RWBY

Background

The story takes place in the fictional world of Remnant, composed of four kingdoms (Vale, Mistral, Atlas and Vacuo), that are invaded by malevolent monsters known as the "Creatures of Grimm".^[18] Prior to the events of the series, the world was overseen by two opposing deities, the God of Light and the God of Darkness. Humanity was obliterated by the gods, due to the actions of Salem, a vengeful woman cursed with immortality for trying to manipulate them into reviving her beloved Ozma. Ozma was subsequently reincarnated by the Gods to guide a new human race toward harmony and after succeeding, summon the gods back for judgement using four relics, the Staff of Creation, the Sword of Destruction, the Crown of Choice and the Lamp of Knowledge, leading to an endless conflict between him and Salem as she believes that the gods' final judgement is the only way she can die. The discovery of the element, Dust, triggered a technological and industrial revolution for humanity.

The deity brothers themselves were born in the Ever After, a world that is the setting of the fairy tale The Girl Who Fell Through the World. They were created by the world's Great Tree to help it make the Ever After, with their first creations being the Curious Cat and the Jabberwalker, the brothers' differences and arguments forced the Tree to send them out of the Ever After, where they could create and experiment until they understand the true nature of balance, eventually leading to the creation of Remnant. The Curious Cat wished to leave the Ever After with Alyx, the main character of the story, and learn why their creators left, but she decided to stay behind and make up for the damage she had caused, breaking the Cat's heart and driving them to insanity who killed Alyx, with her brother Lewis returning to Remnant and telling the story as he wished it had happened.

In the present day, having formed a cabal to guard their world's secrets, one of Ozma's incarnations, Ozpin, establishes academies in the four kingdoms of Remnant to train Huntsmen and Huntresses against the Grimm, with each academy concealing one of the relics.

Plot

The series focuses on four girls attending Beacon Academy in the kingdom of Vale: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. Together, they form Team RWBY ("ruby").^[19][20] With their friends Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren forming their own team, JNPR ("juniper"). Ruby and Jaune become the leaders of their respective teams. Blake reveals herself as a cat Faunus (a human possessing animal traits) and former member of the White Fang organization. Cinder Fall, Roman Torchwick along with his assistant Neopolitan and the White Fang led by Adam Taurus, invade Beacon Academy. Roman is killed in the chaos. Yang loses her arm after seeing a conflict between Blake and Adam. Cinder becomes the Fall Maiden, and kills Ozpin and Pyrrha. Ruby defeats Cinder, forcing her and her minions to retreat.

Team RWBY is separated from each other with each being in different parts of the world. Ruby travels to Haven Academy in Mistral, with her uncle Qrow Branwen, Nora, Jaune and Ren. Weiss forcefully returns to Atlas by her abusive father Jacques, Blake returns to Menagerie to reconnect with her family and help the people fight back against the White Fang, and Yang resists post-traumatic stress disorder in Patch. Ruby and her friends later accompany Oscar Pine, Ozpin's current reincarnation. Weiss and Yang have Raven send them to Ruby and the others, and reunite with them. Cinder believes that Raven harbors the Spring Maiden (who is actually the Spring Maiden), and strikes a deal with her to open the vault containing the Relic of Knowledge. Jaune unlocks his boosting semblance, Ruby reconciles with her friends, and together overwhelm their enemies and obtain the relic. Jinn, the spirit within the Relic of Knowledge, reveals that Salem cannot be killed, causing a falling out between Ozpin and the heroes. They meet Maria Calavera, who helps Ruby control the power of her silver eyes. Ruby defeats Caroline Cordovin, while Blake and Yang kill Adam after he disbanded White Fang. After saving a city from a giant Grimm, Ruby and the others depart from Mistral, while Salem plans to seize the relics.

