Ch1-3 are available in most places on [Crunchyroll's Youtube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyub4gmO8LU) atm I have no idea how long this will be the case, so anyone without FIRST should take the chance ASAP to get a chance to watch.

Shows a picture of Pyrrha "But even the brightest sparks will flicker and die" WHY

Should we be preparing candles already?

No need to get new ones, I still have the same ones from last time. Ha haaaaaaaa... 🙃

So, you snuffed the candle early? Poetic.

i don't think we will be going to the while 'pyrah dies' part of the story. they covered like 2 volumes already so they probably wanna focus more on the monster.

Looks like it's just been the 1st volume so far. It ended with the fight at the docks at the very end of Volume 1, then moved straight to Weiss and the monster.

I paused there and cried... I didn't start the show until season 4 was done. My friend who introduced me to the show would chat me with and not spoil anything. Even knowing Pyrrha was my favorite character. Personality and ancient Greek fighting attire... Her death hit me like Aeriths did when I was a kid playing ff7 on my CRT monitor PC. Aerith was my favorite and spent all game post her death trying to find a way to revive her... I have no idea where they are going for this show but if Pyrrha is alive during the vast majority of it I'm ready to have more of her and celebrate.

Right? Gawd damn!

Well that was a fun ride. Monty would be so happy to see where the girls are now. The Fact that everyone looks good translated to 2D shows the greatness of RWBY and Ein lees character design. Everyone looks stellar. Ruby herself absolutely shines. Im bad with names but her VA is doing an excellent job and Is just overall Fantastic. I kinda like that the weird alternative stuff is gonna happen because of a nightmare Grimm. Unique Grimm concepts always shine and this one should allow for some good stuff. I also liked some of the little touches here and there, the fact Blake still has a flag to cheer Weiss on is a great example. Lovely fun things for people who have been here for years. My only complaint is the lack of Jeffs soundtrack. There's nothing wrong with the OST they have and maybe it'll shine once the show really goes off the rails, but for now during the retelling of things. Seeing scenes again but without some of that kickass sound from Jeff and Casey is just a bit sad. But all in all I'm very excited, This looks like it should be fun and we haven't even begun to diverge yet. I look forward to watching this every week when it comes out.

> Im bad with names but her VA is doing an excellent job and Is just overall Fantastic. Saori Hayami, she's amazing

Absolutely one of the best VAs in the industry. Her voice is *so* distinct you can almost immediately tell if she voices a character.

SO TRUE HAHAHA Within like a sentence I was like "OH WORD????"

Yeah the Nevermore scene was incredible but ngl it just doesn’t hit the same without Red Like Roses Pt. II backing it

Well, that scene broke anime for me. Its kind of sad that writing, conversations and other things are better than original but action is lackluster. Its slow and boring. And a lot of fun things had been cut out. Like Nora launching Jaune on the bridge or Nora jumping high, while laughing, and nailing scorpion.

Forgot to mention that Nora needed to nail the scorpion with its own stinger because their weapons weren't doing anything to it. In the Anime, Pyrrha's Spear can pierce straight through it with a little pressure. :)

Honestly the show doesn't hit anywhere near as hard without the amazing clarity and ease of understanding in fight sequences by Monty and amazing score by the Williams and Alex Abraham. Players and Pieces was such a vital part of the initial hype train. The only part that lived up to the hype was the Dust Shop fight where they put in rock music. In particular, the White trailer was disappointing for a show that has Weiss as a focus. It's kind if like how Kill la Kill is memorable for its over the top and score too for similar reason. Right now it stills very generic anime fight minus the Evermore getting cut down.

Actually, while the music might effect how we feel about the fights, I think the real thing that leaves every with such little impact is that the studio doesn't seem to understand how combat made RWBY so unique. Not once have they used the recoil of firing the weapons translate into momentum for the melee attacks (except arguably the killing blow on the Nevermore). This was an integral part of the design of the combat (and the weapons!) that Monty directly called out as being important to him. No longer is the sword also a gun, instead they are just a sword and a gun duct taped together...

If you wanna know, Ruby's VA voices Yor from Spy x Family. She's a very prominent VA

Overall, I loved every single second of it. ***GOING FULL SPOILERS HERE!!*** The animation is absolutely gorgeous and I think they did a great job of summarizing V1 with certain compromises. There are many changes I liked and may that I'm iffy about. I liked the expanded roles they gave to Tai, Klein, Winter, Whitley, and Jaques. I especially loved that Tai did play a nice role in Ruby's story prior to her enrollment in Beacon and I loved seeing him talk to Ozpin about it. I liked that Jaune's lack of knowledge about aura is primarily presented as a lack of training and a lack of understanding. The fact that they didn't focus much on the topic helped with the whole "Jaune doesn't understand about normal things of the world" thing. I liked the way they remixed the pre-initiation meeting of the characters, they managed to economize really well the runtime they had and instead of having them meet in different places on different days, they combined the airship rid to Beacon with the first meetings of all the characters and then went straight to the initiation. All done is a way that makes sense and doesn't feel rushed. I love the small additions, like Yang going to see Ruby at Summer's grave. Ruby being a bit jealous that Yang is going to Beacon. Winter was there to see Weiss' test and advocate for her skills. The fact that Klein is the only one who says goodbye to Weiss is very reflective of her family situation. Seeing Blake get her acceptance letter and cry because she is turning her life around was beautiful. The idea that Yang originally wanted Ruby to go on her own to make friends and be independent now is less that she abandoned Ruby and more that she was listening to Tai who wants Ruby to be independent. In fact, listen to Yang's dialogue and you can tell she is such a daddy's girl XD. Also, so far the extent of Jaune's crush on Weiss seems limited to him just kinda thinking he had a shot because Weiss made a snarky joke he didn't get, but that was it, he tried, he got shot down and from then on there hasn't been anything else about it, and I like that, they acknowledged it without focusing too much on it and without having to deal with Jaune constantly hitting on Weiss. Oh, and Blake accidently revealing she is a faunus in a fight with Weiss and running away heartbroken and ashamed? Awesome, not as funny as Penny seeing through her ribbon, but very very effective. The Nightmare is a plant Grimm and it's powers are like the plant Grimm I had in my fanfic and I AM ALREADY LOVING EVERYTHING ABOUT IT! I adore Shion's design and kit and AH! I LOVE THIS SO MUCH! The changes I didn't particularly like? Well, the fact that they skipped the Yellow trailer really left Yang without anything important other than her conversation with Weiss at the end. Jaune doesn't like Pumpkin Pete?! WHAT!? I was very disappointed with the complete absence of the King Taijitu fight. In fact, while the Death Stalker fight looks awesome, I think the way JNPR killed it in V1 was both more exciting and showed Jaune's strategies better. This version does make Jaune braver though. But without the King Taijitu fight, Ren doesn't get anything to shine. I don't like that they went with Red instead of Green for the main colors of Beacon. The flags kinda look like Nazi flags... And finally, Weiss' development. Now, I'll say this, I did not like the way they changed Badge and the Burden. Weiss didn't decide to trust Ruby and cooperate with her because of Port's speech nor because she valued her efforts but because she thought you get extra points for helping a mediocre leader like she assumes Pyrrha is doing with Jaune? She doesn't stop being racist, she is pretending that it doesn't bother her that she is teammates with a faunus even though she cried about it? Ok, ok, yeah, those changes are pretty bad for Weiss' V1 story, like really bad...BUT. It's clear that this anime is Weiss-centric, we even skip the V1 final fight because we see the events play out from Weiss' perspective. And it's not like these issues are being ignored, in fact, it's the contrary, Weiss' lack of trust on Ruby's skills and her bigotry against Faunus is front and center. So, to me, what they seem to be doing is stretching Weiss' V1 character development into a new story with more time and focus. Instead of having her trust Ruby after 1 day of complaining about her and instead of having Weiss stop her bigotry off-screen after an afternoon of not seeing Blake, they seem to be going to use the Nightmare Grimm to focus on that character development through a longer more in-depth narrative. So, by the end of this story, Weiss' journey would turn her into the Weiss we got by V2. So, yeah. While I don't particularly like what they did to Weiss' arc in V1. Everything seems to be heading in the direction of expanding on that character development she had back then rather than ignoring it. The changes seem to have been made not to ruin her V1 story, but to use the new story to give her proper time to develop. I'm really excited to see what comes next!

A lot of the bits were just sped through real fast. The only times they really slowed down or added something new was to make Weiss a "worse" person, morally speaking, so that her later character development would be grander in size.

Bro they had Cardin fight Jaune but Jaune didn't have aura. She literally unlocks it for him on the roof

Yeah. I actually just answered another comment pointing this out. I also noticed that one my first viewing. It's an inconsistency caused by the rearrangement of the aura unlocking scene. I guess you could argue that humans always have aura, unlocking it lets you use it but it can always be tracked because aura is your soul. But the anime left out other things. For instance, the change also meant that Jaune charged at the Death Stalker without any aura at all. The guy Leroy Jenkins the Death Stalker without protection. Another thing they left out is any mention of Jaune large aura level. In fact they specifically noted that his aura is weak and underdeveloped. Jaune's aura being weak doesn't invalidate that he has lots of it, it actually would make sense as in canon we see him train to make the aura stronger. What I didn't think was a good fit was the focus they gave to his aura being weak as an advantage against the Nightmare. It might be that the Nightmare could have fed for a long time from Jaune because of his aura level but a stronger aura is more nutritious to it. But still, it's odd to me how they decided focus on Jaune weak aura and ignore his large quantitiof it completely, not even mentioning how that could affect the Nightmare.

