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EP. REVIEW: RWBY: Ice Queendom


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L'Imperatore



Joined: 24 Mar 2014
Posts: 936
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 10:34 am Reply with quote
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...especially considering how popular the series supposedly is in Japan.

Is it still now? Then again, maybe Queendom is made exactly because it is. No idea there's quite a loyal fandom there. Monty would be proud.
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whiskeyii



Joined: 29 May 2013
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 8:32 pm Reply with quote
According to a Japanese fan who posted on the English subreddit using Google Translate, yes, it actually still is. It's just that the lack of any available translation (which stopped after Vol 5 and only picked up recently) basically stymied fans. Apparently there was a fansub that blew up for one of the episodes in the later Volumes, so there's clearly a fanbase for it, they're just running into the language barrier.

Also, I seem to recall reading in an interview that the writers came up with the initial IQ story first and then had to backtrack how to retrofit it into canon, so if this less-than-elegant solution is what we have to sacrifice to get to the meat of the story, I'm pretty okay with that (and really, three weeks of what's basically a recap is a lot to ask of an audience imo.)
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 9:13 pm Reply with quote
Normally three weeks of recap with slight alterations would be an issue, but considering what RWBY Volume 1 looked like, the novelty of the characters and scenes from that volume being done in proper 2D animation was in itself a selling point.
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1dbad



Joined: 12 Jul 2015
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 22, 2022 7:55 pm Reply with quote
Enjoyed the first episode but episode 2 and 3 didn't work as well for me. But I feel like it's going to pick up now that we're moving onto the anime original storyline. I honestly wish they had just started with that to begin with.
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dm
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Joined: 24 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2022 10:57 am Reply with quote
Don't forget the role her sister Winter plays in Weiss's mind.

I think part of what we're seeing is Weiss under the influence of the Grimm inhabiting her mind, emphasizing all that is negative about her and her feelings about her family and life. Don't forget that she's turned her back on membership in the Dust oligarchy to become a huntress.

I probably should have skipped the 3-episode compilation and watched as the episodes were released weekly. Or maybe they made the "in medias res" in episode four as a special poke at people' s memories --- "hah! we'll produce an episode that will convince you that you've missed episodes in the last few weeks!"

The dream-visuals and dream-logic of this episode were pretty good: "Oh yeah, Shaft."

The title of the series --- Ice Queendom --- has made me wonder if it would be a Weiss-focussed series since it was announced. Now I am wondering if the hope is that we'll have four such series, exploring each of the psyches of the main characters.

I think a lot will hinge on how they resolve this situation they've set up.
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whiskeyii



Joined: 29 May 2013
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2022 6:47 pm Reply with quote
I felt like the Sillies’ Jail was relatively harmless, at least from what we’ve seen so far. It’s not manned by Grumpy Klein, but by Dopey, who doesn’t even know what will happen if the “dummies” are sent out into the world. To me that kinda suggests that Weiss feels like “dummies” don’t have a place in her world, but that they just need to be put in some out the way spot, where they can’t really impact anything.

What I’m really curious about is if they’re going to go with the “love and hate are two sides of the same coin” route with Blake to explain why she’s able to insert herself into Weiss’ dream world even as Weiss remains conflicted about the Faunus and the White Fang.
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Spike Terra
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Joined: 21 Mar 2016
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2022 11:42 am Reply with quote
So I am a very casual fan of RWBY, I wait like years before binging the recent seasons. I think the last season I watched was 7 but I could be wrong. So I was really surprised with how much I am digging Ice Queendom as a whole. For me, the last two episodes have been the best character work I have ever seen from this franchise as a whole. Now I can't wait for the next episode, where the gang confronts "the concept of racism !?"
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darkchibi07



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2022 12:27 pm Reply with quote
Having Pyrrha sing a melancholy version of Mirror, Mirror which was played during Weiss' introduction trailer which makes it a dang good fanservice as well as a neat character insight for Weiss.

dm wrote:


The title of the series --- Ice Queendom --- has made me wonder if it would be a Weiss-focussed series since it was announced. Now I am wondering if the hope is that we'll have four such series, exploring each of the psyches of the main characters.

I think a lot will hinge on how they resolve this situation they've set up.


