7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
The story takes place in the world of Vytal, which is filled with supernatural forces and shadowy creatures known as "the creatures of Grimm". Prior to the events of the series, mankind waged a battle of survival against the Grimm before discovering the power of a mysterious element called Dust, which allowed them to fight back against the monsters. In the present day, Dust is used to power magical abilities and weapons. Those who use these abilities to battle the Grimm are known as Huntsmen or Huntresses. The series focuses on four girls, each with her own unique weapon and powers. Together, they form a team at Beacon Academy in the city of Vale, where they are trained to become Huntresses alongside other similar teams.
Starring: Lindsay Jones (XII), Kara Eberle, Arryn Zech, Barbara Dunkelman, Jessica NigriFantasy | 100% |
Action | 87% |
Adventure | 74% |
Comedy | 58% |
Animation | 52% |
Supernatural | 32% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080i
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region free
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Judging by the (unskippable) little mishmash of Rooster Teeth footage that airs before the main menu of RWBY Volume 2 boots up,
the staff of this upstart production company doesn’t wait for traditional things like boozy office parties to get wild and crazy. Interspersed
with a few moments from some of their productions like RWBY and (of course) Red vs. Blue: RVBX: Ten Years of Red vs. Blue are equally brief snippets
showing live action tidbits that seem to suggest life around Rooster Teeth is a combination of Jackass and Workaholics. Judging by not always reliable Wikipedia entries, many of the primary movers and
shakers behind Rooster Teeth’s odd assortment of entertainment vehicles are so-called Generation X-ers, children of the mid-seventies who
grew up in an era of rapidly increasing cynicism, and who came of age just when the internet made cynicism something of an art form,
courtesy
of all sorts of trolls and other denizens of the world wide web. It’s therefore a bit hard to tell at times if entries like RWBY are
supposed to be as ironically dunderheaded as they sometimes are, or if there’s an unintentional amateurishness at play as well.
RWBY seems to want to be a kind of cutting edge but still retro feeling animated outing that takes place in a future world where so-
called hunters and huntresses fight various nefarious enemies, including beasts called Grimm (not to be confused with Grimm). RWBY features a
rather arcane and convoluted mythology (actually kind of like Grimm and other supernaturally themed series), which is only expanded
upon in this second volume, but it also features laughably stilted dialogue,
a rather bizarre animation style that either intentionally or unintentionally is rife with rendering issues, and a reliance on the kind of
admittedly funny juvenile humor that also informs a lot of Red vs. Blue. There are a lot of really interesting elements in RWBY,
but this second volume only tends to confirm a feeling that the series is kind of an animatic trial run for something grander (maybe a live
action film, since Rooster Teeth is getting into that kind of production soon) down the pike.
More information on the show and its premise can be found in our RWBY: Volume 1 Blu-ray review.
As I discussed in our RWBY: Volume 1 Blu-ray review, RWBY is a creature of those blasted internets, and therefore its AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1 has some issues which the wider bandwidth of Blu-ray perhaps tends to exacerbate. Much as with the first season, the series' lush, incredibly distinctive, palette is probably its chief asset. The girls' various colors, as evidenced by their bright hair hues, pop very nicely in high definition. There's also more attention paid to backgrounds in this volume, with some of the Vale establishing shots having a bit more detail to them. However, this presentation is still plagued with what are either rendering issues or byproducts of the interlaced format, with rampant stair stepping, aliasing and banding on display. It's perhaps not quite as rampant as in the first volume, but even simple scenes like a zoom over a spaceship can quickly devolve into rolling, unstable lines around objects. Aside from these anomalies, RWBY continues to look very good if not perfect.
As with the first volume of the show (and other Rooster Teeth Blu-ray releases), RWBY Volume 2 offers only a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 audio option. Immersion is great here, especially in the often noisy battle scenes, but audiophiles will no doubt be wondering what a lossless track could have provided for these selfsame sequences. Dialogue is very cleanly presented and the track has no problems of any kind to report. Despite the lossy format, dynamic range is surprisingly wide throughout the episodes contained on this volume.
I specifically mentioned cutting RWBY a bit of slack in my review of the first volume of RWBY, and truth be told, there's probably more slack cutting necessary in this second volume, though perhaps for different reasons. The show's creators perhaps have outsized ambitions which the short form format and sometimes laughable writing can't quite support. Continuing issues with the animation, however minor they may be, also tend to undercut the series. There's still a lot to like here, especially for those who are fans of Rooster Teeth's odd perspective and off the wall sense of humor, but it may be time to revisit RWBY and either up the ante significantly (longer episodes? a feature film?) or simply start coloring in another book.
2013
2013
2014
2015-2016
2016-2017
With Crescent Rose Action Card
2016-2017
2017-2018
2017-2018
2018-2019
2019-2020
2020-2021
2023
2003-2012
2009-2010
2009
Anime Classics
2009
2006
Episodes 1-27
2004-2005
Anime Classics
2008-2009
2000-2004
Director's Cut
2007
Limited Edition
2023
ソウルイーター
2008-2009
2001-2017
バケモノの子 / Bakemono no ko
2015
2009
キルラキル
2013-2014
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
2007
1989
Farewell / Episodes 274-293
2022-2023
2012-2014
2012