RWBY is a reflection of its own creative process, Part 2
This is Part 2 of a continuing work from last week regarding RWBY, a widely popular and iconic series made by Rooster Teeth Animation. It's highly advised that you go read Part 1 first, as this article probably won't make as much sense otherwise.
Last time, we left things in a terrible place. The story of RWBY had been left at its absolute lowest point, lamenting the death/disappearance of several key characters and the destruction of everyone's safe haven, all of which ultimately resulted in the scattering of the cast and the creeping shadow of doubt. On the front of the creative team, the death of Monty Oum had been, I guess "overcome" in that the team successfully completed Volume 3 without his guidance, but they had to have been feeling the loss in terrible ways. Without the creator, the future beyond this point was only going to get harder.
So I think it's especially remarkable that, in the face of overwhelming sorrow and uncertainty, Rooster Teeth somehow did the impossible. Volume 4 wasn't just good, it was fantastic.
Volume 4 - Look at how much you've grown
This was the volume that marked a lot of "firsts" for the series. For starters, the series had officially moved away from Poser and was now being animated in Autodesk Maya (which is an industry standard for 3D production), and all the characters had been completely redesigned/remodeled from the ground up. To make things even harder, this would also be the first volume with a larger focus on "The World of Remnant", finally expanding out of the safety of Beacon Academy into the wide and wild world. Not to mention the main cast was also split in four different places, which meant tons of new environments had to be made, mostly from scratch. And of course, Volume 4 would be the first run of the series without Oum to guide the project. If we're judging purely by challenge, Volume 4 had to have been the hardest production Rooster Teeth had ever faced, even more so than Volume 1.
In a kind-hearted world, RWBY would have every excuse available to give up the fight and look back fondly on "what could have been", and that would be fine. It's not really fair after all to hold such high expectations for a team that has been so emotionally and physically crippled. But the World of Remnant, as well as our world, are not nearly so kind. Even at your lowest point, you're expected to rise to the occasion. Well, wish freaking granted.
The biggest improvement I noticed right off the bat was the massive stride made on the animation front. I honestly think moving from Poser to Maya is one of the best decisions they ever made, and while they still have lots of room for improvement I hope they stick with their new guns. The other big improvement was tone. While Volume 4 started the same way every other Volume has up until now (with a big fat, mostly inconsequential fight scene), I would say it's the overall mellowest, calmest and best-tempered the story has ever been. A lot of that calm stood its ground with a heavy emphasis on character development and emotional intelligence, and the show gave those ideas plenty of opportunities to breathe given all the insane tragedy that defined Volume 3. I want to think that Volume 4 is the one where the team realized the same thing I've known for a while: these characters have a ton of potential, and this story can be absolutely phenomenal if it lets the core of its characters dictate the direction instead of letting the action completely take over (see also: Steven Universe).
What makes this victory a little bittersweet is that I don't think it would've been possible without Volume 3, both on the story front and on the production. Oum's death was horrible, but in his wake was a huge chance for RWBY to really mature, and it did. Volume 4 centers itself, in a fit of tragic irony, on the one thing everyone in story and otherwise lost: Family.
Tragedy strikes the team, forcing everyone to basically return home and reevaluate where they stand, and to understand what they stand for. Ruby travels with the now incomplete Team JNPR in an attempt to prevent further tragedy, but which largely turns into a big emotional journey for all of them as Jaune learns to live without Pyrrha in his life, and Rem and Nora are forced to confront a dark part of their past along the way (big thumbs up for actually characterizing the most shallow characters in the series). Weiss is forced back home to a life with which she's largely splintered, forcing her to make a hard decision on where she stands with her family. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Blake travels back home for the sake of reconnecting with her family after she left in a bad way, all the while nervous about crossing that bridge in the first place. And probably the most impressive characterization in the series so far comes through Yang, now physically crippled by the loss of her arm and emotionally crippled through an associated loss of control. She's given a replacement robotic arm, but interestingly refuses it at first - probably in an attempt to retain some life control after it had been so violently taken from her - and requires the motivation of her father and colleagues to convince herself to accept help. And the pacing of it all is pretty great; for once, it feels like all characters involved are given enough time to develop properly. There's obviously still room for improvement narratively speaking and some of the character stories aren't quite as interesting as others (Weiss and Blake's stories don't quite punch hard enough outside of a couple individual scenes), but at the end of the day Volume 4 was a victory, especially for the production team.
I mentioned earlier that Volume 4 marked a lot of firsts for the series, but there's one that I omitted. This would be the first opportunity for the production to prove they could navigate a story built around a team in which the characters weren't allowed to be together, to prove that each of them had enough "character" on their own to carry individual story arcs while keeping things interesting. It was almost a challenge to see if, without the guidance of Oum, the creative team could identify what made these characters and this story succeed. I can't imagine them answering that challenge better than they did, and I consider it definitive proof that RWBY was far from "dead". If anything, it was finally breaking free and ready to soar.
