RWBY V9 C9

## Plot

We hear the female narrator from the beginning of the first episode again. It turns out that she's reading *The Girl Who Fell Through the World*. A door opened for Alyx at the tree, but before she could go back home, she had a great many questions to ponder. After all the lessons she'd learned, and the friends she'd made and lost, who had she become? Would she still be the same Alyx when she went back home? It turns out that the narrator is *Summer Rose*, and she's reading the story to a young Yang and Ruby. Her concept art is shown during the credits, showing us that her outfit has changed since we last saw her model in volume 7, and confirming that the gun axe that Ruby saw before was indeed her weapon, making her the Woodsman that saves Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother from the Big Bad Wolf. The last question Alyx was asked is the same one Ruby is being asked now: What are you? Meanwhile, the other girls and Jaune ride Juniper out of Neo's mansion and back to the destroyed town. Despite all of his time and experience in the Ever After, Jaune still doesn't know what this place wants. He doesn't understand what he did wrong, but Weiss assures him that they can figure this out. There has to be a way to get to the tree. They meet star shaped beings called the Genial Gems at the destroyed town. They're the ascended forms of the Paper Pleasers, and they're still as kind and helpful as ever, with the same purpose as before. They start cleaning up the town and use a power to make an ice statue out of the water. They were right about the tree. It made them better. No flood or fire will ever hurt them again. Jaune finally realizes that he was being selfish by stopping them from becoming what they needed to be, all so he could feel the cheap rush of being a hero and saving someone. Weiss tells him that he's asking too much of himself. They've all been doing that. They thought they were no good because they failed, but even the best Huntsmen in history have all lost. Volume 3, chapter 11: "You wanna be a hero? Then play the part and die like every other Huntsman in history!" Despite that though, they were all incredibly brave, and good, and everyone hugs Jaune. I know a lot of people have said that this feels out of place, both tone and focus wise, when the last episode was almost entirely focused on Ruby and her mental state, and it ended with the others watching her basically commit you know what in all but name, which saddened and horrified them all, but here, they're smiling and focusing more on helping Jaune with his mental state, which is part of what led to Ruby's breakdown at the end of episode 7 in the first place. Seriously, I think that she needs to hear this too, but she gets less than five minutes of screen time in this insanely short episode. I agree that it's… not the best, but the girls have already accepted that ascension isn't death, so they know Ruby will be back too. That being said, they don't know if she'll be herself or have her memories when she comes back out. This world doesn't work like Remnant, or our world, so trying to apply our rules, logic, and values to it doesn't work, since death, or at least permanent death, does not exist in this world except for the Jabberwalker, and the genuine article might have been killed by Neo at the end of chapter 3. Jaune finally admits that maybe the cat was right. He just needed to accept it. It's not a place you go, it's a place you know. They're suddenly transported to the top of the tree, by the tree itself. Wooden statues of those in the process of ascension are there, like the Herbalist… as well as Ruby. Yang wants to free her by force, but Jaune tells her that the tree is acceptance. Weiss says they've done all they can. Whoever Ruby becomes now is up to her, and they have to support her regardless of what she chooses. But what if she isn't Ruby when she comes back out? Blake says that maybe that's not for them to decide. Um, I'd like to point out that, if anything, the other girls and Jaune have made Ruby's mental state *worse*, by ignoring her, snapping at her, not asking her what she saw or went through when they were separated from her, either by choice or force, etc. And that's just what has happened in this volume alone, never mind everything else! Yes, Ruby herself also made it worse by isolating herself and not overtly opening up to them, and all of this was intentional on the writers' part in order to lead to Ruby's breakdown in the first place, but still. Also, going through some seriously messed up shit does not equal character development. It never has, and it never will. It can certainly lead to personal growth and change, but only if it's actually followed up on and not just brushed off to the side. Like I said at the beginning of the premiere, everyone needs therapy. Ren, you