My Thoughts on RWBY Volume 5

 

First and foremost, if you haven’t seen, or even heard of, RWBY, I would highly recommend checking it out. RWBY is a fantasy anime/cartoon web-show that is produced by Roosterteeth. You can either watch RWBY on YouTube or on Roosterteeth’s official website. If you haven’t seen the show feel free to continue, but it may be a bit difficult to follow.

SPOILERS FOLLOW

In my opinion, Volume 4 of RWBY was rather slow, but it did set up for later Volumes. In Volume 5 it becomes apparent that this is happening. Volume 5 reunites Team RWBY, who has been separated since the end of Volume 3, though this is only accomplished by the last few episodes.

Speaking of the last few episodes, Volume 5 starts a bit slow, but it quickly ramps up in intensity. Volume 5 involves Team RNJR working with Qrow and Ozpin/Oscar to save Haven and the relic housed there from Salem and her forces. After fleeing Atlas, Weiss’ shuttle crashes and she finds herself captured by bandits led by Raven Branwen. Yang eventually shows up and saves Weiss, because Yang was looking for Raven in order to find a way to reach her friends in Haven. After talking to Raven and learning the truth about Ozpin and Salem, Yang and Weiss are teleported to Haven, where they are finally reunited with their friends. While Yang and Weiss are on their journey, Ruby, Jaune, Nora, and Ren are training with Qrow and Ozpin/Oscar, trying to get stronger before confronting Salem, while also learning about what exactly is going on. While training, Qrow is trying to gather Huntsmen to aid in their mission, but he discovers that none of them have returned from their most recent missions. It is later revealed that Leonardo Lionheart, the headmaster of Haven Academy and a friend of Qrow and Ozpin, is a traitor that is now working for Salem and sent all the huntsmen off to their deaths. Meanwhile, Blake and Sun are working to defeat the White Fang in Menagerie while convincing the Faunus there to join them in stopping the impending White Fang attack on Haven. This culminates in Fennec, Corsac, and Ilia launching an attack with the White Fang on Blake’s house in an effort to kill her family, since the Belladonna family is a powerful enemy of the White Fang. The battle results in Fennec’s death and Ilia’s betrayal to join Blake and stop Adam. After the White Fang’s failed attempt, the Faunus of Menagerie are finally convinced to go to Haven and prevent the White Fang attack.

This larger White Fang attack coincides with Cinder’s attack to steal the Haven relic. Team RNJR, Weiss, Yang, Qrow, and Ozpin/Oscar confront Cinder. Cinder has now teamed up with Raven, because Raven has the Spring Maiden Vernal, though it is later revealed that Raven is the Spring Maiden after Cinder betrays Raven and murders Vernal. The battle eventually ends with Mercury, Emerald, Hazel, and Adam, the new leader of the White Fang after deposing the old leader, escaping as the White Fang attack is thwarted, Cinder dies, hopefully, and Team RWBY is united and obtains the relic. Now that the summary is over, I can delve into my thoughts on Volume 5.

I personally enjoyed Volume 5. I feel that there was a good mix of action, emotion, and story. One of the most emotional parts, I believe, was when Cinder impaled Weiss with Pyrrha’s spear. I felt that this was a great scene, because it really made me feel something towards Cinder: even more intense hatred. That episode as a whole was great, because we really got to see Jaune’s angrier side. I’m equally happy that Weiss didn’t die and Jaune finally discovered his semblance. And Because of this, Cinder’s supposed death at the hands of Raven is so much more satisfying.

Unfortunately, there’s a chance that Cinder isn’t actually dead. Yes she was frozen and fell into a pit, but there are a few problems with her death. If she was dead, someone would have become the new Fall Maiden, but as of right now, no one is. This could mean one of three things: Cinder isn’t dead, we haven’t met the new Fall Maiden yet, or someone is the new Fall Maiden but they don’t realize it yet. I feel that the first two possibilities are the most plausible, but I could potentially see the third one being used as a major plot point later on. And, though it would be nice for Cinder to be dead, I feel that she should have an even more satisfying death. I think that Jaune or Ruby should be the one to finally kill Cinder, assuming she’s still alive that is.

Concerning these fights, I feel that the fights in Volume 5 have definitely improved from Volume 4. In Volume 4, the fight choreography really seemed to regress. Instead of the intense, physics based fights of the earlier Volumes, Volume 4 forgot what gravity and physics were, because everyone could jump fifty feet in the air for no apparent reason. Volume 5 fixes this immensely. Fights seem more grounded, though not as intense as the earlier Volumes. This could be due to the fact that the earlier Volumes just had more fight sequences. Hopefully we’ll see a few more battles in Volume 6.

While also on the topic of fights, the music is another crucial element. To me it seems as if there’s just less and less music with every Volume. Something I liked about the early Volumes was in almost every fight, there was an epic song that went along with it. Volume 4 and 5 seem to have dropped this tradition for the most part. And when there is music, it seems to come in too late and end too early. This is especially disappointing to me, because I absolutely love the soundtracks for the first three Volumes. For a while, that’s all I would listen to, but I feel like I can’t say the same thing about the Volume 4 and 5 soundtracks. Hopefully this issue will improve in Volume 6 as well.

I find RWBY Volume 5 to be a strong addition to the series. It expands heavily on the foundation laid by Volume 4 by advancing the plot, introducing new characters and developing others, and overall doing something. Volume 4 was ok, Volume 5 was good, and I can’t wait for Volume 6.