RWBY

RWBY

Official logo for RWBY showing the four main characters.
Genre Action, Adventure, Dark Fantasy, Science Fantasy
Created by Monty Oum
Written by
  • Miles Luna
  • Kerry Shawcross
  • Monty Oum
Directed by
  • Monty Oum (Volume 1–2)
  • Kerry Shawcross (Volume 3–current)
Voices of
Theme music composer Jeff Williams
Opening theme
  • "This Will Be the Day" (Volume 1) performed by Casey Lee Williams
  • "Time to Say Goodbye" (Volume 2) performed by Casey Lee Williams
  • "When It Falls" (Volume 3) performed by Casey Lee Williams
  • "Let's Just Live" (Volume 4) performed by Casey Lee Williams
Composer(s)
  • Jeff Williams
  • Steve Goldshein
  • Alex Abraham
No. of seasons 4
No. of episodes 45 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
Production company(s) Rooster Teeth
Release
Original network Rooster Teeth
Original release July 18, 2013 (2013-07-18) – present (present)
External links
Website

RWBY (/ˈruːbi/, "ruby") is an American 3D web series created by Monty Oum for Rooster Teeth.[1][2] The show is set in the fictional world of Remnant, where young people train to become Huntsmen and Huntresses to protect their world from monsters. The first episode was released on the Rooster Teeth website on July 18, 2013, following an exclusive screening at RTX.[3] The second volume premiered on July 4, 2014, at RTX and to the general public on July 24, 2014, followed by the third volume on October 24, 2015.[4]

Following its announcement, the show became a viral hit, resulting in many cosplays and fan adaptations. One of these adaptations, a fan game titled RWBY: Grimm Eclipse, was later officially adopted by Rooster Teeth, and was fully released for PC on July 5, 2016.

On February 1, 2015, Oum died as the result of a coma that was caused by an allergic reaction during a medical procedure.[5] This left the future of the series uncertain for a brief period of time until voice actor Gray Haddock announced that the series would continue, and that Volume 3 would premiere in 2015 as planned.[6]

Volume 4 was officially announced on April 1, 2016, and premiered on October 22, 2016. The new volume takes place 6–8 months after Volume 3, and features an updated visual style with new character designs.

A spin-off of the show, titled RWBY Chibi, was also announced. Episode 1 premiered on May 7, 2016.

Premise

The story takes place in the world of Remnant, which is filled with forces and 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 abilities and weapons. Those who use these abilities to battle the Grimm are known as Huntsmen or Huntresses.[7] The series focuses on four girls, each with her own unique weapon and powers. Together, they form team RWBY (/ˈruːbi/, "ruby") at Beacon Academy in the city of Vale, where they are trained to become Huntresses alongside team JNPR (/ˈdʒunəpər/, "juniper"), team SSSN (/sʌn/, "sun"), team CRDL (/ˈkɑːrdnl/, "cardinal") team CFVY (/ˈkɔːfi/, "coffee"), and various other named and unnamed student teams.[8][9]

Volume 1 focuses on the introduction of the characters of the story, marking the events that lead to their team formations. All the while, mysterious thefts of Dust are occurring around the city of Vale, notably organized by the show's antagonist, Roman Torchwick. Volume 2 follows up from these events of Volume 1, and team RWBY sets out in order to investigate the meaning behind these thefts. They aim to discover the villain's plans for the city of Vale before the Vytal Festival—a festival between the four kingdoms of Remnant where they have their best students demonstrate their skills and abilities in celebration of the peace between all four kingdoms. Volume 3 starts with the beginning of the Vytal Festival; however, a sinister plot lurks behind the celebratory events, and the heroes can only do so much to prepare for the evil that is coming. Volume 4 takes place six to eight months following the events of Volume 3, with the members of Team RWBY separated and in different parts of the globe, and each of the girls will have to take on personal journeys of their own if they are to move forward in life.

