RWBY Volume 1 is an introduction to the world of Remnant made by the team Rooster Teeth, whom are also known for works such as the Strangerhood, Red Vs Blue and the recent film Laser Team. The first Volume introduces us to the four main heroines of the story, Ruby Rose played by Lindsay Jones, Weiss Schnee played by Kara Eberle, Blake Belladonna played by Arryn Zech and Yang Xiao Long played by Barbara Dunkelman. The series was designed by the late Monty Oum who has a hand in creating both Volumes 1 and 2 of RWBY, also played the character Lie Ren in seasons 1 and 2.

(Minor Spoilers Ahead)

Story: We are first introduced to the young Ruby Rose who wields one of the most dangerous weapons, the Scythe known as Crescent Rose which can also turn into a rifle stopping a band of baddies from robbing a local business and taking all the Dust, which is the magical energies of their world from this poor business. Ruby is encountered by the Teacher Glynda Goodwitch whom is played by Kathleen Zulech and she is brought to see the headmaster of Beacon Academy Professor Ozpin who is played by Shannon Mccormick, deciding to take ruby into his school to help her become a better huntress. When on the way she meets up with her half sister, Yang Xiao Long, whom have not seen each other in a long time.

During their escapades in Beacon they meet up with eventual friends, Weiss Schnee, the heiress of the schnee empire and Blake Belladonna who is a mysterious young raven haired girl who happens to like reading a lot. Once these four find themselves becoming a team midway through the season they are eventually able to bond and form relationships of friendship between one another. Each one of them has hidden talents they display throughout the season giving more depth and insight into each one of their histories including Blake whom has hidden a secret for a reason since coming to the school.

The story is one of the most interesting pieces I have seen come out of a animation like this, the world is constantly fleshed out, the character depth is one of the most top notch things I have seen in a long time. You’ll find yourself having your jaw on the floor due to the sheer quality of each of the areas of the world, as well as the gritty atmosphere the bad guys usually reside in. A solid 8.5 out of 10 here for the story, it’s well done, could have some better finishing touches to it, otherwise solid.

Visuals: The visuals for a handmade animation project like this are rather interesting, you have bright colors being displayed on screen. The monsters displayed all have very dark themes to them giving more of a realistic feel, with each monster having it’s own personalized design much like the characters of the series. Each animation in each episode is customized to the episode so we never see the same animation more then once, giving each episode a unique flavor of the week as it were.

During most of the episodes, attacks and other magic used in this series has it’s own designs, including each weapon which the girls possess as the hard work of these weapon designs and attacks show rather well for a series which was mostly designed on computer. If you look close enough during each episode you can see a rather distinct but detailed focus on the character design of even the bad guys of the series which is a nice touch for a series like this. Animation wise I have to give this a 9 because this caliber of animation is only seen once in a blue moon for anime of this caliber.

Audio: A series like this bringing quality voice acting to the table is a rarity, you have a established cast from Rooster Teeth bringing in brand new voice actors/actresses to do the job correctly for Season 1, though a very few lines seem to have that minor issue of not being fluid but that’s alright considering the quality we are dealing with here. Musical scores also include very good sounds to them as well during specific moments of Volume 1, including the midway point.  There isn’t much more to state about this except it seems when it comes to audio quality, Rooster Teeth really loves to make their audio quality the top notch possible, even with the star studded cast they usually present. Audio gets a 8.75 here, top notch rooster teeth levels for sure.

Overall: I have to admit for a 1st season of a brand new series, it has done well to ensure that RWBY will not be one of the forgotten works of the late Mr Oum, much like his previous works Dead Fantasy and having helped worked on Seasons 8 and beyond of Red vs Blue. It is a good series, if you want to watch it for yourselves, it’s on Youtube, DVD, Blu Ray and even on their site. I have to give RWBY Volume 1 a stunning 9 out of 10 because the first time I watched it, it blew me away.

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