RWBY (pronounced Ruby) is an American anime web series created by Monty Oum and produced by Rooster Teeth Productions. The first episode premiered on Rooster Teeth’s website on July 18, 2013, and has expanded into three seasons consisting of 40 episodes. Following its initial premiere, the series became a viral hit, spawning several fan creations, cosplays, and community buzz. Sadly, original creator Monty Oum passed away in February 2015, but the community’s love of the show’s creative team has continued to propel the series forward, with a new season launching this fall.
RWBY is set in the fictional world of Remnant, where aspiring young people train to become Huntsmen and Huntresses to protect the world from monsters. The show follows the exploits of four major characters: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long.
What is it about RWBY that makes the show so special? We asked several members of the RWBY Wiki, and here’s what they had to say.
The Art Style
One of the major strengths of RWBY is the show’s highly stylized art style. The animation is a unique take on 3D animation, with shading and coloring reminiscent of anime shows — a style Rooster Teeth has honed over three seasons, with the animation noticeably improving as time passes. As the plot grows more complex and dark, the tone of the art style has changed, with colors becoming more muted.employs this style to great use with the world of Remnant, which blends fantasy with high technology.
In particular, the world of Remnant stands out, with its blend of fantasy high technology, as do the four main characters, each of which is designed around a particular color: red, white, black, and yellow.
The Weapon Combinations
RWBY features high-octane action scenes that utilize some incredible weaponry. Each character is outfitted with her own special weapon that is often a hybrid of two distinctly different weapon types. For example, Ruby Rose’s signature weapon is called Crescent Rose, a hybrid of a scythe and a sniper rifle (check it out transforming from one to the other above).
Some other signature weapons include the Ember Celica, a pair of powerful gauntlets that shoot projectile shells, and Magnhild, a large hammer that can transform into a grenade launcher.
Each weapon has its own distinct advantages and disadvantages, which makes every combat scene exciting and compelling.
The Creator-Community Connection
The strength of the community and fandom of RWBY can be attributed to the amazing connection Rooster Teeth develops with their fans. Rooster Teeth holds a convention called RTX every year in Austin, allowing fans to interact with each other and the creators. They’ve also held a contest for fans to design battle gear for the character Velvet Scarlatina. In addition, the show’s creators take pride in answering community questions, and they frequently hold livestream events as well.
And the RWBY fanbase of is vibrant and creative itself, with many fans creating original art and fan projects. An independent developer named Jordan Scott created a RWBY video game entitled RWBY: Grimm Eclipse that Rooster Teeth officially adopted. This creator-fan connection has a big part to do with RWBY’s continued success.
Personalities and Relationships
RWBY is bursting with strong character personalities and complex relationships between major and minor characters. Its cast is often divided up into various teams with different motives and goals, the personalities of characters may grow and shift throughout the course of each season. The series also tackles heavy social issues that can affect how characters interact, such as the relationship between Humans and Faunus, and the fact that RWBY team member Blake Belladona was once a member of a terrorist Faunus group called White Fang, which has caused friction with Wiess Schnee. Several characters also have their own internal goals that drive them. For example, Yang is on an ongoing search for
Several characters also have their own internal goals that drive them. For example, Yang is on an ongoing search to find her biological mother Raven Brawen, who disappeared shortly after she was born. And the villains of RWBY, Cinder’s Faction, have mysterious goals that still have yet to be revealed as well.
Check out the RWBY Wikia community to learn more about this great web-series. Season 4 of the show is currently in the works and is set to premiere in Fall 2016.
We want to give a special thank you to the Wikia users Captain Barracuda, SasTGamer, The Hyoudou Issei, and DBD Abyss for their interviews and contributions!
