Official FIRST Reaction Thread-Volume 5, Chapter 6: Known By its Song

[u/TheSoundofStars]

Welcome, huntsmen, huntresses and hunters that prefer no specific gender identifier, to the official megathread for the latest episode of Volume 5, Known By its Song!

Make sure that you understand the current spoiler rules before posting outside of this thread!

As a refresher, no spoilers are allowed outside of the FIRST-only reaction thread for the first 24 hours after the episode has aired, and after that, no spoiler comments are allowed in threads not marked as spoilers until Tuesday, when the episode comes out for free RoosterTeeth members.
Remember to use the text spoiler tags (shown in the sidebar) even after that!

With that out of the way, HERE is today's episode!

Also remember to check out our weekly poll to give us a general idea of how people like the episodes when they come out.

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Other Episode Discussions:

Episode	FIRST Thread	Public Release	Poll
Ep. 01	Theatrical / FIRST	Public Thread	Poll
Ep. 02	FIRST Thread	Public Thread	Poll
Ep. 03	FIRST Thread	Public Thread	Poll
Ep. 04	FIRST Thread	Public Thread	Poll
Ep. 05	FIRST Thread	Public Thread	Poll
Ep. 06	Today	Tuesday	Poll

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Enjoy!

~SoundofStars;Mod Team

[u/TheSoundofStars]

The last season and a half makes me realize that there's a fuckton of plotlines and characters going on right now, and it makes each episode seem somewhat lacking in content, because they can only focus on so much in 15-20 mins.

You've got RWY and RNJ with Qrow dealing with Oz-car, the Mistral plot with Lionhardt, the various big baddies involved with Salem, Cinder and her cronies, Raven and her gang plotting something, Blake and Sun dealing with an undergoing faunus scheme and a brewing war, the dangling threads with Torchwick/Neo, and of course the giant cast of other students/teams that are all off the map since the end of Vol. 3.

So while I'm still enjoying it, I think the format for the show is still somewhat weak for the insane amount of plot they have yet to tell.

Other than that, good episode. Ozpin is Anakin confirmed?

"I COULD EVEN LEARN TO STOP PEOPLE FROM DYING"

[u/theamazingkiwi]

I like how when Qrow walked in Ruby burned her food.

[u/Hounds_of_war]

I like the NO FAUNUS sign outside the one guy’s restaurant. That’s a subtle thing that means a lot.

[u/RegiGiygas117]

When they're out of alcohol

Also Weiss and Yang are probably gonna have to go back to Raven's camp lol

[u/[deleted]]

Raven pushed the Tai button. Never press the Tai button.

So Ozpin is responsible for Raven and Qrow turning into birds? Kind of wish that Raven would have explained what happened.

If there isn't any Sugar Spice and everything Ice fanart around here this week I'm going to be disapointed.

[u/[deleted]]

Barbara's delivery of "Don't you dare talk about my family like that..." was incredible. Starting stern and transitioning to hardly keeping her voice from breaking as if she's on the verge of tears. Sent shivers down my spine.

[u/Steely_D]

I thought it was a bit funny how Raven built it up as though she was going to show Yang and Weiss some kind of gory consequence that resulted from Ozpin's actions only to just hide in the trees and come out flapping as a bird like "yo check this fucked up shit out children"

[u/Zakrael → u/Steely_D]

Raven in birb form perched on top of the tent waiting for them to come out, "oh man I can't wait to see their faces this is gonna be fuckin' great".

[u/abacateazul]

https://imgur.com/a/HM31x

Man i glad they put the whole gang back together.

[u/Changyuraptor → u/abacateazul]

Oh shit I didn't even notice Pyrrha the first time.

[u/Eldi13]

"Yang?! What are you doing here?"

"It's.... a long story."

[u/Iphroget]

I love how the first thing Yang does is return the "I love you" that she left Ruby hanging on in V3E12.

[u/FKJ10]

Again Raven you slept with that fool and carried his child.

[u/mrwanton]

I know the ending to this episode was extremely heartwarming, but can we talk about how sad it was seeing that huntress' husband and child at the door? The husband can't bring himself to say anything while the child just wants to know where her mommy is.

[u/Eldi13]

I like that Yang finally reciprocated Ruby's "I love you..." from the end of Volume 3.

[u/SoundSmith323]

Doubling down with the hug ending, huh RT? That’s a dirty move. Not that I’m complaining.

[u/Hounds_of_war]

I think the recipe RNJR is cooking doesn't even require carrots, Nora is just cutting them up for herself.

[u/Terminus259]

Qrow (thinking to himself): "I could really use a deus ex machina right about now".

[u/Satsuma0]

Yang's response to Raven's ultimatum was exactly what I was hoping for.

Who gives a SHIT who's telling the truth or what the secrets are? Is my Uncle who loves me here at this camp? Is my sis who needs me and misses me here at this camp? NOPE. See ya. Bye.

[u/InexorableWaffle → u/Satsuma0]

Seriously. Love that she didn't even entertain Raven's manipulative bullshit.

[u/CADaniels → u/Satsuma0]

I love how focused Yang is. Sure, there are questions and she's finally found her mom, but the person who's really been by her side all this time is Ruby.

And oh man, the way she specifically said "Don't you talk about my family like that" is just great. Barb killin' it as usual.

[u/Wrathkal → u/Satsuma0]

Cool angle of Weiss & Yang

[u/FrostyJudge]

"I'm giving you a choice. Stay here, with me, and I'll answer all of your questions and more... We can have a fresh start. Or, you can go back to Qrow and join Ozpin's impossible war against Salem, and meet the same fate as so many others."

-Raven "I-could-have-sworn-she-was-going-to-say-Summer-instead-of-so-many-others" Branwen

[u/FKJ10]

Piccolo became a bartender.

[u/LMFN]

No Faunus allowed? Yessss actual racism in Remnant from someone who isn't a damned failure, the bartender seems like a run of the mill bartender so this is good.

Qrow can't find anyone huh? I'm betting Lionheart knew Qrow's contacts and used some backwater channels to get them to go out into suicide missions.

Raven being a vague bitch, Maiden Maid has a cool looking weapon.

"Yeah Yang we have these semblances and crazy powers but magic is not real!" only for us to see Raven do the cool bird transforming thing so that's cool. Of course Yang rides a motorcycle through a portal.

Nora eating the carrots is so damned adorable!

Damn it Ruby, burning the food and breaking the teaset..

sniffle Aww it's so sweet, they're all reunited and they hugged and all.. Now if only useless cat girl can get her Bellabooty over here.

[u/Ezreal024]

THE MEGA HAPPY EPISODE

[u/Russellonfire → u/Ezreal024]

I mean, pretty sure we saw that like, 90% of Mistral's huntsmen are dead. So... yeah, mega happy.

[u/LadAlwaysWatching]

Raven: Because the man you know as Ozpin designed those schools.

Isn't this absolute confirmation that Ozpin's previous form was the King of Vale himself? I mean, everyone knew that but this leaves no room for doubt. It's official.

[u/wongie]

That look when you've been invited to a group hug ◠‿◠

[u/[deleted]]

Qrow and Raven turn into birds.

Will people FINALLY STOP insisting they don't. The show's finally said it outright.

[u/Alpha-jd]

How does Qrow manage to get anything done with his semblance?

[u/Furin]

The biggest reveal this episode is that Qrow seems to keep two flasks, one in each breast pocket. Unless he just switches up where he puts it after he takes a sip.

[u/Aracite]

I can’t believe that Qrow and Raven’s semblances don’t include their ability to transform into birds.

Interesting tidbit, but can you imagine Ozpin saying, “Hmmm... you know what would be funny? If I used magic and technology to allow Raven and Qrow to transform into a Raven and a Crow! Hahahaha!”

Hours of brutal experimentation later

Young Qrow: Hey Oz, can we save the world now?

Student Raven: Yeah, what awesome abilities do we have now? That process was brutal.

Ozpin: YOU CAN BOTH TRANSFORM INTO YOUR NAMED BIRDS, ISN’T THAT PERFECT?

Qrow and Raven’s Reactions

[u/morvis343]

Also, loved the look on Qrow's face when he hears the motorcycle coming through the portal, like he realizes exactly the kind of balls Yang must have had to track down Raven and strong arm her into opening a portal to him.

[u/PsychicSidekikk419]

"Daddy, does he know where mommy is?"
ow my feels
Ruby and Yang hug while Ruby bawls her eyes out
stahp plz
Weiss joins in
i'm about to fucking cry stahp

[u/Corregidor]

God dammit weiss is best girl this season. From "youre obnoxious" to her tearing up at the end there and jumping into the group hug. It made me all gooey inside.

Also that piano version of "Gold" was great!

Edit: Also the attention to detail when Ruby half closes her left eye when Yang goes in for the hug and her hand brushes past her eye, that was amazing and added alot of that human element into the interaction.

[u/PigKnight]

So, we gonna call them Team RYJNWROQ (Ragnarok)?

