PixlBit

Welcome back everyone for another week of RWBY Tuesday. Despite the long lines at the voting booth, I was able to cast my ballot for this year’s 2014 midterm elections. So no “Should I vote or should I get “insert game title here” questions for me this year.  Plus I was able to get back in time to see about continuing this write up feature. Now if I can finally get to finishing up my Top 11 Octoberween Game Titles for 2014. One thing at a time I guess. But for now let’s focus on the next episode of RWBY Volume 2. Last episode, being the first one of the Volume, started off strong but does it continue with its trend set back with Episode 1? Let’s find out with this youtube video embed of RWBY Volume 2, Episode 2 entitled “Welcome to Beacon.”
 

This episode starts off as we see more airships arriving at Beacon Acadamy. We get a sweeping, zoom in shot of the main clock tower of Beacon that houses Professor Ozpin’s office. Inside both he and Glynda comment over how General Ironwood seems to enjoy bringing his work with him with Glynda not approving of his show of military prowess. Ozpin sympathizes about Ironwood given how he has to run the military and a school, but admits that he finds the view an eyesore. Just then Ironwood comes into Ozpin’s office which causes Glynda to pay her respects and leave the two alone to chat. Ozpin shares his concern with Ironwood on his showing too much force in his arrival to Vale given how everyone is supposed to think that this is a time of peace. Ironwood doesn’t agree and hints at a possible issue coming about if “What Qrow says is true” to which Ozpin responds with words about a commitment of reserve toward the possible unspoken threat. Ironwood leaves Ozpin’s office but not before asking if he truly thinks “his children are prepared to fight a war.” Ozpin’s only answer being that he hopes they never have to.

The next scene has us a Beacon’s library where Team RWBY are in the process of playing a strategy card game, complete with board and set pieces. Ruby and Yang get into the game completey while Weiss is befuddled and Blake shows indifference. As Team RWBY play we also see Team Phantasy Star at their own table with Lie reading a book, Nora sleeping, Jaune reading a comic and Pyrrha actually studying but taking the time to switch books with Jaunce to his disappointment. Weiss admits not knowing what to do but Yang jumps in to help her realize her army’s potential in taking over all of Remnant. Weiss begins to revel in her machinations of world domination but is stopped short when Yang wipes out her armies in one turn. Weiss join’s Ruby in tears of defeat. Yang then informs Blake it’s her turn but Blake seems lost in thought than being involved with the board game in question. Jaune then comes along and asks if he can join to which Ruby says they already have two players. Weiss suggests he doesn’t have the ability to lead an army to which Jaune counters he’s sure he can handle her armies’ just fine. It’s at this point that he accidentally slips up and inadvertently let’s Blake know that Weiss has told all of Team Phantasy Star about her being a Faunus. Before things get out of hand, Monkey Boy shows up and greets all of Team RWBY by name expect for Weiss who he calls as “Ice Queen” making her ask out loud in why does everyone keep calling her that. Monkey Boy then introduces his old friend Neptune to the group where Weiss immediately takes a liking to him. Jaune isn’t able to believe what he’s sees as Neptune greets Weiss with the same pet name he gave her when they met, the only difference being that Weiss is flattered when Neptune speaks it. Monkey Boy comments that he didn’t take Blake to be the board game type. Blake brushes off the comment and excuses herself from the game to everyone’s confusion.

The next scene shows Blake sitting alone in Team RWBY’s dorm room as she recalls a meeting she had with Professor Ozpin after the events taking place during series finale of Volume 1. During their chat Ozpin let’s Blake know that he already knows that she is a Faunus and that she is indeed different from the rest given how she passed the Beacon exam without having been schooled in other fighting academies. He then asks her in how she knew the White Fang would be at the ship yard and if she knew of anything else involving this situation. She says she does not which leaves Ozpin content with her answers but offers a listening ear to Blake if she ever needs one. Her flashback ends as the rest of Team RWBY return from the library. Blake makes a move to leave but is stopped by Weiss saying that she’s been more distant than usual. She then demands of Blake to tell the team what’s wrong, reminder Blake of the promise she made to them at the end of the Volume 1 finale. This prompts Blake to vent her frustrations in how Team RWBY knows of the growing threat of the White Fang and Torchwich and is upset in how no one is doing anything about it. Yang tries to calm Blake down given how Ozpin told them not to worry but Blake is unmoved that something should be done since no one seems to be doing anything at all. This drives the group to decide that they should investigate on their own with a team vote, despite that Weiss points out that they might not exactly be ready besides from their previous exploits from Volume 1. But before they can begin to plan their next move, Ruby has to run back to the library for she forgot her board game. As she dashes out of the room and into the hallway, she accidently bumps into Emerald, Mercury and Cinder dressed and foreign students just arriving for the tournament. Though Ruby takes a moment to look at them, she doesn’t recognize Cinder as the woman she fought against back in the Volume 1 series premiere. The episode ends as Ruby directs them to their proper dorm and welcomes them to Beacon as Cinder similes deviously in an up close shot. Run end credits with RWBY fan art.

