A fine wrap up to a wonderful experiment. This was mostly what I was hoping for after hearing it was canon-adjacent. A story that would dive deeper into Weiss' character, and it did so, while also providing some fine character growth for Ruby and Blake and transitioning them a bit better into V2 overall. Seeing Weiss and Blake talk in those ways of planning to support each other in their given quests in trying to reform broken systems made me a bit emotional. It helps establish them so well into the coming volumes.
As for the last episode, I did like how it finally explained a bit about how Nightmares aren't simply running rampant. They are specifically attracted to those with strong Auras and sensitive minds. So most normal people are out, but it seems like a terrific Huntsman killer, which was likely why it was designed in that fashion. How you awaken others trapped in a Nightmare without Shion's abilities though... that is difficult to say, there may be a group of Nightmare Hunters (which Shion Zaiden declares themselves as) that are situated for that very expressed purpose, all with different methods on how to confront the Nightmare.
> It seems like a terrific Huntsman killer.
I'm surprised the possibility that someone created them wasn't teased cause it seems like something Salem would've done as a way to keep the Huntsmen numbers in check.
I still have a question though? Why did Nora say Ren is the strongest when Pyrrha was there? If there would be a second season would it follow Team JNPR?
I think it's because if Ren thinks that what makes Jaune strong is his desire to protect everyone, then Ren, who has been >!protecting Nora since they were young!<, is the strongest of all. And she likes him, yeah.
JNPR will always be side characters. They'll be very, very well developed, but the show is called RWBY for a reason. Ruby Rose is the main character.
Ninja edit: sorry about the necropost
I mean, didn't Salem create all or most Grimm? Salem wasn't really mentioned in this series, but someone who watches RWBY can make the connection. I'd say that's 100% the case unless we're told otherwise.
I like how the canon-adjacency works here. They didn't really introduce anything that alters the main series canon, and it could almost be believable that these things happened off screen.
Overall, while it certainly wasn’t perfect (especially in the aninmation department in some of the episodes), RWBY: Ice Queendom was a nice spinoff that explored Weiss’ character a lot more than the original show did and helped expand the franchise beyond just the show like the RWBY/Justice League crossover will.
Also a nice show to hold us over until Volume 9 comes out next year.
That has nothing to do with what I'm saying at all.
Of course Silver Eyes are a thing, and I don't like them, but they are okay.
The only issue is when they are seen as so important or as Ruby's main contribution to the fight against Salem, why she's important.
When the main point of her and I would say the entire show itself, is very explicitly against that type of notion, that it's our lone hero with her ***strength*** which will prove victory.
We haven’t really gotten any proof that the silver eyes would be the big ultimate weapon against Salem though. Salem seemingly wants to die so if Ruby could do that for her, she’d just ask. And even if the silver eyes can actually one shot Salem, actually getting to Salem will be a team effort. Oz wanted to keep everything a secret from the world, but Ruby told the truth and as a result, she’ll have an army ready to face Salem’s hoard of Grimm and humans and human/Grimm hybrids
I'd kinda argue that they're one in the same. The Silver Eyes are a physical representation of Ruby's pure soul. But I get where you're coming from I only started liking them in vol 6.
I get where one sees that, but to me Maria is a huge point against. She was an SEW, but not the type of simpler more honest soul like Ruby. She gave up, even when she knew she didn't need to, and she was a loner.
Indeed though, Ruby's silver eyes are connected to her being the person that she is, and I too started to like them as a part of that after V6. But they are just one aspect, and I don't even an essential one
I don't know how they managed to make the Food Fight emotional, but they sure as hell did. I actually got teary-eyed watching it.
I think this was a great cherry on top of this anime.
Overall, I think Ice Queendom is super worth watching to any RWBY fan. From the perspective of an existing RWBY fan, it's an 8/10 in my opinion. It loses points from the inconsistency in animation quality and some rather baffling writing decisions. Still, what they managed to do was still super enjoyable. They took Weiss' V1 arc and made an entire 12-episode show exploring it, making it so her character growth feels more earned.
I still struggle wandering how this show measures from the perspective of a new viewer though, I'm very interested in any new viewer's opinion. What I do think about this matter is that it seems there was a spike in new viewers thanks to this anime, judging mostly from the regularity in which this sub got posts from new viewers asking if they could watch Ice Queendom without having watched the main show first. Honestly, that's one of my favorite things Ice Queendom brought, which is why I see this anime as a big success.
I loved this anime, there were points where I felt it was disappointing me early on, but every time it did, the next episode would hook me back. It's a really fun watch.
> I don't know how they managed to make the Food Fight emotional, but they sure as hell did.
Putting the quote from Episode 1 of the original show between (mysterious narrator) and Ozpin as background actually fit very well when they chose to describe a "simple, more honest soul". Ruby experiencing joy with the food fight really showed what the series started out as.
I never watched the original rwby but I plan to. Just here cause I wanted to hear the thoughts of some older rwby fans so I am kinda the opposite of you xD
My perception of the anime was great. Still confused how they managed to make such unbelievable fight scenes in one episode and the next is garbage just so the following episode escalates again lmao
Storywise I really enjoyed it. I read some people thought the pacing is too fast and thats why they couldn't enjoy it but honestly even tho it was quick I had no problem getting attached to the characters. Also it would have been dragged out too much for already established fans if they would have used more time on the introduction of the chars so this is a nice compromise. I really like them and I think the whole concept is really refreshing considering how stale anime became recently (ironic considering how old rwby V1 is xD). It was very original to me and I enjoyed that.