I do wonder how the story is going to be stretched throughout the series if it seems like the main characters will mostly be in Weiss' mind. Will there be more layers in the mind the girls will have to travel to a.k.a Inception? Part of me hopes they could get Gekidan Inu Curry involved later on to really show Weiss' f---ed up moments.
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Thesarum
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 03, 2022 2:39 pm Reply with quote
AJ wrote:
However, Blake didn't seem to replace anybody, which led the team to believe that Blake isn't present within Weiss's mind. I'm not too sure about that theory, considering how Weiss seemed the most concerned about Blake being in her imaginary town.


I'd always assumed the "woman in black garments" which gets repetitively discussed at the daily management team meetings was Blake? The one Weiss can't get out of her mind? I'm not sure what even gave the team the impression Blake didn't replace her dream-self. I think they're just assuming there would be no place for her in it?

Clearly understanding Weiss and her trauma is key to dealing with the nightmare (something that has been implied I think, but not stressed by the teachers as much as I think they ought to?). The group are a long way from that at the moment. Blake perhaps seems to understand it best? Certainly not Ruby, whose naivety is an active hinderance.
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 12, 2022 6:15 am Reply with quote
I'm not surprised Jaune is going in. I'm surprised that only Jaune is going in. It was established that anyone who had a dream version could enter and the entirety of JNPR exists in the dream. I figured the entire team would go in.

I'm a RWBY n00b and Ice Queendom is my first real exposure to it. I certainly knew of it by reputation and unfortunately that reputation isn't great, in particular how toxic the fandom can be. Didn't want to dive into that particular rabbit hole. But Ice Queendom is actually really good (once it stopped rushing the recapp) so I did read up on events and such of the main show as well as watching clips.

I was unaware that at this point of the series Jaune has a crush on Weiss. That's sure to make things interesting now that he's literally gone inside her head.
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Thesarum
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Joined: 25 Mar 2022
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2022 5:27 pm Reply with quote
The sign running gag that nobody gets it's blatantly obvious meaning. They all think it's a useless sign that tells them nothing when it tells them everything right there at the start of the dream.

Defending the train was a good idea (since they each contributed something to the plan, whose idea was that?) though they squandered it a bit by letting the little Weisses out. It's important to acknowledge your inner child, but it's rarely a good idea to put them in charge. Weiss clearly never going to react well to having that side of her exposed... it's part of the key to saving her perhaps, but she was always going to violently push back against it and the team (RYBJ I guess?) has lost of bunch of momentum as a result.

Dream Pyrrha as devoted to Jaune as the real one. He's sweet enough, but not especially interesting?
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dm
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Joined: 24 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 21, 2022 9:57 pm Reply with quote
They're getting a stellar collection of artists doing end-cards --- or, at least artists that are in my wheelhouse: Okama, Hajime Ueda, Kei Toume, Range Murata, and now Yoshitoshi Abe.
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Hypeathon



Joined: 12 Aug 2010
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2022 12:19 am Reply with quote
dm wrote:
They're getting a stellar collection of artists doing end-cards --- or, at least artists that are in my wheelhouse: Okama, Hajime Ueda, Kei Toume, Range Murata, and now Yoshitoshi Abe.


All of these artists have already contributed illustrations for RWBY before on the same year the Japanese dub was first announced.
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dm
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Joined: 24 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2022 9:41 pm Reply with quote
Hypeathon wrote:
dm wrote:
They're getting a stellar collection of artists doing end-cards --- or, at least artists that are in my wheelhouse: Okama, Hajime Ueda, Kei Toume, Range Murata, and now Yoshitoshi Abe.


All of these artists have already contributed illustrations for RWBY before on the same year the Japanese dub was first announced.


Oh, thanks. I'd been looking for something to pad out my Mandarake order....
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13240
PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2022 9:06 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Plus, since most of what everyone has on hand is stuff that Weiss manifests in the dream, is that sword something specific to Jaune's abilities or is it something that Weiss came up with? I hope it gets explained.


It's actually explained in his character bio on the website lol. Both the sword and the cloak are manifestations of his immunity that he can share with others. Notice how Yang is wearing his cloak.

As for Blake, her plan might be to embrace Wiess' view of the White Fang for the sake of a power up. Wiess does seem them as a scary powerful threat and now Blake embodies that.
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