- Mangaka : Shirow Miya
- Publisher : Viz Media
- Genre : Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Seinen
- Published : January 2018
Contains Spoilers
Introduction
Being protected by some power-wielding heroines is something that came straight for a dream. Who will want to be saved by a macho man wearing underwear outside their tights when we can be saved by a beauty wielding a scythe bigger than her entire body? That’s basically a no contest. We’ll take the heroines each and every time. Here at Honey’s Anime, we’re always intrigued as to how powers came to be after all. Be it from some divine being or the power of the stars, we’re always seeking for unique and cool stories.
Discussion Time
RWBY offers a unique and creative storyline. It tells the story of a group of heroine wannabes led by Ruby Rose. They are students of Beacon Academy, a prestigious school that trains huntresses, the guardians of this world. Every Sci-Fi adventure story needs some sort of enemy creatures of course. In this series, these creatures are called Grimms. To fight these heinous beings, these huntresses muster the power of dusts, which came from the stars. It’s like the big bang all over again but in an infinitesimal proportion. That idea is actually pretty awesome and immediately caught our interests. Although the art is nowhere near good, the story offers some female action.
1. Sweet Female Action
As a story revolving around the titular group of heroines, it is to be expected that the entire series is jam-packed with hot femme fatale action. The series definitely does not disappoint in this aspect. The first volume is actually all about how the group is formed. They were sent into their first mission wherein they will have to take care of some vile Grimms. As such, each character gets their own chances in hogging the limelight, and that is what they did. We were given the opportunity to marvel as to how amazing these heroines are in using their combat skills. Of course, we also get to see some Grimm reaping action with badass postures and techniques.
2. A Traditional Approach to Story Telling
From the first chapter, we are introduced to the series’ main protagonist, Ruby Rose. She manages to take out some bad guys with some sweet moves. We learn that like a lot of real-life military families that they she is carrying on a tradition by attending Beacon Academy. We find this following in the footsteps believable because of all the servicemen and women and civilians that have followed in the footsteps of the generations before them. We also get a glimpse later that being a legacy is not the only reason as to why our great protagonist wants to be a huntress. Actually, she wants to be a huntress to be like the heroine in a fairy tale book just like a lot of shonen protagonists.
3. A Quick Meet and Greet
The ragtag group has a different mix of characters with diverse backgrounds and motivations just like a classic team of heroes. We have the adamant main protagonist who has a stalwart approach to life, an over the top character that keeps the entire group together, an enigma, and a rich arrogant person that turns out to be actually pretty likable. We do get that most of these characters will not really start that likable because a thing called ‘character development’ exists. On the other hand, we are pretty certain that these developments happen over a period of time. In this series, our main protagonist has a rough start with the rich character, Weiss Schnee. The rivalry and tensions that you’d traditionally see build for chapters is quickly resolved in a few pages allowing us to move on quickly with the good versus evil plot.
1. Minimalist Approach to Art
The art is good enough to know how the story progresses. We can clearly identify the characters, their actions, and some objects they are interacting with. However, we do believe that manga in itself is an art. This series doesn’t seem to care about the details of the panels. Unlike other masterpieces, this manga seems to only include the minimum details to tell a story. There are even multiple panels wherein the background is just pure with a few specs that we believe should represent dust, power, or sparkles. We’re not saying that the art is ugly, rather, we think that a minimalist approach is a good descriptor.
Final Thoughts
RWBY offers an interesting idea but somehow fails to execute in some ways. The format may be as a manga but it seems to skip a lot of the more drawn out character development we are used to. We’ve only seen the first volume and think the lack of plot development might be rectified in later chapters. The RWBY manga may also be relying too much on the readers to already have a relationship with the animated series leaving those unfamiliar with it to be a bit underwhelmed. We think if you are already a fan of RWBY you’ll probably enjoy having this version to hold and leaf through, if you aren’t it might be a tad bit confusing.
Author: Christian Markle
Recommended Post
RWBY Volume 1-3: The Beginning - Summer 2017 Anime
Recommended Post
No Longer NOT an Anime! RWBY: Ice Queendom First Impression!
Recommended Post