RWBY Volume Two
Volume 2 of RWBY, Mirror, Mirror premiered on July 24th, 2014. Ask the fans, and they would say the anime took everything from season 1 and made it better, and we couldn’t agree more. Volume 1 was quirky, original, and it had some memorable characters. By the time volume one was over, I was begging for more.
RWBY is set in the world of Remnant, which is plagued by evil monsters known as Grimm. Professional monster slayers known as Huntsmen or Huntresses fight the Grimm and keep the world safe. I hope your memory has refreshed by now…
Our heroes enroll in the Beacon Academy to train as Hunters. They are divided into four teams: immature front-runner: Ruby Rose, haughty heiress: Weiss Schnee, quiet one: Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long, Ruby’s sister. After their battle with Torchwick and the White Fang in the last volume, Team RWBY prepares to return to class and everyday life.
Character Development
The tale is continued in this season, with school drama mixed in with the mysterious actions of the series' evil characters. The 2nd season revolves around Team RWBY's ongoing investigation into Torchwick's operations, as well as a school dance and the characters' individual problems and relationships. As usual, Blake is dealing with her past and is concerned about what the bad guys are up to, separating herself from her teammates until Yang gives her a heartfelt pep talk and reveals that she is searching for her own missing mother.
Weiss' personal problems are put on hold, but she finds herself embroiled in her own love triangle when drawn to the handsome Neptune. He is Blake's buddy Sun Wukong's partner. On the other hand, Ruby is the one who does the most of the action-based heavy lifting. Ruby is one of my favorite characters. However, she doesn't get much of a plot arc; she’s mature enough to take the battle seriously and compassionate enough to help other characters without being naive to the point of ignorance.
Team JNPR receives some screen time too. There is a love triangle between Weiss, Jaune Arch, and Pyrrha Kinoks. Another interesting character is Penny, a quirky, awkward girl Team RWBY encountered at the end of the first volume, who returns to complete a foreseeable but nonetheless well-written twist.
Team Strategy
Following the Great Food War and a particularly intense board game, Ruby and her friends finally face the enemy and create a strategy to probe White Fang's operations. The squad ends up in the deep end; thanks to a combination of planning and serendipity, a very epic robot combat unfolds.
The action sequences are once again brilliantly orchestrated. It’s also fascinating to see the team split up and take a more reserved approach. It also reveals how the characters' pasts influence their actions, implying the difficulties each member of Team RWBY has faced.
Much to Yang's displeasure, their plan includes Yang's underground connections, Blake's knowledge of the White Fang, and even Weiss' family. Ruby appears to be a tagalong at; first, she too branches out when an old acquaintance returns and proves that, while they are a formidable team, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang are the strong ones.
Better Pacing
One of my major complaints about the first volume was that certain episodes felt like they had nothing to do with each other, especially those that were only four or five minutes long. Thankfully, this was one of the first issues to be resolved in volume 2.
Volume 2's episodes are all at least 10 minutes long, which I believe is much better. I always felt like something was accomplished when the credits rolled, whether it was story advancement or character development.
It was a bit frustrating that our primary enemies engaged with the heroes in such a casual manner without the heroes realizing they were the bad guys. I get that the audience should only know as much as the heroes do, but here, I have more information than the heroes since I know who the villains are, which makes the heroes appear stupid in my view for not figuring things out. I'm sure the heroes aren't genuinely stupid, but that's how I feel.
The Team Chemistry
The fighting scenes are brilliant and entertaining. Even more striking is the fact that you get to see some of the fully-fledged Hunters starting to combat. Even when they battle as a team, these novice hunters reveal that they aren't all that. Their team fighting dynamics, on the other hand, are excellent.
The team didn't have good chemistry in the previous volume, but every interaction the team had in this one was pure gold. Everything from the serious parts, such as Yang informing Blake about her background, to the more simple scenes, such as the board game in the library, with Weiss transitioning from naïve rookie to maniacal supervillain to overly weeping and hugging an equally upset Ruby, was fantastic.
Abrupt Ending
The story's sole flaw is its sudden ending. The Vytal festival and the Combat Tournament are teased but never presented explicitly. Season 3 would undoubtedly deliver more on this front, but it was a little depressing to learn that the event had been postponed this time. Regardless of such flaws, no other show comes close to RWBY in terms of quality.
Summing Up
Volume 2 jumps right into the action, with no recap to ease us back into the plot. This is a good thing because Volume 2 has a lot of story to tell and no space for dead weight.
Hands down, the production is incredible, and the humor is top-notch. The soundtrack got me banging, and the animation gets better too.
The second volume of RWBY is better than the first. It's a lot of fun to watch, yet it's serious enough to be a compelling drama while fleshing out its extensive array of characters. Then there's Volume #3, which takes some bold and quite effective darker twists. What happens in volume 3, you ask? You can catch up to the story in my next review.
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RWBY Volume Two Official Trailer
