Episode Two: The Shining Beacon
Okay, if I had one complaint about the first season of RWBY, it would have to be the short length of each episode. It feels like longer episodes have been cut in two or three parts. Anyway, the story is advanced only a little ways in this episode. Ruby and her big half-sister Yang arrive at Beacon Academy among the new class of silhouetted extras, and Ruby gets all jumpy about all the cool weapons everyone has, briefly transforming into a chibi-styled cartoon and has to be dragged into reality by Yang. Here Ruby expresses her trouble with people and making friends, finding it awkward and difficult. I can relate to that.
Ruby would prefer to stick with who she knows, which basically consists of herself and Yang. Too bad Yang suddenly has to dash off to hang out with her clique of friends, who we never actually meet or see in person beyond silhouettes. Yang does openly tells Ruby to break out of her shell, so maybe she did it to give her sister some growth space, though that wouldn’t explain the gang of extras she runs off with. The dizzy Ruby blunders her way into a pile of luggage, and faces the wrath of Weiss Schnee, who takes on the role as the stereotypical ice queen, though this time it is played a bit literally, since she is based on Snow White. She starts off very stuckup and bossy, but mellows out a bit over the next few episodes and becomes a better character, which was intentional.
Weiss chews Ruby out for being clumsy, despite Ruby’s attempts to apologise. Weiss then waves a bottle of the magic material Dust in her face, causing Ruby to sneeze and causing a magical explosion. Weiss continues to scream at Ruby in her own hands-on-hips way, only for a pretty girl wearing a hair bow Blake to walk over and give Weiss a verbal smackdown, pointing out the questionable aspects of her father’s Dust mining company. Weiss is lost for words and stomps off, leaving Ruby in her wake. Blake also wanders off too without even speaking to Ruby, leaving our poor lover of all things sharp and pointy in disarray. We shall see more of Weiss and Blake in the next episode.
Ruby finds new hope and a friend in the shape of Jaune Arc (voiced by show writer Miles Luna). Jaune is the character that represents the audience. He is by far the most normal of the characters, lacks any superpowers, has no real idea what he is doing, and wields a basic sword and shield as his weapons. The two become friends and spend the last couple of minutes of the episode chatting, swapping tales, comparing weapons, etc. Jaune goofs off and dances around some of Ruby’s questions, implying he might not be all that prepared as she is or even in to the whole hunter/huntress career path. As I said, Jaune is the most normal, realistic character. He is very much out of his depth, and provides a lot of comic relief in the series, but grows as a character. Probably the best out of all the cast.
Episode two mostly serves as an introductory episode for other major players in the series, with the next episode starting to explore character relationships and clashing egos. We also take a look at the future relationships that Ruby and Weiss have, as long as hinting the tension between Blake and Weiss.
Episode Three: The Shining Beacon, Part 2
The third episode continues straight on from the second, so a recap isn’t necessary. Ruby and her new friend Jaune wander into a hall where all the new students have gathered. Ruby leaves Jaune to have a go at Yang, who seems to have ditched the group of friends she ran off with. I do like the sisterly relationship between Ruby and Yang, who are both related via the same father. If you are wondering where their mothers are, it is established that Yang’s mother is dead and Ruby’s has been missing for years. Ruby rants about what happened with Weiss, who just happens to be standing right behind her.
The ground work between the main characters and their relationships are cemented in the episode – Ruby and Yang get on but have the occasional cat fight, Ruby is bugged by Yang treating her like a child even though she is the most immature of the two, and Weiss can’t seem to get along with anybody. Weiss as a character could best be described as a cross between Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy, with all the stuckup pomposity that comes with them. Thankfully, she mellows out a bit in later episodes, but for now she is Little Miss Know-It-All. Professor Ozpin gives a rather sombre and short speech to the new students, and they have to bunk in the hall for the night. Yeah, they aren’t given dorms to sleep in until they form into their four-man teams.
That night, at the big sleepover, Ruby writes a letter to her friends back at her old school while Yang checks out the boys (including Jaune in wacky pyjamas). Ruby is irked by Yang’s big sister routine, and her own inability to make friends easily, despite writing to her established friends from her first school at that very moment. I guess she dislikes being taken out of her comfort zone, which is going all fangirl around weapons and monster slaying. I can relate to that…going out of my comfort zone, not being nuts about weapons. Ruby spots Blake, the girl who stopped Weiss’ verbal tirade against Ruby in the previous episode, and Yang drags her over to speak to her.
The conversation is intentionally awkward, but does show the opposing worldly views that Ruby and Blake have – Ruby has naïve optimism that they can make the world a better place, and Blake is more grounded in reality and tells her that fairy tales are only fictional. Weiss comes over to shut them up, and the girls get into an argument until Blake gets fed up that her quiet reading has been disrupted and decides to leave Ruby, Weiss, and Yang to their fight. The episode introduces the rest of the main characters, and establishes everyone’s key or starter character traits. Looking at the first three episodes together, it does look like a first episode cut into three parts, and individually there is enough to keep people interested in the world. The plot will definitely pick up and kick off in the next few episodes.
Next time on the RWBY Rerun Reviews: Our heroes go for a merry stroll in the woods, teams are formed, and the monsters learn why you don’t mess with a girl’s hair the hard way.
