High Guardian Spice: A Show That Meant Nothing

[Music] it's become a trend over the years that video streaming is in the full sweep of producing niche original content for their sharing lineups and the medium of animation is no exception just this year amazon prime had invincible you're fighting so you can watch everyone around you die think mark netflix well just name one [Music] and even crunchyroll a site for streaming anime content made its debut with their lineup of shows either in an association with a major studio or by their own studio but none of these pitches were as big as the announcement for the original animated project high guardian spice back in 2018 but unfortunately for them it wasn't for any good reasons it was met with pushbacks from a large majority of people criticizing the trailer for his lack of explanation surrounding the project and his aversion to elaborating what made their show a must watch to many it was derivative in vanilla and the interviews with the creatives and producers only muddled the murky waters behind its inception thus the project went silent for the next two and a half years until finally making its virtual debut to the ravenous mob that awaited it when i heard about the controversy surrounding it than the eventual release i honestly didn't really care but of course fomo kicked in and i eventually cleared my schedule and months of isolation from my youtube upload page because algorithm be damned i wanted to see and discuss it and as a final report on the first season it's not the worst but it's still bad [Music] the story of high guardian spy centers around four girls going to a high school that teaches combat spell casting and any adherence to lawsuits that would put these students in mortal danger did you enjoy your poison [Laughter] the girls consist of rosemary the clumsy warrior whoa parsley have you been rolling in mulch sage the book smart mage this is an open lab amaryllis use it if you want parsley the dwarven blacksmith welcome you two must be noodle in garth and time the fearless ranger might want to watch where you swing that thing because of how it's a giant sword and across 12 episodes the group goes through situations that most matches schools go through like orientation boy love euthanizing serpents of the deep [Music] you know typical of the genre just throw in mandy from totally spies and some ham-fisted morals about the meaning of love and you gotta show me for younger or i mean older audiences only meant for mature audiences but before i get into the good and the many bads of the show i probably want to point out how it became well high guardian spice [Music] ray rodriguez is the creator of the show and has pitched it for many years of various productions and that included his first attempt in 2013 to channel federator which was as he states a good learning experience for him since that first pitch i used rosemary in my college thesis film treasure hunt and then continued to develop hgs and pitch at every opportunity i got eventually i pitched it to crunchyroll in 2016 and they liked it a lot though they didn't have the bandwidth at the time to make it as a show we started developing it as a comic in 2017 then i re-pitched it as a show to them when mars dean started the company in 2018 and it quickly changed from comic to tv show it was a very unusual process crunchyroll studios formerly known as elation studios lauded itself for being an ethically diverse crew with a 50 female majority in an entire writing staff woman a few of whom even have prominent voice roles in the series including katie mcveigh as mean girl amaryllis don't worry i'm here at ease pores and ray rodriquez as professor caraway who in the show is transgender i'm a queer cuban trans guy so we're in a similar boat says rodriguez to feature editor jade king for the gamer having diverse representation is very important to me in the work i create i'm transgender for ray it was a chance to make his idealized setting in a high fantasy world a reality a reflection of his childhood wonders i have been a big anime fan for a long time my older sister got into sailor moon before i was born so i have always had anime around in my life rodriquez even notes other anime as inspiration to high guardian spice such as magic knight ray earth petite princess yusi and interestingly enough little witch academia combining anime aesthetics with the squishy style of western shows such as shira and steven universe were most likely the reason for the art style being hybridization of western and eastern animation so with all that said how does this apply to the show itself well do you guys remember that jeb bush clip during his failed campaign it's like that only with the writing staff please clap [Applause] [Music] tropes have been around for years and no matter how original a work of art might be it can be directly lifted from an artist's influences like indiana jones from 1930s matinee cereals or halloween from alfred hitchcock's psycho it's a group of young teenagers going to a school made for exceptionally gifted students trying to learn the core of their crafts so that they can become the best at their niche job requirements this is your wizarding school trope very much popularized by harry potter and in north america brought in a slew of heavily inspired y.a works essentially playing as portals that vicariously place young impressionable folks to live out their flight of fancy in an environment most familiar to them school high guardian spices hook is a magical school where everyone of different races classes and even genders can enter unless you are too big to enter the dorms or you're a fish person i guess you ought to go somewhere different for that one it's the