Ruby and her allies arrive in the occupied town of Mantle near Atlas, reunite with Penny Polendina, and are recruited by the Ace-Ops and their commander James Ironwood for their plan of informing the world about Salem. As Salem attacks and Penny becomes the Winter Maiden, Ironwood betrays the heroes and Mantle, deciding to save Atlas. Despite the overwhelming odds, the heroes warn Remnant about Salem, but Arthur Watts corrupts Penny with a virus. Team RWBY, with the guidance of Ozpin, obtains the Staff of Creation, and uses its spirit Ambrosius to turn Penny into a human and evacuate Atlas into Vacuo. However, Cinder intercepts them and mortally wounds Penny, who asks Jaune to kill her in order to transfer her Maiden powers to Weiss' sister Winter. Cinder betrays Neo and sends her, Jaune and Team RWBY into the void. After defeating Ironwood with her new powers, Winter joins the others in Vacuo. Cinder delivers both relics to Salem, leaving Ironwood and Watts to die in the falling kingdom. Team RWBY, Jaune and Neo end up in the Ever After, where they are forced to struggle with their feelings and burdens of their losses, especially Ruby and Jaune, who blame themselves for the fall of Atlas and Penny's death respectively. The heroes ultimately come to terms with their shortcomings, defeat and destroy the Curious Cat with Neo's help, who makes peace with Roman's death and stays behind, and return to Remnant where they witness the world mobilized against Salem in Vacuo.

Development

RWBY had been a long-standing concept of Oum's for years before it began development. Towards the end of his work on the tenth season of Rooster Teeth's Red vs. Blue, he developed the color-coding approach to character names and design as a hook for the series.^[19] During production on Red vs. Blue season 10, Oum asked series creator Burnie Burns if they could produce RWBY following the conclusion of that season. Burns, worried for the production schedule, told Oum "If you finish Season 10, then you can do whatever you want." Production on RWBY began as intended, with the first trailer being finished within two weeks and premiering after the credits of the Red vs. Blue season 10 finale on November 5, 2012.^[22]

Oum designed the characters with assistance from artist Ein Lee, utilizing designs inspired by classic fairy tale characters.^[19] Each character has an associated color, and it is the first letters of the main character's colors, red, white, black, and yellow, that give the series its name.^[23] The series was originally written by Oum, along with fellow Rooster Teeth employees Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross.^[24] Oum was initially concerned about a story focusing on female characters being developed by a primarily male crew, but said they managed to do well developing the female characters.^[22] Regarding the design, Oum wanted to "present a two-dimensional, toon-shaded look, but with all of the depth and complexity of a 3D-animated production". Volumes 1 to 3 were animated by the internal animation team of Rooster Teeth's studios in Austin using Smith Micro's Poser software, out of assets built on Autodesk Maya;^[25][26] however, starting with Volume 4, the production switched to using Maya entirely alongside additional modelling and animation being outsourced to the Monterrey-based studio CGBot. The series' music is composed by Jeff Williams, who previously composed the soundtracks for Seasons 8–10 of Red vs. Blue, and features vocals by Williams' daughter, Casey Lee Williams.

Marketing

A series of four promotional trailers, one for each lead character, was released. They were primarily produced by Oum and assistant animator Shane Newville.^[27] Each trailer begins by unveiling one of the four primary characters and then showing a detailed action sequence.^[24] The "Red" trailer was shown after the credits for Red vs. Blue's season 10 finale in November 2012.^[24][28] It was followed by the "White" trailer in February 2013.^[29] The "Black" trailer was unveiled at a PAX East panel at the end of March and was the first to include voice-acted dialogue.^[27] Following the premiere of the "Black" trailer, Oum noted with regret that the first two trailers were shorter and had less character development.^[27] The "Yellow" trailer was shown at Rooster Teeth's A-Kon panel on June 1, 2013.^[30] Music from the trailers was sold as digital downloads at several online retailers.^[31]

On July 5, 2013, at the RWBY panel for their RTX 2013 event, Rooster Teeth premiered the first episode of RWBY,^[32][33] and would post the episode to their website on July 18.^[34]

Release

Following the premiere of RWBY in July 2013, Rooster Teeth released new episodes of the first season (stylized as volumes) weekly on their website, with access two hours early for their sponsors.^[35] In August 2013, streaming website Crunchyroll announced it would simulcast RWBY.^[36][37] The first volume ran for sixteen episodes and concluded on November 7, before being released on DVD and Blu-ray.^[18][38]

The second volume was first screened at RTX on July 4, 2014, before its premiere on July 24.^[39] The second volume consisted of twelve episodes, and concluded on October 30, before being released on DVD and Blu-ray. In February 2015, Rooster Teeth announced that both volumes of RWBY were released on Netflix.^[40] The third volume premiered on October 24, 2015, along with an episode of the RWBY spinoff series World of Remnant.^[41]

