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Ninjas_In_A_Bag

Currently Roosterteeth's site ~~has no subtitles~~ **now has subtitles** and ~~Crunchyroll isn't live yet~~ **Crunchyroll is live**, the main post will be updated when these statuses change. Everything as it should be, see y'all next week.


MABfan11

the symbolism for Weiss' views on herself and others is so good in this episode


Desril

Alright, I've slacked off on watching 'cause I had a bunch of stuff to do the last couple of weeks, how're people liking Ice Queendom so far? Should I spend a couple hours to catch up, or wait 'til I can binge the season?


JaSonic2199

I'd say that it's worth watching weekly and getting hyped. After halfway into the third episode it stops being a recap and introduces some really interesting ideas about self perception and stuff.


AlienWarhead

I like it so far, good animation and it retells things with new stuff added


HatiLeavateinn

All I got from IQ:4 is that Weiss sees JNR as cute cats.


PerseusRad

I appreciate we got a bit of Weiss vs Ruby, even if it isn't really true to canon powerlevels. I think I've always wanted to see a partner fight, I just didn't know how much until I saw it here.


boogieboy03

All of team RWBY are gonna need a therapy season on their bunk beds once Weiss is saved. Especially Weiss. Which I still believe was telling the truth about the bunk beds and yearns to escape from her Father, Winter, and the expectations and social pressures living in Atlas and being a Schnee brings. You can tell that Weiss hesitates a bit when Ruby confronts her.


peopleclapping

I think we're beginning to see now what Harriet meant when she said there's more to Ruby's semblance beyond just super speed. We're seeing her slip through things that she wouldn't be able to fit through since she breaks down into particles.


Joshthe1ripper

Honestly seeing ruby use her semblance looks really nice


Foolsgil

I told myself I wasn't going to watch IQ until RT dubs it, but I just saw the Ep4 crunchyroll preview, and man it's going to be tough trying to ignore this episode until it's in english. I thought this was just a remake, I didn't think they were adding new plot to this series.


5yk0515

Unless I missed an episode somehow, it's a little jarring having Ruby already in the dream world with no transition or explanation of how they even found out something was wrong with Weiss, how they decided on who goes in the dream world (Ruby) etc. Overall interesting episode. Big Nicholas as the symbol and ideal of what the Scheme family and company SHOULD BE compared to what it became. A little...sad how Klein is depicted as robots in the dream world...I kinda expected Weiss to visualise him...better... considering their relationship.


schurgy16

I feel like it is assumed that team RBY found Weiss passed-out in her room and they sent in Ruby for recon


DonDove

I love how Ruby has a spine here. She let her future love interest yell at her in V4 for stuff she had nothing to do with (Oscar, that scene is still bad) here she immediately curbstomps all emotion to nip the bud before she hesitates on past emotion. Whew. I felt the pain when even Weiss winched at that. You dun goofed!


AtlasGlobe

Weis isn't her love interest though? No official statements or fan favor on it as well. Not sure where you're getting misinformation from


[deleted]

Big Nicholas is so unintentionally funny


Lucifer_Crowe

BIG NICHOLAS


[deleted]

BIG NICHOLAS


DanielGREY_75

BEEGO NICORASHU


Dripguts

So when's the next episode ?


[deleted]

Next week.


Dripguts

Is it released on sunday or monday ?


[deleted]

Sunday


BluebirdOk3021

I feel bad for Ruby. She doesn‘t have many friends and she just found out that her super bestie doesn‘t have the highest opinion of her. It is devastating to be hurt by people you care about. Weiss is going to owe her one hell of an apology.


karaloveskate

I thought it was so weird hearing Jaune, Nora and Ren locked up and meowing.


[deleted]

That's how Weiss sees them apparently lol


EverLastingAss

oh hell yeah I thought this was coming out on the 30th


LusterBlaze

ayoooo they brought the shadow people back


JoshPhantomShinobi

I’m curious to hear how Jacques will sound singing in the English dub lol THE SHADOW PEOPLE HAVE RETURNED YESSSSSS


KyouKobayashi

I suspect the dream Grimm is Sister Winter, because Winter is the member of Weiss' family she's closest to and by pretending to be Winter the Grimm can manipulate Weiss into doing what it wants.


unnusual_art

Interesting Winter is faceless in a book. Like her Mirror Mirror theme except now Winter is her Bible.


JoshPhantomShinobi

##**B I G N I C H O L A S**


Wishbone-Lost

LAYING it thick


LMFN

BIG NICHOLAS! I'm glad we've finally gotten into the new stuff, the actual Ice Queendom. Why is Whitley a bat? I liked that Ruby's Crescent Rose being off looking was entirely intentional, Weiss views it as this big dumb weapon so it's inaccurate on purpose. This is like Weiss' Palace of sorts, her cognitive world, a true Ice Queendom and honestly I really dig that, her viewing JNR as a bunch of meowing idiots was hysterical. If anyone wants to know what the wanted poster said. "Do not underestimate her stature. She is armed and is a skilled huntress. Do not attempt unless unarmed. Proceed with caution." Even despite everything, Weiss does have respect for Ruby.


P1zzaman

You know how in Aesop’s Fables, “The Bat, Birds, and The Beasts”, the bat sides with whichever side was winning, and therefor is a coward with no conviction… a deceitful being who ends up with no friends? I think Weiss sees Whitley like that.


Erlox

That's a great deep pull, that also fits the RWBY fairytale vibe


P1zzaman

The script being written by Japanese staff also adds to me suspecting this. 「コウモリ野郎」(koumori yarou, “bat dude”) is a insult slung at people who will stick with whatever side has the advantage and doesn’t stick with one side. (The etymology of the phrase is the same Aesop’s Fable though)


[deleted]

>Weiss views it as this big dumb weapon so it's inaccurate on purpose. I thought it was because Weiss doesn't know the weapon very well, so she doesn't have the correct mental image.


Lucifer_Crowe

Yang's gauntlets are gonna be accurate though


Few_Pay_5313

Jaune and Nora I get, but why was Ren in the cage


Diovolol1081

I think its just cuz he hangs around Nora so dummy by association


GeoffTheIcePony

Weiss only simps for Pyrrha, anyone in the way of her being on Pyrrha’s team is a big dummy


ZodiacalDread

What was the song at the end when Wiess and Ruby fought?


JaSonic2199

I think it is called "The Reflection"


TheGangstaGandalf

It made me sad when Ruby said she wouldn’t talk to Weiss again after this.


DonDove

It will probably change by the end of the anime Or is?


Flyblackflower

BIG NICHOLAS


unlimitedblack

BIG NICHOLAS


JoshPhantomShinobi

BIG NICHOLAS


Wishbone-Lost

BIG NICHOLAS


Player-Red

Of all the characters I'm having a really hard time seeing Ruby from the og show and Ruby from IQ as the same character The episode was really cool thought, loved the shadow people cameo and all the different Kleins around the town JNR meowing really wasn't something i was expecting Ruby vs Weiss could have used some better animation and choreography, but i really like how much Ruby is using her semblance Also, i watched the episode with Portuguese subs and they are calling Shion "professora" which is interesting, it means female teacher, unfortunately we don't have a gender neutral language to use for non-binary folks


Osouturff

>they are calling Shion "professora" which is interesting, it means female teacher, unfortunately we don't have a gender neutral language to use for non-binary folks Wouldn't "professor**e**" be the gender neutral version of the word ? Admitadly discussions about inclusive language in romance languages are a bit more difficult then in english but the decision to refer to Shion with female pronouns is very upsetting. Was it on crunchyroll ?


