With all the sh- stuff that’s been going on in the fandom recently in regards to Ozpin, I wanted to take a quick break from my hell of a final first year English paper to talk about what has stood the test of time to be my favorite scene in RWBY.

Yes, you heard me right. This is 100% my favorite.

@cloqworkbird basically sums it up perfectly when they talk about it, but honestly? Everything about it is so wonderful, even – and perhaps especially – in the context of the current Volumes’ revelations.

First things first, technically speaking, this scene is great. For being animated in the Poser-era, Ruby’s expressions are varied and get across how she’s feeling clearly. So are the little motions and body language. As has become so clear in recent Volumes, camera angles are important and while the shots are pretty standard and static, it’s framed in such a way that, although Ozpin is the larger presence on screen, it’s never intimidating or overbearing. Ruby’s given equal weight in the shots, which is important – Ruby’s being treated with respect, and as equal. She’s not treated like a kid, her worries aren’t brushed off.



In the scene, Ruby is, for one of the first times since we’ve seen her, having a moment of doubt. She’s at the dance, alone. Weiss and Yang already walked off to do their own thing, with Yang’s parting words being to “Just have fun!”. But Ruby can’t, because she doesn’t want to be here. She doesn’t want to dance. It’s definitely not her idea of fun. She even asks if she can go get her hood, because it’s something familiar and at least being in her normal clothes would make her feel more confident where she’s completely out of element. Her expression throughout – especially when Ozpin first comes over to talk to her – is vulnerable and uncertain.

Ozpin, bless him, doesn’t ask what’s wrong or if she’s alright, because clearly there is something wrong and she isn’t. Instead, he opens with a question that she can easily answer honestly: “Not enjoying yourself?”. And when he doubles down on the message of the dance mini-arc – that you have to slow down and take time to enjoy life, despite all the crazy things happening around you, and that she can’t spend her whole life fighting – he doesn’t chastise Ruby for getting frustrated and rebuffing it. Instead, he immediately turns it around and likens something Ruby doesn’t like (dancing) to something she does (fighting) to try and ease her mind.

Something I didn’t notice until recently is that when Ozpin continues, talking about time testing bonds of friendship, his expression noticeably shifts and, for what I believe is one of the only instances in the first three Volumes, he looks sad. Recent context just breaks my heart over this one, because in hindsight it becomes so clear that he wants Ruby to enjoy herself because he knows – he is painfully aware of – how hard things are beyond the safety of the Academy. Of how dark and cruel the world can be. How many times he wasted away lives, or lived them without stopping to enjoy or care about the world he was trying to save. And he doesn’t want that for Ruby. It’s a wonderfully human moment that I find myself both loving more and more, and being utterly heartbroken by more and more.



Oz puts it best: “Nights like these are ones we’ll never forget”. And I hope neither of them have.