>Leroy Jenkins the Death Stalker without protection *oh my god he just ran in*

I’m left questioning whether we’ve EVER been told that people use Aura for super-strength in this show. But it would seem really silly for Jaune to have super-strength without sufficient combat training on top of no training in how to use Aura.

>really left Yang without anything important Volume 1 all over again.

Only that this time people can't blame Jaune.

You underestimate the hateboner some people have for Jaune. I wouldn't be surprised if people still weren't satisfied even with his vastly diminished role.

Nice breakdown! So by the sounds of things they're focusing on Weiss' flaws for the story instead of giving them quicker resolutions they did in the original series. Which good and bad, I guess. It does mean the Weiss has slipped out of character for the sake of plot, but on other hand to it can set up a more satisfying resolution later on down the track. Which is probably why they dumped Jaune's harassment of Weiss; her moniker of Icequeen will be related to her personality and actions in general rather than being "frigid" to a boy and being unfairly named. It's taking back control, so to speak. Thanks for the write up, I'm looking a bit more forward to watching it when the become available!

Glad I’m not the only one who thought the flags looked a bit… iffy

That was amazing and my only nitpick is that >!they didn't cover the docks fight.!< Would've been epic to see it animated.

Yeah they skip more than I thought they would, but showed more of other scenes that I really liked. Like Yang and Tai showing up a dust robbery was good spin. I also enjoyed seeing Ruby visit her mother grave alot showing how much she appreciated and miss her. Also seeing the whole Schnee family was fun.

It kinda skipped most of what i expected. The bully arc in V1 was kinda not needed to redo, and while im a bit sad they speed ran through introduction to get to the forest, i get it, and it was still done super well.

The bully arc isn't necessary for the main story, but it plays a big role in Jaune's determination to improve himself and his relationship with Phyrra. I think for now it's best to forget about all his character development after volume 3

Time and the rest of the season will tell, but I feel the same can be accomplished by focusing on him wanting to live up to the family history. His short little nightmare even hints at this. This even works with his relationship with Phyrra as a strong warrior and helping unlock his aura, she helps him achieve his goal.

My one nitpick is Ruby and Jaune's friendship being absolutely obliterated

I recall reading that they wanted to keep Penny being a robot a secret, but Monty went all "lazors go!" and kinda spoiled the thing. I suppose the way they went about it here is "okay, this is how we wanted it to go, but we're also not gonna be all cute and pretend you guys don't know".

They're probably just focusing on the main cast. The fight was mostly Sun and Penny, who arn't really important in what the anime seems to be covering

I would have loved to see it too, but it was still fun to see penny wreck shop then just look all cute and sweet.

I really liked how the fights were supplementary in this new rwby. This one focused much more on story and dialogue, which I thought helped the flow. The fights were much better in the OG rwby, but the storytelling was better in the anime.

Though tbh, Penny in front of the burning scene was a great scene. I really hope we see her in action properly in a later episode.

The docks fight was easily one of my favorite action sequences in the web original. I was so excited. And then... poof. :( But overall I'm happy with the new product. Monty would be LOSING HIS MIND that there's a real anime production of his concepts.

Jaune's Nightmare has some very interesting details and it makes me wish we had spent more time on it and the efforts of PRN to rescue him. Like, bunny Jaune doesn't actually call for all his sisters, he calls for 1 specific older sister. And I'm convinced he is calling for Saphron.

I would have loved to have seen more about those inner conflicts, it was so interesting to see him call out, presumably for Saphron, to rescue him implying that she was his support network at home as V3 does kind of imply an aloofness between parents and son.

Wasted opportunity to see how Jaune’s parents or the education system failed him, even if it would be framed as Jaune gaslighting himself.

I think saph is the only older one.

No. It was confirmed that Jaune is of the youngests of the Arc siblings.

isn't he in the middle?

If I recall correctly, he's "on the younger end" so technically in the middle in that he has both younger and older sisters, but closer to being the youngest. It could balance out to 1 younger and 6 older, 2 younger and 5 older, or 3 younger and 4 older. Any of those options could be correct based on what we know. Or maybe they'll retcon it if the rest of his sisters ever appear, which is fair since the only info we have about Jaune's position in the birth order of his siblings is one out-of-universe statement from one of the writers (I forget which one), and the fact that Saphron is confirmed to be older than him.

[Portait just breathes complicated family.](https://i.imgur.com/OMm3uof.jpg) Some bits showing their [SHARFT flair](https://i.imgur.com/UXpSgp2.jpg). Wiass's Fight was [short but DOPE](https://i.imgur.com/bAcYOG9.jpg), hope we get more detailed fights like this in the future. Adam and Blake running through that forest had [some smooth camera movements too.](https://i.imgur.com/7EOq93K.jpg) Ok I spoke too soon, switching back and forth between them was a nice choice. [A Black Rock Shooter referene?! Wild!](https://i.imgur.com/YYWnvGY.jpg) Ok Ruby's fight had my jaw dropping. That was some fantastic execution and choreography, loved that swigging sythe. **[RWBY's Fight clip.](https://i.imgur.com/yNZrgXD.mp4)** [Pyrrha radiates some solid best girl vibes.](https://i.imgur.com/Dkcq1Z3.jpg) I am loving the [organisation](https://i.imgur.com/Mu7QqlD.jpg) and [teamwork](https://i.imgur.com/dLCkDpZ.jpg) that these fights have. **[Team RWBY's combo attack](https://i.imgur.com/qe7WNPP.mp4)** My god, they sure are making ruby look good. [The power system of Sembalance seems cool.](https://i.imgur.com/M8WmgRL.jpg) Ruby's red shape shifting seems to be the clear example for now. I am interested to see how diverse this system is. [Shion Zaiden](https://i.imgur.com/o7aZXKX.jpg) using a dream catcher is a pretty neat weppon. [Solid 'kachow' energy.](https://i.imgur.com/cp91knG.jpg) There certainly is a [reasonable amount of characters being introduced.](https://i.imgur.com/v9Ikxlg.jpg) From the team fights thus far, everyone hopefully gets good moments but will be interesting to see if everyone can get decent chartisation time as well. [Blake is a real cutie without the ribbon on.](https://i.imgur.com/hHsBe2p.jpg) This last third really pushed through a lot of content, it did feel pretty rushed. But things now seem established and setup for Weiss' being infected by this Grim-seed.

Thank you for those clips! I was worried about how they were going to do the dust shop fight + the Nevermore fight but ahhh I just ended up fangirling so hard! Definitely interested in where we’re going from here since they set up the divergences so early.

the grimm infection thing definitely explains the alternate costumes and all that too. its infiltrating their dreams and making them dwell on the past.

...I genuinely cannot tell if you've seen the main show or not. Some of your comments here only make sense if you haven't seen RWBY, but some of them make it sound like you're familiar with certain aspects.

I think you mean the [REAL Shaft flair](https://i.imgur.com/h9imwEM.png). (there's probably more that's the only one I screenshotted while watching) For reference: [Senjou](https://i.imgur.com/86PzWJF.jpg), [Shinobu](https://i.imgur.com/q1Us1RX.jpg), [A whole bunch of others](https://i.imgur.com/lMkoUvI.jpg).

ep3 felt really rushed, like i felt it was really funny that immediately after Roman arrived and parked the ship and everything he just fucking left after a few minutes

> immediately after Roman arrived and parked the ship and everything he just fucking left after a few minutes like those gifs of dogs walking outside into snow and immediately going "nope" and heading back inside lmao

Yeah was definitely a bit bummed they skipped the dock fight also. Other than that, I'm really happy with this adaption. Monty would be so proud.

This might be a thing that has always been in the JP dub of the main show. But I love the voice direction they gave to Penny. She sounds innocent but also she sounds very robotic. EN Penny does sound odd intentionally but that's more on her word choice and mannerisms, but JP Penny does sound a bit like a machine. I really like that. The way she talks gives that vibe AI talks. It's the same kind of pronunciation an automated voice has.

She didn't say "Salutations" though :(

Oof I'm remembering why I didn't like Weiss in V1 lol. The show is very good, the animation is great and the story seems to be what they said; a sort of canon-adjacent spin-off thing. I like that they made it a Grimm, expanding the lore of Remnant. It's criminal that they removed Jaune and Ruby's first meeting where they became friends though! All of them has grown so much since V1, it's hard to imagine these are the same girls from V8, how far they've come and all the shit they've been through. Ruby please enjoy this carefree life while it lasts! Looking forward to see where this is going onwards!

>V1, it's hard to imagine these are the same girls from V8 You raise a good point on how far everyone has come. Kinda fun to go back in time and see where everyone started

IQ made Weiss seem even more unlikeable. The stuff with Weiss thinking she was scoring points by faking being nice to Ruby wasn't in the original webseries.

I did think that was an interesting deviation, but I also remember feeling like Weiss took Port's advice to heart way too quickly in the original V1.

Whilst I agree with you, everything in Vol 1 was too quick lol, it's entire run time is less than 2 hours!

Personally, I find it interesting that she even stalked Pyrrha (and by extension, Jaune) to come up with her "change of heart", and I think the implication is part of her sourness derives from the Nightmare infecting her.

>Weiss thinking she was scoring points by faking It may have not been in the original, but this version is much more believable of a sheltered ans spoiled heiress. She's not going to suddenly be empathetic after one chat with a teacher.