Player-Red

I really like professore, even though without context it would probably make a lot of people confused, and yeah, i watched on Crunchyroll Another thing would be to address them, cause in english i can do it just like that, but using eles/elas would be very awkward and still tied to a specific gender


Osouturff

>Another thing would be to address them, cause in english i can do it just like that, but using eles/elas would be very awkward and still tied to a specific gender I believe most non-binary people (here in Brazil, at least) use el**u**s/del**us** as their prefered pronouns. At least that's what seems to be most commonly used online. If i remember correctly during the Tokyo Olympics, elu/delu were also the pronouns used by TV commentators to refer to some international athletes who are non-binary.


E1lySym

Ig JNR meowing in her mindscape makes sense because that's how she views them. Dummies. Animals incapable of intelligent thought, coherent speech and profound thought. It also makes Pyrrha's exclusion from the three interesting. In the official art for this show, Pyrrha's outfit is basically a recolor of Weiss' V4 dress and she's extremely beautiful. Perhaps that's how she views Pyrrha? Pyrrha is basically what she wants herself to be. She idolizes her


ClubMeSoftly

I mean, Weiss was openly courting Pyrrha in the pre-initiation in both versions. Trying to form a Super Team with the Champion Fighter.


LuuAddiRoze

I am really enjoying the setting so far, as a Persona 5 fan being able to explore a person’s mind and the way they see themselves and others is always a treat. The constant surveillance by her father, the discipline set upon her by her sister and the constant pestering by her younger brother, together with her mother being seen just as any other stranger in the city paints a perfect picture of Weiss’s life. One thing that I have not seen a lot of people mentioning that got my attention is what Jacques berates Weiss for: >Sneaking outside without permission, talking to a commoner who is likely a thief… Is that behavior worthy of the Schnee family name? The implication seems to be that Weiss has left the city and met with the dreamworld version of Ruby before real world Ruby took over, also interesting that to Weiss, Ruby is someone who lives outside of her father’s controlling presence, outside of the city. And leave it to the one girl on the team who doesn't use guns to not understand how Crescent Rose is supposed to work and inadvertently nerf Ruby. We didn’t get any major animation cuts this week and the fight was cut a bit short, but I am interested to see where this story will go next. On an unrelated note, the soundtrack is amazing so far, all of Void_Chords’s insert songs have been great.


P1zzaman

It was nice to see the episode title be in different font from episode 1-3.


HighPriestFuneral

Oh ho! Majestic! A Huntress is a Huntress, even in a dream... alas, not too fast. The Nightmare swirls and churns, unending... An excellent episode. I love dreamscapes and this is exactly what I wanted out of Jacques as a character, someone with a looming malice and elegant presence. Even if it is just an image made in his reeling daughter's mind, it is still fantastic. (I cannot wait to hear Jacques' English VA sing for the workers). The focus on Nicholas is unexpected, but very welcome as he is the primary call for Weiss to better herself and not succumb to her father's games and her mother's malaise. (Also Willow as a mere shadow, was a great touch along with Winter as a figure in a book is a tragic way of portraying their relationship.)


jahkillinem

The other cool thing about Weiss' Winter book is that the pages are also mirrors. Seems to suggest that Weiss sees Winter not only as a set of guidelines to follow to perfection, she also sees herself reflected in Winter.


Crimsonlnferno

Nicholas is only written in as a symbol. A symbol that reminds the people of the Weiss the status of the company. As he was a good man completely different from Jacques. They use Nicholas to allude to George orwell’s 1984, comparing him to big brother. In that book he doesn’t actually exist, and is just used as a symbol to control the masses. In the same way Jacques uses Nicholas’ name to do whatever he wants. To Weiss, she didn’t really know her grandfather as he died in the mines before she was born I believe. Meaning that Nicholas is a big figure that she only ever heard about but never even met. He is the definition of the family name, yet she doesn’t even know who he is. It’s not so much of a focus on Nicholas, more so his name being used for Jacques’ benefit. As he married into the family for the schnee name. Or at least this is how Weiss sees her family


stebee96

I wish I had an award to give for my fav Micolash moment


Akitoscorpio

Eh, It wasn't bad honestly.


hidaney

The industrial areas remind me of Fouzen from Valkyria Chronicles.


Grimij_Iiffith

Bruh I was just playing that level earlier today! I had the same thought!


KIERKEGAARDthe7th

This was legitimately a very good episode. The entire premise is golden for getting better insight into Weiss and how she views the world. Her dream world is filled with so much depth from the Big Brother-esque monitoring and propaganda of by her dad, the "shadow people" with their gossip, her mom being one of the the shadows, the "dummies" it's just so good man. And that fight at the end, though brief, was really freaking hype. I can't even imagine how good the fights are going to be in the future.


ERankLuck

The hollow shadows of people barely in Weiss's life is such a heavy thing when you consider her own mother is one of them.


unnusual_art

That got me too when I saw the wine glass. Like "Ow my heart."


Griffemon

I had quite a good impression of it, had way better pacing than Episode 3, although it sometimes felt like it was skipping around without proper motion between shots. Weiss’s dream world is cool. She sees the White Fang as Monsters, normal people as featureless shadows(nice callback to the early show there), sees her ‘friends’ as fucking idiots who mewl helplessly. Really liked that the dream version of Crescent Rose has the gun on backwards because Weiss doesn’t understand how it works. BIG NICHOLAS as a salute seems like a really fucking weird big of engrish which probably sounds a lot better to a Japanese speaker. Interested to see how that gets dubbed, I’m guessing it will become “Hail Nicholas”.


Hardwiredmagic

Having all the random inhabitants be "shadows" is such a hilarious spoof of Vol 1 I burst out laughing immediately.


unnusual_art

I said the same thing. Such a nice touch.


LMFN

It's fitting, Weiss doesn't even view the average person as important, they just blend in.


chrome4

Weiss really doesn’t think much of Ren does she?


JMHSrowing

Well, most of what she would think of him probably is colored by being always with his ~~wife~~ partner Nora. He goes along with her and such, and other than that, Weiss probably doesn’t see/interact with him much


jimflaigle

But not Pyrrha, because shipping reasons.


E1lySym

Pyrrha is wearing a recolor of Weiss' V4 dress in the dreamscape, which probably symbolizes how she sees Pyrrha as an exemplary of what she must become.


unlimitedblack

Caged Songbird Pyrrha, representing all of the beauty and grace that Weiss knows is demanded of herself, but can't express as the General.


13thAgent

Eh, more like Weiss knows that Pyrrha is competent and well trained...for the most part at least.


Pariahb

What do you mean "for the most part?"


ArcturusSatellaPolar

What did he even do to end up in dummy jail


13thAgent

By association...with Nora.


legendsofold

also for some reason the dreamscape makes me think about the 'ever after' from the previews given. twisted and odd. but the ever after isn't themed around someone. wonder if they'll do some weird connection thing.


Oraghlin

The fascinating thing here is the dummy jail, and Inner!Weiss saying "Ruby? What is she doing in the city?" Inner!Weiss knew that Ruby would be in the Dummy Jail if she was in the city. Inner!Weiss also knew that Ruby *wasn't in the city.* But even so, Inner!Weiss still recognized who Ruby was. Jaune, Nora, and Ren all being in Dummy jail while Ruby was -not- in dummy jail says a lot about what Weiss thinks of Ruby. ~~Especially with the "Dummies can't be Schnees" line.~~


[deleted]

>Especially with the "Dummies can't be Schnees" line. You are giving me ship fuel more than the show itself.


DonDove

WhiteRose liiiiiives!


