc. but I'm not unhappy with how they decided to do it, and for what it's worth, it blended nicely into the beginning of the episode.

>Shop scene
This was an alright scene, though one of the rougher ones. We get to see the short term goals of the villain (or one of them if the case may be), Torchwick. Though not entirely new or interesting as a narrative concept (and that's being pretty generous), at least shows him doing something in the first episode, rather than just being a backdrop in some currently unseen conflict. But going back to my first statement (about the roughness and all), the voice acting was hit-and-miss, and the lip-sync is a long ways off. I give it a B-.

>First fight scene
Well, we all knew this was coming. It is a Monty Oum property, after all. For as much as my opinion matters, I really loved the initial fight. The over-the-top acrobatic scythe combat was kept tight and focused on a few opponents and didn't last so long as to overstay its welcome, which were two of the problems I had with Ruby's trailer. The initiation of the fight was also sufficient in erasing any problems I had with the lack of character shown in the trailer, or at the very least making me forget them for a moment. Also it was pretty damn funny to watch, which is always a plus.

The second half of the fight didn't thrill me as much. It wasn't bad, I just can't get quite as excited by a back-and-forth between two mages where neither of the two actually get hit as I can a proper physical beat-down, or at least some faltering on each side. Either of the two taking an occasional hit probably would have been more enjoyable to watch (coincidentally, this is why I liked the "White" trailer over the "Red" one).

>Talky bit
I haven't much to say about this part, or the rest of the episode, so I guess this is an opportunity to talk about the characters thus far. She's not the deepest character right now, but I like the enthusiasm seem from Ruby. In her trailer, she came off as a bit detached, so I find her portrayal in the episode to be a nice turnaround. I like Torchwick as a villain. He's pretty straightforward, calm and composed, but at the same time he isn't immune to anger. He matches his weapon rather well, I would say. There isn't much else I can give on him. Ozpin and Glinda... nothing I can say, really. Oz entered with cookies, so that's...something, I guess.

>Random thoughts
Am I the only one who thinks Torchwick's henchmen look a hell of a lot like Yahtzee? Seriously, the first time I saw them in the "Yellow" trailer I couldn't shake the resemblance.

Not going to lie, the second I saw "vomit boy" a little voice chimed in my head saying "He's in full colour: major character alert!"

The moment I hear "Bee's Knees" I, and many others I suspect, physically cringed. Really guys? You couldn't think of a single line better than "Bee's Knees"? *sigh*

Well, that was probably more long-winded than it should have been. Oh well. Read at your own risk, I guess.

 

[Thyunda]

snip

I pretty much agree with you on most of the points - but the duel between the Huntresses was hardly an actual fight. It was a skirmish, and a long distance one at that. Hits being conceded? Take a look at the VTOL and its pilot, that's your faltering right there.

 

[Happiness Assassin]

I liked it, even though this sort of stuff isn't my thing usually.

One question I have is why a VTOL was necessary for what appeared to be a minor stick-up.

 

[Coach Morrison]

I was actually expecting a lot worse but they seemed to have improved a lot of what i didn't like in the trailers. The only thing I have a problem with is how weird it looks when the bad guys walked at the start. Other than that I liked it.

 

[Gunner_Guardian]

Well the voice acting is better then Black's trailer which made me worry. Fighting is of course as awesome as I expected. World is alright, but I'm very disappointed that it's set in a high school like 90% of all anime it seems....

 

[Legendairy314]

Well the voice acting is better then Black's trailer which made me worry. Fighting is of course as awesome as I expected. World is alright, but I'm very disappointed that it's set in a high school like 90% of all anime it seems....

Yeah, I got a little worried about that too. Considering there was NO hint towards it beforehand I would have preferred them jumping straight into the conspiracy and what in the world is happening with that moon.

 

[V8 Ninja]

Spoiler: *Minor First Episode Spoiler*

...And it's a Hero Academy [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeroAcademy] show.

That is severely disappointing.

Anyways, some general thoughts;

-- Voice acting was, at best, mediocre. I'm willing to give it a pass though.

-- I'm willing to deal with the animation, especially if extra effort is put into battle scenes (which appears to be so).

-- I love how character reactions rarely shy away from mild acceptance. "You want to do this to me? Okay." "You want to do that? Okay."

-- In relation to the above point, how am I supposed to assign character traits to people when their reactions are minimal? All I'm getting is that a majority of people in this universe are boring and apathetic.

-- God, someone should have come up with more creative names for pretty much everything. But whatever, I can deal with those for now.

