RWBY is an animated web series created by the company Roosterteeth and the late Monty Oum. The show’s basic premise is about four young girls: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. Together, they form a team of huntresses known as Team RWBY, being trained to fight monsters called Grimm in the fictional world of Remnant.

Originally premiering in 2013, the show’s most recent season, Volume 6 is due to premiere October 27th. The show is available to stream on Roosterteeth’s website and on YouTube.  Although I had initially stopped watching the show somewhere between Volume 4 and 5, I rediscovered the series this summer.

To get excited for the series’ upcoming season, here are five things I love about RWBY.

1. Magical Girl Influences 

When I originally saw the trailers for each of the four main heroines of RWBY, I couldn’t help but notice influences from the magical girl genre. Like the girls of Sailor Moon, Pretty Cure, and other magical girl teams, the girls have flashy attacks, are associated with certain colors, and are mainly known for working together in a team.

Although I do not consider this series a magical girl show, I can appreciate that this show was inspired by the magical girl genre. Time and time again, I’ve seen that media influenced by the magical girl genre almost always results in a great product.

2. Fairy Tale Influences

Another strong influence on the series is fairy tales. For example, each of the four girls is loosely inspired by different fairy tale characters. Weiss Schnee (pictured above), is inspired by Snow White, with her name literally meaning White Snow.

Besides this, the show has other big and small details that are fairy tale influenced. One is that the monstrous creatures of Grimm are a nod to the Brothers Grimm, who wrote some of the most notable versions of fairy tales.

A major reason that I enjoy the fairy tale influences is that it makes the world of RWBY and its storytelling very compelling. You want to root for the characters, see good triumph over evil, and see a happy ending.

3. Storytelling

When RWBY first premiered with Vol. 1, I pegged this series as “magical girl monster hunters go to Hogwarts”. While this show does have a school setting for the first two volumes and a little of volume 3, this show managed to be so much more.

In essence, this entire series is about fighting for what is right, good, and hopeful in humanity. It shows that sometimes monsters aren’t just dark creatures, but also that humans can be the worst monsters of all. Most of all, it shows how and why to keep fighting for the light of humanity when our darkness threatens to destroy us.

4. Music

Through the excellent composition of Jeff Williams and the wonderful, beautiful vocals of his daughter Casey Williams, RWBY has managed to have a stellar soundtrack  and score that uses genres that range from classical music to heavy metal to jazz.

The show’s music features a heavy use of leitmotifs, music that becomes a theme song for specific characters. The song above, “This Life Is Mine” is one of a few leitmotifs for the character Weiss Schnee. Featuring amazing vocals from Casey Williams and a killer mix of orchestra and heavy metal, this song is Weiss Schnee’s most triumphant song to date.

5. Animation

If you start watching the series from the beginning and go from there, you’ll see that the animation improve with each season. Movements are smoother, background characters aren’t just shadows.

The improvement is especially apparent in a character short for Weiss shown prior to the premiere of Vol. 5. A flashback to the past, the detail in this animation is so good to look at from Weiss’s special attacks to her clothes.