RWBY: Ice Queendom

"RWBY: Ice Queendom"
Anime Visual & Staff:
- Director: Toshimasa Suzuki
- Animation Concept: Gen Urobuchi
- Series Composition, Script: Tow Ubukata
- Character Design: huke
- Animation Production: Shaft

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Hey FNDM!

Well that was a helluva weekend, huh?? We hope you’re as excited for RWBY: Ice Queendom as we are. This moment has been a long time coming. Believe it or not, this new show has been in the works for almost a decade.

The story goes that, about 8 years ago, Monty was at a convention and stopped by the Good Smile Company booth. He loved their products and wanted to explore a partnership with them. While they were talking, they started kicking around the idea of creating a new RWBY side-series. But rather than creating it in Austin with CRWBY, this new story would be traditionally animated in Japan by a world class studio.

Flash forward a few years and here we are, bringing this incredible new vision to life with some of the biggest names in anime: BANDAI NAMCO Arts, Good Smile Company, SHAFT, and Crunchyroll, with additional support from Warner Bros. Japan and KLab, Inc. Not only that, but we’ve assembled a dream team of anime heavweights for the core creative team: Gen Urobuchi (NITRO PLUS, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero), Tow Ubukata (Mardock Scramble, Tenchi: The Samurai Astronomer, Fafner in the Azure), huke (Black Rock Shooter, chitocerium, Steins;Gate), and Toshimasa Suzuki (Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne, Fafner in the Azure: Heaven and Earth). And of course, Rooster Teeth’s own Kerry Shawcross, Eddy Rivas, Erin Winn, and Christine Brent have been collaborating with the Japan team every step of the way.

Outside of that, the main cast of RWBY are returning to voice their characters: Lindsay, Kara, Arryn, and Barbara are all returning, as are their Japanese counterparts: Saori Hayami as Ruby Rose, Yoko Hikasa as Weiss Schnee, Yu Shimamura as Blake Belladonna, and Ami Koshimizu as Yang Xiao Long.

Somebody pinch me, because I must be dreaming.

ICYMI, check out the amazing first trailer here:


I’m sure y’all have a ton of questions - many of which I’m not allowed to answer just yet! But I’ll do my best to answer what I can here.

First, the world of RWBY: Ice Queendom is NOT an alternate universe or a reboot. While the story is set in the same universe as the main show, we’re calling it “canon adjacent”. The new show is incredibly faithful to the original, while also taking some fun new liberties to switch things up a bit. The first two episodes of RWBY: IQ will recap V1 - V2 before kicking things off into a bold new adventure, full of new characters, new settings, new surprises, and (of course) new Grimm. Not only that, but you’ll also see a ton of familiar faces, too. While changes made to the existing RWBY content are not technically considered canon, it's a story that absolutely could exist alongside other RWBY content -- we just wanted the Japan team to be able to have as much fun with it as they wanted. Now as to what the story of the show is all about….well you’ll just have to wait and see!

Second, I’ve seen a lot of questions about when and where the show is airing. The show will release this summer; we’ll be sharing the exact release date in the near future. It will premiere on Japanese television, with subtitled and dubbed versions available the same day to audiences on Crunchyroll and Rooster Teeth FIRST. New episodes will premiere weekly. It’s also worth noting that episodes will follow traditional anime runtimes.

Feel free to drop additional questions in the comments section. I’ll answer what I can, but remember: we have plenty of surprises left to reveal and I can’t share too much just yet.

We can’t wait for y’all to see what we have in store for you when the show launches later this summer. Wherever Monty is, I hope he’s smiling down on us. I only met him once, back in 2013, long before I worked for RT. But even in the few moments I shared with him, I could see his drive, passion, creativity, and joy. We're so incredibly proud to keep his flame going, both in our own RWBY series and now with RWBY: Ice Queendom.

Monty: your dream finally came true. This one’s for you.

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