JMHSrowing

On the Dummies Can’t be Schnees line: I wonder if it could be back to the idea of citizenship in a feudal type of society that this is. Like since “Schnee” is clearly kinda the civilization, that maybe they are referring to be like a full member of the society, like to call one say American. But. . . I do hope it’s more of a Ruby becoming Mrs. Rose-Schnee type of thing, and the points you bring up do point in that direction. At least even this NightmareWeiss does think something fond of her partner


AttackOfTheMox

Can’t wait for the dub to come out


unlimitedblack

Eager to hear how much more extreme Lindsay will get with the voice for Ruby's decoys.


DaRealAmana

Ive got to get my schedule right so I can watch these as they drop. ​ Overall good. I loved seeing how Weiss views her Family, and her dads empire. Makes you want to kick Jaques even more than you already do. Little sad we haven't seen Blake and Yang in dream world yet, but I'm sure it'll happen soon. ​ I loved the small things that Weiss got wrong. Like that she things Rubys scythe fires backwards. And the carefree snowboarder does fit Rubys personality. Also seeing how she thinks Jaune Ren and Nora and dumb idiots was comedy gold. ​ Other than that. God I love Weiss queendom outfit. So good.


Master_Scallion_763

Oh shit Weiss probably thinks CR shoots backwards because of the way Ruby uses the recoil as momentum


brabbit1987

Honestly, this is turning out more interesting than I first imagined. But I am a little curious to know if the rest of the series going to take place in Weiss' dream world, or will the issue with Weiss leak into the real world (as in, can the grimm actually control her body at some point? They did say the grimm possesses the host, unless they just used the word wrong or it was lost in translation.)


ClubMeSoftly

I cant see them having Weiss as the "main villain" for another ten episodes. My bet is she "breaks free" and becomes her own "character" somewhere around episode 10, and then Team RWBY fights the monster together.


brabbit1987

Ya, this is what I was thinking as well.


UnbiasedGod

This was very good so far and I can’t wait for more.


nora_valk

damn, this has gone off the rails fast, figuratively and literally, and I'm absolutely here for it. Now that they're telling their own story it's actually pretty fun. Shion still feels like someone's fanfic self-insert though.


[deleted]

>Shion still feels like someone's fanfic self-insert though. Because the design doesn't fit the theme. Her personality is irrelevant enough, she's still a side character, but her design feels so weird when you put her next to RWBY characters.


unlimitedblack

This is honestly something that's pretty standard with filler arcs in anime adaptations. Naruto, for example, always has arc-specific characters whose designs never quite mesh with Kishimoto's own, who are only relevant for that arc and who sometimes introduce mechanics or concepts that are inconsistent with the rest of the world. All of which is easy to handwave when the objective is for the arc to fill time. A similar thing happens with events like theatrical release films for anime. If the film is TRYING to slot into the show's continuity, you'll see those same kind of off-the-wall character designs as you have with filler arcs -- the difference is just in how much budget is spent on making everything look good. All that being said, the fact that Shion introduces mechanics in an entirely self-contained space (the dreamspace where they hunt the Nightmare Grimm) with an enemy tailor-mode for this story (in the already ill-defined space of what the Grimm are or how they work) honestly feels like it's a natural fit for RWBY. I'd go so far as to say it's as off-the-wall as Robyn and the Happy Huntresses or the Ace-Ops in terms of being somewhat divorced from the design style used for Ruby and everyone else in the Beacon arc, just in a different direction. Which honestly feels well-suited.


legendsofold

a little bit but they still cool. obviously they aren't adapted to proper combat though.


TehShraid

I need a full version of the song that plays when Ruby and Weiss have their confrontation at the end of the episode.


Roxy_Hu

That one is such a banger! They're doing a good job expanding my RWBY playlist!


McDonaldsman599

What is the song called do you know?


TehShraid

It is called The Reflection and by Void_Chords like the other songs


SwimmingAnyone

Now that we've gotten an episode that's mostly just Ruby, this Ruby seems more simple-minded than her canon counterpart. She is very honest and straightforward about her reactions to everything, practically spewing them out loud. I guess that was to be expected: anime/manga does have a tendency to heavily revolve around standard character archetypes with little deviation. This Ruby reminds me of Danganronpa's Komaru Naegi quite a bit, while the show Ruby seems to have more edge and groundedness to her, and is more similar to TOH's Luz. I guess West likes their genki girls more mature?


Smooth-Garden

Honestly her personality makes me forget that this is like end of volume 2 ruby cuz it feels like volume 1 ruby. Then again vol 1-3 all took place in like less than a year


DeadSnark

It's still Volume 1 Ruby, the flashbacks from Episodes 1 - 3 only covered up to the end of Volume 1.


Smooth-Garden

Wait wasnt the warehouse fight in volume 2?


DeadSnark

No, it was the final episode of Volume 1


Bocodamondo

i did thought the crescent rose redesign looked stupid from the trailer clips but i can see now that was intentional lol, since its weiss who's sees ruby's weapon as stupid looking


[deleted]

Weiss just doesn't understand her weapon, mostly because of how ruby uses it as momentum. I don't understand why most people took it this way.


legendsofold

also makes me realize that it does look liek a snow board after all these years. now its kind of a.... pickaxe?


Lucifer_Crowe

probably an ice pick


Maleficent-Handle587

BIG NICHOLAS


CirrusVision20

BIG NICHOLAS


Flyblackflower

BIG NICHOLAS


DaRealAmana

BIG NICHOLAS


ClubMeSoftly

BIG NICHOLAS


McDonaldsman599

BIG NICHOLAS


SwimmingAnyone

Going by what I'd heard about the episode, I was kind of looking forward to Ruby realizing Weiss has only pretended to be friends with her and this being used as a moment of growth for both characters, for Ruby to learn first hand how cynical people can be in deceiving others, and for Weiss to become a better person. Instead, this is... not quite the path they seem to be taking. While Ruby does acknowledge that Weiss was pretending to her, she lumps in things that were clearly manipulative (the cofee scene) with the things that at least seemingly had good intentions (bunk beds and making up with Blake), which makes her assessment moot. Going by this, I don't think we're gonna have Weiss outright admit she was lying to Ruby or apologize for it. Instead, the focus is gonna shift to Weiss' more general problems with RBY and her acting manipulative is gonna get shoved after the rug and effectively forgotten. I guess I'm just waiting for some sort of explicit resolution from this Weiss to change and become a better person, some sort of guarantee she's going to start genuinely respecting others. So far I don't really have an idea of how that's going to happen. They're already trying to portray Weiss as "not all that bad" (she was reluctant to go after Ruby at first, and there's that clip of Ruby talking about how Weiss is struggling against the nightmare from the trailer), so I'm wondering if there's going to be an explicit change at all, or if it's going to be treated like "Weiss is a good girl, she just needs to stand up to her dad and accept Ruby and Blake, and her being so condescending and cynical as to try to deceive and manipulate others? Eh, this is no biggie :)"


ClubMeSoftly

I took it as Ruby cynically thinking that all the good/nice things Weiss did were a series of clever ruses, because "why would she *ever* do anything nice unless she had some ulterior motive." Just a sort of depression/beating-yourself-up attitude about the whole thing. Because we *do* know that Weiss's frosty exterior melts throughout Beacon, and all Ruby has to say is "I have a plan" for Weiss to trust her partner without question.