unfortunate conundrum that all creators want in their story having your cake and wanting to eat it too it wants to be like many teenage fantasy works but instead comes out as an eldritch horror of every young adult cliche under the sun for example the main hero has a missing parent who may or may not be in connection with a dark council who has a quite awkward friend who is part of a family line of exceptional mages they have to take a train to their destination and come across several friends including a no-nonsense long-haired girl and a pretentious know-it-all who may or may not be connected to the antagonists they're also the eccentric professor with links to the missing parental figure and an animal that transforms into a human being who has a bond with one of the characters that attempts to destroy the academy and bring about an age of darkness at least there is no voldemort simply put it's a paint by numbers magical school show with an identity crisis it wants to be the mirror to others of its makeup but can't figure out what it wants to be the only standout feature is the concept of old magic clashing with new magic old magic is simply using oneself as a conductor to pull magic from their surroundings while new magic simply captures that essence and uses it in a device like a terror stone or glyph and for sage it's a journey for her to find the balance between old and new that is her art across 12 episodes she despises new magic she doesn't want me to use it everyone at school makes fun of me or laughs behind my back because of my old sigils and my stupid hat which leads me to [Music] believe it or not there are some net positives of the show that i want to address before getting into the rotting roots that envelope its base one is that despite its awkward characterizations they do have some interesting arcs i've already mentioned sage's arc but you also have the character of snapdragon who is going through various changes in his life when it comes to his gender identity i like your nails would you still like me if if i painted my nails in the two-part halloween episodes he is seen being more feminine by wearing a dress despite the fear of raising eyebrows from other people his journey of self-discovery is the best character arc of the show as he grows to appreciate his own desires as who he truly is inside the show is also good in representing healthy lgbtq plus representations even though there are a few crites with it that i'll get into in a bit you protected a precious creature and that let it find its perfect partner and that matters so much and hands on the table it does get better by around the time our spice girls goes out to different locations and face some very interesting challenges but can also be seen as a missing angle that the show desperately needed to stay afloat but before we get invested into its quote-unquote world you need to have subtitles in order to understand what the hell is going on [Music] starting from episode 1 the quality issues are already apparent from not a visual view but an auditory ear dialogue is completely overblown by sound effects and music and during the introduction i couldn't tell if my volume settings were low or just too high bye dad bye chicory goodbye pebble and hello to the rest of our lives [Music] in terms of sound mixing it's definitely one of the worst aspects of the show and that's before we get into when the character actors deliver their lines do you want rabies we don't know if this one's dangerous i was sure i was going to have to fight her to defend your owner sage got me to be patient like she always usually does while some notable actors like barbara goodson cam clark and stephanie shea perform adequately well in their roles the others have performances i would say are amateur at best laughably terrible at worst hi parsley this'll dare me to become a gargoyle i'm going to move you to the third year class is that okay oh rosemary i'll show you something some are newcomers with little to no voice acting experience while others are given roles that are very much not in their depth of field there is even a character named slimeboy voiced by julian coster who i think might be better as a musician than a voice actor oh she's out back she's elbow deep and now turn up that's what everyone calls me i kind of like it uh you know it's the same slime and then boy i was just gonna practice a crying song i wrote i'm doing uh you know bard stuff for everything hours yeah okay all right there are plenty of times throughout the show where the voice directions sometimes don't even match the character's tone of voice rosemary sounds very raspy in the beginning of the show chewing is for cowards oh my word what is that maybe it's got rabies what suddenly sounds more soft and clear after episode three the cave eats students that sounds like a good adventure astor please let me do this i'm on it kiddo i'll keep you posted okay and due to the audio levels being low for so many of the cast it only applies gasoline to the fire and oh my goodness does it stick out [Music] you probably thought she's just a regular girl nothing to notice but rhubarb's like really good at this stuff you could say that or you could say you've been excelling at the use of one tool and even when you can hear what the characters are saying and with passing audio levels it's when the real culprit unveils itself like a wet fart you girls win any food is sleep a food [Applause] rewind back to the first episode again as our two main protagonists are leaving their home they stand on the hill looking out towards the sunset excited and nervous and starting out on their journey to the academy rosemary makes a stumble and the parents coincidentally are waiting for them