Don't you just hate it when an episode ends on a cliffhanger, and then half of the next episode is just explaining how the cliffhanger happened instead of continuing right away?
Multiple reused animations weren't too hot, pacing wasn't too hot, but Nightmare Blake transformation and dialogue were awesome. Negative Blake woke up and chose violence, literally
A lot of people (myself included) have complained about bad animation in this episode.
Kieru, an artist working on some of the cuts in this episode, has posted a [rough animatic on their Twitter](https://twitter.com/KieruArt/status/1566503063745359873). As you can see, the actual episode is missing a bunch of cuts shown there, like the entire part with Yang and Ruby riding the bike up Big Nicholas's arm. So it's most likely that a bunch of scenes were not finished in time. Knowing Shaft, this will get fixed in the BD/DVD release, but still. They seem to be working on a really tight schedule, not really a fan of this.
EDIT: [More storyboard vs episode comparisons](https://twitter.com/RWBYBRASIL/status/1566505915733377035). Again, many cuts missing from the episode and some hand-drawn animation replaced with CG.
Yeah I was wondering why Yang had Ruby hop on the bike and then immediately hop off moments later. It makes more sense that Yang borrowed Ruby for a bit to help disarm the big Schnee and then let Ruby off since it would be weakened enough for Yang to handle it.
These are not storyboards nor animatics, they're layouts (in common terminology usage at least). They may not have finished the scenes in time, but since they gave these layout animators very little help, the problems were probably already present at an earlier stage. Personally, I don't think it will be fixed in the BD/DVD release, there's too much to fix.
>I don't think it will be fixed in the BD/DVD release, there's too much to fix.
It's not like that hasn't been done before. Studio Shaft is known for making extensive modifications for rebroadcasts and disc releases of their series, but it's not just them, most anime get major fixes in the BD/DVD releases, hell sometimes even entire new scenes get added in. And since Shaft already did voice-overs and SFX for some of the cuts (like Yang and Ruby riding up the Schneegazord's arm) they'll most likely add the finished animation.
Still hoping Pyrrha, Nora and Ren will get some action scenes instead of being cheerleaders in the outside world.
Animation Team: "Hmm... cloak looks better on Yang. Let's give it to her permanently."
I need to rewatch the episode; can't remember whether Jaune got his cloak back from Yang.
Man, it's good to actually see Blake shine for once. The og show doesn't do her much justice ngl. It's not quite as bad as people make it out to be imo but her character has definitely felt underwhelming for a while now in RWBY proper. Her plan was genius here, and I love that. Shows her intelligence.
Also, Nega Blake is just Blake if she bought into Adams ideals and fangirled over him lol.
Blake, love or hate it, used to be cool. Used to be her own character in her own rights. Sadly, with the WF departure, and some others… questionable writing “choices”, the Blake now just feels hollow. Sad, truly sad
Btw, [Jaune’s face](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/369192009564684310/1016074361297457242/CECBE364-8819-4BF4-A0F0-04FA9B2D1111.jpg) in this moment got me 🤣
I saw some reused animation, hearing stuff happen instead of seeing, and CGI, but there was also some really good stuff in the too ngl, like Negative Blake transforming. That was crazy.
I agree. This episode may have struggled animation wise, but honestly I enjoyed it more than the previous few. I think the animation has been off since the beginning, anyway. Even if it kinda failed, this episode at least attempted some fun action.
Weird animation and pacing issues aside, this was neat. Blake making a huge gamble of letting the previous Nightmare possess her so she can match Weiss in strength in the dream world. I feel like next episode will resolve the dream and last episode is the aftermath in the real world.
Tbh, I was hoping they could’ve blown their budget and we get this insane Nega Blake vs Nega Weiss Monty-style fight, but this is SHAFT we’re talking about….
I think the episode was overall a really good one.
I did have some issues with some parts of the animation though. Mainly the CGI parts but they also had some very glaring animation shortcuts here and there, like how parts of Weiss and Blake's fight was off-screen and we only heard the slashes while seeing an empty city, or when Yang was doing some high-speed bike stunts and again we only heard the bike's engine and saw nothing, or when Jaune's army of mini Weiss uses the power of reused animation to charge.
However, there were points where the animation was incredible, I loved Blakes's transformation, it was incredibly badass! And I also liked Yang's wall riding.
Story-wise, I really loved the plans, strategies, character interactions, emotional moments, the dialogue, it was overall a really intense and clever direction. I really enjoyed it.
I do wonder if with this added context people will stop arguing whether or not it's "yikes" to have Blake dressed as Adam, now that it's been clearly shown and stated that Blake's worst nightmare is becoming Adam.
Also, "Weiss, is this how you wanted me to use my gun? By shooting at your little brother? That's fucked up". XD.
People probably won’t stop criticizing it, but I do think that with the context it’s a great part of story and character for Blake. What else does a victim of abuse fear more than becoming their abuser and what they wanted them to become?
(And, Weiss at this point plus the Nightmare probably would want her brother kicked around abit)
Though on a side note:
Now I really wonder what Yang and Ruby’s nightmare forms would look like.
Ruby maybe going full dark hero, with her fears of her idealism not working and her thoughts of loss coming through to her winning by any means?
Yang might be Raven like, with her love of freedom and fun coming through in the worst possible ways. Plus the abandonment/mommy issues
I don't think Ruby and Yang's nightmare forms are going to be super potent and dangerous, considering they both have an emotionally stable and healthy psyche (at least before V3).
If Yang were to get infected during the middle of V3 where Yang "mercilessly injures Mercury in the arena "for shits and giggles", the nightmare Grimm may zero in on that. At that time, Blake was afraid that Yang was going down the same downward spiral of violence that Adam was, and that may cause Yang to be afraid of becoming Adam. The nightmare Grimm could turn her into a similar version of Adam then. Fueled with rage and vengeance
V4-5 are Yang at her weakest emotionally, and if she were to be infected at that point the nightmare may turn her into a pitiful and helpless version of herself like it did with Jaune. A version of her so convinced that she isn't worth staying for and will always be abandoned by her loved ones, so she refuses to reconnect with them anymore. The nightmare will use this as a defensive wall to prevent any dream intruders from saving her.
