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[series:4495#628] | ||||||
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(All episodes watched): Well, I had mixed feelings about this show after watching the first two episodes (episodes 1-3 were released before the official start of the Summer 2022 season). The characters had been given some depth, though they were still kind of generic. As usual they possess fantastic skill as fighters, though I would prefer characters who have flaws and thus would face some actual risk while in action. Also typical is the fact that swords are still commonly employed even though guns still exist in this post-apocalyptic world (right?) and magic seems to play a large part. We are also introduced to four supporting characters who form a second Team. Some additional effort could have been put into explaining the 'Grimm', which range from animated suits of armor to giant animals with some sort of printed circuits or something on their faces. A substance called 'Dust' (a drug?) plays a large part (Weiss' family has gotten rich off of it). There is all sorts of fancy terminology without explanation as of yet, like 'Limitress', 'Atlas Toys', 'Semblance', 'Faunus', etc. The animation of action scenes is pretty wild and exciting, though the stunts the characters perform verge on being too unrealistic to take seriously. In episode three some effort is made towards building a strong team. Weiss can't understand why this underage girl, Ruby, has been named leader of RWBY rather than herself. She also quarrels with Blake about her background with the White Fang group. It was sort of fun. I got the impression that at least a modest effort was being made to spin an entertaining tale, though I can't be certain that that effort will succeed. Weiss falls into a coma after being infected with some sort of Grimm illness, and Ruby ventures into a dream that she is trapped in in an attempt to rescue her--I think; as bizarre as this situation is, the plot is a little difficult to follow. The villains in this show aren't all that original and noteworthy, so I have a hard time remembering what happened last time. I had initially thought that this business with Weiss' dream would last an episode or two, then we would move on to the other characters having problems of their own that would need teamwork to solve. But the Weiss' dream arc is still underway at the end of episode ten. It turns out to be the main plotline of the entire series. And did we ever get a clear answer to the question of just what the 'Grimm' are? If we did, I either missed it or forgot it long ago. My patience was wearing thin but by this point there were only two episodes to go. Things are finally resolved within Weiss' dream in episode 11, and episode twelve was sort of a wrap-up. This final episode contained some of the enjoyable joking and camaraderie that the characters hadn't had time for during the prolonged dream sequence. After watching the first two episodes I had guessed that the question would be whether the characters would continue to grow and whether the plot would be significantly original. I hoped this wouldn't be just another magic academy series. There would need to be some sort of unexpected hitch in these girls training and graduation as Huntresses, but as of yet what that hitch would be remained a mystery. The characters have grown some, but I didn't sense a moving and radical change among them. The plot was definitely original, but maybe too original, in the sense that it turned out to be highly confusing. What was the deal with the gray-haired variant of Weiss? Or that bat-like creature? Since Weiss' dream took up most of the season there was no time for unexpected training hitches. This show had some good points, but I'm not sure whether to look forward to a possible second season, or dread it. Last updated Saturday, September 30 2023. Created Saturday, July 02 2022. | ||||||||
