RWBY Vol. 5 Soundtrack - reaction & review

Ahhhhh I can totally see the comparison!!! Good call!! Interesting twist on the story, that it's the dad who's the villain this time around.

Melissa Moore

It's kinda funny your reaction to the Path of Isolation song and how you keep talking about mirrors, considering the fact that Weiss is based on Snow White and who is known to have a mirror in Snow White's farytale? The Evil Queen! While Weiss's parents don't posses magic, I think her parents are reverse compared to the actual Snow White, while Snow White has an Evil Queen as an evil step-mother, Weiss has a quote on quote evil father who's married into the family just to get the companies name and fortune.

Aundry Vue

Thank you!!! I actually looked it up after you told me about it, omg my heart was bursting haha.

Melissa Moore

Here's the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNVxNUYYYR8 .

Supermonaman

OMG!!!!!!!!! That is amazing!!!! I love it when people react to videos of reactions to their own stuff haha!!!! That sounds awesome, I'll have to check it out!

Melissa Moore

One really awesome thing I forgot to mention is that Casey Lee Williams actually did a reaction to the biggest RWBY YouTuber murderofbirds reacting to this soundtrack. It had a lot of heartwarming and cute stuff as well as her talking about the songs.

Supermonaman

I loved this soundtrack too! Oh the theme is excellent, love the funny line too haha! Yang's song was incredible also, great point about the lyric involving the word "symmetrical"!!! OMG the Weiss song was everything, so glad it was confirmed that that line wasn't about self-harm, but still such a heartbreaking and wonderfully emotional song! Yes I think you're right that Smile changes perspectives at one point!!! Great points about All Things Must Die, I could see it being from both perspective and I love that those lines have double meanings in reference to what groups of crows and ravens are called. I think you're right about All That Matters, it can be seen in a positive light as well since after all that, Yang still wants to give Blake a chance. I loved the acoustic version of Gold! Thank you so much for taking the time to describe all the artwork on the Flynt of RWBY videos!!!! I saved the link for the acoustic version of Armed and Ready and I'm hoping to react to it at some point! That's such a kind offer about the playlist, I might take you up on it - will be figuring it all out in the next few days! I really appreciate all your kind words, info, and of course your continued support and compliments!!!!!!! ^_^