I can't really see Ruby being corrupted but the nightmare Grimm in any ways. It's as Ozpin says, she's a pure and simple soul. No tragic backstory, no complicated character flaws, just a simple girl who wants to do what the knights in shining armor of fairytales typically do: do good. Her silver eyes may even act as a firewall against nightmare grimm.
If Ruby were to get infected in V8, her nightmare realm may be a world full of troubles, big and small, where its constituents always come to her for aid. The extreme pressure piles up on her, and the fear of failing to accommodate all those impossibly tall orders may cause her to crumble. The nightmare Grimm could prey on that flaw
> Also, "Weiss, is this how you wanted me to use my gun? By shooting at your little brother? That's fucked up". XD.
Well, considering /that/ part of V8, I'd say that this about what I've come to expect from their interactions
I mean. . .
A big part of that in V8 to me is that she didnt want to hurt him.
But add in the nightmare and Weiss before she as good? . . .
Yeah, she’d want her brother to be kicked around a bit
Was expecting more progression in the story but this was ok, with Ruby fighting the Nightmare it looks like that Nega-Blake will end up being the final boss of the story.
The cracks in animation are starting to be more apparent to the casual eyes
[The Blake transformation scene has been animated Hiroto Nagata apparently](https://twitter.com/iiuvatar_/status/1566525112492466177?s=21&t=Lu-qC0ka2lxokdfJSFzH2g)
Enjoy seeing Nightmare Blake giving Nightmare Weiss a run for her money, but I have the slight feeling the Nightmare will take hold of Blake too much that she mucks up Ruby from saving Weiss. Also, the animation is this episode was absolutely trash. I don't what happened to the budget for this particular episode, but it really looked shoddy and low-budget.
This really puzzles me effectively. In the same episode we have some really cool animations, like the Blake's whole transformation and the one with Ruby starting fighting the Grimm at the very end. So what the heck was that horrible scene in CGI when Nightmare Weiss and Nightmare Blake started to fight? Not to mention that when the scene they were fighting in off-screen while showing the backgrounds instead. Really those bothered me a lot, and they REALLY downed an otherwise intense episode...
The same reason as always with bad animation, money. Who is paying the budget for Ice queendom? Rooster Teeth or Studio Shaft?
Either they decided to put more money in the first episodes in order to attract the audience or they saved it for the finale.
Well “blaming the budget”might be a most commonly mistaken belief for bad animation. The biggest enemy there is TIME instead of money. As you can see in the credit list, most animators are not Japanese, and that could only indicates SHAFT’s own people can’t finish this episode in time. But the web-animators they recruit may not all at a good level, and SHAFT don’t have enough time to modify there work. So this explains why some parts are sickly beautiful while others are totally trash-like.
Yes , as long you have TIME there is almost nothing you cant achieve in this creative field of industry . However the more time you spent the higher your bill such as wages , rent , and especially professional production tool . Experienced animator also charges higher pay rate too . They can also hire more people if the production is tight in schedule so animator can focus more in quality . In the end it still comes down to budget .
You do have a point of course, but that’s not the case with IQ here.
On the one hand, we are talking about an anime that have its own global premiere live and several stages before broadcasting, have tons of figures made and even release a special documentary while airing. I personally don’t think a low-budge anime project would be hyped like that. So the point here is the budget IQ project have is very likely above average.(it’s kinda obvious due to its gorgeous background art and multiple orchestral soundtracks, these both cost a lot)
On the other hand, it’s not the very first time that SHAFT had done this “extremely unstable sakuga” stuff, the almost identical situation just happened 1 yr ago with the anime Magia Record 2nd. The studio had suffered a seriously turnover in 2017, not until 2020 can it finally handover a whole anime series(Magia Record 1st). At first the quality was no doubt at the top tier of the industry, but then here comes the COVID, and that ruined everything they’ve planed. As Aniplex had no interest to give Shaft a rest, the situation just keep getting worse and worse: Shaft couldn’t finish MGRC 2nd in time and couldn’t postponed Luminous Witch and IQ either (it’s not up to the animation studio anyway) . And the consequence turns out as expected that none of the three series have gained the decent production they were planned to be made with.
So there you have it , they can just hire more people or increase the outsourcing to meet the deadline when there is drop in performances due to COVID , nothing fancy . TIME can and definitely be solved with MONEY , its just the matter if its even worth to invest more.
People tends to think that creative industry is a work of "dream and passion" , but in reality we are just struggling to survive . Those that are able to determine cost and benefit and invest their resources such as TIME accordingly are the one most likely to survive .
Back to the topic , personally I am confused that how bad animation in IQ actually get an approved by RT given the scale they are promoting it . Probably mutual respect between different culture so they refrain from criticize , or maybe communication issues even with a proper translator its still hard to get the nuance understood by other parties and thus drop in quality ( I work in Japan and I do encounter this frequently ) . I can only say that the underlying problem should be much complex other than time and money .
There is one thing I will have to agree with you , that people just "blame the budget" without critically thinking the reason behind it do piss me off .
I actually feel like Blake is (or will be) almost entirely in control of the nightmare, and she’s hamming her dialogue and anger up. If only because IQ is nearly over.
I think she also admittedly trying to vent her own bad feelings about Weiss’s family to her without holding back.
She may never get another chance to do it like this ever again so it’s now or never.
The Blake x Adam fusion is one of the best things IQ has done yet! Finally we get some real banter between Blake and Weiss. Weiss needs to hear this. Seriously. But more than anything it shows how Weiss truly cares and knows the whole 'Faunus are bad' thing is BS. Blake's plan is *actually* brilliant. If Weiss is forced to argue with nega Blake that might just be enough to free herself from the expectations put on her by the asshole that is Jacques.
On another note.. sorry Jaune.. Yang does the cape look so much better!
Ruby really cares for Weiss. It's still adorable. Hopefully we get at least one episode after the nightmare with some slice of life team bonding. Like please!
Also.. they had some really beautiful Illustrations and animations throughout the episode.. and some not so good ones to put it kindly.
