It's pretty damn bad when I was able to accurately predict almost every "shocking" revelation. Some drinks are better shaken, not stirred.



First red flag was the theme song. This song is the closest thing I would ever call to "the ugliness of sound." Even the most grinding, screaming, noise-like death metal I've heard is small potatoes compared to just how UGLY this song is. It's not fun to listen to, the post-Oum animation isn't up to par, and it spoils the entire season by the time the hook hits. They could have easily just kept the Volume 2 or even Volume 1 theme and I'd have no complaints, and the revelations and twists would hit so much harder because they're a bigger surprise. Now I know it's coming, I know the RWBY team splits up, and I know that more than one named character will die. I already wanted to puke my guts out, but I kept going because Volume 2 was so good and I wanted more of that.



Moving on to my next biggest problem, the pacing. This was the THIRD season of the show. Why are we still going through crucial world-building and facts that are common knowledge to the characters? Why is there STILL exposition in the third act? I was also following the "World of Remnant" subseries RT had going on, meant for extra world-building and exposition. The World of Remnant episode concerning these revelations went online AFTER they explained it in the show. The easiest way to make me hate your show is for you to treat me like an idiot as I watch it. It's like these people don't even know what they're doing.



Anyway, let's move on to the meaningless character death, with animation errors sprinkled on top! I mean, wow. I seriously did not give a shit about ANYBODY that died. I flinched when Penny died, I confess, because she's an android and I'm a technophile, but then I realized they introduced her at the tail end of the last season and are killing her at the beginning of this one. I can't cry for someone I barely even knew. Penny existed to be stuffed into a fridge.



I couldn't find myself caring all that much about team RWBY, either, except maybe Ruby herself. I found myself liking RNJR much better, for the little bit of Vol. 4 I bothered to watch.



Pyrrha was a death that I DID predict, reducing a strong, noble heroine into pity motivation for Jaune for the sake of mirroring Gurren Lagann. What I DIDN'T predict was that it would mirror Gurren Lagann poorly. Again, I don't feel anything when Pyrrha is reduced to ash, there's been so much death and destruction already that I've become desensitized more than anything else. But don't worry, I feel it when they hit me with a REALLY nasty surprise. Ruby is now the Chosen One with her forehead scar--I mean, silver eyes.



Now, I confess the Silver Eyes Prophecy goes against my personal taste more than anything, but I feel making someone a "chosen one" basically strips them of agency as a character. They aren't great because they tried hard to persevere against extreme adversity, they're great because the writer says they are. It completely undermines Ruby's skills and accomplishments.



But yeah, that's an abridged laundry list of why I hate RWBY Volume 3. I haven't even gotten to the weird aesthetic choices or the complete and utter let-down to cross-season buildup. This was seriously so bad that I dropped the series entirely after I realized how little I cared. Well, no, that's not the right word. I cared a LOT, but like a Dragonball fan watching Dragonball Z or a Dragonball Z fan watching Dragonball Super, I wanted more and I wanted BETTER.



If you read this far, thank you.