Season 4

RWBY is so delightful.

Today I finally managed to watch the last four episodes of Volume 4. This volume wasn't my favourite, I don't think it can be compared to the action of Volumes 2 and 3 (the latter in particular, as it took the series to such heights), but there were many remarkable things I would like to remark on.

First of all, there is a huge change in style - it was a surprise for me when I saw it in the character trailer before the volume premiered, as I didn't follow a lot of news about the show to avoid any sorts of spoilers. While it was a bit distracting early on until I got used to it, I think the show gains a lot from it, not only because of the more professional/artsy look I think it has, but also because I think this allowed them to go deeper with the characters when it comes to displaying personality and feelings. I also love the fact that rather than have this style from the beginning, the show started really simple and evolved with each volume, it makes me appreciate how much Monty Oum and the production team cared about the story and these characters before everything else, and now the production is far more valuable because of it.

As for the story, there was a dramatic change of pace compared to the previous volume, as we dealt mostly with the consequences of everything that happened before. I liked the idea of this and loved the "calm and simple" feel it generally had, though some of the episodes took this really slow, in particular the first half. However, and this is what I think is the real high point of this volume: there was such an enormous expansion of everything. We were introduced to new characters (many family members!), locations, mythos, backstory... if anything, I like RWBY even more now, seeing how gigantic it's really meant to be. I do believe there could have been a bit more content related with the evil group, Salem in particular, who remains a mystery... but well.

It's an interesting dynamic to see team RWBY scattered all over the world. The stories of Weiss, Blake and Yang felt more like a "teaser" of what's to come compared to Ruby's journey with Jaune, Ren, Nora and Qrow, which was a joy to watch. Another real highlight of this volume was Ren's backstory, it was so enjoyable to watch. It is tragic to see what happened to the village, but beautiful to see how his friendship with Nora began in the middle of that chaos and they've been together ever since. I thought it was an interesting choice dealing with his story towards the end of the volume, including the defeat of that dreadful Grimm.

I look forward to watching all these episodes again already and of course to watching Volume 5 when it comes out next fall. Also, I wish RWBY had some sort of spin-off while we wait (other than RWBY Chibi) - I feel like the world of the show is big enough to allow for it and it would be the perfect opportunity to keep expanding everything.