Starting with the fourth volume, Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross were writing for the series.^[42] The fourth volume premiered on October 22, 2016. In January 2017, a fifth volume was announced to be in development,^[43] and premiered on October 14, 2017. Following the conclusion of the fifth volume, Rooster Teeth First members would get episodes one week earlier than the general public for future releases.^[44]

In September 2018, Rooster Teeth announced that the sixth volume would be released exclusively on the company's website, which later premiered on October 27, 2018. This decision was made after many episodes of RWBY on YouTube were demonetized.^[45] The seventh volume premiered on November 2, 2019. On October 28, 2020, all episodes of RWBY, save the trailers, character shorts, and the pilot episode, were removed from YouTube in an effort to promote Rooster Teeth's website and mobile, TV, and game console apps. Volume 8 premiered on November 7, 2020.

In January 2023, it was announced that the ninth volume would be released on Crunchyroll as part of a one-year exclusivity deal.^[46] The ninth volume premiered on February 18, 2023. It was later released on Rooster Teeth's website on March 30, 2024, alongside a bonus animatic episode that acts as an epilogue for the volume.^[47][48]

International release

The Blu-ray and DVD releases in Australia were handled by Hanabee Entertainment.^[49] The first volume was released in the UK by Animatsu Entertainment on May 4, 2015, on DVD.^[50]

On August 15, 2014, Rooster Teeth announced that a Japanese dub was being developed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Japan.^[51] Warner Bros. has also acquired local merchandising rights as well.^[52] The third volume was screened in select theaters on December 3, 2016.^[53][54] The fourth volume was released in select theaters for a limited two-week run from October 7 to 20, 2017.^[55] To promote the fourth volume, Volumes 1–3 were condensed into 12 episodes for broadcast on Tokyo MX and AbemaTV in July 2017 under the title RWBY 1–3: The Beginning.^[17][56][57]

Music

The music for the first eight volumes of RWBY has been composed primarily by Jeff Williams, with additional composition by Steve Goldshein, Mason Lieberman, and Alex Abraham. Williams was a member of the band Trocadero, who did the music for Rooster Teeth's Red vs. Blue, and eventually composed by himself the music for the three seasons of Red vs. Blue that preceded RWBY. Most of the vocals are provided by Williams' daughter Casey Lee Williams, with some additional vocals by Lamar Hall and Sandy Casey.

The soundtrack features a variety of genres, most notably intense, fast-paced rock music. In an interview with Rooster Teeth, Williams mentioned that he uses his lyrics to foreshadow future events on occasion. In developing the songs, Williams uses the show's script and picks out random words and phrases that he thinks are cool. He would also get advanced knowledge as to the character's development, their background stories and lives. He then picks out the emotions related to the scene, adds tempo, drumbeats, rhythm, and eventually composes the song from there.

In December 2022, Williams announced his retirement from music composition, with his daughter Casey taking over as the lead composer for RWBY starting with Volume 9. She is joined by Martin Gonzales, her fellow Ok Goodnight band member.

RWBY: World of Remnant (2014–17)

RWBY: World of Remnant is a series of animated shorts that comprises 16 episodes across three seasons. Each season aired concurrently with volumes 2–4, with each episode providing expository information on various subjects within the world of Remnant. The first season, which was narrated by Jen Taylor (who voices the character Salem on RWBY), premiered on Rooster Teeth on August 21, 2014, and concluded on November 14, 2014. The second season, which was narrated by Shannon McCormick (who voices the character Ozpin on RWBY), premiered on October 8, 2015, and concluded on January 23, 2016. The third season, which was narrated by Vic Mignogna (who voices the character Qrow Branwen on RWBY for volumes 3–6), premiered on October 17, 2016, and concluded on January 14, 2017.

RWBY Chibi (2016–18)

RWBY Chibi is a series of comedic animated shorts that comprises 64 episodes across three seasons. It was first announced as part of Rooster Teeth's 13th-anniversary celebration on April 1, 2016. Each episode consists of several individual segments where aspects of characters from RWBY are usually exaggerated for comic effect. The episodes follow no strict chronological order, nor do they follow the strict canon of the main series. The first season premiered on Rooster Teeth on May 7, 2016, and concluded on October 15, 2016.^[58] The second season premiered on May 13, 2017, and concluded on December 14, 2017.^[43] The third season premiered on January 27, 2018, and concluded on August 18, 2018.^[59] Following the conclusion of the third season, the series was put on an indefinite hiatus.

