RWBY: Hyousetsu Teikoku

Since ancient times, the world of Remnant has been under constant threat by the Grimm: creatures of nightmare obsessed with destroying both humans and the half-human Faunus. To protect themselves, the four kingdoms of the world established academies that train young people to become huntsmen: warriors tasked with destroying Grimm.

In the kingdom of Vale, the cheerful 15-year-old Ruby Rose has always dreamed of a life at the prestigious Beacon Academy. Sadly, being too young, she can only watch as her elder sister, Yang Xiao Long, sets off for the academy alone. But everything changes when Ruby fights off a group of armed robbers, and the news of her skillful exploit reaches Beacon's headmaster, Professor Ozpin.

Ruby is over the moon when she receives an invitation to join the academy alongside her sister. Meanwhile, halfway across the world in the kingdom of Atlas, corporate heiress Weiss Schnee defies her father's wish and sets off for Beacon, her heart brimming with anxious resolve. At the same time, lonesome rogue Blake Belladonna abandons her vigilante group in hopes of finding a better life at the academy. When their paths converge, the meeting between the four girls is anything but friendly. With vastly different personalities and beliefs, they often end up clashing. However, when they work together, team RWBY begins to create ripples across Beacon, the likes of which have never been seen before.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Rose, Ruby Main

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Schnee, Weiss Main

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Xiao Long, Yang Main

Koshimizu, Ami Japanese

Belladonna, Blake Main

Shimamura, Yuu Japanese

Nikos, Pyrrha Supporting

Toyoguchi, Megumi Japanese

Valkyrie, Nora Supporting

Suzaki, Aya Japanese

Polendina, Penny Supporting

Han, Megumi Japanese

Torchwick, Roman Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Arc, Jaune Supporting

Shimono, Hiro Japanese

Ozpin Supporting

Inoue, Kazuhiko Japanese

Nishibe, Maho Producer

Murata, Hideyuki Producer

Matsukawa, Yuuya Producer

Okada, Kenjirou Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Nov 16, 2023

forsanxl

Recommended

If you're a fan of RWBY and those negative reviews are deterring you, don't let them. It's a fun watch for what it is and while it lasts.

Story does take a while to get going, it more or less recaps Volume 1 in the first three episodes, albeit some scenes have been altered. For some I can understand, as it would take way too much time to animate in 2D. Whereas sometimes, it alters some of the dialogue for no reason. Like that one scene, where Ruby and Weiss have a little exchange during a fight. In the anime, it sends off a different message. ... But once you get past the first 3 episodes, then Ice Queendom's story actually starts and puts a nice spin to the story. It's canonicity may be questionable, but if you pass it off as not-canon to the Rooster Teeth series, it's definitely worth it.

Animation looks good, Though for obvious reasons, it doesn't top the original series, since it's in 2D, isn't as smooth and lacks energy compared to it. So I wouldn't want you to get your hopes too high there.

As for music, aside from the intro, there's not really much to right home about, unfortunately. That's not to say it's bad, just that it's typical of fantasy anime and lacks the unique sound of the main series. It's not Jeff/Casey Lee Williams, that's for sure.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by forsanxl (4)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Aug 7, 2024

AntyVerse2021

Mixed Feelings

My relationship with the RWBY series is like a relationship with that one family member who talks all the time about how great they’re going to be, they are off to a good start, but they ultimately fail. And they fail so spectacularly that you cannot look away from this train wreck. The original series is basically my guilty pleasure (with the exception of RWBY Chibi, it was the peak of the whole series and no one is going to change my mind about that) which I like to make fun of with friends. I'm not going to do the original series from RoosterTeeth here, ... so I'll summarise my opinion: the first three seasons were cool, from season four to season six it was weak, season seven was cool, and season eight went downhill faster than a peregrine falcon. As for season nine... I didn't even care to finish it.
Despite all this, I was hopeful for RWBY: Ice Queendom, especially since it was handled by studio Shaft, which has quite a few good productions to its credit. Especially as the trailers also gave some hope that they would take the imperfect script of the first season and change what didn't work for the better. In the words of my colleague: "Shaft will do it well". Oh boy, how I love to remind him of those words to this day.

