Shorts Review: RWBY: Extracurricular (Season 2, episode 5) For Real This Time!

 

RWBY

Spoilers Below

Finally back in action this week. This week’s episode focused on a few points of view in what is going on in the RWBYverse. Things are gearing up for the big tournament coming up and Beacon is hosting the dance this coming weekend so the students have a lot on their minds. None more so than Team RWBY as they also have the added weight of what they found out about Torchwick and his plans.

We get a good look at Pyrrha in this episode. We got to see her fighting style in the spotlight as she has a sparring match with all four members of team CDNL. She handles herself quite capably not only with her hands but also with her weaponry as she handles all four members quite handily. She uses both her shield as well as both aspects of her blade/gun weapon against her foes, along with kicks to keep them at bay. Mercury gives it a go, however briefly, before he concedes the fight without much of an effort. This gives us a pretty good idea of not only what she can do in combat but also that she seems to be a heavy favorite in the big tournament coming up. A fact not lost on Mercury and the other members of the group associated with Torchwick. Besides her sparring we also see her with a brief interaction in training Juane. When he talks about Weis turning him down for the dance we gets hints she really does have feelings for him and wanted to go to the dance with him,

The other big part of the episode was Blake. We see that she has not held up well since the last episode. She has her face costly buried in a book, she has bags under her eyes and doesn’t seem interested in anything else. Sun asks her to the dance and she turns him down flat, saying there are more important things to think about. When confronted by her team mates we find she hasn’t eaten or slept very well either and has no interest in anything except what is going on with the White Fang and Torchwick. Weiss and Yang try to point out the progress they made in finding out what was going on, and that Blake worrying herself sick wasn’t going to help. After pleading that she should relax for just one day and enjoy the Dance, Blake leaves and goes to the library.

On top of all that we get a look into what Cinder, Mercury, and emerald are up to inside the school. As was suspected Mercury’s brief spar with Pyhhra was more for scouting than actual sparring. The three villains talk about what they observed f her fighting style, saying she doesn’t show her powers as much as the others but that she has more control of her fights and fate than the others would. She is added to a list of some sort as Cinder’s plans are only just now coming to light.

This was a really good episode in moving the story along without focusing exclusively on team RWBY. We finally get a look at what Cinder and her crew are doing inside the school. They seem to have a vested interest of some sort with the tournament, or perhaps just those that are competing in it. We don’t get all the cards laid out on the table, but we are getting a slightly better picture of just what they are thinking and what they may do down the road in the series. We also get a look at just how the events have been affecting our main characters as well. While all four members of team RWBY are taking this seriously, Blake has been letting things get to her in a negative way. Her character up until this point would support that. She knows just what the White Fang can do, let alone with the help of Torchwick and the stolen military tech. Of course she would be the type to make that her concern above everything else, including herself. It will be interesting to see if and how this plays out for her, especially when things really get serious.

Beyond the story, the fight scenes in this episode were once again incredible. I may fault the show for some artistic shortcomings with the media they use, but their work with the fight scenes this season have been top notch. These guys really know how to put together a fight scene and grab your attention with it, even inject a bit of humor (or a lot of humor in the case of the food fight from the first episode of the season). These aren’t just hack and slash, clanging sword types of battles but the movement and the camera angles really make these battles look incredible.

Putting all this together it was another wonderful episode. They made great use of the 12 minutes they had to tell more of the overall story from 3 different angles. This show doesn’t limit itself to just the main characters and the villains, but shows what is going on with the others in this universe. The four girls of Team RWBY don’t live in a bubble and this was a great example of that balance they keep with keeping one eye on the girls but also bringing attention to the other characters of this show and what they mean to the ongoing events. Put that together with a very well put together fight scene and you’ve got a heck of a show, especially in just 12 minutes.

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