Cast and characters

Character Voice actor
S1 S2 S3 S4
Ruby Rose Lindsay Jones Main
Weiss Schnee Kara Eberle Main
Blake Belladonna Arryn Zech Main
Yang Xiao Long Barbara Dunkelman Main
Jaune Arc Miles Luna Recurring
Pyrrha Nikos Jen Brown Recurring Guest
Ozpin Shannon McCormick Recurring
Glynda Goodwitch Kathleen Zeulch Recurring Cameo
Lie Ren Monty Oum (S1–S2)
Neath Oum (S3–present) 		Recurring
Nora Valkyrie Samantha Ireland Recurring
Sun Wukong Michael Jones Recurring
Cinder Fall Jessica Nigri Recurring
Neptune Vasilias Kerry Shawcross Recurring TBA
James Ironwood Jason Rose Recurring
Peter Port Ryan Haywood Guest Recurring
Bartholomew Oobleck Joel Heyman Guest Recurring
Emerald Sustrai Katie Newville Unvoiced Recurring
Mercury Black JJ Castillo (S2)
Yuri Lowenthal (S3–present) 		Unvoiced Recurring
Qrow Branwen Vic Mignogna Recurring
Mysterious Narrator / Salem Jen Taylor Guest Guest Recurring
Taiyang Xiao Long Burnie Burns Guest Recurring

Development

Monty Oum, the creator of RWBY

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.[8] 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.[10]

Oum designed the characters with assistance from artist Ein Lee. The characters utilize designs inspired by classic fairy tale characters.[8] Each character has an associated color, and it is the first letters of these colors, red, white, black, and yellow, that give the series its name.[11] The series is written by Oum, along with fellow Rooster Teeth employees Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross.[12] 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.[10] The series is animated by Rooster Teeth's internal animation team using Smith Micro's Poser software.[13] 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.

Promotion

A series of four promotional trailers, one for each lead character, were released in the lead-up to the series premiere. They were primarily produced by Oum and assistant animator Shane Newville.[14] Each trailer begins by unveiling one of the four primary characters and then showing a detailed action sequence.[12] The "Red" trailer was shown after the credits for Red vs. Blue's season 10 finale in November 2012.[12][15] It was followed by the "White" trailer in February 2013.[16] The "Black" trailer was unveiled at a PAX East panel at the end of March and was the first to include voice-acted dialogue.[14] Following the premiere of the "Black" trailer, Oum noted with regret that the first two trailers were shorter and had less character development.[14] The "Yellow" trailer was shown at Rooster Teeth's A-Kon panel on June 1, 2013.[17] Music from the trailers is being sold for digital download on several online retailers.[18]

The first episode premiered on July 5, 2013, at a panel at RTX 2013.[19][20] It premiered online two weeks later on July 18, 2013.

Release

Main article: List of RWBY episodes

Volume 1 consists of sixteen episodes, with episodes being around 12 minutes long. However, all episodes except the first episode, eighth episode, and finale were released in two six-minute parts, comprising sixteen parts in total. Volume 1 concluded in November 2013, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the same month.[7][21] Episodes premiere to the public Thursdays at 7 pm Central Standard Time (UTC-6) on the Rooster Teeth website and are released two hours early for sponsors.[22] They are uploaded to YouTube a week later. Crunchyroll announced on August 16, 2013, that RWBY would be simulcast on the video streaming site.[23]

Volume 2 premiered on July 24, 2014, following its exclusive screening at RTX on July 4, 2014.[24] Volume 2 featured twelve episodes, each at around 12 minutes long; the episodes were no longer released in parts. The twelfth and final episode of Volume 2 aired on October 30, 2014, after which it was released on DVD and Blu-ray.

Volume 3 was confirmed at the Rooster Teeth panel at PAX Prime 2014, where Oum stated that he planned to go straight into development of the next season as he was nearly completed with Volume 2. It premiered on October 24, 2015 with an episode of the backstory series World of Remnant.[25]

Volume 4 was confirmed during an interview with AfterBuzz TV, in which producer/co-director Gray Haddock mentioned that Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross have begun writing for the new Volume. Volume 4 was officially announced by Gray G. Haddock on April 1, 2016 and is set to premiere in Fall 2016.[26] At RTX 2016, Rooster Teeth announced that Volume 4 will debut on October 22, 2016.