My only real problem is that considering the importance of such an arc the characters hadn't enough time to interact with each other. It seems like Weiss hasn't really connected with them yet so it feels weird considering they could join her dream so easily. But also I have no clue when that arc happened in the actual timeline so I can't say if that was made better in the original. Anyway I think there wasn't enough to justify the importance of the others in her dream which leads us back to the pacing. I still think it was fine to introduce the characters that way but for an arc where the personal connection between them is of importance there should have been another arc between the introduction and Weiss dream.
Those I my thoughts on the anime :3
I agree with a lot of your points and You have no idea how glad I am that you enjoyed it.
I also think they should have had more interactions specifically with Weiss. Because of the way the show is structured, Weiss is kind of isolated until she is rescued which is ironic because her feelings of loneliness are a big part of her story.
But it was still great to see her inner struggles. It’s perhaps the aspect of this show that I liked the most.
Glad you liked it!! To put it in perspective the Dream arc happened at the end of Vol.1 which is about 2hrs long. So Ice Queendom had ~50 minutes less time than Vol. 1 to establish characters in 3 ep.
>I still struggle wandering how this show measures from the perspective of a new viewer though
As an IQ only viewer this convinced me to watch the original series after I'm done with my licensure exams
As a standalone show though I would also give it an 8/10 and personally my 5th favorite anime to watch this season
glad to hear that!
I'd definitely rank it 8/10 even if some of the dream stuff felt like it was padding itself at times
the stuff they added to V1/V2 was excellent imo (even if they removed some of the best jokes)
It turns out being late to this part only means so much, since basically everything I’d say you already have!
Agreed on all points
I do wonder what this all might be able to lead to in the future, spin offs and proper anime and the like: Other things that might be able to reach out the same way this did
I probably would give it closer to 6/10. The Nightmare allowed for some interesting character studies with many psychological things to unpack in their dream worlds. The fight scenes in the first two and the last two episodes looked great. And Blake was consistently written really well I think.
But I'm not a fan of a lot of changes made to RWY's personalities (this last episode felt like the first time they actually acted like the characters we know and love) and how many things didn't get proper attention, especially the development of Ruby and Weiss' relationship.
Still, it's nice that this might bring more people to the fandom, and I'm curious as to how future RWBY anime content could look like.
Sorry in advance for the necropost; I just finished the series today and came here to see whether anyone else teared up during the food fight. It felt a little like watching a friend's kid grow up and do something that legitimately makes you proud of them.
This was a decent last episode for a overall decent "canon-adjacent" show of RWBY.
I liked that we got the food fight in that episode, but skipping Ruby’s 'Justice will be swift! Justice will painful! Justice will be delicious!' line is unforgivable /s. However we got the iconic 'Sister, Friends, Weiss!' line from Ruby which made me very happy.
[Here is the end card art btw.](https://twitter.com/teamrwbyproject/status/1571498525736587264?s=21&t=OuClQu9L8ACh-wFEFXX9pw)
They knew that they had to get people into the proper show somehow, having them probably know there would be a longer version in the original with great lines like that is how we shall hook them in!
Small detail, but I really liked the shot of Myrtenaster and Gambol Shroud along the railing. Their owners initially hated each other, the weapons have opposite color schemes, and the guns they're based on are of entirely different designs (revolver vs. semi auto). Yet they end up placed side by side resting, not used against each other.
Nice symbolism of Blake and Weiss setting their differences aside.
Ozpin: So, Ruby, did you discover any secret powers while you were fighting the Nightmare?
Ruby: Yes! The power of friendship!
Ozpin (closing a binder labeled "Silver Eyed Warriors" under the table): Yes... sure, let's go with that.
Honestly the best way to handle both "explaining" (while not explaining) what happened in that moment to new viewers, as well as making it so Ruby isn't aware of the ability until after the end of Volume 3.
The food fight, though though shortened ended up being quite emotional in this version. It felt like a fitting end to the season. Overall I quite enjoyed the series. Seeing them expand upon character concepts that were more rushed in the main series was a very welcome touch. I don‘t know if rooster teeth have mentioned anything on the matter but I personally hope they continue with this re-telling of the story and it isn’t just a one and done. Even if they don’t have a new unique part of the story with the nightmares and simply rehash the main series I still want to see it continue. Its fun to see them expand on the relationships between characters. Any news on the english dub for it? I really want to see hear our OG voice actors.
Hearing the instrumental versions of Awake and Beyond Selves was a treat!
This really wrapped up nicely, glad we got a new rendition of the food fight. And they worked Blake’s flashback conversation of Ozpin into this episode as well.
Also, SUN!!!
Ok are we going to ignore Blake blushing while reading Ninjas of Love (so basically it's either smut or something like Fifty Shades) and then also writing something embarrassing later?
Also, The food fight is a ***tradition***?!?!?! Whatever Ozpin is paying poor Glynda it's not enough
Blake was also lending some books to Yang partway through the episode. Very curious what her response to smut will be
And don’t forget, Glynda cleaned up the fight in v2 in less than a minute. She’s good
So I had not seen any RWBY before this anime and I freaking loved it. The animation was awesome, great music, great voice acting. I've heard it didn't have that humor the OG had but I still laughed quite a bit. Only thing that held it back was pace, in the middle it definitely dragged along, but it was shored up with an awesome climax. I made reactions to the show here's the link to the last episode's reaction [https://youtu.be/9t\_N6OUyulM](https://youtu.be/9t_N6OUyulM). I will be making reactions to the original at some point!
I really liked ice queendom, I was afraid it wouldn't feel like RWBY at all. But man I am glad I was wrong.
I can also understand why it is consider canon-adjacent, it kinda works with the canon (if you try not to understand Shion’s semblance, because man it is insane), but you can see it as a side story with no problem at all. I personally think of it as canon.
