It feels like this is the end of a cycle that will repeat. A bunch of shorter episodes in-between big action episodes. Hopefully the shorter one's get less sloppy so that the watching of this show doesn't become "wait for someone online to tell you that another action episode is out".
Thats why I'm worried about the structure going on because how the smaller episodes are filled is going to be crucial. If the Big Bad does something crazy and dramatic soon, like take over a whole region then the inbetween episodes could turn out a lot better because they've got an interesting thing to talk about in the interim. If it's school drama or monster of the week then I don't think the writing will be good enough.
I do think it's going to get better though. I actually think episode 8 will help the writers because it should give them a greater sense of who the characters are and what makes them unique. There are glimpses of good writing, I thought the 'I still don't think that's the noise a sloth makes' at the end of episode 7 was a good line and there have been other touches here and there. And now at least they've got the teams established which should help
But I'm holding off making a whole show review until the 15-20th sort of episodes because how this cycle is going to work out will be really important.
Well now they've got some character development out of the way, it'll be interesting to see where they go from here. I think they're definitely going to be showing us more fights, or at least training to show Ruby and Jaune getting used to being leader. It'd also be nice to see members of the two teams interacting with each other. I don't expect every fight to be on a grand scale like episode 8's, but I believe Monty Oum will still be able pull fights off that look spectacular.
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Make sure you watch episode 8
The first 7 episodes of RWBY were fairly meh. The visual style was excellent, the soundtrack fantastic and the characterisation and voice acting inconsistent. Ruby for example would go through several personalities every conversation from shy to hyper-active and whilst the fights were pretty good they were also pretty sparse. But they felt like problems that would improve with time as the writers settled down and became more familiar with the characters.
Episode 8 is what the series can be. It has the energy and pacing that the theme song always hinted at and it gets better as the episode get on. The fighting is large and spectacular, but also fluid and creative. Together the teamwork begins to mesh and the relationships begin to fit together. Most of all, as soon as the fighting starts each character is absolutely solid. All inconsistency is strong and each person expresses themselves in their actions and movements more strongly than the writing has yet managed. Ruby fighting is someone you can understand.
There are still rough spots and the editing could still be tweaked to make the jokes punchier but there are also some stronger moments and ideas begin to seep through. They focused on it too long, but Ruby's sister looking at her as she begins to take the lead was pretty cute and the bit with Weiss and the scorpion was good. They're simple emotions, but in these moments they're told strongly and it's that strength and tempo that this series needs. Red, white, black and yellow aren't complicated colours but they can have power.
There's still a lot of ways it can go from here, and how the episodes will be structured is going to be key. (I would prefer something other than school drama or Monster Of The Week) But if you felt the first episodes were a little soft and were going to drop off, at least stick with it till episode 8, it's not even an hour of your time and this is the one to judge the series by so far.