Last review I went over volume 1 and concluded it was short to a fault. You had to go into the second volume. I stand by that.
While I can't pinpoint inconsistencies in RWBY's animation to save my life, I know one thing that has most definitely improved. In volume 1, background characters were literally shadows. This is no longer the case and they got some degree of attention. I also feel there's various graphical improvements across the board, but again, can't tell where exactly. The same applies to the voice acting to some extent, though Ruby's VA still isn't entirely consistent.
A bigger improvement than both of those combined, however, is the length of the episodes. While there are only 12 now, they also are about 12 minutes each. With that comes more opportunity for development, hilarious situations and epic fights. And indeed volume 2 delivers, even if volume 1 was admittedly very short to reasonably expect the former. For example, we saw Oobleck as downright bizarre in the first volume, but well into volume 2 I was suddenly treated to one of the most interesting motivations I've yet seen, especially given that RWBY is webanimation. Volume 2 picks up the pace when it comes to things like that. Most notably, it manages to subvert Mary Sue, a phenomenon that is generally dangerous to apply, unintentional or not. For those who don't know who I'm talking about, and I can imagine why, it's Pyrrha. Very competent and helpful, but helpful to a fault since volume 1 and so competent people don't approach her normally. That has to suck for anyone. Again, I've seen a lot of fiction, but never thought of this. Characters that were mostly left out for development before, such as Yang, also get attention now.
Volume 2 comes packed with World of Remnant fragments, which are supposed to inform you. Unfortunately, some of these fragments yield questions as well. This slowly transitions into my main concern: When you add the first two volumes together, you get the equivalent of roughly 13 normal episodes. At the very least, authors should have their series kicking at that point. Is volume 2 good? That depends on your general definition. Is it an improvement? Yes, unless your senses are numb. In my opinion at least volume 2 is very good, but it'd better build up to more answered questions in volume 3 or I'm going to be sceptical.
Overrated? Underrated? At any rate misrated (Volume 2)
Last review I went over volume 1 and concluded it was short to a fault. You had to go into the second volume. I stand by that.
While I can't pinpoint inconsistencies in RWBY's animation to save my life, I know one thing that has most definitely improved. In volume 1, background characters were literally shadows. This is no longer the case and they got some degree of attention. I also feel there's various graphical improvements across the board, but again, can't tell where exactly. The same applies to the voice acting to some extent, though Ruby's VA still isn't entirely consistent.
A bigger improvement than both of those combined, however, is the length of the episodes. While there are only 12 now, they also are about 12 minutes each. With that comes more opportunity for development, hilarious situations and epic fights. And indeed volume 2 delivers, even if volume 1 was admittedly very short to reasonably expect the former. For example, we saw Oobleck as downright bizarre in the first volume, but well into volume 2 I was suddenly treated to one of the most interesting motivations I've yet seen, especially given that RWBY is webanimation. Volume 2 picks up the pace when it comes to things like that. Most notably, it manages to subvert Mary Sue, a phenomenon that is generally dangerous to apply, unintentional or not. For those who don't know who I'm talking about, and I can imagine why, it's Pyrrha. Very competent and helpful, but helpful to a fault since volume 1 and so competent people don't approach her normally. That has to suck for anyone. Again, I've seen a lot of fiction, but never thought of this. Characters that were mostly left out for development before, such as Yang, also get attention now.
Volume 2 comes packed with World of Remnant fragments, which are supposed to inform you. Unfortunately, some of these fragments yield questions as well. This slowly transitions into my main concern: When you add the first two volumes together, you get the equivalent of roughly 13 normal episodes. At the very least, authors should have their series kicking at that point. Is volume 2 good? That depends on your general definition. Is it an improvement? Yes, unless your senses are numb. In my opinion at least volume 2 is very good, but it'd better build up to more answered questions in volume 3 or I'm going to be sceptical.