Upside

More spoken about the “looming threat”.

Though only touched on back in Volume 1, we finally get to hear more about this possible “looming threat” that soon all of the kingdoms may have to face. Though nothing exact is mentioned, Ozpin does say how it’s getting harder to travel between kingdoms suggestion that perhaps Grim attacks are on the rise.  Both Ironwood and Ozpin seem to also suggest that this “Qrow” might know more about what’s coming than what the general public seems to realize. That’s much more than what was mentioned back in Volume 1 so it’s good to see the overall narrative of world conflict slowly coming.

More character interaction within Team RWBY

We get to see more of how Team RWBY interacts with each other that doesn’t involve combat (of a sorts). We get to see them have fun with a card game and in how they deal with Blake and her issues. We are finally getting a chance to see the team dynamics of the group outside of basic combat and awkward social interactions. We even get a glance to see how they deal with other people who are not students from the school. They take well to Sun as well as his friend Neptune as well as with Team JNPR though things are still a bit catty between Weiss and Jaune. The best part out of this is seeing how Team RWBY comes together in trying to help Blake out with her issues in listening and in deciding what to do next. Even their quips between themselves is seen as playful and not condescending like with Weiss attacking her own army three turns ago along with Ruby not understanding the word “ne'er-do-well”.

More Sun/Neptune interaction.

Though brief we get to see more of their friendship that was introduced to us back in episode 1. You can tell that these two are to be their own personal “dynamic duo” in this narrative with Sun as the caring rogue and Neptune as the pretty show boy. They both complement each other well. It just makes me wonder how they’ll get along when they see some combat head their way.

Weiss

Originally we saw Weiss as the “Ice Queen” in the series but this time around we can see that she is making more of an effort to fight off that stigma. Though some may still consider her stuck given their first encounters with her (Sun being one of them) she shows to her team mates that she is trying to be more open minded after the events of Volume 1. Even her confrontation toward Blake and her issues is seen with a more light hearted approach, to the point where it’s almost comical as we see her trying to make dramatic poses when in fact she’s trying to balance herself on a chair. Even her scene of trying to put the chair back and regain some regal standing as a Schnee helps to soften her to the eyes of the viewer. Very well done.

Cinder and Co. infiltrate.

I didn’t see this one coming and I’m curious to see how this plays out. We know they are up to trouble and it just opens the possibilities of more White Fang/Torchwich interloping. Looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

 

Downside

Weiss you blabber mouth.

Why on earth would you tell Jaune that Blake is a faunus?!?! He didn’t need to know? I’m sure this was done to help others get in on the “secret” but you’d think after all the two had between themselves they’d try to keep some of that just between them. And it’s worse off that now Team JNPR knows.

Blake being a little “too distant”.

We already know that Blake is a bit of a loner given her charcter arch but does she have to be THIS distant given all that they’d been through thus far. I hope this isn’t something that’ll make her the odd one out like Weiss was during Volume 2. I know a team is only as strong as their weakest link but why does it have to flip flop between Weiss and Blake?

What was Team JNPR’s role in this episode again?

Though I’m sure added for comedic relief, they really didn’t serve much of a purpose. It was cute seeing them do what they do in this episode but in all honesty you could’ve just left them out and nothing would be lost in the narrative. It’s a bit of a change from last volume where we had focused episodes on specific teams. I’m on the fence if this is a good or bad thing but I felt they could’ve been used more effectively.

Odd Side

Ruby looks positively evil in this scene. Just LOOK at her?!?!?

Yang loves it when Blake is feisty?!?!?! Why do I get the feeling this is the birth of Yang/Blake Slash Fanfic?

Seriously! Are their school uniform skirts too short?!?! I’m all for short skirts but even the skirt on Emerald appears way to short than normal. And I’ve seen shorter skirts in person. Not that I’m an expert in such matters.  What? Stop looking at me like that. I mean it! Okay I’ll just stop talking.

As you can see there was a lot more upsides than downsides with this episode. It continues to build on what was created in episode one with a longer narrative, more fleshed out characters and slicker animation. Even the up close shots were done very well to convey the emotion of the characters. This is slowly making me forget the funk I got from the end of Volume 1. If Rooster Teeth can keep up with this kind of quality it would look like they may have learned their lessons from Volume 1. So far I’m still interested in seeing what happens next and I hope the rest of you are as well. Of courseepisode 3 is already posted on youtube, roosterteeth.com and crunchyroll so if you want to see exactly what the ladies of RWBY are up to in their personal investigations of Roman Torchwick I would not begrudge you in finding out. But until then I’ll leave it till next week to speak of Episode 3.

Ta-ta

“N”