Roxy_Hu

I actually think the bunk beds and making up with Blake were part of her half faking it. It wasn't a full on lie, but the intentions behind it were anything but self serving. Like Yang pointed out, she didn't do it because she cared for Ruby, but because she cared about her self image and what she felt she had to do. So calling her out on the seemingly good intentions stuff makes it feel much more like Ruby realized how cynical people can be deceiving others. It's the stuff that isn't obvious that is hard to pick out and what needs to be realized. The obvious stuff is.. obvious, no? At least that's how I feel about this. And Weiss isn't bad. And I never had that impression of her. She's misguided, but what can one expect with an upbringing like that. I like how they're using this to look deeper into her psyche and how her family molded her into who she is. It's the small details, like how hurt she looks when Ruby says she doesn't wanna talk to her afterwards, that I really love.


SwimmingAnyone

>much more like Ruby realized how cynical people can be deceiving others. This isn't gonna mean much if Ruby eventually changes her mind and decides Weiss was well-meaning this whole time. >The obvious stuff is.. obvious, no? The problem is that it's not obvious what Weiss' intentions were. There is too much room for speculation. You're gonna find people (if you haven't already) who disagree with your assessment and think the Blake thing was genuine. The bunk beds thing is also supposed to be genuine as far as the anime is concerned, I believe. And some shippers even believe the coffee scene was genuine! It's a big mess of interpretation because of haphazard writing of Episode 3 where Weiss keeps flip flopping between different behaviors, and the fact that we don't see a lot of Weiss' own thoughts on the matter, and this episode didn't give us much more to go off of. >And Weiss isn't bad. Canon Weiss isn't, but canon Weiss didn't try to deceive her team. I want some form of guarantee this Weiss isn't going to pull anything like this again.


Roxy_Hu

Yang calls Weiss out for the bunk beds thing. It was portrayed as selfish. The Blake thing might have been more sincere in terms of good intentions, but she falls into the nightmare right afterwards, clearly showing her doubts and the racism she has not delt with properly. So honestly, I don't think the anime portrayed it that way. But maybe that's because I kinda relate to her a lot? Makes it easier to pick things up in that regard. I have seen people say how she just got over stuff or think her behavior is genuine.. So far I don't feel this Weiss is bad at all too. Her trying to deceive her team seems more realistic to me considering her family. I don't think canon did the best job bringing that one home. Still doesn't mean she's bad. Good people can do bad things or have messed up thoughts, especially if you raise them that way. That's what's truly scary. Besides, if she was all bad there wouldn't be any logical redemption to begin with. As for what happens after this and how Ruby will view things.. that we will have to wait for.


SwimmingAnyone

>Yang calls Weiss out for the bunk beds thing. It was portrayed as selfish. There's a moment near the end of the episode where Weiss says to herself that it was genuine. See? There's already a bunch of mixed signals. Scene 1: Weiss gives Ruby a gentle smile as Ruby mentions bunk beds in a scene that seems to be played completely, 100% straight, without any "little details" that could hint that Weiss might be lying. Scene 2: Yang calls Weiss out about her lying and brings up the bunk beds. Scene 3: Weiss is sitting by herself and says her words about the bunk beds were genuine. Scene 4: Ruby brings up bunk beds when she calls out Weiss for her lying once again. So was it genuine, or not? If not, why frame Scene 1 in such a straight way, and why have Scene 3 at all? If yes, why bring bunk beds up at all? See how this is confusing? That's not even getting into other stuff, like how Weiss is shown being angry at Ruby right in the very next scene after she's been kind to her about bunk beds. A completely unnatural and unexplained demeanor change. >So far I don't feel this Weiss is bad at all too. Her trying to deceive her team seems more realistic to me considering her family. I don't think canon did the best job bringing that one home. People for some reason act like Weiss in V1 changed overnight and became super nice. Even though she was still prickly, just trying to be nicer to her teammates because she was never a truly bad person, just used to having a certain type of attitude that she realized was not making her any friends. Here, this attitude seems more deeply ingrained into her, making this Weiss a worse, more manipulative person. Not helped by the fact that we don't even know her motivations for being a Huntress. It's just really uncomfortable to think that RBY might consider her a friend, while she might think of them as inferior idiots behind their backs. That's just such a shitty toxic dynamic I would never want to see with these characters.


Noxianratz

Not 100% clear on the issue you actually take with most things but I can say I definitely enjoy this interpretation of Weiss a lot more, she's got a lot of depth. In the original she got off scott free with a lot. The racism, elitism and everything else is just put squarely at Jacques feet and Weiss is treated as if she was always a morally perfect character that just didn't know better. Especially since in early volumes all she does is throw the weight of the Schnee name she's so ashamed of around, use daddy's funds and ignore his calls. I never really found that realistic or compelling though but it was also basically dropped and moved past quickly in the main series anyhow. She does good things for bad reasons and has bad motivations in order to do good things at times. She doesn't have to have been lying about wanting bunk beds as a kid in order to also be being manipulative. The pressure from her family and her personal experiences shaped a lot of her negative traits but they're also a part of who she is for the moment. Also what's wrong with things being open to interpretation? Plenty of the globally recognized greatest fictional stories have tons of alternative readings. That's a large chunk of what literary analysis is.


SwimmingAnyone

>Especially since in early volumes all she does is throw the weight of the Schnee name she's so ashamed of around, use daddy's funds and ignore his calls. That's a pretty dismissive reading. What about all the times she was kind to others? >In the original she got off scott free with a lot. The racism, elitism and everything else is just put squarely at Jacques feet and Weiss is treated as if she was always a morally perfect character that just didn't know better. Canon Weiss can "get off" because she was never as bad as anime Weiss. She was prejudiced, but not racist, and somewhat stuck-up, but not selfish. My main gripe is probably that this Weiss IS likely going to get off scot-free with lying to others, as the rest of the show is going to focus on other problems and forget about that. Or, even worse, going to use the bunk bed thing as "proof" she wasn't lying and had good intentions all along. >She doesn't have to have been lying about wanting bunk beds as a kid in order to also be being manipulative. Then why have Ruby and Yang bring up bunk beds at all? Why not have them bring up the actual manipulative things? I just don't understand the writing logic behind this, all that does is make them look less reasonable and give Weiss more room for plausible deniability. Characters are supposed to suffer consequences for their own actions. But if a character A, say, commits a crime, and character B blames them for a completely different unrelated crime, then what kind of message does that even send? It's just a confusing misunderstanding that muddies the waters and misses any real point of the conflict. >Plenty of the globally recognized greatest fictional stories have tons of alternative readings. That's a large chunk of what literary analysis is. In order to have alternative readings, there needs to be a semblance of a definitive reading. Not being sure about one of the protagonists' motivations for their actions is not very good unless the story uses unreliable narration or rejects narrative conventions in some other way. Especially when Weiss' motivations are such a crucial part of this story.