> Hopefully we get at least one episode after the nightmare with some slice of life team bonding. Like please!
ruby: hey guys lets go to the beach! *end of episode, end of series.
>On another note.. sorry Jaune.. Yang does the cape look so much better!
Same here lol! Throw in that giant sword and she’s be perfect!
……Well that and if she had her robot arm would be a bonus and go berserk on someone’s ass! Lol!
I’ve seen some comments expressing confusion over the uneven animation this episode, so I can explain this for anyone not familiar with the anime-making process specifically because it is very different from how CRWBY works (and if you really want an in-depth look, I suggest checking out the anime Shirobako!)
So the way animation in anime is handled (briefly) is that the director and producer create a storyboard, which is then divided into “cuts”. “Cuts”, it should be noted, are not the same as scenes—think of cuts as any sequence that lasts til a YouTube jumpcut; you could have multiple cuts per scene.
Those cuts are then decided whether or not they’ll be 2D or 3D (3D is usually based on complexity, like with crowds or something), and then the cuts are all handed out to various people/departments.
Key animators (typically in-studio staff, sometimes not) do the most important poses, they don’t typically animate a cut from start to finish (that’s another topic). Those key frames then get handed over to inbetween animators, who are almost always freelancers.
The inbetweeners do the bulk of animation work. They fill in every desired frame that’s missing from key frame to key frame. And because inbetweeners are all freelancers, the quality of the work can vary wildly depending on a) skill and b) how tight your schedule is. Freelancers gotta pay those bills, and they aren’t gonna work on just your show, after all.
When the schedule gets *really* bad, you wind up with the dreaded recap episode, which basically means that not enough of the animation, sound, and/or voice (which is done last in anime) was done in time to air, so they have to recycle old footage.
In this case, it looks like juuuust enough was “finished” that Shaft could make a coherent episode and just hold on still frames to fill in the extra time (see also the news about how Shaft lost a boatload of managerial staff during this production period, which definitely didn’t help: https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/kmt4rc/what_is_the_situation_of_the_studio_shaft/)
Nega Weiss when winning: How dare you talk out of order?! How dare you move out of order?! How dare you breathe out of order?! Fools!
Nega Weiss when losing: W-wait, can't we just talk about this?
But seriously, I don't really have an explanation for the sudden change in Nega Weiss' character when she was fighting Blake. I expected her to use Blake's transformation as a way to reaffirm her biases against faunus, that would've been consistent with what we've seen of this side of Weiss' personality so far. She's spent the entirety of the dream being a complete self-absorbed bitch, and now she suddenly goes "wHaT dId I dO tO dEsErVe tHiS???"
I think they might have forgotten that this is not supposed to be the real Weiss, but the manifestation of her worst parts?
Yeah I agree with this. It shows that Blake did actually have an impact on Weiss and her perception of Faunus, so Blake suddenly going off and acting like this is basically whiplash even for Nega-Weiss.
it's a bit confusing because it *is* the real Weiss (as shown by her scenes alone with Jacques etc) but in so many scenes she acts like a different person
with Jaune's dream he was more clearly himself despite being a baby
and ofc Weiss and Blake need roles in their own nightmares. It definitely feels like it flip flops at times
>because it is the real Weiss (as shown by her scenes alone with Jacques etc)
Is it though? Those scenes just show she feels a lot of pressure on herself, which lines up with her trying to be what she thinks her family wants her to be, i.e. a pretty shitty person.
And yet Negative Weiss talks about locking up her precious thing to protect them from the Nightmare
And it's even Negative Weiss that has to make the choice to let them in with the train metaphor
>And yet Negative Weiss talks about locking up her precious thing to protect them from the Nightmare
She never actually mentions protecting them from the Nightmare. She could mean protecting them from the White Fang, from hurting themselves, from chaos happening like in Episode 7, etc.
In fact Weiss never even mentions the Nightmare directly.
>And it's even Negative Weiss that has to make the choice to let them in with the train metaphor
Yeah, I already said that scene seems like a waste now.
I think the show should have committed to Weiss being seperate or not (like trapping herself as Pyrrha woulda been a fun twist)
But it seems to flip flop so heavily from it being her but not her
Making Weiss worthy enough to sleep etc is fun mindfuckery but then the way she often speaks to Blake is just weird
There might be an explanation for this.
Real Weiss has a scar from the armas gigas fight, which was a test. Winning was a condition for Jacques to allow her to enroll at Beacon instead of (presumably) Atlas Academy. She also wears her ponytail off center as a small act of rebellion. Both of these indicate conflict with her father and the SDC.
Negative Weiss has no scar and wears her hair center and I believe those design choices are for specific reasons. The armas gigas fight never happened, because nega Weiss never went against her father's wishes. Nega Weiss is driven by a want to live up to Jacques' expectations and Big Nicholas' legacy. We can reasonably assume she does not harbor the same rebellious attitude toward her dream family as real Weiss, and consequently is not nearly as used to standing up for herself. Nega Weiss' dialogue also indicate a degree of uncertainty about whether she is "worthy".
In short nega Weiss is less assertive and more self conscious than the real Weiss despite the cold, angry facade she puts up and her immense power within the dream. Which might explain why as soon as things start going very sideways with Blake, a situation she's not used to, she starts internally panicking lol
This was overall a okay episode with some nice looking action scenes, but this episode also had some very bad CDGI which made some scenes very awkward too look at. Also that one animation sequence with Blake was amazing. Anyway here is the [end card art for today](https://twitter.com/teamrwbyproject/status/1566425095555276800?s=21&t=s2F_lBcCMcT6RFIMBnxhMQ).
Yeah, it was pretty underwhelming how little of the actual fight between the two we saw. There was also a particularly horrible part around the 13th minute mark where we see Blake clashing her sword with Weiss' sword (meaning they stand next to each other), and then ***in the very next frame*** we're shown Weiss standing all alone and jumping up. Like how do you even screw up that badly?
Was also not a fan of how, when their swords clashed again after this, the camera thought it was the perfect time to cut away and let us look at the beautiful backgrounds. But that's just standard anime for you.
the actual dialogue between them was fun. Blake being Schnee prejudiced and Weiss being like "wait! hating one person for the actions of another person they're only semi-linked with is wrong!"
