One of the enjoyable parts of following RWBY as a series is watching the leaps and bounds in quality year on year.
Season 4 hits some of the first genuinely good writings beats in the show. I was shocked at how sad I found some of the moments of Jaune dealing with the loss of Pyrrha. Yang's arc told a story of someone dealing with trauma and learning to adapt without letting it crush them. The first season was cliche. By the fourth season we're seeing parents actually trusting their children, when their children reveal truths which are hard to hear - because the parents can see the importance to their child.
The action was also a step-up again, although still not quite at the original creators level - unfortunately it was hard to appreciate because of two big problems with the season.
The plotting was rubbish. Nothing happened. The only forward momentum came when they cut away to the villains and so nothing, including the fights, had stakes. They also split up RWBY and ended up with too many plotlines to juggle. It felt the short season 1 episodes again because they could only afford a couple of minutes to each storyline in an episode.
At the start of the season Ruby needs to get to the place where the next big events will happen. After 12 episodes she reaches it. The rest of RWBY make that journey in the five minutes at the end of the very last episode.
Which leads onto the second problem. RWBY is very much Rule of Cool. Worldbuilding is not it's strong suit and it leant on it way too much this season. When characters are walking through medieval peasant fields with a paper map whilst one of them watches videos on their smartphone and both airships and motorbikes exist...
Hopefully these problems won't occur next season.
Andd I'll always love season 4 for the moment where Qrow realised his fists are for punching.
Season 4: Better writing, worse plotting
One of the enjoyable parts of following RWBY as a series is watching the leaps and bounds in quality year on year.
Season 4 hits some of the first genuinely good writings beats in the show. I was shocked at how sad I found some of the moments of Jaune dealing with the loss of Pyrrha. Yang's arc told a story of someone dealing with trauma and learning to adapt without letting it crush them. The first season was cliche. By the fourth season we're seeing parents actually trusting their children, when their children reveal truths which are hard to hear - because the parents can see the importance to their child.
The action was also a step-up again, although still not quite at the original creators level - unfortunately it was hard to appreciate because of two big problems with the season.
The plotting was rubbish. Nothing happened. The only forward momentum came when they cut away to the villains and so nothing, including the fights, had stakes. They also split up RWBY and ended up with too many plotlines to juggle. It felt the short season 1 episodes again because they could only afford a couple of minutes to each storyline in an episode.
At the start of the season Ruby needs to get to the place where the next big events will happen. After 12 episodes she reaches it. The rest of RWBY make that journey in the five minutes at the end of the very last episode.
Which leads onto the second problem. RWBY is very much Rule of Cool. Worldbuilding is not it's strong suit and it leant on it way too much this season. When characters are walking through medieval peasant fields with a paper map whilst one of them watches videos on their smartphone and both airships and motorbikes exist...
Hopefully these problems won't occur next season.
Andd I'll always love season 4 for the moment where Qrow realised his fists are for punching.