Thank you Cyan can for putting the two big climatic Nevermore battle scenes from the new RWBY anime and the original RWBY Flash animation back to back in one Youtube video:
You can see that the battle is roughly the same in both, with a lot of the differences due to translating a 3D scene into 2D animation; much harder to swing the camera around as impressively for example. But there are also differences in the choreography of the battle itself, as well as in what the anime chooses to showcase as opposed to the original. the biggest difference is at the start of the battle. In the anime, the battle is quickly divided into one team fighting the giant scorpion while the other tackles the giant raven. In the original, this all happens much more organically, with various characters switching which monster they fight as their comrades need help until finally you get the two teams established that will remain together for the rest of the battle. (And which will remain teams for the rest of the series.)
Character wise, the anime version keeps a much tighter focus on Ruby, Weiss and Jaune. In both versions it’s Ruby and Jaune who come up with ways to defeat their respective monsters, but in the anime version the other characters have little more to do than just fight whereas in the original they got their individual moments to shine as well. Especially the scorpion’s defeat was much more of a cooperative affair, with Nora playing a much larger role. She just hammers the scorpion’s spike into its head in the anime version, while in the original she was flipped into the air by Pyrrhia, riding her own hammer and giggling. The team work to defeat the other monster also suffers a bit in the anime version, with the original being much more clear about all four members setting up Ruby to launch the final blow.
Neither version is bad, both are very good actually, but in the end I prefer the original. Its choreography and the way it makes everybody shine is just slightly better than in the anime version. A fitting tribute to RWBY creator Mony Oum who created this choreography and who sadly never got to see it in a proper anime, as he died in 2015.
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