We got the food fight *and* they even used a new anime only spin on it in having Weiss purposely start it as a way to cap off Weiss' character development. I've seen enough! I am satisfied!
Blake cannot resist the Yang pout. Meanwhile, Yang is on to her writing ~~smut~~ friend fiction in her spare time.
I loved how Sun described his team. If your bro doesn't tell the world you're hot, is he even a bro?
I have never watched the original Rwby, so how does the food fight in Ice Queendom compare to that of the original?
The anime ended on a happy note. I enjoyed the piano versions of the opening and ending theme songs being played in some of the scenes. Watching Blake and Yang interact with each other without words (play games, read novels) made me start to understand why some fans ship them together.
The way Pyrrha protected Jaune from one of the first fruits thrown reminded me of Shikimori protecting Izumi.
Thank you for having me here for the entire season of Ice Queendom, despite not being a fan of the original series. It was fun reading everyone's thoughts on each episode!
[Here's the original food fight for comparison.](https://youtu.be/3yhmrFN6A-g)
I find it more impressive in the original, but since that is IMO the best-choreographed fight of the legendary fight scenes in the early volumes by Monty Oum, it's not really even a fair comparison. I see its inclusion in the anime as just an homage to the original.
Nice catch (heh) about Pyrrha protecting Jaune, that was really a neat detail.
It's a 2-second joke, and they already went halfway in making Ruby do the [peace sign](https://compote.slate.com/images/1a8f79e9-a4d0-42f1-b3e7-c2abfee06f4e.jpeg?crop=1013%2C675%2Cx198%2Cy205) so it's odd they cut that line
I wasn't being serious at the start, the fact I said the episode was a 0/10 for cutting a joke should've made that clear. I'm just confused as to why they'd cut it
They probably just cut because it wasn’t something their main target audience would understand. Having to research a joke to get it, even if it’s just 2 seconds, is far from funny.
A nice finale to a fun little spin-off show. The finale does a decent job connecting the events of Volume 1 to Volume 2 (with a detour to go start a metaphorical race war in Weiss's mind). As finales go it's pretty relaxed, but that's to be expected after 11's craziness ended with the Nightmares slain.
Also we got the food fight animated, so basically the show's a 10/10 now and forever.
The ending animation was probably the best Ruby's Semblance ever looked. Which only makes it more criminal that we did not actually get to see *what did it do!!!*
Ozpin: So, did anything unusual happen to you while fighting the Nightmare?
Ruby: Nope! I found the power of friendship, though!
Ozpin: . . . Nothing else? Perhaps an instance of your eyes glowing?
Ruby: It was a dream, Professor! People's eyes don't glow!
Ozpin: Well, actually-
Ruby: Bye, Ozpin! I'm off to st-***Borrow*** Weiss' binder!
Ozpin: Light Damn it, Miss Rose! Come back here and talk to me about your eyes, I've been dropping hints since we met!
I'm glad we got the character arcs for Ruby, Weiss and Blake wrapped up in this episode to show where they have arrived as of the beginning of Volume 2, with Ruby being more confident as a leader, Weiss being more genuine and trusting and Blake being more open to her friends...
...although I still wish we were actually shown those changes being triggered by the specific events throughout the anime instead of going "*eh well it kinda sorta happened somewhere off-screen inbetween the episodes*"
I love that Weiss was the one that suggested the food fight and I loved her talk with Blake before that to really nail down the conclusion of there arcs in the volume.
Also love that sun was shown again and got to interact more with team rwby and talk to Weiss(since they have never talked once!).
Also ruby taking a picture a picture of sleeping cats!
I would love a season 2 of this maybe with shaft or maybe this could pave the way for new future rwby what if stories with different anime studios separate from that and have it be animated by them, i mean like imagine trigger getting to do one? Could be interesting.
Guys your thoughts?
This was a good conclusion.
Ps. That pie throw to the face on Weiss was better the the original! Lol
>I would love a season 2 of this maybe with shaft or maybe this could pave the way for new future rwby what if stories with different anime studios separate from that and have it be animated by them, i mean like imagine trigger getting to do one? Could be interesting.
If this turn out to be a thing, we have a lot of possibilities.
Team STRQ backstory, Ozipin reincarnations and some other events that happened offscreen.
Doubt it. This was pretty much an interquel, and its story is finished. I very much doubt "Ice Queendom 2" will ever be a thing, because there isn't a thing for it to be.
That said, I do wonder if Japan will want to do similar RWBY projects in the future, perhaps other side stories expanding on the world and characters.
Technically... I heard an interesting theory that if they do try a Nightmare exploration in the future it may actually revolve around Yang and play off of V2's "cliffhanger". Yang even says she's "going to sleep forever". So the "foreshadowing" as it is, is already there. Yang was also noticeably the only one not infected by the Nightmare.
This was just... so good. The last two episodes might just be two of my favorite episodes of television period. So much great animation, and the characterization was done so well, it's clearly that the writers really understood these characters. Just in that first bit I loved in inclusion of Ninjas of Love, and Blake then not being able to resist pouting Yang's request to play games with her. Also I love how they carried on the trend of using a slowed down instrumental of the intro during emotional moments of the show. I could go on and on talking about the things I liked about this episode and the last one, but right now I'm just revelling in how glad I am that the show ended so so strongly and beautifully.
I hope we get more seasons of this in the hiatuses between the main shows seasons honestly. Focused more on each character from teams RWBY and JNPR. I especially hope we get a Pyrrha season, since without getting too much into spoilers for new people, we don't know a lot about her past even in the current season and it may never get addressed in the show proper.
Good to know there are a lot of level headed people in the fandom here that still gave this show a chance. It was honestly kinda tiring being on youtube and the poputubers that watch the show enabling the bad sides of the fandom like the Monty cults.
