RWBY [Blu-ray]

From the creators of smash hit Red vs. Blue comes RWBY, a visually-stunning and hotly anticipated new anime series. A young hero, an exalted heiress, a troubled rogue, and a party girl… These are the four members of RWBY, a team brought together and trained for the sole purpose of combating the rampant evils that plague the fantastic world of Remnant. RWBY (2013) is an anime-styled American web series from Rooster Teeth Studio; its title comes from the initials of the four main characters: Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang. Ruby Rose is an eager, weapon-wielding 15-year-old who's about to enter the Beacon Academy to train to become a huntress, a warrior who fights the evils that plague the world of Remnant. She's put on a team with three other standard-issue young women: spoiled, self-assured Weiss Schnee; intellectual Blake Belladonna, who hides a dark past; and enthusiastic, supportive Yang Xiao Long. The uneasy quartet and their friends from other teams are soon training to handle weapons, carry out missions, slay monsters, and function as a team. As RWBY was created for the web on an obviously limited budget, the animation and designs are minimal at best. Secondary characters appear as black silhouettes and important actions often take place off camera or behind a screen of dust. The episodes only last 16 minutes, including the opening and closing titles, which may be a more awkward length to direct than the standard half-hour. Sometimes too much action is crowded into too short a space; other episodes end before the story reaches a satisfactory conclusion. But the biggest problem with RWBY isn't the minimal animation or erratic storytelling, but an utter lack of originality. Although director-cowriter Monty Oum begins his commentary talking about "stories I always wanted to tell," he and cowriters Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross borrow pretty much everything from various anime shojo adventures, boarding school training series, and adventure quests, including Naruto and Fairy Tail. Like Avatar: The Last Airbender, RWBY was created by American artists trying to capture the excitement and appeal of Japanese animation--but with notably less success. (Not rated; suitable for ages 10 and older: cartoon violence, violence against women, tobacco use) --Charles Solomon