RWBY: Shine

Back into the World of Remnant and 'RWBY', so lets go on with the recap portions. To make things all organized and such, I'll be splitting up each volume of 'RWBY' in between, so you'll actually be getting multiple posts throughout the weekend. It also helps to see how things will change from one to another moving on.

With that said, let's start from Volume 1 and the first 16 episodes.

Starting with 'Ruby Rose', it starts with a bit of background of the show, how humans and Grimm fought and the usage of Dust to make civilization. There is also a dialogue between two voices, one male and female. The female voice talks about how victory cannot be won simply by strength, while the male voice talks about how they must rely on hope to bring them through as well.

The scene transitions to a Dust shop being robbed by a group of goons, being lead by one Roman Torchwick.

(who kind of reminds me of that one kid from Pinocchio with the red hair and cigar smoking)

However, they also end up in the one Dust shop with our main character, Ruby Rose. She makes quick work of the goons, forcing Roman to flee with the help of an airship and mysterious girl in glass slippers. With the surprise arrival of Glynda Goodwitch, Ruby manages to survive as the villains flee. While Ruby gushes over meeting a real-life huntress, Glynda spends a bit berating her for the unnecessary risks she took. Both quickly get quite with the arrival of Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy.

(Come to the hunter's side. We have cookies)

A discussion breaks out between Ozpin and Ruby, talking about the latter has silver eyes, been trained by an experience hunter of an uncle at Signal (sort of a transition school into Beacon) and being offered a chance to jump ahead a few grades to get into Beacon. Ruby accepts, quickly transitioning to getting hugged by her sister Yang, who is excited to be joined by her little sister in the academy. As they travel by airship, they watch news of a recent attack by the 'White Fang' group on a Dust complex and seeing future friend and ally Jaune throwing up in the corner.

Continuing into the two parter 'The Shining Beacon', we are also introduced to Weiss (in a rather explosive fashion) and Blake (in a more subdued fashion). We also get a bit more into Jaune, showing that despite his status as a new arrival at Beacon Academy, he is still quite over his head. Ozpin later addresses the incoming students in a speech that they must be ready for what comes to them and the like. The two parter ends with the new students sleeping together in a large room (I guess they haven't been assigned rooms yet) as the rest of future-team RWBY get to try and know one another.

Onto the next two parter 'The First Step', which also introduces the rest of future-team JNPR as well. Nora and Ren are shown as close friends, with Pyrrha being introduced as one of the best Huntresses-in-training at Beacon. There is also clear interest from Pyrrha to Jaune, but the latter tries pining for Weiss while oblivious to the latter. 

We are also introduced to the 'entrance exam' of Beacon Academy: everyone will be launched into the woods by themselves. The first person they make eye contact with will be their partner for the rest of their time at Beacon. Afterwards, they'll need to acquire a certain tribute from a selection before meeting back. 

As the class gets spread out, pairings get formed rather quickly, with Ruby and Weiss quickly teaming together while Jaune meets with Pyrrha. The former clearly have differenting opinions about each other (Ruby likes the teamup but Weiss is unsure of it all), while the latter seem to get along just fine.

(A common statement regarding the JauneXPyrrha love angle)

In the next two parter (yeah, I'm already sick of typing it out, but we still got a few more to go) 'The Emerald Forest', the rest of the pairings are shown: Ren gets found by Nora (the former having beaten a large snake Grimm with his bare hands) while Yang is found by Blake. Weiss and Ruby still try to get along, while Pyrrha helps Jaune learn about his 'Aura'. Unfortunately, both of the latter groups ends up encountering larger than life Grimm of their own (a raven and scorpion Grimm respectively).

The second single episode of the volume, 'Players and Pieces', the future teams of RWBY and JNPR work together to take down the massive Grimm. The latter manages to take it down with its own stinger, while the former manages to decapitate the bird with Ruby's scythe. At the ceremony officially forming the teams, both Ruby and Jaune are made respective leaders of their own team (much to both's surprise, though given that the first letter of each team name denotes the leader, it kind of shouldn't be a surprise).

