Reviews WebAnimation / RWBY

Volumes 4-5 are a steady decline - The Loss of Monty is apparent.

So, i was losing some interest by season 4 already. While there was more action, most of the action wasn't nearly the same as when Monty was still there. Tightly choreographed and intricate movement were replaced with fast cuts and flashy but simple moves. On the story side, there was little to tell, and some contradictions with earlier established lore.

Season 5 is worse. Much of the implied lore and worldbuilding has basically been dropped. Faunus discrimination? Can't be seen anywhere. Sure, faunus complain a lot in dialogue, but there's nothing on screen to actually show it. Menagerie looks like a tropical paradise. There's no mistrust or resistance when they all walk into Mistral. Adam has been reduced to an angry ex-boyfriend, not a fanatical faunus-supremacist. And the Grimm? Especially the intelligent Grimm in vol 2? Practically non-existent. Nobody fears them, I guess none of Cinder's terrorism in Vol 3 was effective. What happened to Grimm responding to negative emotions?

Most of the plot developments happen when characters sit around and explain everything to each other. The epitome of Tell, Don't Show. For an action series, this is pretty bad.

But the action itself? This is where I really miss Monty. Action has no flow. There's no sense of urgency. Like when Blake's mom walks out in the middle of a shootout to pick up a tea tray to defend herself. Or when characters stand around for minutes in the middle of a fight to talk out in the open, and i guess enemies are always polite enough to never interrupt someone who's talking. This happens several times, especially in the climactic battle. Everyone just... Stands around and takes turns.

There's also a distinct lack of character in the action. Remember in volume 2, Yang vs Neo? Or Pyrrha vs CRDL? Style and skill were apparent. None of that happens this season. Sun apparently has trouble taking on guys who can only stand and point guns. Why? No idea, but we definitely can't see an on-screen reason why. Action is generic and dictated by the need to hit plot points, not characters.

Even worse, sometimes it seems like the animation team and the dialogue team didn't communicate with each other. For example, while Jaune is healing Weiss, Ruby interrupts him, moves his hands out of the way, only to say, "don't stop what you're doing!" and move his hands back. The entire season is filled with little pointless and counterproductive snippets like this. Like they just had to squeeze in a cliche quote in there without any heed to the logic or flow or action of the scene.

Unless vol 6 gets rave reviews from others... This is where I'm dropping the series.