Ten additional RWBY Chibi segments were later produced as a part of Rooster Teeth's animated anthology series Neon Konbini which premiered on May 27, 2021, and concluded on July 15, 2021.

RWBY: Fairy Tales (2021)

RWBY: Fairy Tales is an anthology series of animated shorts that adapts several stories from the book RWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnant.^[60] The series premiered on October 30, 2021, for Rooster Teeth FIRST members and the following day for the public^[61] and concluded on December 4, 2021, after six episodes.

RWBY: Ice Queendom (2022)

RWBY: Ice Queendom (RWBY 氷雪帝国, Rubī: Hyōsetsu Teikoku) is an anime television series that was announced on March 25, 2022.^[62] The Japanese language version of the anime series premiered on July 3, 2022, on Tokyo MX, BS11, and MBS and concluded on September 18, 2022, after twelve episodes. The English language version premiered on Rooster Teeth on September 25, 2022, and concluded on December 11, 2022. The series is produced by Shaft and directed by Toshimasa Suzuki, with Kenjirou Okada in charge of chief direction, Gen Urobuchi in charge of animation concept, and Tow Ubukata in charge of script; in addition, Huke designed the character concepts, and Nobuhiro Sugiyama designed the characters for animation.^[62][63] Nobuko Toda and Kazuma Jinnouchi are composing the music.^[64] The cast for the Japanese dub of the original series reprised their respective roles.^[62] Void_Chords feat. L performed the opening theme song "Beyond Selves", while Ruby's Japanese voice actress, Saori Hayami, performed the ending theme song "Awake".^[64] Both the English and Japanese (with English subtitles) language versions of the series were also released on Crunchyroll.^[65]

Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen (2023)

Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen is a two-part direct-to-video film that was announced on July 1, 2022, at RTX, and was produced by Rooster Teeth in collaboration with Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.^[66] It acts as a crossover with characters from DC Comics and is loosely based on the RWBY x Justice League and DC/RWBY comic book series. It features the four main protagonists of RWBY (Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long), along with several other RWBY characters, most notably Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Also featured are characters based on the DC Comics superheroes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Cyborg, Vixen and Black Canary.^[67][68]

Part One first premiered at WonderCon on March 25, 2023^[69] before being released on April 25, 2023, on Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Google Play among other digital platforms.^[70][71] It was later added to Max on July 24, 2023.^[72]

Part Two was released on October 17, 2023^[73] and was later added to Max on January 29, 2024. The Complete Adventure, which combines both parts into a single film, was released on December 5, 2023.

RWBY Beyond (2024)

RWBY Beyond (also known as RWBY Volume 9: Beyond) is an anthology series of animated shorts that focuses on events that occur on Remnant during and after Volume 9.^[47] The series premiered on April 13, 2024, and concluded on April 27, 2024, after four episodes.^[74]

Critical response

RWBY has received mostly positive reviews from critics ever since its debut. Commentators discussing the promotional trailers lauded the show's animation style and soundtrack. The trailers prompted enthusiastic anticipation for the series premiere.^[24][27][29] When the first episode premiered at RTX, it was so popular with attendees that seating was full at all three screenings. Amanda Rush, writing for Crunchyroll, noted the anime and Western influences of the series, and praised it as "quick-witted, exciting, lovely to look at" saying fans of anime would enjoy it.^[18] The Yakima Herald-Republic called it "thrilling" and "captivating" and praised its "beautiful" 3D character animation.^[75] The Austin Chronicle described the premiere as making Oum the "rock star" of Rooster Teeth.^[76] By mid-2013, the series had reportedly contributed to a 9% increase in views for Rooster Teeth's official YouTube channel.^[77] Kotaku's Richard Eisenbeis praised the series for its clever use of fairytale elements, fun and enjoyable dialogue, and the fighting choreography, but was critical about the short nature of the episodes, stating that, "The biggest drawback in doing a micro-series ... is that there is precious little time for good characterization". He was also critical of the technical issues of the animation, mentioning that the animation is good when the audience is unable to see the character's feet. He believes that RWBY is "a good first step into a world of possibilities."^[78]

