A big hit during New York Comic-Con 2014 was the creative production studio, Rooster Teeth and their hit animated web series, ‘RWBY.’ The show about a team of young girls who are training to be huntresses in the World of Remnant is way into their second season -- or volumes, as the creative team dubs them -- and it’s shaping up to be a huge finale.
With their ‘RWBY’ panel being a huge hit at NYCC, and becoming the first American-produced anime to be exported to Japan it seems everything is coming up [Ruby] roses.
iDigital Times got to sit down with ‘RWBY’ creator/director Monty Oum, series writer and co-director Kerry Shawcross and the voice of Yang herself, Barbara Dunkelman, to discuss the recent success, how the show has changed in its relative short life and what to expect in the future.
First off, congrats on a successful second season, the panel on Thursday was great, but I have to ask. How can you leave the audience hanging like that?
[laughs]
Barbara: “You gotta leave them wanting more, man.”
Monty: “I just like being an asshole.” [laughs]
B: “Truer words have never been spoken.” [laughs]
Ok, but what gave you the idea for showing the episodes during the panel the way that you did?
B: “We always like to give something exclusive to panels whenever we give them. Episode 10 was going to premiere that day, so we were like ‘Oh, we should give them a little of the next episode.”
Kerry: “And it was going to be hard to get to the episode anyways because they were going to be at the con. And while we’re here, we should give them a little bit extra.”
B: “Exactly.”
I’ve noticed from season 1 into season 2, it seems you guys have really hit your stride. From the writing to the choreography. Can you explain the process, are the longer episode lengths helpful?
K: “Definitely, it’s hard to get through a story in five minutes but we really wanted to take a look at season 1 and take everything we learned and make season 2 even better.
And how would you describe the mood or tone of season 2. Is it any different than the first?
M: “Season one was definitely like introductions, being an awkward first day of school. Season two was kind of like, ‘something’s going on, we need to do something about it.’”
B: “I mean, it was definitely important for introducing the characters and developing them a bit. With volume two we can get into those stories more and dig deeper even more.”
K: “And into the world itself.”
And how big is this world?
B: “HUGE!” [laughs]
M: “So BIG! Like THIS big!” [laughs]
And Barbara, you’re the voice of Yang but why doesn’t your character have a romantic interest like everyone else seems to?
B: “Everyone develops their story in a different way and with Yang it’s a journey of self discovery for her. Especially in the first couple of volumes. I dont know, it doesn’t seem that important for every character to have a romantic interest quite yet."
K: “She’s a very confident person.”
M: “She don’t need no man!” [laughs]
B: “But when she does want one she can go and get one.” [Laughs]
Do you see yourself in Yang?
B: “Absolutely. And I think Monty, Kerry and Miles have written her in a way that kind of reflects on me a little bit. Just because I believe I was in a way the inspiration for the character.”
At the Thursday panel you also announced the Volume 2 finale date [Oct. 30], and it seems so close, what’s the release schedule?
K: “Episode 10 came out yesterday [Oct. 9], next week will be a ‘World of Remnant’ and then 11 and 12 after that.”
And what should we expect? Are you guys going to leave us all hanging again?
M: “We answer some questions and ask more questions.”
B: “The way it should be.”
What was also announced at the panel was the new figurines. Can you get into some more details or a release schedule?
B: “They are being developed by 3A, which is a company that does a lot of really intricate, great figures and it’s an honor to work with them. Ruby will be the first figure and she will be released with the DVD. And then each figure will follow after that.”
And what can you say about season 3? A release date?
[collective laugh]
M: “No. Not yet. [laughs] We are really far ahead for season 3. There’s a lot of things we want to do. Stuff that we’ve wanted to do since volume 1.”
K: “Stuff that we’ve talked about on the show already.”
B: “The stuff we really want to do and do right is going to take time and our audience understands that. And they would rather wait and have something worth it then have us rush it.”
