Episode Rankings: RWBY

I feel like RWBY has gotten a pretty ridiculous amount of hate over the years and I still don't really get why. Sure, it has its flaws, Seasons 5 and 8 are pretty rough, the animation can be pretty rough at times, and the cast is spread pretty thin, but I also think there's a lot to love from the series. RWBY has a very likable cast of characters, an interesting world, fantastic action, banging music, and many just truly amazing episodes. While not my favorite, I do think RWBY stands up as one of the best web animations made so far. Here's my ranking of its episodes (webisodes?):

1. Heroes And Monsters (S3.11)
2. Alone In The Woods (S6.06)
3. Gravity (S7.11)
4. End Of The Beginning (S3.12)
5. No Brakes (S2.11)
6. The Enemy Of Trust (S7.13)
7. Argus Limited (S6.01)
8. A Night Out (S7.06)
9. The Lost Fable (S6.03)
10. Strings (S8.03)
11. Fall (S3.06)
12. Punished (S4.07)
13. True Colors (S5.10)
14. PvP (S3.09)
15. With Friends Like These (S7.12)
16. Painting The Town (S2.04)
17. Kuroyuri (S4.10)
18. Seeing Red (S6.12)
19. Best Day Ever (S2.01)
20. Players And Pieces (S1.05)
21. Our Way (S6.13)
22. Tipping Point (S4.06)
23. The Grimm Reaper (S6.07)
24. Dance Dance Infiltration (S2.07)
25. As Above, So Below (S7.09)
26. Destiny (S3.08)
27. Dark (S8.08)
28. A Minor Hiccup (S2.03)
29. Black And White (S1.10)
30. Never Miss A Beat (S3.05)
31. Sparks (S7.05)
32. Amity (S8.05)
33. Lighting The Fire (S5.04)
34. Family (S4.04)
35. The Final Word (S8.14) - Would be a lot higher if not for Penny
36. Round One (S3.01)
37. The Coming Storm (S6.05)
38. No Safe Haven (S4.12)
39. Alone Together (S5.08)
40. Burning The Candle (S2.06)
41. Remembrance (S4.02)
42. Risk (S8.11)
43. Haven's Fate (S5.14)
44. Ace Operatives (S7.03)
45. Battle Of Beacon (S3.10)
46. Search And Destroy (S2.09)
47. Midnight (S8.06)
48. Dread In The Air (S5.02)
49. The Greatest Kingdom (S7.01)
50. Beginning Of The End (S3.07)
51. Uncovered (S6.02)
52. Worst Case Scenario (S7.07)
53. Taking Control (S4.11)
54. Breach (S2.12)
55. Worthy (S8.13)
56. Stealing From The Elderly (S6.10)
57. Downfall (S5.13)
58. Witch (S8.09)
59. It's Brawl In The Family (S3.03)
60. Known By Its Song (S5.06)
61. Out In The Open (S7.10)
62. Welcome To Beacon (S2.02)
63. Fault (S8.04)
64. Dead End (S6.08)
65. The More The Merrier (S5.11)
66. The Stray (S1.09)
67. Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back (S4.09)
68. Cordially Invited (S7.08)
69. The Lady In The Shoe (S6.11)
70. Extracurricular (S2.05)
71. Welcome To Haven (S5.01)
72. So That's How It Is (S6.04)
73. The First Step (S1.03)
74. Divide (S8.01)
75. Mountain Glenn (S2.10)
76. The Next Step (S4.01)
77. Pomp And Circumstance (S7.04)
78. Vault Of The Spring Maiden (S5.12)
79. Ultimatum (S8.10)
80. Lost (S6.09)
81. Menagerie (S4.05)
82. The Badge And The Burden (S1.06)
83. Necessary Sacrifice (S5.05)
84. Ruby Rose (S1.01)
85. Of Runaways And Stowaways (S4.03)
86. New Challengers (S3.02)
87. Field Trip (S2.08)
88. War (S8.07)
89. Lessons Learned (S3.04)
90. Forever Fall (S1.08)
91. A New Approach (S7.02)
92. Refuge (S8.02)
93. Unforeseen Complications (S5.03)
94. The Shining Beacon (S1.02)
95. Creation (S8.12)
96. A Much-Needed Talk (S4.08)
97. The Emerald Forest (S1.04)
98. Jaunedice (S1.07)
99. Rest And Resolutions (S5.07)
100. A Perfect Storm (S5.09)

RWBY (Season 8)

Season 8 of RWBY had the lofty challenge of chronicling the big Battle Of Atlas that Season 7 had been spending all of this time building up to. However, I'm not quite sure it managed to pull it all off.

