RWBY: Hyousetsu Teikoku (RWBY: Ice Queendom)

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Japanese: RWBY 氷雪帝国

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 12

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jul 3, 2022 to Sep 18, 2022

Premiered: Summer 2022

Broadcast: Sundays at 22:30 (JST)

Producers: Warner Bros. Japan, Good Smile Company, KLab, Bandai Namco Filmworks, Bandai Namco Music Live

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: Shaft

Source: Other

Genre: Action

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 6.36¹ (scored by 29,653 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #7066²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1965

Members: 97,533

Favorites: 599

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6.36

Ranked #7066Popularity #1965Members 97,533

Summer 2022TVShaft

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Episodes: /12

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PV 3 (English Sub)

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Synopsis

Since ancient times, the world of Remnant has been under constant threat by the Grimm: creatures of nightmare obsessed with destroying both humans and the half-human Faunus. To protect themselves, the four kingdoms of the world established academies that train young people to become huntsmen: warriors tasked with destroying Grimm.

In the kingdom of Vale, the cheerful 15-year-old Ruby Rose has always dreamed of a life at the prestigious Beacon Academy. Sadly, being too young, she can only watch as her elder sister, Yang Xiao Long, sets off for the academy alone. But everything changes when Ruby fights off a group of armed robbers, and the news of her skillful exploit reaches Beacon's headmaster, Professor Ozpin.

Ruby is over the moon when she receives an invitation to join the academy alongside her sister. Meanwhile, halfway across the world in the kingdom of Atlas, corporate heiress Weiss Schnee defies her father's wish and sets off for Beacon, her heart brimming with anxious resolve. At the same time, lonesome rogue Blake Belladonna abandons her vigilante group in hopes of finding a better life at the academy. When their paths converge, the meeting between the four girls is anything but friendly. With vastly different personalities and beliefs, they often end up clashing. However, when they work together, team RWBY begins to create ripples across Beacon, the likes of which have never been seen before.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:

Supporting

Inoue, Kazuhiko
Japanese

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Staff

Okada, Kenjirou

Director

Suzuki, Toshimasa

Director

Aketagawa, Jin

Sound Director

Ubukata, Tow

Script, Series Composition

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Opening Theme

"Beyond Selves" by Void_Chords feat. L

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Ending Theme

"Awake" by Saori Hayami

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Reviews

Sep 18, 2022

KANLen09

Not Recommended

On an international stage, it's of utmost doubt that Western media would have enough influence to trickle its presence down to Japan, and throughout the decades many have made its way into various forms of media. But anime? Never in a million years...that is until now with (Rest In Peace) Monty Oum's highly praised animated series that is RWBY. And yes, even though RWBY had already made its influence on Japan years before, it's for the same exact reason that Japan LOVES the hell outta RWBY, so much so that Ice Queendom was commissioned and was in planning for a few years before it got ... the announcement in early of this year.

***Side note: You can read the ANN interview (which was well documented) on the development of Ice Queendom, and normally the details are filled here, but there's so much insight to share that I will spare the explanation in this review (some excerpts will be taken and reviewed here).

It must be said that every die-hard RWBY fan will tell you to go watch the original 3 volumes in its entirety, and this is mentioned with merit that this "canon-adjacent" series tries to pump as much content as it does, trying to ensure in a way that the introductory stages don't feel rushed (which it certainly does). And as scriptwriter Tow Ubukata and executive producer Mitsutoshi Kubota mentions in the interview, that the first 3 episodes a.k.a the 3-episode rule is the trickiest to lay down the narrative since the original RWBY actually took time to flesh out its story and pacing beats, and all of this (Volumes 1 to 2, scraping Volume 3's beginnings) to be cut short in 3 episodes of 20 mins runtime each (minus the OP & ED) isn't a cinch and was at times, hard to overcome and quote "almost like we were making a (recap) movie". It's only at Episode 4 onwards that the Ice Queendom's story starts, and this is stereotypical fare for anime standards, and progress the story however they wish according to the concepts that were laid down by the scriptwriters.

