RWBY is a web series that has managed to secure a surprising measure of popularity. In short, it is centered on super-powered fighters called Huntsmen and Huntresses who protect civilization from hostile creatures called the Grimm. There are people who get into arguments about whether RWBY can count as an anime or not, but whatever the truth of that, there can be no doubt about the fact that it is anime-influenced. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about RWBY:
1. Created By Monty Oum
RWBY was created by a man named Monty Oum. In short, Oum was a web animator who was best-known for creating animated fight scenes between characters from different video game series. As a result, there were a lot of people who became interested in RWBY because of the promise of pleasing fight scenes.
2. Continued In Spite of Creator’s Death
Unfortunately, Oum died in February of 2015 because he suffered a serious allergic reaction when he was getting a medical procedure done. For a time, there was some doubt about the future of RWBY. However, it turned out that there were enough people with enough interest to see it continue on in spite of Oum’s loss.
3. Started Out with Four Trailers
The people behind RWBY managed to generate a fair amount of interest in RWBY by releasing four trailers focused on the four main characters. Said trailers didn’t feature a great deal of dialogue. For that matter, most of them didn’t feature that much plot. Instead, what made them interest was perhaps unsurprisingly, their fight scenes.
4. Fairy Tales Used as Loose Sources of Inspiration for Four Main Characters
Speaking of which, the four main characters are based on the four fairy tales of Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. However, the connection is more or less limited to the looks of the characters, meaning that it isn’t particularly strong.
5. Deuteragonist Team Based on Famous Crossdressers
On a related note, while the four main characters form a single team, there is a deuteragonist team as well. In their case, they are based on famous figures who cross-dressed at various points in time for various reasons. For those who are curious, the four figures are Joan of Arc, Achilles, Thor, and Hua Mulan.
6. Setting Has Two Species
The setting of RWBY has two species. One would be humans, whereas the other would be what the series calls the Faunus. Essentially, the Faunus are catgirls as well as a wide range of other people with various animal attributes. With that said, since humans and the Faunus have no issues having children with one another, calling them separate species might be a bit too much.
7. Racism Isn’t Handled Well
Racism is an issue that comes up in RWBY. Unfortunately, it isn’t handled well to say the least. For example, much is said about the poor treatment of the Faunus in the earlier seasons, but there is very showing to go along with the telling. Combined with the series’s extensive use of a former Faunus rights group gone violent as antagonists in the earlier seasons, this makes for rather questionable storytelling in this regard.
8. Has Resulted in Spinoffs
Regardless, RWBY has proven to be popular enough to inspire spin-offs. For example, there is a more comedic web-series called RWBY Chibi. Likewise, there is a game called RWBY: Grimm Eclipse.
9. Has Become Somewhat Popular in Japan
For various reasons, RWBY has managed to secure a measure of popularity in Japan. This can be seen in how it has a Japanese manga. Furthermore, this can be seen in how its Japanese dub had a number of well-known voice actresses involved in the project.
10. Has Been Featured in an Arc System Works Game
On a related note, RWBY has proven to be popular enough in Japan for its characters to have been featured in an Arc System Works game called Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle alongside various characters from various series. Arc System Works should be relatively well-known to fighting game fans, seeing as how it is responsible for both Blazblue and Guilty Gear.
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