(So were these guys, but I'll get to them later)

The next two parter 'The Badge and the Burden' focuses a bit more on the Ruby/Weiss relationship (not what you think!). While Ruby tries giving Weiss some advice in one of their classes, Weiss mostly writes off Ruby as an unfit leader due to her maturity and lack of understanding in the position. Both get approached by teachers (Ozpin to Ruby, while Weiss meets with the teacher of said class, Professor Port). Ozpin discusses how important of a burden it is to be leader and advises Ruby to take the same care with said burden. Port calls Weiss out on her rude behavior, making her question of her attitude would truly fit in the role of leader? Eventually, the pair make up in the end of the episode pair.

The next two 'two part' episodes may as well be a four part episode revolving around Jaune Arc. Both 'Jaundice' and 'Forever Fall' deal with the fact that Jaune actually snuck into Beacon academy through false manuscripts. He wants to be a great Huntsman like the rest of his relatives, but still comes up short, Pyrrha tries to offer him help, but he turns it down on the belief that he needs to do it on his own. Unfortunately, after Pyrrha leaves, Jaune gets confronted by the resident bully Cardin Winchester (the guy with brown hair and a bird on his armor), who blackmails poor Jaune into doing his homework for him.

Eventually, during a field trip, Cardin and his team want to get back at Pyrrha for embarrassing Cardin before in a class. Jaune refuses to go through with the mean-spirited prank and tries to defend himself, but they end up attracting a large Ursa Grimm creature to their scuffle. While most of Cardin's group flee in fear, Jaune actually stand up to the Grimm and stops it from attacking Cardin. Eventually, with a little unknowing help from Pyrrha's magnetic 'semblance', Jaune manages to not only beat the Grimm, but also decapitate it and put the fear in Cardin that he won't be pushed down again by him or his team. At the end of the day, Jaune takes up Pyrrha's offer for the extra training, realizing that he still has a ways to go.

The final two episodes aren't really two parters, but it certainly feels that way to a degree. Dubbed 'Stray' and 'Black and White', they help set up some important foundation for the next volume and beyond.

Team RWBY end up taking a walk through the city of Vale, talking about an upcoming tournament with the neighboring kingdoms. It sort of sidetracks into a discussion about the 'White Fang' group, mostly between Wiess (whose family had suffered through their actions affect the Schnee Company) and Blake (who does her best to try and defend the 'White Fan' as the innocent party). Eventually, the group is introduced by two new characters: the monkey Faunus Sun Wukong and the strange but kind Penny (who first says hi to the team while on the ground). Despite the quick meetings, Weiss and Blake just won't give up on the 'White Fang' conversation. It eventually ends when Blake lets it out that she was once part of the gang and leaves to be by herself. She ends up being found by Sun and it is revealed here that she is actually a cat faunus.

(Its amazing what a simple bow can hide)

At the start of the next episode, Blake reveals that she was once part of the group back when it was a peaceful protest group. Unfortunately, with a new leadership installed years later, it became more violent towards the Faunus cause. Eventually, she left to become a Huntress to fight against evils like that instead. With Sun in tow, she hopes to stop whatever the 'White Fang' are trying to do in the city. The remaining members of team RWBY encounter Penny again as they try to look for Blake. While Weiss and Yang leave in one direction, Ruby teams up with Penny to try and find Blake themselves.

At night, Blake and Sun managed to find the 'White Fang' looking heavy cargo from a shipyard. To their surprise, a human is actually leading them- none other than Roman Torchwick himself from the first episode. Blake tries to intervene and make the 'White Fang' members see reason, but they remain undeterred. A fight breaks out as Sun and Blake fight off most of the 'White Fang' before taking it to Roman himself. Ruby and Penny arrive on the scene, though Ruby takes  a cheap shot from Roman when she was distracted. Upset over the hit of her new friend, Penny joins the fight by unleashing several blades on string from her back, taking down several White Fang members by herself (even taking down a few airships by charging up a laser!). 

In the end, the 'White Fang' is stopped, Roman retreats, Penny is taken away back to her 'father' while no one was paying attention, Blake and Weiss try to make up, and Sun makes friends with team RWBY. Elsewhere, Roman laments over the loss of cargo from the heist before being confronted by his boss: the glass slipper lady from the first episode, now known as Cinder.

(No surprise Roman isn't feeling too 'hot' right now)

And that is it for Volume 1. I'll have the Volume 2 recaps up by tomorrow.

Until next time...