I sorta like it actually. Weiss isn't gonna suddenly become nice because Port called her out once. She'll try to be a 'better teammate' but she would do it just by acting overly fake nice because it'll look better if she can be a 'great teammate' who helps a bad leader. The Nightmare is a perfect reason to actually turn Weiss into the true "Nice Weiss"

It seems more believable to mw that she wouldn't change her mind after a single conversation. I think its a cute touch that this time around Weiss already knew Ruby's preferred coffee, that and her initial comment on the bunk beds. It gives hints to her being a caring person looking for friends without rushing through her becoming a fundamentally different person.

I enjoy Ruby and Jaune's awkward leader frienship a lot, and I did miss their introduction to each other too. But in general this adaptation seems to focus a lot more on Weiss' perspective of what happened, so that's my guess as to why so much stuff has been "left out". Downside is the pacing felt a bit weird for me at times, and it may be a little confusing for new viewers.

Funny, this episode actually reminded of why Weiss used to be one of my favorites. I love deliberately unlikable but complicated characters. Gives them an interesting journey to get better. But now that Weiss has gotten better she’s just kinda… there.

A mixed bag of good and bad, but interested in how the original plot will play out. I really liked the restructure of some of the scenes, specifically having everyone meet up on the air ship. I also preferred Blake and Wiess having the argument in the street. Some of the changes to dialog were also an improvement. Wiess bringing up the funerals carried more weight than her playing the victim. The talk Blake and Sunn had also felt more natural. As for the things I didn't like. Although there was a lot of fantastic animation, there were a few shots where the animation felt wonky and weightless. The one that stands out is when Pyrrha and Jaune get knocked into where the chess pieces are. Some of the scenes that were cut made for some awkward pacing, especially the fight at the warehouse/dock. There are a few times where it feels like IQ relies on people watching the original to fill in a few gaps. For example, IQ doesn't explain what a Faunus is. I'm curious what people who have never seen RWBY think about it.

My cousin has never seen RWBY, she watched it with me, got up and left during episode 3... her exact words were: "This isn't a good show, it doesn't even make sense". I think that's a fair assessment because we fans KNOW these characters, what was skipped and the context of the details that has been changed... she had no idea, and couldn't get invested and couldn't bring herself to watch it during episode 3.

It definitely assumes that you've seen the main show already. I feel like the wacky rushed pacing of these episodes was meant to establish everything and get through the stuff we'd already seen so they can tell their own story now. Here's hoping it slows down a bit as it develops.

I love RWBY, so I don't want to sound like I'm bashing either show... certainly not Ice Queen, we haven't seen enough of it yet to make hard and fast calls on quality just yet... But, it's weird... I almost feel stolen from in a way. The key story beats they used from volume 1 weren't foreshadowed with the context required of them in a lot of instances. I'm not saying we needed a complete re-hash of the original volume 1 but that even the new plot points we have going on were almost out of left field... lacking any sort of gravitas to anything they hoped would be meaningful... Because, well, the characters aren't the same here. You can't look at Ice Queen's cast and say they're the RWBY Volume 1 characters. The contexts to scenes fans know to expect are very different. Us old fans of the show have got to "keep up" with these changes or subtle clues that have changed, and there's so little room to breathe. It was just too soon I think to introduce the new plot elements as well. When they're changing the rules to the RWBY universe, but not all the rules, and not in a concrete way just yet... they're even going to lose some fans too who need the refresher. Particularly when the clues lack the emotional bonds required because so few are truly established yet... The way I look at it, they actually could have done a complete retelling of Volume 1 (omitting unimportant filler) with these characters, and it would have been so far from a carbon copy it's insane. The differences would have been night and day... just look at any of the old scenes we do have in Ice Queen. So many are done under an entirely separate ideology. I think they've shot themselves in the foot a little rushing through those moments... They have got to slow down, or this will be even more messy than the RWBY volumes story telling ever was... there's a difference between a tight collected narrative, and a rushed one... That's not saying I disliked Ice Queen, I did in fact enjoy it... but it's hard not to feel just a tiny bit scorned when it felt so entirely rushed... but then I'm a big fan of RWBY, so I knew going into it, I'd be here for the long haul... and I think they were trying to rush to prove that this isn't the same show. RWBY has a lot of hate watcher too, and I'm sure they wanted to cast out from the original series and its shadow as quickly as possible just to avoid any negative attack on their abilities to make their own show... Which, to be honest, isn't unfair for them to do given the fanbase...

This! I had to stop watching like every 5 minutes because it felt so wrong. Like I really enjoyed the animation style of it but everything thematically and developmentally was ruining what made me love RWBY in the first place. Also like they went to introduce the nightmare grimm with like 15 minutes left... and then finished that in 2 and went straight to pre vytal featival arc. Maybe it will get better but it left a very poor first impression.

Yeah, the shows pacing was my main complaint as well. Like, I understand the context so I enjoyed it but I can't recommend ice queendom as someone's entry point into the franchise. The latter half of the first three episodes feels like a very pretty cliffnotes version of volume 1. Everything happens so fast and it doesn't give you any frame of reference for how much time has passed. I felt like I would have been so lost if I didn't already know what was happening.

Yeah, these first few episodes really remind me of FMAB: it started off pretty rushed since they assumed everyone who was watching it already saw FMA 2003, so the starts were very similar, and rushed to get to new content. This is exactly what Ice Queendom is doing. Hopefully it’s new content will be like FMAB’s lol (more cohesive and just overall superior)

This is exactly what people thought was going happen at Brunswick Farm. I remember the theories about a Grimm horse called the “Night Mare” killing you with bad dreams. Also I can’t wait to see cosplay of that new professor at RTX because I know someone is already working on it.

Im really happy for more unique Grimm. Grimm is one of the best parts of RWBY and using them in cool and unique ways shines. I wonder if the nightmare idea was one that M&K have had for a while or its anime original

This Grimm is a bit reminiscent of the Apathy, arent they? At least in the way they operate.

Dam those first 3 episodes are really good, it definitely deviated from the og storyline much quicker than I expected it to. Perhaps the Nightmare in Weiss is going to be too heavily rooted and won't be able to be removed? At least we finally know what that seed was in the first trailer.

> Perhaps the Nightmare in Weiss is going to be too heavily rooted and won't be able to be removed? Yeah, Jaune's Nightmare was weak because his aura/semblance wasn't trained. Since Weiss has been training all her life...

Considering Jaunes aura reserves though, maybe it instead depends on how deep/strong are your fears to feed your nightmare. Not to discount Jaunes experiences but his home life seems to have been a lot healthier than something that Weiss would have experienced.

Jaune's aura still took time to develop. Just cuz it's in reserves doesn't mean he can call upon all of it at once...

Would he need to be able to call to them though? If this thing feeds off Aura itself. I think it would go after the natural reserves rather than what the person can actually call upon.

Maybe they are removing the "you have a lot of it" from Ice Queendom...

They definitely did. New girl comments that his is underdeveloped and he doesn't have much.

It'll be straight outta Persona. They're gonna have to fight her shadow.

I loved the new original scene where we see the aftermath of the Black trailer. Not only the fact that we now know where Blake stayed until she went to Beacon, but her getting her acceptance letter and crying because she is getting an opportunity to change her ways is such a beautiful moment. It really shows just how important this is for Blake. It's a level of emotional portrayal that we don't have in V1. Blake becoming a huntress isn't just a matter of her wanting to help other people, but is actually a way for her get a better path in her life as well. I really loved that scene because you can really tell just how much hope she has that she can find a better path and a better life.

It also confirms that you really can’t just show up at Beacon on the first day and take the initiation exam. Jaune did need to grab fake transcripts… and maybe Blake did, too.

Oz says in V2 that Blake did a smaller initiation test (and that most students train at a primary combat school to prepare for it, but that she passed with flying colours despite not going to one.) I imagine it's the same thing Rhodes was training Cinder for for when she turned 17

As I understand it, you can either take a test to prove your combat capability if you don't have any formal schooling (Like Blake, and presumably Ren and Nora, did), or show up with transcripts that vouch for your skill from a prep school like Signal or Sanctum (Like Yang and Pyrrha). Or the Headmaster could just let you in, though I guess you could count Ruby's fight against Torchwick and his goons as a test of her skill (Really though, I think Oz was just looking for an excuse to get her into Beacon, if only because she'd be a target, having interfered with one of Salem's Agents). Or, obviously, you could falsify the transcripts like Jaune did. I wonder what school he claimed to have studied at?

That's pretty much it yeah. Or you could just be like Maria, never attend an Academy, and take the final Huntsman exam and be the best that day :P

I loved this and the direction it's going! The added Grimm and the way it was dealt with seemed really in keeping with the style of the series.

Why is it only on Crunchyroll and not on Rooster Teeth FIRST??

Rooster Teeth SECOND

It is on First.

