RWBY

''RWBY'' (pronounced "Ruby") is an American anime-influenced computer-animated web series created by Monty Oum for Rooster Teeth. It is set in the fictional world of Remnant, where young people train to become warriors (called "Huntsmen" and "Huntresses") to protect their world from monsters called Grimm. The name ''RWBY'' is derived from the four main protagonists' forenames: Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang, and their respective theme colors (red, white, black and yellow).

Following several promotional trailers, the first episode was screened at the Rooster Teeth convention event RTX and then released on their website in July 2013. Subsequent episodes were released approximately weekly, first to Rooster Teeth's subscribers and then to YouTube a week later. Oum died in 2015, during production of the third season for the series. This resulted in a delay in the production, as well as an overall shift in the series production and release schedule. Despite the death of its creator, the remaining crew members confirmed their intention to continue the series. As of December 2022, the website has aired eight volumes. The ninth volume is currently in production and will begin airing in early 2023.

The first three volumes of ''RWBY'' earned acclaim, with praise going towards its animation and soundtrack; it became an instant viral hit after the airing of its pilot. The series has been dubbed in Japanese and broadcast by Tokyo MX, in partnership with Warner Bros. Japan, and has spawned several spin-off media, such as the video game ''RWBY: Grimm Eclipse'' and the animated series ''RWBY Chibi'' in 2016.

Development

''RWBY'' had been a long-standing concept of Oum's for years before it began development. Towards the end of his work on the 10th season of Rooster Teeth's '' Red vs. Blue'', he developed the color-coding approach to character names and design as a hook for the series. During production on ''Red vs. Blue'' season 10, Oum asked series creator Burnie Burns if they could produce ''RWBY'' following the conclusion of that season. Burns, worried for the production schedule, told Oum "If you finish Season 10, then you can do whatever you want." Production on ''RWBY'' began as intended, with the first trailer being finished within two weeks and premiering after the credits of the ''Red vs. Blue'' season 10 finale on November 5, 2012.

Oum designed the characters with assistance from artist Ein Lee, utilizing designs inspired by classic fairy tale characters. Each character has an associated color, and it is the first letters of the main character's colors, red, white, black, and yellow, that give the series its name. The series was originally written by Oum, along with fellow Rooster Teeth employees Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross. Oum was initially concerned about a story focusing on female characters being developed by a primarily male crew, but said they managed to do well developing the female characters. Regarding the design, Oum wanted to "present a two-dimensional, toon-shaded look, but with all of the depth and complexity of a 3D-animated production". Volumes 1 to 3 were animated by the internal animation team of Rooster Teeth's studios in Austin using Smith Micro's Poser software, out of assets built on Autodesk Maya; however, starting with Volume 4, the production switched to using Maya entirely alongside additional modelling and animation being outsourced to the Monterrey-based studio CGBot. The series' music is composed by Jeff Williams, who previously composed the soundtracks for Seasons 8–10 of ''Red vs. Blue'', and features vocals by Williams' daughter, Casey Lee Williams.

Cast and characters

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Web series

Synopsis

The story takes place in the world of Remnant, composed of four kingdoms that are plagued by malevolent creatures known as the "Creatures of Grimm". Prior to the events of the series, the world was overseen by two opposing deities, the Gods of Light and Darkness. Humanity is obliterated by the gods due to the actions of Salem, a vengeful woman cursed with immortality for trying to manipulate them into reviving her beloved Ozma. Ozma was subsequently reincarnated into a world abandoned by the gods, to guide a new human race towards harmony. Eventually, the discovery of the element Dust triggers a technological and industrial revolution among humans.

In the present day, having formed a cabal to guard their world's secrets, Ozma's current incarnation Ozpin establishes academies in the four kingdoms of Remnant to train students to battle malevolent creatures known as the Grimm. The academies secretly conceal four relics that, if united, would summon the gods back to Remnant to judge humanity.

