I just finished volume 9 and I gotta admit, I was a little worried about it at the start. I've really enjoyed the show thoroughly from volume 1-8 but volume 9 just felt like a... Break in the story, or a detour.
To me it felt quite random and strange. There was an expectation that the series would go to Vacuo and then it just didn't right away. It was quite strange going from such a large cast (which I really enjoyed) back to basically just team RWBY and Jaune.
As if that wasn't enough, I felt like the tone had massively shifted - it was suddenly full of these cartoonish gags, which I wouldn't really mind but (1) they were surrounded by otherwise quite serious moments and the knowledge of the overarching story that had been left behind made jokes like that not feel appropriate, but more importantly (2) the jokes just didn't quite land. I dunno, they just weren't super funny if you ask me.
That's how I felt after volume 9 episode 3 and took a days break before continuing. So I was quite worried when I started episode 4. Thankfully things improved and despite the whole volume still feeling like a bit of a detour, it managed to tie into the outside world via us getting more info on the godly brothers and Summer Rose. And it just got better and funnier after episode 3 I felt. Not to mention Blake and Yang. Obviously that was bound to happen but the release of that tension is great.
I also watched the animatic 12th episode and in addition to that episode, I can't help but feel that this volume was cut a lot for costs. Not so many fights, small cast, lots of clever camera tricks to avoid having to animate things. Feels a bit unfortunate.
Anyways at the start of volume 9 I was worried that the show had majorly jumped the shark, but at the end of the volume, I was relieved and I am quite excited and hopeful that we will get a volume 10 and more (crossing my fingers).
TL;DR: Volume 9 episode 1-3 were really weak if you ask me and left me kinda worried for the whole volume, but it managed to redeem itself.
Anyone else now just on the wait train for any news from the new owners? What did you think about volume 9?
