I usually try not to speculate too much since I’m not sure how much people like that but since it’s the OP I wouldn’t be able to say much without doing it. So, be prepared for a lot of dumb shot-per-shot theorizing.



Full disclosure: This is not a blind liveblog, mainly because I believe the OPs benefit a lot from having a bit more time to think about them. I’m also writing this _after_ liveblogging the first episode but it’s 99% spoiler free other than a couple of small details.



Right away we’re hit with the most noticeable difference, RWBY is back _and_ they are all looking forward in the same direction. V5 had them looking forward but only towards their own goals, now that they are together again they all share the same goal.

The moon through the OPs:

V1: Full moon in all shots except in Blake’s.



V2: The moon appears full in all shots except Cinder’s.

V3: It appears once and it’s shattered.

V4: The moon is nowhere to be found.

V5: The shattered moon gets a small cameo in the title screen.

V6: The moon is the focus of a shot again _and_ it gets shattered.

This is probably a big reach but I think the moon can symbolize both conflict and the RWBY team (the moon getting destroyed also appears multiple times in the soundtrack and it’s always in the context of things going bad).

V1 and V2 have a whole RWBY team so they have a full moon, and Blake and what Cinder represents end up being the finale conflicts.

V3 has the biggest conflict so far _and_ the RWBY team ends up being separated so it gets one big shattered moon.

In V4 the RWBY team doesn’t really exist anymore so there’s no moon in the OP.

In V5 RWBY is slowly reforming so the shattered moon is back but it’s shown pretty small compared to the other seasons.

What could all that mean for V6? This is the first time that the moon changes states in the same shot. RWBY is back so the moon is full again _but_ there’s either going to be internal conflict (there’s a couple of possibilities here) or external conflict (a big fight).

Interesting to note that it’s a scythe what breaks the moon. Hold that thought.

Just an establishing shot to remind us they exist. About the only thing of note (other than Qrow having his eyes closed) is that Oscar reading an “Atlas Mechanics” but who knows what that could mean other than “yeah, we’re going to Atlas this season”. Also Nora and Ren seem to be finally “together together”!

Ruby and Weiss being playful, I love their smiles!

Ruby is _chasing_ Weiss. If you remember the first shot of the OP, Weiss also appears directly in front of Ruby there, so they are really emphasizing that bit of symbolism.

I really like this shot. While Weiss and Ruby seamlessly went back to being partners (probably even better partners after Weiss’ perspective shift), Blake and Yang are obviously having a lot more problems. They _are_ sitting together so they are trying but there’s something holding them back.

Blake’s bravado in the finale doesn’t mean she’s over what Adam did to her.

This is interesting because of what it implies. They both seem discouraged but _why_ if they are all together again? There’s a hint in the first episode at least for Ruby but not to the point this shot shows.

For a two-second shot there’s a _lot_ of interesting things to talk about.

Maria’s (sorry, the woman’s name is the one spoiler from the first episode) eyes are fully covered. Since eyes are so important in the representation of magic of the show, without seeing anything else I’d be inclined to think she has something to do with that.



But it’s immediately followed by a close-up of Ruby’s silver eyes so I’d guess she either had silver eyes (and lost them) or still has them but she hides them.

Also, Ruby’s close-up shot is a reflection in her glasses. So Maria either sees herself in Ruby and/or viceversa but there’s definitely a connection there.

Ruby gets a slight smile so Maria gives her a bit of hope back.

Maria also gets a tender look in her “eyes” when she looks at Ruby. This could be for a lot of reasons but a couple of guesses are that she ends up getting close to Ruby after training her how to use her eyes or she knew Summer (maybe she taught her?), or maybe both. There’s a third possibility related to the next shot.



This doesn’t need a lot of speculation to reach the conclusion that Qrow is either going to die or get incapacitated badly because of his alcoholism.

Remember the scythe that breaks the moon? Who’s the _one_ person that uses a scythe, that Ruby has never doubted and that she has always looked in hope every time that there has been a problem?

If Qrow dies Ruby is going to get hit _hard_ and that’s going to cause a lot of problems for everyone. I wouldn’t be surprised if this season is the start of an emotional arc for Ruby. The mentor dying is a staple of the hero’s journey after all.

Maria could help Ruby a bit after it happens, but I doubt she’ll be the biggest factor in Ruby’s recovery, that’s going to be someone else.

(This is RT saying “YOU WANTED MORE RUBY DEVELOPMENT? CONGRATULATIONS, YOU JUST KILLED QROW.”)

Ruby is fighting the exact same Grimm arms that pulled Qrow into the darkness. This can be literal (there is going to be a Grimm like that) and/or figurative (the arms could represent depression and while Qrow lost his battle against it, Ruby is still fighting).

In V5’s OP they used something similar with the tentacles both showing Leo being threatened by them (which ended up being literal) and how Salem’s reach was all encompassing.

She’s also carrying the relic which as of the first episode hasn’t happened yet. But there are a couple of shots in the OP that suggest how that could happen though.

Recreation of my reaction when I first saw Roman’s hat: OH MY GOD NEO IS BAAAAAAAAAACK!!!

Cinder reacts in alarm to Adam’s sword but doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to meet this season, it could just be a cool transition.

Just a couple of establishing shots for the villains. Emerald being the only one not smiling is probably the most interesting thing here.

Salem is _pissed_. It could be because of how the Battle of Haven went, the disappearance of Cinder or something related to the next scene.

We’re finally getting some Ozpin backstory. I have no idea who that woman could be (besides more drama for poor Oscar) but that statue seems to be the second to last Ozpin incarnation, the one with blue robes. If he has a statue he was obviously important so it lends credence to the theory that Ozpin was the King of Vale who stopped the war.

The weird thing is that it has been only 80 years since that happened but Ozpin is in his third incarnation since then. Did they all die in their 20-30s?

Back in my post about the V5 OP I wrote:

Jaune is obviously somewhere else. Not only is he still not over Pyrrha but now he has to deal with knowing _why_ it happened. I wonder if we’ll get some sort of confrontation with Oscar considering Ozpin is responsible for… well, a lot of it.

It looks like we’re finally getting that confrontation. I hope Ozpin doesn’t say “toodles” leaving Oscar alone.

An internal conflict between Ozpin and the rest also explain why Ruby is the one carrying the relic. Another explanation to that is that Ruby is being self-sacrificing to avoid risking anyone else dying.

Action shot establishing that they fight in a train. :v

Cinder is back and she’s fighting a mysterious someone who’s wielding a pink umbrella. Which makes a lot of sense. Ruby was just defending the school and wasn’t even the one who actually killed Roman. But Roman and Neo were only there because Cinder ordered them to.

It does leave open the possibility that they’ll join forces next volume if Cinder is able to convince Neo that Ruby is the cause of everything bad that has happened to them.

Obligatory action shots. They are working as a team _and_ Ruby is being supported by Weiss’s glyphs which gets reinforced again next shot.

Weiss literally picks up Ruby from the ground and helps her stand up, joining everyone at glaring something unknown.

Weiss and Ruby’s relationship gets a lot of focus this OP. If I have to make a guess, it’d be that Qrow is going to either die or get removed from the picture, Ruby is going to be at her lowest point due to this and Weiss is going to be the one that helps her the most.

It works as a big contrast to Yang and Blake who are facing away from each other in this shot. They also don’t get a lot of screen time in this OP, which makes me think that the show is going to take the repair of their relationship very slowly and if anything happens it’ll be towards the end of the volume.

And… I think that’s all. I think this is one of the most spoilery OPs so far but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was on purpose to mislead us. In any case I’m very excited to watch the volume so it worked!

Until next time!