RWBY Volume 9: Beyond (alternatively RWBY Beyond), is a Spin-Off Miniseries of the RWBY animated web series that tells stories set during Volume 9 and after. Due to the eventual closure of Rooster Teeth on May 15th, 2024, it is officially the last bit of RWBY media under the Rooster Teeth banner (and by proxy Warner Bros. as a whole) as the company is planning to sell the RWBY property to another company.
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In General
In General
- Limited Animation: Compared to the main series and arguably to some of the other 2D animated series Rooster Teeth has done, RWBY Beyond has notably limited animation, with everyone having a few poses and much of the story relying more on narration over animation.
- Spin-Off: Is one to tell stories of what different characters were doing during Volume 9 or afterwards.
Jr. Detectives
Jr. Detectives
Airdate: 04/13/2024
The Junior Detectives are on the case!...Kinda.
Sun and Neptune have taken it upon themselves to discover the truth behind one of Remnant's most vexing questions: Where is Team RWBY (And Jaune)? What they find proves surprising.- Call-Back: Sun and Neptune's playing detectives is one to when they were assigned to the Vale Police. The fake mustaches they wore is a meta nod to their comedy skits in RWBY Chibi.
- Foregone Conclusion: Because this is set not too long after the evacuation, but before the end of Volume 9, Team RWBY and Jaune would ultimately return as Sun hoped.
- Framing Device: It has Sun and Neptune narrate in a Noir Episode style which reveals near the end that they were recapping what they were doing after being caught by Qrow...who promptly proceeds to toss them into the air for snooping, leading to them crashing into the screen.
- I Remember It Like It Was Yesterday: Sun says this line during his "noir monologue" with Neptune interjecting that it was yesterday.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: Sun treats Team RWBY's disappearance very seriously but treats Jaune's as an extra incident with less urgency.
- Solemn Ending Theme: While the Noir elements are played with throughout the episode, with Sun and Neptune's goofy antics interweaving with the tidbits of important plot points, the ending is a relatively sober piece, with Sun hoping that Team RWBY (and Jaune) are out there somewhere doing the best they can to not give up, and that Sun hasn't given up either (addressing the audience).
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Sun and Neptune might be acting like detectives, but they are not officially such. Thus, when Qrow catches them snooping on a private meeting involving Raven, Winter, Oscar/Ozpin, the Shade Academy Headmaster Theodore, and a mysterious cloaked woman, he is not impressed and tosses them out immediately...albeit after allowing them to comedically recount the episode to him.
A Knight's Journal
A Knight's Journal
Airdate: 04/20/2024
He's a young man again, but the scars of the Ever After remain.
After returning from the Ever After, Jaune is having trouble with readjusting to being a young man again after his complicated experiences as the Rusted Knight. He ends up speaking to someone who knows what it is like to gain perspective.- Call-Back: In "Worst Case Scenario", Ironwood told Oscar that once the merge with Ozpin progresses enough, Oscar won't be able to tell which of them is which. During his conversation with Jaune, Oscar claims to have played a part in several fairy tales, which Jaune assumes he meant Oz.
- Captain's Log: The Framing Device for this episode is Jaune's first journal entry he made to help process what he's been through since returning from the Ever After.
- Commonality Connection: Jaune spends a good chunk of the story talking with Oscar/Ozpin about his journey as the Rusted Knight, feeling that their sense of being a Stranger in a Familiar Land, as well as the feeling of not really being young or old anymore ends up making the immortal more able to understand Jaune's plight.
- Fling a Light into the Future: It's also revealed that Lewis' story about "The Girl Who Fell Through The World" wasn't just a story about his sister's adventures through the Ever After, but also intended as a guide of sorts for Team RWBY to find Jaune when they finally got there.
- Happy Flashback: Oscar suggests a variant of this for Jaune's situation: to try to think about what few good times had existed for him in the Ever After prior to things going wrong, so he can focus and try to make sense of why he did what he did and what drove him forward. Jaune notes that one of his favorite moments was getting to know Alyx and Lewis prior to the former becoming afraid of him, since they were so fascinated with each other being from different time periods and the cultural differences. He also fondly remembers the days of them actually enjoying their time in the Ever After, and the times they spent around the campfire listening to each other's tales, how Alyx once viewed his story with fascination and amazement (which Jaune admits he found that a bit odd, since for him it was just his life, his achievements and mistakes and the like). Through his recollections, Jaune comes to understand that what drove him at first was the simple fact that he appreciated his time with Lewis and Alyx, and wanted to safely help them get back home, before he lost sight of that and started fixating on "how the story should end" according to the fairy tale.
- I Hate Past Me: A downplayed case, as it's more incredibly conflicted rather than outright hate. While Jaune does recognize that the Rusted Knight persona was a part of his life, he's not too proud of some of the things he did as said persona and isn't really sure how to process what to feel about that persona in addition to his aging and de-aging before returning.
- The Reveal: Lewis and Alyx were from Vacuo before the Great War, before the Huntsmen system ever existed.
