Reviews WebAnimation / RWBY

Series in a Bottle

Let me start by saying that RWBY is probably the best experience I have ever had with wholly internet created media outside of Dr. Horrible which I think we can agree cheated a bit by being written by Joss "I've Had Three TV Shows" Whedon. In terms of media born, breed, and baked all on the world wide web, RWBY is head and shoulders above what I have experienced as far as quality of work and result. And that is why I feel mildly unsatisfied with it.

RWBY is, all told, a series in a bottle. Now, that's a trope that anyone who has hung out here for a while will invariably have run into so I don't really feel a need to explain beyond saying that the show is built in obvious and crippling constraints. This can be a good (in some cases, even great) factor in the development of a story, but only if it doesn't brush the edge of the bottle. When I watch RWBY, I can't help but see the places where they not only brushed that edge, but apparently ran right into it with my reaction ranging from distraction to outright fury. Even in season two where the bottle has seemingly more than doubled in size we still hit those points where the series has to make a turn just too sharp to ignore to avoid barreling through a wall. This is the single clearest source of fault to be had in an otherwise fantastic show.

I have long been an advocate of purposeful constraint as an artistic choice, or to heighten awareness of the remarkable aspects of a work, but RWBY simply does not utilize those qualities of constraint. It longs to be as bold and extravagant as it's notably flamboyant creator can make it. If it had the ability to reach that mark, I have little doubt that it would be one of the greatest productions in modern media.

(Or it could pull a Star Wars and crap itself inside out. That does undercut things a hair.)