Most of RWBY's eighth season has the good guys split up, with Ruby, Blake, Weiss, Penny, and Nora fighting from Atlas and Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Oscar fighting from Mantle. As a result, I found myself fairly split on a large portion of the season. The storylines involving Ruby's team was excellent, from Nora trying to be her own person, to Weiss's family struggling to repair itself, to Penny dealing with her new winter maiden powers. Seeing all of my favorite characters interact and develop was incredibly fun, and their focus episodes had some entertaining genre shifts. Yang's team on the other hand should have been more compelling, with storylines about a talking Grimm and blowing up Salem's whale, but they were so dour and gloomy the entire time, ultimately being far less fun to watch. Although, I did really enjoy Ren's character development and how it built off of his behavior in Season 7. Frankly, Nora and Ren are probably the best part of the season, or at least one of them.

On the other hand, Cinder's crew got a ton of development, which was another highlight of the season. Cinder got her backstory, and while it was somewhat predictable and standard, it finally gave her the depth she most desperately needed. Emerald and Hazel were particularly great though, with the former turning to the good side, and the latter getting over his hatred for Ozpin that has been blinding him. I was shocked at how much I loved Hazel this season. Given how dull he was in Season 5, he had some of the best and most emotional parts of Season 8. As for Ironwood's team, they didn't fare as well. While I liked that Winter and the Ace Ops spent most of the season conflicted, the lack of the nuanced political aspect that made Season 7 so unique definitely made Ironwood a bit less interesting. Ironwood was such an 

So I didn't love every aspect of Season 8, that's perfectly fine. There was enough good there that if this season stuck the landing just like Seasons 3 and 7 did, it could have still been one of my favorites. However, the final few episodes, while they did have some good moments like Yang falling, Atlas crashing into Mantle, and the intriguing cliffhanger, also made some decisions that left a bad taste in my mouth. For example, the annoying Ambrosius character, the underwhelmingly short big fight with Ironwood, and especially Penny getting an amazing character arc and being turned into a human only to be killed off a second time. I'm normally not mad when characters die (case in point: Clover), and I even liked Penny's goodbye with Winter, but the plot point just felt overly cruel. I also felt like the action was oddly lacking this season. Whereas Seasons 3 and 7 ended their seasons with some of the show's best fight scenes (Pyrrha vs Cinder, Ironwood vs Watts, RWBY vs Ace Ops), Season 8 was mostly composed of incredibly average fights with some janky animation at points. It was nowhere near as bad as Season 5, but I know that Rooster Teeth can definitely do better. And that's really the problem with Season 8, with so much build up, this should have been one of the show's best seasons, and there are signs of greatness as well. However, it just wasn't executed as well as it could have been.

Despite my misgivings, there were a few episodes I did really like this season, or at least thought were noteworthy:

Strings: This was still probably my favorite episode of the season. Strings is a full-on heist as Ruby's team sneaks into Command to launch Amity Tower, and it's a ton of fun. There are a lot of cute character dynamics, a fun fight with the Ace Ops, and even some surprising development for Nora that helped her become one of my favorite characters. Between this and Alone In The Woods, I really feel like RWBY is at its best when it utilizes self-contained genre shifts like this one.

Amity: This episode focuses nearly entirely on Penny as she tries to defend Amity Tower from Cinder's team so they can send out a broadcast to all of Remnant. This was one of the better fights of the season and it was great to see Maria actually hold up a fight against Neo, but obviously the best part was the broadcast itself which brought back a ton of old characters from the previous seasons.  

Dark: Similarly to Strings, this was another genre shift episode that focused on Ruby's team, this time around being a horror episode about the Schnee Mansion getting stormed by The Hound. I don't think it was as brilliantly-executed as Alone In The Woods with some janky animation, but I loved the character development for Weiss's family, along with just how tense the final few minutes ended up being.

Risk: While I wouldn't call this one of the season's best episodes, I want to give it credit for some amazing character moments: Nora and Ren talking out their problems with each other was excellent and a satisfying resolution to their arcs this season. Similarly, Yang and Ruby's conversation finally addressed those devastating implications about Summer, and was bolstered further by some amazing voice acting. And Emerald rooting the team on was absolutely adorable.

Worthy: Holy mother of cliffhangers! In a similar fashion to Heroes And Monsters (still my favorite episode btw), this episode introduced a ton of crazy set-up for the finale, from Watts hacking into Qrow's ship, to Winter fighting Ironwood. I don't think the big battle in the portal room was executed super flawlessly, but Yang's fall was incredibly emotional and it was cool to see Neo fight Ruby again.