Rachel Sandell of Collider recommended watching each season as a feature-length film, and argued the pacing the series has "always been a strange experience". She also said the pacing of early seasons "seems strange" and argued that the series took a "long time" to solidify its plot, but stated that more recent episodes are "more consistent" in their structure, and said the series is "engrossing, charming, and fun".^[79] Ruth Johnson of ComicsBeat argued that the series has expanded so much over its run since Season 1 that it can be "hard to keep track of all the storylines", but praised the voice acting, animation, and writers, and said that show is "consistently...growing stronger."^[80] Eric Francisco of Inverse described the series as "beautiful" and "captivating".^[81] Anime News Network reviewer Michael Basile reflected on the series eight volumes, concluding that the plot structure, writing, and pacing has changed since the beginning of the series, praising the writing of General Ironwood and the show's seventh volume, but criticizing the writing, "lack of creativity" in fight scenes, the show's tone, and called Volume 8 "nasty and mean-spirited". He also expressed the belief that the show's ninth volume would give the series a "directional reset" and said that he hoped the writing would improve.^[82]

Associations with anime

Lindsay Jones (Ruby Rose) said "We were worried about the reception we'd get, since we're a western company producing something normally related to Japan. Funnily enough, we showed our Japanese cohorts RWBY and they started arguing about whether it was anime or not! But seeing the reception from audiences is so surreal, and we never expected it."^[84] A Movie Pilot blog listed the RWBY-as-anime topic among its "flame wars you don't want to be part of".^[85] Anime News Network writers Paul Jensen and James Beckett wrote: "We don't have any formal reviews of RWBY here on ANN, but it is kind of cool to see an American production make it to the release encyclopedia."^[86] Michael Mauer of The Cornell Daily Sun wrote that the issue was still being debated among the anime community,^[87] while Sabrina Pyun of ComicsVerse wrote "The show is known for many things, from its dubious status as an anime to its unique 3D animation style."^[88] However, mainstream news articles dated after Hullum's statement and previewing later seasons and the franchise have referred to RWBY as an American anime, including Variety,^[89] Collider,^[90] iDigitalTimes,^[91] Entertainment Weekly,^[92] Adweek,^[93] and Deadline Hollywood.^[94]

Awards and nominations

Books

• RWBY: After the Fall (2019) is a novel written by E. C. Myers and published by Scholastic on June 25, 2019. It details the adventures of Team CFVY ("coffee") following the events of the Volume 3 finale, as the team travels to Shade Academy in Vacuo to continue their training and deals with the personal and global aftermath of the Fall of Beacon.
• The World of RWBY: The Official Companion (2019) is an art book written by Daniel Wallace and published by Viz Media on October 29, 2019. It features behind-the-scenes information, interviews and concept art from the show.
• RWBY: Before the Dawn (2020) is a novel that acts as a direct sequel to After the Fall. It was written by E. C. Myers and published by Scholastic on July 21, 2020. The book takes place after the start of Volume 6 and follows Team CFVY and Team SSSN ("sun") as they investigate a mysterious organization in Vacuo known as The Crown.^[100]
• RWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnant (2020) is a book featuring original fairy tales created for the fictional world of Remnant. It was written by E. C. Myers, illustrated by Violet Tobacco, and published by Scholastic on September 15, 2020.^[101]
• RWBY: Roman Holiday (2021) is a novel written by E.C. Myers and published by Scholastic on September 7, 2021. It acts as a prequel to RWBY and centers on the characters Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan.

Comics

• RWBY (2019–20) was first revealed at New York Comic Con in 2018 after Rooster Teeth announced a partnership with DC Comics to publish RWBY and Gen:Lock comics.^[102] It is written by Marguerite Bennett and illustrated by Mirka Andolfo and Arif Prianto.^[103] The comic series is set between the events of Volumes 3 and 4 of the RWBY web series and the first issue was released on August 28, 2019. The print issue #7, the final issue, was cancelled,^[104][105] but would later be included in the trade paperback release of the RWBY comic later on August 11, 2020.^[106]
• RWBY x Justice League (2021) was first revealed by DC Comics in April 2021 as a crossover comic series between RWBY and the Justice League.^[107] The first issue was released digitally on March 30, 2021, followed by the first print issue on April 27, 2021.^[108] The seventh and final issue was released digitally on June 22, 2021, followed by the final print issue on October 26, 2021.
• DC/RWBY (2023) is a second crossover comic series with DC Comics and is set in a separate continuity to RWBY x Justice League. The first issue was released digitally on February 28, 2023, with the seventh and final issue being released on August 22, 2023.