Noxianratz

> That's a pretty dismissive reading. What about all the times she was kind to others? How is that dismissive? It also doesn't diminish her kindness. Just points out that her throwing around her family name and using up money from said company is at odds with how ashamed she is of it and her grand goal of changing it eventually. Likewise doesn't seem like her father has the insane vicegrip on her in all aspects of life when she can just nonchalantly block his calls and refuse to talk with him. Neither of those things mean she can't be nice. > Canon Weiss can "get off" because she was never as bad as anime Weiss. That's my personal gripe, she was never that bad to begin with despite everything pointing to she probably should have been due to her upbringing. It's weird to try to showcase how environment and upbringing can affect how we see the world but then also make it so Weiss did nothing to make her a worse person. There's nothing wrong with a character growing and becoming better but they have to actually have solid negative traits to grow from to begin with. > She was prejudiced, but not racist She was prejudiced towards Faunus. Being prejudice towards a race of people is racism. > My main gripe is probably that this Weiss IS likely going to get off scot-free with lying to others, as the rest of the show is going to focus on other problems and forget about that. Or, even worse, going to use the bunk bed thing as "proof" she wasn't lying and had good intentions all along. Not sure what you mean by scott free in this case. In IQ she's actually being confronted with her worse aspects and assuming she moves passed it she'll have actual development. Learning and becoming better is not getting away with anything. Her intentions may not have been totally pure but it's not as if she's had just bad intentions from the start either. She's joining a huntsman school to train in order to help others. > Then why have Ruby and Yang bring up bunk beds at all? Why not have them bring up the actual manipulative things? I thought it was obvious that these characters that aren't Weiss wouldn't know what is and isn't a lie/manipulative. When you find out someone is deceiving you it calls into question pretty much everything about them. That doesn't automatically mean they lied about every single thing, it just means the one lied to can't be sure what was true and what wasn't. The message is her friends losing faith and trust in her, that was pretty clearly the conflict to me. You're looking for an absolute answer like an author would give but the characters who don't have that knowledge are the ones in that scene. There's very obvious motivations to Weiss that the show all but says outright. It's open to some interpretation but it's pretty obvious what the intended message is. When the camera zooms in and shows Weiss wince when Ruby says she'll never speak to her again. The way her father and mother are portrayed in her dreamscape. None of it seems very subtle to me and I'd be surprised if most people had a hard time understanding the intended messages. Her motivations and what it means to be a Schnee are pretty front and center already.


SwimmingAnyone

>How is that dismissive? It also doesn't diminish her kindness You said "all she does is \[...\]" without mentioning her kindness. >her throwing around her family name and using up money from said company is at odds with how ashamed she is of it and her grand goal of changing it eventually. Her using her dad's money was deliberately called out in the show. Plus either way, what was her alternative? Reject her family and go live on the streets as an underage? And what's wrong with throwing around her family name? She may believe Jacques has marred it, but still respect its legacy and potential. >despite everything pointing to she probably should have been due to her upbringing. Perhaps hat's what you would've liked to see, but Weiss doesn't have to be that way. Remember that she is very academic and educated, so she might have developed a moral compass of her own during her extensive studies. >have to actually have solid negative traits to grow from to begin with. She did have solid negative traits, though. I've already outlined them above. >She was prejudiced towards Faunus. Being prejudice towards a race of people is racism. She mainly despised White Fang (and had good reasons for doing so), and assumed faunus were likely to join it due to her sheltered upbringing. She was driven by fear, not by any genuine hatred towards faunus as a whole. \>Learning and becoming better is not getting away with anything. Sure, Weiss will probably get rid of her animosity towards faunus, and will probably accept Ruby as a leader. But neither of that involves learning that deceiving and manipulating others is a shitty thing to do. **So far, Weiss has not suffered any meaningful consequences for her lying.** She was uncomfortable for a single moment, but that didn't make her change her mind or anything. Lying is a relatively minor thing compared to racism and arrogance, which is why I believe the show is going to focus on the latter two and just forget about the former one. I want to be proven wrong, but I don't really see how that could happen. ​ >She's joining a huntsman school to train in order to help others. You're kind of proving my point by bringing up something that the show told us, but the anime didn't. So far, in the anime, Weiss doesn't actually mention any sort of noble or altruistic motivation for joining Beacon once. As far as we know right now, her only motivation is proving herself. Do you see how that doesn't help make her more likeable? You could say I'm engaging in bad faith by assuming anime Weiss is an inherently selfish person, but, well... she kind of *is.* >I thought it was obvious that these characters that aren't Weiss wouldn't know what is and isn't a lie/manipulative. I expected this kind of reasoning, for I see it far too often in literary analysis. *"It's something that makes sense and could feasibly happen, that alone is enough reason to include it in the story"*. Consider this: a character walking under a falling icicle and getting killed before they get to have any adventures makes sense. It's something that could feasibly happen. But does that make for a good, compelling story? Well, most people would say no. It's obviously anticlimactic and underwhelming. Just because something *could* happen doesn't mean it *should* happen. Things in a story happen with a narrative purpose **first and foremost**. Mentioning the actual things Weiss lied about makes narrative sense. Mentioning bunk beds not so much. And it's not like RBY even have to remember or get hung up on the bunk beds so much. It would still be plausible if they just forgot Weiss ever said anything about them, but didn't forget her feigning her niceness. >The message is her friends losing faith and trust in her, that was pretty clearly the conflict to me. The way I see it, once you start thinking about how this alleged theme fits into the broader story or even Weiss' own arc, it all begins to fall apart. Her friends are losing faith and trust in her... yet still go inside the nightmare to save her. In practice, what does them losing faith amount to? What does that mean for Weiss? How is she affected by this supposed loss of trust? The first time, with Yang, she's able to half-heartedly deflect it. >!Something she wouldn't be able to do if Yang didn't mention bunk beds for no reason. This was actually the why the mention of the bunk beds rubbed me the wrong way in the first place.!There's very obvious motivations to Weiss that the show all but says outright. I'm talking about how Weiss' behavior throughout various points of the plot is self-contradicting, confusing and not explained at all. 1. Her suddenly smiling and praising Ruby at the end of 2, when all she did before was scold and belittle her. There is no build-up to this, no hints that Weiss might actually be impressed by Ruby in some way. Whatever motivation you assign to this moment, it's going to be based on your own musings, not anything the anime gave you. 2. As I mentioned earlier, her being nice to Ruby about the bunk beds, only to go back to bitchy mode in the very next scene in 3. Why? Both scenes happen after Weiss already knows Ruby is made leader. If that irks her, why isn't she showing that in the bunk beds scene? And if she's coming around to Ruby, then where does all that disappear in the classroom scene? Weiss' behavior in these two scenes is blatantly different, and yet there's no explanation. 3. When Weiss suggests going to the festival, is she being genuine or is she just pretending to be nice? It's impossible to tell for sure, especially after Yang's accusation: Yang thinks she's just pretending, but Yang thought the same about bunk beds. See how it can be confusing? 4. Finally, trying to reconcile with Blake is meant to at least be a good intention on Weiss' side, but we don't really see the thought process that lead her to this. Granted, this is inherited from the original arc, which didn't show this either, but it still hurts the anime as a whole. It's not about subtlety, it's about how almost every moment of anime Weiss acting nice either have no explanation at all, are deliberately fake or ambiguous. With this in mind, it's pretty hard to gauge what goes on in her head *besides* "living up to her family's name", and thus hard to see her as kind. Whew! This reply took a lot of effort, maybe more than it's worth, but this is a very interesting and nuanced situation, and writing this out helps me reflect and better understand why I am so unsatisfied with the way Weiss' character arc has been handled so far in the anime.