The Final Word: Despite my gripes with Penny's death, this was still one of the show's better finales with a lot of really great moments, particularly when it comes to Winter. Her fight with Ironwood was great, and her Maiden fight with Cinder was even better! I'm excited to see where the void took RWBY, Jaune, and Neo, and I really liked Cinder's betrayal of Neo and I hope it means she joins the good guys. There's something admirable in just how much goes wrong during this episode, even if it wasn't all executed the best.

Overall, while I did like some aspects of Season 8, particularly Ruby's team, Cinder's crew, and the genre shifts, it just didn't live up to Seasons 6 & 7 despite how important it is, with weaker action and some frustrating developments. It's by no means a bad season, but definitely the weakest since Season 5.

3/5 Stars

RWBY (Season 7)

Season 7 of RWBY is easily the most ambitious season of the series, tackling interesting themes and ending on one of the show's biggest battles, albeit in a somewhat flawed way.

RWBY's seventh season has the teams finally arrive at Atlas to reunite with both General Ironwood and a rebuilt Penny! Team RWBY trains under Atlas's team, the Ace Ops, while Ironwood struggles with the increased paranoia and trust issues. There is a lot to this season, a ton of characters with their own motivations and arcs, but it manages to balance all of them incredibly well, from Qrow trying to lighten up, to Weiss confronting her family once and for all, to   The season takes a while to set things up, but the final three episodes have pretty much the entire cast and all of their lingering tensions and conflicts collide, and it's pretty amazing. Easily the highlight is none other than Ironwood himself, his slow descent into paranoia throughout the season is amazingly executed, and by the final episode, he's just too far gone. I also found the political aspect of Season 7 to be excellent, with a large conflict being about how to deal with the looming threat of Salem, whether to focus on saving Atlas and the relic or try to help the poorer Mantle as well. By the end, Team RWBY and Ironwood have entirely opposing views, but neither of them are necessarily wrong. I do feel like Team RWBY is pushed to the side a bit this season, especially compared to Season 6, but the other characters still manage to be entertaining.

All of this sounds amazing on paper, and it mostly is, Season 7 easily has some of the show's best writing. However, there are a bunch of aspects that hold this season back from being my favorite. First, there's the Clover incident. Honestly, I'm fine that Clover died, and I feel it wouldn't have made quite as much of an impact if the social media didn't point out his friendship with Qrow way too heavily, but the way he died is a bit shaky. On paper, it sounds cool, Qrow reluctantly teaming up with Tyrian. But logically, it doesn't really work. Like why wouldn't Clover prioritize restraining Tyrian? And why would Qrow even team up with the guy he hates more than anyone else? And how did he not expect Tyrian to kill Clover knowing how brutal he is? It holds back an otherwise amazing final arc. Speaking of which, while the first ten episodes of Season 7 have some good episodes, but most of the season is build up to that final arc, which means that by the time the season gets truly great, it's almost the end. Production wise, Season 7 is the best one yet. The visuals are just as great as Season 6, but the intricate cities of Atlas and Mantle are absolutely stunning. The action is top-notch too, even if there isn't much of it until the final four episodes. The best fights of the season are some of the best in the whole show, particularly the fights with Watts, Cinder, and the Ace Ops.

A Night Out: This episode is just plain excellent. It starts out unassuming with most of the cast going on a night out, Ren and Nora sharing their first kiss, and Robyn having a victory party. However, the tension slowly builds throughout the episode until everything goes to hell. Robyn loses, Watts shuts out the lights, Tyrian slaughters a bunch of people, and Penny is framed for all of it, it's an amazing buildup to a shocking final scene.

Gravity: Easily the best episode of the season, Gravity starts with the phenomenal gravity-shifting fight between Ironwood and Watts and it just gets better from there! I love the sequence where Ironwood and Team RWBY have the confrontation in his office. It brings the main conflict of the season to the forefront, signals Ironwood's descent, and finally lets Ruby and Salem have a conversation (a heartbreaking one at that). It's an excellent, emotional episode.

With Friends Like These: Despite my gripes with Clover's death, the fight between RWBY and the Ace Ops is my favorite fight in RWBY to date. It's fast-paced and exciting, giving everyone time to shine and is packed with creative uses of the characters' skills, not to mention the amazing music. This is how you do a four-way fight, it's everything the Battle Of Haven should have been.

