



When chapter 3 of volume 6 first premiered, Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross both posted tweets expressing their thoughts, with the former stating, “it was one of the most complicated episodes CRWBY has ever made on every level.” That is the most apt way to describe the episode in terms of presentation and production: “complicated”. If we were to omit the opening theme and ending credits, this is technically the lengthiest episode in the show to date, beating out chapter 12 of volume 3. That of course means a lot was taken into account through every department in the show and there is quite a lot to unpack. With that said, where do we even begin?





I suppose the first and easiest way to start is with the script. Nailing down the exact strength and weaknesses between Miles and Kerry as writers is honestly hard to pin down for the same reason it’s hard to pin down who in the ending credits is responsible for providing storyboards of whichever parts of an episode. Confirmation is relatively scarce. There will be bits and pieces where Kerry and Miles casually state which scenes they did through blu-ray directors audio commentary tracks and live streams. For example, Jaune’s training scene at the forest in chapter 2 of volume 4 was written by Kerry while Qrow and Raven’s meeting at the Higanbana tavern was written by Miles. So sources are there, but it’s whether there’s enough of them to gauge a pattern that’s the problem.

With that said, fleshing out and presenting lore to the main cast are what both of them have admitted to finding the most challenging with writing RWBY. There are a few reasons for this, one major one being due to figuring out how much lore and backstory is too much. Both of them and Monty Oum learned that keeping the length of chapters similar to episodes of Red vs Blue did not ultimately fit RWBY’s scale of storytelling, which led to every episode of the show being at least 10 minutes since volume 2. However, that didn’t mean every episode of the show could be as lengthy as they wanted them to be. There are cases where in audio commentary tracks with Koen Wooten, the lead producer of volumes 3-5 of RWBY, they talked about needing to trim the script of episodes in some instances. One example is chapter 6 of volume 3 where the full story of the four maidens was instead reserved for the fourth World of Remnant episode of said-volume. This practice of taking a script and needing to cut it down is something that happens in productions of all shows at Rooster Teeth Animation and as Miles Luna stated through a thread of tweets once, there are certain factors to consider, including allowing time for DVD/blu-ray authoring.

Another factor as to why these lore/backstory heavy episodes are especially challenging is that they want to find the most engaging way to present them to their audience. It can be easy to fall into the trap of dryly giving exposition, whether or not information is being purposefully truncated or withheld. In volume 3, that situation occurred when Ozpin’s inner circle explained to Pyrrha about the fall maiden. In volume 4, it was Qrow telling team RNJR about the two gods and the relics. Miles and Kerry needed to find ways to make the exposition warranted but interesting to watch, be it through the psychological turmoils of a character like Pyrrha being spoon-fed the information or short, stylized sequences like campfire shadows. Chapter 3 of volume 6′s answer to this is definitely a whole other matter altogether. Not only is the backstory and lore being explained throughout an entire episode as oppose to just a good portion of it, but the story itself is being presented with the full time, attention and resources of every department in the production.

Two such departments that provided a great contribution are the art and modeling departments. Considering how this chapter was about the passage of time between two characters who have had thousands of years of history between each other, concepts of multiple settings needed to be presented and over 30 characters needed to have 3-D models, fully rigged. There’s Salem in her normal outfit, Ozma’s warrior outfit, Ozma’s causal attire, Ozma’s first incarnation in his farmer’s outfit, his ruler outfit, some of his other incarnations, Salem’s first “grimmified” model, the God of Light, the God of Darkness, their dragon forms, the two kings and one queen, the archers, knights, mages, and Ozma and Salem’s children. It’s absurd how much was applied to this one. Despite there being the sense of immersion briefly broken when the same female archer model was shown in two different shots back-to-back, it’s such a trivial matter given the quantity of characters to help fully flesh out this backstory episode.

