The Boys of RWBY

Hello all, I’d been meaning to do this for a while, but now that we have a hiatus on our hands now seems as good a time as any. I will be offering a structured criticism of the way RWBY’s writers have chosen to handle writing the boys of RWBY and the girls of RWBY in relation to the boys. Personal opinions to follow both positive and negative, from someone that actually really liked Jaune in the beginning.

I’ll go boy-by-boy here.

Jaune: Jaune made for an excellent audience stand-in in the beginning, giving other characters a good reason to explain aspects of the world-building. His writing was consistent at keeping the character of a good-natured boy with a desire to prove himself.

However,

the “Jaune Arc” as it’s so often called, was four episodes long, thus giving viewers an entire month of just Jaune. This might have been easier to take if the end result was actually substantial character development, but the opportunity for such was off the mark by quite a bit.

The ‘problem’ we are presented with with Jaune was that he was trying to do things by himself and going behind the backs of his team, Pyrrha in particular. This was-rightfully-framed in a bad light. The expected resolution is that he’d learn how much he needs his team and that he should be more honest and upfront.

What actually happened was that during the encounter with Ursa Major in Forever Fall, Pyrrha helps him, but lets him believe he did it on his own. It’s cute and we know why Pyrrha would want to keep it a secret, since she personally has a crush on him and wants him to think well of himself, but the reality of it is that it falsely reinforces to Jaune that he did it himself, that he handled everything himself, and that his course of action was the right one after all. It resolves in a positive way, counterpoint to how his sneakiness was first framed to the audience. If Pyrrha had approached him and revealed that she’d helped him, it would surely have shown him that yes, he actually does need his team and he could’ve really learned from it. But instead, he comes to the conclusion about his team on his own, from what happened between him and Cardin in the woods. It appears almost out of nowhere, and it is inconsistent writing at best.

In Volume 2 it’s arguably much worse. From the beginning of episode 2 through the first half of episode 7, we get several instances of Jaune trying to force his affections on Weiss, despite her having said 'no’ every single time. That is 6 and a half episodes of build-up and 'development’ for Jaune’s crush-that we’re suddenly supposed to take seriously, after some weak dialogue about how great he thinks she/her singing is-and since there were 12 episode this volume, that is more than half the volume where the audience, female especially, are made to feel uncomfortable on Weiss’ behalf because this guy will not take no for an answer.

He later accuses Neptune of ’not caring about the girls he flirts with’ for having said 'no’ to Weiss’ offer to dance. I shouldn’t have to point out the irony here, but for those that might miss it, he’s implying that he himself cares about Weiss’ feelings, when he has consistently disregarded her autonomy as a human being.



Instead of having any of this called out to him, he is rewarded for 'looking out for’ Weiss with a brofist and a character written to be cool calling him cool. This is not development. This is de-velopment, if anything, because the things Jaune is written to do no longer match the positive light in which he’s presented. This is inconsistent writing.

Jaune hasn’t learned anything. At the end of Volume 2 he sighs and grumbles when Pyrrha, his biggest supporter-and the most fitting to take charge, in all honesty-shows a glimmer of leadership. And perhaps worst of all, he attacks a giant Ursa by swinging wildly with his eyes closed and emerges victorious and unscathed.

I have the utmost criticism for this because you MUST be careful and realistic, or you risk undermining all of the other characters to prop one up: What does it say about the threat of the Grimm, that Jaune, with no shown formal training, can destroy a huge one with his eyes closed, swinging indiscriminately? What does it say about every single time team RWBY/any other team gets hurt in battle, while carefully enacting battle plans working as a team?

You are inadvertently saying that Jaune with no training and his eyes closed is better than trained teams actively working together. I shouldn’t have to point out how ridiculous this is.

Neptune:

Neptune is written to be cool. Period. There is no other true development for him yet, so there’s not much to say about him himself.

However, there is something to be said for how Weiss is written around him.

I take issue with Neptune because he undermines Weiss’ character. With regards to Jaune, Weiss says ’boys are only interested in me for my name’. Neptune has nothing going for him besides looking a little cooler, because there is no other development for him. But somehow, we are expected to accept that Weiss has made an exception for him. I’m sure this is far from the only time attractive boys have hit on Weiss, given her previous statement. We are expected to believe that either Neptune is the most attractive boy to show interest in her, or that Weiss is gullible enough to let herself be taken in every time someone attractive shows interest in her. Either way it’s pretty awful.

Furthermore, even with no development with Neptune, we’re shown that Weiss would have opted to sacrifice her devlopment with Ruby by foisting her off to her sister instead so that she could be with this guy she barely knows. Ruby is her partner and they went through a lot to get to where they are, but who cares! Not Weiss, all of a sudden, apparently, because this hot guy is right here and what are friends? It isn’t like Weiss was characterized by loneliness or anything or that she should reasonably be pretty protective of the few friends she’s managed to make-oh, wait.

And lastly, the entire thing between him and Jaune on the balcony. It would’ve been really, really cool to see Neptune and Jaune have a confrontation about it: Neptune calling Jaune out for being too persistent with Weiss, Jaune having to own up to his mistake instead of being applauded for it, and told that 'he can have’ Weiss. Ideally, they would’ve argued and Weiss would’ve told the both of them off for acting as though they had any say about who she goes with. With Weiss’ temperament and disposition in general it would’ve made more sense.

But instead we get them validating each other and getting positive reinforcement for their misogynistic and insensitive words and actions. Oh, and Weiss and Ruby each don’t have anyone to go with but are for some reason not hanging out at the dance, even though they’re partners, because Weiss needs to be alone for Neptune to swoop back in beside her and re-validate her and inform her that she should appreciate Jaune 'looking out for her’, even though she knows nothing of what Jaune said to Neptune, only the fact that whenever she’s said 'no’ he’s come back harder each time. Cool.

Characters are not psychic, and writing them as if they are is lazy and problematic. This was just for an unsubstantiated love triangle thing-when you start writing complex actual-plot stuff, this will bite you in the ass unless you nip it in the bud.

Sun Wukong: I don’t have much to say about Sun: I’m not a big fan of how he spied on an all-girls room (one of the inhabitants only being 15), or how he tried to take their agency by butting in on their plans.

However, I do actually like Sun as a character: he has a note of genuinity to him that I really appreciate. He’s consistent, at the very least.

Lie Ren: Ren is great in my book. His relationship with Nora is endearing and consistent, and his desire to check out a certain village was substantiated more than once, giving him a sense of purpose.

Ren feels genuine, and is written consistently both with his individual relationships with others, and in accordance with his own personal convictions, so I can’t wait to see more of him.

In conclusion: I feel like the writers should be especially careful about their intent vs. what is actually shown to the audience. They need to understand what they’re writing when they write it, and keeping in mind that how they write one character can influence how others are perceived. Do not undermine the development of other characters to support favored characters-even, and especially if, you are a writer writing to favor your character at the expense of others.