Season Review: RWBY Volume 5

Fights and worldbuilding galore.

RWBY has a lot of things going for it, namely a large cast and flashy fights with the four main girls. There was plenty of that this season, as well as much more intrigue surrounding the characters.

This season centered largely around two mysteries: Raven and Ozpin. Ozpin has been a very mysterious figure overall- we know he has great authority, but we don’t really know anything about him. The positive is that everything we find out about Ozpin comes as a complete surprise. He is strictly against Salem, but is also intrinsically connected to the Four Maidens. It turns out that he is the hermit in the story of the Maidens, and is directly responsible for granting them their powers. He is the major force in combating Salem, and has been doing so for an incredible amount of time. He himself is not even a full person, but rather an amalgamation of all of his reincarnations in one. While he currently resides in Oscar, it’s hinted that Oscar will soon become one with Ozpin’s personality record, if he survives. Most of the current world has been erected thanks to Ozpin’s work: he established the four academies to house the Maidens’ relics, and have made it normal to train huntsmen to combat Salem’s Grim. We learn a lot about Ozpin, and it’s fascinating.

On the flipside, that positive is also a detriment. We know nothing about Ozpin, so there has been hardly any setup for the revelations that follow. While the information about Ozpin’s fight against Salem is new and should be new, his moral compass should not be new. From the start, Ozpin has always been cheerful, enigmatic, but above all things, distant. We don’t really get much of a feel for his standards and morality, as opposed to his followers like Qrow and Ironwood, we just know that he is wise and powerful. Unfortunately, being wise and powerful isn’t a solid enough foundation for what the series is trying to do. This season focused on a lot of Ozpin’s shortcomings, namely him trusting the wrong people and his willingness to brush aside sacrifices for the greater good. The first is straightforward, but the second one is a little tricky and requires us to have more knowledge of Ozpin and his activities. Instead, we’re expected to make a critique on something that we don’t know much about.

Another large portion of the story focuses on Raven and her cowardice. We don’t know much about Raven going in, but the series is quick to tell you, especially about Raven’s intense fear of Salem. She, like Lionheart, used to be directly under Ozpin, but the pressure was too much for her. She was terrified of what Salem could do and wanted no part of it, so she fled. She spends a large portion preaching a kill-or-be-killed attitude, but a lot of that is a justification for running away. She abandons her duty, her brother, and betrays people very casually, all for the sake of self-interest, and then boasts about it. She even managed to acquire Maiden powers along the way, by killing the previous Spring Maiden. Her justifications to herself go quite far— but in the end, she still keeps running. Cowardice, and how it totally paralyzes people, is still a very real reaction to an overwhelming enemy.

A third portion of the story concludes Blake’s story from the last scene and wraps up the White Fang, but this was poorly done. Adam takes control of the White Fang, but instead of seeing his policies or what he pushes, he’s hardly around. The Belladonnas had an established position, but by comparison, their enemy Adam was just there. While he’s no doubt threatening, instead of preaching about it, RWBY would have been better off showing it. The previous leader, Sienna, dying in her debut episode is also still such a waste. This arc wasn’t self-contained, but it is still sloppy, considering it barely allows itself time to building up the supposed threat.

It’s been said that RWBY’s greatest weakness is its writing, and I’m inclined to agree with that. Is it an enjoyable series with interesting characters and worldbuilding? Absolutely. Is it particularly well-written? Not so much, unfortunately. Still, it’s fun and filled with flashy fight scenes, and that’s always a plus.