RWBY Volume 6 Chapter 1 Notes

• Still wish this episode was called “All Aboard!”
• Love the redesign of the website… but the player’s still a mess.
• BEHOLD THE NEXT GEN TREES.
• I love that we start on the fight scene then flash back to the station. Great way to start the volume.
• I live for Weiss skating on her glyphs. More of this please. Also HER LEGGINGS YES.
• The action is so much better this time around. The moves are slower and more deliberate, and it’s so much less floaty.
• “Why is it always something?” ME. I LOVE YOU, NORA.
• RENORA FOR LIFE.
• I really like Adam’s throne room scene. It’s ominous and damn the audio is vicious.
  • But he has his mask again? If you guys wanna hide his eyes without making even more retcons, then just hide his eyes with creative camera angles, jeez.
• Great way to recap the audience and explain what the cover story for Leo was in writing a letter to Ironwood. I still think Winter and maybe Ironwood will arrive by the finale and provide transport to Atlas, especially because they gave us the false flag for Winter in Volume 5 and they made official Volume 6 art for her.
• The colors are really popping this volume and I fucking love it.
• RUBY ACTUALLY REMEMBERS HER SEMBLANCE.
• Bless Weiss’ scarf.
• Ruby is precious and I adore her.
• Can anyone blame Nora for fantasizing about shirtless Ren? Like that’s all of us.
• Oh look - Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Fuck.
  • Douchebag Huntsmen freaking out passengers for cash. What a surprise. This probably helped in attracting the Grimm later.
• ILIA’S NEW OUTFIT. OH MY GOD. LOOK AT MY LESBIAN CHAMELEON DAUGHTER.
  • THE HUG. OH MY GOD MY HEART.
• Still not a fan on Blake’s exposition about Faunus opinions in Mistral, but it’s not terrible. I just wish we got to see people walking around talking about what happened, like “Oh I’m surprised the Faunus were actually trying to save us all.” Maybe a newcast or something.
• Oh look it’s Neptune. He looks kinda weird in Maya, but… eh. Also of course he’s hitting on Ilia. I wish we got Ilia threatening his life. (Push him in front of a train)
  • Still bitter his brief glimpse at character development from the Volume 2 dance has been undone so thoroughly. Poor Weiss. Then again, she deserves better.
• See, Sun was not pointless. He made Blake genuinely likable and an active protagonist in Volume 5. I’m sure we’ll see him again whenever we head to Vacuo.
  • I love the twist they did on the “Like Morning Follows Night” melody. Bless Jeff and Alex, those musical deities.
  • Okay but the “SSSSN v. NDGO” score gave me “New Challengers…” war flashbacks someone help.
• Okay we need to talk about the romance.
  • First, Sun says “It was never like that,” and they pulled the camera out on the goodbye kiss, which was only on the cheek. I love Black Sun and Sun himself, but I think this is a signal it’s not endgame.
  • But Blake fucking blushed trying to help Yang, and Ruby and Weiss were totally shipping it. We also got confirmation on more LGBT+ characters this volume. I’m just so happy we might actually get really good representation in such a huge show like this. Like… it feels like a dream.
• They acknowledged Qrow’s bad luck at long last. Bless. I just hope it’s actually important this volume. Actually, only Ruby and JNR know about this, and presumably Ozpin and therefore maybe Oscar. Someone wanna fill Yang, Blake, and Weiss in?
• I was a little disappointed in the Manticore, since it just looks like a larger version of the Sphinx, but given we’ve got the new Eldritch abomination Grimm in the intro, I think we’re fine.
  • Also, interesting the Sphinx now has stingers and the Manticore’s stinger actually has a face. I like the design tweaks.
• Alright but that guy’s arm (Dee or Dudley, I cannot remember for the life of me) should’ve been ripped clean off with the force of that tunnel. I get we wanna tay PG, but c’mon. Plus it would’ve been great to show Yang’s PTSD, and we could still have Jaune use his Semblance to close the wound.
  • Oh by the way I just found out that’s Dudley.
• Confirmation Jaune can amplify a Semblance. I now want a rose petal twister, an army of summons, and the bringing of Ragnarok.
• Of course Oz is still lying about everything. We all knew he was still hiding stuff, right?
  • But Yang and Weiss seem to be especially tense at this, and from the opening, it looks like Jaune will be too. But even Qrow wasn’t aware that the Relic attracted the Grimm. I hope this causes a rift in the group. I’m pretty sure Ruby only defended Ozpin because she’s worried about Oscar getting caught in the crossfire.
• I actually really like the plan Ruby came up with. A smart, strategic way to separate RWBY from JNR so RWBY can work on their returned dynamic.
• I’m loving this song. I’m pretty sure it’s called “Time and Time Again” (lyrics here). I tried transcribing the lyrics, but the second half especially is so hard to decipher. Jeff, Casey, I love your voices, but it’s so hard to understand you most of the time.
• Little Black Trailer reference with Blake’s visible trauma over Adam. I love it. Also Adam looks kinda creepy with that hood.
• The team attacks on the Manticore give me life, especially Weiss freezing off its wings and Ruby and Qrow dual scything it to shreds.
  • YES, WEISS, SAVE THEM ALL. GO, GIRL.
    • Also thank god she was smart enough to not try to summon here.
• I love nameless Grandma Katara already. I especially love her musical cue. She is my spirit animal.
  • I wonder - since she has skulls on her cane and necklace - if she’s a reference to someone from Mexican mythology or folklore, specifically revolving around the Day of the Dead. I don’t know, I just got major Coco vibes from her.