The Enemy Of Trust: Despite the strangeness of having the finale not focus on Team RWBY at all, I think The Enemy Of Trust really works for being absolute cliffhanger insanity! Penny's the winter maiden, Cinder got the relic, Qrow's arrested, Salem's here, and so much more amazing set-up for Season 8. I especially love Penny and Winter vs Cinder, it's an excellent and tense fight with some great characterization and an excellent twist.

Overall, Season 7 is easily the most complex and thought-provoking season of RWBY yet and it boasts an incredibly strong ending. However, it doesn't nail all of its moments perfectly and suffers from a bit of a slow start.

4/5 Stars

RWBY (Season 6)

At the time of this review (post-Season 8), Season 6 is my favorite season of RWBY. It just feels like it strikes the perfect balance of everything I love about the show: Amazing action, strong character work, a fast-paced and adventurous feel, and some great emotional beats.

RWBY's sixth season mostly revolves around the titular team traveling to Atlas to show the relic to Ironwood. During which, they go on a crazy train ride, learn the truth about the relics, stumble on a haunted village, fight a mech, and defeat Adam once and for all. I adore the pacing of this season, especially in the first half. Rather than remaining in one location, Season 6 feels like a big adventure composed of several smaller arcs. It's willing to experiment with flashbacks, lore dumps, genre shifts, and jumps between relentless action and somber emotional beats nearly perfectly, and I never ever felt bored while watching it. Despite this, the season also manages to deliver some great character moments, from Blake trying to make up with Yang, to Qrow's drinking problems, to Ruby learning more about the Silver Eyes, to Jaune finally getting over Pyrrha's death. Season 6 also makes up for most of Season 5's faults. particularly when it comes to Ozpin. Not only do we learn just how information Ozpin has been keeping secret from his students, but he's given a far more flawed and morally gray depiction that makes the others' distrust of him far more realistic and understandable. Overall, Season 6 just feels so much more confident than the last two seasons

Halfway through the season, the pace slows down considerably as the team struggles to find a way in Argus. Compared to the amazing first half, this is definitely the weaker part of the season, serving as a bit of a build-up to a massive final battle with Adam and Cordovin's giant mech. However, it has its moments (the Pyrrha statue, the Silver Eyes scene) and I think the payoff is definitely worth it, as not only is the action great, but the season finale is easily one of the show's best yet. Speaking of which, Season 6 is the point in which RWBY's action starts to return to its former greatness. Pretty much every fight here is well-animated, fast-paced, and tightly choreographed. It's not as intricate as Monty Oum's work, but the shift to a more weighted feel works really well for the show. It's hard to pick which fight is my favorite this time, from the teamwork-heavy train fight, to the exciting fight between Cinder and Neo, to the tense Maria vs Tock fight, to the bombastic final battle with Adam. The animation is also the best yet, it's far more brighter and colorful than Seasons 4 & 5. As for the soundtrack, it's not as good as Seasons 1 & 4, but it's definitely up there with one of the best.

I love most of this season, but these are the best episodes for me:

Argus Limited: This was an amazing start to the season that felt like a breath of fresh air after Season 5. It's a fun and fast-paced premiere with amazing character moments (the goodbye at the train station) and some of RWBY's best action in years. The fights on the train show some excellent teamwork between the characters, and the big train crash to end things off bring the season to a crazy start.

The Lost Fable: This was such a unique episode for RWBY. It's way longer than your average episode, narrated by Jinn, and focused almost entirely on Ozpin and Salem. The art direction and transitions use RWBY's animation style to stunning results, and despite the abundance of exposition and lore, this episode manages to feel engrossing and fresh throughout.

Alone In The Woods: I want to see more RWBY episodes like Alone In The Woods. It's a standalone episode about the team fighting a Grimm called the Apathy which causes them to lose hope, and it works perfectly as both a self-contained story and an installment in the volume. I love how the episode explores Team RWBY's lingering feels of doubt at this point in the show while also just being a genuinely great horror story. The Apathy feel like the Redeads from Zelda in animated form, and they're a terrifying threat for Team RWBY to fight. If I want to show anyone why I still love RWBY even with its faults, I'll show them this episode. It's easily one of the best in the series, and I'd love to see more like it.

The Grimm Reaper: I love the opening flashback where we get to learn about Maria's backstory (speaking of which, Maria is absolutely awesome). Her weapons are cool, and the fight with Tock where she loses her eyesight is easily one of the most intense in the series. It's also great to finally see Teams RWBY and JNR reunite, Argus is a super cool and quaint location, and Jaune's sister is absolutely adorable. 