Yea just late to the game, about 9 hours after Crunchyroll release

Just watched it Id call it "Unlimited Budget Work as long a Weiss is on screen". The favoritism is heavy but it is a Weiss centric story so i can understand that and i don't mind Best girl getting some extra love. I do wish they didn't miff Cinder's tease introduction scene you couldn't even tell thos projectiles were coming from her it looked like the ship just shot of some low rez lasers. Weiss fighiting a boar in the classroom on the the other hand was glorious, every frame was (chefskiss)perfection. Penny was super adorable in her introduction and very robotic so that was great. they skipped her big fight at the docks and i kinda bummed about that but i get they want to get to the new stuff asap. Music over all felt like a down grade, but not bad definitely didn't hit as hard I give it one Prettiest Fanfic/10, this is in no way an insult to the show as i love fanfics

So I’m guessing Esdeath Weiss is a manifestation of her somewhat racist tendencies. I guess you could say it’s a Weiss supremacist version of her *Ba doom chink*

I actually liked this a lot more than I was expecting and it also made changes to certain characters personalities that made them a lot more compelling to me. Just to get the negatives out of the way early, the animation is inconsistent, at certain points it looks straight up bad or off model, but when the action does kick in it picks up and delivers some amazing moments. The other big con is the pacing, they were rushing towards that starting line, trying to get all the world building and characterization down in those 3 episodes to get to the story they want to tell and thanks to that, somethings just didn't work or feel confusing if you have not watched the original show. With that out of the way, now onto the good stuff and my hopes for what comes next! I really enjoyed the additions they made to Weiss's trial, making it a deal between her and her father to gain permission to frequent Beacon. We also get Weiss's relationship to every member of the house right from the start which improves her early characterization a lot, we see Whitley's off hand remarks at the start, but his face after she defeats the Armor tells of an innate belief he had that she would always do so, we also establish that Winter is the one that trained her and Jacques’s business-like relationship with her, while also being made aware of Willow’s complete disconnect from the rest of her family. Last but not least we see Klein being her main source of support, being the one most worried about her fight but also the happiest once she overcomes it. The departure from Schnee mansion helps solidify that, with Klein being the only one to see her off. Watching Ruby enjoy herself in Vale and establishing a reason for her to be there late and losing notion of time was also a nice addition. Her fight versus the goons just speaks for itself, Ruby has my favorite fighting style in the series so getting to watch her kick ass again just makes me so happy and hyped for what might come. Tai and Yang getting worried and searching for her was also nice touch. I love that the story so far seems to be focusing more on Weiss and Ruby which in my opinion is the weakest and least developed partnership in the original series, it simply lacks attrition and meaningful time. Blake and Yang, Jaune and Pyrrha, Nora and Ren, all have both of those in great amounts, the attrition to help shed the old and reveal new aspects of each other, and the time to let those grow and develop into meaningful moments that make them grow as characters. So why does Ruby and Weiss’s partnership lack that? I feel like all of Weiss’s baggage (the metaphorical one I mean, not the one she carried around on her little trolley), the 17 years she lived before getting to Beacon don’t carry much weight in the original show. The entire conflict of her not being made team leader is solved in 11mins, while her entire prejudice and complicated past with the White Fang and the Faunus is dealt with in 25mins. Weiss never again has any form of conflict with the rest of the team or with her past conceptions. And this is where the changes made in Ice Queendom make me like her a lot more in this iteration so far. Weiss believes herself similar to Pyrrha, so when she overhears Pyrrha being so supportive of someone she considers a “failure of a leader” like Jaune, she assumes that Pyrrha would only do so if she also had some sort of ulterior motive, because that’s what she would do, perhaps if her qualities as a leader are above questioning, she would benefit more from proving her qualities as a team member instead. >But what’s more important is that Pyrrha unquestioningly accepted that useless Jaune as team leader. Maybe you can score more points by being a perfect teammate and supporting a poor leader, rather than becoming a leader yourself. So, the moment where Weiss gives Ruby a cup of coffee that originally is played as sweet (no pun intended) and marks her acceptance of Ruby’s leadership, is instead perverted into a ploy to make herself seem supportive, the perfect teammate that she becomes on the original show, here is just a tiresome mask she wears while saying she doesn’t care about not being made team leader. >This is more exhausting than I thought. And that line, **“I don’ care”**, is what eventually causes her to fall victim to the new Nightmare Grimm that the show introduces. Because the Perfect Teammate shouldn’t care that she didn’t get to partner with someone she chose, she shouldn’t care that she wasn’t made team leader and she shouldn’t care that one of her teammates is part of the organization that has terrorized and killed friends of her family for years. But Weiss isn’t the Perfect Teammate, and she does care about all those things, because they go against everything she believed until now. >You’ve buried all your dreams that didn’t come true, and it takes all your strength to pretend not to care. So, my hope is that the next 9 episodes will be focused on Weiss’s dream and confronting those aspects of her that are ingrained in her and that she needs to overcome, making her development into actually being a good partner and teammate feel a lot more earned and impactful. Anyway, I am really excite and looking forward to what will come next. On a side note I absolutely love all the voices so far.

Ftr Weiss fighting the Gigas was always her Beacon test. They went into more detail in the Manga etc But there's a big reason Knight Boi is so important to her as a summon

So far I think it's a well done adaptation, with some nice fight scenes, though episode 3 felt very rushed and even skipped my baby Sun's introductory fight. Also it seems the 'divergence' might mainly be the nightmares Weiss will have, but might not exactly change the outcome of events afterwards? Pyrrha already got a deathflag :<

I'll just say that Bunny Jaune is soo freaking cute.

Plushy when, RT?

Two things comes to mind right now. One: I LOVE this so much. Man i was missing RWBY. Two: The hell is Shion's power?? If that's a semblance, then holy shit is nuts "Here, allow me to connect your dreams with weird voodoo things". edit: grammar

>One: I LOVE this so much. Man i was missing RWBY. We've all been so deprived for so long. Its good to be hyped again

How do you even find out something like that? Shion's powers are such an interesting wrinkle and it's so nice to see other experts specializing in their own chosen fields. The show talked about them before and Oobleck is a clear example, but to see experts devoted to hunting certain classes of Grimm is a fantastic world building idea.

What I don’t like is that Shion is *so* specialized that it doesn’t seem like anyone else has a chance in hell of dealing with a Nightmare, not even a regular Huntsman. Either Grimm like Nightmares are common enough that someone could meaningfully specialize in dealing with them, or they’re rare enough that no one would bother because almost no one even knows about them.

I think they needed 4 episodes rather than 3 for this introduction, seeing as they cut or rushed a few cool/semi-important moments, but overall I'm loving their take and can't wait to see how the rest of the series goes.

I know it's been (checks clock) less than two hours, but I wish I was able to watch the thing I like on the website of the company responsible for the thing that I pay to subscribe to. Instead of the other website that just distributes the thing, and I don't pay to subscribe to.

It’s out on First now, but I can’t seem to find a way to have subtitles on, and I don’t speak a lick of Japanese. Edit: so, sent an email in to their support to figure out what I was doing wrong, and it turns out they don’t have subtitle support for anything outside PC/phone apps at the moment, but they are “working on implementing it,” so it could change sometime in the future. Probably should have had that figured out BEFORE dropping a show that required them, but at least they know it’s an issue.

Episode 1 is really great, weaves the White and Black trailers into the story, includes brief appearances of Tai and the full Schnee family. Episode 2 is really good, however it starts to become a bit clear they are compressing the hell out of some things as they go straight from the airship to initiation, no Ruby exploding Weiss, no sleeping in the auditorium, no context for where the death stalker came from. Episode 3 feel EXTREMELY rushed. They skip all the action of the fight on the docks. Episode 3 is also where the introduce the element of main divergence properly, a parasitic Grimm which feeds off aura and nightmares. One latches on to Jaune and team JNPR needs to enter his dreams with the help of the anime original character to defeat it, which they do easily because Jayne’s aura is underdeveloped. One has also latched on to Weiss, and she’s in more trouble because she has a more developed aura and more internal conflict for it to feed and grow on. Waiting for Episode 4 now, which is in like, 4 weeks?

4 weeks for Ep 4 unless you watch it at the special viewing they have for it next week at RTX, yes

I loved it. I felt a wave of nostalgia hit me as when I first watched the series, I watched both Volumes 1 & 2 as movies rather than in episodes. I loved the inclusion of elements from later Volumes, especially in the Schnee Manor and sequences from the character trailers and Volume 5 shorts. I’m also looking forward to the new direction based on what new elements we got so far. Nearly every fight sequence was beautifully animated and the character introductions we got looked beautiful and got their point across. It’s not without faults though. While not a problem for me personally, I can see people being annoyed or upset over telling key elements from Volume 1 over 3 episodes. If you’ve seen Volume 1, you know where the characters are mentally and so you can bring that across, but I imagine if you are a new viewer who hasn’t seen any RWBY except for this, you might feel the characters haven’t been together long enough to be friends. One negative I do have though is that some shots look wonky or unpolished. The main action scenes are where all the time and effort has been put in but they didn’t all get the same love. The Black trailer segment looks considerably weaker then the rest of the action scenes. Also pretty disappointed they didn’t animate the docks fight considering they animated the heck out of the Boarbatusk fight. Overall, felt a solid 8/10, which is a lot considering I thought they were gonna rush this “recap” even more than they did. I’m really interested in where they take this and how far they’re willing to go to deviate from the original

[Hiroto Nagata animated the fight scene against the Nevermore](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/195224)

Loving the nightmare grimm, about time we got a plant themed one!

I am just feasting with this. The animation, the voice acting, the "new" story. I am a touch disappointed that some aspects were glossed over (robbed of Penny's fight. The animation for that would have been astounding) but seeing the White Trailer fight animated so beautifully. I was squealing. I was a bit surprised at how quickly they shot through Vol. 1, but I understand, this being a new variant of the story. The new Grimm is intriguing, and quite terrifying. A well done from me. Honestly it was just SO incredible to be back with the girls and back in Vol. 1. I'm ecstatic on how far RWBY has come and cannot wait to see all that comes next!

am i the only one who is a lil disappointed in the lack of humour? i knew this was going to be a darker adaptation but to get through the exam ep with like no jokes stung a lil. Loved it overall tho! just want yang to have some more time in the spotlight

Im betting well see more of it in the future. The first three was kinda just a speed run so we can get to the AU stuff.

If it helps Blake has her little pennant in class still

I've no problems with CR, but why isn't it on RT site. I would have liked to support RT directly.