have your work cut out for you. Again. It turns out that the wooden statues are not statues at all, but cocoons or chrysalises, as the one of the Herbalist breaks open to reveal his new form, with actual legs and fully formed butterfly wings, and he flies off. From here, we cut back and forth between Ruby's internal journey and the others at the tree, which I personally thought was rather jarring, because it felt like once I had gotten used to one scene, they would suddenly switch to the other one, which had a different tone, background music, sound effects, voice actors, etc. One of Ruby's scenes lasts less than 30 seconds. Oh god, I'm getting Ninjago season 15 flashbacks. So I'm just going to stick with one scene to try and preserve what remains of my sanity. This is also why I waited until I had watched the volume finale, since this episode is basically part 1 of it, and I wanted the full context before I started writing about it. Waiting an extra week honestly wasn't *that* hard. It's nothing compared to waiting two years, plus I have two jobs, so my life is busy enough as it is. The group hears a banging noise and finds a giant glowing doorway. That's their way back home. The doors have the dragon forms of the brother gods on them. It turns out that the banging is from the cat in Neo's body trying and failing to go through the door. Neo can't go through because she has no attachments to Remnant. She's failed the cat… just like Alyx did. It turns out that they knew exactly what happened at the tree, because they really were there, and they simply lied about not knowing what happened to the siblings in chapter 6. Damn, they're a good actor. I totally bought it because that's the only time their colors faded. They had reached the door to Remnant, but Alyx talked to the tree and had a sudden crisis of conscience. She wanted to stay behind to fix everything she had broken in the Ever After, including Jaune. Lewis went through the door, and wrote the story at some point as a memorial to her. When Oscar quoted the end of the story in the previous volume, it was actually Lewis's feelings about never getting to see his sister again. "[He] brushed off [his] bumps and bruises, but nothing hurt worse then the loneliness in [his] chest." The cat was so furious that they killed Alyx. Everyone takes out their weapons, and the cat changes Neo's arms into large blue paws. Before they can attack though, they see that Ruby is still here. I'm surprised that they're surprised, since they know how ascension works, even if they've never personally experienced it themselves. Maybe they just thought that Ruby died, since a human from Remnant has never gone through ascension before. They decide to go back to their original plan and possess Ruby to go to Remnant. As for the others, they'll put them in the ground. They have access to Neo's Semblance, but their illusions aren't as tough as hers. Their fighting style is also different. Before Jaune can stab them, they turn into Penny, which makes him hesitate, and an illusion of Pyrrha attacks him, before it's shattered by the cat kicking him through it. Weiss sees this and tries to fireball the cat, but it was an illusion. It hits Jaune's shield instead, and he falls, leaving his fate unknown. Ruby meets the blacksmith again, and we get to see her clearly for the first time. She wasn't expecting Ruby just yet, and Ruby wasn't expecting to be here at all. Ruby asks her if she's the tree. She does create new forms for the Afterans, but that is a simplistic understanding of the tree and what it does. Ruby asks her if she's going to die, but the blacksmith tells her that the only thing that can happen to her here is what she wants to happen. The choice of who she becomes and where she ends up is hers to make. However, she doesn't know what she wants. She wanted to be the hero, like the stories her mom read to her. She just wanted to do the right thing, but every step of the way, it's like there is no right thing. She tried so hard, but she may have just done more harm than good. She doesn't understand who she needs to be, because who she is right now isn't cutting it. The blacksmith points out that she could be *anyone*, and unveils dozens or even hundreds of glass cases with weapons in them, like Cloud's Buster Sword, but they're not very detailed, because budget. It's not about who did wield them, but who could. She could be that person, and leave Ruby Rose behind. It's all so heavy. It's the only thing she can feel anymore, and it never goes away. The feeling of not being enough. The blacksmith asks her how she would measure enough. Ruby sees her mother's weapon and reaches out for it as the episode ends. To quote *Barbie (2023)*: I am Kenough. Ruby, you are Kenough. And as we'll see in the next episode, we are all Kenough, even if we don't feel like we are.