Manga

RWBY
Cover of the first volume of the RWBY manga adaptation by Shirow Miwa.
Genre	Adventure, science fantasy[1]
Manga
Written by	Shirow Miwa
Published by	Shueisha
English publisher	Viz Media
Magazine	Ultra Jump
English magazine	Weekly Shonen Jump
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	November 19, 2015 – February 18, 2017
Volumes	1
Manga
RWBY: Official Manga Anthology
Written by	Home-sha
Published by	Home-sha
English publisher	Viz Media
Original run	May 19, 2017 – October 19, 2017
Volumes	4
Manga
RWBY: The Official Manga
Written by	Bunta Kinami
Published by	Shueisha
English publisher	Viz Media
Magazine	Shōnen Jump+
English magazine	Weekly Shonen Jump
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	November 19, 2018 – June 25, 2020
Volumes	2

• RWBY (2015–17) is a manga adaption of the web series of the same name that was written and illustrated by Shirow Miwa.^[109] It was published in Shueisha's monthly seinen magazine Ultra Jump. The first arc of the manga closely followed the storyline of the four trailers of the main series, while subsequent chapters explored original storylines.^[110] The first chapter was released in the Ultra Jump December issue, on November 19, 2015.^[111] It had colored center and back pages, along with additional art from the manga.^[112] The English translation was published in Viz Media's Weekly Shonen Jump manga anthology and released for audiences worldwide^[113] on October 31, 2016.^[114]
  Like the web series, the RWBY manga follows the members of Team RWBY—Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long—and their adventures as they train to become Huntresses at a prestigious school known as Beacon Academy. The manga delves into the backstories and motivations of the four main characters, giving new insights and context, with appearances from many of the other characters in the main series. The manga also explains some concepts and elements of the setting, such as the Grimm and Dust. The remaining six chapters cover an original story chronologically set between Volumes 1 and 2 involving teams RWBY and JNPR fighting King Taijitu merged by a Grimm that was accidentally let loose as Torchwick investigated a possible entrance to Mountain Glenn. The final chapter was published in the February 2017 issue of Ultra Jump and included a teaser about a second volume.^[115]
• RWBY: Official Manga Anthology (2017–21) is a manga adaption of RWBY that consists of side stories that follow the plot of the show, put together by multiple manga artists. It was released in a multi-volume format.^[116] On December 23, 2016, Japanese entertainment company Home-sha announced Vol. 1: Red Like Roses, the first volume of RWBY: Official Manga Anthology and stated it was coming in Spring 2017.^[117] It was later announced on March 25, 2017, that it would be released on May 19, 2017, in Japan and was later released on May 15, 2018, in the US.^[118]
  The second volume, Vol. 2: Mirror Mirror, was released on June 19, 2017, in Japan and August 21, 2018, in the US.^[119] The third volume, Vol. 3: From Shadows, was released on September 19, 2017, in Japan and November 20, 2018, in the US.^[120] The fourth volume, Vol. 4: I Burn, was released on October 19, 2017, in Japan and February 19, 2019, in the US.^[121] The fifth volume, Vol. 5: Shine was released on July 20, 2021, in the US. In North America, Viz Media licensed the manga for an English language release.^[122]
• RWBY: The Official Manga (2018–20) is a manga adaptation of RWBY written by manga artist Bunta Kinami.^[123] It was first published in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on November 19, 2018,^[124] and in Shōnen Jump+ on December 20, 2018.^[125][126] Shueisha published the first tankōbon volume digitally on August 19, 2019.^[127] The manga finished on June 25, 2020.^[128]
• RWBY: Ice Queendom (2022–23) is a manga adaptation of the anime series of the same name that was written and illustrated by Kumiko Suekane. It was first published in the ASCII Media Works's shōnen manga magazine Dengeki Daioh on June 27, 2022^[64][129] and finished on November 27, 2023.^[130]