Seeing Red: I'm gonna be honest here and say that I don't really like Adam, I think he's a bad character and am glad he dies this episode. That being said, I'm also glad Adam went down with a fight, and this was one hell of a four-episode-long fight. Apparently some of Monty Oum's old animation was used here and its shows, this is easily one of the best and most intense fights in the series. We also get the final sequence of the mech battle, with Ruby pulling off one of the gutsiest movies yet: Jumping inside the barrel of the cannon and shooting it from the inside. 

Our Way: This was a great finale that wraps up all of the season's storylines in a satisfying manner. Obviously the highlight is Ruby's Silver Eyes scene where we see a beautiful series of flashbacks and our first glimpse of Summer as "Indomitable" plays in the background. However, we also get Cinder and Neo stealing an airship, Ozpin briefly returning, and the big cliffhanger of the teams arriving at Atlas. 

Overall, I love Season 6. I loved the sense of adventure it had, along with the great additions to the lore, the top-notch action, the strong character moments, the emotional conclusion, and some of the show's best episodes. It's still my favorite in the series and the perfect showcase of why I still love RWBY in spite of its several flaws.

5/5 Stars

RWBY (Season 5)

RWBY's fifth season was a bit of a turning point in the series' reputation, it's the point in which a lot of people really started to write off the show. While I don't think it's as bad as everyone says it is, I absolutely understand why it's garnered the reputation it has today.

Season 5 continues where the fourth left off, with Team RNJR arriving in Haven and reuniting with Yang, Weiss, and eventually Blake. Meanwhile, Cinder and her crew are trying to steal Haven's relic, so the teams now have to stop them. There are also a few subplots about Ozpin keeping secrets, Yang reuniting with her birth mom Raven, and Blake trying to stop Adam, Ilia, and the White Fang. Let's start with the good stuff first. Yang and Blake's storylines are excellent. Raven is an incredibly complex and intriguing character who shares some excellent emotional moments with Yang, especially in the finale, and the reveal of her being the Spring Maiden is just great. While I didn't love the Menagerie storyline in Season 4, it's easily the best aspect of Season 5. Blake's rivalry with Ilia is well-written and compelling, and the big final battle is the best action scene in the season. Speaking of which, there are some really solid fight scenes here, definitely more than Season 4. The plane chess is a ton of fun, as is Yang's fight with the bandits. The maiden fight near the end of the season is bombastic and exciting, and the fight between Blake and Ilia perfectly balances great action and emotional heft. We even get to see Sun's gunchucks again, which is always a great time! I also like that we finally get to see Jaune's ability, it's about time.

However, while Season 5 nails a lot of the subplots, it completely botches up the main storyline. The problem with The Battle Of Haven is that it feels rushed and unfinished. Most of the season takes place in the same room as Team RWBY is waiting for the battle to start, and said action is filled with animation errors, stiff choreography, and dumb character decisions. For a big set piece that had been built up to for two seasons and what should be the highlight of the season, the Battle Of Haven is easily the most disappointing part. It also definitely feels like there's a ton of padding here. Season 5 is two episodes longer than most RWBY seasons, and it shows, there are a bunch of episodes (Rest And Resolutions, A Perfect Storm) where nothing ends up happening. I also don't really like the Ozpin's secrets storyline because the show doesn't do a good job of indicating why his giving Qrow and Raven shapeshifting powers is so maligned by the rest of the cast. Later seasons would do a better job of exploring Ozpin and making the characters distrustful of him, but it's not well-executed here at all. Generally, while some of the character work and action is fine, Season 5 doesn't pull off the main storyline well at all, and makes a bunch of baffling plot decisions along the way. If Rooster Teeth decreased the episode count and gave themselves more time to work on the season, I think it had the potential to turn out so much better.

There are a few episodes I like though, such as:

Lighting The Fire: This is the first of all of the reunions in this season, and it's probably the most impactful. Yang finally confronts Raven along with reuniting with Weiss in a great final sequence, but I also really like her fight scene with the bandits that shows how much she's changed in her fighting.

True Colors: Easily the best RWBY episode in a while, True Colors gives us the big Battle Of Menagerie. I already mentioned why I love this episode so much, the fights are great, the emotional impact is strong, and all of the plot threads in the Menagerie arc are tied up in a neat little bow, setting the stage for Blake to finally complete Team RWBY once again.

Overall, Season 5 of RWBY has its good parts, but it's unfinished, disappointing, and just plain bad at times. I don't think it's an irredeemable mess like a lot of people do, but it's easily one of the show's weakest seasons.

2/5 Stars

RWBY (Season 4)

After the sheer chaos and devastation of Season 3, RWBY's fourth season takes a more low-key character-driven approach. While it's definitely a great addition to the show, I wouldn't say it's the most fun to watch a lot of the time.

Season 4 is split into four different storylines, each based on the four main characters from Team RWBY. Ruby travels with the remaining members of Team JNPR on a trip to Haven as they face one of Cinder's henchman Tyrian, help Nora and Ren fight a Grimm from their childhood, and deal with Pyrrha's death. This is definitely the most action-packed of the storylines, and I love how Nora and Ren finally get some development. Weiss is at her home trying to deal with her family, ultimately growing in her abilities and managing to escape. This was easily the best part of the season for me, it shows off just how much Weiss has developed, and the Schnee family drama had always been one of the show's more compelling aspects. Yang is at home dealing with the PTSD of losing her arm, and while it easily gets the least amount of focus and is arguably the most boring to watch, I also think the emotional moments make it very much worth watching. And last but not least is Blake, who returns home with Sun after running away and tries to stop the White Fang while dealing with her guilt. I really like this story arc, but it's incomplete. Most of Blake's storyline this season is build up for next season, so it's probably my least favorite of Season 4's storylines.

Generally, I really like this character focus, and this season does a lot to give most of the cast depth and let them deal with the events of Season 3. However, since this season is spread so thin, it's also incredibly slow-paced. I can only imagine how it must have felt watching the season as it came out, but even when binging it, RWBY's fourth season is slow and somewhat uneventful. On the presentation side, RWBY's animation switched to a different engine, and while it looks a bit unpolished compared to later seasons, it's a general improvement on the first three. The action, on the other hand, is hit or miss. There aren't many fights this season, and the only truly memorable one is the big fight with Tyrian. The other fights are a bit on the stiff side, especially compared to those from Seasons 1-3. I did really like the soundtrack this season, though, I think it's probably the best in the whole series.

While it doesn't reach the heights of other seasons, there are some sweet episodes here:

Tipping Point: This episode gives us one of the best songs in the whole series, "This Life Is Mine", and Weiss letting loose and embarrassing her family is a tipping point (ha! get it?) in her development this season. We also get the first half of the excellent fight with Tyrian, culminating in one of Qrow finally revealing himself in a badass last minute save.

Punished: Continuing from where Tipping Point left off, this episode gives us the fight between Qrow and Tyrian which is fast-paced, exciting, and the closest thing this season has to a truly amazing action sequence. Watching Weiss be punished by her father is rough, but it also manages to be the thing that truly convinces her to get the hell out of there. 

Kuroyuri: I love the Nora/Ren flashbacks in this episode. We learn how they became friends, and about the Nuckelavee killed both of their parents. Their promise to always take care of each other is absolutely heartwarming and shines new light on their close relationship.

No Safe Haven: The final battle with the Nuckelavee was alright, but it was the final few minutes that truly make it great for me. Ruby's letter to the other members of Team RWBY was emotional, the score was beautiful, and the promise of seeing the members of the team finally reunite was just so exciting. 

Overall, Season 4 was a solid character-driven season with some serious emotional heft, even if the pace was slow and the action was lacking.

3/5 Stars

RWBY (Season 3)

RWBY's third season marks a massive shift in the show's tone. The first two seasons were fairly light-hearted and fun, with excellent action. Season 3, on the other hand, gets really dark, and the series is all the better for it.

The third season of RWBY seemingly starts off as a tournament arc, as the students of Beacon fighting their way through a big tournament. However, halfway through the season, things take a more sinister turn. Cinder and her team starts messing with the tournament, Pyrrha learns about the secrets that the faculty has been keeping, and by Episode 9, Penny is dead and the high school is attacked by Grimm. This season feels like a culmination of everything RWBY has been building up to, all of the characters and villains make big appearances in this crazy final battle, and the sheer amount of shocking twists and heart wrenching emotional moments form some of RWBY's most compelling episodes. Season 3 does have a bit of a slow start that mostly follow the lines of a standard anime tournament arc, but once things start to spiral out of control, this season is leagues better than the first two in pretty much every way. Season 3 proves that RWBY can definitely pull off dramatic beats incredibly well, especially in regards to Jaune and Pyrrha's storyline this season. Pyrrha gets a lot of focus as the school wants her to be the next Fall Maiden while also dealing with her feelings for Jaune. It's pretty obviously setting up Pyrrha's death at the end of the season, but it's done so effectively. Team RWBY gets some great stuff too, particularly Blake who has to deal with Adam's return.