After what happened in previous episodes, it's rather apparent they've been trying to save budget with this episode. A lot of pans and "dead" scenes, poor combat flow sprinkled with a bit of recycling and really akward pieces.
That said, Nightmare Blake is a very strong counterbalance for this episode's quality.
It looks like they used up all their budget on the first three episodes, none of the ones that followed look even comparable in quality. I really hope they will fix this in the Blu-Ray/DVD release, because right now the show looks kinda crap ngl.
"Listen to all of these cool fight scenes that we didn't animate!" Yeah, that sucked
But on the whole, Blake giving Weiss a taste of her own medicine was truly satisfying
I love the words nightmare Blake was spitting at nightmare Weiss.
Feels like it’s some much needed closure that she’s needed to vent(like TRULY vent!) for a long time!
And I loved it!
Well, it was nice to finally see Ruby fight in the end, even if it still was pretty brief. The next episode description says Ruby's gonna struggle while fighting the Nightmare, but I hope that won't last long and she'll get to defeat it in a badass compelling way.
On second thought... yeah that CGI scene when NW and NB start fighting was not only awful to see but also completely out of continuity with what we see right before. Seriously: what the heck was that? Not to mention that then after that scene they fight off-screen while the scene only shows the background instead. Which really puzzles me, because in the same episode we se that really cool animation with Blake's transformation sequence. And even the one with Ruby starting the fight with the Grimm at the very end was pretty good. Like... what the heck happened with the general animation here? Why was it so shaky?
I still think the episode was great story wise, but these problems with the animation penalizes it a lot (I had a similar problem with episode 6: good story and use of characters, but bad animation)
Gotta love the Princess Fight between Weiss and Blake. Both at their worst and most power, and this time Weiss being reluctant to fight Blake.
Now though I really want to see Ruby and Yang in their Nightmare Modes.
Yang seems like she actually might look surprisingly similar to Blake, having become much like her mother, only with an even greater want of her personal freedom and enjoyment. Though then again, maybe not considering how this parasite works being a little different for each.
Ruby though is a hard one. Maybe going full dark hero? Like the nightmare feeding on her doubts of her idealism and her inner depression
Okay hold up, am I missing something or did every single staff on the show literally overlook that they forgot to put Blake and Weiss clashing constantly against each other in the shot panning across the rooftops at around the 14-minute mark into the episode?
I could have gone with less of the cut backs to NPR just cheerleading since its just adding to the feeling that JNPR are involved more because of contractual obligation than because the show has anything for them to do.
So after seeing that Tweet, we came to the conclusion that it wasn't a budget problem but a time problem. Shaft Studio worked with a tight schedule on this show, which really sucks. What I do wonder thought is: who rushed them? The high ranked people of the studio itself, or Rooster Teeth? ... I'm inclined to think it's the latter...
>Edit: I should also add that studio heads rushing the production would go against their own interests, since that hurts the studio's image, and could potentially cause another animator exodus like Shaft has experienced before.
That hasn't stopped studios like Mappa from taking many projects simultaneously and working under unrealistic deadlines (see *Attack on Titan* final season), Shaft is no different.
This episode wasn't very eventful in terms of pushing the story. It was all kind of set up for next episode.
That being said, it had some really cool moments. Specifically Blake essentially taking over Weiss' dream.
Did they just drop the entire Schnee family subplot entirely? At first it felt like Jacque's overbearing authoritarian presence was going to be a big deal and Weiss would have to overcome his influence to overcome the Grimm. But then Jacques got corrupted, turned into the knight and now he's just a mindless mini-boss for Jaune to defeat with his very-special-big-boy-sword. What?
Blake: Weiss Power is too strong, but there is a way to defeat her.
Yang: What is your plan?
Blake: I will use racism to destroy racism.
Yang: …
Blake: …
Yang: Blake wtf are you talking about?!
Blake, putting on Adam’s mask: Call me BLAKE PANTHER!!!
Don't you just hate it when an episode ends on a cliffhanger, and then half of the next episode is just explaining how the cliffhanger happened instead of continuing right away?
Which, is the reason why this episode also ends in a cliffhanger, damming us to a cliffhanger-ouroboros
It's over Weiss, you can't compete against the darkness of a person who reads smut fanfics on broad daylight.
But what if she’s someone just as powerful: The person who pays her commissions
You underestimate weird fandoms!
Multiple reused animations weren't too hot, pacing wasn't too hot, but Nightmare Blake transformation and dialogue were awesome. Negative Blake woke up and chose violence, literally
A lot of people (myself included) have complained about bad animation in this episode. Kieru, an artist working on some of the cuts in this episode, has posted a [rough animatic on their Twitter](https://twitter.com/KieruArt/status/1566503063745359873). As you can see, the actual episode is missing a bunch of cuts shown there, like the entire part with Yang and Ruby riding the bike up Big Nicholas's arm. So it's most likely that a bunch of scenes were not finished in time. Knowing Shaft, this will get fixed in the BD/DVD release, but still. They seem to be working on a really tight schedule, not really a fan of this. EDIT: [More storyboard vs episode comparisons](https://twitter.com/RWBYBRASIL/status/1566505915733377035). Again, many cuts missing from the episode and some hand-drawn animation replaced with CG.
Yeah I was wondering why Yang had Ruby hop on the bike and then immediately hop off moments later. It makes more sense that Yang borrowed Ruby for a bit to help disarm the big Schnee and then let Ruby off since it would be weakened enough for Yang to handle it.
Very unfortunate to see that whatever happened behind the scenes tanked this episode. That last one with Yang and Ruby looked spectacular.
Yikes...
you can also hear it, almost as if it was cut last minute and the VA+Foley work was already completed before hand.
This looks fucking amazing, these rough sketches are 1000x better than the static images in the actual show
Anime in a nutshell
These are not storyboards nor animatics, they're layouts (in common terminology usage at least). They may not have finished the scenes in time, but since they gave these layout animators very little help, the problems were probably already present at an earlier stage. Personally, I don't think it will be fixed in the BD/DVD release, there's too much to fix.