Video games

• RWBY: Grimm Eclipse (2016) is a hack and slash game that was developed and published by Rooster Teeth Games. It was first released on July 5, 2016 for Windows via the Steam platform and was later released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 17, 2017.^[131] A definitive version of the game, including all downloadable content, was released for Nintendo Switch on May 13, 2021.^[132]
• RWBY: Amity Arena (2018) is a tower defense game that was developed by NHN Entertainment and BaobabNet and published by Rooster Teeth Games. It was released for Android and iOS devices on October 25, 2018^[133] and was later discontinued on January 28, 2021.^[134]
• RWBY Deckbuilding Game (2019) is a collectable card game that was developed by 80Arcade and published by Rooster Teeth Games. It was released for Android and iOS devices on February 14, 2019^[135] and was later discontinued on April 30, 2020.^[136]
• RWBY: Crystal Match (2019) is a puzzle game that was developed by EGLS Technology and Crunchyroll Games and published by Rooster Teeth Games. It was released for Android and iOS devices on August 12, 2019^[137] and was later discontinued on June 2, 2021.^[138]
• RWBY: Arrowfell (2022) is a sidescrolling action-adventure game that was developed by WayForward and Arc System Works and published by Rooster Teeth Games. It was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Windows via Steam on November 15, 2022.^[139]

Miscellaneous

• RWBY Rewind (2017–19) is an aftershow for RWBY that was released concurrently with the fifth and sixth volumes and features the cast and crew discussing key scenes from each episode.
• CRWBY: Behind the Episode (2017–19) is a series of behind-the-scenes shorts about the production of the fifth and sixth volumes and features interviews with the cast and crew.
• Talk CRWBY to Me (2020–22) is a behind-the-scenes podcast hosted by Kerry Shawcross that discusses the production of RWBY with the cast and crew from different departments within Rooster Teeth Animation. The podcast is exclusive for Rooster Teeth FIRST members and was released during the hiatus between the seventh and eighth volumes. It was first released on May 23, 2020, and concluded on July 11, 2020. A special episode was later released on June 30, 2022, discussing the production of RWBY: Ice Queendom.
• RWBY: The Grimm Campaign (2020–24) is a Dungeons & Dragons campaign set in the world of Remnant. The cast includes Kerry Shawcross as Pyke Rite, Laura Yates as Arrastra Skye, Chad James as Asher Mora, Chris Kokkinos as Fenix Nemean and Eddy Rivas as the Dungeon Master.^[140] The series is exclusive for Rooster Teeth FIRST members. The first season premiered on August 15, 2020, and concluded on October 10, 2020.^[141] The second season premiered on February 15, 2021, and concluded on May 24, 2021. The campaign features an early version of the digital tabletop software TaleSpire with custom models based on RWBY.^[142] A special episode with a self-contained story that featured the return of Shawcross, Yates, James and Rivas with Lindsay Jones joining them as a special guest, was streamed live on April 17, 2024.^[47][143]

• RWBY Roundtable (2023) is an aftershow for RWBY that was released concurrently with the ninth volume and features the cast and crew discussing key scenes from each episode.

Appearances in other media

• At Evo 2017, it was announced that the fighting game BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle would feature cross-over characters from BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena (Ultimax), Under Night In-Birth, and RWBY, followed by Arcana Heart, Senran Kagura and Akatsuki Blitzkampf as of 2019.^[144] Ruby Rose was a featured participant in the game's first teaser trailer,^[145] and Weiss Schnee was confirmed in the second character introduction trailer.^[146] Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long were later added to the game as free downloadable content.^[147][148] At Evo 2019, it was announced that Neopolitan (incorrectly referred to as Neo Politan in-game) would be added to the game as part of a 2.0 update that was released on November 21, 2019.^[149]
• In the film Doctor Sleep (2019), the character Abra Stone has RWBY posters and a statue of the character Emerald Sustrai in her room, and also wears Emerald's hair in a dream sequence. The filmmakers decided to bring in the references suggested by Abra's portrayer Kyliegh Curran, who is a fan of RWBY.^[150]
• Characters from RWBY have been featured in limited-time crossovers with several video games as either unlockable characters or skins. These include: Crusader's Quest^[151] in both May 2017 and August 2022, Puzzle of Empires^[152] in October 2017, Knights Chronicle^[153] in July 2019, SMITE^[154] in both November 2019 and October 2022, Paladins^[155] in June 2022 and Black Rock Shooter FRAGMENT^[156] in April 2023.

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• Official website
• RWBY at IMDb
• RWBY (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia