User blog:NerdWithAKeyboard/RWBY Volume 7 Review



Before we get started on this review, a quick recap on my thoughts on the previous volumes:

Volumes 1, 2, and 3 I think are some of the greatest pieces of animation ever produced. They were well paced, interesting, funny, and had hands-down some of the best fight scenes in anything I'd ever seen, and still remain some of the best in recent memory.

However, after the tragic loss of series creator Monty Oum, the series went a different direction. In my previous review of Volume 6, I stated that it felt different, but wasn't sure how to explain it. After the disappointment of Volume 5 and the mediocre Volume 6, as well as after watching a Nostalgia Critic editorial comparing the original Star Wars saga with the sequel trilogy, I figured out what that difference was.

One of these feels like someone's dreams and ideas brought to life, the other feels like a company trying to make money. That is exactly what RWBY is. The first three volumes feel like a passion to bring an idea to life regardless of limitations, and everything after feels like a company trying to appease the fanbase and sell merchandise. Anyone who read my Volume 6 review knows that I thought Rooster Teeth made some decisions that were not there to tell a great story, but to pander to shippers and sell more merchandise. There are still some good things, but it feels corporate.

So, how does Volume 7 fair?

Well, in all honesty, the first half of this Volume feels exactly like what I just described: corporate pandering and merchandise making. Penny Polendina, everyone's favorite robot girl who was killed in Volume 3, returns, rebuilt and combat ready. While it was great to see her again, she gets little buildup or even much of an introduction, just being rushed into the series as a "hey look who's back". As the episodes progressed, they got worse; there was little action, not-so-subtle political messages, and a lot of pandering (I'll get to it in a minute). There was a good line every once and a while, but there was little focus on the story or action and more on, well, pointless shit.

But then something happened. The latter half of the series... started to get good. The villains showed up, there were some tough moral choices to make, and there was more intrigue and action. It still had some of the issues from before, but not as many. As the episodes continued, the dilemmas got tougher, the action got better, and more was given to telling a story that felt like RWBY. By the time the final episode rolled around, I was genuinely excited.

So, what are the upsides of Volume 7? Well, while Penny's introduction was rushed, she's great in the rest of the Volume. Great design, great powers, great dilemmas, great character. Tyrian, Watts, Cinder, and Neo are all back and more evil than ever, leading to some great fight scenes and match-ups that haven't been done before, as well as cool displays of their powers and abilities. The moral choices of Team RWBY vs. General Ironwood are very good. Both of them are right, they just have different and conflicting methods of doing what they think will be best for the world. Almost all the heroes in this volume start to slip into a grey zone; doing what they need to to help others, but that not always being the right thing to do. Add in a great twist in fate at the end and some cute chemistry between Ruby and Oscar, and the story redeems itself.

That being said, however, the problems still persist. The first half has little action or story, and that is a big negative. There were points where I was actively getting frustrated that nothing was happening. The next one will be controversial, but I don't care.

In my last review of Volume 6, I stated that I thought Yang and Blake becoming a couple was a bad idea; I thought it felt forced, they ruined Blake and Sun's relationship for it, they killed one of the best villains in Adam for it, and it just felt like pandering to the shippers. Well, after seeing this volume, I can safely say... I was totally, 100% right. Yang and Blake have absolutely NO chemistry other than staring longingly at each other. In fact, that's ALL THEY DO FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE VOLUME. No badass one-liners and puns from Yang, no stoic pessimism from Blake, absolutely none of the personalities we grew to love. All they do is flirt and stare. Even when they do fight at the end, they have to "do it together". The two of them were such good characters because their personalities worked well off of each other. But now their personalities have just been stripped away so that their only trait is "in love". That's it. Also, on top of that, they are the ones responsible for EVERYTHING GOING WRONG AT THE END OF THE VOLUME, all because they HAD to tell a wanted criminal their plans and loose the trust of their allies. I actually dreaded whenever Yang and Blake were on screen, because it led to nothing and even when it did, it was them screwing things up of bashing you over the head with "we're in love". They start to pull that with Qrow and a new character named Clover, but thankfully they never get to that, the two are only friends, and Clover dies.

But there are more issues. Ren and Nora finally get together in this Volume, and on one hand, that is one of the biggest positives of the Volume. However, the way that its done is just uncomfortable and awkward. They finally kiss... after a big argument with each other, and afterwards they seem cold and bitter towards each other. So not only does the big kiss come right out of nowhere, but its framed by two uncomfortable moments in time, even though Ren and Nora is one of the most natural and constant relationships in the series.

There are also political talks, and it is incredibly obvious which demographic they are pandering to and who they're taking shots at, but in their defense, they could have been worse, and even the side they are clearly advocating for is not portrayed as much of a hero either. That one I was okay with, if not a tad uncomfortable.

But the biggest issue is actually one of the things I praised earlier: RWBY vs. Ironwood. This dilemma is a very good one. Ironwood wants to save the world, even if he had to make a tough sacrifice to do it. Team RWBY is more optimistic, and wants to save everyone and not make any sacrifices. This is a wonderful Good vs. Good issue, and for the most part it was done well. However, towards the end, they clearly start spelling out that RWBY is right and Ironwood is wrong, eventually turning Ironwood into a full-on antagonist. I'm sorry... I still side with Ironwood here. He wants to save the world, and RWBY is trying to stop him with force. But the volume just escalates him into basically a villain. Why? The hero vs. hero dynamic was working great. I'm actually a little frustrated with RWBY because, as Ironwood said, they don't see the big picture, and because of Yang and Blake's stupidity, they are the ones that betrayed Ironwood's trust, not the other way around. I think making Ironwood a villain was a mistake, and I hope there is some kind of redemption/mending where RWBY has to admit their mistakes as much as he has to admit his. The volume says that RWBY did nothing wrong and that Ironwood's wrong, but never questions if what RWBY is doing is right or not.

The final issue I'd want to discuss is not an issue with the series necessarily, but rather its fanbase. The fanbase seems to have finally split over this volume, and it gets TOXIC. There are the ones that Rooster Teeth is clearly pandering to that get offended when they don't make their headcanon canon, and there are the ones that get angry with the other group for their entitlement. THAT is why I think doing what fans request is a bad idea, because when they don't get what they want, they riot and ruin the experience for everyone else. Tell a story out of passion, not out of obligation.

So with all those issues, you must think I really don't like this Volume. Well... no. Not only do I like parts of it, but I think those parts are some of the best content produced since the Monty Oum era. Yes, the first half is a bit of a drag to get through, and yes, there are choices that I feel should have been better thought out or not implemented at all. But, what's good about this Volume is REALLY good. In my last review I said I need to finally accept that these Volumes will never be as good as the first three. This Volume helped me do just that: accept. Not necessarily celebrate or obsess, but accept. What Volume 7 is is a little better than acceptable. When I saw the first half, I thought that the franchise was finally losing steam and dying out. After the second half, I think it has enough to keep on going, and with a few strong points at that. It's hard to say what Volume 8 will have in store; maybe it will be as good as the latter half of this Volume, maybe it'll be as bad as 5. I will say that this Volume had the one thing I needed, and that was just enough to get me to keep watching.

Voulume 7 was not the death of the franchise. It started as a stumble, but then picked itself back up higher than it has in a while. And I think that's good enough for me.

6/10