There’s going to be some similarity between this post and its predecessor. They start with the same letter of the alphabet, there’s a lot of martial-arts-like fighting involved, and the reason you’ll probably give up on it after a while is because of a dude.

What is it?

RWBY is an ongoing computer-animated series from the creative minds over at Rooster Teeth, previously best known for their “machinima” output like Red Vs Blue. It first drew attention for its promotional character-specific music videos featuring the late Monty Oum’s deliriously over-the-top anime-style fight choreography. As of this writing RWBY is heading into its fifth season.

What kind of story is it?

On the surface, it’s a bunch of kids who are attending a training academy for overpowered wannabe-heroic types. Behind that, it’s a layer-cake of political shenanigans and evil plots and power plays that the kids stumble into. Things start out moderately messy and over the course of the seasons they really go to hell in a handbasket.

Why do you like it?

Two elements of RWBY are nigh-irresistible to me: Superpowered heroines doing crazy stuff to save the world, and fun characters bouncing witticisms off one another. At its best, the show blends both of these to delightful effect.

Also, there’s some interesting worldbuilding going on. What and why are the “grimm”? Who’s really pulling whose strings? The writing, at least in the first few seasons, is strong enough at that level to keep me intrigued beyond the superficial “fun-train” aspects.

It doesn’t hurt that there’s a kick-ass soundtrack. I love almost all of the season theme songs, never mind the character pieces from the promotional videos. Jeff Williams and his daughter Casey Lee Williams are, I firmly believe, a significant factor in why RWBY gained as much popularity as it enjoys today.

What might one not like about it?

Especially early on, one can tell how this isn’t the product of a high-end animation-production shop with a huge budget. You have to forgive a lot. This isn’t The Incredibles by any stretch of imagination. It’s done with commodity software by a small team using local talent to the best effect they can.

One might also find themselves unable to handle the voice acting and/or writing. I… can’t really blame you. The cast has grown on me but I wholly understand why folks bail on the show after an episode or two.

And then, even if you really dig what’s going on and become attached to the core group of four superpowered girls, there comes a point where you realize something is… changing.

The guy who starts out as the whiny-but-well-meaning sidekick suddenly ends up as a central figure in a show which is named for four characters who aren’t him. And this is where I find myself thinking, “Am I going to stay with this? Will Season 5 be my last, or will they figure it out and refocus on the actual RWBY team members?” Time will tell, I suppose.

Other thoughts about it?

Just… search YouTube for “rwby food fight”. Even if you watch nothing else from this entire show, watch that.

Thank you for that, Monty Oum.

Where can I watch it?

I watch RWBY on Crunchyroll, though there are other options (like Rooster Teeth’s own site, and it was on Netflix for a while).