RWBY: Hyousetsu Teikoku

Ah, Studio Shaft, how I loved you. From the Monogatari series, to 3-gatsu no Lion, to Madoka Magica, I have enjoyed many of the amazing shows from Shaft that really pushed the boundaries of animation and storytelling. Let’s be real though, they haven’t been on their A-game for a while, and although RWBY’s visuals are a clear improvement to the original from Rooster Teeth, I can’t say that any other aspects were all that impressive and immersive.

This show is a bit of an enigma to me, because it feels drawn out and rushed at the same time. The first couple of volumes were rushed in ... the beginning, then we’re in the same setting for basically two-thirds of the entire series, and the pacing of the fights and the conclusion to the entire thing felt so quick.

My grading criteria: Story: /25 Art: /10 Music: /10 Characters: /20 Enjoyment /15 Thematic Execution /20

STORY: 10/25

The story is quite simple to understand. The world is being ravaged by the Grimm, which are nightmare-esque creatures that seek to put humans and the demi-human Faunus under their spell. Academies were established to train young people to hunt down the Grimm, to protect the world.

15 year old Ruby Rose always aspired to be one of these hunters, and had dreams to go to the prestigious Beacon Academy, but being too young, she couldn’t, until she fought off robbers and caught the attention of the academy headmaster.

This first part was probably the more enjoyable part of the series, and then after Ruby entered the school, Weiss, a member of team RWBY, fell victim to the Grimm, the main characters entered her dream, and found an entirely new world inside there. The power systems, the action, and the little backstories that we learned about were interesting, but since most of the show took place in this dream, it felt quite bland over time.

The biggest issue in the narrative lies in the pacing. The pacing at the start was excruciatingly fast, to adapt the first few volumes of the original RWBY series, and then, the pacing was a mix of being rushed and drawn out, as the dream sequence lasted for quite some time, and any resolution and conclusion felt half-baked and too simplistic.

ART: 8.5/10

Although not perfect, the animation was probably one of the stronger points of this show, especially at the start of the series. There were definitely some signs of degradation in the quality as the show progressed, with blends of 2D and 3DCG which felt awkward, but overall, I enjoyed watching the visuals.

MUSIC: 8.3/10

The OST hits hard in the important moments, and it’s solid, but the music seemed a bit underused. The OST direction could have been handled a bit better for better immersion, but it wasn’t bad. The opening from Void_Chords was okay, but compared to something like the OP from Princess Principal, it felt a bit lacking. The ending from well sung by Saori Hayami, though I wasn’t the biggest fan of it.

For a series that was heavily praised for its OST, I can’t help but just be a little disappointed. It’s still decent though.

CHARACTERS: 8.5/20

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the characters themselves, but I just found them very boring to watch. The traits each character has are very simplistic and don’t have enough depth. I think that some things could have been flushed out a bit better, such as Weiss’s backstory, or the relationship between the humans and the Faunus. Overall, quite forgettable characters, and I would imagine the original series wrote the characters a bit better than this series did.

ENJOYMENT: 7.5/15

I enjoyed some of the action sequences, but I found myself checked out at times, as I didn’t enjoy some of the pacing.

THEMATIC EXECUTION: 9.5/20

The pacing once again hurts the execution of the themes of the show. Like I said, some elements could have been flushed out more, and while sakuga can save the show a little, it can’t save it all.

OVERALL: 52.3/100

I have never watched the original RWBY by Monty Oum, but for one, I can say that he’d probably be proud of the visuals. The ideal combination would obviously be using these levels of visuals with the original storyboarding from Rooster Teeth. I can’t speak on which version of RWBY is better, but what I can say is, this anime was quite the up and down ride, and quite the average one, so RWBY fans, maybe just stick to the original.

It was interesting and heartening to see a version of a work I love so much in the hands of more resourceful professional animators, however it is painful to note that the character development of the original version was completely watered down and boiled down to fit these 12 episodes. RWBY: Ice Queendom feels incredibly less impactful than its original version.

In Ice Queendom, there is no space. It's all too fast and the attempts to humanize the characters by giving them moments of fragility lost their charm and purpose with the lack of space to develop them. That said, I believe that watching Ice Queendom ... without seeing the first two volumes of RWBY is spoiling your experience with the anime. The team assumed that the viewer would have already watched the original version and summarized, diluted and swallowed the perfect development of RWBY, painful.

The additions and modifications to the script were... curious. The nightmare arc had strong elements, such as the idea of ​​introducing new visuals and personalities to the characters, however, every attempt to weaken the characters, to generate some emotional appeal, was terrible to watch. Not to mention the prolonging factor of this arc, so many episodes in Weiss' dream drove me crazy.
Another element to stand up to is the soundtrack. The original version made much more interesting choices of how and where to add the music composed by the brilliant Jeff Williams, and unfortunately, Void_Chord didn't quite live up to the great moments that the soundtrack sustained. Although, the songs for the anime are very good. Mention the version of Mirror Mirror composed for the anime. I always felt that the original version had layers of melodic rock that explored in depth would bring much more feeling to the song, which the anime version did genuinely well. Bingo.