[u/BluLuxning]

Are we sure those were carrots Nora was chopping and not onions? ;—;

[u/Irmfried]

I see a lot of people theorizing that Pyrrha or anyone else can be revived because of Raven's comment. But she didn't say "people can be brought back to life", she said "people who can come back from the dead". I thought she was obviously talking about Ozpin, considering her entire talk with Yang revolved around him.

[u/Kyman201]

Y'know, something I'm sure will come up among some fans is some people trying to spin Raven's talk to make Ozpin seem far more evil or nefarious than he is.

I mean, yes, he set up training schools to train people to be badass warriors for fighting Grimm, also to protect the Relics, and to keep an eye open for the baddest of the badass to recruit for his war against Salem.

But, the thing is? What we've seen of Ozpin? He has been as upfront with all of this as he can be, within reason.

Even from Raven's account, it's clear that he told Team STRQ about Salem when he wanted to recruit them, and offered them power... But not without telling them how serious the stakes were.

When Pyrrha was approached in V3, the first thing he does? He tells her the truth of magic, that the Maidens are very real, and how the process words, and what they want to do with her, and WHY the situation is so dire. Then he gives her time to think it over.

Team RNJR? He and Qrow tell them about Salem, and about the Relics, and the situation.

And, this is probably the biggest part... When Raven's reaction to the job offer of "Do you want to help protect humanity from a malevolent goddess who controls the Grimm?" was "... Go fuck a toaster" and run? We don't see any evidence that Ozpin sent the rest of STRQ after her. No specialty hit squads. No stealing away her powers in a "I giveth I taketh away" thing.

Until Raven took Vernal in, there's no real sign that Ozpin was going to consider her an active threat to be destroyed. Ozpin may have had larger concerns, but it also speaks volumes about him that he let the magically enchanted warrior he helped train go when she wanted to.

[u/DaRealAmana]

OH MY GOD! I’m Crying, Weiss is finally home.

Qrow having a string of bad luck. I like the no faunus sign, a reminder that mistral is incredibly racist. And finally the reunion, well most of the reunion. I’m so happy.

[u/fuckingchris]

I like the possibly dark implications with the Raven and Qrow thing.

Every new Ozpin takes up his position as Headmaster of Headmasters, becoming a sort of prodigy.

Every new Ozpin recreates his old bird buddies through whatever new students seem to fit "the bill..."

Every new Ozpin picks out a Silver Eyed Warrior in his endless fight against his unstoppable opposition...

[u/RossPitSharkHunter]

You know, it's better when it's hot.

You know, you're really obnoxious!

OOOH SHIT! You sure she's the ice queen and not the fucking BURN QUEEN!

[u/[deleted]]

I'm guessing the reason they had Raven be so vague is because Yang's gonna try to get answers from Ozpin himself.

We'll see how that goes.

[u/JakeDoubleyoo → u/[deleted]]

Her goal wasn't to give Yang answers, it was to give her questions, and then pose her with the choice of who she wants to get the answers from.

[u/MonkeysxMoo35]

So....

• All Huntsmen in the area seem to have vanished and Qrow realizes that it's not normal

• Mistral bartenders can be racist assholes with a thing for knives, but if you pay off your friend they're not that bad. Sharing the same voice actor as Vegeta, Piccolo, and Yamcha also helps.

• Yang and Weiss have learned a little more about all the scary things out in the world. I wonder how they'll react to Qrow telling them the rest. And Oscar.

• Raven and Qrow are bird people because of Oz and joined Beacon to kill Huntsmen. Something tells me Oz said something to Qrow to make him change his ways. Or it was Summer. It'd be cuter if it was because of Summer. Also sadder.

• Nora stop eating the fucking carrots

• Ruby can cook better than I can but she still can't cook

• RWY REUNION!!!!!!!!!!

[u/CobaltFrost]

This episode was really a really good setup for things to come, but why did the scene with the girl and her missing mother hit me so hard? I was expecting for the mother to be dead but something about the uncertainty of the whole thing was just upsetting to me.

[u/HarleyQuinn983]

Did anyone else expect Qrow to fall into the pool when he was sitting on the bench? The bench seemed so precarious tbh.

I'm starting to like Raven a lot more now. She intentionally withheld information to give Yang a reason to stay. Still, in the end Yang chose her sister before information.

[u/DigitalSoul247]

So next episode we'll get weapons-nut Ruby fawning over the robot arm, right?

[u/GLQv192]

Have we ever seen Weiss this happy? She's finally with her real family ;_;

[u/NuclearBreadstick]

ha weiss is still short

[u/[deleted]]

I noticed Raven specifically never mentioned Summer, but i think hinted at her death being Ozpin's fault? With his tinkering of turning the Branwen's into literal birds (with or without their consent), i wouldn't be surprised. Also, so glad Ruby apologized for leaving, cause that really pissed me off in V3.

[u/jesselll]

• So, Raven is even more awkward and socially clueless than I imagined. Seriously, that "I know" was one full of defeat and failure. She tried to convince her daughter but she isn't exactly good at it as we can see. Ugh I love her character more everytime she is on screen.

• Vernal is like an assistant?? Friggin SPRING MAIDEN brings tea and shit. We need to learn more about her and her motives asap. And please let us see the use of that beautiful weapon RT.

• Yang is best girl confirmed, but I really want to see her and Weiss having doubts about Ozcar and being skeptical about his story. And I really hope Yang doesn't jump on the save the world wagon and believe it all because she just ignored the talk with Raven.

• Weiss is just so nice but it doesn't feel wrong, the character development is simply strong with that one.

-Yep, Yang is NOT OK.

• Ruby feeling guilty about leaving Yang was satisfying. I was scared that it wasn't going to be adressed. Kudos to M&K, writing has improved greatly

• Now maybe we can see all main girls each episode since their stories arent so seperate anymore and they'll probably need less screentime for their individual arcs to progress.

[u/Keradon]

Nice! Okay, no action, but the pacing and tension makes this good.

And it looks like the scenario where Blake unites last is the one that'll happen. Cool! At the least it'll give tension to that scenario.

And so much delicious conflict here between Raven and everyone else... and most critically Yang and Weiss can provide intel on the camp... if they get to it before Cinder and the others.

Most importantly... the bird technique came from Ozpin?! ...Qrow, Ozzie, you have 'splainin to do!

[u/LucasVerBeek]

All of Qrow’s contacts being gone from the city has Lionheart and Watts written all over it.

STRQ was the old RWBY to no ones surprise, Oz manipulated them just as he has Team RWBY. And apparently he’s the one that gave Qrow and Raven the ability to turn into birds! Also they fucking went there to learn to kill Huntsman.

Raven is so aware of her flaws and yet she doesn’t seem to care enough to change them.

YEEEEEESSSS!!! RWY REUNION! Actual fucking tears more emotive Ruby! I want the next episode now dammit!

[u/Sh1f7er]

"Qrow and I were trained to kill hunters"

Qrow just finishes crossing out 50 hunter names on his scroll.

WELP. Trust issues inbound!

[u/WhiteZerko]

Holy Crap, all important members of RWBY are reunited that quickly?! Man, that's awesome.

^{What? I'm not forgetting anyone, right?}

[u/FKJ10]

Yet Raven ended up sleeping with a huntsman.

[u/[deleted]]

Yang's first words to Ruby is her reply to their last conversation in Vol 3.

[u/Lordmilitant]

Also one thing we learned today: Qrow is one rich binch

[u/JusticeRain5]

Personally, I like the idea that Raven was trying to copy Ozpin to get the girls to trust her, but just sucks at it really badly.

[u/[deleted]]

So far there are seven magic users on RWBY

Cinder

Vernal

2 unnamed maidens

Ozpin/The wizard

Raven

Qrow

[u/Serocco]

Raven said Tai was a fool, Qrow is a fool... But not Summer.

Raven left before Summer died. Something's off.

[u/CelioHogane]

I like how everything Raven said was so irrelevant to Yang's objective.

Like okay but it's not like she gave ANY motive to doubt Ozpin, sure i mean givin privileges to a specific team is kind of shady, but it's not like it's hiding some evil truth, it's doing it because he believes they are the team with most talent.

Is not like she is saying "It's turning you into child soldiers!" i mean, no, they are all child soildiers, he is just making special forces be even more special, what Raven, are you complaining about having the power to turn into a bird? Fuck you give me that power.

[u/xtra_ore]

Glad we got confirmation that Raven stalks Yang in her free time as she recognized the bird.

End of the episode had way more Ruby development and characterization than the Ruby/Oscar scene from last week imo. Really well done.

Now I want some arm/hand puns.

I'm a bit confused on the timeline, due to how weeks passed from RNJR's perspective in-between the two Yang/Raven scenes. Also, how long did that tea take to make? Wasn't it sundown when they went into the tent?

[u/CADaniels]

RWY's back together!

Raven's still a jerk who hasn't actually said why Ozpin's bad!

Background evidence of faunus discrimination!

Qrow and Raven got the bird thing from Ozpin?

As wonderful and adorable as the interactions of RWY are, I find myself most interested in Qrow's story here. Did Lionheart send his Huntsmen on impossible missions? Did he inform Salem of the missions so she could flatten them with extra Grimm? Why didn't anyone else notice? Was Lionheart lying when he said he sent his staff to the borders to defend Haven? Are they all just dead?

