When it comes to their biggest and greatest animation, Rooster Teeth always makes sure to bring us some novelties and each one more interesting to their fans. The universe of Remnant is vast, dense, with charismatic characters, well built and, usually, with a good story behind all this. With After the Fall this could not different.
For the ones who don’t follow the company from Texas, there’s no news that the producers of the show were already talking about releasing some material telling the stories and adventures of team CFVY (coffee), beloved by fans of the series. After the fall of Beacon in the third volume of the show, we are left with no clue to what happens to the other characters that were taking part in the Vytal festival tournament (which gathers hunters and huntresses from schools all over Remnant).
It’s on the final episodes of the second volume that CFVY – formed by Coco Adel, Fox Alistair, Velvet Scarlatina and Yatsuhashi Daichi – show up and give some small demonstration of how second years of Beacon take action in battle. Before this episode, we’re only presented with some small moments of interaction with some of the members and nothing beyond that, which was something that always left some space for wondering what were the motivations and past of these students. This is one of the strongest points in RWBY: their very stylish and well-designed characters.
It’s in 2019 that After the Fall hit the shelves – by Scholastic – counting with Kerry Shawcross, Miles Luna (both writers of the show) and E.C Myers (who also wrote another masterpiece for the series – Fairy Tales of Remnant – be sure to check my review here on the blog!). The book has an amazing writing style and the pacing is quite close to the one of the animation, showing us some flashbacks and connecting those events to the present ones, just like the actual RWBY show.
The plot takes place in Vacuo, a desert region of Remnant which holds one the four schools that train hunters and huntress of the creatures of Grimm – Shade academy. CFVY needs to cross the desert to get to this school and finish their training, although they are taken aback by the extreme dangers and perils of the land. Vacuo is known for having enormous sand crabs wandering around, gigantic sandworms and storms raging on its dunes. Not only that, but remember to count the creatures of Grimm, which are attracted by fear, desperation and any other negative feeling emanated by the human soul. The locals are known for being a hardworking kind, born survivors, just like we see in World of Remnant (a complementary series that expands and gathers the tales and culture of the people of this universe) and all this is well built and explored in After the Fall.
During their journey, the members of team CFVY find other travelers and decide to join in on their trip, to protect them of the perils and adversities of the region. It’s in this scenario that we see the leadership of Coco, we find out a little bit about Yatsu’s semblance and his past, we get to know more about Velvet and we are astonished by Fox and his amazing abilities (a very interesting and intriguing character, by the way). Villains, anti-heroes and mysteries are presented to us here, also giving an opportunity for a sequel (the one released in 2020 – Before the Dawn). The story is not necessary for a major understanding of the animation, but it’s a beautiful addition to the ones who were looking for more to grasp about the lore and universe behind RWBY. Especially of a region yet to be seen, possibly on the coming up volume (the ninth one) which is going to be release in November this year.
I don’t only recommend this book to the fans, but also to the ones who don’t know the show and want a literary approach to get into it. Be aware that you can get some spoilers from the actual series, although nothing that’s going to compromise your experience in a whole, it’s worth mentioning so you don’t get frustrated picking up the volumes, nevertheless.
After the Fall is a long-awaited gift for everybody who wanted to know what team CFVY was up to, and the sequel (Before the Dawn) seems to extend upon this idea of bringing more to the table. This time counting with the presence of team SSSN (sun), other beloved ones! As soon as I finish reading the book, it is also getting a review here on the blog, so stay tuned!
