RWBY Volume I Web Series Review

RWBY
Other Names: Ruby
Studio: Rooster Teeth
Writers: Monty Oum, Kerry Shawcross & Miles Luna
Director: Monty Oum
Music: Jeff Williams
Type: Original, Web Series (ONA)
Length: 16 episodes, episode length varies
Genres: Action, Adventure, Science-fantasy
Rating: N/A
Air Dates: N/A
Alternate Recommendations: Soul Eater (Anime) & Knights of Sidonia (3D Anime).

Synopsis:
The future-fantasy world of Remnant is filled with ravenous monsters, treacherous terrain, and more villains than you can shake a sniper-scythe at. Fortunately, Beacon Academy is training Huntsman and Huntresses to battle the evils of the world, and Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang are ready for their first day of class. (Source: Roosterteeth.com)

Review:
So how was Roosterteeth, creators of Hit Machinima Red vs Blue, first 'anime' production? Well, in short it had its short comings but with a little polish it could have been something special, however due to lots of issues it falls far from that tree.

The biggest problem I had with the show was the animation, not that the 3D animation was the problem, it was just bad though I only found this to be in none fight scene situations, as characters didn't look write in motion and the lip sync didn't always connect well but as said before the fights are great, with it being clear where they sunk their time and effort into, with fast moving fights that only get better as the series progresses, especially when coupled with great music making them more intense but this was the only highlight in the art and animation department as character designs, while they were unique, weren't nice to look at especially when couple with bad animation.
Though I must say the opening animation is great in comparison, especially with the opening song that fits the tone of the show well, unlike the ending songs which are average at best.

Speaking of the characters, while having good appearances their personalities are less to desired, though this was mainly prominent in the main characters rather than supporting cast, as you can some up team RWBY in just a few words: the short energetic one, the Tsundere ojou,  the quiet one and the tall energetic one, and none of these characters ever go through any development or change over the series, despite the rest of the cast having some great personalities and one or two getting of them getting decent development although it can be a bit cliché.

Speaking of cliché, the setting is definitely one, it's a show about high school students fighting monsters and such with giant weapons, where have you not heard this before it's like a harem anime setting without the harem part, though I must say the weapons in this show have certain uniqueness to them.
As for the plot, it's not bad but it just jumps around too much with one episode ending in the school and another starting in a town I've never heard of and it never tells you how they got there, which isn't helped by how the series is structured as each few episodes is structured into arcs, that just jump to one another without any questions answered, until it reaches a cliff-hanger ending that's just disappointing, but there is a second season so it isn't all bad.

Now a quick note of the voice acting, it was good, I felt the cast played there characters well, though some of the lower support characters good have been played better as the felt quite robotic at times.

Overall I'd give this a chance, as an American made anime is an interesting thing but it felt to close to Japanese anime with a cliché setting, story and characters but had it is worth watching for fantastic looking fight scene animation.

Final Verdict: 
Story/Setting: 5.2
Characters: 6.1
Animation/Art: 4.7
Sound: 7.8

Final Score: 5.9/10