RWBY volume 8: Darkest Just Before...?
Apr. 5th, 2021 08:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerWhen I saw a notice the eighth series of RWBY would be streaming on Crunchyroll I put that computer-animated show in my queue and started watching it. An instalment or two into it, though, I did happen to think that despite having been very careful for long months to not start watching any “new” anime until all its episodes are available on the chance of production breaking down again, I hadn’t applied that same caution to the merely “anime-esque” series. Rooster Teeth being based in Austin, Texas seemed to raise its own concerns. As it turned out new episodes stopped appearing for some weeks; then, though, they picked up again. After getting to the episode with an extended end credit roll I concluded I’d reached the end of this series, and started getting my thoughts in order.
One of the things I’m most conscious of is a reluctance to seek out the reactions of others. The series has been showing up for a good number of years now, and I have the unfortunate suspicion that as with other long-running serials there’s a great deal of indignation to be found over how things have or haven’t turned out. Whether through “low standards” or anything else I have kept up my own interest, but that might a matter of being insular enough to not seek out “(North) American-made animated (or not) series” through more domestic-focused channels to know what else I might be watching. Beyond that, too, I was conscious things kept going from bad to worse for the heroes of RWBY, and right now a less ominous story might be more welcome.
At the same time, though, there were some triumphs however temporary along the way, and where others have been scoffing at the action for years I found myself quite all right with the escalations. Those escalations, however, did end with a considerable “so where do they go from here?” cliffhanger. Some of the loss seems like it could be permanent; to assume all of it is would go in directions it’s easy enough to think would stretch concepts too far, leading to “we shouldn’t have been baited that far” brushoffs of what’s happened. Still, I’m not about to pack things up, and can at least hope this won’t be the end of things.
One of the things I’m most conscious of is a reluctance to seek out the reactions of others. The series has been showing up for a good number of years now, and I have the unfortunate suspicion that as with other long-running serials there’s a great deal of indignation to be found over how things have or haven’t turned out. Whether through “low standards” or anything else I have kept up my own interest, but that might a matter of being insular enough to not seek out “(North) American-made animated (or not) series” through more domestic-focused channels to know what else I might be watching. Beyond that, too, I was conscious things kept going from bad to worse for the heroes of RWBY, and right now a less ominous story might be more welcome.
At the same time, though, there were some triumphs however temporary along the way, and where others have been scoffing at the action for years I found myself quite all right with the escalations. Those escalations, however, did end with a considerable “so where do they go from here?” cliffhanger. Some of the loss seems like it could be permanent; to assume all of it is would go in directions it’s easy enough to think would stretch concepts too far, leading to “we shouldn’t have been baited that far” brushoffs of what’s happened. Still, I’m not about to pack things up, and can at least hope this won’t be the end of things.