The series focuses on four girls that enrolled in Beacon Academy in the kingdom of Vale: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna (of the half-human, half-animal Faunus race), and Ruby's half-sister Yang Xiao Long. Together, they form team RWBY ("ruby"). At the time of their formation, numerous Dust thefts are carried out in Vale by local crime lord Roman Torchwick with the aid of the White Fang, a pro-Faunus terrorist group. Team RWBY proceeds to investigate their connection to Salem's apprentice Cinder Fall, and her scheme to destroy Beacon and plunge Remnant into chaos.

Throughout the first volume, team RWBY (Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang) and team JNPR ("juniper") (Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren) are introduced. In this volume, the main characters attend Beacon Academy, and throughout the episodes, the audience sees what their lives at Beacon Academy are like. At the end of the volume, it expands the view of the world in which RWBY takes place. In the second volume, the main characters have settled into the academy and have become comfortable in their lifestyle. There is an introduction and uncovering more details about the antagonists within the show. The next volume shows the Vytal Festival Tournament. This tournament takes place among many fighters and students. While this tournament is proceeding, the antagonists begin their nefarious plan.

In volume four, the two teams are separated from each other in different parts of the world. Each new group has problems and situations they must handle within their part of the world. In volume five, Ruby, Nora, Jaune, Ren, and Qrow finally reach their destination. Others plan to meet up but take a detour, while others continue to deal with problems wherever they split up previously. In the next volume, the team is successful in getting what they needed from their destinations, but things do not go as planned as they are separated again. In volume seven, they successfully arrive at the kingdom of Atlas and work with others towards a common goal. However, the antagonists are continuing to cause chaos and destruction and grow as a looming threat. In the most recent eighth volume, the team continues to defend itself from previous forces of evil and even the kingdom's own military general. After a tragic battle, Team RWBY along with Jaune and Neopolitan fall into a void which transports them to an unknown island that is located in the "Ever After"—an alternate world beyond Remnant that is set to serve as the anticipated setting of the upcoming ninth volume.

Promotion

A series of four promotional trailers, one for each lead character, was released. They were primarily produced by Oum and assistant animator Shane Newville. Each trailer begins by unveiling one of the four primary characters and then showing a detailed action sequence. The "Red" trailer was shown after the credits for ''Red vs. Blue's'' season 10 finale in November 2012. It was followed by the "White" trailer in February 2013. The "Black" trailer was unveiled at a PAX East panel at the end of March and was the first to include voice-acted dialogue. Following the premiere of the "Black" trailer, Oum noted with regret that the first two trailers were shorter and had less character development. The "Yellow" trailer was shown at Rooster Teeth's A-Kon panel on June 1, 2013. Music from the trailers was sold as digital downloads at several online retailers.

On July 5, 2013, at the ''RWBY'' panel for their RTX 2013 event, Rooster Teeth premiered the first episode of ''RWBY'', and would post the episode to their website on July 18.

Release

Following the premiere of ''RWBY'' in July 2013, Rooster Teeth posted new episodes for the first season, subtitled ''Volume 1'', streaming weekly on their website, with access two hours early for their sponsors. The new episode would be uploaded to YouTube the next week. On August 16, 2013, streaming site Crunchyroll announced it would simulcast ''RWBY''. ''Volume 1'' ran for 16 episodes, varying in length. ''Volume 1'' concluded in November 2013, and was then released to DVD and Blu-ray.

The second season, subtitled ''Volume 2'', was screened at RTX on July 4, 2014, and premiered on July 24. It consisted of 12 episodes, with the final episode released on October 30, after which it was released on DVD and Blu-ray.

On February 1, 2015, Rooster Teeth announced that both volumes of ''RWBY'' so far were available for streaming on Netflix.

''Volume 3'' premiered on October 24, 2015, along with an episode of the ''RWBY'' backstory series ''World of Remnant''. For ''Volume 4'', Rooster Teeth producer and co-director Gray G. Haddock said that Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross were writing for the series. The season debuted on October 22, 2016. In January 2017, a fifth season was announced to be in development, and was released on October 14.