---Based off the ep 1-3 premier---
RWBY has always been a sort of anomaly. It's strange animation and bland story is saved by the soundtrack and the late Monty Oum's great fight scenes. The charm of RWBY is what makes the show so enjoyable, but the same can't be said for Ice Queendom.

The biggest downfall of IQ is its reliance on its precursor. The story's pace can only be described as dizzyingly fast as it assumes you've already seen the original and wants to get to the new narrative it has to offer. This does open the door for a better, original ... story from IQ, but for the beginning parts it leaves a lackluster showcase.

The second downfall of this retelling is honestly something that can't really be helped. The original soundtrack of RWBY is the centerpiece of the show and without it, many scenes don't live up to the original.

To end this off with, I want to say that the foundation for this show is definitely improved from the original. The art is honestly spectacular, and without the previous comparison the music is not bad at all. IQ is a worthwhile watch, however seems to lack the charm of the original in return for a more reliable quality.

RWBY: Ice Queendom is the fanfic writer’s dream of cramming a whole season into three episodes and then adding their own ideas. Whether it works depends on why you’re watching.

This is not a remake of the original, unless you’re only watching the first three episodes. Even then, the anime takes quite a few liberties. OG RWBY was about the fight scenes, while Anime RWBY emphasizes the voice actors. As a result, there’s a lot of dialogue exposition that answers questions you never had: What did Ruby talk about when she visited her mom’s grave in the Red Trailer? Why was Weiss battling a giant knight? ... What was Ruby doing at From Dust Till Dawn?

I like the thought put into earlier introductions and mentions, but the rapidfire pacing got rid of some of my fave moments, like Ozpin sipping coffee while watching the new students get catapulted, and the iconic gunchucks. There are still moments where scenes take time, mostly with Giving Soft Looks™. But mostly, the anime breezes through the original to explore its own ideas.

Almost the rest of the season takes place in Weiss’s dream. That means characters appear how Weiss sees them, which results in cool outfit designs and fun weapon changes. Also, the animation is fluid in climactic action scenes. Outside of these scenes though, the anime overuses split screens to the point that it’s sometimes like reading a manga.

If you’re okay with almost a season of a fanfic-worthy Weiss-dream arc, you’ll enjoy RWBY: Ice Queendom. But if you want less character and more action, just watch or rewatch the original. ^^

RWBY anime turned out to be somewhat disappointing.

Last ditch to save the dying franchise failed on me. Sloppy pacing, with ok character development. Strange, certainly confusing for newcomers plot, with good animation. This anime was all over the place. As someone who watched the original, but was never a fan of it I wasn't impressed with the overall quality of this anime. Definitely do not recommend it as an entrance to RWBY franchise.

The show basically assumes you're ready to eat up a ton of lore cause it cramped two hours worth of content into first three episodes; after that it started an original arc which ... was just bad and boring. Characters don't have a lot of time to get established, so some ended up being bleak while others drove attention to themselves. The only good thing is probably the animation which is great besides some strange scenes.

Overall a shallow attempt to attract anime fans to watch the original series.

Ruby didn't eat the cookies
The fight scene do not have the same feeling
But the animasion is good and thats the only thing



And now i am wrighting this because i need more text so i can publish this
Five little monkeys jumping on the bed.
One fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
... “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”

Four little monkeys jumping on the bed.
One fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”

Three little monkeys jumping on the bed.
One fell off and bumped her head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed.
One fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”

One little monkey jumping on the bed.
She fell off and bumped her head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”

RWBY is one of the worst show of all time being in the same tier as Korra and MLB

The 3 first Season are ok but then it get the zombified simpsons and lose so much quality it become funny bcz the show take itself seriously when it's shit, it make me laugh to thinks japanese man in tuxedo working at a company decided to make a spin-off of that what i love even more it's that it's Shaft the troll studio who's only good anime is Monogatari

Ça me met vraiment bien que le studio Shaft ponde une énième chiasse en sortant autre chose qu'un ... monogatari

I continuously prove to myself how naive I am, and as a fan of the original, my hype over seeing an actual anime version of RWBY was as unwarranted as it was foolish. This isn't a terrible anime, but it's not a great anime either.

First of all, this is a side-story "alternate universe" type of deal. Many of the characters and plot points are the same, but not all, and after a few episodes the show takes an obvious and abrupt turn into uncharted territory, for better or worse. If you were aware of the Japanese dub of the original RWBY, and came here thinking ... that you were getting a complete anime style adaptation of RWBY in the same way One-Punch Man did, I'm sorry to say that this ain't it.

Now getting to whether this is enjoyable as a fan of the original, it absolutely is. Some of the fights and scenes match up perfectly with the original, so it's pretty awesome seeing a scene that looked like PS2 graphics getting cranked up to modern animation, and although I'm no critic I will say it's pretty good. The sound and OST are very well done as well, and the voice actors more or less do the job they were assigned, which is asking a lot since they are adapting an English script with very western teenager tones.