Story 6/10

Starting with the story: in the world of Remnant there are Hunters who specialise in killing beasts called Grimms and young Ruby Rose wants to become a Huntress like her mother, so despite her young age she gets into the elite Beacon Academy to then form a RWBY team with her three friends and have adventures together. There is also magical Dust (which is totally not magical) and a superpower called Semblance (which is totally not a supernatural force that could be considered magic), which, like in My Hero Academia, practically everyone has. It's basically the basics of the first season's plot, which is adapted by the anime, with some minor changes here and there. It's only somewhere after three episodes that the plot completely steers off the track of the original series and focuses on the character of Weiss Schnee (if RWBY pretends to be anime in anything perfectly, it is in the Japanese style of creating German names) and the dream world.

The first three episodes are even good. People who are not familiar with the original series will be rather pleased with the action, and fans will be rather pleased with the minor changes. Overall, even a good start.

And then comes the thread with the dream world. I'll start with what I like, because there's a lot to like. First of all, the world is really creative and has an idea for itself in how it visually reflects the characters' problems, i.e. pathological family, obsessive striving for perfection imposed by others, etc.

So where is the problem when we have a setting that is not too bad for the characters? It lies in the speed of the show. The first three episodes go at a pace that is neither too fast nor too slow, the reason for which is probably that they had a finished script from the original series. But the arc with Ice Queendom is so unhurried and dragged out that the sloth from Zootopia seems like another member of the Flash Family.

Other than that, the setting is interesting, but it also seems to me that the full potential has not been realised. I think more abstract and quirky concepts would have worked to the benefit of the whole.

To be clear: this is not a bad story. It's just a story that was dragged out because the creators probably had no idea how to fill it in.

GRAPHICS 6/10

The plot I can still somehow defend, but what I will not defend is the graphics. Not because it is bad, on the contrary, because it is beautiful... in maybe three or four moments. The art is not bad, it's just ok, and the animation itself is acceptable. The problem is that a few times we get really beautifully choreographed fights that are as breathtaking as in the trailers... only for them to make up maybe 5% of the total. It's like arriving at a restaurant that serves you lobster baked with garlic-lime chilli butter as a starter, only to then get minced cutlets made from cheap meat for the main course. It's not that I don't like minced meat (my identity as a Pole forbids me from even suggesting this), but it doesn't change the fact that I feel somewhat cheated.

Most of the time, therefore, we are forced to watch very average-quality animation, only to actually get something nice once in a while. It stings so much that I feel like someone threw a porcupine in my face.

CHARACTERS 6/10

It's difficult for me to talk a bit about the characters without making comparisons to the original series, but I'll do my best. We have four main female characters: Ruby, who is the leader of the team and the female answer to the typical hyper-active shounen protagonist, her belligerent, adventurous sister, Yang Xiao Long, and Blake, who is basically a stoic ninja cat-girl and former terrorist. There’s also Weiss, who is "nice but can also be a little bit bitchy" (those are her voice actress' words, not mine), around whom most of the anime revolves.

I have mixed feelings because after a very short time we are supposed to believe that these four are very close to each other, but it doesn't really work. If they had adapted the entire first season of RWBY into an anime first and then made an arc with the dream world, I think it would have worked much better. And so we have characters who are neither annoying nor overly interesting.

MUSIC 8/10

I can complain about the storyline, I can complain about the graphics, I can complain about the characters, but defy me Flying Spaghetti Monster, I won't complain about the music. I don't normally have much to say about music, and in such an average anime it's not worthy of extended comment. But no one can tell me that the opening of “Beyond Selves” by the band Void_Chords is bland or not catchy. Overall, the music here is on point, working well with the music tracks from the original animated series and retaining that unique style. I'll admit: I didn't expect the best element I'd talk about in the RWBY anime to be the music. It's like praising a cake for having exceptionally good icing, somehow it's both an insult and a compliment to the baker.

