RWBY – Volume 3 Chapter 8
Dangit, these two…
This chapter feels like more of a continuation of chapter 6 than the previous one did. So I guess we can take last week’s as an interlude of sorts.
Still Friends?
A sharp blow from a close friend.
The chapter opens with the rest of team RWBY comforting Yang after she learns that she has been disqualified. They are for the most part supportive, reassuring my fears that the team might be fractured by the incident. However, there is one notable exception. Blake doesn’t immediately believe her partner, which comes as a rather strong blow to Yang. And the reason for this makes sense as Blake relates that she had previously experienced something similar as Adam (whom she does not name) started adopting increasingly violent and radical measures. Now, I do find it a little hard to believe that this is how one would realistically behave with a friend in need of emotional support. Blake’s actions come across as cold at best and forced (for the purpose of inserting the tale about Adam) at worst. But seeing as I was ready to believe that team RWBY might drift apart in chapter 6, I guess I can’t fully fault Blake for not placing blind faith in Yang here. In any case, I’d like to note one last thing from the emotionally charged exchange. Blake resolves to believe in Yang after the latter reaffirms her story while looking her in the eye. But Yang never did say that she regrets what she did. I’m sure Blake gave Yang a free pass on that one because she understood that pressing the matter any further would just cause things to blow up. But this provides some rather telling insight into Yang’s character. She may have struck Mercury in self-defense, but the fact remains that she injured him by all appearances. Yet, she won’t do so much as to say that she feels bad about it. This, especially when those words could help gain the trust of a close friend.
Unknown Mother
Nora can’t stomach the writing.
Next up we have yet more exposition courtesy of the ever-convenient Qrow. There’s never a moment that the show isn’t moving ahead when he’s on screen. This time, the uncle pays a visit to his “fire cracker” of a niece, mostly to help her get over the incident, when suddenly the discussion turns to Raven. This is yet another strangely forced shift in the conversation, which by all rights should have been something more like an intimate moment between family after a terrible accident. And I’m left wondering why the writing became so wooden and unnatural in this chapter when it had for the most part been fine up until now. Anyway, we learn from the conversation that Yang was actually aware of her mother’s appearance (but notably not her face) and weapon before seeing the old photograph of team STRQ in chapter 4. In hindsight, this should have been obvious as Yang had shown Junior what was probably a likeness of Raven in the yellow trailer. But I digress. What this means is that the stinger at the end of volume 2 is almost certainly a dream sequence as seen from Yang’s point of view. And she had that dream because she had just caught a fleeting glimpse of someone who matched the appearance of her mother from the photographs she’d seen. It would explain the uncanny facial resemblance between mother and daughter in the sequence, as Raven doesn’t look nearly as identical to Yang in the team STRQ photo. And it’s also in line with Qrow deliberately covering Raven’s face when he shows his nieces the photo. Though I’m not sure what keeping Yang from seeing her mother’s face is supposed to accomplish when she can see the rest of Raven.
Qrow decides it’s time.
Anyway, Qrow goes on to drop several bombs about his sister. Firstly, he says that she is dangerous and that she has an “interesting” way of looking at the world. Judging by her absence in her daughter’s life, the way she won’t talk to Yang directly (passing a message through Qrow instead), and her apparent general apathy for Yang’s well-being (in saying that Yang shouldn’t expect to be saved by her again), I can only conclude that Raven is the kind of person who prioritizes her work and mission before anything else. She’s up to something. What it is, we don’t know. But we do know that she won’t take any time off to see her family. And I suppose her words about not intending to show Yang the kindness of saving her life again could be interpreted to mean that she subscribes to a “survival of the strongest” or “cast one’s young into the lion’s den” mentality. It is exactly as Qrow says; Raven has a rather warped perspective compared to most people. And it would certainly be fascinating to learn how she came to be this way. Next, Qrow goes on to say that Raven has been keeping in touch with him when she sees fit. The question of why he’s never brought it up to his niece is brushed aside as waiting for the right time, but the real whopper here is that Qrow claims to now be in a position to help Yang find her mother. Oh boy, dis gon b gud.
Drama
Argh! Stop it!! (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Finally, we have a couple of miscellaneous items to wrap up with. There is tad bit of drama involving Jaune and Pyrrha (what else is new?). It basically boils down to Jaune saying all the wrong things (which normally would have been all the right things) in attempting to cheer up Pyrrha. I can’t really blame the poor fellow as Pyrrha was playing the tropes hard and heavy with her ambiguous statements and accidental use of force. But such is life in a teenage drama. Anyway, this rift between Jaune and Pyrrha might just well be the start of team JNPR’s unraveling as foreshadowed in the opening animation. Moving on, we catch a glimpse of what might be Velvet’s weapon, or at least a part of it. Apparently the rabbit faunus keeps a camera in that special box of her’s which we’ve been teased about since the finale of volume 2. I would hazard a guess that what she’s “building up” are the photographs she takes with said camera. But I’m not exactly sure how she’d use them in the way of a weapon.
The chapter leaves off with the announcement that Pyrrha and Penny are to face off in the next match of the tournament. Obviously this is the next big step in Cinder’s plan, as we already know she has her eyes on those two. I’ve previously guessed that the villainess might find a way to expose Penny’s identity as a robot. In that way, having Pyrrha, whose semblance allows her to manipulate metal, face off against her is a logical decision. That said, I’m not entirely sure if exposing Penny will really do all too much for Cinder. Sure, I can see the public reacting negatively against Ironwood as a result. But I don’t see it resulting in anything particularly drastic. So perhaps Cinder is after something else? In any case, we are given a particularly juicy cliffhanger to accompany the match announcement. Ruby starts to suspect foul play, when who should she run into but Mercury. Now, we know that the guy is a bit impatient and itches for action. But I don’t believe that he’s blown his cover because of this. More likely, he’s here on Cinder’s orders to capture Ruby for reasons unknown. After all, he’s now got Ruby in a position that any RWBY villain would dream of, without her weapon.
Caught off-guard.
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