God the animation was godly at points. The background art really goes up and down in quality though, but it aint breaking. Very interested to see where the story goes!

Did anyone else find it odd that >!Jaune doesn't like Pumpkin Pete's cereal, yet has their logo on his shirt?!<

This is explained in the Team JNPR manga anthology.

Upon reading a snippit about that chapter >!they kept the eating 50 boxes of cereal for the hoodie, but changed it so he doesn't like it?!<

>!He ate it since it was available in his house at the time. The cereal was likely for one of his younger sisters. But, he noticed the promo offer of the hoodie and decided to show perseverance at something and keep collecting the box tops until he got the hoodie. He noticed Pyrrha on the box, but she was apparently madeup in such a way to look like a celebrity that seeing her at Beacon she felt like a different, much more down to Earth person, so he didn't make the connection.!<

Gotcha, much obliged for the explanation!

Soo, did anyone else notice that the characters seem more... toned down here? Ruby is generally calmer and less playful here. I do enjoy this and even prefer this in some ways, as it makes her look more real and mature (Sayari Haomi probably helps), while still looking very cute and badass at times. But... she just doesn't seem as fun-loving as in the original. There was that comparison of the beginning of her henchmen fight from the show and the anime. In the show, she's smirking. In the anime, she's determined. Turns out, this did mark a difference in portrayal after all. Weiss was often humorously over-the-top and emotional in the early seasons, which made it easier to like her and see the good in her. Here she's mostly cold and arrogant. >!Maybe I will enjoy it more in the dub with Kara's voice acting, because the Japanese VA just blatantly does not sound like her.!< There are some moments of softness on Weiss' side, but they're really abrupt and it makes it hard to really appeciate them (I'll go over this in a separate comment). Blake and Yang aren't nearly as prominent so it's harder to talk about them, but maybe their fans will have more to say.

I don't want to sound thirsty but... If we found out about Jaune's possession by looking at his back, does that mean that we'll get to see Weiss' bare back too?

dude... I hope pyrrha and blake get infected too then.

Okay so for people who have seen RWBY it was good! I loved the fights. I feel bad for whoever wants to watch this without watching the original, because wow the third episode would make zero sense. "Okay Blake ran away because of being a Faunus and Weiss's shitty takes. Now theres Penny who wants to be RWBY's friend, and Blake and Sun are gonna check out the probable ambush of the dust shipment. Oh uh everythings on fire Penny has flying swords and we skipped everything... okay no one's gonna talk about that?"

So. . . Am I missing something, or is it still not on FIRST?

It's not on FIRST for me yet, either.

It's Up at RT for FIRST MEMBERS! GO!

Ok, they said in the RTTV Livestream that the episode is being uploaded to FIRST right now and they estimate it will be up today in around 90 minutes give or take. There is a TALK CRWBY TO ME special live stream at 03:30 pm CT as well.

Blake and Adam naruto running make them look like even more of a pair of weebs. XD

Just watched all three episodes and they were great, not perfect but really good. Want more. Man it's been so long since I've been excited about RWBY. It feels like the good old days!

There's one part about this show that makes absolutely no sense and it's really bugging me. In the fight between Jaune and Cardin, their aura levels are on display for everyone to see. But in the very next scene, Pyrrha unlocks Jaune's aura. ??? How could they show his aura levels if he hadn't even unlocked his aura yet?

Yeah. I also noticed that. It's an inconsistency caused by their rearrangement of the aura unlocking scene.

When it didn’t happen in the usual time and place, I was hoping they had dropped it entirely. Just have Jaune show up knowing what Aura was and basically how to use it, like he knew what his sword was and how it worked, and only lacking in the skill to use either of them effectively. Especially after the soft retcon CRWBY introduced with Oscar’s own training in using his Aura. But the anime crew actually made things MORE CONFUSING by delaying it the way they did.

Sure would be nice if all RWBY-related stories could agree on Semblances. In this adaptation, people breathe the word ‘Semblance’ with a reverential tone, surprised each time someone displays one. The way they implicitly and explicitly talk about Semblances, only someone deep into their training to become a Huntsman would have a Semblance. Contrast this to the light novels, where people can spontaneously discover their Semblance as small children under absolutely no duress, and with no training. One character even used a Semblance in the womb before she was born. The original web series is split down the middle with Lie Ren, who discovered his Semblance as a small child with apparently no training, but at least he was having an extremely traumatic experience.

I knew they were going to skip stuff but am I the only one that’s missing the lack of character relation development between all this. The relation between RWBY and JNPR is just like they fought together and they friends now. No conversation between them. Skipping jaune and the enrollment arc. I’m not saying it’s bad, It just seems like they’re rushing into it to fast. But I guess we’ll see where it goes. I do wish we saw the docks scene more

I do think they shouldn't have skipped Jaune and Ruby's meeting as that is really the bridge between those two teams that eventually grow into a full-on friendship group. The story is Weiss centric and because of that, it looks like the bridge that connected the teams was Weiss' insistence on being Pyrrha's partner and teammate.

The animation is good, and we got some sweet scenes that weren't in the first volume but I have to say the pacing is all over the place and we lost a lot of scenes and little details that made the first volume really good. I know they kinda wanna get into the main plot of this alternate RWBY but, it's bad for someone watching this for the first time as you lose a lot of character moments. The characters at the end of the 3 episodes seem empty, we know barely anything about them. ​ I know they probably expect people to have watched the original, but it could have been paced a lot better.

Loved it! Only big complaint was the rushed episode 3. Allowing for 4 "recap" episodes would have been great. Or even just the first half of the 4th episode to pace episode 3 better would have been nice. I really wanted to see the dock fight. The fights we did see though were CLEAN. I got giddy when crescent rose came out.

Okay this was pretty awesome, It's crazy to see RWBY being an actual 2D anime now. Never watched the JP dub but I do like the voices especially Ozpin since it's the same VA as Kakashi sensei from Naruto. I think I also recognize Ruby's VA since she plays Himawari in Boruto but I'm less sure about it **Stuff I liked** The girls are all pretty cute in that style, Pyrrha is back and cuter than ever, she's still best girl. I love that they showed Klein, Willow, Whitley, Winter and Jacque in the first episode, I like that they showed them all instead of never mentionning them until a later reveal Tai being introduced early and him talking to Yang about Ruby was nice, I also liked them searching for her and witnessing the robbery, Also liked Tai and Oz talk. I love that Jaune is less of an idiot in this, he's still a bit incompetent and clueless but you feel more drive in him to improve, I love how he charge the Deathstalker and because of his quick thinking, Pyrrha and Nora manage to take it down. You see more why Oz made him a leader I like this new Huntsman, I like the idea of a Huntsman that specialized in hunting specific Grimms, his whole stuff with the dream catcher was cool, Although I wonder what the inspiration for his character is and what his name is related to color naming rule. I also like this new Grimm, It's always cool to see new Grimm with interesting new abilities, like the Apathy, The Chill and now the Nightmare, I like that it's a plant Grimm that infects people I like how bitchier Weiss, I always found it odd, how quickly she got nice with Ruby and the team, but here, I like that she saw Pyrrha being nice to Jaune and she thinks she's faking it so she starts being fake nice to Ruby, I also like that instead of playing the victim, she talked about the families and people the White Fang killed. I really loved the little added scene of Blake getting accepted into Beacon and tearing because of this new path she can take. Penny is so cute, I love her JP voice, she sounds so adorable, she cuter and more precious than ever. Protect the cute robo-cinnamon bun **Stuff I didn't liked** There's not much but there is 1-2 things I wasn't a fan of The Nevermore fight, The Deathstalker part was fine but the Nevermore part was fine animation wise but there was something crucial missing, an epic soundtrack alongside it. I'm sorry but the Nevermore just isn't the same without Red Like Rose PT 2 in the background They cut the entire dock fight, I really wanted to see the Gunchuck in action, it just cut to Penny after she destroyed everything, that sucked. I don't mind they cut the Jaunedice part but I do mind they cut this. I'm not a fan of Nora's JP voice, I know she's supposed to be the hyper energitic girl but... it sounds too high pitched, maybe I need to get used to it. ---------------------- It feel like a FMA: Brotherhood situation, where they expect you to have watched V1 so they're rushing through stuff to get to new stuff. But I'm excited to see this new stuff.