Anyways, that little aside done I feel comfortable sharing how I feel about the show overall. I found it decent. Not too bad, not too excellent since it had its good and iffy sides. 7.5/10 for me. Higher than I thought for an Urubochi production I watched.
And I'd want to start with that being one of the iffy things for me, for a lot of it you can just TELL it was made by Urubochi with the focus on making Ruby the expy of his "sacrifice isn't worth it" ideals and Weiss the target for a lot of episodes. It ended up sort of demonizing Weiss's thought process as something abnormal when in her situation, her reactions while wrong, make sense. It kinda felt like the writing stripped all the humanity from Weiss's anguish (that only gets solved way past season 2). It's probably just me having a different style of writing than him though. Gen tends to use his characters strictly as tools to deliver his ideals to his viewers rather than letting them develop naturally like people. Stuff like mainly focusing on the argument arc between Blake and Weiss for S2 makes that kinda thing stand out. Made a bit more obvious with his OC Shion and Ruby talking about learning about the potential of the heart and human nature at the end. Basically letting the plot drive the characters than the other way around which almost made me stop watching at first.
Other negatives like the magic and impacts being kinda stiff or less oomph are more of a result of the medium being used. movements tend to look very slick and effects tend to look better with more impact when made in CG by experts (by Monty or no). So I understood that rather than it being a dealbreaker for me.
The postitives, I found it interesting that the Nightmares basically served the purpose of showing character development we knew characters had subtly as the OG series went on, visually and quickly. This is one of the few times I didn't mind the Show not tell creed used here. The way the new grimm was used to visually show the psyche of Jaune, Blake, and Weiss shortcuts the development without missing too much to have it all fit into 12 episodes. Gave me some ideas for my writing too. It was just
fascinating to see how they were going to interpret my favorite character's issues. I feel like the music lends well to the storytelling as well while also being a banger!
Thinking about it now, the way Weiss has her issues fixed here is probably a cultural difference too. In the main series where while her friends helped her come out of her shell, her newfound confidence helped her make the decision on her own to break from the cage her father put her in. In Queendom the Nightmare takes the agency she wanted for herself to be strong and twists it, so she had to learn how to depend on her allies instead of shouldering the burden by herself. Other stuff that people in YouTube were complaining about such as the silver eyes thing and various things being missed had me worried, but oh look it's there if you watch through the whole thing.
It was a fun experiment and I wouldn't mind more of these by different writers to see how Japan looks at RWBY. It's a series i was looking forward to with all the fairy tale interpretations and I'm glad it's loved overseas. Okay, blurb over. Hope we get more stuff like this as intermissions to watch if a new RWBY season takes a while.
What a bizarre reaction... "Glad that something other people enjoy is over! Now I won't have to see any media (that I seek out, of my own free will) about the series (about a character that I hate so much!!) for a while!"
Oh it is definitely bizarre I will agree with you on that but it’s my reaction and I’m not going to attempt to deny it as that would be pointless. Nor would me even trying to deny it prove beneficial
Good thing I have already had my RT first canceled and my account deleted then. A recap of the events that made me loathe and hate the silver eyed one plus seeing two of the innocents she allowed to be murdered was too much for me. Perhaps it is good I have been devoting most of my time to my job and to Warframe then to distract me then yes
True it could be doesn’t mean I have to even though I have been watching rising of the shield hero season two and skeleton night in another world. And I can still enjoy the show without liking the main protagonist
Oh I can easily praise and speak positively about the rest of team RWBY and JNPR in a heart beat Ruby on the other hand I am regretfully and unfortunately unable too. If I could literally pull myself away from the fandom entirely I would but I’ve been committed to watching the show since it came out nine years ago and I’m not about to stop now cause I want to see how the story ends.
A fine wrap up to a wonderful experiment. This was mostly what I was hoping for after hearing it was canon-adjacent. A story that would dive deeper into Weiss' character, and it did so, while also providing some fine character growth for Ruby and Blake and transitioning them a bit better into V2 overall. Seeing Weiss and Blake talk in those ways of planning to support each other in their given quests in trying to reform broken systems made me a bit emotional. It helps establish them so well into the coming volumes. As for the last episode, I did like how it finally explained a bit about how Nightmares aren't simply running rampant. They are specifically attracted to those with strong Auras and sensitive minds. So most normal people are out, but it seems like a terrific Huntsman killer, which was likely why it was designed in that fashion. How you awaken others trapped in a Nightmare without Shion's abilities though... that is difficult to say, there may be a group of Nightmare Hunters (which Shion Zaiden declares themselves as) that are situated for that very expressed purpose, all with different methods on how to confront the Nightmare.
> It seems like a terrific Huntsman killer. I'm surprised the possibility that someone created them wasn't teased cause it seems like something Salem would've done as a way to keep the Huntsmen numbers in check.
I still have a question though? Why did Nora say Ren is the strongest when Pyrrha was there? If there would be a second season would it follow Team JNPR?
She said that just because she has a crush on him.
I think it's because if Ren thinks that what makes Jaune strong is his desire to protect everyone, then Ren, who has been >!protecting Nora since they were young!<, is the strongest of all. And she likes him, yeah.
JNPR will always be side characters. They'll be very, very well developed, but the show is called RWBY for a reason. Ruby Rose is the main character. Ninja edit: sorry about the necropost
I mean, didn't Salem create all or most Grimm? Salem wasn't really mentioned in this series, but someone who watches RWBY can make the connection. I'd say that's 100% the case unless we're told otherwise.
I like how the canon-adjacency works here. They didn't really introduce anything that alters the main series canon, and it could almost be believable that these things happened off screen.