In 2017, Rooster Teeth announced that Rooster Teeth First members would get episodes one week earlier than the general public.

On September 15, 2018, Rooster Teeth CEO Matt Hullum announced that ''RWBY'' Volume 6 will be released exclusively on the company's website. This decision was made after many of Rooster Teeth's videos on YouTube were demonetized for various reasons. Instead, Volume 6 was released per episode on a weekly basis in YouTube alongside the Volume 7 premiere at Rooster Teeth's website on November 2, 2019. On October 28, 2020, all episodes of RWBY, save the trailers, character shorts, and the first episode, were removed from YouTube in an effort to promote Rooster Teeth's website and mobile, TV, and game console apps. Volume 8 premiered on November 7, 2020, and the series went into a hiatus on December 19 of the same year. Premieres resumed on February 6, 2021.

International releases

The Blu-ray and DVD releases in Australia were handled by Hanabee Entertainment. The first volume was released in the UK by Animatsu Entertainment on May 4, 2015, on DVD.

On August 15, 2014, Rooster Teeth announced that a Japanese dub was being developed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Japan. Warner Bros. has also acquired local merchandising rights as well. Volume 3 was screened in select theaters on December 3, 2016. Volume 4 was released in select theaters for a limited two-week run from October 7 to 20, 2017. To promote Volume 4, Volumes 1–3 were condensed into 12 episodes for broadcast on Tokyo MX and AbemaTV in July 2017 under the title ''RWBY 1–3: The Beginning''.

Manga and books

''RWBY''

''RWBY'' has been adapted into a manga series written and illustrated by Shirow Miwa. It has been published in Shueisha's monthly ''seinen'' magazine ''Ultra Jump''. The first arc of the manga closely followed the storyline of the four trailers, while subsequent chapters explored original storylines.

The first chapter was released in the ''Ultra Jump'' December issue, on November 19, 2015. It had colored center and back pages, along with additional art from the manga.

The English translation was published in Viz Media's ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' manga anthology and released for audiences worldwide on October 31, 2016, as previously stated.

Like the series, the ''RWBY'' manga follows the members of Team RWBY—Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long—and their adventures as they train to become Huntresses at a prestigious school known as Beacon Academy. The manga delves into the backstories and motivations of the four main characters, giving new insights and context, with appearances from many of the other characters in the main series. The manga also explains some concepts and elements of the setting, such as the Grimm and Dust. The remaining six chapters cover an original story chronologically set between Volumes 1 and 2 involving teams RWBY and JNPR fighting King Taijitu merged by a Grimm that was accidentally let loose as Torchwick investigated a possible entrance to Mountain Glenn.

The final chapter was published in the February 2017 issue of ''Ultra Jump'' in January, with a teaser about a second volume.

''RWBY: Official Manga Anthology''

''RWBY: Official Manga Anthology'' is a manga adaption of RWBY. It consists of side stories that follow the plot of the show, put together by multiple manga artists. It was released in a multi-volume format.

On December 23, 2016, Japanese entertainment company Home-sha announced ''Vol. 1: Red Like Roses'', the first volume of RWBY: Official Manga Anthology and stated it was coming in Spring 2017. It was later announced on March 25, 2017, that it would be released on May 19, 2017. The second volume, ''Vol. 2: Mirror Mirror'', was released on June 19, 2017. The third volume, ''Vol. 3: From Shadows'', was released on September 19, 2017. The fourth volume, ''Vol. 4: I Burn'', was released on October 19, 2017.

In North America, Viz Media has licensed the manga for an English language release.

''RWBY: The Official Manga''

''RWBY: The Official Manga'' is a manga adaptation written by manga artist Bunta Kinami. The manga debuted on November 19, 2018, in ''Weekly Shonen Jump'', and on December 20, 2018, in ''Shōnen Jump+''. Shueisha published the first ''tankōbon'' volume digitally on August 19, 2019. The series manga finished on June 25, 2020.

