About the music: Jeff Williams did all the music, and if I recall correctly, he did most if not all of the music for Red vs. Blue.
Semantics. When I said "no formal ties" I meant that he wan't an employee. I'm aware of his previous relationship with Roosterteeth.
As far as the previous animation Monty did, he had the freedom to animate things to perfection before release... not something he can do for RWBY, being director, producer etc etc in addition to co-animater.
Also, not everything NEEDS talented voice acting; sometimes entirely natural/new talent is perfect. In fact, that was probably the point/intended casting choices for RWBY, and the dialogue is fairly similar (being lines that characters would actually say, awkwardness/the moment/etc and all). Can also apply to the animation, as it doesn't need to be all-good
Now, either way, no one is denying that RWBY Vol. 1 was rushed in a few ways. That does not make it inherently bad, just different; and what I've outlined is easily part of it's secondary charm imo :)
There's a difference between talent and experience; a voice actor does not have to be a veteran to be good at it. Problem is RWBY's voice actors are neither talented nor experienced.
And animation doesn't need to be all good, but it being all good would certainly be preferable; if not that, it should at least be adequate.
Well talented is a matter of opinion MFM, but as I've stated, the lack of experience could have been intentional. Plus, that's not a bad thing, I think, because it's realistic
I think we'll just have to agree to disagree, then.
...Mainly because I swear I've had this exact discussion with you before, and I think that similarly went nowhere in the end.
Probably have, as I'm the guy who's infamous for a total lack of hatred for common/most negative things... which is mainly because I believe hating them is a waste (of energy/emotions/time), so it's better to enjoy them for those same qualities, or at least ignore. So yeah, agree to disagree
Anyway, RWBY Vol. 2 Opening was leaked on Tumblr, and it's looking interesting - so we'll all probably keep an eye on RWBY regardless lol
Monty doesn't animate all the scenes in the show. In the DVD commentary , they usually mention which animator did which scene. If it's subpar, it's probably safe to say Monty didn't animate himself.
Also gonna disagree with you saying Miles is bad writer. Rv B season 10 was kind of rough, but his writing in season 11 is some of the best I've seen in the whole series. The problem with RWBY compared to Rv B is that with the former, he haste start from scratch and has to work within in the plot confinements that Monty gives hime, while he has been pretty much given free reign over an already established cast and setting with Rv B.
Blaming Miles and Kerry for the faults you've given is also wrong. Strange how you're willing to put the blame on them, but none on the creator/directer/head animator of the show. It was Monty who chose the animators, concept artists, and voices for at least the main girls, and it was also his decision to keep as much of the staff and talent in-house as possible (his given reason being that it makes things easier to coordinate iirc).
I would point out that when RVB started NONE of the actors except Matt had any VA experience either. They all also got massively better over time which I expect to happen here also. Listen to the early seasons compared to the newer ones, the improvements are mindblowing. Besides that there are many who would disagree with you about the voice acting and many more who would say it got better as time went on. Even Jtaku thought so when they compared the trailers voice work to the actual show.
So, in short: Shut up, Iogzlo
Well, aside from the blunt way put, it's true some of the elements aren't that bad, such as the voice acting. As already been stated, Rv B didn't have the much experience at start; they got better. RWBY will too by default, so it's not fair to criticize that as if it's not gonna improve
Not that I think the voice acting is bad, or that the dialogue is 'unnatural' or 'stilted'; they sound like actual people, making up comments/answers instinctively, impulsively, and sometimes randomly... as opposed to their lines sounding rehearsed/prepared ahead of time. Yes, that is a good thing, but sometimes natural is preferred imo
Hey people don't have to have the same thoughts on things
Thanks for that constructive comment, Mcnickel.
On the discussion of the dialogue, in my opinion, it often sounds like someone reading a a script. Now, that's what ALL show dialogue is, of course, but in a lot of scripts it usually doesn't sound like that. My problem is that they say things that real people wouldn't say but say them like real people would. Is that a confusing way of putting it?
Also, I want to be clear, I don't have anything against the show. Like I said in the review, I really WANT it to be good, and sometimes it is, just not as good as it could be.
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I Wish It Was Good
I really, really do. I like it, but that doesn't keep me from seeing how objectively bad it is. An entire series, animated and written from scratch? That's a BIG project. That's not a project you have <10 people working on, some of them not even animators. There are a few big flaws, and I'll list them in order of importance:
The animation. For a director/animator who has done such consistently good work in the past, I'm disappointed. There are several reasons why the animation is so weird and subpar. First, it was made using Poser 10. I don't have the space to discuss why Poser was such a bad choice, but you can Google it, you're smart people. Second, they did Mocap for a most of the non-combat scenes, and it really shows. They only mocapped one running animation, as you can see in episode 9 (I think). Either they didn't have time to change it up or they were purely lazy. A lot of the animations are kind of slidey, because they've got an animation but not a surface to map it to.
The Story. It's a good story. Miles Luna isn't a very good writer. He wants to make the Monty Oum cinematic setpieces mesh with the sort of quiet character focus he's better at, and it just doesn't work. The parts about the Faunus seemed shoehorned and to be approached from the perspective of someone who never experienced discrimination. Like I said, it's a good story, I just wish someone else had told it.
The Dialogue. Miles isn't much of a writer. He tries to make good comedy and drama, but it just doesn't work. The Dialogue feels stilted and unnatural. The voice acting isn't much to write home about either. Don't get me wrong, I think the RT girls are great, but they're not voice actors.
Overall, it feels like the blame can fall on Miles and Kerry. They're trying to push a project WAY too big for their level of skill without enough people, enough experience, or enough talent. Their insistence on keeping it "in the family," so to speak, is a clear mistake.
The music is really good. I think it's telling, though, that the best quality of the show is the one that they literally outsourced to a contractor with no formal ties to the company. I really want it to be good, and I think we should all admit that it's just...not.
EDIT: Season 2 looks better from the production diaries, though.