Member Reviews

I have to start off by saying that I want to eat this artwork. It is stunning and lends itself perfectly to the endearing story. AND I WANT TO EAT IT.

I honestly hadn't heard of RWBY before they/Rooster Teeth teamed up with Smite/Titan Forge Games, so when I saw ViZ's gracious offer to read their first manga, I thought, 'Sure, why the heck not?' I wasn't disappointed and am, in fact, now hooked. Bring in the other installments that cannot come sooner, as well as the anime, which doesn't have the drool-inducing artwork, yet appears just as fun. I adore the references to other wonderful bits of culture (Glynda and Ozpin, Arc and Nikos, etc) and the naming of the specific Grimms (hello, Nevermore, why yes, I do love you so). The concept is straight up my alley, my cup of tea, including favourite things and nice chemistry and four badass ladies being badass without the demeaning tropes - my goodness, the sisterly relationship between Ruby and Yang is, to quote Yang, deliciously adorable.

Was this review helpful?

I recieved a free digital edition in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and given freely.

I enjoyed this one it was fun and exciting and it seems to have a great plot, I can't wist to see where it goes. I did find it a little hard to distinguish between a couple of character but that could be because it was on my phone so it was really small 😔 also the watermark made it harder to read some of the panels.

I did like to read about the budding friendships between the characters and I'm looking forward to seeing how they grow and develop as a team and individuals 😊

Was this review helpful?

I have always wanted to get into the RWBY series but was never sure where to start. This manga is the perfect starting point for people new to the series and a run read for fans as well. I loved the characters and their developments. They were each a joy to get to know. The artistry of the series is excellent. There was the perfect balance of action and the battle scenes are exciting. I love the premise and the world. This is a super fun read. I highly recommend it.

Was this review helpful?

A faithful adaptation to the animated series, this volume retells the beginning through a lively and lovely art style. Looking upon it as someone's potential first introduction to RWBY, it does miss some key parts that affect the flow somewhat, but for a fan of the series, I think this would be a wonderful adaption to re-experience the story through again.

Was this review helpful?

Thanks to Netgalley and Viz Media for a free copy in exchange for an honest review

I thoroughly love and enjoy this show very much and I was extremely surprised to receive this! Unlike previous Manga of these characters this follows the show, at least this volume.

It’s been years since I’ve watched the first volume but reading this took me back. It was such a simpler happier time.

I really enjoyed the art style. I definitely recommend if you didn’t enjoy the graphics of the t first volume of the show, as this was off putting to me when I first attempted to watch the show.

I will say that following along with who is talking is a bit confusing, which wouldn’t be great for newcomers who don’t have previously seen the show.

Overall, I think it’s nice to have as a fan of the series and the girls.

Was this review helpful?

I was super excited to see a new manga version of RWBY coming out, especially since it's starting out where the show started. Fans of the show RWBY will recognize this story arc as it starts off at the same point, with a robbery being committed and foiled by Ruby.

This is a great introduction to the main set of characters as well as the setting and world. That being said, a lot of the action sequences were a little hard to follow in the manga format. It's understandable as action can be hard to portray, but if I hadn't watched this part of the show already I may not have been able to follow the action sequences and what was happening.

Still, if you're a lover of the series, this will definitely be something to add to your collection.

Was this review helpful?

The referential elements were distracting as it does not at add to the narrative, The characters were not super engaging. And, the world building was just okay. Not bad but not my cup a tea.

Was this review helpful?

<I> Thank you to VIZ Media for providing me with an eARC of this graphic novel via NetGalley. This book is currently set to be published in August 2020 </I>

<U> RWBY </U> is an action packed manga with a heavy female lead. It is based on the apparently famous anime series which I have personally not heard of previous to spying this book. If you are in the same boat as me, the gist of it goes as follows: Ruby Rose (the main protagonist for this volume) is prematurely admitted to Beacon Academy, a school for hunters/tresses where students learn to fight Grimm (monsters who are committing all kinds of atrocities in the world). Through some school sanctioned event she is forced to team up with three other huntresses. The four of them form an official cohort which is then expected to go out and protect the world from Grimm together.

This manga is all action and banter. It is light-hearted, but from this small sample I foresee a tonne of bickering. It was a quick, entertaining read and I found that my lack of background experience did not detract from my understanding of the plot, but I am not sure that I loved it enough to pursue reading the subsequent volumes. Nothing was wrong with it in particular, but I think my personal tastes are a little less fighting and a little more comedy.

Was this review helpful?

Reading this reminds me of why I love the show so much. The art is absolutely amazing, and the characters are still some of the best out there. I had a little trouble following along with how the panels were placed, but I figure that was just how the arc looked and it’ll probably look better in the final product.

I cannot wait until we get more into the series. Will definitely follow this series.

Was this review helpful?

*Thank you to the author and Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

<b>2 stars</b>

Listen!! I'm not saying I didn't like this manga - it's a personal preference of mine that I don't enjoy reading action packed books/scenes, but I do love watching this kind of thing and this manga was action non-stop, so I wont continue reading this series but I'll definitely look out the anime version to watch!