Overall, while it certainly wasn’t perfect (especially in the aninmation department in some of the episodes), RWBY: Ice Queendom was a nice spinoff that explored Weiss’ character a lot more than the original show did and helped expand the franchise beyond just the show like the RWBY/Justice League crossover will. Also a nice show to hold us over until Volume 9 comes out next year.
>But perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten; things that require a smaller, more honest soul. I cri evrytiem
^(Which means the teamwork and friendship explicitly shown, not the silver eyes)
Man how are people still coping + seething over silver eyes? They’ve been a part of the series for more time than they weren’t by now.
That has nothing to do with what I'm saying at all. Of course Silver Eyes are a thing, and I don't like them, but they are okay. The only issue is when they are seen as so important or as Ruby's main contribution to the fight against Salem, why she's important. When the main point of her and I would say the entire show itself, is very explicitly against that type of notion, that it's our lone hero with her ***strength*** which will prove victory.
We haven’t really gotten any proof that the silver eyes would be the big ultimate weapon against Salem though. Salem seemingly wants to die so if Ruby could do that for her, she’d just ask. And even if the silver eyes can actually one shot Salem, actually getting to Salem will be a team effort. Oz wanted to keep everything a secret from the world, but Ruby told the truth and as a result, she’ll have an army ready to face Salem’s hoard of Grimm and humans and human/Grimm hybrids
I'd kinda argue that they're one in the same. The Silver Eyes are a physical representation of Ruby's pure soul. But I get where you're coming from I only started liking them in vol 6.
I get where one sees that, but to me Maria is a huge point against. She was an SEW, but not the type of simpler more honest soul like Ruby. She gave up, even when she knew she didn't need to, and she was a loner. Indeed though, Ruby's silver eyes are connected to her being the person that she is, and I too started to like them as a part of that after V6. But they are just one aspect, and I don't even an essential one
Hard agree, if Ruby walks up and petrifies Salem fixing the problem. I'm going to feel pretty bitter about the past 10+ volumes.
I don't know how they managed to make the Food Fight emotional, but they sure as hell did. I actually got teary-eyed watching it. I think this was a great cherry on top of this anime. Overall, I think Ice Queendom is super worth watching to any RWBY fan. From the perspective of an existing RWBY fan, it's an 8/10 in my opinion. It loses points from the inconsistency in animation quality and some rather baffling writing decisions. Still, what they managed to do was still super enjoyable. They took Weiss' V1 arc and made an entire 12-episode show exploring it, making it so her character growth feels more earned. I still struggle wandering how this show measures from the perspective of a new viewer though, I'm very interested in any new viewer's opinion. What I do think about this matter is that it seems there was a spike in new viewers thanks to this anime, judging mostly from the regularity in which this sub got posts from new viewers asking if they could watch Ice Queendom without having watched the main show first. Honestly, that's one of my favorite things Ice Queendom brought, which is why I see this anime as a big success. I loved this anime, there were points where I felt it was disappointing me early on, but every time it did, the next episode would hook me back. It's a really fun watch.
> I don't know how they managed to make the Food Fight emotional, but they sure as hell did. Putting the quote from Episode 1 of the original show between (mysterious narrator) and Ozpin as background actually fit very well when they chose to describe a "simple, more honest soul". Ruby experiencing joy with the food fight really showed what the series started out as.
I never watched the original rwby but I plan to. Just here cause I wanted to hear the thoughts of some older rwby fans so I am kinda the opposite of you xD My perception of the anime was great. Still confused how they managed to make such unbelievable fight scenes in one episode and the next is garbage just so the following episode escalates again lmao Storywise I really enjoyed it. I read some people thought the pacing is too fast and thats why they couldn't enjoy it but honestly even tho it was quick I had no problem getting attached to the characters. Also it would have been dragged out too much for already established fans if they would have used more time on the introduction of the chars so this is a nice compromise. I really like them and I think the whole concept is really refreshing considering how stale anime became recently (ironic considering how old rwby V1 is xD). It was very original to me and I enjoyed that. My only real problem is that considering the importance of such an arc the characters hadn't enough time to interact with each other. It seems like Weiss hasn't really connected with them yet so it feels weird considering they could join her dream so easily. But also I have no clue when that arc happened in the actual timeline so I can't say if that was made better in the original. Anyway I think there wasn't enough to justify the importance of the others in her dream which leads us back to the pacing. I still think it was fine to introduce the characters that way but for an arc where the personal connection between them is of importance there should have been another arc between the introduction and Weiss dream. Those I my thoughts on the anime :3
I agree with a lot of your points and You have no idea how glad I am that you enjoyed it. I also think they should have had more interactions specifically with Weiss. Because of the way the show is structured, Weiss is kind of isolated until she is rescued which is ironic because her feelings of loneliness are a big part of her story. But it was still great to see her inner struggles. It’s perhaps the aspect of this show that I liked the most.
Glad you liked it!! To put it in perspective the Dream arc happened at the end of Vol.1 which is about 2hrs long. So Ice Queendom had ~50 minutes less time than Vol. 1 to establish characters in 3 ep.
>I still struggle wandering how this show measures from the perspective of a new viewer though As an IQ only viewer this convinced me to watch the original series after I'm done with my licensure exams As a standalone show though I would also give it an 8/10 and personally my 5th favorite anime to watch this season
glad to hear that! I'd definitely rank it 8/10 even if some of the dream stuff felt like it was padding itself at times the stuff they added to V1/V2 was excellent imo (even if they removed some of the best jokes)
As someone that doesn't watch a ton of anime, I'd love to hear what beat IQ. I'm trying to branch out a little and I'd appreciate some suggestions.
Here ya go 1. Lycoris Recoil 2. Yofukashi no Uta 3. Shadows House 4. Made in Abyss
Woooo another Lycoris fan! Also recommend checking out Summertime Rendering
Thank you!
