A Brief Summary Of 'RWBY'
Image Source: TV Insider
If you traversed the wild servers of YouTube in the early 2000s, there’s a very good chance that you heard about Rooster Teeth.
The then small Texas-based indie animators hit the scene in 2003 with their smash hit machinima series, Red Vs Blue, inspired by and utilizing environments and models from the Halo series. From there they would go on to produce a variety of smaller live-action shows, Let’s Play channels and animations until they unveiled their next great hit in mid-2013: RWBY.
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RWBY takes place on the planet Remnant, an Earth-like world orbited by a broken moon. Populated by humans and humanoids with animal features known as Faunus, Remnant is plagued by darkness. Between civil war, political distrust and, as ever, corporate greed, the people of Remnant are under constant attack by the Creatures of Grimm: nightmarish, mutated beings of humanity’s worst fears made inky flesh, from packs of baying Beowolves that roam shaded forests to enormous cold-blooded Leviathans that hunt ships through the oceanic depths. Every day small towns and villages that seek to go it alone find are attacked with far too many eventually swallowed up and torn apart by the monsters.
The Grimm have pushed civilization to the brink, until only a handful of nations stand strong against the immortal tide—and even they have begun to lose ground.
Image Source: RWBY Wiki
Remnant’s only hope lies in Huntsmen and Huntresses; people trained with awesome weaponry to unleash the hailstorms of ammunition and the power of their very souls upon the Grimm tides. With many trained at young ages, all seek to hone their skills and find their limits, futures and destinies at various Academies.
And it’s here where RWBY truly begins, following a young prodigy Huntress by the name of Ruby Rose. Seeking to hold up her mother’s legacy, her father’s strength and her uncle’s faith, Ruby finds herself personally granted early admittance to the illustrious Beacon Academy by its enigmatic leader, Headmasters Ozpin. Before long, Ruby find herself teamed up with a trio of personalities: her fiery sister Yang Xiao Long, the cold and proper corporate heiress Weiss Schnee and the mysterious Blake Belladonna. Dubbed team RWBY, the quartet vow to become world-class Huntresses and maybe even achieve the dream of all Hunters: to rid the world of the Grimm forever.
But their dreams may all come to naught as dark forces conspire against them and all of man- and Faunus-kind. Allies are nebulous in their trust and loyalty. Assassins lurk in plain sight. The oppressed masses seek freedom and retribution no matter how many they must kill to achieve it. Ancient magic is stirring. The Grimm grow stronger and smarter every day. And at the far reaches of civilization, a dark Queen intends to end a centuries long chess match once and for all.
The show weaves a tale of friendship, sorrow, honor and horror with beautiful efficiency and heart. RWBY follows these young women struggling to endure and hold on to their principles as the world ruthlessly changes around them. Despite it’s often bleak and heartbreaking story, it is also interspersed with humor and joy. There is always light in the darkness and RWBY encapsulates this philosophy quite well—even as it’s character mature and harden, the show never loses sight of the core aspects of their personalities.
Furthermore, the animation is beautiful. Even in its earlier years in which background characters were rendered as little more than black silhouettes, the backgrounds themselves were lovingly crafted and the movements smooth. Time, experience and an increased budget has only made this greater, with CG anime-style animation lovingly blended with motion capture. The action scenes in particular are precise and fast-paced, adding spice to the sweeter, slower emotional lingering.
Image Source: RWBY Wiki
That said the series’ future has been in something not unlike purgatory for a while now. Rooster Teeth, having faced financial issues and controversy for close a decade finally went defunct in 2024, with its various assets and properties having been owned by Warner Bros. eventually being shut down or auctioned off to various smaller subsidiaries. While most of its franchises effectively ended, either quietly or formally, RWBY remained in odd place. It was acquired by anime and manga distribution company Viz Media, and after a time, Viz announced that they would continuing the series, assuring anxious fans in mid-2025 that work had begun on RWBY’s tenth season. While a scarcity of news since wouldn’t be unusual, given the relative lack of time, the rapid changing of hands and relative quiet regarding the series’ future has left many long-time fans antsy.
On the other hand, this presents the perfect opportunity for new and old fans to look back on the series. Available on Crunchyroll, there are nine excellent season to look back, allowing newcomers to experience the ups and downs of the franchise and even finish in time for number ten to swan in. And if you’re an long-time fan, there’s no harm re-watching the series to refresh yourself on everything from the most minor of characters to the spiralling complexity of the world.
And if you don’t feel like trawling through close to thirty hours of content, or are intimidated by the a well-established, long-running series, there are other RWBY properties to sink your teeth into. RWBY: Ice Queendom is a crisper reimagining on the franchise from the start and the two-part crossover movie Justice League X RWBY: Super Heroes And Huntsmen is pretty much exactly what you get on the tin.
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