- Stranger in a Familiar Land: While Jaune is happy to reunite with his friends and team in Vacuo (not taking the fact that they're in a different nation from Atlas now), he feels very out of place due to his temporal situation, being probably the most drastically changed mentally out of the Ever After group besides perhaps Ruby herself.
- Vocal Evolution: Jaune's voice is now settled at a sort of midpoint between his original 19-year-old voice, while taking on a tone more akin to how the gruff Rusted Knight sounded.
- Wingding Eyes: In Jaune's recollection of telling his story to Alyx and Lewis, Alyx's eyes shine four-point stars showing her excitement.
The Adventures of Somewhat
The Adventures of Somewhat
Airdate: 04/27/2024
Somewhat and their trusty steed, Juniper, seeks to right wrongs in the Ever After.
After Team RWBY (and Jaune)'s departure from the Ever After, the brave Somewhat takes it upon themselves to fulfill their purpose of aiding those in need. It proves to be a lot more challenging than they expect.- Central Theme: How people can choose to grow and change in the aftermath of unexpected events.
- Narrator: Ruby narrates the story and voices every other character who isn't Somewhat.
- Took a Level in Kindness:
- The Herbalist is much less crabby compared to his first appearance, being more willing to personally direct those who are willing to help towards those in need.
- The Red Prince is much less childish and spoiled and seems to overall have gained some awareness of his Spoiled Brat behavior. He even takes his defeat by Little in the chess game much more maturely compared to his tantrum after Ruby and her friends defeated him.
- The Unreveal: At the end, Somewhat meet someone they recognize, but it is not shown who this is.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The episode serves as this for some of the denizens of the Ever After in the wake of Volume 9.
- Somewhat and Juniper take a journey throughout the Ever After, influenced and inspired by Team RWBY and Jaune's actions to do what they can for the denizens, and hopefully to right some wrongs.
- The Genial Gems have taken their experiences with the Rusted Knight into consideration for their new life, dedicating themselves to building a stronger, more stable society to ensure that no one would ever feel they'd have to take care of the Gems or fear for their safety.
- The marketplace is being steadily rebuilt (with a reborn Hawker present), using the situation after Neo's Jabberwalker attack as a sign that they need to come together as a community to rebuild.
- The Herbalist is notably more genial and refreshed in his own purpose, being more aware that someone needs help and directed Somewhat towards them.
- The Red Prince is surprisingly all alone, having dismissed all of his guards, and is visibly uncertain of how to proceed with his life now that his purpose cannot be fulfilled. Somewhat manages to convince him to take a chance to change and evolve as a person (likely through ascension).
Boba
Boba
Airdate: 04/27/2024
And this is where our story ends, for now…
Ruby and Yang decide to spend a day together, with a nervous Yang preparing a surprise for her sister.- Big Sister Instinct: Yang spends the whole episode comforting her sister and successfully working to mend the damage done to her mentally as well as their bond.
- Delicious Distraction: Just as Yang tries to talk to Ruby about her burdens, Ruby gets distracted seeing the Smoothie "Boba" shop Yang took her to see.
- Call-Back: Yang comments Ruby isn't comfortable being popular, still preferring "normal knees"; a direct call back to their first day at Beacon where Yang called Ruby "the bees knees" and Ruby refuted it. Ruby and Yang also indirectly allude to the former's mental breakdown and Happily Failed Suicide attempt during the event of the Ever After during the latter's attempts to reconcile with her sister.
- Cheer Up Episode: Yang treats Ruby to smoothies at a shop they frequented as kids in an effort to counsel her about her trauma endured during the events of the Ever After as well as to alleviate the burdens WBY have put on her over the years.
- Covert Distress Code: The sisters, Ruby and Yang, decide on a word if either gets in duress to prevent Poor Communication Kills. The word is something from the time they were attending Signal Academy: boba.
- Grand Finale: Of both the miniseries and Rooster Teeth’s run of RWBY.
- Humble Hero: Despite her growing fame for uniting the world with her message in Atlas, Ruby remains uncomfortable being seen as a hero to the people. She even points out the people of Vacuo need more than a "mascot" to drive them forward.
- It's All My Fault: Yang acknowledges her part in Ruby's trauma by pressuring her too much, indirectly alluding back to "Divide", where Yang had attempted to note her misgivings about Ruby's plan at the time (unaware of just how mentally taxed Ruby was at the time, and how she might have interpreted Yang's well meaning but poorly timed critique).
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Ruby clearly is hesitant to talk about her accosting of her team and torture by Neo as well as her suicide/ascension attempt after during the events of Volume 9, though Yang knows she needs to bring it up to help her recover.
- Poor Communication Kills: Yang and Ruby indirectly allude to the latter's Happily Failed Suicide attempt in the Ever After following her mental breakdown at her team for neglecting her sufferings and her own unwillingness to talk about her trauma. To a broader extent, it also alludes to their own shared bad tendencies of trying to bottle up their own negative emotions and traumas rather than properly address them, due to their family having less than stellar coping mechanisms for abandonment and their emotional well-being. They later come up with a code word to try and prevent this trope in the future.
- Written-In Absence: The sisters' father Taiyang is not in the city cause he is off on assignment.