Reception

Critical response

Commentators discussing the promotional trailers lauded the show's animation style and its musical soundtrack. The trailers prompted enthusiastic anticipation for the series premiere.[12][14][16] 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.[7] The Yakima Herald-Republic called it "thrilling" and "captivating" and praised its "beautiful" 3D character animation.[27] The Austin Chronicle described the premiere as making Oum the "rock star" of Rooster Teeth.[28] The series has reportedly contributed to a 9% increase in views for Rooster Teeth's official YouTube channel.[29] Kotaku's 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 ends by saying that "RWBY is a good first step into a world of possibilities."[30]

Awards

At the 2014 International Academy of Web Television Awards, RWBY won the award for Best Animated Series.[31]

At the 2014 Streamy Awards, RWBY won for Best Animated Series and Jeff Williams won for Best Original Score.[32]

Distribution

The Blu-ray and DVD releases in Australia are handled by Hanabee Entertainment.[33] A local Japanese dub is being developed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Japan, with plans for release on Blu-ray and DVD in 2015, marking the first time an American-produced anime-inspired series has been marketed in Japan.[34] Warner Bros. has also acquired local merchandising rights as well.[35] On February 1, 2015, Rooster Teeth announced that both volumes of RWBY so far were available for streaming on Netflix.[36] The first volume was released in the UK by Animatsu Entertainment on May 4, 2015, on DVD.[37]

Music

Jeff Williams

The music for all volumes of RWBY has been composed primarily by Jeff Williams, with additional composition by Steve Goldshein and Alex Abraham. Most of the vocals are provided by Jeff Williams and his daughter Casey Lee Williams, with some additional vocals by Lamar Hall and Sandy Casey.

RWBY's soundtrack features a variety of genres, most notably intense, fast-paced rock music.

Volume 1 Soundtrack

RWBY: Volume 1 Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Jeff Williams
Released November 12, 2013
Genre Film score, hard rock, heavy metal, symphonic rock
Label Rooster Teeth Productions
Jeff Williams chronology
Red vs. Blue: Season 10 Soundtrack
(2012)		 RWBY: Volume 1 Soundtrack
(2013)		 RWBY: Volume 2 Soundtrack
(2014)
Singles from RWBY: Volume 1 Soundtrack
  1. "Red Like Roses"
  2. "Mirror Mirror"
  3. "From Shadows"
  4. "I Burn"
  5. "This Will Be the Day"
  6. "RWBY: Chapter 1"
  7. "Red Like Roses Part II"
  8. "Gold"

The official soundtrack for RWBY: Volume 1 was released by Jeff Williams on November 12, 2013, hitting #1 on iTunes and beating out the movie soundtrack to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.[38] It includes all the songs used in the trailers, the intro to the series' episodes, and also the score music to each episode. The soundtrack also contains previously unreleased songs such as "I May Fall" and "Wings".[39] These songs were, however, briefly played at the end of various episodes.

Volume 2 Soundtrack

The official soundtrack for RWBY: Volume 2 was released on December 2, 2014.

RWBY: Volume 2 Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Jeff Williams
Released December 2, 2014
Genre Film score, hard rock, heavy metal, symphonic rock, dance, electronica, jazz
Label Rooster Teeth Productions
Jeff Williams chronology
RWBY: Volume 1 Soundtrack
(2013)		 RWBY: Volume 2 Soundtrack
(2014)		 RWBY: Vol. 3 (Original Soundtrack & Score)
(2016)
Singles from RWBY: Volume 2 Soundtrack
  1. "Time to Say Goodbye"

Volume 3 Soundtrack

The official soundtrack for RWBY: Volume 3 was released on May 3, 2016.

RWBY: Vol. 3 (Original Soundtrack & Score)
Soundtrack album by Jeff Williams
Released May 3, 2016
Genre Film score, hard rock, power metal, progressive metal, symphonic rock, electronica
Label Rooster Teeth Productions
Jeff Williams chronology
RWBY: Volume 2 Soundtrack
(2014)		 RWBY: Vol. 3 (Original Soundtrack & Score)
(2016)

Other media

Video game

Jordan Scott, the creator of RWBY: Grimm Eclipse

For Rooster Teeth's anniversary in 2014, fan Jordan Scott created a video game based on RWBY, initially titled RWBY: Grim Eclipse, using the Unity[40] engine. It was in development for a total of five months.[41]

Based on the events in the first trailer, the demo was a "hack 'n slash survival" featuring Ruby facing escalating waves of Grimm attacks. Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku praised its combo system, which "excellently mirror[ed] its animated counterpart," and its unlockable skills, saying, "you'll feel like an unstoppable badass akin to Ruby in the series."[42]

At RTX 2014, Rooster Teeth announced that they had hired Scott, and officially picked up the game. An early demo of the game was available for consumers to play at the event. Rooster Teeth CEO Matt Hullum stated, "RWBY is a natural choice for us to focus on for our first in-house produced video game. Fans can expect that we will bring the same level of originality in action, comedy and design to the video game that has made the RWBY animated series such a hit."[43][44] On December 1, 2015 the game was released as an Early Access title on Steam,[45] with the full PC release on July 5, 2016.