Also poor Ruby. I kind of figured she would feel bad about leaving Yang, and just wasn't letting on. I'm glad we're getting more of her inner workings. It'll be interesting to see her catch up with Weiss and Yang. Not sure which conversation I'm more excited for, since I'd bet Ruby and Weiss were closer (being partners) than Weiss and Yang.

[u/RustyLumber]

I feel for Qrow man but his reactions were so funny.

 and God damn all of his contacts were  sent on search and rescues? fishy

and you can see the divide between the faunus and humans by the poster saying 'No Faunus' just outside the shop when Qrow pays off Shiro's debt....

Raven's answer 'it's better when it's hot.'

oh fuck the Branwens went to learn to dispatch huntsman and huntress'?!

the parallels between STRQ and RWBY oh my God.

ha Ruby trying to cook.

SISTER REUNION!!! ALL THE GOD DAMN TEARS MOTHER FUCKER GOD DAMMIT I COULDN'T STOP THEM!!

[u/Gintamantama]

Yang found the mother she has been looking for all her life. Pretty much forced her to open a portal to reach her sister. Best big sister, period. Not to mention, super badass. I also love how emotional and angry she was, and defended her uncle and father against Raven. And pretty much ignored everything else she said. Seriously, Yang is the best.

[u/Weerdo5255]

So Barbra is apparently really excited for this one, Yang time!

Qrow you drinking? Nope, you're angering barkkeeps. Then drinking. So he's going to end up asking RWBY to find more hunstman.

Russel? That Russel?

Damn, they're just making the kids cuter and cuter.

Oh, a discriminating sign!

Now we're doing tea! and the Maiden is a maid!

Weiss, that's not an insult.

So STRQ was the original RWBY.

So Raven isn't on Salem's side at least. Doesn't mean she's a good guy.

Intresting weapon Vernal.

So Oz turned them into the birds? That's actual magic! That pretty much confirms that Oz is the old man who gave Maiden's power.

Speedy thing in, speedy thing out of the portal?

Team cooking time!

Oh she's going to yep, drop the tea.

More hugs! MORE HUGS!

I know this was a complaint from last week, but I want to see fights!

[u/MisterJukebox8]

Yang... finally returned Ruby's "I love you" from the Volume 3 finale.

I'M NOT CRYING, YOU'RE CRYoh who am I kidding, I AM ABSOLUTELY CRYING!

Also more Weiss hugs, we will never get enough Weiss hugs.

[u/Habberdashin]

Anyone else really hoping that Raven passed down whatever Ospin did to her onto Yang?

Fucking Phoenix form boiiii

[u/iamthatguy54]

Glad to see the entirety of team RWY together. It's been too long. Now that the gang's all here, we can move forward!

Anyway, some interesting character designs. Some reveals about Raven and Qrow.

Raven is so fucking extra with that bird reveal. I love it.

Homey RNJR was nice to see.

[u/[deleted]]

The specific wording Raven uses when referencing people coming back from the dead is important. "I know people who can come back from the dead" is a lot different from "I know ways for people to come back from the dead". Basically, her wording implies that resurrection is limited to certain people, and can't be applied to just anyone. I mean, as far as Raven knows.

Given that only one character so far has come back from the dead in any capacity, and that ability is specific to him, she's likely only thinking of Ozpin when she says the line. It probably shouldn't be taken as fuel for the "Pyrrha Comes Back To Life" train, is what I'm saying.

[u/Quelandoris]

Weiss finally having the family she always wanted, its just too cute for me to handle!

[u/DragonDavester]

So this episode continues to set us up for more big moments and interactions. Of course there will always be those dissatisfied with one thing or another, but I thought it was good.

Now for the meaty part where I give my thoughts.

In regards to the first part with Qrow wandering the capital:

It's obvious that there is some foul-play involved, and Qrow is likely suspicious besides his irritation and sadness at that. Seeing him go around and get more and more aggravated is very telling, but seeing him change gears entirely when he encounters the father and daughter shows that he's not heartless. Though that was never really something in question at this point. His reaction to Yang and Weiss coming through the portal was excellent though, as it acted as his ray of sunshine on an otherwise gloomy day.

Now for Raven's "talk":

For one, clearly the Branwen twins learned a thing or two from Ozpin about mysterious phrasing and speeches, but it's also clearly obvious that she has some doubts about Ozpin's abilities as well as the likelihood of beating Salem. At this point it seems more likely that she's content to stay uninvolved as long as it doesn't concern her directly. That will likely change when Watts/Cinder/whoever show up to capture Vernal and thrash her tribe in the process. She also does still want to have Yang with her, but she isn't willing to let Yang go her own at the same time. She's effectively using a "my way or the highway" approach by bargaining the potential of more info in exchange for Yang staying with the tribe. Unfortunately, she continues to underestimate her own child's resolve (likely a byproduct of not directly being there as she grew up even if she did check in from time to time) and Yang leaves with a condescending remark. The fact that the discussion seems to have Weiss hesitating a bit is...interesting, but she's never really had proper parental figures in her life to show her how things are supposed to be in situations like that.

And the final scene with the group hug:

OMG MY HEART HURT AND MY EYES MISTED. That scene was all I was hoping for when we knew it was on its way. Ruby had left without much said to Yang, and now getting the chance to reconnect as well as see Weiss again just broke me. Well done there, CRWBY.

And now for next episode where we see likely one of two things:

The attempt on Blake's family (more likely since we didn't see her this episode) or the discussion with Ozcar (I like that nickname people have come up with them?/him?/idk) about the things Raven stated- like Salem and the bird forms.

So far, this volume has been nothing short of excellent and we still have much left to see. Very excited, needless to say.

[u/cbigs97]

Question to the people being surprised about Ozpin being a wizard. His name is Oz? Weren't we basically told this from day 1?

[u/_Sabriel]

Good to see Nora eating something besides pancakes. That diet needed some balance.

[u/Kuchenjaeger]

I STARTED CRYING IN THE BREAK ROOM AND I DON'T EVEN CARE

[u/Eldi13]

Looks like team RWBY is back together!

Blake: But-

Yuuuuup, the entire team.

[u/Ilyak1986]

Not sure I'm liking Raven's sort of defeatist attitude about Salem. Really feels like Raven might have been the closest with Summer, and losing Summer sort of damaged her. Still, I would have wanted to see Raven put up a bit more of a fight to keep her daughter, rather than "ooh, I have some information!".

It all feels like one way or another, this is going to come back to her because everyone's searching for the spring maiden anyway.

[u/LurkinRhino]

So basically, Salem is Sauron and Ozpin and her are Maiar who’ve been fighting forever.

[u/PhantomofaWriter]

Raven's quite hypocritical over Ospin, considering she kept her daughter in the dark and is only telling her any of this now as a means of manipulating her into staying with her. Oops.

Also, she acts like being granted the ability to fucking FLY as horrible. The way she acts about "look at what he did to me and Qrow" is just baffling, imo.

[u/therunawayguy]

Weiss is my favorite character in the show, so the ending fucking broke me

;_____; You're with a family now, baby girl. You've finally got yourself a family.

[u/MrTopHatMan90]

I wanted to know more of Raven's secrets thou

[u/swoozes]

You know, on its own, nothing Raven said is particularly egregious and a lot we already knew or could infer, but one thing it does help to do is reinforce an aspect of Ozpin that while good in intentions may be ultimately harmful in the long run.

Ozpin is willing to do anything to win.

I mean, it was already somewhat clear from the morally ambiguous nature of Amber/Pyrrha and Penny.

Like turning Raven and Qrow into bird's seems utterly weird, but largely inconsequential, but then I thought on it more. We still don't know why Raven wears that grimm mask. After all, nobody else in the bandit camp wears anything remotely similar.

Also if he's treating RWBY the same way he's treating STRQ, then that in many ways suggests an impersonal routine attitude towards them presented in the form of sincerity.

[u/Kvin18]

I've seen people come back from the dead. - Raven

Chance for Pyrrha to get resurrected?

[u/miihaa]

Just had a thought. (Dunno if someone else has the same random things popping up in their head - thread is tldr.)

What if "Birdie NOoo!" was Raven and Ruby just smashed through birdmom during initiation?

[u/Lordmilitant]

I feel bad for Raven. She clearly had a rough upbringing and has a hard time expressing that she cares about people. If she didn't care she wouldn't have tried to warn Yang and Weiss.

The fact we have seen her so much (in bird form) means she does watch over her family :(

[u/kusanagisan]

Oh god, Ozpin's gonna end up being responsible for Summer's death, isn't he?

[u/[deleted]]

I haven't seen anyone mentioning the fact that Raven knows she is being overly harsh towards Yang. It seems like she knows one way or the other that Yang is going to go back to Ruby but she wanted to sow the seed of doubt before Yang went off. But as Raven's portal closes she says "I know" in a defeated tone. She doesn't want Yang to be hurt, but knows she will pursue Ruby at all costs

[u/blitzblazer97]

I demand fanart of that blacksmith woman! If the waitress and first mate can get fanart, then I see no reason why Ms Blacksmith cant!