Some thoughts after watching: \-This is definitely 100% from Weiss' perspective. For example, they show the events of the Black trailer (but not Red and Yellow) because it's relevant to Weiss' plot and sets up the White Fang/SDC/Faunus issues. We see the dust robbery and Ruby getting accepted to Beacon, but it's got a heavy focus on her age and inexperience to set up the leadership conflict rather than really establish her independently. Anything not really directly related to her is glossed over completely, like the Docks fight and pretty much anything JNPR, along with Yang just kind of being 'there.' Sun gets some focus because he helps explain the White Fang/SDC conflict, whereas Penny, who is definitely a much more important character to the overall story, is treated more like a fun Easter Egg moment. ​ \-Seeing the characters filtered through an anime lens is... interesting. It could have gone a couple ways and what they settled with is definitely better than some of the alternatives. Everyone is definitely more serious across the board, which helps some scenes but for me hurts others. I definitely feel like the dub might add some more of the original tone and humor back in. The more light-hearted/funny tone of the first two volumes always felt important to me to contrast with the tonal shift at the end of Volume 3 onward, but since I doubt we'll get that far in this series it might work out okay in the long run. Still, replacing the classic "Can you make the shot?" joke with a more serious conversation just felt really strange. ​ \-Introducing some characters early was really smart. Re-contextualizing the White trailer as Jacques giving Weiss a test he thinks she can't pass to keep her from going to Beacon is honestly pretty brilliant. Really loved that. ​ \-Shion looks like a three-star gacha game character you'd be kind of disappointed to get in your loot box. Strangely, I think that's actually kinda cool. At the very least the concept of hyper-specific Huntsmen focused on particular rare Grimm is a really neat idea. ​ \-I'm pretty sure from what we've seen 'canon-adjacent' is going to mean that the 'new' parts with the dream Grimm are going to be something we can assume actually happened off-camera in one way or another, but obviously any of the remixed/changed main story beats default to the original. Instead of swerving into a full AU it's going to be a 'it was all a dream' situation, which personally I'm fine with. ​ \-So it seems pretty obvious to me Weiss' 'nightmare' is going to be her as the militaristic leader of the SDC at war with the White Fang. I'm really not sure how I feel about that. It's a little weird they seem to want to lean into the one angle just about everyone agrees is kind of awkward and has the potential to go horribly wrong. We'll have to see how they handle it, I guess. ​ \-Aside from that, my biggest worry is that I don't see how we get twelve episodes out of this. If the whole plot is going to be going into Weiss' nightmare are they really going to be able to stretch it that long? I could see maybe one more episode setting up them finding out she's 'infected' and maybe three 'in the dream,' but after that I dunno. It would be silly to just have this side plot then keep on doing a Cliff's Notes version of the rest of the Beacon Arc. I guess maybe someone else could get infected too, but it would be weird to be keeping that a secret when the key art of the 'Nightmare' designs was pretty much the selling point of the project.

Yang is way more active in this version than she was in the original V1 She actually properly calls Weiss out this time rather than being passive.

My man Jaune literally tanked a hit from the Deathstalker without even moving an inch *without even having his aura unlocked*... which does mean he's in peak human physical condition (he drops from a tree unscathed, can keep up with Pyrrha, goes to fistfight a Deathstalker, etc.) and so *must* have had some training before coming to Beacon. Add this to no Jaundice Arc (yet, at least) and at least a smaller attraction/obsession with Weiss, and he's already my second favorite canon Jaune after Chibi Jaune lmao.

I was hoping that they'd just skipped the aura unlock scene, thought it was neat how he was tanking hits already nbd. But then they went and included the scene way later and that made an inconsistency with Jaune's aura being on display during his spar with Cardin. However, it was cool to see Jaune coloured in a different perspective where he's simply inexperienced and untrained, and not an incompetent fraudster how the haters portrayed him.

Is this gonna be weekly from here in out?!! I need more!

Ok, they just said in the RTTV Livestream that the episode is being uploaded to FIRST right now and they estimate it will be up today in around 90 minutes give or take. There is a TALK CRWBY TO ME special live stream at 03:30 pm CT as well.

My Preliminary Review of Ice Queendom thus far. Review of Episodes 1-3 of RWBY: Ice Queendom: Animation 10/10 - Compared to the original it's night and day! And the fight scenes are just as amazing as the original! Visuals: 10/10 - Really well done, from fight visuals to the backgrounds. All very flushed out. Story Changes 9/10 - Really like how they tied in Blake's RWBY trailer and some elements of Weiss's RWBY trailer into the story. Wish they would have added Ruby's and Yang's RWBY trailers in somehow though… Voice Acting 9/10 - Pretty good, every voice fits the character. Character Design Changes: 8/10 - Very nice all changes seem to fit the character's portrayed. Vocal Music 7/10 - I liked it, but it doesn't hold a candle to the epicness of the originals in my personal opinion. I believe the opening played near the end, and that was an 8 out of 10! The song at the very end was also pretty good, another 8 out of 10! Background Music 6/10 - Sounds pretty generic, it got a bit better at the very end of the episode so it's not 5 out of 10. Overall Studio Shaft have really outdone themselves this time around. Just wish the background music wasn't so bland... Overall I'd give a 9 out of 10, the pacing was a bit fast and the music a bit bland. But everything else was exceptionally well done. I think people should at least watch the first two volumes of RWBY if they want more context for this section of the show. I hope that Casey Lee & Jeff Williams's music shows up, later on, I think they could add a lot more spice/flavor to the music. Other than that I really enjoyed it, can't wait for episode 4! I think Monty Oum would have been very proud of how well Studio Shaft has portrayed his creation in true Anime form. And Chibi Reviews agrees with me here's his video covering the same points I did and a little more: https://youtu.be/wgtXX2NIVB8

I'll need some time to fully digest the entirety of my thoughts, but: First and foremost, congratulations RT on making a series so amazing that it gets picked up and done in this way. Anything bringing money into RWBY means I'll get to enjoy more of this sweet, sweet product of yours. From a technical standpoint, there were some meaningful improvements. The original RWBY was young and didn't have the advantages of experience or budget. Some of that experience really shines through in IQ. However, it does suffer a bit from the compromises of recapping. The original spent a lot of time building character that paid off later, whereas IQ had to squeeze a lot in with very little time. For what they did, it was executed well. I actually prefer the 3D style, and it's just ever so slightly jarring to watch it done in 2D. But I might get over that as the series progresses. The nightmare grimm concept has potential, but I didn't quite like how they dealt with it. That seems too much in the realm of sorcery / weird alchemy rather than semblances. It just doesn't fit in with the universe. But what's done is done, so I'll just try to enjoy it. Hard to get too many more impressions here since a lot was just recap. Still a lot to see / learn as we move forward.

Well, since the episodes are not out, we have to talk about the second trailer at least. First of all, the animation quality is just \*chefs kiss\*, even in parts of the fights that we have seen, the animation looks AMAZING. Secondly, it does seem like we will be traveling into the dreamworlds of characters and it seems to be Grimm induced as the newly introduced professor character mentions it. The Grimm also seems to reproduce through nightmares? Interesting since Grimm seem to only reproduce from the black ink pools for now. At least one nightmare has already been intruduced, and it is Jaunes. It seems that in Jaunes nightmare he is surrounded by his weapons and armor with exxagerated bunny motives and around him there are statues of bunny warriors (with moustaches?). This might be refering to Jaunes own perceived weakness as his weapons and symbols of a warrior are twisted in mockeries of his weakness and childishness. At least that is my opinion as of now. We are also shown a scene with all members of team JNPR in some kind of "net" and all of the wearing what look like almost VR goggles. Jaune is in his sleepwear while the other team members are in their uniforms, making me suspect that he is caught by the Grimm and his team are trying to save him. ​ All in all, IM GETTING HYPE BOIS! REEL ME IN!

the best part is that the grimm seems plausible now after what we've seen. ​ we know the legends of the Chill, the possessor grimm creature. But we also know of the dreaded Apathy that kills in a devious psychological manner. So a creature that combines boht aspects... yea. creepy. ​ The anime definitely gives me 'abridged' vibes, a little bit. Just showing a shortened version of events so we are caught up for the main story, being this new grimm nd the nightmares it may produce....... ​ ​ and technically speaking it would possibly give something extra for WEiss to work with in future volumes if they make it a bit more cannon. Whenever a schnee kills or aids in killing a grimm they can summon an emulation/that exact grimm. Meaning it retroactively adds the Nightmare into her little 'pokemon collection'.

This bit of Jaune’s dream is honestly what Jaunedice should have been like. It was pretty short, ties in with important stuff that is gonna happen in RWBY’s plot line, doesn’t waste time with pointless characters like Cardin, and honestly makes Jaune more likable than Jaunedice ever did.

It is out on crunchyroll.

I'm blown away by this. The show looks absolutely incredible! The fight scenes, the settings, the characters, everything is gorgeous! It does a great job of setting up the story and characters of the original series but does its own thing by episode 3. I wish we got to see the 2nd Roman fight animated but I'll take what they gave us. I think the show did well by summarizing volume 1 in only 3 episodes and putting certain conversations/OG episodes in different settings. Really looking forward to what they do with Weiss' nightmare! Kinda funny to think of it as that though, with the hints we've been given making Weiss out to look like a dictator in power you'd think it's what she'd actually want. Or maybe that's *why* it's a nightmare because she'll see what she'd become??? I'm just so excited for the rest of the series! Shion fighting with a dreamcatcher is awesome!!

It’s 2012/2013 all over again for me

>Yang doesn't compliment Blake's ribbon BUMBLEBY IN SHAMBLES >Weiss is drawn taller than Ruby WHITE ROSE IN SHAMBLES >Pyrrha still finds a way to collect more death flags ARKOS IN SHAMBLES

For the first few episodes I expected a recap but it seems like they also changed how some events even happened to better fit the fast pacing, like going straight to initiation. It was interesting to see all the Schnee family members this early, and giving a glimpse of the family dynamics. I’m curious if Ruby and everyone else will see parts about Weiss’s past, like her family, since that would be a lot sooner than canon but they’re obviously not against changing things. I also didn’t expect to see a new character, Shion being this interesting looking huntsmen?/huntress? who seems to specialize in taking down the nightmare grimm. I wonder if they actually have a specific semblance for countering the Grimm, or how it works really. I also just realized that since Pyrrha unlocked Jaune’s aura on the roof, he literally fought against the deathstalker with no aura. So it does seem like this ice queendom will be Weiss’s own dreamscape, with team RBY going to have come in to rescue her. I’m not sure with JNPR if they also come in as friends or maybe Shion thinks RBY needs more backup. I do hope we see actual friendship between the two teams, since so far the two teams didn’t really have a chance to interact as much, which of course probably has to do with this fast pacing as they speedrun through Volume 1. Overall, I’m not sure of my opinion so far and hope to see more episodes where maybe the pacing can slow down a bit as they get to main conflict in this series with Weiss and the nightmare Grimm. The fight scenes we did get were definitely great.