In terms of presentation, Season 3 is a big and noticeable improvement on the first two. The lighting is better, the characters are more expressive, and the animation is far less janky. Monty Oum passed away during this season's production, so he only worked on parts of the action. As a result, some of the setpieces aren't as polished as the ones from Seasons 1 & 2, but I think the team does a good job of maintaining Oum's sense of energy and deliver some great fights for what is obviously a very fight-heavy season. Speaking of which, I think Season 3 might have a bit too many action scenes this time around. Almost every episode has a fight in it, and since a lot of the action are tournament fights, it can feel a bit repetitive. It's the worst in the first half, with episodes like New Challengers that are pretty much entirely devoted to progressing the tournament. Don't get me wrong, these fights are cool, but did we really need to see Sun and Neptune's team fight for an entire second half of an episode?

Season 3 has a lot of highlights, especially in its second half:

Fall: This episode was the turning point for the season, and is easily one of RWBY's most iconic episodes despite being a bit of an exposition dump. This is the first time we learn about the maidens and relics, which is a massive game-changer for the series. We also get Yang's awesome fight with Mercury and the subsequent shocking cliffhanger ending.

Destiny: There aren't any fights during this episode, but I think it stands out as one of RWBY's best character-driven episodes. Yang deals with the fallout of the false accusations, and the scene where she asks her team if they believe her is excellent. Even better, Pyrrha dealing with her destiny is incredibly compelling, especially when she accidentally takes her frustrations out on Jaune.

PvP: This is the episode in which everything completely falls apart. Pyrrha's fight with Penny and Ruby's desperate chase to stop the fight is incredibly thrilling, until Penny's shocking and heartbreaking accidental death and the climactic reveal that Cinder had been manipulating the tournament the whole time. 

Heroes And Monsters: Easily my favorite episode of RWBY (at least so far), this episode has everything. Velvet finally reveals her secret weapon and it's absolutely badass, the fight between Ruby and Roman is a climactic and satisfying end to his character, and the devastating ending where Yang loses her arm and Cinder becomes the Fall Maiden is a perfect set-up for the season finale.

End Of The Beginning: Ending this amazing season on an amazing note, this finale changes everything. Pyrrha's final battle with Cinder and subsequent death is easily the highlight of the episode, but we also have the devastating splitting up of Team RWBY, Ozpin's fight with Cinder that's so fast we can't even see most of it, Ruby using her silver eyes for the first time, and the insane reveal that the goddamn narrator was a bad guy the whole time! And thus ends one of the gutsiest and most mind-blowing seasons Rooster Teeth has ever put out.

Overall, RWBY's third season takes a more dramatic turn but it absolutely pays off. Despite a somewhat slow start, the second half of this season is shocking, intense, climactic, and easily contains some of the most compelling moments in the show.

5/5 Stars

RWBY (Season 2)

RWBY's first season was pretty slow-paced, but it was necessary to introduce all of the characters. Thankfully, Season 2 takes a more arc-driven approach, resulting in one of the most fun, action-packed seasons in the show.

Season 2 of RWBY is divided into three arcs. The first four episodes involve the team investigating a plot by the Big Bad of last season, Roman Torchwick. The next three are about the school holding a dance, while the new Big Bad Cinder plans her own heist. The final five episodes are about Team RWBY going on a field trip only to uncover what these two bad guys were planning. Every single one of these arcs were great, they were packed with fun action and enjoyable character moments. My favorite of the bunch was probably the first arc, the investigative tone was a ton of fun, and it fleshed out a ton of characters like Weiss, Blake, and Penny. The second arc was a bit more small scale and slow-paced, but it had some amazing heart-to-heart scenes between the characters, and the dance was a lot of fun. The final arc was probably the weakest in my opinion (with the exception of one episode), but I like how it explored Team RWBY's motivations for being huntsmen. Splitting the season up like this could have made it feel disjointed, but the writers do a good job of tying the arcs together. Season 2 also introduced a bunch more characters to flesh out the school like Neptune, Emerald and Neptune, and Team CFVY, but most of them were likable and fun additions.

It helps that this season contains far more action than the first, with most of the setpieces being easily some of the show's best. This was Monty Oum's last full season of RWBY before he passed away, but he really pulled out all the stops here. There's the ridiculously inventive food fight, the phenomenal teamwork in the Paladin fight, and the sheer intensity of the fight on the trains. However, I do feel like the action did end up detracting from the story at times, especially during the finale. Breach started with a ton of Grimm being left to destroy the city only to quickly turn into an Avengers-esque showoff session for the cast. Don't get me wrong, it was a ton of fun, but it also immediately removed all of the stakes. The animation definitely improved compared to Season 1, with stronger lighting and better facial expressions, but it was still pretty rough around the edges at times. The soundtrack was just as good as the first season, with highlights such as the Opening theme, Boop, Shine, and Caffeine. 