Melissa Moore

The volume 5 soundtrack is so great. I love The Triumph as an opening. I really love the theme of this song being things may be desperate, looking bad and might get worse but that's doesn’t mean our heroes will give up or stop fighting because their determination & resolve is just that strong. I love how the song is just the characters telling the villains that no matter what they throw at them it won’t stop them. I also like that it covers the idea of all the grief/loss/terrible things not going away and things not going back to the way they were but instead of holding our heroes down its just giving them strength and the will to push forward and fight. Also I’m a girl but I’m also a gun is probably the best and definitely the funniest lyrics of all of the RWBY songs. The best part of this song is the last chorus where the instrumentals cut out just enough to hear both Jeff & Casey harmonizing on specific lyrics. Now on to Ignite which is such a great and my favorite Yang song. I love how perfectly this song represents Yang as a character. It shows her confidence, strength & fighting skill. I love that we have this song as her character being really savage especially the soon you’ll bemoan your mistake of a life line. I think it’s hilarious that Ruby calling for Yang is actually in the song itself. It’s great that this song is also using a big part of her character being what people think when they 1st see her versus who she actually is in my opinion. The lyrics about “scathing eyes”, “misshapen spark” and beauty not been symmetrical are references to the quote all the way back at the start of the yellow trailer. Also I think that shows that a lot of what’s going on with Yang throughout the story was very much planned because after losing her arm she’s no longer “symmetrical”. The rap is once again great. Also I love all the fire themes always used for Yang. Finally you really have to appreciate the trumpet/drums in this song it really gives it a jazzy/funky feel. Now onto Path to Isolation or the official alternate title Mirror, Mirror 0.5. And for this soundtrack we have a really sad Weiss song. God, the piano is so beautiful in this song. This song is so good at showing Weiss’s sadness and loneliness. There was I think at least an interesting headcanon based on the unexpected loss line that her grandfather died soon before her character short but I think this line is about losing her mother emotionally as well as her innocence. It’s really sad to think that before Beacon no one wanted to be friends with her just because they liked her. There was a theory based on the self-inflicted pain line that Weiss actually self-harmed but thankfully most of us came to the conclusion this was just talking about her isolation and loneliness and it was denied by Casey although even thinking that for a little while was extremely upsetting. I think it’s very telling where her character was at that point that the last line of the song is who am I?. Now onto Smile in my opinion 1 of the most creative RWBY songs simply because of how especially at the beginning different it sounds like more wild/natural or African inspired. The beginning of the song is from the perspective of her parents with them loving and having hope for their daughter to have the chance to make things better for the Faunus and to change the minds of racist humans but when the tone change of the song happens it’s changing to Ilia’s perspective in my opinion. I think it’s her remembering her parents words but it becoming twisted and corrupted because of her grief, being influenced by Sienna/Adam and seeing more of the cruelty, darkness & hatred of humanity. It really does a great job of showing how rough/sad Ilia’s life was. Finally some of these lyrics are scary/unsettling representing her becoming more extremist at one point. Now on to All Things Must Die the most unsettling RWBY songs so far. I love how it starts out quiet and slow with the sinister & menacing piano it is such a great but dark song talking about death. I think it’s great that this was the song on this soundtrack that Jeff decided to go as hard as possible on the guitar. The song actually uses instrumentals that are used for both Raven and Cinder so it’s a song about both of them talking about killing the other or dying and the fight in general. However I love that different people can have an opinion on which of the characters perspectives the song is more about and I think it’s more from Raven’s perspective. There are some fun references in the lyrics. Bloody evolution is a reference to a line from the 1st opening, say goodbye is a reference to the title of the 2nd opening time to say goodbye and legends should scatter is a reference to Salem’s speech from the start of the series. Finally some fun facts about the lyrics “murder, unkindness, conspiracy” and “spawn of the tenants of treachery” a murder is a group of crows and an unkindness, conspiracy and treachery are different names for a group of ravens. Now onto This Time or From Shadows Part 2. I love the message of the song and how it’s what Blake was saying at the end of episode 10 of volume 5. A lot of people thought this was from Blake and Sun’s perspective but it’s actually been confirmed to be from her and Ghira’s perspective but it does still make sense for Sun as well. The use of piano is good because piano is usually used to represent Blake. I love the line about starting a new brotherhood because of getting the original White Fang and also her father wanting to start a new movement at the end of volume 5. Leaving the shadows is mentioned which I like since it’s a reference to Blake’s original song. Also there’s a line about turning spite to love which is referencing her describing Adam as spite and wanting to be the opposite. Finally I get to talk about All That Matters probably my favorite or my 2nd favorite song on this soundtrack. From the beautiful slow piano to all the lyrics and their deeper meanings it’s perfect. The line about never expecting her to stay forever is very much about Yang’s abandonment issues and in my opinion a lot of the song is talking about Yang’s insecurities like Blake not caring how she feels or the possibility of her leaving and hurting her again. I think you can take this song in a negative way about Yang no longer trusting her but I think it should be taken in a positive way because even after being abandoned by other people she’s much more willing to give Blake another chance than other people and being hopeful. Also there’s the I never asked you to commit your life line that in my opinion has a romantic undertone to it. I really love the main message of the song that the most important thing is that Blake came back no matter what other problems there might be to deal with later. This entire song in my opinion at least shows that from Yang at least there are real romantic feelings. Also because I think it’s great you should listen to the acoustic version of Gold that was on this soundtrack. Since you weren’t able to use the Flyntofrwby lyric videos I want to describe the artwork he used since it is great artwork although I would suggest checking them out yourself because I don’t think I can do them justice. For The Triumph the artwork for the short version of it from the volume was Ruby, Jaune, Nora and Ren looking determined, filled with resolve and ready to fight and for the full version it was Team RWBY with similar looks most notably Yang with one glowing anime eye and Blake ready to cut someone. For Ignite the artwork for the short version has Yang with a confident smile in a fighting stance and for the long version it’s her with a confident, self-assured, cocky smile with her eyes glowing red and her hair on fire because of her semblance. Also one strand of her hair is purple which seems pretty deliberate for shipping reasons from the artist. For Path to Isolation the artwork is a beautiful and graceful Weiss. For Smile the artwork is a young, nervous Ilia with her parents behind her who look nice, supportive and loving. For All Things Must Die the artwork for the short version of the song in the volume was a really awesome picture of Raven and Cinder fighting with glowing maiden eyes and the swords they created and for the long version it was just Raven looking similar I guess like me he thinks it’s more from Raven’s perspective than Cinder’s. For This Time the artwork is the silhouette of Blake & Sun’s backs and I think if he had known about the actual perspective this was from it would have had Ghira instead of Sun. Finally for All That Matters the artwork is a nice picture of Yang with her fire emblem behind her and Blake with a cat emblem behind her but sadly for most of the video the Blake artwork is greyed out. Speaking of Flyntofrwby I know someone told you using his videos is good because he has the official lyrics from Jeff himself but another great reason to use his videos for your volume 6 soundtrack reaction is because it’s the last time he did lyric videos for all the songs on the soundtrack because of stress in his real life he only does a lyric video for his favorite song on the soundtrack. Also can you please react to the acoustic version of Armed and Ready from this soundtrack because it’s universally accepted as 1 of the best acoustic songs Jeff/Casey have done. You can find the lyric video for it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOfJfCy8Tg0 from Myrkuri. If it’s necessary I can make a playlist of the volume 6 soundtrack just in case the playlist that commentator usually sends you doesn’t work again. These were such great reactions I loved them a lot. Keep up the great work. :-) <3

