Review: RWBY Vol.4 – Chapter 1: The Next Step

 

A small step for RwBy, one large step for anime.

For those of you who missed the new opening, here it is.

This episode did a really great job of cleaning up after the ending of season three. I’m serious, all of my previous complaints about this show are gone.

For one thing, we finally get a reasonable amount of explanation about the series’ villains. I especially like Salem’s characterization. A truly evil villain who exercises civility is always a very chilling sight.

Plus, I love the character archetype of Tyrien being a “spastic sadist”. Those guys always seem to mirror the darker side of my demented style of humor.

Moreover, I complained a lot about the character development that the time-skip was jumping over, but I realize that didn’t matter. Pretty much none of the characters have changed. Surprising? Yes. Unfeasible? Not so much, considering that our main characters are still children. But it still makes all the talk I’ve heard about Ruby maturing from the end of season three seem pretty silly. (Though in all fairness, this scene gives a hint of sadness to Ruby as part of her actually misses Weiss.)

Another thing, I adore what they’ve done with Jaune’s character. The fact that he acts as the team’s designated tactician makes his weak stats seem fittingly moot considering his character arc. After all, just because Jaune doesn’t have superpowers (yet) doesn’t mean he can’t contribute. That fact was obvious long before this episode.

Two side notes: One, I found it adorable and touching how Jaune reforged Pyrrha’s weapons into an upgrade for his own and wearing her maroon sash as his way of honoring her. and Two, I did not like the joke about Ruby laughing at Jaune’s shirt underneath his Armor which has a cute bunny design and Jaune reveals that it’s the Pumpkin Pete cereal mascot. I felt like saying, “Really Ruby? It’s not that funny. Be nice.”

It is cute and all the more heartfelt the more you think about it. Phyrra was on Pumpkin Pete’s cereal. He has her crown on his shield. Her armor on his new armor. Her sash at his waist. Her weapon on his weapon. This is Jaune showing his understanding. He is no longer as Naive. He is telling everyone…. Pyrrha. I love you too. 🙂

Finally, I take back everything I said about Cinder being a “Mary Sue”. This is because Ruby seems to have somehow partially turned half her face to stone (judging by the state of her voice and left eye). It’s also confirmed that she supposedly killed Ozpin, which explains why she had so much more control over her battle against Pyrrha. (Unspoken Rule: No character is truly dead unless you see their corpse in a story you naive dolts!)

After all, Pyrrha had NO practice in using her Semblance to do crazy shit like lifting an elevator, so it must have taken a lot out of her. Meanwhile, Cinder had achieved Powers that were equal to the Phoenix Force from the X-Men and possibly killed Ozpin but we don’t know truly know that yet other than Salem blindly believes it, So, killing Pyrrha would have been annoying but easy for Cinder, all things considered. Be that as it may, season three’s ending failed to convey any of that important information, so it’s ending still flopped pretty badly in contrast to how much of a mixed bag the rest of the season was.

AS OF THIS EPISODE, RWBY It has so far taken a small step in the right direction as it successfully cleaned up its act on every account. Which means, it is one of the single greatest stories that I have had the pleasure of following. Thank you, RoosterTeeth. Your anime has finally unlocked its full potential.

I’m just going to say it right now, that random 5 min scene with the farmboy we saw after the big supervillain meeting, has SOMETHING to do with Ozpin. I’m betting on it. They’re either related, or it’s something deeper (possibly related to Ozpin’s semblance…).

Put simply, there is no way that we’ve seen the last of Ozpin. I’m sure of it. regardless of what Salem says, show me the body to prove it! They didn’t find the body, so I won’t believe that he’s dead yet.

Overview

I really love how far along RWBY has come over the years. The team has done a fantastic job with the first episode of Vol. 4 and I can’t wait to see more. I’m sure Monty is smiling from heaven. 🙂

 

SCORE
8/10