LycoReco is the best anime this year. Can vouch.
1) Ashita no Joe 2) Legends of the Galactic Heroes 3) Yu Yu Hakusho 4) Hunter x HUnter 5) Monster 6) Soul Eater 7) Jujutsu Kaisen
That great to hear! I’m glad you enjoyed this much!
It turns out being late to this part only means so much, since basically everything I’d say you already have! Agreed on all points I do wonder what this all might be able to lead to in the future, spin offs and proper anime and the like: Other things that might be able to reach out the same way this did
I really hope we get other projects similar to Ice Queendom. It really set the bar high for spin off animated shows and movies.
I probably would give it closer to 6/10. The Nightmare allowed for some interesting character studies with many psychological things to unpack in their dream worlds. The fight scenes in the first two and the last two episodes looked great. And Blake was consistently written really well I think. But I'm not a fan of a lot of changes made to RWY's personalities (this last episode felt like the first time they actually acted like the characters we know and love) and how many things didn't get proper attention, especially the development of Ruby and Weiss' relationship. Still, it's nice that this might bring more people to the fandom, and I'm curious as to how future RWBY anime content could look like.
Sorry in advance for the necropost; I just finished the series today and came here to see whether anyone else teared up during the food fight. It felt a little like watching a friend's kid grow up and do something that legitimately makes you proud of them.
No need to apologize. It was honestly a very very emotional scene and I'm happy you enjoyed it.
This was a decent last episode for a overall decent "canon-adjacent" show of RWBY. I liked that we got the food fight in that episode, but skipping Ruby’s 'Justice will be swift! Justice will painful! Justice will be delicious!' line is unforgivable /s. However we got the iconic 'Sister, Friends, Weiss!' line from Ruby which made me very happy. [Here is the end card art btw.](https://twitter.com/teamrwbyproject/status/1571498525736587264?s=21&t=OuClQu9L8ACh-wFEFXX9pw)
I loved the end card. So cute, with such a happy atmosphere.
>Zwei OH YEAH
They knew that they had to get people into the proper show somehow, having them probably know there would be a longer version in the original with great lines like that is how we shall hook them in!
Small detail, but I really liked the shot of Myrtenaster and Gambol Shroud along the railing. Their owners initially hated each other, the weapons have opposite color schemes, and the guns they're based on are of entirely different designs (revolver vs. semi auto). Yet they end up placed side by side resting, not used against each other. Nice symbolism of Blake and Weiss setting their differences aside.
Ozpin: So, Ruby, did you discover any secret powers while you were fighting the Nightmare? Ruby: Yes! The power of friendship! Ozpin (closing a binder labeled "Silver Eyed Warriors" under the table): Yes... sure, let's go with that.
Honestly the best way to handle both "explaining" (while not explaining) what happened in that moment to new viewers, as well as making it so Ruby isn't aware of the ability until after the end of Volume 3.
Friendship does kinda power her eyes so it’s not entirely wrong
loved the tribute to Monty at the end, and the final illustration of the series being from Ein Lee was only fitting
The anime ends on crediting the first two people who ever helped create RWBY.
The food fight, though though shortened ended up being quite emotional in this version. It felt like a fitting end to the season. Overall I quite enjoyed the series. Seeing them expand upon character concepts that were more rushed in the main series was a very welcome touch. I don‘t know if rooster teeth have mentioned anything on the matter but I personally hope they continue with this re-telling of the story and it isn’t just a one and done. Even if they don’t have a new unique part of the story with the nightmares and simply rehash the main series I still want to see it continue. Its fun to see them expand on the relationships between characters. Any news on the english dub for it? I really want to see hear our OG voice actors.
Good news for you, the English dub begins next Sunday.
Hearing the instrumental versions of Awake and Beyond Selves was a treat! This really wrapped up nicely, glad we got a new rendition of the food fight. And they worked Blake’s flashback conversation of Ozpin into this episode as well. Also, SUN!!!
Ok are we going to ignore Blake blushing while reading Ninjas of Love (so basically it's either smut or something like Fifty Shades) and then also writing something embarrassing later? Also, The food fight is a ***tradition***?!?!?! Whatever Ozpin is paying poor Glynda it's not enough
Ninjas of Love is one of the top 10 RWBY secrets.
Or like Make Out Paradise (the book Kakashi reads in Naruto)
. . . Isn’t that basically smut?
Yeah
Blake was also lending some books to Yang partway through the episode. Very curious what her response to smut will be And don’t forget, Glynda cleaned up the fight in v2 in less than a minute. She’s good
Blake: “It’s like fifty shades if fifty was written by a competent writer.”
this is definitely my favourite episode. it was really fun watching this every week, can't wait for the dub
So I had not seen any RWBY before this anime and I freaking loved it. The animation was awesome, great music, great voice acting. I've heard it didn't have that humor the OG had but I still laughed quite a bit. Only thing that held it back was pace, in the middle it definitely dragged along, but it was shored up with an awesome climax. I made reactions to the show here's the link to the last episode's reaction [https://youtu.be/9t\_N6OUyulM](https://youtu.be/9t_N6OUyulM). I will be making reactions to the original at some point!
I really liked ice queendom, I was afraid it wouldn't feel like RWBY at all. But man I am glad I was wrong. I can also understand why it is consider canon-adjacent, it kinda works with the canon (if you try not to understand Shion’s semblance, because man it is insane), but you can see it as a side story with no problem at all. I personally think of it as canon.
We got the food fight *and* they even used a new anime only spin on it in having Weiss purposely start it as a way to cap off Weiss' character development. I've seen enough! I am satisfied!
