RWBY v04e06: Crow, Madness and Rock n’ Roll

(Lechería, December 13th. Yakuza Webzine).- This episode of RWBY came packed with lots of action; which was really appreciated considering that the previous two had had a slow pace.

This episode starts with Team RNJR continuing their journey to Haven, then they suddenly found an abandoned village; and as an intriguing fact, the village was not shown on their map.

When the four started investigating quickly found that the place is or was called Oniyuri; and it is apparently the place where Ren’s parents got killed. Though it seemed curious to me that he didn’t immediately recognize the place. Maybe he abandoned it while he was a child, or perhaps he had never seen it before… the second option is the most likely to me. By the way, take notice of that special Grimm that was mentioned by him.

Sadly, we didn’t get more details so we will have to wait for the confirmation of the connection between the attack and Raven’s tribe. Although this episode confirmed something many people was waiting for, I’ll talk about it later in this review.

Afterwards we finally got to see Weiss’ concert, and it was quieter than expected. I admit I believed that some kind of attack was going to take place during the event, or perhaps I hoped that? I really want Weiss to get out of that place.

Unfortunately, the worst thing that happened was seeing father and son being disdainful towards Weiss’ performance; a nasty behavior that was far from the ovation given by the rest of the crowd. I imagine that the song’s lyrics had a lot to do with the attitude of father and son. By the way, despite the great lyrics, I didn’t like the song.

However, it was during the cocktail that took place after the concert when we saw some action. At the beginning we could see how controlling Jacques is. In my opinion, he is truly a despicable person.

Afterwards we had the classic moron trying to flirt with the owner’s daughter assuming she is only a rich girl. Obviously, Weiss quickly showed him his mistake and that started the fire that ended up in an outbreak.

An outbreak that led to a summoning than could have ended really, really badly if not for Ironwood’s timely intervention. Unfortunately, all the courage shown by Weiss until that moment was replaced very quickly by fear of the consequences of her actions.

An epic battle that deserved better animation

Finally, we arrived to the final act where we saw a new combat sequence, thanks to our new best friend Tyrian. However, I have to say that I didn’t like the animation of that scene.

I felt it wasn’t as fluid as the previous ones. I remember that when I watched this volume’s opening for the first time I realized that the fights were shown in a slow motion kind of way, and I feared that due to the new engine the animation crew hadn’t still managed to find the timing for battle sequences.

Obviously when I watched the fight sequences of episodes 1 and 3, that fear went away; nevertheless, the fight sequence of this episode brought that feeling back. If I compare this fight with the fights of the tournament back in volume 3, or with the fights on the train way back in volume 2, the difference in speed and fluidity is big. And that difference is even bigger if I compare this combat scene with the fight between Cinder and Pyrrha.

Besides, some facial expressions of Tyrian were simply not right. What the astonishing performance of Josh Grelle was achieving didn’t match with what we were watching on the screen. And the worst thing is that everything was set up to have a really epic battle.

Not everything was bad

Now, leaving the animation aside, the rest of the scene was truly awesome considering what it showed us. First of all, now it is confirmed that Qrow can really turn into a crow at will; many people were still doubtful regarding that matter, but after this episode I don’t think they can remain in denial anymore.

The second thing we need to consider is Team RNJR synergy, it is pretty obvious that it has improved a lot. That move between Ruby and Nora proves it, those kind of strategies require having a rapport.

Another great thing of this scene was discovering that Tyrian is a faunus, and not just any faunus, he is a scorpion!! It really suits him!! I am truly beginning to like this character. His persona, his way of talking, his way of fighting, and his nature as faunus, which represents my sign of the zodiac!!

Now, I really need to highlight the score of this episode. I know I said that I didn’t like Weiss’s song, but the music of the battle was awesome!! It really made me feel excited while watching it. Definitely, Jeff Williams is still showing all his talent as a composer in this show.

Adults overpower teenagers

I really liked a lot the fact the it was finally showed the difference between amateurs and professionals. We cannot forget that our main characters are first year students. Of course, watching them winning on regular basis make us forget they are not hunters / huntresses yet. However, watching the huge gap between Team RNJR and Tyrian will help us remember in the future the power levels of Remnant. And with huge gap I mean Tyrian blocking a Full-Power-Nora’s attack with his tail!!

Yes, the main characters are teenagers and the always win, well, almost always at least; but they are not almighty gods capable of beating any enemy, they are not invincible. If something got pretty clear in this fight is that adults are in another level, in another league if you allow me to say it. And that is great, it is really great because it adds realism to the plot. It is always hard to perform the “suspension of disbelief” thing when we have a world where both adults and teenagers have powers and the ones saving the day are the younger ones.

Finally, Qrow’s arrival had perfect timing, and what an entrance!! Tyrian’s entrance was badass, but Qrow really defeated him in that department. Unfortunately, the episode ended in that moment, and now we will have to beg a lot for the fight to be continued in the next one. Although there are high chances that episode 7 takes us back to Menagerie, not to mention that holidays are coming… By the way, thinking about something Tyrian said… is Salem really a Goddess?

By Shougo Amakusa (@shougoamakusa)
If you want to watch the show you can do it in theofficial website.