AVERAGE SCORE: 6,5

What can I say in conclusion: I am a bit disappointed with this anime, because I can see that there was a lot of potential here. Contrary to what you might think I would like RWBY to be a successful IP that doesn't peak with random ships on the internet or suicide themes. I would recommend it with more confidence if it weren't for the slow pacing of the story, with little happening in too long a time.
Fans of the original RWBY who are after all 9 seasons (God rest your souls) can add half a point to the rating, after so many poor seasons they deserve something too. Except for fans of the Enabler ship, you guys deserve a re-education camp.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by AntyVerse2021 (5)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jun 13, 2024

Eliserss

Not Recommended

RWBY: Ice Queendom is a mixed bag... While there are some things I enjoyed about it, the negatives outweighed the positives for me - even as a massive RWBY fan. I think the biggest issue for me was the story itself, it just didn't seem to hook me. The plot is pretty weak and the pacing made it drag on longer than it should have. The story also insists on retelling the start of volume 1 which wastes your time with a watered-down and poorly dubbed retelling of things you already know. If they cut this part and sped up the new Ice Queendom content ... I could easily see this being an 8 episode anime - and I would like it more if it were one as well. However, that doesn't stop the story from being poor itself. It doesn't have the same dumb fun grip that the original series does, it just feels like they are throwing weird metaphors at you left and right to try and make it feel 'weird' and like a fever dream. It achieves that, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was a good direction.

On the more positive side, the anime is beautiful... Seriously, I have no idea where they got the budget for this since this spinoff looks far more beautiful than the original series. The opening and ending themes are also amazing in true RWBY fashion. Lastly, I think it was interesting to see the girls interacting in a less serious environment. They truly do feel like themselves and I give props to the writers for that.

Overall, I would recommend this to RWBY mega fans like myself because you'll find some enjoyment out of it but to anyone who doesn't fit that demographic I suggest they stay away from this one.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Eliserss (4)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Queer English Voice Actor, Queer Anime Character

by Keizakomu

33 Entries · 2 Restacks

Transgender English Voice Actors part 2

by Keizakomu

47 Entries · 5 Restacks

Transgender English Voice Actors part 1

by Keizakomu

47 Entries · 9 Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases for March

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for March. Week 1: March 5 - 11 Anime Releases Kaifuku Jutsushi no Yarinaoshi (Redo of Healer) Com...read more

Mar 12, 9:00 AM by Aiimee | Discuss (1 comment)

Summer 2022 Simulcast List [Update 8/25]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of television anime acquired for simulcast release during the Summer 2022 season. Anime series licensed for hom...read more

Jul 2, 2022 1:16 PM by Snow | Discuss (38 comments)

	YO IS THIS CANNON TO THE ACTUAL RWBY SHOW Superninjaboy2 - Aug 28	8 replies	by kalebsmoker »» Aug 31, 8:19 AM
	Poll: RWBY: Hyousetsu Teikoku Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) KANLen09 - Jun 24, 2022	51 replies	by Pingl0sek »» Nov 26, 2023 12:00 PM
	Which will happen first Tank895 - Aug 26, 2023	14 replies	by PinkRawChicken »» Aug 30, 2023 9:43 AM
	Poll: RWBY: Hyousetsu Teikoku Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) KANLen09 - Jun 24, 2022	104 replies	by MABEL_APPLE »» Mar 14, 2023 7:29 AM
	Poll: RWBY: Hyousetsu Teikoku Episode 8 Discussion KANLen09 - Aug 21, 2022	40 replies	by kitsune0 »» Feb 25, 2023 12:22 AM