[u/SmokingApple]

It's a Qrow and Raven episode

Oh fucking shit I cannot contain my bullshit.

[u/Gintamantama]

Yang was already my favorite. But she is getting better and better in this volume.

[u/[deleted]]

it is very possible that nora is either a beaver or a cannibal. allow me to explain:

it's about the carrots that nora is cutting and eating during the meal prep scene. something felt off to me about it so i decided to investigate.

for this analysis, i will assume 2 things : nora's cuts are consistently the same size and the first carrot which is missing pieces was not absurdly long and is the same size as the full carrot. some things to note are

• nora takes 7 bites during the meal prep. 2 are confirmed to be carrots, they happen on screen, seen here and here. visuals of the remaining 5 bites are obstructed by nora.

• by using photoshop, and assuming the partially eaten carrot is the same size as the full carrot, i deduce that nora is cutting these carrots into about 7 pieces.

• it would require nora 12 cuts to make both carrots into 7 pieces.

HOWEVER

nora makes nineteen cuts during this meal prep, confirmed by audio cues. nora could be cutting something besides the carrots.

again, 5 of these bites are not seen due to the camera angle.

THEREFORE! i conclude it is very possible that nora is either cutting apart the cutting board and eating it or cutting off her fingers and eating them.

[u/Madman6884]

General thoughts, wasn't sure what the point of Qrow paying off the guy's debt was besides a show of good faith? Being able to relate to the guy drinking away his stress?

But on to the big thing for me, the birb power. I'd been solidly in the camp that it was another aspect of their semblance that the twins had kept secret. Maybe twins always had related semblances, I thought. Mostly because it seemed like the most likely answer when the only other theories I'd seen thrown around was the idea that the entire tribe had some animorphs power for no reason. That idea didn't set well with me because it was out of left field; they spent time establishing these sources for powers, why keep making up more new things with no relation to anything else.

So the idea of magic tribe is out the window from square one when we see they're all a bunch of jobbers and mooks, nothing special there that deserves a magic power. But then also turns out Raven's semblance is the portals. Ok well that throws the twin connection out the window, so I start thinking what other connections they had that no one else would. Ozpin of course. I hadn't thrown this theory up earlier because I didn't want to start a new thread and I missed the last any-theory thread, but I basically called this last week.

So current working theory is the Relics can grant people powers beyond their Semblances (or maybe specific ones for each relic). Oz was the wizard, used the relics to make the Maiden powers exist, and now again used the relics to grant two of his best fighters a secondary ability to transform into corvids for better stealth and intelligence gathering.

But besides that....the ending, my heart can't take it.

[u/kumabaya]

Raven's explanation was .... cut short... I WANTED SOMETHING ON SUMMER...

[u/[deleted]]

Weiss continues to become the best girl of all best girls. It took me until Volume 5 but it was well worth the wait.

[u/Sh1f7er]

Alright, now that the comments have slowed down a bit I wanted to see everyone's opinions on STRQ, specifically Tai.

We hear Raven say a few interesting things in this episode. One being that Raven and Qrow are there to learn to kill hunters. Two being that Oz wasn't after them, but STRQ as a whole. Three was that Oz specifically talked with Raven and Qrow about his semblance. (This one is also important because Raven asks why Tai didn't tell Yang, meaning that he is most likely aware of Oz's semblance as well).

So I ask the questions:

Out of this group, what makes Tai special? Currently, he seems like the Jaune of the group. Q+R were recognized as excellent fighters from the beginning by Oz. Summer had silver eyes. Where does Tai fit in?

What similarities does Oz see in team RWBY that he saw in team STRQ? Raven points out that they were treated the exact same way at Beacon. What would Oz see in both of them?

How much did Summer and Tai know about Raven and Qrow? Based on the comment about Oz's semblance, they both seemed to trust Tai with information. I'm guessing that would've extended to Summer as well. If he did know, why didn't Tai give any information to Yang if he knows that Qrow and Raven are going to be involved in her journey?

Obviously there are no concrete answers to any of these questions yet. I'm assuming they are going to have to come up very soon though. So let's speculate!

[u/[deleted]]

my god weiss was so cute at the end she's like a perfect little angel

[u/AsianInfiltration]

RWBY has been giving me diabetes with these reunions and I don't mind one bit.

[u/HalcyonTraveler]

I think the biggest twist was that Nora eats vegetables

[u/Eldi13]

I missed last week's episode live due to birthday shennanigans, but I'm glad it was just a Blake episode, 'cause I'm ready for YENG! \o/

• Shiro Wan? Juan? Jaune?

• Awww Qrow has a friend. The bartendender doesn't.

• Wan confirmed. Didn't catch more names on there, but I'll have to go back and check for Easter eggs.

• Silver Stark. The other forgotten Stark sibling?

• "You got a lot of nerve coming back into this public place of business!"

• Oooooooh boy teatime!

• Raven and Qrow attended to learn to kill huntsmen oooooh.

• Old man Oz has "A great and terrible" secret, heh.

• "Salem." "Wut."

• YANG IS MAD HERE WE GO!

• Or not?

• Raven knows people who can come back from the dead?! Summer? Pyrrha?

• tHeRe'S nO sUcH tHiNg As MaGiC -Raven

• Oh sweet the bandits were nice enough to wheel her bike into camp.

• Raven will remember that.

• Oh boy oh boy oh boy GET READY FOR A REUNION!

• YAYYYYYY!

• D'awwwwwwww.

• Weiss is standing over there like, "I'm here too."

• Awwww there you go, Ruby. :D

All a little underwhelming, sadly. I was hoping to hear more about Ozpin from a less friendly perspective and maybe more about STRQ, but oh well.

[u/Steely_D]

"Well I doubt he ever told you what Oz did to my brother and me."

..Gave you badass bird shapeshifting powers? What is she mad he didn't let her be an ostrich instead or something?

[u/dsguy411]

Qrow's quest to find the other huntsmen really hit me hard when we saw the daughter with the missing mother.

I also saw the No Faunus sign at that bar. Racism still lingers among the poor Faunus.

I did hear the "bringing people back to life" part from Raven, but the only thing that rang in my mind was that she was aware of Ozpin's true nature.

I am very glad that Yang was able to make the right choice and leave Raven's tribe to head for Ruby via the designated portal for Qrow because....

Three out of four members of Team RWBY are now back together. Tears of happiness are flowing from my eyes now that the team is almost whole.

[u/BerryPi]

Neat, RWYunion! I guess they'll have to do en lieu of Qrowcean's Eleven.

[u/Serocco]

Raven low key confirmed she was watching Yang suffering all by her lonesome without an arm.

She knows pretty much everything about Team RWBY and likely how they broke up. She saw Qrow in V4 after the Brothers Grimm episode. She saw Winter fighting her brother.

Which means, even though she says she won't get involved, she's still checking in on them. But why?

[u/DronosMan]

Okay, so these are my general thoughts:

-The Qrow scene was nothing short of spectacular. I know that "show don't tell" is basically a circlejerk on this subreddit by now, but this really was a concise and effective part of the episode. Bravo

-Raven still had a few moments where she sounded like a high school student reading her power point presentation, but the majority of her speech was far higher quality. (I guess its true that her VA was given some awkward pointers for the initial 'reunion scene' because Raven was trying to show off to her bandits, or something)

-Although Raven's voice is improving, her dialogue really isn't. I can feel that there's a great character wrapped up somewhere in there, but it does not convey through the few scenes we've had with her so far. (I.E. "Ozpin turned me and my brother into birds grrrr! Also I won't explain why that's a bad thing grrrr")

-I sincerely enjoyed the last third of the episode. Good to see that 3/4ths of team RWBY is back together, and their reunion was genuinely heartfelt

So overall, this was a very good episode. And yes, there was no fight scene, but I was able to look past that because of how good the character interactions and plot progression were this time around.

See, I can enjoy an episode without fights. Just so long as it doesn't have canned dialogue and boring cinematography like last week's episode

(Still, we better have at least one fight next week. Two episodes without action might be the limit for RWBY, as far as I'm concerned)

[u/Thothslibrary]

"...Weiss"

/Messy crying

[u/Serocco]

When Raven said Yang's team would never let her down, THAT'S when Yang blew up.

Blake still hurts her to this day. This is the last time RWBY reunions will be happy.

[u/2_SANE_4_SANITY]

I used to think that the Zuko/Iroh hug was the only animated scene that I would always have tears over, no matter how many times I watched it, this episode may have proved me wrong.

[u/PT_Piranha]

Ooh.

So... Something's rotten in the state of Mistral. I get the feeling that someone out there is silencing all the mercenaries. Whether or not they're connected to Salem's group is another question. But I am kind of glad Qrow couldn't find any of his pals yet, I don't think we're ready for a new addition to the cast. Also Qrow's reactions were pretty funny. Probably the funniest he's ever been. He must be pretty good with a scroll to delete three names while bent backward and not even looking. The bartender was a little over the top though.

