RWBY Vol 1 - without Jaune Arc

Video was cut into two parts to meet platform requirements. Direct links: 

Part 1: http://bit.ly/1m0htYb 
Part 2: http://bit.ly/1Y9vJzf

So after a couple of Skype chats with friends about RWBY’s pacing and writing issues, here’s an edit where any scene or shot where Jaune Arc plays a major part is cut out to see how it affects the show. 

Original runtime of vol 1: 113 mins
Jaune Arc-less runtime: 85 mins*

*The Jaune Arc-less runtime excludes shots where he features prominently and parts where characters are talking to or about him. Leaving those in would make no sense. There are still glimpses of him in scenes where other characters are taking center stage, so it sort of evens out.

Personal observations below the read more. It does not cast Jaune in a positive light. If you’re a Jaune fan who’s easily offended, please go find other posts that make you happy. I hear there are some good ones with puppies on Tumblr.

- Jaune-heavy scenes, shots and lines took up 28 minutes of a 113 minute-long volume. That’s about a quarter of screen time. Even if remaining screen time were split equally amongst the 4 supposed protagonists, each one would have an average of 21 minutes or less. 

- Except that the remaining screen time isn’t entirely focused on RWBY. Some bits focused on other characters too. So basically each of them had less than 21 minutes of screen time when averaged out, compared to Jaune’s 28.

- There are more than a few reaction shots featuring Jaune which were completely unnecessary. Some shouldn’t even have involved him. For example, his reaction to Weiss flaring up at Ruby in The Badge and the Burden should’ve been given to Yang or Blake. 

- When cutting the Jaundice storyline, it became apparent what a majorly wasted opportunity that was. If the show wanted to deal with the issue of bullying, it could’ve been Team RWBY dealing with Cardin’s bullying of Velvet. It’d have been the perfect setup to do world building with the faunus.

Blake could’ve taken Velvet’s side and tried to protect her. Weiss could’ve made known her prejudice against faunus. The Blake/Weiss argument and subsequent character development could’ve taken place 3-4 episodes earlier and both girls would’ve had extra time to develop. 

It could even have included a positive message about how we can grow out of our prejudices and come to an understanding with those different from us. Cardin could’ve been shown for the coward he is, and learned his lesson with Blake or Velvet saving him from the Ursa.

Instead we got a tired story about a white dude who cheated his way into a top combat school, refuses all help to learn, is barely shown making an effort and yet somehow comes away believing he took down an Ursa all by his valiant self in order to show up his bullies. When in actual fact if it weren’t for the school’s resident genius, he’d be resting in pieces. Sigh. 

-Personally, aside from the Jaundice arc, I thought the show ran smoothly without him. There were a couple of instances in which he was a convenient device for world building exposition, but I’m of the opinion that they could’ve been easily brought up without him anyway. 

- This is essentially why the focus on him frustrated and annoyed me so much. I came to watch a show called RWBY, which promised me exciting stories about four extraordinary girls. Instead I got to learn most about some irresponsible noodle who is apparently the writer’s Marty Stu, through cliche tropes and unnecessary storylines. If I hadn’t entered RWBY through a fanfic author’s writings, I probably wouldn’t have stuck around hoping things would get better.

Basically, what a waste all round. Who’s surprised?