Supermonaman

YESSSS!!!! XD XD XD

Melissa Moore

Yay, thank you so much!!!! I know right?! So exciting! Hope you love my future reactions!!!!

Melissa Moore

Ohhhhhh yes that makes total sense!!!

Melissa Moore

Nice!!!!! Oh yeah that's right!

Melissa Moore

Poor Weiss!!!!!!! So sad....wonderfully well done song though.

Melissa Moore

Ohhh that sounds good! I want to hear it! Isn't it awesome to hear how much her voice grows with each volume?! I feel like we've watched (or heard lol) her grow up right in front of us <3

Melissa Moore

Oh wow!!! Sorry, I didn't know! To be fair, I'm sure the person who assembled the playlist I was supposed to use probably did include FlyntofRWBY. I had to find another one at the last second because that one wasn't working. >.< Thanks for the heads up on future volumes!!

Melissa Moore

YAY! Thank you so much!!! Ohhhhh I hope you love my reaction to it!!!! Just watched it and I am so pumped haha!!! Coming next week :D

Melissa Moore

Yesss!!! The fact that future soundtracks are even better gets me extra excited lol. Makes total sense that a couple tracks get tons of play on your playlist!!! :) And I love how they tied together the way in which these arcs have revolved around Blake and Yang with All That Matters!!!! <3

Melissa Moore

Nice!! Thanks for clearing that up about the timeline. That makes sense about the mirror reference! Ahhhh yes loved All That Matters! I also think you summed it up perfectly about Yang's abandonment issues. No matter how much she cares and/or is willing to accept Blake back into her life, there's still that part of her that is a little scared of being left again. They weave the stories in so beautifully! I'm so happy you enjoyed my reaction and omg I cannot wait for Vol 6! Hope you love my reaction to it!!!! ^_^

Melissa Moore

These are my jams 😙🎶🎸

Manny

Idk ive heard it playing behind Cinder at multiple points in the series

Zen Reacts

amazing reaction always love seeing you react to the soundtrack. I can't believe next week you start Vol. 6 so excited for that

Ronix

I mean her last name Amitola means "Rainbow" in Sioux, so...yeah.

John J Ronald

Iliya's song, her story has double meaning....not just the obvious Faunus-passing-as-human but clearly also as a metaphor for being LGBT+ in a society that doesn't accept that....it offers hope that one day she can "come out" and be her true self.

John J Ronald

Sidebar: my interpretation of Qrow's heavy sigh in the final scene of Volume 5: He realizes he's gonna have to work with James Ironwood again soon.

John J Ronald

The "Blake" song is of course the End Credits music for Volume 5 of RWBY

John J Ronald

The Path To Isolation (Weiss) is all about losing her once loving mother to alcoholism, and of course her father's relentless emotional abuse.

John J Ronald

All Things Must Die is definitely a RAVEN anthem....and lines up with her heartless "Might Makes Right" worldview.....and she's wishing death upon Cinder quite directly.

John J Ronald

Wow - turns out you already had the idea 😅

Derpy Trev

I must say, I think your approach to Volume 6 should begin as Adam Short + Chapter 1, then Chapter 2 + 3 and so on... cause Chapter 2 and 3 would be best experienced together