-- I'm fine with shows starting off slightly vague, but introducing seven quickly-introduced, audience-unknown factors seems like a bit too much for THE FIRST TEN MINUTES. True, the episode answers the majority of them before time is up, but come on! Ease viewers in a little!

So yeah, overall I'm disappointed. Of course, first episodes are still first episodes and they don't reflect the entirety of a series.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I found it interesting, from what I saw. Whenever there was any action, the video quality dropped dramatically. Anyone else get that problem?

 

[Angelblaze]

I found it interesting, from what I saw. Whenever there was any action, the video quality dropped dramatically. Anyone else get that problem?

No, not really.

I loved it and 'This Will Be The Day' is going on my playlist.


Which one?

Everyone. Damn-it we need more female sung 'pumped up and fucking feeling badass even though the world sucks' music.

Edit: Really quick thing about all the complaints though; I'm not going to say it doesn't have its flaws, nor that it is immediately absolved of all sins because of this fact but remember: this is a show with episodes that are not a full half hour long. Hence forth don't expect world's greatest pacing. Maybe they could've done better but they probably could have done worse so yeah....

Just getting that across.

And stop trolling on tumblr.

 

[Zhukov]

That was very, uhh... very anime.

I've watched all of, like, three animes, and even I can see that.

Also, yeah, voice acting. Not great.

Still kinda charming I guess. Unless someone sees me watching it. In which case I'll claim it was a pop-up ad.

 

[Full]

So that was an anime thing. I guess. I'll keep an eye on it, even if just for the sword launchers. I just can't shake the trailers and the overall better tone they set, as well as just being more intriguing and interesting to watch.

Also, heh, nice job getting Jen Taylor for the opening, it being Rooster Teeth and all.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I'll be avoiding it. Monty Oum's anime obsession is what killed the last two seasons of Red versus Blue for me. The Blood Gulch crew got sidelined by a bunch of stupid action scenes with no weight and more glamazon supermodels with ridiculous haircuts. Having a whole show built around that, plus 80% more anime tropes doesn't appeal to me.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

In a vacuum, I mostly liked this first showing. However, I think it's still a little too early, after one 12 minute episode, to make a final judgement on my feelings.

I love the art style, but then I have ever since the first trailer aired. The fight scene was good, but then this is Monty Oum we're talking about here. Monty could animate a fight scene like that in his sleep. Let's just say I'm looking forward to what he's got in store for us when the series really hits its stride. I was pleasantly surprised by the voice acting, as most of what we heard of it in the last two trailers sounded really poor. There were still a couple of iffy moments, but I honestly think that's more down to the volume sometimes being pitched oddly quiet in comparison to the facial animations, making it seem off, rather than the voice acting itself being bad. The high point for me so far, in this episode and in all the trailers, has been the music. Love it, love it, love it!

There were things I didn't like as well. Ruby was the only character that got any kind of development in this episode, which was a bit disappointing. Some of the dialogue was really cheesy. The premise so far seems really very generic, although so long as it's supported by a wealth of good characters and a well paced plot I don't see that bothering me too much. Finally, there's no more unimaginative way to open a story and set a scene than a big exposition dump, even if said exposition dump does come courtesy of Jen Taylor.

I'm not going to complain about some less-than-perfect production values though. It's a web show guys. I know Rooster Teeth has grown a hell of a lot over the past 10 years, but did you really think that this was being done on anywhere near the same kind of budget as anime series' that you watch on TV, never mind their feature length counterparts?! By comparison, this is being made on the cheap by a limited crew who are inexperienced in this field. Yes, it's a little rough around the edges, but in comparison to the first episode, nay, the first entire series of Red vs. Blue, I'd say it looks astonishingly well made; and just like RvB, I'm confident that most of, if not all the problems will be ironed out down the line.

 

[Erttheking]

I think it's pretty good, still room to improve but pretty good. The voice acting got a lot better although it still suffered from time to time, the animation looks wonderful, and the dialogue seems to be lively. Yeah it's kinda really freaking silly, but considering that the first trailer opened up with a five foot something girl killing werewolves with a giant scythe, well, I'd be disappointed if it wasn't. Some people don't like it for being too animeish or for being an academy, but like I said, I get the feeling that this is supposed to be a REALLY silly series, and there's nothing wrong with that. There are no such thing as bad ideas, only bad executions, and it looks like they're executing this quite well.

Bottom line, it has flaws, but it also has heart. And heart is what I care about.

 

[Robot Bunny]

I think the general consensus is that all though it is good, not great mainly because it is a web show, but i sure it will get better just look at RvsB it got a lot better. Some of lines were to cheese and you can see a lot of what is going to happen with the school idea, but I really liked the fight scenes and for a 12 min ep it set things up nicely