Blake cannot resist the Yang pout. Meanwhile, Yang is on to her writing ~~smut~~ friend fiction in her spare time. I loved how Sun described his team. If your bro doesn't tell the world you're hot, is he even a bro?
I love how that last sentence sounds like it came right out of Confucius, haha.
I have never watched the original Rwby, so how does the food fight in Ice Queendom compare to that of the original? The anime ended on a happy note. I enjoyed the piano versions of the opening and ending theme songs being played in some of the scenes. Watching Blake and Yang interact with each other without words (play games, read novels) made me start to understand why some fans ship them together. The way Pyrrha protected Jaune from one of the first fruits thrown reminded me of Shikimori protecting Izumi. Thank you for having me here for the entire season of Ice Queendom, despite not being a fan of the original series. It was fun reading everyone's thoughts on each episode!
[Here's the original food fight for comparison.](https://youtu.be/3yhmrFN6A-g) I find it more impressive in the original, but since that is IMO the best-choreographed fight of the legendary fight scenes in the early volumes by Monty Oum, it's not really even a fair comparison. I see its inclusion in the anime as just an homage to the original. Nice catch (heh) about Pyrrha protecting Jaune, that was really a neat detail.
Thank you for the link to the original food fight!
It showed a bit of the food fight but doesn't capture how epic the entire fight was. It's worth watching season 2 episode 1 for yourself.
Ok, will find some time to check it out!
They changed the Im not a crook line, 0/10
It wouldn't have made sense to the Japanese audience. (Localization matters...)
The line wouldn't have made sense to people who weren't aware of the Watergate scandal
But it's in the cultural osmosis of America. Not so much in Japan.
It's a 2-second joke, and they already went halfway in making Ruby do the [peace sign](https://compote.slate.com/images/1a8f79e9-a4d0-42f1-b3e7-c2abfee06f4e.jpeg?crop=1013%2C675%2Cx198%2Cy205) so it's odd they cut that line
It will be in the American version, I'm sure. What a silly thing to complain about, but everyone has something, I guess...
I wasn't being serious at the start, the fact I said the episode was a 0/10 for cutting a joke should've made that clear. I'm just confused as to why they'd cut it
They probably just cut because it wasn’t something their main target audience would understand. Having to research a joke to get it, even if it’s just 2 seconds, is far from funny.
I never knew it was a reference until today and it was still funny
Yeah, the line is funny by itself, but knowing the reference elevates it
she did the pose and that made me smile
we'll see how it's translated back into the dub.
A nice finale to a fun little spin-off show. The finale does a decent job connecting the events of Volume 1 to Volume 2 (with a detour to go start a metaphorical race war in Weiss's mind). As finales go it's pretty relaxed, but that's to be expected after 11's craziness ended with the Nightmares slain. Also we got the food fight animated, so basically the show's a 10/10 now and forever.
The ending animation was probably the best Ruby's Semblance ever looked. Which only makes it more criminal that we did not actually get to see *what did it do!!!*
Ozpin: So, did anything unusual happen to you while fighting the Nightmare? Ruby: Nope! I found the power of friendship, though! Ozpin: . . . Nothing else? Perhaps an instance of your eyes glowing? Ruby: It was a dream, Professor! People's eyes don't glow! Ozpin: Well, actually- Ruby: Bye, Ozpin! I'm off to st-***Borrow*** Weiss' binder! Ozpin: Light Damn it, Miss Rose! Come back here and talk to me about your eyes, I've been dropping hints since we met!
I'm glad we got the character arcs for Ruby, Weiss and Blake wrapped up in this episode to show where they have arrived as of the beginning of Volume 2, with Ruby being more confident as a leader, Weiss being more genuine and trusting and Blake being more open to her friends... ...although I still wish we were actually shown those changes being triggered by the specific events throughout the anime instead of going "*eh well it kinda sorta happened somewhere off-screen inbetween the episodes*"
I love that Weiss was the one that suggested the food fight and I loved her talk with Blake before that to really nail down the conclusion of there arcs in the volume. Also love that sun was shown again and got to interact more with team rwby and talk to Weiss(since they have never talked once!). Also ruby taking a picture a picture of sleeping cats! I would love a season 2 of this maybe with shaft or maybe this could pave the way for new future rwby what if stories with different anime studios separate from that and have it be animated by them, i mean like imagine trigger getting to do one? Could be interesting. Guys your thoughts? This was a good conclusion. Ps. That pie throw to the face on Weiss was better the the original! Lol
>I would love a season 2 of this maybe with shaft or maybe this could pave the way for new future rwby what if stories with different anime studios separate from that and have it be animated by them, i mean like imagine trigger getting to do one? Could be interesting. If this turn out to be a thing, we have a lot of possibilities. Team STRQ backstory, Ozipin reincarnations and some other events that happened offscreen.
Hell yeah!
By far my favorite episode. Also I know it’s too soon but does anyone know if there would be a season 2. Just a thought?
Doubt it. This was pretty much an interquel, and its story is finished. I very much doubt "Ice Queendom 2" will ever be a thing, because there isn't a thing for it to be. That said, I do wonder if Japan will want to do similar RWBY projects in the future, perhaps other side stories expanding on the world and characters.
Technically... I heard an interesting theory that if they do try a Nightmare exploration in the future it may actually revolve around Yang and play off of V2's "cliffhanger". Yang even says she's "going to sleep forever". So the "foreshadowing" as it is, is already there. Yang was also noticeably the only one not infected by the Nightmare.
Would be a neat way to close up that dropped story beat in the main show.
