Manga Thoughts: RWBY Anthology 1

Reading an official, "made in Japan" manga of the American "anime-esque" production RWBY more or less left me thinking of that old, acquired-through-experience suspicion that "manga based on" get assigned to artists who can't manage original works of their own, the that much more unfortunate flip side of the undercurrent of criticism of anime made from manga. Hearing right around then a "RWBY Anthology" would follow, though, did have hope springing eternal once more. I bought the first volume (supposing there'd be three more to feature the other main characters who make up the other letters of the title), eventually read through it, and wound up facing the wry question "when will I ever learn?"

Many artists contributed to the anthology (with a lot of them using one-word apparent pen names), but as I went from one brief, not quite consequential character piece about the earnest team leader Ruby Rose to another I kept thinking there was a new sort of hard-to-explain awkwardness to the art. I suppose one set of "four-panel strips" late in the book did look better to me, and looking back as I write this I might be a little more charitable towards some of the pieces, able to pick out a few action pieces as well. Too, with the pieces being set in the first plot arc of the series there was something to the occasional appearances of the characters who didn't make it past the end of that arc to demonstrate there were consequences after all to the story.

I suppose I've already seen enough proof of RWBY attracting some attention on the other side of the Pacific, a counter perhaps to the possibility of it being "neither fish nor fowl," appealing to those over here who might not know any better. If I do happen to see another volume of the anthology at the bookstore, I'll look into it rather than judging it by its cover.