Staying on the subject of breaking immersion for a moment, one bit of observation was the use of still art of characters and background from the art department in the, “Thanos/Super Smash Bros: World of Light”, style eradication from the God of Darkness. This still art is nothing new as it has been around since volume 1 and has become a small but constant part of RWBY’s presentation. Love it or hate it, this part of the show is here to stay and it has looked and felt less crude with members of the art team like the lead concept artist and art director, Erin Wiin and Patrick Rodriguez respectively have gradually adapted their design sensibilities to match that of the show in general. Still art is actually something anime often applies, the most famous example being the “Postcard memories” still frame, first utilized by late anime director, Osamu Dezaki. The concept was to make a still be more detailed like something out of a painting as a way to either make a scene more striking or end off an episode. Instances of this can be seen in Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Kill la Kill, Gurren Lagann and One Piece to name a few.









The reason this is all being brought up is to compare to the use to still art in this chapter to that of volume 5′s first chapter. This was essentially the straw that broke the camel’s back for some fans of the show due to how it gave only a glance of Mistral’s setting. There’s definitely a sense of validity in to that frustration but this has resulted in an overreaction over whether still art should be used ever again, which is frankly silly as it can have its place. What should be considered is not whether to ever use them again but rather in what manner the stills are applied in terms of story context, timing and what characters are expressing. In the case of the still shots of humanity being wiped away, what makes this work overall is that they are only there for split seconds which in turn help depict the instantaneous and unyielding power from the Gods of Darkness. The moment the viewer blinks, the sequence will likely cut to the next. It also helps that in this specific context the characters are mostly either having their backs facing the camera which obscures their face, though not all of this applies. This is on some level meant as a means to spare time making more character and environment models which is more than understandable in this episode. It can however be potentially concerning if the method is used as a crutch and hopefully the still art can be applied to a more stylized, story-oriented effect, similar to the postcard memories technique.

Those issues are all again relatively minor when taking the scale time and effort applied to the art and modeling department, the latter of which has had each character needing to be rigged in order to be animated. Speaking of which, the animation department have also poured quite a bit of their skills into this episode, as they always do. In an episode where the action was mostly light, leaving only the occasional casting and flinging of magic and a few sword swings, what mattered most was the acting specific to that one character. Ozma’s confident sway, the slow, pleading head shaking from Ozma’s first reincarnation and even the four daughters’ overall body language through bounciness and wobbling to indicate how their youth. It’s hard to tell how much of them in particular was done in motion capture first, but if that approach was done for the characters at all, that would be fascinating. Mo-cap can have its disadvantages depending on the kind of gesture being applied/ Considering the daughters were all little kids, something that has first been applied in volume 3 but has been done sparingly since, it would be interesting to know how the process was done.

All that being said, the highlight of the character animation was the contrast between the God of Light and God of Darkness. Where one was first presented as gentle yet stern in his movement, the other went out of his way to be as grotesque and unsettling in his introduction. The smears and unnatural shaking definitely helped sell why the God of Darkness would never have any other human visit him. It felt like a step up from the eerie nature of how the Nuckelavee Grimm was animated. The only frustrating thing about this is that there’s seemingly no evidence to confirm who animated it since credit should be given where credit is most certainly due. Lead animator Ian Kedward did state on the third episode of season 2 of CRWBY - Behind the Episode that it was a male animator who did that sequence. But that’s the most that can be drawn as none of the animators credited on this episode confirmed anything.





As much as the animation in RWBY is worth talking about, two departments that have gotten a golden opportunity to show-off what they’re capable of front and center were the Visual Effects and Compositing departments. This chapter was a visual feast to watch in terms of effects, as seen various uses of lightning, fire, liquid, beams, smoke and explosions. The choice of coloring in the pools within the two godly realms were especially enticing to view. And then there’s the aura constantly coating the two brotherly gods as well as Ozma when he was taken between realms. Both the VFX and Compositing teams put out all the stops which is especially a great accomplishment in the latter considering Penelope Nederlander, the current lead compositer, had only started worked on RWBY since volume 5. What has probably stood out the most though in terms of the effects were the 2-D ones. I’ve mentioned Myke Chapman and his 2-D effects credit before but mostly from a speculative perspective, as it was unclear what exactly he would contribute. Though one look at his demo reel would show exactly what he’s capable of and what he brought to this show.