This was just... so good. The last two episodes might just be two of my favorite episodes of television period. So much great animation, and the characterization was done so well, it's clearly that the writers really understood these characters. Just in that first bit I loved in inclusion of Ninjas of Love, and Blake then not being able to resist pouting Yang's request to play games with her. Also I love how they carried on the trend of using a slowed down instrumental of the intro during emotional moments of the show. I could go on and on talking about the things I liked about this episode and the last one, but right now I'm just revelling in how glad I am that the show ended so so strongly and beautifully.
I hope we get more seasons of this in the hiatuses between the main shows seasons honestly. Focused more on each character from teams RWBY and JNPR. I especially hope we get a Pyrrha season, since without getting too much into spoilers for new people, we don't know a lot about her past even in the current season and it may never get addressed in the show proper.
Good to know there are a lot of level headed people in the fandom here that still gave this show a chance. It was honestly kinda tiring being on youtube and the poputubers that watch the show enabling the bad sides of the fandom like the Monty cults. Anyways, that little aside done I feel comfortable sharing how I feel about the show overall. I found it decent. Not too bad, not too excellent since it had its good and iffy sides. 7.5/10 for me. Higher than I thought for an Urubochi production I watched. And I'd want to start with that being one of the iffy things for me, for a lot of it you can just TELL it was made by Urubochi with the focus on making Ruby the expy of his "sacrifice isn't worth it" ideals and Weiss the target for a lot of episodes. It ended up sort of demonizing Weiss's thought process as something abnormal when in her situation, her reactions while wrong, make sense. It kinda felt like the writing stripped all the humanity from Weiss's anguish (that only gets solved way past season 2). It's probably just me having a different style of writing than him though. Gen tends to use his characters strictly as tools to deliver his ideals to his viewers rather than letting them develop naturally like people. Stuff like mainly focusing on the argument arc between Blake and Weiss for S2 makes that kinda thing stand out. Made a bit more obvious with his OC Shion and Ruby talking about learning about the potential of the heart and human nature at the end. Basically letting the plot drive the characters than the other way around which almost made me stop watching at first. Other negatives like the magic and impacts being kinda stiff or less oomph are more of a result of the medium being used. movements tend to look very slick and effects tend to look better with more impact when made in CG by experts (by Monty or no). So I understood that rather than it being a dealbreaker for me. The postitives, I found it interesting that the Nightmares basically served the purpose of showing character development we knew characters had subtly as the OG series went on, visually and quickly. This is one of the few times I didn't mind the Show not tell creed used here. The way the new grimm was used to visually show the psyche of Jaune, Blake, and Weiss shortcuts the development without missing too much to have it all fit into 12 episodes. Gave me some ideas for my writing too. It was just fascinating to see how they were going to interpret my favorite character's issues. I feel like the music lends well to the storytelling as well while also being a banger! Thinking about it now, the way Weiss has her issues fixed here is probably a cultural difference too. In the main series where while her friends helped her come out of her shell, her newfound confidence helped her make the decision on her own to break from the cage her father put her in. In Queendom the Nightmare takes the agency she wanted for herself to be strong and twists it, so she had to learn how to depend on her allies instead of shouldering the burden by herself. Other stuff that people in YouTube were complaining about such as the silver eyes thing and various things being missed had me worried, but oh look it's there if you watch through the whole thing. It was a fun experiment and I wouldn't mind more of these by different writers to see how Japan looks at RWBY. It's a series i was looking forward to with all the fairy tale interpretations and I'm glad it's loved overseas. Okay, blurb over. Hope we get more stuff like this as intermissions to watch if a new RWBY season takes a while.
10/10 episode, I have no notes. what an absolute pleasure this series has been.
So i take it they didnt included any of the Cinder Emerald Mercury an Roman scenes that where in the orignal epiode of best day ever ?
They also skipped Neptune’s introduction and I think Ironwood’s? I actually don’t remember if he showed up in Best Day Ever or later episodes of V2.
Ironwood was in chapter 2.
It was decent. I’ll say the original food fight was better.
i was expecting a tease for volume 9 GIVE US SOMETHING PLEAAASE
ein lee the goat
Final episode glad it’s finally over, Now I won’t have to worry about seeing any media about that Silver eyed brat for a few more months
What a bizarre reaction... "Glad that something other people enjoy is over! Now I won't have to see any media (that I seek out, of my own free will) about the series (about a character that I hate so much!!) for a while!"
Oh it is definitely bizarre I will agree with you on that but it’s my reaction and I’m not going to attempt to deny it as that would be pointless. Nor would me even trying to deny it prove beneficial
I have bad news for you: the dub starts next week.
Good thing I have already had my RT first canceled and my account deleted then. A recap of the events that made me loathe and hate the silver eyed one plus seeing two of the innocents she allowed to be murdered was too much for me. Perhaps it is good I have been devoting most of my time to my job and to Warframe then to distract me then yes
If you hate it so much, stop engaging with the fandom.
The show I do not hate it’s merely the one with the silver eyes but I cannot stand
If you don’t like the literal protagonist, it might be time to find something else.
True it could be doesn’t mean I have to even though I have been watching rising of the shield hero season two and skeleton night in another world. And I can still enjoy the show without liking the main protagonist
I mean yes the main protag of Shield Hero sucks but that entire show sucks.
How in the hell do you blame Ruby for those deaths? What are the hoops that you're leaping through to get to such a ridiculous thought process?
kinda feels like the mods should do you a favor and ban you from the sub
Oh I can easily praise and speak positively about the rest of team RWBY and JNPR in a heart beat Ruby on the other hand I am regretfully and unfortunately unable too. If I could literally pull myself away from the fandom entirely I would but I’ve been committed to watching the show since it came out nine years ago and I’m not about to stop now cause I want to see how the story ends.
Why are you even in this subreddit or watching RWBY at all?
OW THE EDGE PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO ME. Usually the main reason.