Disclaimer: This review is based on opinions and observations of the Lead Writer and Producer of this blog! Please respect her thoughts and feelings on what’s ahead and there may be spoilers!

Hello Shiquers and welcome back to Nerdy Shique Universe! Looks like I found something to write and that is the review on the latest season of RWBY! Yes, a season has come and gone and man it was quick for one too. Let’s see what I have to say!

Show: RWBY
Season: Volume 4

The Story So Far: So, it’s been months since the fall of Beacon and our heroes are now scattered. Weiss is at home in Atlas, Blake is heading home to get away from her friends, Yang is upset after losing her arm and Ruby is now traveling with the remaining team members of JNPR, Jean, Ren, and Nora to form the newer team RNGR in order to head for Mistral.

Things start to come together when the White Fang starts popping up again when Cinder returns with the Fall Maiden powers but has a hard time harnessing them due to what had Ruby done to her. Blake figures out that she wants to change the White Fang to a group that is not so sinister. Weiss ends up with family issues and feels that she doesn’t belong in the world of the rich and sets out on her own in hoping to reunite with the others. Yang gets a newer arm and heads out on her own after going through a life lessons with dad and Ruby encounters her uncle on the road and a new member of the White Fang who wants revenge on her for what she did to Cinder and even encounters a Grimm that shown up in Nora’s and Ren’s past that they still have nightmares about.

Thoughts: Oh man! Where to start? This season seems to have a lot of things since it did fill in the blanks after the end of Volume 3 and does show what had happened to the rest of Team RWBY. I found interesting, even though it did kind of annoyed Gondras with each episode, that they not only focus on one character for one episode but multiple characters as in it starts one person in one episode and then cuts to another which I can see it takes a George R. R. Marten idea when he wrote Song of Fire & Ice (in case if anyone is wondering, no I don’t catch up with the show, I just read the books and I do know what had happened with seasons 4 and 5 with how the story was taking a turn away from the books…soooo yeah!) What I mean by this is that in A Storm of Swords, Marten explained that time goes differently with hwhre the characters are as in it may be one week with one character and then a month later with another which I see it in this volume. As in, it is breakfast time with Weiss and her brother, Whitley one day and then it’s evening with Crow at a bar somewhere else. I did like that about this season and plus it gives us newer aspects of the adventure instead of doing one single character for every episode. I think the only character focused episodes wher where Blake went home to Minagery, when Crow tells them everything that is going on after Beacon fell, and when they told Ren’s and Nora’s back story since they were heading for their old village and how they came to be. I did like that back story episode the most since I did realize when I first watched the second episode Iad onward where I noticed Ren being a little off, I saw why he was after seeing what had happened in his past. Now I can see why he went to Beacon and same with Nora.

There was one part I wished they focused and that is a bit more on Cinder. When they cut back to her, Salem mentioned that she was scarred from what Ruby had done to her and that is causing her newer powers to cause her not to harness them. I wished that was shown a bit more and how she was suffering from the pain and finally getting to harness them. That would be an awesome episode or do one where the Fall powers inside of her are trying to fight her because they know they aren’t inside of Amber and should be in her or in Pira since she had one part of them in the end of Volume 3. That would’ve been a great character driven episode and would start incorporating the other maidens to see what had happen to Amber since at the beginning of the season that Spring is next. I am hoping by the next volume that they really start showing the other maidens. Another thing they should’ve shown was what was the deal with the visions of Pira we kept seeing in the first two episodes. I was wondering if that is a sign that she might not be dead or if she is telling them something about the powers? They didn’t really say much until Crow shown up to explain more things about the Fall maiden’s powers and how Pira chose to take the other part when Cinder had the first half. They should’ve done something more about those visions unless Rooster Teeth is waiting to put more ideas about that in Volume 5.

The Cast: The next thing I want to talk about is the cast! Of course they brought everyone back for the main cast but I kind of feel like Blake’s voice was a little off. I noticed how it went from low to high like someone has gone through a major voice change from kid to adult. I love Blake and her character design but I feel that the voice should’ve had a better recording and stick to what I loved back in the first three volumes.

I did like how they were starting to bring more anime actors as the season progressed. Vic Mignogna did return as Crow and Jessica Nigery arturned as Cinder but they brought in more for this season like J. Micaael Tatum as Weiss’ butler Clyne, Tara Platt as Blake’s mom, and the ones that surprised me the most were Kent Williams as Blake’s dad and Josh Grelle as Tierion. With Kent, I was hearing his voice and thinking, “I know that voice from somewhere!” That was when I searched on Google and was like “No way!” when it was frevealed. I almost thought it was John Burgmeier but I remember his Shigure Sohma voice is usually used, especially for Freed in Fairy Tail. Nope, it was Kent Willians since he was using more of his Akisami voice from Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple. I think what gave a subtle clue was how he told Sun, “I really hate you.” In one episode of the show. While Josh, on the other hand, I did not know it was him until Gondras saw his name in the very ending credits. This voice was new to hear for me since I am used to Josh doing more of the gentler characters like Kennichi and Arman but here he is a psycho. As in, a dude that ends being found out as a fawnness with a scorpion tail looking for blood.All I have to say is that Josh did an excellent job with the script he was handed and the character he had to portray. It normally takes a lot of skill to do something like that but with his voice acting background, he knows what he is doing even in screams.

Music: Now it’s time for the music in the series. Normally, we get a mix of metal and orchestraic music but this volume had more orchestra tracks to it. I hear more of the softer tones to this volume because this season had more of a dramatic tone to it even with all the dots being connected in each episode. We even hear music that is sinister to go with more of the parts that deal with the White Fang and enemies revealed which means the music was made to fit with the different tones and moods in every episode. The opening theme song for this volume, “Let’s Just Live,” fits with the season because it just says in its title and goes with the idea of how each character is going through their own conflicts in every episode. I find it funny how the other themes went from rockin’ in “This Will Be the Day” to alternative in “Time to Say Goodbye” and then to pure metal in “When It Falls.” This one seems to be more uplifting despite how deep and dark this volume became to be. I am wondering what they will be doing for the next volume’s soundtrack including the theme song.

Rating: 4.5 Pawprints Out of 5! I bet you are wondering why I took a half of a point off, I would say it’s due to some of the unanswered questions of why the visions of Pira and not focusing an episode on Cinder since I would love to know how she copes with things. Yes, they did kind of address but it felt a bit short in that during episode 11. I did like some of the other points taking place and I am hoping that Volume 5 would add the missing blanks such as in what is Whitley doing with this when he is acting so strange, then of course the kid with Ozpen in his head since Crow mentioned there were two parts to him and it was answered slightly. I hope that part gets addressed in the next volume. Plus, I kind of felt like the ending was a bit abrupt and that that there should’ve been more added to the season. Who knows how the next volume would be done, we have to wait until around September to find out.

That is about it! I know it was long but hey there is a lot to cover when it comes to RWBY. What is next? I think another book review may happen, so stay tuned!