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy of this manga in exchange for an honest review. My opinion was not affected by the free copy.

I guess I should start by saying I'm not at all familiar with RWBY apart from some things I heard online. I'm guessing that knowing about it would have changed how I read the manga. Coming in as a newcomer, I found it pretty enjoyable. The artwork was nice and the action scenes were drawn well. I am a bit more interested in watching RWBY now, and if I do I might read this again to see if my opinion changes.

Was this review helpful?

Having seen trailers for the RWBY anime, I was interested to know more about the story and jumped at the chance to read this first volume of the manga. Overall, I loved the story premise and thought the characters were original and engaging. There was plenty of potential for lots of action and adventure, and I could see myself getting caught up in the world and its events. However, I wasn't completely taken with the drawing style in this manga. It had an 'unfinished', minimal look that didn't appeal to me, so that was a little off-putting as I was reading. Obviously that will be a personal thing for each reader, though, so if you like fantasy adventure mangas, I would recommend giving this one a try. I probably won't rush to read on myself, but I may check out the anime. 3.5 stars from me.

I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

For starters, I really like the art style, which is honestly one of the most important features of any comic or graphic novel, for me. However, it was sometimes difficult to tell who was saying what or what. I had to go off of context clues and my knowledge of the series from watching Volume 1 of the anime, and even then I couldn’t always figure it out.

The story is a faithful adaptation, at least from what I can remember. I haven’t watched RWBY Volume 1 since it came out in 2013. But the characters and setting are the same, and the plot is the same, except where it’s been condensed to fit sixteen episodes into a single book. A lot of this first volume was exposition and world building, as you might expect, but there was enough action mixed in that it was never boring.

Speaking of action, it definitely came across better in the anime than in the manga, which I think is just a limitation of the medium. Overall, I would recommend this to fans of RWBY who have already seen the show and who like the manga’s art style. It was a fun little nostalgic revisit to Volume 1, and it’s convinced me to go back and watch it again.

Was this review helpful?

this is a classroom story where the characters are learning to become huntresses and hunters. Their goal is to hunt down monsters, and take them out.

The main character is a prodigy named Ruby. Her goal is to become a huntress and save people from monsters.

I like that this story contains primarily women who are trying to protect the world, and that the monsters seem unique.

I received this title as an arc from NetGalley.

Was this review helpful?

First of all, let me say that I have seen the anime version of this and absolutely loved it, so I was really looking forward to reading this. That said, I had some issues with the manga version. While I still loved all the characters and the story was really intriguing and fun, I felt like it was missing something. I felt like I kept skipping pages somehow. And this really needed color. Maybe that is just the ARC version, but without color it didn’t feel the same. It was hard to pick out what was happening in the black and white and, even knowing who the characters were going in, it was hard to tell them apart with no color differentiation. I would be interested to see this when it is released and see what changes. Right now I will definitely say I prefer the anime to the manga, and if I didn’t have a sense of who everyone was beforehand, I think I would probably be really confused.

Was this review helpful?

ARC Copy...basically if you have seen the first episode you can guess what will happen. The already manga style fits nicely also and the pacing/action shots fallows more manga styling too but...would be nice to have some colour seeing colour schemes are important in this "verse" and characterization....what's Ruby without her red colours?

Was this review helpful?

I have recently gotten into manga and I can honestly say that I don't think this series is for me unfortunately.

Was this review helpful?

<i>arc provided by the publisher and netgalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

I didn’t know what to expect going into this, I just knew that I was drawn in by the cover. But then we got badass female characters, an academy setting and enemies forced to pair up and begrudgingly become friends and a super cool and intriguing magic system?? This had everything I love in a book and I absolutely loved every page and every moment reading this. I flew through it.

This had all my buzz words and I am so glad I got a chance to read this. I will definitely be continuing on with this series in the future! If any of those are buzz words for you too, definitely give this one a read!


5/5 ⭐️

Was this review helpful?

I was initially drawn to this manga because of the art. While I've heard a little about RWBY from my friends, I'm not familiar with the overall story/premise. From what I gather, the story follows students of the Beacon Academy, as they learn to fight monsters called Grimms, in order to become huntsmen. Each character has a special skill, such as power over illusions, or super speed. There is also a shadowy thief character, who steals Dust, which is used as a catalyst for magic.

The main character, Ruby, is initially recruited early into Beacon Academy after an encounter with the Dust Thief. She is endearing, energetic, and earnest; a classic hero/main character combination. The other characters each have their own quirks, such as Yang, Ruby's older sister's protectiveness over her little sister, and Juane's silliness. Overall, the cast is quite cute, and I look forward to seeing more from them and seeing their relationships develop over the series.

While the action was very exciting and the art beautiful, it was a little hard to follow at times (and the large watermark certainly didn't help). The characters were a little difficult to tell apart given that the majority of them are girls with long hair, so that was occasionally confusing as well.

I am definitely intrigued by the story and would be interested in continuing to follow RWBY.

Thank you to the publisher, the author, and Netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?