''RWBY: After the Fall''

''RWBY: After the Fall'' is the first companion book in a series written by E. C. Myers and published by Scholastic on June 25, 2019. It details the adventures of Team CFVY ("coffee") following the events of the ''Volume 3'' finale, as the team travels to Shade Academy in Vacuo to continue their training and deals with the personal and global aftermath of the Fall of Beacon.

''RWBY: Before the Dawn''

''RWBY: Before The Dawn'' is a direct sequel to the first companion book ''After the Fall'' written by E. C. Myers and released by Scholastic on July 21, 2020. The book takes place sometime after the start of ''Volume 6'', following Team CFVY and Team SSSN ("sun") as they investigate a mysterious organization called The Crown.

''The World of RWBY: The Official Companion''

''The World of RWBY: The Official Companion'' was published on October 29, 2019, by Viz Media featuring behind the scenes information, interviews and concept art from the show.

''RWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnant''

''RWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnant'' is a book featuring original fairy tales created for the fictional ''RWBY'' universe. It was written by E. C. Myers, illustrated by Violet Tobacco, and published by Scholastic. It was released on September 15, 2020.

''RWBY: Roman Holiday''

''RWBY: Roman Holiday'' is a novel written by E.C. Myers released on September 7, 2021. The book is a prequel centered on the characters Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan.

Other media

Video games

A hack and slash video game based on the series, '' RWBY: Grimm Eclipse'' was developed by Rooster Teeth Games and released on July 5, 2016.

At the Evo 2017 gaming event, it was announced that the fighting game '' BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle'' would feature cross-over characters from ''BlazBlue'', ''Persona 4 Arena ( Ultimax)'', ''Under Night In-Birth'', and ''RWBY'', followed by ''Arcana Heart'', ''Senran Kagura'' and ''Akatsuki Blitzkampf'' as of 2019. Ruby Rose was a featured participant in the game's first teaser trailer, and Weiss was confirmed in the second character introduction trailer. Blake and Yang were added as the game's free downloadable content. At Evo 2019, it was announced that Neopolitan (incorrectly referred to as Neo Politan in-game) would be added to the game as part of a 2.0 update scheduled for November 21, 2019.

NHN Entertainment developed a tower defense mobile game based on the show, ''RWBY: Amity Arena'', which was released for Android and iOS devices in October 2018 and shutdown in early 2021. Rooster Teeth Games published two mobile games, also available on Steam, in 2019, the collectible card game ''RWBY Deckbuilding Game'', and the puzzle game ''RWBY: Crystal Quest''. ''RWBY Deckbuilding Game'' was discontinued on April 30, 2020.

A new ''RWBY'' game published by WayForward and Arc Systems Works titled ''RWBY: Arrowfell'' was released on consoles and PC on November 15, 2022.

''RWBY Chibi''

''RWBY Chibi'' is a comedic animated spin-off of ''RWBY'' compromising 57 three- to six-minute-long episodes in three seasons. It was first announced as part of Rooster Teeth's 13th-anniversary celebration on April 1, 2016, and Episode 1 premiered on May 7, 2016. Its first season concluded on October 15, 2016. Each episode consists of several scenes where aspects of RWBY's characters are usually exaggerated for comic effect. The episodes follow no strict chronological order, nor do they follow the strict canon of the main show. In January 2017, Rooster Teeth confirmed that a second season would launch that May. A third season started in January 2018, shortly after the main show's Volume 5 ended. After the series was put on indefinite hiatus, more RWBY Chibi skits were produced as a part of Rooster Teeth's animated anthology series ''Neon Konbini''.

Comics

*RWBY (2019): At New York Comic Con 2018, Rooster Teeth announced a partnership with DC Comics to publish ''RWBY'' and '' Gen:Lock'' comics starting in 2019. The ''RWBY'' comic is written by Marguerite Bennett and drawn by Mirka Andolfo and Arif Prianto. The comic was set between the events of Volumes 3 and 4 of the main animated series. The print issue #7 was cancelled, but the print version is later included in the trade paperback release of the RWBY comic in 2020.
*RWBY/Justice League (2021): In April 2021, DC announced a Crossover between RWBY and the Justice League. The digital version would start on March 30, 2021, followed by print Issue #1 on April 27, 2021.

''CRWBY: Behind the Episode''

''CRWBY: Behind the Episode'' is a behind the scenes documentary about the production of RWBY featuring interviews with the production crew. The show aired weekly during ''Volume 5'' and ''Volume 6''. The first season is exclusive for Rooster Teeth FIRST members. The second season is free to watch on YouTube and Rooster Teeth.

''RWBY Rewind''

''RWBY Rewind'' is a talk show that went live weekly only for FIRST members on Rooster Teeth during the fifth and sixth Volumes. The show featured discussion about the most recent episode and one guest from the production crew. The first season is exclusive for Rooster Teeth FIRST members. The second season is free to watch on YouTube and Rooster Teeth.

''Talk CRWBY to Me''

''Talk CRWBY to Me'' is a behind the scenes podcast hosted by Kerry Shawcross about the production of RWBY featuring members from the different departments within Rooster Teeth Animation. The podcast started airing weekly only for FIRST members on May 23, 2020, and concluded after eight episodes on July 11, 2020.

''RWBY: The Grimm Campaign''

''RWBY: The Grimm Campaign'' is a Rooster Teeth FIRST exclusive ''Dungeons and Dragons'' campaign featuring Kerry Shawcross as Pyke Rite, Laura Yates as Arrastra Skye, Chad James as Asher Mora and Chris Kokkinos as Fenix Nemean. It premiered on Rooster Teeth FIRST on August 15, 2020. The campaign features an early version of the digital tabletop software TaleSpire with custom models from the RWBY universe.

''RWBY: Fairy Tales''

''RWBY: Fairy Tales'' is an animated production for Rooster Teeth featuring original fairy tales from the world of Remnant. It was released on October 30, 2021, for FIRST members and for everyone else the next day. The first season concluded on December 4, 2021.

''RWBY: Ice Queendom''

An anime television series titled was announced on March 25, 2022. The anime series premiered on July 3, 2022 on Tokyo MX, BS11, and MBS, and is produced by Shaft and directed by Toshimasa Suzuki, with Kenjirou Okada in charge of chief direction, Gen Urobuchi in charge of animation concept, and Tow Ubukata in charge of script; in addition, Huke designed the character concepts, and Nobuhiro Sugiyama designed the characters for animation. Nobuko Toda and Kazuma Jinnouchi are composing the music. The cast for the Japanese dub of the original series are reprising their roles. Void_Chords feat. L performed the opening theme song "Beyond Selves", while Ruby's Japanese voice actress, Saori Hayami, performed the ending theme song "Awake". Crunchyroll will stream the series with both English and Japanese (with English subtitles) audio.

A manga adaptation of ''RWBY: Ice Queendom'' illustrated by Kumiko Suekane launched in ASCII Media Works's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Dengeki Daioh'' on June 27, 2022.

''Film''

A direct-to-video film, ''Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen,'' was announced on July 1, 2022. It will be a crossover with characters from DC Comics, produced by Rooster Teeth in collaboration with Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It is scheduled to be made in two parts, with part one released sometime in 2023.

Appearances in other media

In the film '' Doctor Sleep'', the character Abra Stone has ''RWBY'' posters and a statue of the character Emerald Sustrai in her room, and also wears Emerald's hair in a dream sequence. The filmmakers decided to bring in the references suggested by Abra's portrayer Kyliegh Curran, who is a fan of ''RWBY''.

Music

The music for all volumes of ''RWBY'' has been composed primarily by Jeff Williams, with additional composition by Steve Goldshein, Mason Lieberman, and Alex Abraham. Williams was a member of the band Trocadero, who did the music for Rooster Teeth's ''Red vs. Blue'', and eventually composed by himself the music for the three seasons of ''Red vs. Blue'' that preceded ''RWBY''. Most of the vocals are provided by Williams' daughter Casey Lee Williams, with some additional vocals by Lamar Hall and Sandy Casey.

