Did You See That? RWBY Volume 7 Episode 13 - Season Finale
HOLY CRAP! This season of RWBY has been absolutely ridiculous. The season has come to an end and I can’t believe that’s where we’re ending. I mean, I can’t really think of a better stopping point, but I can’t believe I have to wait roughly 10 months for Volume 8. If you haven’t watched the season finale yet, beware that spoilers are ahead.
ORNJ (Oscar, Ren, Nora, and Jaune) start the episode off by taking on Neo who shows them up pretty bad. They almost get a good hit on her, but she uses her semblance to become shattered glass instead. I think the fights against Neo are my favorites in the series. There’s always something that feels more artistic about them and then her use of her semblance is just beautiful. ORNJ tries running around, but Oscar gets separated as he’s a little more tired than the others and Nora pulls him to safe cover from Atlas forces. Unfortunately, it’s not actually Nora, but rather Neo pretending to be Nora and so a chase starts again. Ren shows up and tries getting her since she now has the lamp, but because she looks like Nora he can’t do it and it kills him inside as he sheds a tear. Ren is having a rough season.
Penny and Winter are fighting Cinder and things are going okay. I realized this season that Winter doesn’t use a rapier, but rather a saber for her weapon and then, right after I noticed this, she split it so that it’s TWO! Cinder eventually gets the upper hand though and Winter is falling to her doom. Luckily, Penny saves her. In this time, Cinder goes and opens the device that the Winter Maiden is in and she wakes up and stops Cinder. This also means she loses a little control and everything gets bitter cold and only Penny can approach. She is able to bring the Winter Maiden back to her wits, but she’s weak. She asks Penny if Penny’s the one who is supposed to take the powers. She hesitates and Winter fights Cinder for another couple of seconds before getting tossed aside. It’s at this point that Penny becomes a real girl. She takes the Winter Maiden powers and in theory has gained her own aura, thereby making her a “real” girl. This is big! She’s able to defeat Cinder for now and then she goes with Ruby and Weiss after Winter gives them a headstart because she’s not willing to abandon Ironwood.
So, Oscar splits from the group and goes to talk to Ironwood in hopes of resolving this in a better way. Unfortunately, James has lost his heart at this point. He completely shuts Oscar out and then shoots Oscar causing him to fall down a void with his aura shattered. WHAT!? HE JUST MURDERED A TEENAGER! Well, Oz finally comes back to Oscar, there are some interesting words shared, and they land safely. However, this got me thinking. Ironwood is based on the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz and throughout this season he’s been working on getting his heart right and then at the end he takes his heart and gives it up. This made me think back to Leo in Mantel who was the Cowardly Lion. He didn’t have the courage to stand up to Hazel and Salem. I wonder what the Scarecrow (I’m guessing the person in charge of Shade Academy in Vacuo) is going to be like.
RWBY, with the help of Pietro and Maria, steals another aircraft and after everyone except Oscar gets on, they see what is coming. A giant flying whale that I have dubbed Monstro flys into the picture with Salem riding on top and a swarm of flying Grimm all around. This is not good for Atlas. Not good at all.
Oh, also did you notice that Watts is alive? How about the fact that Robyn was also arrested? I teared up a little when I saw Qrow holding Clover’s badge.
So, I’m very torn about how much longer RWBY is going to last. I thought it was going to be 9 seasons, but I’m starting to wonder if it’s going to go to 12. If they go with 9, I would expect a time skip for Volume 8 to have them arriving or already in Vacuo. We know that’s where they have to go since there’s another relic there. If they go to 12, then Volume 8 will be their journey to Vacuo a la Volume 4 or Volume 6. Then, Volume 9 will be in Vacuo and Volumes 10-12 will be leading up to and containing the final showdown. I’m just excited because when they do get to Vacuo, we’ll be able to see Team CFVY and Team SNNN again as we learn in After the Fall.