RWBY Season 2

By: Robert Murphy

Ruby Rose and her team are about to start their second year at Beacon Academy again and boy do they make a mess of things right from the get go. I kid you not the first episode has an insane food fight in it and it destroys the entire meal hall with mustard attacks and turkey fists flying. This goes to show how far RWBY has already come from the start, things are more at peace for the characters this time around as Ruby, Weiss, Yang and Blake now start to unravel many of the secrets bubbling underneath the surface from the first season. There of course is bound to be some insane fights along the way with all four and their friends showing of their skills and weaponry for what lays in store. 

Much of what was done for the first season of RWBY was getting all the viewers comfortable with the characters they are introduced to during the show and making them engaging characters. This is what drove much of the plot for the story and we only saw brief glimpses of what was to come with people like Roman, our cigar smoking and bowler hat wearing bad guy and a mysterious huntress lurking in the shadows too. This time around things start to develop upon these aspects though in a big way, yes there was the epic food fight in the first episode and much goofing around to be had but bad guys start to come out of the wood work like ants all of a sudden in season two. We finally get a face to our evil huntress, Cinder Fall and her henchman, who make their presence known this time around and they start to move their plans into action. There still isn't much in the way of a big picture yet but it is a nice change up to be getting further engrossed into what is to come from hers and Roman's plans with the White Fang and all of Vale. Cinder isn't the only new face to come with a new story though, we're introduced to a General James Ironwood this season and he introduces more of the lore outside of Beacon Academy to the story. Things like there is a military structure to the world and Huntsmen and Huntresses are not the only line of defense, they're just the cooler ones.

The humor level returns to RWBY this time around as well, need I mention the gigantic food fight again? RWBY always has something funny or charming up it sleeves and it comes out much more this time around as the characters have established themselves more and more. Ruby is still as spunky and adorable as she always was but now even Weiss is a more fun loving character to watch as team RWBY has come out of there shell to fight the bad guys. This brings up the shows other greatest strength and that has to be hands down the fight scenes, expertly choreographed and insane, every fight scene has a free flowing motion to it and every kick, punch and bullet fired, leads to another form of attack or maneuver. As we see other characters gain more screen time this season, we gain more insight into who they're and there fighting styles. A one, Prof. Oobleck comes up at the end of season two as the girls Huntsmen troop leader for an end of the year mission and shows how even the most ridiculous character in the show is still a Huntsmen and can kick serious tail if it comes down to it.

One thing that also has changed unfortunately for RWBY though is some of the shows animation quality can still appear to be out of sorts. Many of the more lighter touches for characters in scenes are not handled with enough care such as handshakes or interactions with other characters. One point later on in the season, Roman puts his cane up to a henchman's neck and you can clearly see the cane clip and it doesn't look like it's touching his neck at all. These issues come up in many of the slower scenes and even with characters in the background of scenes throughout the show and it just shows that some of the animation levels are not up to the task still for RWBY. 

In the end though the latest season for RWBY has shown a big desire to move further with it's story. The ball finally starts to get rolling with the introduction of Cinder Fall and her accomplices and it gets me very eager to see what's around the corner, especially with the nice cliff hanger you're left with at the end. The amazing fights also make a big comeback this season as more characters enter the mix and show of their own impressive skills, bad guys and good guys alike. And of course, the text book laughs make a big comeback as well, Ruby and her friends continue to get into mischief and hilarious situations but also some tender moments come up too. My favorite being the big prom event that happens part way through, it's filled with laughs and lighter moments for all the main cast. My criticisms aside, I still love RWBY and cannot wait for the next season to start. 

Good:

- Story starts to unravel much more this time around

- Still has awesome action and humor to it

- Characters feel more adjusted and more relaxed in their roles

Bad:

- There are still animation flaws with the work that pop up and prevent me from complete enjoyment over the show

Scully Rating: 8.2 out of 10