The soundtrack features a variety of genres, most notably intense, fast-paced rock music. In an interview with Rooster Teeth, Williams mentioned that he uses his lyrics to foreshadow future events on occasion. In developing the songs, Williams uses the show's script and picks out random words and phrases that he thinks are cool. He would also get advanced knowledge as to the character's development, their background stories and lives. He then picks out the emotions related to the scene, adds tempo, drumbeats, rhythm, and eventually composes the song from there.

Reception

Critical response

''RWBY'' has received mixed reviews from critics ever since its debut. Commentators discussing the promotional trailers lauded the show's animation style and its musical soundtrack. The trailers prompted enthusiastic anticipation for the series premiere. When the first episode premiered at RTX, it was popular with attendees to the point that seating was full at all three screenings. Amanda Rush, writing for Crunchyroll, noted the anime and Western influences of the series, and praised it as "quick-witted, exciting, lovely to look at" saying fans of anime would enjoy it. The ''Yakima Herald-Republic'' called it "thrilling" and "captivating" and praised its "beautiful" 3D character animation. The ''Austin Chronicle'' described the premiere as making Oum the "rock star" of Rooster Teeth. By mid-2013, the series had reportedly contributed to a 9% increase in views for Rooster Teeth's official YouTube channel. ''Kotakus Richard Eisenbeis praised the series for its clever use of fairytale elements, fun and enjoyable dialogue, and the fighting choreography, but was critical about the short nature of the episodes, stating that, "The biggest drawback in doing a micro-series ... is that there is precious little time for good characterization". He was also critical of the technical issues of the animation, mentioning that the animation is good when the audience is unable to see the character's feet. He believes that ''RWBY'' is "a good first step into a world of possibilities."

Rachel Sandell of Collider recommended watching each season as a feature-length film, and argued the pacing the series has "always been a strange experience". She also said the pacing of early seasons "seems strange" and argued that the series took a "long time" to solidify its plot, but stated that more recent episodes are "more consistent" in their structure, and said the series is "engrossing, charming, and fun". Ruth Johnson of ComicsBeat argued that the series has expanded so much over its run since Season 1 that it can be "hard to keep track of all the storylines", but praised the voice acting, animation, and writers, and said that show is "consistently...growing stronger." Eric Francisco of ''Inverse'' described the series as "beautiful" and "captivating". Anime News Network reviewer Michael Basile reflected on the series eight volumes, concluding that the plot structure, writing, and pacing has changed since the beginning of the series, praising the writing of General Ironwood and the show's seventh volume, but criticizing the writing, "lack of creativity" in fight scenes, the show's tone, and called Volume 8 "nasty and mean-spirited". He also expressed the belief that the show's ninth volume would give the series a "directional reset" and said that he hoped the writing would improve.

Associations with anime

Lindsay Jones (Ruby Rose) said "We were worried about the reception we’d get, since we’re a western company producing something normally related to Japan. Funnily enough, we showed our Japanese cohorts ''RWBY'' and they started arguing about whether it was anime or not! But seeing the reception from audiences is so surreal, and we never expected it." A Movie Pilot blog listed the ''RWBY''-as-anime topic among its "flame wars you don't want to be part of". Anime News Network writers Paul Jensen and James Beckett wrote: "We don't have any formal reviews of RWBY here on ANN, but it is kind of cool to see an American production make it to the release encyclopedia." Michael Mauer of ''The Cornell Daily Sun'' wrote that the issue was still being debated among the anime community, while Sabrina Pyun of ComicsVerse wrote "The show is known for many things, from its dubious status as an anime to its unique 3D animation style." However, mainstream news articles dated after Hullum's statement and previewing later seasons and the franchise have referred to ''RWBY'' as an American anime, including ''Variety'', Collider, iDigitalTimes, ''Entertainment Weekly'', ''Adweek'', and ''Deadline Hollywood''.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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