As shown, he has prior experience in the animation industry, having worked on the TV series Archer over at Floyd County Productions. Him specializing in 2-D visual effects would be a match made in heaven for a show taking inspiration from a Japanese medium known for its various use of visual effects like fire, sparks, liquid, and explosions. And that skill was officially brought in full force this chapter when looking at the smoke, explosions and debris.

Last but not certainly not least are the storyboards and layouts. Last chapter definitely highlighted the flair brought from the language of cinematography. This chapter carried much of the same effect in keeping various shots striking and helping add meaning to the story of each scene. When the God of Light rises to meet Salem, his antlers are framed to surround her, indicating that he strikes a balance between being gentle and maintaining his authority. This is further emphasized in another shot where his tail and whiskers in his dragon form are framed around Salem. The shot shows him subtly restraining Salem’s defiance as he explains her actions to his brother. The idea of having the camera play with the perspective by having the height and size of the Gods compared to Salem on screen help keep the audience in mind that she is being put in her place, as further demonstrated when she’s made immortal. Even when she stands, she’s still shown to have her head be below that of the two Gods standing besides each other in agreement. And once more is their might and will made evident as they leave the world, with Salem having to helplessly witness the debris from the moon fall upon her.

There are so many more cases of great visual direction to add. There’s the camera rotating around Salem as she explains the flaws of the Gods’ powers as if she’s giving a grand, persuasive speech. Another example is camera cutting to different sides of Ozma as he mentally processes the consequences of having the Gods return to judge humanity to collect the relics which cuts to Oscar watching this from behind Ozma since he’s absorbing this information at the same time. And then there’s Ozma’s first reincarnation hesitantly exploring the path towards Salem’s home as the silhouetted trees in the foreground surround him. There’s even the shot of Salem’s reflection in the coffee she’s holding with the camera slowly rotating as she shares her egotistical vision to Ozma of them becoming the new Gods. As I said, there’s so many cases of great shot composition, framing and timing that help add insight and heighten emotion and tension to the backstory. Though one small bit of information relating to all of this is the scene in the God of Darkness’s domain. Though never explicitly stated in the third episode of season 2 of CRWBY, the drawings of the storyboards seem to match that of Kevin Harger’s boards previously seen in the Yang character short, Oscar fighting Leo in chapter 11 of volume 5 and Ozpin’s bout against Hazel in chapter 12 of the same volume.

As stated in the beginning, “complicated” is the best way to sum up what went into this episode. However, despite whatever complexity may have went down behind he scenes, it was hardly messy. That’s no small feat to accomplish what-so-ever considering the length and scale of this chapter, but Miles, Kerry and everyone else involved in each department rose to and succeeded at the challenge. Everything told within the narrative had been withheld since months before the first color trailers premiered, made evident by a live stream during volume 2′s premiere when people asked about the moon. Even Eddy Rivas who was among the names Miles cited at the first RWBY panel at RTX Austin 2018 to help with the script writing process of the show, has vouched for Miles and Kerry’s ability to maintain continuity. Interestingly, despite his name having yet to be credited, his official role in the production is that of “brand archivist” as stated in the third episode of season 2 of RWBY Rewind. Considering how some fans have questioned Miles and Kerry’s ability to present world-building in the show thus far, one would find Eddy’s role to be especially involved. However, as also stated by him, Miles and Kerry have been more on top of the lore than fans have been given credit for. And if one were to look back at previous episodes of the show or previous World of Remnant mini-sodes, certain dots can be connected, such as how the God of Darkness may be the reason dust doesn’t work beyond Remnant’s atmosphere.

With such an overwhelmingly vital episode to the show and the best presentation to coincide with, it is only logical and wise to expect a much smaller scaled episode to follow. Similar to how an episode of an anime that was handled by the most competent animators and storyboard artist will follow with a more generically presented episode, it is practical to see a similar outcome with chapter 4, volume 6, whatever that may entail. But for now, enjoy the mimosas CRWBY, you’ve all earned it.