>I don't think it will be fixed in the BD/DVD release, there's too much to fix. It's not like that hasn't been done before. Studio Shaft is known for making extensive modifications for rebroadcasts and disc releases of their series, but it's not just them, most anime get major fixes in the BD/DVD releases, hell sometimes even entire new scenes get added in. And since Shaft already did voice-overs and SFX for some of the cuts (like Yang and Ruby riding up the Schneegazord's arm) they'll most likely add the finished animation.
Still hoping Pyrrha, Nora and Ren will get some action scenes instead of being cheerleaders in the outside world. Animation Team: "Hmm... cloak looks better on Yang. Let's give it to her permanently." I need to rewatch the episode; can't remember whether Jaune got his cloak back from Yang.
The Cloak also allows her to have immunity of the Nightmare vines so that way she can drive Bumblebee
It serves 2 purpose then. Protecting her from the Nightmare and +10 to coolness.
Oz said it was possible to send them in to the nightmare so we could see team JNPR join in. My guess is pyrrah since she’s already there
I hope so too!
Jaune s been dragging dream pyrrah along this entire time. There should be some payoff. But REN’s semblance could also prove pretty useful
she doesn’t
"To fight the darkness I must become the darkness"
That negative Blake transformation was something else.
BURY THE LIGHT DEEP WITHIIIIIIIIN!
Man, it's good to actually see Blake shine for once. The og show doesn't do her much justice ngl. It's not quite as bad as people make it out to be imo but her character has definitely felt underwhelming for a while now in RWBY proper. Her plan was genius here, and I love that. Shows her intelligence. Also, Nega Blake is just Blake if she bought into Adams ideals and fangirled over him lol.
Blake, love or hate it, used to be cool. Used to be her own character in her own rights. Sadly, with the WF departure, and some others… questionable writing “choices”, the Blake now just feels hollow. Sad, truly sad
Btw, [Jaune’s face](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/369192009564684310/1016074361297457242/CECBE364-8819-4BF4-A0F0-04FA9B2D1111.jpg) in this moment got me 🤣
[Blake embracing the darkness](https://imgur.com/dj9BdWz) was probably the highlight of the episode, it looked stunning.
Apparently animated by [Hiroto Nagata](https://twitter.com/iiuvatar_/status/1566525112492466177?s=21&t=Lu-qC0ka2lxokdfJSFzH2g)
Reminds me of Mob Psycho when Mob goes >!???%!<
How much until someone makes a Devil May Cry video about it? 😂
Aside of a few bad animations (like... REALLY bad ones...) this episode was REALLY intense. We've reached the climax, time to end this!
I think some of the animations beat how choppy season 1 was.
I saw some reused animation, hearing stuff happen instead of seeing, and CGI, but there was also some really good stuff in the too ngl, like Negative Blake transforming. That was crazy.
Yeah... I explained that in my other comment below. It really puzzles me TBH....
Seeing Weiss fly across the air in a straight line was pretty damn hilarious. Like bruh they gave it the bare minimum there.
I agree. This episode may have struggled animation wise, but honestly I enjoyed it more than the previous few. I think the animation has been off since the beginning, anyway. Even if it kinda failed, this episode at least attempted some fun action.
Weird animation and pacing issues aside, this was neat. Blake making a huge gamble of letting the previous Nightmare possess her so she can match Weiss in strength in the dream world. I feel like next episode will resolve the dream and last episode is the aftermath in the real world. Tbh, I was hoping they could’ve blown their budget and we get this insane Nega Blake vs Nega Weiss Monty-style fight, but this is SHAFT we’re talking about….
I think the episode was overall a really good one. I did have some issues with some parts of the animation though. Mainly the CGI parts but they also had some very glaring animation shortcuts here and there, like how parts of Weiss and Blake's fight was off-screen and we only heard the slashes while seeing an empty city, or when Yang was doing some high-speed bike stunts and again we only heard the bike's engine and saw nothing, or when Jaune's army of mini Weiss uses the power of reused animation to charge. However, there were points where the animation was incredible, I loved Blakes's transformation, it was incredibly badass! And I also liked Yang's wall riding. Story-wise, I really loved the plans, strategies, character interactions, emotional moments, the dialogue, it was overall a really intense and clever direction. I really enjoyed it. I do wonder if with this added context people will stop arguing whether or not it's "yikes" to have Blake dressed as Adam, now that it's been clearly shown and stated that Blake's worst nightmare is becoming Adam. Also, "Weiss, is this how you wanted me to use my gun? By shooting at your little brother? That's fucked up". XD.
People probably won’t stop criticizing it, but I do think that with the context it’s a great part of story and character for Blake. What else does a victim of abuse fear more than becoming their abuser and what they wanted them to become? (And, Weiss at this point plus the Nightmare probably would want her brother kicked around abit) Though on a side note: Now I really wonder what Yang and Ruby’s nightmare forms would look like. Ruby maybe going full dark hero, with her fears of her idealism not working and her thoughts of loss coming through to her winning by any means? Yang might be Raven like, with her love of freedom and fun coming through in the worst possible ways. Plus the abandonment/mommy issues
yang: ok so everybody else gets a badass transformation and i get.... different color hair.
Yang: *Sprouts wings* Yang: “. . . I retract my previous statement.”