And soar they did...but not without hitting a few branches.
Volume 5 - Playing Catch-Up
So I'm realizing now that I didn't really talk about what actually "happens" in Volume 4, and I might have to address that to talk about Volume 5, so here's a quickie:
Ruby travels with team JNPR to Haven Academy, which looks to be the next institute being targeted by the villains, and after meeting with her mentor Qrow and having some tough battles finally arrives at Haven. Weiss has some tricky squabbles with her family and while under "house-arrest" decides to pack her combat attire and breaks out, leaving her family for good. Blake reconnects with her family and finds out the White Fang organization is up to no good and has to deal with that. Yang gets over her depression and trains with her father to get ready to fight again. Oh, and I guess Professor Ospin reincarnated through some kid named Oscar who meets with the larger group at Haven, because shenanigans.
So why did I give you the stark recap of Volume 4? Well, because in a lot of ways Volume 5 really feels more like "Volume 4, Part 2" than its own story. It's actually similar to Volume 2 in this regard, coming off as a continuation of events more than a fresh start. So this is probably the part where you say "isn't the entire story a continuation of events, since, you know, that's what stories are?", and I would probably roll my eyes before saying yes and muffling disgruntled catawumpus under my breath. Here's the rebuke: try comparing this to book sequels like, say, Harry Potter. Instead of Volume 5 being "Order of the Phoenix", it's closer to "Goblet of Fire, Part 2". It's all continuation, sure, but each HP book is generally telling a separate story within the confines of those events, like different beats in a grand story. When RWBY Volume 3 happens, it feels like a new arc of the existing story, and this is doubly true of Volume 4 which even features a significant time gap from the last set of events (9 months and lots of trauma). Volume 5 is literally dragging on the coattails of Volume 4, starting immediately with nary a pause, so I can't really talk about Volume 5 without talking about 4.
By the end of Volume 4, the only characters that successfully completed their current narrative arcs were Ruby and the JNPR team; Blake is still dealing with scary cult, Yang is only now about to travel to find either Ruby or her mother, and Weiss only just ran away from home to find her sister. The only common thread between these individual stories is that they all happen to lead to the same place and ultimately to the same collision: Minstral and Haven Academy, where all the heroes and villains are heading for one gigantic clash. And that's fine for the story, except that while the narrative arcs still had some breathing room, the emotional arcs were mostly finished. Blake, Weiss, and Yang still had a long physical journey ahead of them, but as characters they accomplished a large part of their emotional growth already for the current state of things, which leaves not a lot to fill your time with before the impending clash (outside of just moving through destinations).
So what do you do when your characters have already completed their individual arcs? Well, you put them back together again. The remaining unresolved development can only really exist when the characters are assembled and drawing from one another. At least, you're supposed to assemble them, but I think the creative team had a hard time figuring out how to make that happen because there's a whole bunch of other exposition and events that they needed to chug through before the clash was even ready to happen. The result was an incredibly strong Volume 4 that unfortunately didn't cover quite enough narrative ground, leaving Volume 5 playing a dangerous amount of catch-up.
So, Volume 5 is where things get a little tricky. You have a series that still wants to be "all about the action" and now also wants to be "all about the character drama" too, but also has a certain amount of plot to get through before the story is allowed to proceed. Volume 5 ends up being especially strangled in a series that already packs its events airtight.
Which leads me back to the creative team, and a crucial thought. I'm left wondering how much of the story is built from the minds of the directors and writers, fashioned with the intent of telling the best possible story, and how much is shackled down to Oum's original vision? Volume 5 wants to be a lot of things, but weirdly the plot kind of holds it back. I know it makes sense to hold things to Oum's intent whenever possible, but if his previous work is any indication, "structure" was never going to be a reliable element in the RWBY universe, and I think the current team is paying that price. With Volume 4, I really felt the creative team flexing their talent and setting the tone the way they wanted, and it resulted in the best work the series has had so far. With Volume 5, it almost feels like they were racing checkpoints, very specifically trying to force fit an uncomfortable amount of story in a certain amount of time. Not so differently from the characters, the creative team feels a bit trapped by the past, and only with the struggle that is the conclusion of Volume 5 does it feel like the narrative starts to open again.
