I like how most of this is just headcannons. Ruby up until Volume 4 just sometimes feels like a spectator. Like she helps Jaune during the Jaunedice arc, has interactions with Penny and the whole motivation thing with Oobleck in V2, but for other certain things, she seems like an NPC that responds to things. Like with Blake and her problems, it seemed that Weiss and Yang did most of the work. Then in V4 the conversations she has with JNR feel like small talk. It was only the talk with Jaune that felt any sort of impact. Nora and Ren were doing their own thing and i kind of wish there was a connection here. Heck i don't think Jaune and Ruby ever find out that the Grimm they killed murdered Ren's parents. Then she writes this letter that just feels... empty. I can understand that sometimes characters monologue, but it's then revealed to be to someone or they are writing in a book. Ruby is writing a letter to Yang, which makes it obsolete because Yang is no longer home and can't read it. We never even see Yang read or talk to Ruby about the letter. It feels more like she is talking to us, which again would be fine, but it's clear that this was towards Yang. I think it would have been more impactful if it revealed that Yang was reading the letter while going to Mistral, showing that not everything was happening at the same time. And remember these were the same writers during V4 who admitted they keep the timeline vague as possible and then also not realize the animators had Blake slap Sun in the face three times when it was supposed to be a slap on the shoulder. You should actually listen to the director's commentary. They hardly have any idea what they're doing.
So Ruby's arc is that she misinterpreted what Oz told her and was slowly breaking down because she's doing too much? Ok. Why does the the show not show it then. It's not Ruby who is staying up late training her ass off, while traveling with RNJR or skipping meals so that the rest of her team get more. It's not Ruby who is tirelessly running around Mistral investigating. It's not Ruby who is running herself ragged trying to keep the team together after learning the truth about Salem. It's not Ruby who is leading a suicide mission against Salem in Atlas. It's not Ruby who is desperately trying to hide her anguish from her team as to not negatively affect them in the Ever After. Without moments like these the allegations that Ruby was slowly breaking down, don't really work. It never feels like it's building up to something. Hell every other character has their own hurdles to overcome, which they do with little to no lasting effects, don't end up trying to ice themselves like Ruby did. And while that might be ''realistic'' RWBY is not a biography of one Ruby Rose written two centuries after her passing. It's a fictional adventure story that can take the necessary creative liberties to bring across it's message across to the audience. Show Ruby losing sleep over Pyrrha's death and how that affects her. Dark rings under her eyes, sluggish movement worse combat performance. Show her writing the letter alone, crumpling it and ugly crying, before putting on a brave face because she heard JNR come back. Show her actively hide her anguish from her team, by looking gloomy one moment and forcing out a smile when someone checks on her, Have her talk to Little about why she is doing that and how important it is to her. Sure that might be too on the nose at times, but then you can at least watch without needing to write your own fanfiction about *what really is happening in the show*
I didn't know the apathy was meant for Volume 4! It makes so much sense thought with such a big focus on Ren with his semblance masking emotions and the apathy being well, the apathy.
In Volumes 8 and 9, Ruby finally reached a point where she could no longer move forward. She had goals to achieve in volumes 4, 5, 6 and 7. In 8 and 9 she had an immovable object in front of her and realized she was not an unstoppable force. She could no longer ignore her feelings because there was finally nothing left but her feelings. Nothing to distract.
One Question. Why Does Ruby not Seems Effected by Any of What happened, Or if she is, Why Can't we see it? Sure you can SAY that she's effected by the Fall of Beacon and Pyrrha, but can you really see it? Every Character has something, Qrow has the Poison's Burden, Jaune has Guilt over not being Strong, Ren is Letting His Emotions get to him, and Nora is starting to crack from being the Emotional Bright Spot, Yet...where's Ruby's Point, she seems...Stagnant. And this problem gets WORSE if you ask me, as the Volumes go on, Volume 5 She talks big vs raven, yet nothing they've ever done seems like something really special (what impossible odds?), Volume 6 and the Plan to steal a ship to Atlas, Volume 7 Lying to Ironwood Despite knowing the pain of being lied to about Salem, and Volume 8 and 9, where every time she tries to reflect, somebody jumps in and says "It's not your fault." It genuinely feels like Ruby isn't allowed to Develop, isn't allowed to BE more that the Plucky Young Girl in a Bad World.
It felt like a bit of whiplash seeing something positivity about RWBY, but also feel refreshing to watch it. So thank you for creating, it feels nice to remember what make us love this series, despite it's letdowns. If I have to choose one magical moment is Volume 2, Dance Dance Infiltration. Despite my frustations with her character, the part where Pyrrha finally speak out her feelings regarding being "The Invicible Girl" has made her feel like nobody wanted to get close to her, and yet she feels happy that she actually made friends, real connections that make her feel like an actual person rather than just an figure to look up. Which paints her fate in volume 3 saddening.
I could always appreciate what they were trying to do with Volume 4. I could see the vision, the direction they were trying to take the show in. The tone changed, they were trying to figure out how to use the new engine they were animating the show on, there are plenty of reasons the show struggle in V4 and V5 but I could always enjoy it because I could see the passion and vision behind the project.