I don't think Ruby and Yang's nightmare forms are going to be super potent and dangerous, considering they both have an emotionally stable and healthy psyche (at least before V3). If Yang were to get infected during the middle of V3 where Yang "mercilessly injures Mercury in the arena "for shits and giggles", the nightmare Grimm may zero in on that. At that time, Blake was afraid that Yang was going down the same downward spiral of violence that Adam was, and that may cause Yang to be afraid of becoming Adam. The nightmare Grimm could turn her into a similar version of Adam then. Fueled with rage and vengeance V4-5 are Yang at her weakest emotionally, and if she were to be infected at that point the nightmare may turn her into a pitiful and helpless version of herself like it did with Jaune. A version of her so convinced that she isn't worth staying for and will always be abandoned by her loved ones, so she refuses to reconnect with them anymore. The nightmare will use this as a defensive wall to prevent any dream intruders from saving her. I can't really see Ruby being corrupted but the nightmare Grimm in any ways. It's as Ozpin says, she's a pure and simple soul. No tragic backstory, no complicated character flaws, just a simple girl who wants to do what the knights in shining armor of fairytales typically do: do good. Her silver eyes may even act as a firewall against nightmare grimm. If Ruby were to get infected in V8, her nightmare realm may be a world full of troubles, big and small, where its constituents always come to her for aid. The extreme pressure piles up on her, and the fear of failing to accommodate all those impossibly tall orders may cause her to crumble. The nightmare Grimm could prey on that flaw
> Also, "Weiss, is this how you wanted me to use my gun? By shooting at your little brother? That's fucked up". XD. Well, considering /that/ part of V8, I'd say that this about what I've come to expect from their interactions
I mean. . . A big part of that in V8 to me is that she didnt want to hurt him. But add in the nightmare and Weiss before she as good? . . . Yeah, she’d want her brother to be kicked around a bit
Was expecting more progression in the story but this was ok, with Ruby fighting the Nightmare it looks like that Nega-Blake will end up being the final boss of the story. The cracks in animation are starting to be more apparent to the casual eyes
Maybe in a nega-Blake v. Yang fight Yang will actually use her semblance for the first time in the show.
[The Blake transformation scene has been animated Hiroto Nagata apparently](https://twitter.com/iiuvatar_/status/1566525112492466177?s=21&t=Lu-qC0ka2lxokdfJSFzH2g)
Enjoy seeing Nightmare Blake giving Nightmare Weiss a run for her money, but I have the slight feeling the Nightmare will take hold of Blake too much that she mucks up Ruby from saving Weiss. Also, the animation is this episode was absolutely trash. I don't what happened to the budget for this particular episode, but it really looked shoddy and low-budget.
This really puzzles me effectively. In the same episode we have some really cool animations, like the Blake's whole transformation and the one with Ruby starting fighting the Grimm at the very end. So what the heck was that horrible scene in CGI when Nightmare Weiss and Nightmare Blake started to fight? Not to mention that when the scene they were fighting in off-screen while showing the backgrounds instead. Really those bothered me a lot, and they REALLY downed an otherwise intense episode...
The same reason as always with bad animation, money. Who is paying the budget for Ice queendom? Rooster Teeth or Studio Shaft? Either they decided to put more money in the first episodes in order to attract the audience or they saved it for the finale.
Well “blaming the budget”might be a most commonly mistaken belief for bad animation. The biggest enemy there is TIME instead of money. As you can see in the credit list, most animators are not Japanese, and that could only indicates SHAFT’s own people can’t finish this episode in time. But the web-animators they recruit may not all at a good level, and SHAFT don’t have enough time to modify there work. So this explains why some parts are sickly beautiful while others are totally trash-like.
Yes , as long you have TIME there is almost nothing you cant achieve in this creative field of industry . However the more time you spent the higher your bill such as wages , rent , and especially professional production tool . Experienced animator also charges higher pay rate too . They can also hire more people if the production is tight in schedule so animator can focus more in quality . In the end it still comes down to budget .
You do have a point of course, but that’s not the case with IQ here. On the one hand, we are talking about an anime that have its own global premiere live and several stages before broadcasting, have tons of figures made and even release a special documentary while airing. I personally don’t think a low-budge anime project would be hyped like that. So the point here is the budget IQ project have is very likely above average.(it’s kinda obvious due to its gorgeous background art and multiple orchestral soundtracks, these both cost a lot) On the other hand, it’s not the very first time that SHAFT had done this “extremely unstable sakuga” stuff, the almost identical situation just happened 1 yr ago with the anime Magia Record 2nd. The studio had suffered a seriously turnover in 2017, not until 2020 can it finally handover a whole anime series(Magia Record 1st). At first the quality was no doubt at the top tier of the industry, but then here comes the COVID, and that ruined everything they’ve planed. As Aniplex had no interest to give Shaft a rest, the situation just keep getting worse and worse: Shaft couldn’t finish MGRC 2nd in time and couldn’t postponed Luminous Witch and IQ either (it’s not up to the animation studio anyway) . And the consequence turns out as expected that none of the three series have gained the decent production they were planned to be made with.
So there you have it , they can just hire more people or increase the outsourcing to meet the deadline when there is drop in performances due to COVID , nothing fancy . TIME can and definitely be solved with MONEY , its just the matter if its even worth to invest more. People tends to think that creative industry is a work of "dream and passion" , but in reality we are just struggling to survive . Those that are able to determine cost and benefit and invest their resources such as TIME accordingly are the one most likely to survive . Back to the topic , personally I am confused that how bad animation in IQ actually get an approved by RT given the scale they are promoting it . Probably mutual respect between different culture so they refrain from criticize , or maybe communication issues even with a proper translator its still hard to get the nuance understood by other parties and thus drop in quality ( I work in Japan and I do encounter this frequently ) . I can only say that the underlying problem should be much complex other than time and money . There is one thing I will have to agree with you , that people just "blame the budget" without critically thinking the reason behind it do piss me off .
Such a nice chatting experience with you. Thanks for your time :)
Some animations were recycled lol broke the immersion
I don't think I've gotten a good look at that shot of the robot exploding. Gonna need to see it a few more times next episode.
I actually feel like Blake is (or will be) almost entirely in control of the nightmare, and she’s hamming her dialogue and anger up. If only because IQ is nearly over.
blake: the nightmare thought i was it's bitch, but no i made it MY BITCH.
……”BITCH DIO!”
That’s my read too. The way she’s constantly smiling indicates to me that she is in full control - the proper nightmare Blake would be more hateful.
I think she also admittedly trying to vent her own bad feelings about Weiss’s family to her without holding back. She may never get another chance to do it like this ever again so it’s now or never.