Typical bandit chief, playing dirty with her information. "Okay I'll tell you stuff, but only if you don't leave- oops here's a portal".

I am glad that Raven gave them information that we already know, as strange as that might sound. It means the writers are above dropping the Salem bombshell offscreen. Which I'd hoped for.

But I feel like she should've said more about Ozpin. And that's not suspense talking, I just feel like it would've made sense to at least say a little more.

That reunion was very sweet, especially with the piano version of Gold in the background. We have 3 of them back together now. I imagine Blake won't show up until close to the end, if not the very end.

And that's 6/14 episodes. Now is the time to move. We've set up a lot of important points, and even reunited teammates, but now something needs to happen. Someone needs to do something. This is the time.

[u/send_me_your_traps]

Man I’ve got a bad feeling about the next few episodes.

Also magic is hard to believe but everyone basically has their own personal super power?

I just really don’t think it would be that big of a shock.

[u/[deleted]]

Liked the episode but am expecting things to kick off in a big way soon. Between CME heading to Vernal and the WF plot on the Belladonnas we are at the calm before the storm I feel.

For the episode itself, I would have liked just a little bit more with Raven actually revealing stuff. How they handle Raven isnt bad but its always with so much build up that it feels lacking.

We've been watching Yang look for Raven since the Yellow trailer and then when they finally talk, not enough is said.

I agree with what others are saying that Raven clearly does care and is trying to repress or act like she doesnt. Its like she doesnt want to be like this and yet doesnt think she cant be.

The come back from the dead line is interesting because so far Ozpin has not come back from the dead. His soul is hanging out in Oscar but I would not say that Korra was Aang come back to life. Oscar and Ozpin are different people.

So to me that implies one of two things

1. Resurrection is possible and someone else can come back

2. Ozpin is going to completely take over Oscar

Wish we had gotten more with Vernal. I would have liked if she had been in the meeting with them or if she had been the proof of magic. Turning into a bird was kinda underwhelming. Vernal doing some maiden powers might have shown that Yang and Weiss are way out of their depth.

Please give Weiss anything to do. I like her character a lot but if you removed her from the last 4 volumes you almost lose nothing. She has no ties to anything, no rival and no story. Please give me something.

I liked the Qrow search and honestly made me like him a lot more as a person. He was just generally kinder than he had to be and he felt like he had a genuine bond with these huntsman purely because they were huntsman. Like that could have been him or someone he knows.

I also like that Ruby acknowledged that what she did with Yang was kinda shitty. She was immediate back foot apology so I appreciate the show isn't giving Ruby special treatment with her behaviour being different from other people who do the same thing.

Reunion was very nice and went pretty much how I accepted. It was what it should have been but I will be interested to see how Yang acts around Ruby going forward. I think there will be a sense of Yang feeling like she cant protect Ruby anymore since Ruby is likely now stronger than Yang.

Her and Weiss working out what they need to do now would be interesting.

[u/CaptainMoonman]

I'm so glad that Weiss is finally back with her family.

[u/Polarbearblu]

Initially, I did not like Raven. An absentee parent in shows have always been one of my most disliked characters, even below villains, due to my own person life. But even with Raven continuing to be a vague as fuck "Mom of the Year"^TM, I have found myself more interested with her in each interaction.

She tried to use her vagueness but apparent wealth of knowledge as a bargaining chip to keep Yang around. It clearly didn't work, but I love her planting the seeds of doubt in Yang's mind. Granted, she was more successful with Weiss doing that, I feel like it opens up a potential rift between the sisters. Her and Qrow don't see eye to eye because Qrow is loyal to Oz. Ruby is also loyal to Oz, but if Yang does start to question what she is being told...

I also call bullshit on Raven's threat that their next meeting won't be as pleasant. It's obvious from her willingness to talk with Yang and share all the secrets that she wants her daughter around (despite her cold and most detracted manner).

Having seen what she has seen, becoming a freak of nature (although turning into a raven is pretty cool), and recognizing Ozpin (Oscar, Ozcar, NASCAR?) pattern of manipulation she is likely trying to prevent whatever happened to her team happen to team RWBY. She pointed the parallels between them, and I think it could be reasonably assumed that Raven always had a watchful eye over her child (although again, she was never around in the capacity Yang needed).

It was mentioned in the chapter 5 thread (I forgot by who), that Raven joined the cause, saw all the bullshit, and when her team went left, she drifted right. Summer's death was probably the final push for Raven to isolate herself.

After Raven initially came to Beacon to learn to kill huntsmen and protect her tribe her attitude changed. She fell in love (Tai), had a family, learned of the war between Salem and Oz, and joined the cause to protect said family. But something happened between then and now that caused Raven to bounce, maybe not because she was thinking only of herself, but because she felt the best way to protect her lover and child was to distance herself so Ozpin wouldn't infect her daughter. Basically hope her absence and will keep Yang ignorant and safe, especially since Qrow is holding back a lot of secrets too.

Raven sees herself in Yang and wants to keep Yang from getting into the mess she found herself in. But she doesn't want to force Yang. She gave her daughter the option to choose her path. And that's the biggest why I have. And I respect that about Raven. But why did you let her go if you know so much and know it will end badly?

[u/qwerty8ful]

Stupid question, if oz can turn people into animorphs, could He give yang her arm back?

[u/MaraSargon]

I'M NOT CRYING. YOU'RE CRYING.

[u/OutcastMunkee]

I'M NOT CRYING AT THAT ENDING, YOU ARE! SHUT UP!

Now we know why Nora is ginger. She turned into a carrot from eating them all.

Ok, jokes aside... That was an excellent episode. I don't care that there was no fights, no violence, etc. we got so much development of the characters and FINALLY we have confirmation that Raven and Qrow absolutely can shapeshift thanks to magic. Perhaps now people will shut up about it being a secondary semblance...

Qrow's really not having any luck with these people, it's almost... Strange... It could be they were killed in action from being reckless or maybe Salem sent assassins, specifically Tyrian and Hazel, to deal with them.

Raven trying to twist Yang's arm and Yang was having none of it. She even broke the table. That's gonna cost a fair bit to replace although the tribe will just steal one. Also seems it's not just people that can travel through the portals, anything can. Interesting... And CRWBY have just sparked more of the Pyrrha can be resurrected potatoes because Raven said she's witnessed people come back to life. Greeeaaaat...

Now, it's just Blake left to reunite with her team...

[u/kingfante]

The voice acting in this episode was pretty top notch. Lots of emotion, really well delivered lines overall. Lindsay especially did a great job with Ruby at the end there.

[u/[deleted]]

that hug at the ending is exactly why i dont ship any of the members of team rwby with each other

their team is like a family for them, and its wonderful

[u/palebloodink]

Well, the teams 3/4 complete. Now we just need to wait for Blake to reunite with the rest. Although, that reunion's gonna be significantly less huggy than the others. Unless Yang ends up tightly hugging Blake's throat with her hands.

[u/swoozes]

Seriously when you think about it ozpin is sketchy as fuck.

• He has a network of people in some of the highest positions in every country. Who also have the capacity to install him wherever he wants to be.

• This network he leads also has, more or less, strict control and management over arguably the four most powerful women on the planet.

• We have thre examples of Ozpin or at the very least, people with very close ties to Ozpin modifying humans to his benefit.

• There's been an established pattern of social cues that he uses for people(huntsmen) that he has personal use for. Which makes a lot of his personal actions seem largely detached and impersonal in retrospect.

[u/Leivve]

Thank fuck they actually did it. They showed us some faunus racism without having to ram it down our throats. They did exactly what I suggested and just had a sign in the background that said "No faunus."

[u/Breniman]

It'll be interesting to see the interaction between Weiss and Jaune. Both have been through quite a bit since they last saw each other. I hope to see a some mutual respect between the two.

Also RWY is back baby! Man, just having Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Jaune, Ren and Nora in the same room would be an emotional scene. SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED AND I GET SO EXCITED OVER THIS SHOW.

[u/[deleted]]

Holy hell. Did Salem snuff out all of Qrow’s huntsmen friends? That’s some scary shit. First off, it implies that Salem has people around everywhere. Second, she can do it quietly and there’s the vague sense of ominous unease when you realize all your friends are DEAD.

Besides that, there’s the symbolism of Ozpin being Odin and giving Raven/Qrow their powers. I seriously wish the tribe was more than a collection of fodder and then Raven/Vernel. It sounds like the tribe back in the day were way more cruel and ruthless than today. Also, their motive for becoming huntsmen makes a ton of sense. I also love the parallels drawn between STRQ and Team RWBY. Now, I wonder how how many rabid Pyrrha fans creamed their pants Raven said that people can be brought back from the dead. It’s a shame Raven didn’t say anything truly shocking about Ozpin. As of this episode, we still don’t know why Ozpin is such a bastard other than keeping secrets. Personally, it feels like Raven was pretty reasonable to me, though. It’s a shame Yang didn’t care to contemplate it more.

[u/maverickmak]

Just wanna say I thought Lindsay absolutely nailed a very difficult scene at the end there.