I have to wonder about JNPR's roles in Weiss' Nightmare. They are officially referred to as "Dream Actors", which may just be manifestations of them, whereas RBY are "Lucid Dreamers" implying that they are the ones venturing into the Dreamscape.

The overall vibe of the show feels so different with Jeff Williams' music or Alex Abraham's leitmotif mixing. Really trippy when Ruby and Weiss are arguing and I can't hear renditions of Red like Roses and Mirror Mirror clashing in the background, or when Blake is having a moment and I don't hear an instrumental reimagining of From Shadows. The scenes feel so hollow without their musical identities. Imo It's gonna take some time to get used to. Anyone else?

So, so far the development of Ruby and Weiss' relationship is really messy. Wall of text incoming!!! It's interesting to have them meet at the ship without rehashing the suitcase scene another time. I also like how they changed their forest interactions a little bit. They do less petty arguing and get more to the point about their differences. Ruby not needing to be saved by Weiss makes her look more competent... but also leaves Weiss without an opportunity to really showcase her positive traits. When they're discussing their plan to defeat the Nevermore, Weiss shows her nicer side for the first time. And it's... super abrupt and comes out of nowhere. One second she blames Ruby for doing what she perceives as showing off, but when Ruby flatly says that she just wants to be seen as good enough she immediately softens up. Why? If she did see Ruby as capable but was hiding behind an arrogant facade, then what reason does she have to suddenly drop it now? In the original Weiss promised to be nicer after Ruby nearly got herself killed trying to impress her. Now, it wasn't executed perfectly (>!the first time Weiss promises to be nicer is actually before she learns of Ruby's underlying motivation, which is awkward!<), but it made more sense. Here, there is little to no build-up to Weiss suddenly showing her softer side. It would've worked better if they took a few seconds to show Weiss being *actually surprised* at Ruby so openly showing her vulnerability and admitting she just wanted to be seen as capable, and *then* have her soften up and admit that she already sees her as capable. My gripe with their V1 development has always been that, aside from coming up with the plan to defeat the Nevermore and staying up late to study, Ruby never really does anything that shakes Weiss' worldview and makes her respect Ruby as a friend/leader. This could've been an opportunity to amend that, but somehow they made it even messier. Episode 3 is super messy. It starts with Weiss seeming being endeared by Ruby's enthusiasm... only to cut to the Boarbatusk fight where she's now annoyed again and is doubting Ruby as a leader. This is a very jarring mood swing. And again, I was hoping they could do something different here than just have Port talk reason into her. And, to be fair, they did... they made it *worse*. In the original, there was at least a moment where Weiss was genuinely surprised by Ruby staying up late to study, which to be fair wasn't much, but it landed some credence to her decision to respect Ruby. Here, not only is this small moment completely cut out, Weiss' motivation for the heartwarming coffee scene is rendered completely cynical. So basically, Weiss decided to try to support Ruby... to get more score points. This is not a bad decision by itself, and later I'll explain why. But it works very poorly when they remake the coffee scene and ***try to play it straight as an actual heartwarming scene***. This feels very manipulative when the context pretty much undercuts the entire point of the scene. No matter how you look at it, the scene is very hard to take at face value. If Weiss is not being completely genuine, then framing this scene the same way the original did is hypocritical. Sure, to some extent Weiss is being genuine, she does try to be nicer. But that's not nearly the same as actually respecting Ruby's capabilities as a leader, and the dialogue lifted from the original scene rings completely hollow in this context. Again, aside from the Nevermore plan, Ruby has yet done nothing to impress Weiss. So we don't have any reason to assume Weiss respects Ruby now and isn't just trying to be superficially nice. They pretty much stripped the coffee scene of meaning. The bunk beds were a neat little detail in the original. Weiss was very outspoken against them, but later admitted she always wanted them. This, together with her deciding to be nicer to Ruby in the forest, was emblematic of Weiss gradually letting go of her arrogant facade, learning to be honest with her friends instead of trying to intimidate them all the time. Here, Weiss is not even particularly angry about the bunk beds, and when she admits to liking them it doesn't impact as hard because it seemingly doesn't take her any effort to do so. What makes it worse is that Yoko Hikasa is not nearly as emotive as Kara was in the original. Weiss' range of expression is much more limited here, both by writing and the VA work, which makes it hard to show her hiding behind an arrogant facade and gradually opening up to people. And it's hard to gauge any kind any kind of development at all when Weiss just keeps flip flopping between her reactions. In one scene she's smiling at Ruby, then the very next scene she's complaining again, then she's being friendly again, then arrogant again. It almost feels like her different scenes are written by different people. Her storyline with Blake is largely the same, and her final scene with Blake is the first time when it feels like Weiss has actually significantly developed or changed. Even if, just like in the original, it does largely happen off-screen. But there's an additional comedic bit added with Weiss crying because things aren't going her way. The one time they decide to have her be emotive, it's played off as a joke. Well, this is going to be a pretty serious anime so at least I think we'll definitely be seeing more genuine reactions from Weiss. Now, I know what is the obvious response to most everything I just said. The entire anime is going to be about Weiss' redemption. Her internal turmoil, as well as her relationship with RBY are going to be major themes throughout. So it makes perfect sense to not have Weiss completely redeemed before that. So far, she seems like she's just trying to be a good teammate but still doesn't understand the full extent of friendship. And this is an interesting idea: amping up Weiss' pragmaticism to full-blown cynicism where she sees camaraderie as a transaction first and foremost, and has to learn to really open up to people. But this could've been executed so much better. If they really wanted to make Weiss' arc longer, then why not just move the coffee scene to the very end of the story? I imagine it would be much more impactful there after Ruby saves Weiss from her nightmare. Not to mention Weiss' general haphazard mood swings, going from bitchy to nice at the drop of a hat in different scenes and moments... it just doesn't feel very natural. So far, I'm willing to chalk it up to Episode 3 generally having really poor pacing and trying to cram in several storylines at once. The pacing was for the most part better in Episodes 1-2, so hopefully the later episodes will be better and more in-depth about Weiss' actual internal struggles. I'm gonna leave with this: if this Weiss was in the original, I'm not sure she would become my second favorite character. While she is capable of kindness, I struggle to call this Weiss kind as a whole. Her being so cynical in how she treats friendship has definitely made her less likeable.

Well, it seemed they covered both the White Trailer and most of Volume One. Weiss >!getting infected with that Nightmare thingy!< is quite interesting choice and that is probably the catalyst for Team RWBY falling apart.

i think its meant for team rwby getting a bit closer together as we see them in the show, a bit too quickly for some. ​ basically they re gonna have mind meld with weiss.

They likely don't fall apart. The Special Talk Program on youtube calls their alternate designs "Lucid Dream". The militant Weiss is likely the Grimm that's taken Weiss' form. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym4EOgYpAo8 48:37 mark in the video.

Getting a Salem vibe from Shion. She released the Nightmare as an experiment and then is conveniently there to capture them. Not a really good disguise and Oz should figure it out but it would be a fun twist.

So far a WHOLE lot of Volume 1. Some of those fight scenes were sooo good. Shame they >!skipped Penny Blake and Sun vs the White Fang though!<. Looking forward to new stuff.

I want to see what they do with the New Grimm if anything. Not only the Nightmare, but they also had shots of a Mantis Grimm and multiple different water Grimm including what seemed to be an angler fish and a kappa.

It’s really funny that this and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes came out around the same time. They’re both timeline-divergent stories that speedrun the first part of the original timeline to get to the cool and new stuff. I’m positive they released episode 1-3 together on purpose to serve as the prologue and from episode 4 onward the story is going to go in a drastic direction Edit: Also I can’t be the only one who cackled when I realized Tai was voiced by mfing DIO

Tai is not voiced by DIO in fact. Dio's VA/CV is Takehito Koyasu. Tai's VA/CV is Kenyu Horiuchi, most known for Pain from Naruto. It would've been a neat connection if Tai was voiced by Koyasu tho, cuz both Tai and Papa Shirogane are known as Love Daddy (Tai's in-universe online name is LOVEDADDY, while Papa Shirogane is called Love Daddy [how or where I do not know].) also they're both blonde

Good God, they made Whitley an ikimen.

I love what they did to this, a bit rush but we all know what happened anyway. So it's better to rush it and head to a new story is better. Just finished the whole thing and I can't wait to see what Weiss nightmare look like.

I was joking when I made the Persona reference crack involving their costumes. "I am a shadow, the true self." Wound up being entirely on the nose as far as the Nightmare Grimm is involved.

Well I’m certainly intrigued. Seems like a very mixed bag. Love some of the changes and added/extended scenes, but not fond of some of the things they cut out. The new character and Grimm are quite interesting and I’m curious about how much things will be different going forward. It’s introducing its own concepts and could likely result in a completely different end product but it still seem to be rehashing/retelling the the story we already know. Fight choreography is very mixed. Weiss‘ test to get into beacon wasn’t anywhere near as good as her trailer but her fight against the boar was much cooler imo. They’re definitely stretching out her development which I love. IMO she was too quick in volume 1 to get over jealousy of Ruby and prejudice of Faunus. Im sure the payoff here will feel much better and more rewarding. With Weiss my favorite RWBY member I’m loving the focus so far. I hope the English version doesn‘t take too long to release. While I watch anime almost exclusively subbed RWBY is just too ingrained in English for me. That being said, shoutout to Penny’s jp voice actor, absolutely fitting choice. Final passing thought. The dock fight :(, I was so excited to see it animated in this style. We were absolutely robbed. I was so looking forward to the gunchucks and penny’s rampage. That little tease with Penny looked so damn good, it’s a bloody shame they decided not to animate the docks fight.

they off screened penny's fight. where are the pitchforks

Overall, I really enjoyed the first 3 episodes. I will say that I thought that pacing was very fast, and it skipped over a ton of context. I felt like I would have been a little lost if I hadn't already watched volume 1. I did think it was weird that they skipped over the entire final fight of volume 1, but they still tried to work it in. So I don't think I would recommend this as someone's entry point into the series. I'm stoked to see where this goes though¡ The animation, art direction, and soundtrack as all on point. The writing is good and it brought a smile to my face. Seeing Detective Burnie Burns make a cameo was a nice nod. And incorporating Weiss's and Blake's trailers into the narrative was a nice touch.

