RWBY volume 9: The Breather
Apr. 25th, 2023 08:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerEven if “this imitation anime has led to the genuine, drawn-by-hand, produced-in-Japan article” wound up receding into the distance in a hurry, I was able to move on in a different way and start thinking “the actual story of RWBY is going to continue.” Even after so long I remained interested, if conscious of at least the possibility that “doing very little to see what anyone else is thinking of it” has helped that interest survive. It also helped there, of course, that it was continuing to be shown on Crunchyroll despite that streaming service having changed hands. I did delay starting the long-awaited ninth series for a while due to my anime year-by-year project, but as it turned out I didn’t finish it much behind other people.
Buying the Blu-Rays of this show as they’re released but never quite getting around to revisiting the story by watching them does weigh on me. It didn’t take that long with the new series, though, to get a clear sense of the four title characters still intact after being cast into a mysterious void as events had left off before but now stranded in a mysterious new world. Once they’d sorted out they were “in a story they knew,” I admit I did think a bit of Ice Queendom’s own “alternative world.” It’s possible in this case that by not starting in high gear to slow down later, I was more willing to just take things as they came. As well, the story having clear Lewis Carroll references (to go with the general fairy tale and Wizard of Oz nods that have been there for a long time) might have made this alternative world have a bit more character (and characters) and feel a bit less like a theatrical stage. At the same time, though, I did wonder a little whether picking out the “Alice” references amounted to one more case of “after a while, you’re less ‘watching something different’ as ‘noting elements you’ve already noted elsewhere before.’”
It’s possible my interest ticked up when another “unusual situation in this alternative world” led to one of the potential slash pairings among the title characters, which I understand have long had clever names (either taken from a battle sequence way back in the second series or around early enough to inspire knowing nods to the fans in that sequence), turned into what I, at least, was ready to suppose acknowledged reality. It surprised me how fine I was with that. I keep making a certain point of supposing that to expend too much effort in seeking evidence for slash pairings (or even mixed-sex “shipping”) is to lose sight of what’s actually available to you. Of course, there doesn’t seem a real contradiction to “when it’s no longer speculation, that’s satisfying in itself.” I do have to admit to then wondering if there was a trace of evidence to hand of something other than “the other two title characters get paired off and everyone lives happily ever after,” before remembering all my previous cautions.
From there the narrative did pick up some force, and I got to the point of watching two short episodes in a row to get through a cliffhanger, then watch the last extended episode the next day. There was some suggestion of “this ‘story within the story’ is in fact more real than the story world itself.” That even has me wondering if, in fact, instead of “stretching out the story after so long” this series will provide some measure of direction as how to conclude it. It’s possible that might not be the case, of course. I suppose it’s another matter of how long to wait until more of it shows up. Just in case there did happen to be one last scene, I watched through the lengthy credit roll. However, what showed up was a trailer for a “RWBY meets Justice League” video. I’m aware that crossover is corporately possible, but in this case I think I can do without seeing it.
Buying the Blu-Rays of this show as they’re released but never quite getting around to revisiting the story by watching them does weigh on me. It didn’t take that long with the new series, though, to get a clear sense of the four title characters still intact after being cast into a mysterious void as events had left off before but now stranded in a mysterious new world. Once they’d sorted out they were “in a story they knew,” I admit I did think a bit of Ice Queendom’s own “alternative world.” It’s possible in this case that by not starting in high gear to slow down later, I was more willing to just take things as they came. As well, the story having clear Lewis Carroll references (to go with the general fairy tale and Wizard of Oz nods that have been there for a long time) might have made this alternative world have a bit more character (and characters) and feel a bit less like a theatrical stage. At the same time, though, I did wonder a little whether picking out the “Alice” references amounted to one more case of “after a while, you’re less ‘watching something different’ as ‘noting elements you’ve already noted elsewhere before.’”
It’s possible my interest ticked up when another “unusual situation in this alternative world” led to one of the potential slash pairings among the title characters, which I understand have long had clever names (either taken from a battle sequence way back in the second series or around early enough to inspire knowing nods to the fans in that sequence), turned into what I, at least, was ready to suppose acknowledged reality. It surprised me how fine I was with that. I keep making a certain point of supposing that to expend too much effort in seeking evidence for slash pairings (or even mixed-sex “shipping”) is to lose sight of what’s actually available to you. Of course, there doesn’t seem a real contradiction to “when it’s no longer speculation, that’s satisfying in itself.” I do have to admit to then wondering if there was a trace of evidence to hand of something other than “the other two title characters get paired off and everyone lives happily ever after,” before remembering all my previous cautions.
From there the narrative did pick up some force, and I got to the point of watching two short episodes in a row to get through a cliffhanger, then watch the last extended episode the next day. There was some suggestion of “this ‘story within the story’ is in fact more real than the story world itself.” That even has me wondering if, in fact, instead of “stretching out the story after so long” this series will provide some measure of direction as how to conclude it. It’s possible that might not be the case, of course. I suppose it’s another matter of how long to wait until more of it shows up. Just in case there did happen to be one last scene, I watched through the lengthy credit roll. However, what showed up was a trailer for a “RWBY meets Justice League” video. I’m aware that crossover is corporately possible, but in this case I think I can do without seeing it.