outside the gates couldn't he just walked them down the road they do their standard goodbyes and sage's mom then says and remember studying is just as important as socializing and this is the level of writing we're experiencing here and the first episode makes it very clear that the writing staff didn't go through the necessary drafts to make the episode plotline flow better take the traveling scene where we start off on a horse-drawn carriage to an even bigger double-decker carriage by the time the opening credits end then we cut to an elevator system that takes us up a mountain and by now i'd hoped they'd flesh out our main leads but instead insert a hogwarts train for the girl to then fly a broom to get on boards so i'd ask why didn't we just use the broom to get to our destination not only would that be far more interesting but it could cut out all the travel filler now it would lessen the world building aspect a little but since it's frankly pretty small scale anyways it would be better used to understand our character's personalities the only characteristics i've been presented with is that one is as strong and clumsy while the other is cautious and i guess introverted instead we have no way to identify or understand who they are as individuals aside from their first appearance in the story are we supposed to be captivated by how long it takes to get to that one town you've seen in multiple fantasy anime after five minutes of what should have just been a skyrim fast travel we are then introduced to sage's cousins and enter into their house up to the stairs and when asked what rosemary wants to eat she responds with is sleep a food but i guess rose just doesn't need anything nor sage for that matter so the offering of food is considered a lie no response from even sage which makes this exchange another throwaway line spoken for the sake of a confusing joke then our girls sleep with rosa rosemary having a bad dream of her mother being tentacled to death which she doesn't look too distraught about in a confusing line of action her mother throws the sword to rose to which she tries to pick up but fails runs towards her mom until she is yanked by the tendrils into the sky where the sword that was behind rose a moment ago is now in front of her and she just curls down and weeps she always comes home even during the dream the dialogue is shoddy and basic as we're given no insight into what the mother figure is to rosa mary she is important to her life but how so in future episodes she gives off the impression that she doesn't even know what her mother even smells like which is kind of creepy either way despite being not too young to remember her were you close was she amazing what does she smell like on that note caraway is a best friend to rosie mary's mom so why has the mom never mentioned caraway so then the mother just comes off just another tragic parental guardian who becomes pretty irrelevant until the very end the show from beginning to end is like this having bad dialogue is one thing but when the screenplay doesn't follow any cohesive pathway nor lead into any payoffs you know it's a lack of screenwriting knowledge that is really felt here let's skip ahead to another example of episode 8 during the festival of fall snapdragons being talked down to by this [ __ ] for going drag wait snapdragon you dude why are you dressed like a girl and his friend comes into the fandom in his costume choice but then when we see them again the visuals imply they are being introduced for the first time you can even hear a sparkling sound effect oh it's you cut to their next appearance and snapdragon is visibly still distressed from the did you assume my gender scene and then amaryllis is sitting down with them and going over what happened the reason i bring this up is because the way is structured means that only then was the cal incident brought up again and that was when a big fight broke out between rose and sage maybe also this line from amaryllis can you imagine how many horrible insults they've been saving up let's watch wouldn't it make sense for the scene with them at parsley's family tent take place first then have cal's inappropriate interaction with snapdragon be the next one up now it flows a lot better with context since he is still distressed from it then again it would have worked fine here if only the way it was written wasn't implicating a costume reveal there are many scenes written this way that don't make overall sense and narrative and it's also really not helping them with engagement either it also complicates matters when the tone of high guardian spies is out of whack with what is presenting remember that warning sign in the beginning of each episode well despite its cute designs and wholesome atmosphere in the prologue the show can be about as bloody as a shonen and have a mouth like a sailor at very inappropriate times this is for trapping me you bastard [Music] fine but this is grog [ __ ] and you know it it's very off-putting when a show with basically no teeth all of a sudden has bits where creatures are bursting like water fountains or a character makes fun of another character's drawing style because it looks like dicks not believe how many dogs rosemary drew in her diary oh and by the way you draw swords like dogs hey because that is what i think most people signed up for it's not even a good subversion since it only starts coming out by episode 3 as if the stakes weren't high enough it's the very definition of tonal whiplash and on the subject of episode 3 it's also the first development of one of the key morals in the show and if the writing doesn't ruin your immersion it also ruins the lgbtq plus content the scene in episode 3 with caraway describing the very