And for better or worse, the scriptwriting in RWBY: Ice Queendom may have been its own Achilles' Heel into trying to make RWBY an anime where all people can enjoy despite its origins. First and foremost, the segregation between "Dust", "Semblance" and pure magic for newcomers (like myself) would've been better integrated if they had more time to flesh this pointer out (which they did only basically describe but didn't explain no more), and then again, only the die-hard RWBY fans can easily identify which is which. Secondly, the Grimm is and always has been the core feature of RWBY, and Tow Ubukata's version of a "Nightmare" Grimm that branches out a newly developed side story certainly is no gold, no silver nor bronze at best, but just getting Rooster Teeth's approval for a self-contained series is just good enough, which basically hints that people crave for more RWBY content, even if it's a spin-off or what-have-yous to at least earn the commendation of the new fans. This is especially hinted towards established RWBY fans whom already have a firm grasp on the Grimm, and the Nightmare Grimm that's keeping it true to the Rooster Teeth formula while being the basis for the new story, certainly helps set a story path to come for Ice Queendom.

Don't get me wrong, the belief that Gen Urobuchi is still "the man, the legend" himself that has created countless memorable series over the years, but the fact that he's largely worked like a freelancer who's more into animation concepts since the mid-2010s (as is such the case for Ice Queendom here), there's a noticeable gap to fill. And this leaves the scriptwriting work to others like Tow Ubukata, whom was a cinch for freelance director Toshimasa Suzuki, who has worked with him in the past on Soukyu no Fafner (Fafner in the Azure) and Heroic Age, and the stage is set for Urobuchi's concept story that would turn out to be Weiss's dream sequence of her own Ice Queendom reign. So, a recap if the gist isn't understood: Gen Urobuchi on the concepts, and Tow Ubukata (plus the rest) on taking all of the concepts and making it into a cohesive narrative while adding his own ideas.

Obviously, in terms of production focal points, there is a distinct divide between both Western and Japanese counterparts, such as is with the case of racism and discrimination between Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladona, something that is not widely shown or emphasized in Japanese media, and certainly something that's very new in terms of concept for Ubukata and his team. And taking thos into focal aspect on Ice Queendom, it was done decently to show the disparity between Weiss and Blake being that of the discrimination between humans and Faunus (creature-like humans). As for Weiss's dream sequence and introducing the standalone character that is the professional Nightmare Grimm hunter Shion Zaiden, I don't know about you, but even by anime standards, say what the staff will about concocting a great story that'll satiate old and new fans, it's certainly a mixed bag towards the average side. Trying to nail a canonical story within the space of the remainder of 8 episodes feels like a chore to watch that's largely no thanks to the amount of padding, which might suggest that Tow Ubukata's story is "all show and no go/substance". I would've liked to believe that this story should have been just as grand, or at least matched to Monty Oum's standards of storytelling despite the cultural difference even if the original creator isn't around anymore and supervised by series writer Miles Luna, together with the production team with original character designer Huke (who's the original creator and character designer for Black Rock Shooter). But like said series, it's hard nailing what a side story wants to be, and for established classics, it almost screams like there shouldn't be any room for error, and unfortunately for both, Ice Queendom (like Dawn Fall) got the short end of the stick as a standalone series that's "connected, but not connected" to the main plot.

This spatial disconnect also takes a nosedive in the production schedule of Ice Queendom. Due to COVID, the staff were all working separately, and this is apparent in the final product's showcase where there are many inconsistencies with its overall presentation, despite the fact that it's Shaft at the helm of it all with its unique levels of "in your face" sakuga and animation to boot. However, when even the OP has to use recycled assets from the show to showcase its best efforts, I think this speaks for itself of the endless arguments that "animation didn't carry the show" (and so too, did the story), something which cannot be revised. It's such a shame, that it took 9 years for RWBY to reach from wonky-ass Ameerican-ized 3DCG to stylish 2D with the CG mix, and then even again got me thinking that how Monty Oum animated it (that was really ahead of its time) just looks so much better than the 2D treatment that it got here just for flashes and hooks.

Where Ice Queendom didn't skimp out was with the OST, which certainly was one way to make it a Japanese Nippon-ified version of RWBY for the fans at home. It wasn't a surprise that Ice Queendom was actually hyped up before the pre-screening the week before the official release, and the best thing that came out of it was the involvement with Ryo Takahashi's Void_Chords for the OST, with a specialized song for the OP, which actually slaps. "Beyond Selves" is just perfect at how I imagined RWBY was like in the transition from the US of A to Japan, which speaks volumes for the fans in Japan to get a banger of an accompanying OST just to energize its action. Saori Hayami's "Awake" for the ED, I thought it was fantastic as well for literally being the Japanese version of Whitney Houston for high-pitched insane-but-clear vocals that's a novelty to be praised.