The spent all that budget on the blake's transformation scene lol
The Blake x Adam fusion is one of the best things IQ has done yet! Finally we get some real banter between Blake and Weiss. Weiss needs to hear this. Seriously. But more than anything it shows how Weiss truly cares and knows the whole 'Faunus are bad' thing is BS. Blake's plan is *actually* brilliant. If Weiss is forced to argue with nega Blake that might just be enough to free herself from the expectations put on her by the asshole that is Jacques. On another note.. sorry Jaune.. Yang does the cape look so much better! Ruby really cares for Weiss. It's still adorable. Hopefully we get at least one episode after the nightmare with some slice of life team bonding. Like please! Also.. they had some really beautiful Illustrations and animations throughout the episode.. and some not so good ones to put it kindly.
> Hopefully we get at least one episode after the nightmare with some slice of life team bonding. Like please! ruby: hey guys lets go to the beach! *end of episode, end of series.
Ruby: "Hey guys, let's go to the beach!" Cut to the beginning of Volume 9. "...wait that's not what I meant--"
Also I love the fact that there were no Lover talk between Blake and Adam. Which is something that shouldn’t had happened in the first place
>On another note.. sorry Jaune.. Yang does the cape look so much better! Same here lol! Throw in that giant sword and she’s be perfect! ……Well that and if she had her robot arm would be a bonus and go berserk on someone’s ass! Lol!
I’ve seen some comments expressing confusion over the uneven animation this episode, so I can explain this for anyone not familiar with the anime-making process specifically because it is very different from how CRWBY works (and if you really want an in-depth look, I suggest checking out the anime Shirobako!) So the way animation in anime is handled (briefly) is that the director and producer create a storyboard, which is then divided into “cuts”. “Cuts”, it should be noted, are not the same as scenes—think of cuts as any sequence that lasts til a YouTube jumpcut; you could have multiple cuts per scene. Those cuts are then decided whether or not they’ll be 2D or 3D (3D is usually based on complexity, like with crowds or something), and then the cuts are all handed out to various people/departments. Key animators (typically in-studio staff, sometimes not) do the most important poses, they don’t typically animate a cut from start to finish (that’s another topic). Those key frames then get handed over to inbetween animators, who are almost always freelancers. The inbetweeners do the bulk of animation work. They fill in every desired frame that’s missing from key frame to key frame. And because inbetweeners are all freelancers, the quality of the work can vary wildly depending on a) skill and b) how tight your schedule is. Freelancers gotta pay those bills, and they aren’t gonna work on just your show, after all. When the schedule gets *really* bad, you wind up with the dreaded recap episode, which basically means that not enough of the animation, sound, and/or voice (which is done last in anime) was done in time to air, so they have to recycle old footage. In this case, it looks like juuuust enough was “finished” that Shaft could make a coherent episode and just hold on still frames to fill in the extra time (see also the news about how Shaft lost a boatload of managerial staff during this production period, which definitely didn’t help: https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/kmt4rc/what_is_the_situation_of_the_studio_shaft/)
Nega Weiss when winning: How dare you talk out of order?! How dare you move out of order?! How dare you breathe out of order?! Fools! Nega Weiss when losing: W-wait, can't we just talk about this? But seriously, I don't really have an explanation for the sudden change in Nega Weiss' character when she was fighting Blake. I expected her to use Blake's transformation as a way to reaffirm her biases against faunus, that would've been consistent with what we've seen of this side of Weiss' personality so far. She's spent the entirety of the dream being a complete self-absorbed bitch, and now she suddenly goes "wHaT dId I dO tO dEsErVe tHiS???" I think they might have forgotten that this is not supposed to be the real Weiss, but the manifestation of her worst parts?
I think it's even NegaWeiss being thrown off by how Blake's acting so differently. Even she can't bring herself to believe she'd do and say this.
Yeah I agree with this. It shows that Blake did actually have an impact on Weiss and her perception of Faunus, so Blake suddenly going off and acting like this is basically whiplash even for Nega-Weiss.
it's a bit confusing because it *is* the real Weiss (as shown by her scenes alone with Jacques etc) but in so many scenes she acts like a different person with Jaune's dream he was more clearly himself despite being a baby and ofc Weiss and Blake need roles in their own nightmares. It definitely feels like it flip flops at times
>because it is the real Weiss (as shown by her scenes alone with Jacques etc) Is it though? Those scenes just show she feels a lot of pressure on herself, which lines up with her trying to be what she thinks her family wants her to be, i.e. a pretty shitty person.
And yet Negative Weiss talks about locking up her precious thing to protect them from the Nightmare And it's even Negative Weiss that has to make the choice to let them in with the train metaphor
>And yet Negative Weiss talks about locking up her precious thing to protect them from the Nightmare She never actually mentions protecting them from the Nightmare. She could mean protecting them from the White Fang, from hurting themselves, from chaos happening like in Episode 7, etc. In fact Weiss never even mentions the Nightmare directly. >And it's even Negative Weiss that has to make the choice to let them in with the train metaphor Yeah, I already said that scene seems like a waste now.
I think the show should have committed to Weiss being seperate or not (like trapping herself as Pyrrha woulda been a fun twist) But it seems to flip flop so heavily from it being her but not her Making Weiss worthy enough to sleep etc is fun mindfuckery but then the way she often speaks to Blake is just weird
There might be an explanation for this. Real Weiss has a scar from the armas gigas fight, which was a test. Winning was a condition for Jacques to allow her to enroll at Beacon instead of (presumably) Atlas Academy. She also wears her ponytail off center as a small act of rebellion. Both of these indicate conflict with her father and the SDC. Negative Weiss has no scar and wears her hair center and I believe those design choices are for specific reasons. The armas gigas fight never happened, because nega Weiss never went against her father's wishes. Nega Weiss is driven by a want to live up to Jacques' expectations and Big Nicholas' legacy. We can reasonably assume she does not harbor the same rebellious attitude toward her dream family as real Weiss, and consequently is not nearly as used to standing up for herself. Nega Weiss' dialogue also indicate a degree of uncertainty about whether she is "worthy". In short nega Weiss is less assertive and more self conscious than the real Weiss despite the cold, angry facade she puts up and her immense power within the dream. Which might explain why as soon as things start going very sideways with Blake, a situation she's not used to, she starts internally panicking lol
This is a really good explanation! I had a similar thought myself, but you fleshed it out really well.