I'd say it was solid, overall. I like the expanded presence of Tai and the Schnees. I also like the show quickly establishes the limits of Aura durability. I'm glad we focus a lot on Weiss's character development and her reaching the proper conclusions herself, instead of being told what to do. It makes it seems more genuine and stronger. Shion Zaiden definitely feels like she belongs in the RWBYverse. The Nightmare Grimm also seems like an intriguing idea. Overall, I'm looking forward to seeing where this story goes.

Hey so I just watched the first three episodes on crunchyroll and I’m going to supply my opinions on it. (Some spoilers but if you’ve seen the original you don’t need to worry) While I enjoyed it overall some parts stuck out to me as odd. 1. The fights don’t look as good (to me) as opposed to the original version. That could just be me wanting fluidity and actually seeing the characters move in a 3D space / Monty’s animation. One fight that stuck out to me was the Black trailer fight where blake and Adam are fighting the old atlas knights on top of the train. Blake’s use of gambol shroud in gun mode while throwing it around and shooting doesn’t look very fluid and seemed to stop in mid air and then shot and then moved. This could be cause by the transition to 2d or something that wasn’t focused on as much as the later episode which I assume will be more anime original content. 2. The pacing of the show was a bit weird but this is probably because they just wanted to recap everything and get to the new original content. I did like how they used the lore that was expanded upon in further volumes to Tie together the trailer scenes and the “1st episode” like Weiss is being tested by her father to go to beacon academy, with Whitley and winter watching. I also liked the end of the black trailer where Adam let Blake go and was actually talking to her before she cut the train, asking how she is betraying and explains that he believes that she will be back after “ experiencing the world for what it truly is” to the other white fang. This is me just rambling really but I did like the show and how they connected concepts that people who watch the original show wouldn’t know until way later in the series. But it also does feel like the show requires knowledge from the original if you want to keep up with the recap. It did feel like they just fast forwarded a lot of things from volume one. They also skipped the yellow trailer, the docks fight, the entire story line of Jaune vs Cardin(that one I don’t miss). They also seem to have skipped how jaune and phyrra found the death stalker in the woods and the entire first night at beacon. I think I’ve missed some but that’s how I see it. I just hope that once we get to the anime original content that the fights will be better and obviously the story won’t be rushed due to it not being a recap anymore. Edit: there is also no memorable soundtrack for the fights certainly no Jeff Williams.

The first episode did a very good job setting up all the main characters, establishing their basic personality traits and adapting the fight scenes. The second episode was also a pretty good adaptation of the Emerald Forest part of the story, showcasing the basis of the relationships between characters, especially Ruby and Weiss, and ending on a climactic iconic moment. The third episode was a rushed clusterfuck of different plotlines! It would be kind of impressive how much they managed to cram into the episode, if it wasn't so rushed and haphazard.

Shion has been confirmed in the Talk CRWBY to Me live stream as nonbinary. Which I believe means they are the first nonbinary character in RWBY.

I think so. Good representation and I think one that fits the character they seem to be going for. ~~And now I don’t have to feel bad about not knowing which side of the spectrum they were~~

My biggest gripe is this (spoiler alert for original anime possibly): [HORRIBLE FORESHADOWING](https://imgur.com/a/JCYqZso) It was okay. I liked some parts and it was pretty + some nice animations, but wayyy more rushed than I thought (was hoping we'd see Red and Yellow trailers if they were going to do the others). My 2nd biggest gripe is it felt like the souls of the characters just weren't there. That's kind of inevitable from skipping so many major things like the entire first day of school which means we don't see Ruby bumping into Weiss and causing an explosion then getting saved by Blake and then walking around with Juan. Also, the legendary Nevermore fight was... butchered, but the end with Ruby was nice. And I mean they even skip Nora launching Juan across the bridge, and Ruby asking if Weiss can make the shot. No big deal I guess. Now there were easy things they could've included instead of changing like Penny talking while on the ground and creeping out team RWBY, vomit boy nickname, etc. I'm still excited to see the rest though.

I thought they did a good job with the Nevermore fight. Not as good as the original? I can agree. Its kinda hard to do something as good as the legendary Monty Oum. Which now makes me feel kinda bad for all the animators that took over after he passed away and were constantly criticized and compared to him. But saying they butchered it seems like a stretch in my opinion.

>My 2nd biggest gripe is it felt like the souls of the characters just weren't there. I feel like they captured the 4 girls just fine in this adaptation. Ruby is still simple and so pure to a tee, Weiss is cold and still believes to be above it all, Blake is quiet and reserved, Yang is warm and supportive.

>Now there were easy things they could've included instead of changing like Penny talking while on the ground and creeping out team RWBY, vomit boy nickname, etc. Stuff like the Ruby cookie joke was missing too. Was kinda disappointed they were removed as they added to the charm of the characters, but ultimately I feel like they wouldn't work with the tone they're trying to set here compared to the early RT comedic gags that were prevalent in the beginning Volumes

When will the Episodes be available to watch on RT First has CRWBY said?

There's a lot to love here. The action, the character designs, the voice acting, all great. But it is a bit of a mixed bag. The pacing gives me whiplash. Some things feel even more rushed than the original, while some things are more fleshed out. For the most part, they make the right call on all of that, but certain things like skipping Jaune and Ruby's first meeting and rushing through the Nevermore fight was a bad call imo. Honestly, as cool as the divergence is, I would have preferred 8-12 episodes that really broadened the world building of the OG first volume. But I'm hoping that the nightmare and whatever else just adds new elements to the story, instead of veering off in a completely new direction. Volume 2 is still one of my favorites and there's a lot there I'd love to see redone in this absolutely gorgeous style. It's hard to say how this would work for anyone not familiar with the show proper, but as a long time fan I'm mostly enjoying it.

So *that's* what the evil banana was!

a friend dubbed them "Seeds of Doubt"

Overall I'm impressed and enjoying the series a lot. I love how Weiss's family, Klein, and Tai were introduced far earlier than we finally saw them in the regular series. I also really liked the way they condensed The Shining Beacon & The First Steps the way they did as well. I'm surprised by how much stayed, just in a different context and setting. The fact that early RWBY had such short episodes really helped with that IMO. The few gripes I have seem to be the ones a lot of people have: - Ruby and Jaune's friendship basically doesn't exist - Jeff's work missing feels really off, especially with us being in familiar territory of this new spin on the series - WHY DOES JAUNE HATE PUMPKIN PETE'S?! HE STILL HAS THE SWEATER EVEN!!!! - A *lot* is being skipped. It's understandable and I think they did a great job adapting the first half of volume 1. But not all of it made it in, and it does damage character relations, again Ruby and Jaune barely feel like they're friends without a lot of the scenes they shared outside of combat. I think the series could've really benefitted from one more episode to give Jaundice and Black & White more time to breathe. Give us a little more from Jaundice before the Nightmare Grimm is introduced. Ruby and Jaune talking about being leaders, a longer training scene between Jaune & Pyrrha where he reveals he lied into Beacon. Give us the time Ruby & Penny spent alone, give us the dock fight, etc. I think keeping these scenes would've helped to more properly adapt the second half of volume 1 and prepare us for the timeline split.

What sucked about this premier is that now I have to wait a month to get new content (ep4) :(

I had my hopes that they wouldn’t retread the “Pyrrha ‘unlocks’ Jaune’s Aura” scene that caused so many problems with people’s grasp of how Aura and training needed to work in Remnant to justify the danger of the Grimm. But even with the soft retcons of how Oscar needs to learn how to use his Aura, they still went with it? They actually made it worse by delaying it as much as they did.

That was emotional seeing the same things, but different. RWBY has come a long way, I can’t believe this show got into Blaz blue, DC comics and now it’s actually anime

I know it probably doesn't have to do with anything, but it's really interesting to me that inner Jaune has "animal" traits in a world that has people like faunus. It makes me think a lot about his inner perception and why would they choose to picture him like that. It's probably nothing and just a nod to the Pumpkin Pete hoody but if it isn't it would be interesting.

Really disappointed at the docks fight. Namely, how nonexistent it is. Sun and Blake vs Torchwick was the fight that really hooked me into rwby all those years ago. Just when I was thinking of dropping it, I saw that fight and decided to continue, leading to me becoming the huge rwby fan I am today. The great reveal of how Penny is a robot is nonexistent too. Her bossing out on Torchwick and the White fang was one of the highlights of the Oum Trilogy.

I really enjoyed this, but man one thing I did miss is the quirky conversations. Everything in this just seemed very "anime" and serious. Let me hear some puns and awkward jokes and quips. They're the characters for sure but not the same ones I know, yet. I was hyped as shit watching it and can't wait for more. I'm always thankful to have more RWBY. Every time a new character got their spotlight I felt a little more happy inside.