RWBY is the first manga adaptation of the original web animation, RWBY. It was drawn by Shirow Miwa. It delves more into character motivations and expands on the events of the show's four trailers.
The creators of the original show have stated that this manga is "canon until it's not", exploring further information that didn't make it into the show, but any contradiction between the two works would result in the web animation superseding the manga.
This manga ran from 2015-2017, and is a separate work to the other manga series that came later.
This manga provides examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: Weiss discusses the concept of possession-type Grimm, revealing in the process that the knight she fought in the White Trailer was animated by an artificially created form of possession-type Grimm. The RWBY DVD commentary for Volume 4 confirms that the name of the creature Weiss is talking about is an Arma Gigas.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Junior. Compared to the Yellow Trailer ending with Yang tossing him out the window of his own club, with him holding a grudge months later, His appearance here ends with him getting amicable with Yang, serving drinks to her and an arriving Ruby, and explaining politely that he can’t help her, because his information network only covers Vale.
- Attack Its Weak Point: When battling the Cephalopod Grimm, Teams RWBY and JNPR realise its weakness is that, like the Geist Grimm its related to, the core of its body is weak. By attacking the centre of the fused King Taijitus, they are able to defeat it.
- The Cameo:
- Winter makes an appearance in Weiss’s flashbacks to her childhood, starting her drive to independence.
- Penny appears in the penultimate chapter, scaring off the White Fang, and returning to base rather than dealing with the Possession Grimm because It's Probably Nothing.
- Comic-Book Adaptation: This manga is a Japanese adaptation of an American animated web show of the same name.
- Dem Bones: The body of the Cephalopod looks like a giant horned skull.
- Fusion Dance:
- The Schnee Dust Company is able to create a new possession-type Grimm by forcibly merging together many small Grimm. This creation is what powered the knight that fought Weiss in the White Trailer.
- The Cephalopod Grimm is capable of fusing itself and four King Taijitu to create one giant, hydra-like creature.
- Mythological Motifs: The Possession Grimm’s combined form is compared to (an in-universe equivalent to) Yamato-no-Orochi. Ruby is especially excited when Blake mentions a legendary weapon might be in its tail.
- Once More, with Clarity: When telling the story of how she almost got the pair killed, Yang noted that Ruby was asleep through the whole thing. This manga shows that Ruby actually woke up just long enough to see Yang try to protect her and Qrow appear to save them, which influenced her desire to be a Huntress.
- Stage Fright: When forced to fight Cardin in front of the whole class, Ruby spends a few minutes locked in her own head, freaking out about Cardin's weapon and how she just wants to go home and watch cat videos.