Derpy Trev

Hi Spadeas! No way, I'd never delete a comment like that! :) Sadly, Patreon likes to randomly delete longer comments :( I have it in my email so I'll re-paste it here and answer you (and all my other comments!) soon!! Hi Hime :) In Triump there is "The battle seems unwinnable, But all we need's a miracle", which is funny is that Miracle is the title of the first song in volume 6, which in return, has a sentence evoking Triumph. As I said some time ago, All Things Must Die has some note of the theme of Cinder and for me, actually works very well for Raven and Cinder and their desire to destroy their obstacle and be each superior to the other. Ask someone not to argue because he is going to die anyway, is a way of thinking fit for an apex predator and that's what Cinder and Raven thinks to be when facing together. For Ignite, you are also right about the references to the guy she beat in the bar (toothless) and the "army of same" refers to the bar scene in the first character short, the henchmen of Junior who all look alike. Path of Isolation is my favorite from Volume 5, although partly because Weiss is my favorite, it is also for its conflict between the mind and the heart, to have a facade. Shown in public, an image that everyone wants us to be, but which does not fully represent us, which is not the real us, is something that touches me a lot (being trans but still in the closet ...). Funny little point for me, Weiss's songs are largely about her talking to her mirror, showing her loneliness, the mirror being her only confidant. But now she has a team and in particular Ruby, referenced in another song with "mirror eyes". She no longer needs to be alone in front of her mirror, Ruby being her mirror now. Moreover, this is in the song sacrifice, which I invite you to listen to again after episode 3 of volume 6, it will take on another meaning (and it was from volume 2). I am hyped to see you reacting to Volume 6. In my personal opinion, each volume is better than the last, but with volume 6, you are going to be introduced to one of the best characters for me. Also prepare a few tissues just in case and I can't wait to see this volume with you again. Some scene is just magical for me, like Yang telling the truth to Raven, but several scenes are at this level for me. A and I can not wait to talk about a passage from the new theme ^^.

Melissa Moore

Weird, I thought I commented ? Was it deleted because I said something that could be considered a spoiler ? Edit : It's ok. No worries, I didn't mean to say that you deleted it but that maybe someone pointed it out or something. I don't know if it's possible, but you never know ^^ '. Take your time, you give us already so much time by just making this video, uploading it and responding to us, so no need to rush ^^.

Spadeas

You should listen to Casey singing a cover of Last Surprise from Persona 5 its on youtube she sang it few weeks ago its great, but its nice your hearing her voice grow naturally xxx

Darren

At the end, she mentioned she was planning on doing the character short and Volume 6 Chapter 1 together, since Volume 6 is 13 episodes long and this way there isn't going to be an odd episode out.

cscotch

Also, my personal thought is that Smile is from the perspective of Illya's parents, up until halfway through the first chorus when the tone shift happens. At that point, the voices guiding her are Adam and Sienna

cscotch

"I thought that I could pull you from the shadows, I could help you find your wings and fly" - All That Matters Blake's theme is From Shadows, and the song Wings from Volume 1 is usually attributed to her. Just some more fun references to older volumes

cscotch

Hi Melissa! Awesome reaction as per usual. Always love going through these soundtracks with you. Just wondering if next week we should expect just to see the Adam character short or if we are going to start Volume 6 as well? So excited!

K

Aww I wish you'd used FlyntofRWBY's videos, because he gets the official lyrics directly from Jeff and the fanarts help a lot too. He has all the V6 songs too, but not V7. For V7 I'd recommend using Sirs & Madams' channel.

Great reaction as always, I know I am jumping a bit here, but I am very interested in your reaction (as always) for the first episode of V6 xxx

Darren

Ooooh volume 5 has such a strong soundtrack, always fun to listen through it. Not my personal fave from the series (that'd go to either v6 or v7, so plenty to look forward to), but there's still a lot to love. In particular, Smile and All Things Must Die always stand out to me, I'm pretty sure both of them are on my phone's frequently played music list lmao. Oh, and All That Matters is also super great, it tells you a lot about how much Blake and Yang mean to each other when, despite being apart all the way up till the end, so much of their arcs over both this volume and the last revolve around each other.

SaintLily

Ahhh by far one of my top 3 soundtracks of the series! So many emotions, so many different stories told in each song! So I believe 'Ignite' and 'Path to Isolation' are meant to be set (in terms of character mindset) prior to both 'I burn' and 'Mirror, Mirror Pt.1', its why Weiss references the mirror again despite having renounced needing it in 'This Life is Mine'. And aahhhh 'All that Matters' my favourite sad ballad song! It's so bittersweet. Alot of Yang's issues stem from her fear of abandonment, so many people have left her in one way or another (Raven, Summer, Tai when he fell in a depression after Summer, etc) and to have Blake, whom she informed about Summer and Raven and her issues with abandonment, someone she was extremely close to, hurt her so much. And now that she's back, all she wants is to accept her back and accept that maybe they could be how they were again, but the lingering fear that she has that Blake will run off again is so raw and overwhelming that she becomes really hesitant to let her back. But she does. She does because she wants to believe that Blake, her friend, her partner will be the one to stay. So she "risks it once again to have" her "near her side". Ughh I love how the weave their stories in the songs. Anyways, amazing and insightful reaction as always, I look forward to Volume 6! Let me tell you it's a crazy ride that I think you'll love!

Sunset