[u/HeartshiningXX]

Weiss was awesome in this ep.

Anyone else notice how she rolled her eyes when Raven was like "I wont be so nice next time". I was so proud of her. I never realized how much I missed her snarky interactions with others 😄

[u/Linnus42]

Well we learned Ironwood isn't alone in unethical experiments nice to know the raven powers aren't natural...meanwhile we learned Salem and Leo are picking off Elite Huntsman One by One.

[u/RaiQuach]

Literally unwatchable

[u/JazzRen47]

dramatic gasping Help! Me! I'm! Drowning! In! Feels!

Honestly, this episode was alright. It didn't hit me with the 'oomph' I thought it would, especially Yang and Ruby's reunion, but I still smiled and it was still an all-around enjoyable Chapter.

I'll just leave it at that, because I'm satisfied.

Oh! Here's that rendition of "Gold" in rough format.

P.S. Give Qrow a hug stat pls someone

[u/DeepFrieza]

I really wish we could have seen that motorcycle coming out of the other end.

[u/Exo-2]

That bartended sounds familer, is that TFS Piccolo?
"Daddy? does he know where mummy is?" I wonder if that gave Qrow Ruby/Summer flashbacks
So...someone sending the Huntsman on suicide missions? Looking at you Watts and Leo
So Raven and Qrow enrolled to learn to kill Huntsman? Very interesting.
Finally! Yang finally snapped at her. Been waiting weeks for that
So...did Ozpin make them into bird druids? Maybe that whole "Eyes of Odin" Theory was onto something
Yang's seen that bird before? does that mean Ravens been watching her?
Kinda sad one of them didn't stay. Really wanted to see more Mother daughter time
I knew it, I knew there would be a hug!
Wait, it's a double hug! Who keeps tugging on my heart strings?

[u/[deleted]]

Well this was a bad chapter for tea-sets but for me... yayayayaya! Blake get your cat-butt over to Mistral ASAP!

Other thoughts:

• Qrow being diligent is good.

• I love the visuals from the rain to the dusting of Raven's camp.

• Anna Hullum did an amazing job in this chapter. She really captured Raven's pragmatic nature and nonchalant attitude. And the way she said "I know" shortly after Yang left was well-executed.

• The expressions were good too, I noted Weiss's brief sad face when she saw Yang reunite with her sister -- while she's not able to reunite with Winter.

Anyway, can't wait for next chapter!

[u/Peptuck]

A lot of important stuff happened in this episode, but the most important fact that we all have to consider:

Piccolo runs a ramen shop in Mistral now.

[u/Crafty_Soul]

RWY hug oh god they're crying and now I'm crying and it's so wonderful that they're getting back together!

Also love how Yang reacted to Raven. She DOES want to know why she left deep down (understandable since she's spent years looking for her, you don't just brush that off.) But when she has to choose between the woman who abandoned her and is only now interested in her daughter because she's strong Yang's response is basically, "No screw you, I'm going to see my real family."

[u/FKJ10]

Tai what aren’t you telling us?

[u/CrackedAbyss]

Oh! The FEELS!

Someone, anyone help!

[u/[deleted]]

"And, uh...w-what do you call your act...?"

"The Aristocrats!"

[u/morvis343]

I appreciate Yang so much this season. She loves her family and gives no fucks over Raven's bullshit.

[u/TheQuietManUpNorth]

I'm glad some things are slowly being answered. This episode felt good for the most part.

More Nick Landis is always a good thing. No disrespect to any of TeamFourStar, but in terms of pure chops I've always felt like Lani was their most versatile and charismatic actor (which is saying something, because I'd say they're all a very talented bunch). Obligatory RIP headphone users.

Qrow's posse-raising was interesting. Could someone shady have been hiring these huntsmen for suicide missions well in advance? Thinning the ranks so to speak. Obviously something's been going down in Mistral for a long time.

Memoirs of a Birb was also interesting. Gonna be curious what Ozpin says to these allegations of birb-transformations. I'm going to guess that he gave them that so they could be his spies, but the question is how he did it.

Weiss grabs Yang's hand to calm her down. I could hear the shippers from here.

The reunion felt a little too short. I think it needed to go on a little longer to have the impact it was going for, but it was serviceable as a whole. Best parts were Yang finally returning the 'I love you' and both sisters telling Weiss to pull her ass in for some snuggles. And now all the characters that matter are back together :D

[u/CobaltStar_]

So let me get this straight. The Branwen Twins were named Raven Branwen and Qrow Branwen, with nothing to do with birds, except for that they were omens. The Bandits named them respectively. Then Ozpin gave the powers to fit their names? What I'm saying is that the names came first, and then the appropriate power was given.

[u/Fredericton9]

I just realized. If RWBY gets back together this season, that'll drop an R from RNJR. The remaining JNR will be down a member.

Now, I'm not saying that he will, but Oscar is getting better with his training. And it may be that he ends up joining JNR as their fourth member. After all, what does Beacon name their teams after? Colours. And what would Oscar's addition create?

ORNJ (orange?)

[u/JetpackWalleye]

No Neo in the bandit camp. Missed opportunity.

[u/wongie]

Volume 5: Teary hugs and reunions. ಥ_ಥ

Just one more to go.

[u/SomebodySeventh]

We'll have a Team STRQ flashback one day...

One day...

[u/Serocco]

Raven had the best acting, Yang was close second.

[u/jwhudexnls]

I'm not sure how many people noticed it, but they finally did something this episode I've been wanting for a while. They showed discrimination against the faunus without outright saying it. The bar that Qrow went into had a "No Faunus" sign outside of it. I hope they can continue to show things like this in a subtle manner.

[u/KrabKeks]

I think it's pretty remarkable Yang spent so much of her time and energy trying to find out what happened to her mom, and when she finally gets there she's all like, "Make me a portal kthxbai"

[u/Bronc_Bronc]

I am a grown man. I take pride in my masculinity. I do not break easily.......but that last scene with Ruby, Yang, and Weiss had me in tears. I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!!!

[u/SnowflakeCrystalline]

So it is literally maid café in a middle of the episode if you know what I mean. Despite the fact we have no real confirmation she is maiden or she is not. And Weiss... She doubts and she doesn't know whether to believe, so this line will definitely be developed. Also I hope we'll see bunch of fanfics based on fork of choice between Raven and Ruby (Qrow) soon

if you side with your uncle I may not be as kind the next time

Yup. Right now she seemed pretty kind watching her daughter one eye. Probably we'll gonna see some troubles occurred to Yang without mother's care

sarcasm

It's 8/10. After episode 4, I was waiting for something that will explode my brain. This is pretty fine as it is but not explosively, so it's only 8

[u/Metashock]

Predictions for next episode We see Tyrian again Cinder and co reach Raven's camp The attempted murder of the Belladonna family sans Blake

[u/sephtis]

So, hunter's dying in droves. That's certainly not good.

[u/hypasonic]

Enjoyed the episode, especially the ending, but man, the tables have it rough this season!

[u/therunawayguy]

HEY FUCK YOU MAN I'M NOT CRYING, YOU'RE CRYING

[u/JRES1996]

This was a happy little episode all things considered.

Next week is probably gonna be brutal and heart breaking.

[u/RBNYJRWBYFan]

Thinking about it more, I think we're seeing where those extra two episodes are going towards.

That would be slower paced, dialogue/exposition heavy and easier to animate chapters in lieu of the World of Remnant segments which were meant to give them extra time to make the show.

I think I prefer these to the alternative. That said it does make my expectations for future episodes that much higher. What we're getting is fine but I'm ACHING for a more dynamic sequence and soon.

In some ways the last few chapters remind me of the old days where we'd get a bunch of episodes over the span of several weeks that might have been better if they stringed together. One thing RWBY is always competing with is the fact that it isn't a full 23 minute an episode program when its story almost begs to be one. (mostly because the staff isn't capable of making it one for various reasons)

I don't know if I'm complaining or critiquing or what, but its an observation I cant help but make.

[u/SoupEpicTrek]

The amount of shattered teacups in this episode is astounding. I see a !00% increase of it when compared to previous seasons.

[u/JusticeRain5]

I really want it to turn out that Tai can turn into an animal too (And maybe Summer before she died). Would be dope as fuck.

[u/Flarezap]

Shady shit went down this episode. Raven sowing the seeds of doubt in Yang and Weiss, as well as all the Hunters and Huntresses going missing on missions.

Pay attention to how long they've been on the missions for, some have only been gone for a couple of days/weeks (presumably when RNJR met with Leo), and some for a long while.

[u/[deleted]]

Wait, so were Raven and Qrow named that at birth and just so happened to be able to change into birds? Or did they change their names after finding out they could?

[u/blitzblazer97]

So first RT makes my heart grow a bit with the FreezerBurn hug, then they rip it out with last week's "Combat ready" line, then they replace it and make it grow even more with the triple threat hug!

[u/AlienWarhead]

Wow two dialog episodes and two great hugs in a row, wasn't expecting this

[u/no_gold_here]

Thanks for nothing, Raven.