And that's a good segue to the real problem with this adaptation. Anime is pretty versatile, and has adapted many western stories into some extremely successful ventures. The difference here is that those stories were mostly classics, and adapted by people that wanted to give new life to the original work. This on the other hand, feels like a half-baked spinoff made either to capitalize on a franchise that is peaking, or just so we can say that it exists and RWBY is officially an anime now. Either way it's not worth watching if you're not a fan of the original.

the title tells you what arc its pushing you toward, and the intro everyone complains isn't fleshed out is only there for people who may not know the characters. I struggled through the original RWBY, I'm glad I did, but there was just something about the original that caused a disconnect between the video and the story, and I found myself re-watch episodes to grasp artistic/emotional intent. the animation in this version deleted the aforementioned struggle. The mixed feelings rating is purely because this isn't a full remake, and many newcomers will watch this series expecting more, and leave burnt. I enjoyed the flow, art, ... music, fight scenes etc. the spirit of RWBY was represented well, but im also the kind of person, with nostalgia for the original, who this series was built for. your own mileage may vary. My advice is to walk into this expecting a condensed movie of a single arc and you'll be just fine.

The rwby anime was something that i was looking forward to, but like everything in this franchise, it starts good and is really bad by the end of it with some good scenes there and there, i guess you can call it a BAD LUCK CHARM. Jokes aside for someone who hasn't watched the original this anime would be confusing showing important characters out of the blue but they can still find it entertaining. The only good thing the show did was explain character motives and the problems each of them have. I think that for already experienced fans the most disappointing thing was the ... music while it was good it wasn't the masterpiece that jeff williams created and also no qrow(but that is to be expected). For how bad it was it still made me want more so i think that a second season will be a good idea but this time with less filler.

Yas Queendom.

RWBY is a strange franchise. I’ve enjoyed some of the manga, but it’s adaptations needed some work after those god awful 3D anime by Rooster Teeth. Luckily this adaptation is not in 3d and is animated by studio Shaft so you can guarantee that this time around the quality of “RWBY: Ice Queendom” is going to be totally… just okay.

The biggest problem with this anime is it’s pacing. I really enjoyed the first half of the season. I’m not sure if this a franchise reboot, but the re-introduction to Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang and the world of huntsmen and Grimms is not ... only very stylish in it’s presentation, animation and fight choreography, but also competently done in it’s pacing and story. It was genuinely fun to get to know the team characters and watch them get to know each other. Their character chemistry has always been one of the best things about RWBY… so you can imagine my disappointment when the second half of season separates them all so they can navigate Weiss’s frozen dream world to find and destroy a monster that feeds off her insecurities.
Coincidentally, this move not only destroyed the stories pacing, grinding it down to a tedious slog until episode 11, but somehow the animation went right out the window with it. Distracting animation errors, (series staple) bad CG and embarrassing amateur cuts and scene directing decisions honestly makes the latter half of the season hard to watch. I personally cannot stand it when any form of film media uses comic book panel cuts to place over a scene when a character starts talking and “RWBY: Ice Queendom” does it WAY to much. I can perfectly understand why a person would want to drop this after around episode 6.

Nevertheless I persisted on for some god awful reason, and the last two episode reminded me why I had hope for this show. It’s just a shame that quality couldn’t be consistent throughout the whole season. RWBY fans really needed an anime win and although I wouldn't necessarily call “RWBY: Ice Queendom” a win, you’ve gotta take what you can get. There’s a lot to improve on, but at least fans can now have an anime to fall back on which isn’t Rooster Teeth’s…

Also, can we talk about how in the last episode Yang fights with two roast chickens on her fists?

6/10 It’s Okay *Thumbs Up*

Haven't watched the orignial RWBY but I've always liked the aesthetic and music, I also like Shaft and I think they captured it nicely here. A few parts of the animation are really wonky and the scheduling troubles Shaft had while airing this show but when it's good, it's good! I really liked all the creative ideas they showed in Weiss' nightmare and how they used it to expand on the world building.

This story isn't just about the girls goofing around on a new adventure in some zany winter wonderland though, it's also a setting for the girls to come to terms with who ... they really are with themselves and eachother. The pacing of the story was really stretched out (it kind of felt like a video game in that there was a lot of backtracking, specific items that are basically plot devices and how varioius developments, good or bad, were resolved pretty quickly), and while I do think there was a better way to approach it, it was successful in getting me to care about the characters.

I was bored and frustrated with the writing in many places but there's some really fun music, art and very cool, standout moments that at the end of it all I was smiling and am glad I got to experinece it. I was interested in RWBY well before this anime and it was the perfect push to get me to actually start this thing! I think if you're interested in RWBY in general, it's worth a try, definitely a must watch if you're already into RWBY. Unfortunately if you're don't care about RWBY but are interested in this anime specifically, I can't really reccomend it. I think there has to be an open mind with the RWBY style of things going into this, otherwise it'll feel pretty half baked.