RWBY has been an amazing journey so far, from its classic beginnings (Seasons 1-3), through to the mixed received middle era (Seasons 4-6). Now, I have reached the final seasons... well as of yet, many are still to come. From what I am able to gather, 7-9 seems to be the least talked about era compared to the others, and I'm not quite sure the reason.
The only explanation I could maybe come up with is that people either find these last few seasons forgettable, or that there's not so much to talk about... but man do I have a lot to talk about when it comes to Volume 7. Seeing as I knew I was reaching RWBY's 3rd era, I wasn't sure what to expect.
I barley have found many reviews when it comes to Volume 7, let alone many people even talking about it in general. In fact, as unpopular Volumes 8-9 are to the fandom, they're at least talked about for a variety of different reasons, whereas Volume 7 sort of just... exists. And after giving it a watch... I have to say that this is probably the definitive example of the term "slow burn".
Quickly, I must get one thing out of the way which is somewhat upsetting... this is probably the worst soundtrack in RWBY... and yet its still incredible! By no means is it anywhere near the level of Volume 4 or 1's soundtrack, but it's so worth the listen. The first half of the lyrical songs are very... strange, and are mainly jazz-like or upbeat music you wouldn't expect from something as angry and metal as RWBY.
With that said, the second half carries a lot of that Volume 6 energy, where everything feels so passive aggressive, where all the characters are tired of playing games! It stands out the most in fight scenes as well, I couldn't help but notice the strange shift in instruments and tone in the second half of the soundtrack compared to the first...
And that's the best way I can explain its volume... having a pretty standard and middle-ground first half, yet having a second half so incredible that the entire thing is worth it... but that's also not exactly a great thing. The second half of this Volume absolutely blew my mind and took my breath away... but its such a shame that the first 6 episodes aren't at that same level.
Right away, I must bring up the fact that the main problem I have with this Volume in its first few episodes is that it doesn't know where it wants to go. It almost feels as though they knew where to take the last few episodes, but lost track with how pacing and character development should work. What I find so fun about RWBY is its ability to cleanly switch from one scene to another so smoothly while connecting the dots all together whilst doing so... that wasn't what was happening during the first few episodes.
The episodes struggled to find which characters it wanted to focus on, what the intentions were, which unfortunately, lead to a lot of filler. The reasoning behind having this con may be due to the addition of several new characters. Without spoiling, brand new characters as well as surprising guests from previous seasons make a comeback, which only has the story anxiously put pieces together to hopefully form a story.
It doesn't come off too horribly, and I would be lying if I said it was downright terrible, but I won't lie when I say the first half of Volume 7 was probably some of the most dull episodes of RWBY... which kind of hurts. These episodes weren't bad, but I would struggle to sit through all of them again if I were to rewatch this season... which as shocking as this may sound due to my rant, I probably will do.
This is because these last episodes of the Volume carry some of the greatest episodes I have ever seen in not only RWBY, but in any show I have seen in my life. The episode titled "Gravity" still stands as the third best episode I have ever seen in the show (with the first two best being the last 2 episodes of Volume 3). Even the next episode after, "With Friends like these" is a potential Top 10 episode of the show, that's how amazing this second half was.
The fights during this half felt so ferocious, like everyone hated each other and wanted nothing more than to slit each other's throats. And best of all, the pacing didn't feel anywhere close to boring now that the new and returning characters finally added something to the plots structure. The whole time while watching, I knew that these new characters were definitely important, it was just hard to tell when they would really shine, which eventually takes awhile to happen.
Again, no spoilers at all, bit some of the plot twists also had me in shock and experience similar emotions the whole cast of characters felt in these scenarios. These situations finally meant something; this second half should probably go down as the most important part of the Pre-Volume 3 period.
With all this in mind, it should be clear that this is so far RWBY's... strangest Volume. The first hour or so sadly feels like a chore, which is something I have never felt before when watching RWBY, and heck, there's only 2 episodes in this whole Volume that surpass the 8/10 mark on IMDb (arguably, Gravity being an 8.7).
But I can't promise enough that every second is entirely worth it, because I don't know if I can speak for many RWBY fans, but the final 3 episodes will be some of the most groundbreaking, cinematic, and astonishing episodes of RWBY you will ever watch, which is insane considering this is much past the classic era (that era featuring some of the greatest episodes of all time).
It was a super tough decision, but I think I would go as far as to rank this slightly above Volume 1. Sure, I understand that Volume is iconic and brings some of the most snappy and well-known dialogue in the whole show, but I'm still so taken aback by how the last few episodes decided to slap me in the face with bewilderment at first, I still cant believe how much I enjoyed those episodes.
Everyone is right when it comes to this Volume being forgetful, I can completely see that. The first half struggles so much on what it wants to be and has trouble finding its identity... but after slowly piecing the puzzle together, it ends up producing some of the most magical episodes I have ever watched in any show in my life. And for that, I could never find myself to find it truly unmemorable.