Most of the episodes this season were at the very least enjoyable, but these were some of my favorites:

Best Day Ever: For a while, this episode's food fight was easily my favorite action scene in all of RWBY (Season 7 changed that, but we'll get there in a bit). It was a great way to re-familiarize the viewer with everyone's abilities, giving all of the characters a chance to shine, and was packed with creative uses of all kinds of food and silverware. Oh, and the music was top notch too.

Painting The Town Black: With last episode having Penny reveal to Ruby that she's a robot, this episode starts strong with an emotional moment between the two. Soon after, we get a hilarious reference to Yang's trailer, a thrilling car chase, Neo's first appearance (best character!), and one of the great showcases of RWBY's teamwork in the final battle. It's a fast-paced and ridiculously fun ride from start to finish.

Dance Dance Infiltration: I'm not gonna lie, the animation was really janky at certain points in this episode. However, I think the fun stuff makes it all worth it. The dance allows for tons of fun and charming character interactions, and Team JNPR's choreographed dance is easily one of the show's funniest moments. We also get the first confrontation between Ruby and Cinder, ending the second arc on a high note.

No Brakes: Easily the season's best episode, No Brakes is a relentless flurry of intense action with some of Monty Oum's tightest animation. Every member of Team RWBY gets something to do, Neo really gets to show off her fighting chops, and the final cliffhanger is one of the scariest moments in the show yet. If only the finale didn't immediately mitigate all of its stakes.

Overall, Season 2 was a massive improvement on the first, with more character interactions, a faster pace, and a ton of phenomenal action, even if it struggled with maintaining its high stakes at times.

4/5 Stars

RWBY (Season 1)

RWBY is easily one of the grandest web series ever produced. It has a massive cast and world, sweeping plot, and insane action scenes. However, its first season is surprisingly small scale and simple compared to the rest of the season.

RWBY's first season is about Ruby who starts attending a school for huntsman despite being two years younger. The first half revolves around introducing the main cast of students, putting them through their first lessons, and dividing them up into teams. The second half is divided up more into these small arcs that flesh out the characters. There's also a running plot about a mysterious thief stealing a source of energy called Dust, but it doesn't really come up until the last two episodes. Season 1 is incredibly small scale in a lot of ways, especially compared to the later seasons, but I think it does a good job of establishing the show's characters. Pretty much the entire cast is likable, and most of the characters get moments of added depth throughout the second half of the season. However, I think the main plot suffers in terms of pacing. Not much happens for most of the season, and the teams aren't established until halfway through the season. One of the side characters, Jaune, has an entire arc to himself that takes up two out of the ten episodes in the season, which is just way too long. The last two episodes introduce this massive conspiracy, but it doesn't feel earned because of just how slow-paced the rest of the season is. 

It doesn't help that, at this point, RWBY's production values aren't the best. The voice acting is solid, but you can tell the cast is still trying to settle into their roles. The animation is incredibly janky, though it's understandable given that it's a webseries made by a small team. The best moments of the season are the action scenes, animated by none other than Monty Oum. These action sequences are insanely tight and well-choreographed and boast some of the best animation in the season, but there also just isn't too much of it compared to other seasons of RWBY. There are really only three major setpieces in Season 1, the bank robbery in the first episode, the Nevermore fight, and the battle at the harbor in the finale. Certain characters like Yang and Nora don't even really get the chance to fight all that much either. Thankfully, one thing I could generally say is amazing is the music. RWBY has always had good music, and this season has some of the most iconic themes. Ruby, Blake, Weiss, and Yang all have outstanding character themes, and the Opening theme is still one of the best in the show.

Despite the slow pace, there are a few episodes this season that I did really enjoy:

Players And Pieces: Pretty unanimously considered to be the season's best episode, Players And Pieces is one long action scene with the giant Nevermore, packed with awesome teamwork and stunning spectacle. It's not just all style, though, this episode unites the main cast and is packed with fun banter and the exciting ending with Teams RWBY and JNPR finally being established.

Black And White: Outside of my complaints with the pacing, this was a really solid finale with some insanely good fight scenes. Blake's storyline about secretly being a Faunus is probably the most emotional part of the season. Most of the story was wrapped up fairly neatly here, but there are a few interesting hooks for Season 2.

Overall, RWBY shows a lot of potential in its characters and action, but it suffers from a short length and wonky pacing. Hopefully, now that the cast is introduced, we can really start getting into the good stuff in Season 2.

2/5 Stars