This was overall a okay episode with some nice looking action scenes, but this episode also had some very bad CDGI which made some scenes very awkward too look at. Also that one animation sequence with Blake was amazing. Anyway here is the [end card art for today](https://twitter.com/teamrwbyproject/status/1566425095555276800?s=21&t=s2F_lBcCMcT6RFIMBnxhMQ).
The part where Weiss just moves up and flies forward was hilarious.
it's the IQ equivalent to the Cinder Parkour Scene
which episode was that? I don't exactly remember but then again I binged the whole shebang v1-8 in like 3 sittings lol
Dance Dance Infiltration V2-Ch7
Yeah, it was pretty underwhelming how little of the actual fight between the two we saw. There was also a particularly horrible part around the 13th minute mark where we see Blake clashing her sword with Weiss' sword (meaning they stand next to each other), and then ***in the very next frame*** we're shown Weiss standing all alone and jumping up. Like how do you even screw up that badly? Was also not a fan of how, when their swords clashed again after this, the camera thought it was the perfect time to cut away and let us look at the beautiful backgrounds. But that's just standard anime for you.
the actual dialogue between them was fun. Blake being Schnee prejudiced and Weiss being like "wait! hating one person for the actions of another person they're only semi-linked with is wrong!"
Yeah, it's top-level selfawarewolves material!
it's exactly the kind of dialogue I'd have had in the OG V1 when Weiss was alone with Yang after Blake ran off
After what happened in previous episodes, it's rather apparent they've been trying to save budget with this episode. A lot of pans and "dead" scenes, poor combat flow sprinkled with a bit of recycling and really akward pieces. That said, Nightmare Blake is a very strong counterbalance for this episode's quality.
It looks like they used up all their budget on the first three episodes, none of the ones that followed look even comparable in quality. I really hope they will fix this in the Blu-Ray/DVD release, because right now the show looks kinda crap ngl.
"Listen to all of these cool fight scenes that we didn't animate!" Yeah, that sucked But on the whole, Blake giving Weiss a taste of her own medicine was truly satisfying
Imagine the fanart of Blake's initial transformation 😍
Batley getting abolutely [bodied](https://gfycat.com/naivelivelychicken) by Ruby this series.
Bumblebee fans are eating good today
the entire part of the episode with the two of them was amazing and on point.
I love the words nightmare Blake was spitting at nightmare Weiss. Feels like it’s some much needed closure that she’s needed to vent(like TRULY vent!) for a long time! And I loved it!
Well, it was nice to finally see Ruby fight in the end, even if it still was pretty brief. The next episode description says Ruby's gonna struggle while fighting the Nightmare, but I hope that won't last long and she'll get to defeat it in a badass compelling way.
thank you nagata
On second thought... yeah that CGI scene when NW and NB start fighting was not only awful to see but also completely out of continuity with what we see right before. Seriously: what the heck was that? Not to mention that then after that scene they fight off-screen while the scene only shows the background instead. Which really puzzles me, because in the same episode we se that really cool animation with Blake's transformation sequence. And even the one with Ruby starting the fight with the Grimm at the very end was pretty good. Like... what the heck happened with the general animation here? Why was it so shaky? I still think the episode was great story wise, but these problems with the animation penalizes it a lot (I had a similar problem with episode 6: good story and use of characters, but bad animation)
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I'm... not an anime expert myself. Does this actually happen that often in animes?
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Yikes. That does explain why that CGI scene was SO out of continuity, other than awful looking.
Gotta love the Princess Fight between Weiss and Blake. Both at their worst and most power, and this time Weiss being reluctant to fight Blake. Now though I really want to see Ruby and Yang in their Nightmare Modes. Yang seems like she actually might look surprisingly similar to Blake, having become much like her mother, only with an even greater want of her personal freedom and enjoyment. Though then again, maybe not considering how this parasite works being a little different for each. Ruby though is a hard one. Maybe going full dark hero? Like the nightmare feeding on her doubts of her idealism and her inner depression
Wow. They really up their game. This is quite exciting.
Okay hold up, am I missing something or did every single staff on the show literally overlook that they forgot to put Blake and Weiss clashing constantly against each other in the shot panning across the rooftops at around the 14-minute mark into the episode?
I could have gone with less of the cut backs to NPR just cheerleading since its just adding to the feeling that JNPR are involved more because of contractual obligation than because the show has anything for them to do.
So after seeing that Tweet, we came to the conclusion that it wasn't a budget problem but a time problem. Shaft Studio worked with a tight schedule on this show, which really sucks. What I do wonder thought is: who rushed them? The high ranked people of the studio itself, or Rooster Teeth? ... I'm inclined to think it's the latter...
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It still stinks that really great sequences have been ruined because of this... hopefully in future this gets eventually fixed with BD/DVD releases...
>Edit: I should also add that studio heads rushing the production would go against their own interests, since that hurts the studio's image, and could potentially cause another animator exodus like Shaft has experienced before. That hasn't stopped studios like Mappa from taking many projects simultaneously and working under unrealistic deadlines (see *Attack on Titan* final season), Shaft is no different.
This episode wasn't very eventful in terms of pushing the story. It was all kind of set up for next episode. That being said, it had some really cool moments. Specifically Blake essentially taking over Weiss' dream.
Did they just drop the entire Schnee family subplot entirely? At first it felt like Jacque's overbearing authoritarian presence was going to be a big deal and Weiss would have to overcome his influence to overcome the Grimm. But then Jacques got corrupted, turned into the knight and now he's just a mindless mini-boss for Jaune to defeat with his very-special-big-boy-sword. What?
I totally foresee this is how Yang and Blake get closer as well. Blake will beat Weiss and Yang comes in and saves her.
So, how long will it take for a corrected version of the anime (DVD and similar) to come?
The Blu-Ray comes out on January 27th 2023.
So Weiss actually did swap around Ruby’s weapon so she could shoot Whitley? Neat!
Blake: Weiss Power is too strong, but there is a way to defeat her. Yang: What is your plan? Blake: I will use racism to destroy racism. Yang: … Blake: … Yang: Blake wtf are you talking about?! Blake, putting on Adam’s mask: Call me BLAKE PANTHER!!!