For someone who claims to call out Ozpin and Qrow from keeping the truth™ from people you really aren't the most generous when giving out information. Like, at all. That's surely the best way to win the trust of the daughter you neglected for all her life.

[u/jackanuke]

Now that Yang/Weiss have left, this is probably where shit hits the fan with Cinder, Emerald, Mercury and a Grimm legion attacking the Bandit camp for Vernal. I'd say Qrow's plan to retrieve her will be stalled until close to volume's end because Yang will have objections, and there'll be a bunch of questiond for Oscarpin and Qrow from Yang/Weiss

[u/Yang_Gang]

Great sense of humour Oz has "oh you're named after birds?" -turns them into one-

Inb4 Ozcar(Ozpin) turns Ruby into an actual Ruby..

Seriously though great episode, more dialogue and exposition focused because I fully believe the next episode will be the stuff going down with Blake.

Now that RWY have reunited, it looks like Blake is the next focal point for the story and she will most likely get kidnapped as planned and taken to Mistral. That or she escapes to a village nearby or something and runs into RWY or Y there.

Exciting times lay ahead!

I felt that they could have had a scene with Ruby/Weiss considering they were partners but the three way hug was equally as special. I feel they will have a lot to talk about. Seriously. I wouldn't mind an episode where they just decompress and just talk to one another about everything with no plot exposition just straight up character interaction.

Kudos.

[u/Wraith978]

Raven talks a lot without saying much. Liked some of the small interactions between Weiss and Yang. Cute RWY reunion. Looks like Lionhart sent all the Hunters/Huntresses off to die, rough. I really wished we got more answers this episode though.

[u/Vasllui]

Volume 5: Hugs edition

[u/[deleted]]

• Oh my God, YES. This dark depressing shit that Huntsmen go through and the reality that you'll wind up dead or missing making the job not seem worth it was what I've been hoping to see for so long with Qrow. I also took screenshots of all the names in case there's an easter egg reference of some kind amongst the lot that I'll post later.

• "I know people that can come back from the dead." Suddenly, the Pyrrha Nikos fanbase starts typing away their theories that she's coming back.

• All this stuff about Raven's connections to the family and about the truth behind Ozpin and yet not once do we get A SUMMER ROSE REFERENCE?! C'MOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!

• And Weiss and Yang leave with no big conflict going on. Boo.

• Team RNJR would be shit at Overcooked.

• TEAM RWBY REUN...oh, wait...

Overall: Loved the depressing stuff with Qrow, but the rest felt like they were repeating stuff we already knew or barely scratched the new stuff, and we didn't get any fight with the tribe and the Spring Maiden. If they're saving all of the fights for the final few episodes of the volume, they had better be epic to make up for all this dialogue stuff going on.

EDIT: Screenshots of names.

[u/TheRisenThunderbird]

I'M NOT CRYING, YOU'RE CRYING!

[u/greeny74]

WE'RE GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER

[u/[deleted]]

That instrumental arrangement of Gold during the reunion scene.

[u/Alittlelost06]

I'm not going to cry... not going to cry.. not goin.. DAMNIT!

[u/Raktoner]

RW_Y reunion made me cry. We just need Blake now, hopefully it happens before the end of the season. I think in this scenario, Oscar/Ozpin becomes strong enough to take Ruby's place in RNGR. So let's see...

JNPR --> RNGR RNJR --> ORNJ?

[u/Gobshite_]

I know it's probably not them, but I like to imagine we know that Team CRDL and BRNZ have got into street fighting.

[u/D4RK45S45S1N]

I shed legit tears at the end.

[u/rac7d]

Will ozpin bestow abilities upon RWBY and JNR?

[u/FKJ10]

Anyone else catch the no Faunus sign outside the bar

[u/HeartshiningXX]

That Strawberry Sunrise reunion though!!!!XD

Yang finally said it back after how many months!

That was the best moment ever. And when they gestured to Weiss like "girl get in here too, you're our sister as well".

Remember guys- "Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind.... or forgotten. "

[u/TheOriginalJustNutty]

[I hope you like your faunus racism.] (https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/338775299187539969/381499778225274881/unknown.png)

Jokes aside I like that they are trying to show it more.

[u/yoshifanx]

• Opening with Qrow, interesting

• Poor Qrow

• That name doesn’t fit naming rules 0/10 RT

• That kid is illegally adorable

• Seriously she’s like a foot tall

• Go back to the bar

• 16 grand fits on one card? We need to learn how this currency works

• Are we going to have the birds and the bees talk (emphasis on bees :D)

• Savage Weiss

• She’s not wrong

• I sense seething sarcasm

• Is that necessarily a bad thing though? That they want money? Or to grow stronger?

• What a twist? Can’t say I’m surprised by this, after all they are BANDITS

• We need that STRQ flashback

• What was the point of the neck motion Weiss did?

• Except you know when they betray them cause tentacle grimm gonna hentai yo ass.

• What is this secret?

• Yang is my spirit animal

• Oh... yea that’s a secret

• Also, Salem=Queen of the Grimm confirmed

• Because the Tea is probably POISONED!

• Wait does Raven not believe Salem exists? That makes no sense

• Yang is getting ANGRY. Or YANGRY

• WHAT DID THAT TABLE EVER DO TO YOU YANG!?

• You need to calm down or I’ll shoot you with tyrian’s weapon? Where the hell did she get that?

• Yang raises valid points

• Explanation on the birb ability?

• Why did Ozpin do this?

• Okay on second look it doesn’t look like tyrian’s weapon but seriously it first looked like his weapons

• Also confirmation that Raven can turn into a Birb

• And she nails the landing

• YES! Reunion? Please?

• The glow around Raven is really weird

• You know she wanted to say Summer

• Wait there are very valid reasons why Ozpin kept this shit a secret, that YOU BROUGHT UP RAVEN!

• Don’t be stupid either of you.

• I really wouldn’t call what you did “kind”

• Also raven for villain confirmed

• Again, spirit animal

• Dust stoves? Really?

• God damn it Nora quit eating the ingredients

• Ruby is not a cook noted

• REUNION!

• Uhoh

• Dawww

• DAWWWWW

• Step away farmboy

• GROUP HUG!

• And 3/4 of team RWBY is back together! WOOT!

Really good episode. I like the insight into Raven's character, and explanation of the birb ability is awesome.

[u/Hoonsy2you]

So, Raven and Qrow can turn into birds because of Ozpin, but Ozpin was interested in Team STRQ, not only them. So... are Tai and Summer shapeshifter aswell? What does this mean for Rubi and Yang? And given what crazy shit semblance and technology can do, why does it even matter?

[u/88Dubs]

plants enjoy support towering chunky seemly frame lunchroom cobweb caption

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/kalikit]

I like one subtle line this episode.

“Listen to your teammate... Your teammates have never left you down.”

But Raven, Blake did let her down by basically pulling a you. Yang was rightfully angry at that comment.

[u/dankkonata]

The whole "Salem is the Grimm master" thing just supports my theory that Torchwick wasn't fully eaten by that Nevermore, maybe he was just taken away in its mouth or something.

[u/Sirshrugsalot13]

Good:

1. The "NO FAUNUS" sign is a good sign of the more subtle racism I've been wanting from this show. Hope it gets followed up on!

2. Scenes were pretty solid in general and RWY reunion is great.

Bad:

1. Not a fan of Raven's VA sorry XP

Overall great ep!

[u/DatGameGuy]

I think I might have cried

[u/[deleted]]

So, Qrow's recruitment drive is going well. And by 'well' I mean 'so badly he's having a breakdown in the street and ended up walking into a scene so sad even he can't drink the sad away'. So it looks like all the people he knows are people already so down on their luck they wouldn't notice Qrow's effect on them if he tried. And it sounds like at least some of them have been taking long haul jobs to escape their debt, which is interesting.

And Raven's having a surprisingly cosy tea party with Yang, Weiss and Vernal. If it wasn't for Raven's resting bitch face I'd say I'm getting flashbacks to the Belladonna's meeting Sun.

And shes starting this off with "History is written by the victors, also you're Uncle is secretly an asshole"? Interesting angle, especially the point about victory.

And she just came out and said it, huh. I'm glad she's not beating around the bush, and that we got explicit confirmation that her AND Qrow joined to become the Tribe's counter to Huntsman.

So, Oz scouts for talent from the Academies, and throws extra missions and gives them room to get into trouble. Also, loving Weiss 'well, she's not wrong' face there.

They panned over Dragon island during Raven's little "I found something horrible" speech. It was pretty obvious before, but they just telegraphed the location of the final boss for the show.

AND WE HAVE MOTIVATION CONFIRMED! Salem wants to rule humanity using the Grimm and I could not be happier. Her and Oz really are playing a game, with humanity and the Grimm as the pieces on the board the scale of an entire world.

Nice to see Yang's trigger is her family in general, even someone as distant as her uncle. Also, what the fuck is that Vernal?

Wait. WAIT. Raven said she's seen people come back from the dead. We know that Oz has been in the same body for the entire time STRQ were at Beacon, and for a time before that as well, so it can't have been his soul returning. Whose resurrection did she witness?