Rooster Teeth later changed the spelling of the name to RWBY: Grimm Eclipse to match the spelling of the creatures in the show.

The game allows one to four of the main characters in any combination(s) to battle through waves of Grimm. They are also on the trail of a mysterious company and its founder. The action takes place in the Emerald Forest, Mountain Glenn, Forever Fall and ultimately to an island named after the antagonist, Doctor Merlot.

Manga

The November 2015 issue of Shueisha's Ultra Jump magazine announced that Dogs manga author Shirow Miwa would be illustrating a manga adaptation of RWBY, which debuted in the December 2015 issue on November 19, 2015.[46]

The manga will "reveal mysteries of the four trailers."[47]

RWBY Chibi

RWBY Chibi is a comedic animated spin-off of RWBY compromising 24 3-6 minute long episodes. 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.[48] 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 strict canon of the main show.

Death Battle

Yang appeared as a combatant in the popular online series Death Battle by Screwattack (a sister company to Rooster Teeth under Fullscreen), where she fought Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII (who was a character in Oum's Dead Fantasy series). Barbara Dunkelman reprised her role for the episode. The series creator, Ben Singer, talked with Oum about including a RWBY character on Death Battle before Oum's passing.[49]

References

  1. ↑ Silverman, Joshua (2013-07-18). "Review: RWBY Premiere Episode". Geek News Network. Retrieved 2013-07-19.
  2. ↑ Lazar, Shira (2013-08-07). "Roosterteeth Adds Anime RWBY To YouTube Slate (WATCH)". The Huffington Post. AOL. Retrieved 2013-08-12.
  3. ↑ Lakich, Ryan (2 July 2013). "Geeks and gamers are ready to raid Rooster Teeth Expo 2013". CultureMap Austin. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  4. ↑ Rooster Teeth [RoosterTeeth] (8 October 2015). "#RWBY Volume 3 - Saturday, October 24th, at 10 am CT - Roosterteeth.com - Get pumped." (Tweet). Retrieved 24 October 2015 – via Twitter.
  5. ↑ Hullum, Matt (February 2, 2015). "Monty Oum has passed away". Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Rooster Teeth · The Future of RWBY". Rooster Teeth.
  7. 1 2 3 Rush, Amanda (2013-07-12). "FEATURE: Inside Rooster Teeth's "RWBY"". Crunchyroll. Retrieved 2013-07-18.
  8. 1 2 3 Silverman, Joshua (19 February 2013). "Interview: Monty Oum". Constantly Calibrating. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  9. ↑ Webb, Charles (9 July 2013). "EXCLUSIVE: See Rooster Teeth's RTX Panel For Animated Series 'RWBY'". MTV.com. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  10. 1 2 Machuga, Stephen (27 May 2013). "Monty Oum for Rooster Teeth, RWBY: Front Towards Gamer Radio, Episode 172". Front Towards Gamer. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  11. ↑ Oum, Monty. "Rooster Theeth Podcast #191". Rooster Teeth. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Parbhu, Sanjay (4 June 2013). "Rooster Teeth Releases RWBY Yellow Trailer". Capsule Computers. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  13. ↑ "Smith Micro's Poser Software Empowers Rooster Teeth Productions' Upcoming "RWBY" Web Series". Yahoo Finance. Yahoo. 2013-07-03.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Neafsey, Paul (30 March 2013). "RWBY from Rooster Teeth: PAX East 2013". Front Towards Gamer. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  15. ↑ Yamada, Yuusuke (6 June 2013). "死ぬほどかっこいい謎のアニメーションプロジェクト『RWBY』シリーズ最終トレーラーが公開！". Kotaku. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  16. 1 2 Gutelle, Sam (19 February 2013). "Rooster Teeth's Anime-Inspired 'RWBY' Is Colorful And Action-Packed". Tubefilter. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  17. ↑ "《RWBY》公開最新宣傳影片「Yellow」最終主要角色亮相". GNN. 2 June 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  18. ↑ Green, Scott (2 June 2013). "VIDEO Preview for Rooster Teeth's Anime Style "RWBY" Hits Yellow". Crunchyroll. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  19. ↑ Shawcross, Kerry (23 January 2013). "RWBY RWBY RWBY". RTX. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  20. ↑ "RWBY". Rooster Teeth Productions. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  21. ↑ "RWBY Pre-Show Live Stream". YouTube. Rooster Teeth. 18 July 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  22. ↑ "Rooster Teeth Podcast #227". YouTube. Rooster Teeth Productions. 15 July 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  23. ↑ "Crunchyroll to Stream "RWBY"". Crunchyroll. 16 August 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  24. ↑ Monty Oum [montyoum] (30 January 2014). "RWBY Vol 2 will premeire at RTX July 4–6 this year! Thank you all for your support and contributions. <3 Monty fb.me/UO2W4Xyx" (Tweet). Retrieved 30 January 2014 – via Twitter.
  25. ↑ RWBY: Volume 3, World of Remnant 1. RoosterTeeth. 9 October 2015.
  26. ↑ http://roosterteeth.com/post/51259830
  27. ↑ Bosch, Ellie (11 May 2014). "'RWBY' a gem of a show". Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  28. ↑ Solomon, Dan (2013-07-19). "The Full Monty". Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 2013-07-18.
  29. ↑ Cohen, Joshua (16 August 2013). "Top 50 Most Viewed U.S. YouTube Channels • Week Of 8/16/13". Tubefilter. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  30. ↑ "The Beauty of RWBY's Fight Scenes Will Make Your Jaw Drop • Week of 11/22/13". 22 November 2013.
  31. ↑ "2014 IAWTV Awards Nominees and Winners". International Academy of Web Television. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  32. ↑ Bloom, David. "Streamy Award Round 1 Winners: 'Epic Rap Battles Of History,' 'RWBY,' Fallon, Seinfeld". Deadline.com. Deadline. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  33. ↑ Halliday, Luke (10 August 2013). "Hanabee's SMASH 2013 Announcements". Capsule Computers. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  34. ↑ Dong, Bamboo (2014-08-15). "Rooster Teeth's RWBY Heads to Japan". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2014-11-01.
  35. ↑ Castillo, Michelle (15 August 2014). "American-Made Anime From Rooster Teeth Gets Licensed In Japan". Adweek. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  36. ↑ Rooster Teeth [RoosterTeeth] (February 1, 2015). "#RWBY is now on Netflix. Give it a watch if you haven't yet- or watch it again!" (Tweet). Retrieved February 9, 2015 – via Twitter.
  37. ↑ "RWBY: Volume 1 [DVD]". amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-04-02. This title will be released on May 4, 2015.
  38. ↑ Rooster Teeth [RoosterTeeth] (November 15, 2013). "Oh? What's this? #RWBY Volume 1 Soundtrack is the #1 Soundtrack on iTunes?! YOU. GUYS. ROCK." (Tweet). Retrieved February 9, 2015 – via Twitter.
  39. ↑ "RWBY Volume 1 Soundtrack in iTunes" (Digital music download). iTunes. Jeff Williams. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  40. ↑ "RWBY Grimm Eclipse".
  41. ↑ Scott, Jordan (1 April 2014). "RWBY: Grim Eclipse - Demo Release Trailer". YouTube. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  42. ↑ Eisenbeis, Richard. "Fighting in This RWBY Fan Game Feels Just Like the Series". www.Kotaku.com. Kotaku. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  43. ↑ Rush, Amanda. "Rooster Teeth Making "RWBY" Video Game". Crunchyroll.com. Crunchy Roll. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  44. ↑ Cohen, Joshua. "Rooster Teeth Is Developing A Video Game". Tubefilter.com. TubeFilter. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  45. ↑ "RWBY: Grimm Eclipse - Steam Early Access". RoosterTeeth.com. Rooster Teeth. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  46. ↑ "Dogs: Prelude's Shirow Miwa to Draw RWBY Manga". Anime News Network. 17 October 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  47. ↑ "RWBY Japan's Twitter".
  48. ↑ "RWBY Announcement!". Rooster Teeth. 1 April 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  49. ↑ Ben B. Singer [benbsinger] (7 October 2015). "Before his passing, Monty & I talked about collaborating on a #DEATHBATTLE with #RWBY. I'm glad it's finally happening! Thanks @montyoum! :)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

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