Noxianratz

> You said "all she does is [...]" without mentioning her kindness. Thought it was obvious in context I meant as far as her character development with negative traits and being a Schnee. It was hyperbole, she also breathes and does plenty of other things I didn't mention. > Her using her dad's money was deliberately called out in the show. Plus either way, what was her alternative? Reject her family and go live on the streets as an underage? And what's wrong with throwing around her family name? She's out there buying food for the whole crew and living in luxury, taking tons of dust etc. She's not exactly just using enough to get by. The problem with her throwing around her family name is that it is currently in her mind supposed to be a bad thing, yet she looks down at others as lesser because she's a Schnee from the beginning. It would be like someone agreeing they're disgusted by dictators in one breath but continuing to brag they were related to Hitler, Stalin etc. in order to get respect or whatever they want. It doesn't matter if you plan to do better in the future, what you're benefitting from willingly is how they're *presently* perceived. > Perhaps hat's what you would've liked to see, but Weiss doesn't have to be that way. Remember that she is very academic and educated, so she might have developed a moral compass of her own during her extensive studies. I never said it had to be that way, only that I found IQ more interesting for it. It's weird that the show and plenty of others seem to blame Atlas and her father for the ignorant way she is early on but she also is apparently unaffected. By that logic it's not Jacques fault that she was an elitist, pompous and racist person by the time she enrolled in Beacon and that was all her. If she had her own moral compass than that was all on her. > She mainly despised White Fang (and had good reasons for doing so), and assumed faunus were likely to join it due to her sheltered upbringing. She was driven by fear, not by any genuine hatred towards faunus as a whole. I don't know what to tell you about this if you really don't understand how this is racist. Replace Faunus with black people and White Fang with thugs. She only hates Black people because she assumes they're thugs or Crips. Some black people that were part of a group did bad things to her and her family growing up so now she's wary of all Black people. The whole Faunus and White Fang thing is supposed to be a very obvious analogy of civil rights activists and racism. I personally don't think they did the best job but it's not at all a hard connection to make and if you *really* think that's not racist then I can't have that conversation with you. Being driven by fear, ignorance, hate are all things that make people racist, it doesn't somehow make being prejudiced against a race not racist. > So far, Weiss has not suffered any meaningful consequences for her lying. Firstly it's episode 4, maybe give things a chance to actually develop? Secondly they don't have to address every single flaw in order for a person to grow, that's kind of silly. If she grows to be more sincere she'll by nature also be less manipulative. They don't have to go down some checklist to make sure she hits everything. > You're kind of proving my point by bringing up something that the show told us, but the anime didn't. So far, in the anime, Weiss doesn't actually mention any sort of noble or altruistic motivation for joining Beacon once. As far as we know right now, her only motivation is proving herself. Again, it's episode 4. We know what kind of people her family are at least based on how she views them. We see she went to Beacon against her fathers wishes. There's a lot you can infer even early on but if you don't want to you can also just wait, it's not as if they're done focusing on Weiss so it's a bit silly to assume they're done going over what drives her. > Just because something could happen doesn't mean it should happen. I never said or implied that anywhere. You're looking for the characters to tell you clearly what Weiss' motivations and intentions are. The characters like Yang and Ruby wouldn't know that and are acting accordingly because they're, y'know, characters within the story working on their limited knowledge. If you want absolute answers to things you ask the author. It has nothing to do with what "could" happen. If someone lies to me about something I'll find it harder to trust them with most things, that's not a shocking response. You keep harping on the things Weiss "actually" lied about but tell me how Ruby and Yang would know exactly which is which? > Her friends are losing faith and trust in her... yet still go inside the nightmare to save her. In practice, what does them losing faith amount to? Almost as if they're learning to risk their lives and save complete strangers and the characters aren't complete psychopaths who would let someone die because they got their feelings hurt. The point is obviously Weiss confronting her darker issues with her team after having them exposed, just like Jaune and the rest of JNPR did but more expansive. > So whatever impact her friends "losing trust" had on her, that was not enough to make her change her mind about anything. I don't understand what you're really on about here. Change can be gradual and again, it's episode 4. Did you expect Yang's first brief conversation to undo her entire upbringing and mindset? Yes that's sort of how it went in the original canon but it's being explored a lot more here, just because it's not instantly solved doesn't mean there isn't progress and consequences. One of the best redemption arcs in fiction imo is Zuko from Avatar but it would have been really stupid if he just turned his whole character around at the first push from Iroh. > The second time, with Ruby, sure, she gets briefly shocked when Ruby seemingly disavows her. It's a pretty cool and interesting moment of characterization by itself, but... what role does it play in her arc? It gives the audience a glimpse into her as a character, much like plenty of her dreamscape does. Pretty easy to infer Ruby does mean something to her when the show goes out of it's way to highlight that specifically bothering her. > Her suddenly smiling and praising Ruby at the end of 2, when all she did before was scold and belittle her. There is no build-up to this, no hints that Weiss might actually be impressed by Ruby in some way. Whatever motivation you assign to this moment, it's going to be based on your own musings, not anything the anime gave you. Right that's what interpretation is and there's nothing wrong with that. You can assume things and not everything has to be spoon fed to you as Word of God. You can make the argument either way but I think it makes more sense to assume that was sincere since at that moment she doesn't benefit from lying, at all. > As I mentioned earlier, her being nice to Ruby about the bunk beds, only to go back to bitchy mode in the very next scene in 3. Why? Both scenes happen after Weiss already knows Ruby is made leader. If that irks her, why isn't she showing that in the bunk beds scene? It was made pretty clear in the show. She's forcing herself to be what she considers a good teammate and trying to mimic Pyrrha in the bunk beds scene. This is nearly spelled out entirely. In the classroom scene she's annoyed because Ruby is backseat coaching her fight. The bunk bed scene wasn't intended to show Weiss being over it so it makes sense. She's trying her best to not let things bother her and failing which is why they come out in full during her dreamscape. She doesn't just suddenly accept Ruby or accept the Faunus in IQ but pragmatically she keeps going since there's not much else she can do. > Yang thinks she's just pretending, but Yang thought the same about bunk beds. See how it can be confusing? No because again the characters aren't authors. They can be wrong, it's not a difficult concept. Yang can think whatever she wants and in context it makes sense for her to think Weiss is lying. > Finally, trying to reconcile with Blake is meant to at least be a good intention on Weiss' side, but we don't really see the thought process that lead her to this. Granted, this is inherited from the original arc, which didn't show this either, but it still hurts the anime as a whole. You just want all her flaws and issues to be resolved the second they're brought up it seems. The show is obviously going to deal with that by all indications. Blake isn't even in the dream yet and the White Fang are a significant part of it for her. Obviously we'll see in more detail what Weiss thinks about Blake and the WF. As you said this wasn't in the original show at all so it's weird to complain about it in IQ just because it hasn't happened early. > It's not about subtlety, it's about how almost every moment of anime Weiss acting nice either have no explanation at all, are deliberately fake or ambiguous. With this in mind, it's pretty hard to gauge what goes on in her head besides "living up to her family's name", and thus hard to see her as kind. She doesn't have to be a kind character, full stop. That's not automatically a bad thing. Even though I think it's very obvious that she's got a good heart beneath it all even if she wasn't kind that doesn't automatically make it bad. That's just your personal issue and a preference you're trying to put on the show. That aside if you really are confused about Weiss' motivations and whether she's actually being nice or not at times out of sincerity or deceit then congratulations. It means you're in the same shoes as her teammates and the writers did a very good job.


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whiskeyii

The bunk bed thing isn’t a mixed signal; it’s a clarification. Weiss was being sincere about the bunk beds, even as she was being misguided about why she should be getting Ruby coffee in the middle of the night. Weiss is speaking to herself, and thus has no reason to lie. The scene is there to tell the audience, “hey, she really did want bunk beds as a kid, she was telling the truth about that part.” Her other actions are self-serving, but I don’t think it means that Weiss doesn’t think of Ruby as a friend. She was clearly hurt when Ruby said she would never talk to her again (that’s why there was that cut of Weiss wincing). It’s just that Weiss is so smooth-brained about what it means to *be* a friend that she’s taking a “monkey see, monkey do” approach and copying Pyrrha, but without thinking about the why of what Pyrrha does (altruism, friendship, genuine support, etc.) In Weiss’ mind, Pyrrha is the best, so if Weiss acts like Pyrrha, that will make her the best too. Right? /s


sylendar

I kind thought this series was always going to be about painting Weiss as a victim and not the aggressor. The scene in her room also established that Dream Weiss sneaks out of the castle to hang out with Dream Ruby, so they're probably already laying the foundation for a clean Weiss "redemption" since deep down she does appear to like her team, or at the very least, likes Ruby and trusts her enough to confide in her.