## Review

After sitting on it and letting it stew for a week, I personally thought that this episode was… meh. It's far from great, but I liked the music and voice performances, the fight scene, etc. I wasn't a big fan of the pacing (too fast) or the structure (all over the place), but maybe someone else feels differently, and that's okay. Everyone's opinions on anything are based on personal preference. For example, I love spicy food, but I can't stand sweet food. When volume 9 originally came out, myself and the rest of my family were going through it. My brother basically became fully blind, because it hadn't been caught by his usual optometrist the first time around. He also has brain damage from when he was born, as well as anger issues because he can never drive, be independent, have a romantic relationship, or a job, etc., because of all those limitations, and he hates it. He's angry, sad, ill, and lethargic, and no one can help him. I don't know how to help him. Even if a cure existed for what caused his blindness, there's no way my middle class family could afford it, even with good healthcare, because we live in the selfish capitalist hellscape that is the U.S. I worry that he might commit you know what someday, but I haven't shared that fear with anyone in my family, especially my parents, because they're already dealing with too much as it is. Sometimes, I feel the same way Ruby does in this volume. Like a failure, like I'll never be "enough" for my family no matter how hard I try. I don't even know what would be "enough" for them. My parents have always told me that they love me no matter what, and I know that's true, but I feel some sort of invisible weight. Like when they're too old to work, or when they're gone, I have to be the smart one, the responsible one, and take care of my siblings for the rest of my life. But I don't want that responsibility. I don't want to do that, but I have to, because I have no other choice. I can't just discard my siblings like they're useless, broken things, because they're not. They're people who have done nothing wrong and have never hurt anyone in their lives. They're my family. I could never abandon them or intentionally hurt them. That's cruel and wrong, and that's not the kind of person I want to be. I want to be someone who inspires others, in the same way my favorite creators have inspired me, and in some ways, I want to be even better than them. But that's such a lofty goal. I don't know if I can reach it. And even if I could, would that truly make me happy, or content, or satisfied? I honestly don't know. But I think I'd like to find out. I don't mean better as in more successful though, I mean better as in I want to be a better person than them (and in some cases, it's rather easy. Just don't be a bigot, and educate yourself before sending something out to the mass of idiots and misinformation that is the internet). In a way, this reminds me a lot of *Encanto* and *Turning Red* with familial pressures and expectations, whether they're real or imaginary, and that generational trauma can do a lot of damage. I wonder if Ruby feels that way, like she needs to live up to and even surpass her mother by inspiring others, working together with her team whereas Team STRQ fell apart, and defeat Salem, which is something that even Summer couldn't do. The synopsis of volume 9 is this: "After the harrowing events of Volume 8, our heroines are thrust into an unknown world–the Ever After! However, once Team RWBY explores this strange and mysterious realm, they quickly discover it might not be quite as unknown as they first assumed. As they journey to find a way back home, they'll have to overcome some of their toughest challenges yet–the struggle of their own identities, and whether or not they're equipped to stop Salem." However, I feel like they don't really do that last part. If anything, it reminds me of when everyone considered giving up in volume 6, chapter 6 due to the effect of the Apathy Grimm. Blake and Yang have a great time in the Ever After, Weiss basically forgets about her trauma/guilt involving Atlas in the second half of it because there's not enough screen time to resolve it *and* deal with Ruby and Jaune's trauma, etc. Salem is only explicitly mentioned twice in the entire volume. If volume 10 is green lit though (seriously Warner, stop holding out on us), then those arcs might continue. I'm just saying, the *One Piece* manga has been going on since 1997, and the anime has been airing since 1999. I repeat, the manga is older than I am, the anime is basically the same age, the live action adaptation just came out on Netflix less than two months ago, and all of them are still on-going. Damn. What's wrong with western animation that it's getting basically the exact opposite treatment? I blame the higher ups.