When it all comes down to it, RWBY: Ice Queendom is in a league of its own. And what I meant was barring all of the various media affiliated with the IP, this standalone story just allows me to take notes that animation isn't gonna carry the entire show if even one aspect of it screws up a.k.a a shallow story, some janky character development etc. The era of Shaft being the standard of animation when everything else is shallow has long since gone, and good luck trying to convince global fans that RWBY will always be superior in its home country.

A better analogy would be this: You think that the Earth is flat, but you ain't seen how the Earth is round yet a.k.a the disparity of differences between Western and Eastern media.

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Sep 19, 2022

KoraxCatalyst

Not Recommended

Well-written

I don't really watch seasonal anime anymore. After a solid streak of two years, I started falling behind on weekly shows when life got too busy for me to juggle that form of content consumption, on top of the shows I used to get through the behemoth that is my plan to watch list. But when I heard there was going to be a RWBY anime when I woke up March 25th, made by Shaft of all studios, I thought I'd make an exception for the sake of history.

RWBY is a franchise I have a strange relationship with, it’s been around since I was a ...

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Sep 18, 2022

Tkit

Not Recommended

RWBY: Ice Queendom is the weirdest adaptation I ever saw. Imagine if Naruto was nothing but introduction and then non stop filler. At this point it isn't an adaptation, but more of a RWBY inspired anime. So is this fanfiction any good? Well to start off this anime is clearly made for those who watched the original RWBY with skipped content and rushed relationships which makes it a lot worse if you are going into it blind.

Introduction is more of a rundown of events and feels rushed as anime wants to get as fast as possible to the dream arc. RWBY is introducing concepts and ... characters that while making sense for the original story are completely unnecessary for new content making things needlessly complicated. At the same time in those first three episodes we don't get enough from the characters to establish their strong commitment to each other that will be so important later on.

Original content of Ice Queendom is quite bizarre to say the least. Storyline is constructed to explore strong links between the characters, but those strong links weren't really established in the first place so we have to just accept them. Another problem is the fact that it obviously feels like a side quest. With none of the established antagonists it is easy to figure out that beside relationship nothing else is progressing in the actual story. We know that everyone is going to be ok and we don't care about the drama between them. Plot that should have been a side story in a far future is taking the center stage which is hurting this adaptation. And why are we doing this side story? To explore wacky ideas writers put in. As we are dealing with a dream anything is possible: cool character designs, interesting concepts, strange society, game like mechanics, plot conveniences and disregard for reality. This weird dream world in itself is a very cool idea which unfortunately is being undermined by its place in the story.

Comparison between Ice Queendom and the original also doesn't work out in the animes favor. Voice acting while ok by itself is nowhere near the original one, music is much less memorable and action while sometimes good is mostly mediocre. Animation quality is surprising as you would expect anime from Shaft to have top quality, instead RWBY often felt cheap with only select few moments having a spark of brilliance.

RWBY is a piece of fanservice/fanfiction which can be appreciated by the fans, but can't hold up as a standalone story and as such watching it without knowing anything about RWBY will be at best confusing and at worst a waste of time.

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Poll: RWBY: Hyousetsu Teikoku Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) KANLen09 - Jun 24, 2022	105 replies	by MABEL_APPLE »» Mar 14, 7:29 AM
Poll: RWBY: Hyousetsu Teikoku Episode 8 Discussion KANLen09 - Aug 21, 2022	40 replies	by kitsune0 »» Feb 25, 12:22 AM
Poll: RWBY: Hyousetsu Teikoku Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) KANLen09 - Jun 24, 2022	50 replies	by droxypropine »» Feb 24, 6:35 AM
Poll: RWBY: Hyousetsu Teikoku Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) KANLen09 - Sep 18, 2022	81 replies	by Jagermeister-kun »» Feb 24, 6:26 AM
Poll: RWBY: Hyousetsu Teikoku Episode 7 Discussion KANLen09 - Aug 14, 2022	49 replies	by Jagermeister-kun »» Feb 22, 3:40 AM

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RWBY: Hyousetsu Teikoku

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