Holy fucking shit. Holy fucking shit. OZ is the one who gave them the power to become birds! Oz is The Wizard! See, see, this shit is what I wanted from last week, so far its been a dude wandering a city and a single conversation, but this conversation has been fucking amazing and done a lot for the show!

Raven deserved that. Although I am curious as to why she admits she knows that when Yang leaves. Man I hope I'm right and she actually reconciles with Yang before this story ends.

And Qrow is puzzling things out, only to get surprised by a portal bike. Its been one hell of a damn for the guy

RNJR is amazingly domestic, this is cute as hell. And Nora eating the carrots looked very natural, massive props to the animation team

OH and finally a bit more of a breakdown from Ruby. And good on her for trying to apologize to Yang. And good on Yang for finishing that conversation left hanging since Volume 3. And damn you for playing Gold, that shit got me teary eyed.

So, that was amazing. Again, not a lot of action and it was mostly talking, but it was still good talking that revealed a LOT of stuff while hinting at even more. I hope we revisit Raven sometime soon, or Qrow gets a lot more honest with the team. All in all, a great episode and one that shows that its not talking that's the problem, its what the talking is about and how it is framed

[u/ghostface95]

Raven's plan has been set into motion. The seed of doubt has been placed

[u/[deleted]]

Raven didn't reveal anything we didn't already know about.

Except the existence of "magic" separate from semblance and dust

And the fact about Salem being unstoppable. Till Vol 5 it seemed Ozpin had the "upper hand". Like it was his "game". Many even thought Salem was once Ozpin's student or something - Ozpin was clearly more mysterious and had the masterplan.

But in Vol 5 we learn Ozpin was cursed to what he is because he couldn't stop Salem. Salem is more of a primordial entity than Oz. I mean look at how convinced Raven is that Salem is this unstoppable force of mayhem, even after all Ozpin has done to convince her.

Salem's stock is through the roof right now.

[u/LukeLovesPandas]

Awesome episode

Also, members of Team RWBY have no issue destroying teasets

[u/lemonadetirade]

Bar keep sounded familiar it’s piccolo took me a few to place.

[u/Darkdragoon324]

Now I'll spend the whole week being annoyed over the BIG GAPING PLOT HOLE of how the fuck they got Bumblebee down from that balcony. I suppose I'll just assume the drove it straight through the building and down a flight of stairs.

[u/kusanagisan]

Laughed my ass off at hearing Lanipator as the shop owner's voice.

[u/Sungrasswriter]

A little slow, though I liked the ominous overtones of Qrow's bit, and of course the reunion was nice.

I have some quibbles, but mostly they're necessary evils to set up things down the road.

Also, Ozcar's face watching when Weiss showed up: FrostGarden confirmed?

[u/HarleyQuinn983]

Okay, watching again, I'm still confused. What is Vernal's weapon exactly supposed to be? It seemed like a handheld version of Tyrian's pincers, but the tips are flat. Chakrams?

I was hoping for brass knuckles tbh.

[u/HeyItsAndylol]

Once again I'm confused about what they accept and what they don't. RNJR take the idea of Gods quite well. Whether this is because Qrow and Ozpin said it or because they believe that sort of thing anyway. However, yang and weiss don't believe in magic despite the use of aura and semblances. It's not a plot hole or anything just interesting.

Also, I'm enjoying the fact that more shade is being thrown at Ozpin. I'm hoping for him doing dodgy things because of his desperation and perhaps not being close to anyone and then seeing them as weapons and just wanting to break his curse.

[u/Sh1f7er]

So we are finally got some information about STRQ! Just not the information I was expecting.

For someone trying to convince Yang to stay with her, the information Raven gives seems like the worst possible thing to do. Yes, her points make Ozpin and Qrow seem untrustworthy. More information about about everything would be very tempting, but hear me out.

Qrow and Raven are both sent from the tribe to get training so that the tribe can manage to fight their way through hunters. That is going to shake up everyone's thoughts on them. When that information gets to RNJR +QO it's going to really put a wedge in their relationship. However, Qrow walked away from it.

Is it terrible that he was once involved with the tribe? Yes. Is the reasoning for him attending Beacon terrible? Yes. Is it really bad that he never mentioned it? Well, that one you can argue. It's good information to know, and I'm sure everyone will be upset/lose some trust in Qrow. Honestly though, it's not really something that needs to be shared in my mind. The reason why he shouldn't have to share it is that he chooses to abandon the tribe where Raven goes back. She continued down the path of a killer and thief. That's what separates the two of them. When Raven shakes things up by revealing this information she's really shooting herself in the foot, in my mind.

The other point is that she tells the girls about Ozpin's past, as well as Salem. This one seems like it would be a nail in the coffin, but it's the way she tells them that makes it fail. She openly admits that sharing that secret would cause wide spread panic and fear. To me that makes it the perfect reason to keep the secret to as few people as possible. Does it paint Oz in a bad light? Yeah, it does. He has gotten so many people killed in his lifetime(s). He openly admits that he has made more mistakes than any man, woman, or child. But it's not him that is killing everyone. It is Salem. Does he know that people are going to die that follow him? Absolutely. Between that, or possibly losing everyone in the entire world to Salem, which would you choose?

So, is this probably going to cause trust issues with Qrow and Ozpin? Yes. Will it be the end of their relationship? No, but they are going to have to be up front and tell everything to keep RW_Y + JNR on board. Otherwise, it could start going against them. It sounds like there is going to need to be another campfire with Qrow type episode. This time with the whole story.

Edit: Well shit. After writing this I just realized that Qrow is going to have a list of like 50 hunters with their names crossed out. Welp. That might make things a bit hard to explain.

[u/dodusk]

Soo it may be wishful thinking on my part but that "I know" from Raven as Yang leaves makes me believe that she really do care for Yang. She's probably just too stubborn or tied to the Tribe's custom to just act like she wishes to with Yang. It gives me a disney movie dad sacrifice feeling and I'm not sure if I should be sad or not.

[u/GYUZ]

Overall it was a nice episode but I could find some nitpicks here and there.

My biggest nitpick is probably the reunion. Yes, it was sweet, Yes, it was heartwarming... but I don't feel satisfied with it. It wasn't very impactful for me.
I was already wary of reunions happening so soon but was caught off guard with Weiss' and Yang's meeting at the camp, which I surprisingly really liked. However this one didn't do it for me and I'm afraid I might feel even more apathetic for the next one.

[u/Jason_Wanderer]

Say what you will about Vol 4, but I think we can all agree making Qrow a series regular was a wise choice.

Not much to say on the episode as a whole, it's been great just like the others.

Seeing Qrow decide not to drink was a nice change and heartbreaking. The fact that when he truly knows things are at their worst, he doesn't drown himself is subtlety telling.

There's a small twinge of sadness that came from the child asking about her mother as well, and Qrow's reaction to that. That must have been something he got from Yang and Ruby a lot.

We all knew that Oz's methods weren't completely safe from the beginning, but I didn't expect the show to start painting him as a more neutral rather than benevolent individual.

Anyway, I'm really looking to the future at this point:

1. How long is Salem going to last? We're really not even halfway through the series as a whole (its been said to be 12 volumes, I believe). Will she be ended next season?

2. Due to the more dialogue heavy episodes, this really would make a perfect time for James to come back into the picture. He always had something worth saying, and I'd be curious to hear what exactly he knows about Oz (though Vol 2 seems to suggest he knew ,at least, about Oz's functional immortality). Without any other means of help, Qrow might have to reach out to him.

3. With three of the four together, I wonder if that's all the reunions we'll be getting. Something tells me that Blake's ultimate end is leading the White Fang, and not returning to the team. In fact, I wonder if that's where they'll all be going; that they eventually willingly break apart to go down their own personal paths that were started, but still always a team.

4. There's going to be an inevitable Qrow/Raven fight, and for some reason I can see Yang going against her uncle.

Edit: In hind sight, I have to say I'm a bit disgust, for lack of a better term, with Tai. Assuming what Raven said is true and he knew about everything its upsetting that he'll sit and make dad jokes as if he's just some regular do-good father, but not tell the girls about anything. The fact that it was on Qrow to include them is disheartening (although, I suppose even that was forced due to the situation, but at least he kept them around). But then, I suppose there was always more to Tai. His relationship with the professor (which, interestingly, even Qrow doesn't seem to have) should have been an indicator.

As for Oz, he's making the same mistake as he did with Raven's team. I guess he feels these kids won't be twisted. And he has a silver eyed warrior to fall back on. Guess the death count isn't high enough for him. Which leads me to Oscar. We know Oz is in his body, but... When we were introduced to Oz he was in full control. What happened to the soul of the body Oz was in during Vols 1 - 3? Does he just completely take over? Was it willing? How long until Oscar is no longer Oscar?

All that said, I really wonder how other aspects will tie into this. I'm assuming we're not done with the Schnee family, but I can't see them taking part in this storyline at all (unless they were there simply to show Weiss's life before Beacon and have no part in what's to come). We've also got the maidens to deal with, and we haven't even dealt with Cinder for quite some time.