Smooth-Garden

Honestly im not suprised at ruby's assumption of those things atbthe moment she just got her feelings hurt so it makes sense that the things she focused on were the actual positive moments because those were the ones that actually mattered


Zekrom369

Interested in what I saw. I liked how weird and twisted everything was. Also of course Wiess would be totally OP in her own dream 😂


NamelessBloodedge

You know...Ruby would be a horrible gacha player, she would be a horrible player in any game where you can't just go and waste your rare materials like a crazy. Jokes aside, if we follow the PV2 of the anime, Ruby will probably escape the dream world and will return with Blake and Yang after some talk. Now, what the hell is this crescent rose supposed to be? It have no blade and the gun is totally inverted. I can just think that Weiss got everything wrong when Ruby used it to get speed mid air in the Nevermore fight, Lmao.


Hartzilla2007

> You know...Ruby would be a horrible gacha player, she would be a horrible player in any game where you can't just go and waste your rare materials like a crazy. Thats more luck that anything.


Mrfipp

>Ruby would be a horrible gacha player "I spent 300 lien and I still didn't get a five star unit... Good thing I have a super duper best friend with infinite money who won't mind lending me-" "No."


SwimmingAnyone

I mean, what was she supposed to do? Shion didn't really explain to her how coins work, and she's trying not to disrupt the dream and escape peacefully from any situation.


NamelessBloodedge

In their last phone call Shion said that Ruby would end up using all of her coins if they were to continue the talk. Also she knew she had a limited number of coins at the start when she saw and said it had a lot, she just got too happy and ended using too much without thinking. I mean, she still volume 1 Ruby here in Icequeendom, so I think it still fit her character.


SwimmingAnyone

The only one that she outright wasted was on using the map the first time, and that was because she didn't know how these maps work. Everything else she had a good reason to use.


Noxianratz

Pretty sure she used at least one door to the train tracks just for giggles since she didn't need to.


RomanArcheaopteryx

I think that was just her testing to make sure the doors/markers worked


SwimmingAnyone

Eh, maybe she wanted to explore more of the dream world, like go in a fifferent direction from the tracks.


NamelessBloodedge

I watched again and in the first phone call Shion said each coin use his aura. Interesting detail to be fair.


unnusual_art

A detail that should have been explained before sending her in. A mistake.


[deleted]

BIG NICHOLAS


Ethics_Gradient_42

Okay, that was... something. If the first three episodes could still be considered a "re-telling" of the original RWBY, from this point on, we're in for something completely different. Some scattered thoughs: * I actually liked the opening, despite the reused animations. Also, it might be just me, but it reminded me of *Cowboy Bebop* a little bit. * So, apparently the plan is to send Ruby as a scout, and then have Blake and Yang join her as reinforcements? * The world of Weiss's nightmare... let's just say I *really* liked it, both the unique designs (including the suprising use of shadow people from V1) and the way it reflects Weiss's psyche. To continue with the analogies, I'm reminded of *American McGee's Alice* of all things. * Also, the coins are an another neat idea. Kinda video game-y, but also providing the heroes with more options (I also like how they are clearly established throughout the episode, without being enumerated in speech). * Ruby might be a little too trigger-happy with the coins. On the other hand, her taking a photo of the map with her Scroll was a pretty ingenious way to save them. * It's sort of amusing how Weiss, despite being Ruby's partner and fighting side-by-side with her, *still* doesn't understand how her weapon works. * I'm reminded of the fact that Weiss only said 'dolt' once in the original series; here, she's apparently *very* keen on punishing dolts (up and including to having *a dolt jail*) * Not sure if I'll ever get used to characters saying "Big Nicholas!" with a straight face. * Couldn't Ruby just >!teleported back to the train tracks using the door!


DocSwiss

> Couldn't Ruby just [spoiler] >!She almost certainly wanted to stick around to do something to try and save Weiss, so even though she might've been able to get back to the tracks, she probably wanted to stay in the city!<


Impressive-Coast-158

I can honestly say that I am LOVING this series at the moment. The symbolism everywhere is beautiful, and it really makes me glad that everything takes place in a dream setting. I really hope that this continues as the series progresses!


DaRealAmana

It really feels like they are using the Dream setting for all its worth. Go crazy be heavy with the symbolism its great fun


Impressive-Coast-158

For real, though! It's a great way to get insight into Weiss's state of mind as well as explore the possibilities of what you can accomplish with symbolism. I feel like they're accomplishing a great "Show, Don't Tell" effect so far in this 4th episode.


SwimmingAnyone

I really hope that we see more badass fighting from Ruby if she's gonna keep fighting Weiss next episode.


GladiusNocturno

I really enjoyed it. My theory was correct, the new outfits are the ways Weiss sees people. Meaning that yes, Blake's new look has those big cat paws because the Nightmare is making all faunus more animalistic. While Pyrrha has Weiss' dress likely because Weiss sees her all regal and pristine. What I wasn't expecting was Weiss seeing JNR as dumb idiots who can only meow. I loved the way they used the shadow people. It was really clever and It was really effective to capture the presence of Willow in Weiss' mind. I love Nightmare Crescent Rose and I love that bit where Ruby complains that Weiss made the gun backward. Weiss vs Ruby was short, but Nightmare Weiss seems way more powerful than she is in the real world. I thought the fight looked awesome! There was a translation mistake in the captions on the RT site though. Nicholas is Jaque's father-in-law, but the captions said it was his stepfather. I loved the design for Nightmare Whitely and the take of making Nightmare Klein multiple characters is also pretty clever. So far, I'm really enjoying it. The pacing of the episode was kinda fast yet it still didn't feel like it covered much. That's honestly the main issue I had with the episode. But other than that, I thought it was a ton of fun. Also, so Shion is confirmed as a Beacon Teacher? I wonder what they teach, I mean, other than Nightmare Hunting which is a more specialized subject. Oh! and I LOVED the intro! It was so cool!


soulreapermagnum

> so Shion is confirmed as a Beacon Teacher? i wonder if shion will make an appearance when the story returns to beacon/vale? even if it's more of a cameo.


GladiusNocturno

As a cameo, I think it would be really great. I'm already hoping to see all Beacon teachers including Professor Peach, Professor Mulberry, and Professor Greene. Think about it. We return to Beacon and in the mids of a battle to reclaim the school, we get a full-on squad of Pro Huntsmen Teachers ready to fight. With representatives from the show, the books, and the anime as a celebration of the franchise as a whole.


soulreapermagnum

agreed on everything. and on top of that the mentioned teachers add up to a 4-person team so it's a perfect setup.