Existing issues, and hopes for Volume 6
So, I opened this whole two part monster of an article by saying that I wasn't really a big fan of RWBY. That's still a truth. I find the characters act in way too hyperbolic a manner and are still too archetypal even five seasons later. I think the story has a lot of structural issues, and is full of too many "just because" moments. The series is still deeply rooted in Oum's original vision for a show that pushes constant engagement and conflict, and while much of it has been subdued (correctly) for the sake of more emotional evolution, it's still a somewhat cantankerous driving factor. And of course, coming from a dual background in 3D Animation and Creative Writing, I do unfortunately notice a lot of animation and storytelling choices that I just generally don't agree with (there's not quite enough performance distinction between characters, everybody generally kind of moves and acts the same outside of combat except for Nora who's also the most 1-dimensional character in the cast, and don't even get me started on basically ALL the Volume 1 animation, etc).
That being said, I am fairly excited for Volume 6, largely because - like Volume 4 - it presents another wonderful kicking off point for the story. While the next destination has been revealed, there's no obligation for how they get there or how long it will take, giving full control of pacing, narrative, and character in the hands of the creative team. Volume 6 not only has potential for greatness, but has arguably the least amount of problems going in of any season of RWBY. So, for the sake of the show, here's a couple things I hope they start incorporating.
The first is breaking the current Oum precident, that there has to be copious amounts of action and especially fighting. While RWBY does have a spattering of excellently choreographed fight scenes, I actually find that the show is at its best when characters just...talk. I mean, there are plenty of questionable dramatic scenes as well, but while the series started as a weird and crazy adrenaline rush, I think more of the character moments have stood out to me than most of the forced and often unearned fights ever did. Here's to hoping that Rooster Teeth realizes that - in the world they created - that more damage can be done with a hug or a well placed smile than punching a character through several buildings like its no big deal.
The second is an issue of subtlety. This is actually a problem that RWBY has in common with lots of anime: everything that happens must happen for a reason, everything is important, everything is direct. On paper, this seems great, but it unfortunately saps a lot of staying power from the series. The famous phrase "show, don't tell" is largely absent from RWBY, as there is pretty much no subtlety in this show whatsoever. Characters have a tendency to say exactly what they're thinking, often bluntly, and most of the action scenes are more actively built around creating "the coolest looking fight" rather than one that highlights expression. Characters are most often defined by words they say or techniques they use in battle, but rarely are they defined by actions. Arguably one of the best scenes in the entire show doesn't involve any fighting or even much of a conversation, and its the last scene of "V4:E2 - Remembrance" where Ruby wakes up in the middle of the night and stumbles upon Jaune grieving over Pyrrha.
The ground we stand on - Kerry's Letter
Kerry Shawcross, the current director of RWBY, posted some choice words on Rooster Teeth's website on the 5th anniversary of RWBY's release. In what I can only describe as a pure love letter to the fans, Kerry was able to give some pretty direct insight on how the creative team feels:
“Over the past five years I think it would be an understatement to say we’ve had our “ups and downs”... but the constant through it all has been just how incredible each and every one of you are. It’s pretty obvious that none of us knew what we were doing (insert joke about still not knowing) but that didn’t matter to you all. You saw the heart. You saw the potential. You saw a project that was made by friends that just wanted to work together to make something new and cool....
....So, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for helping us make this show. My promise back to you is that we will keep doing what we’ve done every day since Monty walked in with an image of four girls and four colors in his head: Giving this show our everything.
Thank you, every single fan out there.
Thank you, Rooster Teeth, for giving us a shot.
Thank you, Monty, for being you.”
I think it's easy to take for granted the shaky ground that RWBY has been stationed on for so many years now. Starting with slipshod production of Volume 1 and 2, horrible circumstances of Volume 3, and the technical and organizational difficulties of Volume 4 and 5, RWBY is a series that is equally defined by its never ending problems as it is by the team's ability to struggle through those challenges. Every season, this team of amateurs gets a little more grisly, the rickety animation a little more svelte, the aimless story more direct, and the flimsy characters more ephemeral. Regardless of how you feel about the show, whether you love it or hate it for whatever reason, it cannot be denied that these artists are doing their damnest to make the best show they can and that they are improving their craft in the process.
Because largely what keeps this team going, whether it's through the treacherous land of Remnant or the equally treacherous route of creating about 4 hours of high-action 3D animation EVERY YEAR, is the incredible passion that drives this whole story. These people love this project, and the community has definitely noticed and latched onto that love. It's easy to call RWBY an amateur production, but that couldn't be further from the truth. For any team to have endured what Rooster Teeth Animation has, to balance on nothing but shattered ground and still be able to work this hard on a passion project, stands as one of the most professional endeavors I could ever imagine. And, as has been the case for Volumes 1-5, I think their struggle will continue to be reflected in their show.
Volume 6 is set to start streaming this October, and can be watched (along with all of RWBY and Red vs Blue) over at Rooster Teeth's website, and I truly wish the RWBY team the best of luck finding stable footing moving forward. At the very least, I think they're on the right path.