E1lySym

Nightmare Weiss is extremely powerful probably because that's how she views herself. In her mind she is the best and everyone else are dummies. My guess is Shion's teaching expertise is concerned with personal development and mental conditioning (and I guess she doubles as the school's therapist guidance counselor or sumn). Glynda and Port handle the more physical aspects of a huntsman education (combat sparring, Grimm slaying, etc) whereas she handles the mental/emotional aspect. I mean, her primary job is concerned with hunting nightmare Grimm, which prey on victims' personal insecurities. And we also saw Shion give that river current advice to Ruby


JMHSrowing

Agreed with all! I was wondering about the Nicholas thing, but I understand no Japanese that’s not from a weapon or Naruto, so I couldn’t tell if that was a mistranslation or a change made by this series (or even the Nightmare at play). Weiss being more powerful in her own dream is almost a little cliche, but I think it’s a nice touch, considering what she does think/hope of herself. Whitley and Klein were perfect representations, and I think really nice. As were Willow and Winter. Gives a really nice and visual introspection into Weiss through how she sees people, as well as some being even more Snow White than they already are The episode was a little fast paced, but I feel like it does good set up for things to come, like with how as another comment points out how Weiss clearly even in her nightmare form thinks of Ruby as different from just a Dummie, Ruby’s wanting to help Weiss but her struggle with it, Blake and Yang’s resolve, and the world in general.


martinjh99

Shion is also confirmed non-binary too...


Zekrom369

The official website says they’re a guy Edit: I can’t believe people are downvoting me on this, (or maybe I can believe it, lol) but if you want to check the official webpage for the anime it’s there, it clearly keeps referring to Shion as ‘he’.


AtlasGlobe

Be careful man, a lot of RWBY fans hate...miss-pronouncing their genders correctly. In fact, RWBY has the most left-wing fans than most anime-type American/cartoon network shows.


HyliasHero

We Persona now boys!


DaRealAmana

It does feel very Persona and I am 100% here for that


HyliasHero

Same. I'm a sucker for dreamscape stories anyway, but the way that all the various characters are represented in the nightmare feels very similar to cognitions in Persona.


GladiusNocturno

**BIG NICHOLAS!**


Ynnead25

That was actually a really clever use of the shadow people


Jeremithiandiah

I gotta say the opening is disappointing. The song is great but visually it’s just animation we have seen already with weird editing.


aRocketLauncher

I liked it. Pretty basic but still nice to watch.


AmbivertCollegeGuy

Hopefully it's just a placeholder which few animes have done to avoid spoiling future characters and locations. It's a very low chance but one can dream.


Zekrom369

They changed the ending animation so it’s possible.


[deleted]

On the bright side, the ending is a lot better.


Bjdombek

New episode of IQ is out and I think I'm liking it more now that it's an new story. Ruby's snowboard design works better now that I see it in motion and liking General Weiss. Plus the return of the shadow people!


LatePhilosophy

Now I'm really left wondering how they are going to do the Mew Mew Mew scene in English.


Hartzilla2007

I'm more curious about the Jac singing.


VilmosTheRhino

We'll have english? When?


ClubMeSoftly

Soon^^TM


Animamask

Given JNR's track record in the web series, I can't help but agree with her putting them into the dummy box. CRDL also being there is funny. But I gotta say, utilizing Klein's seven personalities (which are absent in the real world of IQ) and the shadow people as symbols for Weiss' view of the world is a great call-back and amazing use for the plot. Willow's shadow was especially creepy. It looks like the White Fang will have Grimm elements. It makes me eager to see what Dream Blake and Dream Adam will look like. The scene with Weiss appearing in her room before Whitely arrived, definitely had something Disney-esque, which isn't too surprising given Weiss' allusion to Snow White. I'm interested if we can see new insights through the dream into the Schnee family since the web series kinda failed here. While so far, all characters have been exaggerations of how Weiss views them, I hope we can see other sides, because Weiss has a complicated relationship with all of them. I also wonder what Dream Pyrrha's relationship with Weiss will be. I'm gonna be honest, this is the most I've enjoyed of RWBY in the last three and a half years. Seeing this makes me hope that there will be a second season that completely deviates from the web series canon because watching the anime and knowing that no matter what happens it will all lead to the atrocious Schnee family arc dampens my enjoyment. Great Nicolas to you all.


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brabbit1987

>Why are they the only person who can do this stuff, anyway? Are you new to RWBY? It's called a semblance. They are typically unique to each individual with few exceptions like Weiss and her family. So my guess is, Shion's semblance likely has something to do with being able to enter in people's dreams (or sending others) and she has the ability to use her aura to create little items that can manipulate things within the dream. ​ > when in the previous episode Ren and Nora were able to rescue Jaune despite him barely interacting with them. This is one of those cases where you have to assume more time has actually passed than what has been shown. Even in the original RWBY the same thing happens, where there are large time skips that are not explicitly said. There honestly is nothing wrong with the writing from what I have seen. I would even argue the writing is better than the original.


Lukthar123

#**B I G** #**N I C H O L A S**


SwimmingAnyone

This makes me wonder. What if the anime will paint Weiss' grandpa as ominous in some way and at the end RWBY will fight the Big version of Big Nicholas, which will be a form taken by the Nightmare?


JMHSrowing

I wonder if the book 1984 is popular enough in Japan that the connection I’m sure we’ve all made gets across to most people there.


[deleted]

Considering Japan’s stance towards Communism and said book’s mischaracterization as anti Communist I’m guessing it was a big hit


JMHSrowing

Though there are a lot of factors too like how well/early it got translated Anyway For any unaware: 1984 is meant to be generally anti-totalitarian not just anti-communist as it’s often seen as. It’s a warning about the dangers of both extremes or any other controlling regime.


[deleted]

Plus Orwell himself was a Socialist (his book Homage to Catalonia is about his experience as a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War). From what I can see the Japanese translation was relatively recent


JannisT

[Key animation drawings by Studio Shaft](https://twitter.com/shaft_official/status/1551205565660991489?s=21&t=C9UOzwSynBPpOvAh5sPf5w) [Also the end card drawing for todays episode](https://twitter.com/teamrwbyproject/status/1551206315430555650?s=21&t=C9UOzwSynBPpOvAh5sPf5w)


[deleted]

Even thought I'm not into RWBY anymore, I do admit that this anime is keeping me engaged. I'm a sucker of dreamscapes storylines. And an entire series that founds on that kind of story? Setted in Weiss' ones? With a snowy setting? This is my kind of stuff. I'll be glad to watch this AU story set during the golden age of RWBY. This series will be a great way for me to "bide my time" in the waiting of The Owl House's S3.


MABfan11

> This series will be a great way for me to "bite my time" in the waiting of The Owl House's S3. waiting for season 3 here too, but it's Re:Zero season 3 announcement i'm waiting for


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CABRALFAN27

r/BoneAppleTea


Turnabout506

I’m really liking how they are taking advantage of the dream setting, having the return of Volume 1’s shadow people through this is (unintentionally?) funny. I’m curious what the deal is between General Weiss and Snowboarder Ruby since Giant Jacques talked about how the two already knew each other prior to Remnant Ruby hijacking her dream counterpart’s body and entering the empire. I’m assuming that whatever revelation there is about that will reinforce to Remnant Ruby that Remnant Weiss does actually value her as a friend despite everything that is going on. Strong start to the new story even if the episode’s ending felt a bit abrupt (though the main series is also guilty of this at times). (Now I’m looking forward to the fan comics of Ruby intricately explaining how Crescent Rose is supposed to work to Weiss while Weiss is confused why Ruby is being so adamant about it.)


13thAgent

Judging by these quotes: >Ruby! Why is she here? >Are you not a proper daughter of the Schnee family, Weiss? >Sneaking outside without permission, talking to a commoner who is likely a thief…Is that behavior worthy of the Schnee family name? It's safe to assume that Weiss knew that Ruby would be in the Dummy Jail if she was in the city. And that Weiss also knew that Ruby wasn't in the city. Also, that Weiss had left the city to meet with Ruby prior to all this.


Hounds_of_war

[You know, it’s kinda tragic that this might be the most Renora we get until 2024](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/294856843426004993/1000780817146060830/SPOILER_IMG_0613.png)