textbook definition of being transgender to rosemary is the one most people make fun of how can you write lgbtq plus themes in your story without coming across as hammy or sanctimonious cartoons and especially ones being made for kids are a growing trend in representing the voices of the visible and invisible minorities of our society and showing how they are all a part of the human condition depicting them as those in need of love and acceptance it's not just showing on-screen chemistry where two of similar binary genders are in romantic relations but that even those going against binary roles are to be celebrated now despite that it doesn't mean you can just shove a gay character into your marketing and present yourself as someone who's with it disney has been doing that for years with their writing and if you want more on that i'll refer to you to lindsey ells's video on the subject if you want examples of shows with great representations and appropriate care done to their messages and story lines you can mostly find them in media aimed at pre-teens steven universe stephen connie i i did it you did it shira don't you get it i love you i always have owl house do you want to go out with me no i was so ready i'm sorry i'm sorry you can say it these are perfect examples of shows that have put a lot of attention not only on their characters but also to their progression and place in the narrative then what about high guardian spice why can't it hang out at the cool kids table is it society or the gross men talking down to it well that might be complicated i personally don't think misogyny or christian fundamentalists are solely responsible for the downvotes or one star reviews maybe some but i can't exactly find any evidence to support it but instead it's again back to the same problem the writing is just bad at representation or it's pointing out the obvious to a demographic who are being spoon-fed information they're old enough to know again intended for mature audiences this isn't a show about a little kid discovering the importance of loving who they are and what it means to transform into the body the desire to be in this is a show that has a character give a literal wikipedia definition of the topic to our main heroine in a fantasy show where transformation magic is a thing and while it comes down to execution it's also something that is a lot harder to grasp in a fantasy setting than a modern day environment in fact there are some issues that the show can take advantage of that can work in fantasy classism is one of them though nothing is done with it there is also racism and prejudice that can be explored and that could be apparent in most storage of entails valued by those over the age of 13. and with no religious organization or group opposed to identity or attraction in this story it's very hard to figure out what the problem is other than obligatory pandering i have no problem with the fact that anise and aloy are happily married and of the same sex i just find it kind of funny though that they put a picture frame of their marriage in the guest room than in any room in the house bottom line don't be patting yourselves in the back for doing the bare minimum when other shows with gay themes can work it better than you can on the runway [Music] it's not x arm and lord knows anything is better than that but high guardian spice's animation isn't getting any brownie points for me while most scenes are still dictated by how the screenplay expects the characters to interact with the world the animation tries to tell you that this environment is alive and well when most of the time it's a moving screensaver the backgrounds are sometimes even missing several features like how the bread and lampposts are just out of place against the backdrop or how in rose's dream sequence the characters feel like they're placed on the same windy valley layout in each shot despite their positions from the overhead while the unity asset flips don't appear much in the rest of the show they still don't make this universe any less different from your typical high fantasy playbook the rest of the animation is something of a mixed bag it flows together pretty well for your average animated tv show but its cut corners are pretty apparent the one thing i could say shares a lot of similarities with japanese animation but their excuse that they have to release episodes on a weekly basis and have to make necessary sacrifices this is the show that have more time to develop and implement fluid animation yet chose to go for the bare minimum it also has this weird issue where the animation will just stop all together and take three or more seconds for the transition to happen roughly half of the scene transitions are cross fade and you can tell when it's about to happen because the characters look like they're about to play a telegraph game of freeze tag but it could be just the method in which the show was put together in post that deteriorates the design process because i do find its characters appealing and distinct in their looks and even the action can be engaged at certain points but the takeaway is that much unlike its inspirations it's not showcasing the best of what it can be shows like shira with a very similar character aesthetic make the most out of their animation budget and go beyond its limitations to create several imaginative scenarios for the story to delve into in high guardian spice most of it is stuck in a school with very little exploration or setting changes the only time we go anywhere new is in episode 11 when the group helps out some mermaids from a rampaging sea monster it's kind of a ring indictment that while magic school settings are naturally cost effective it lacks innovation or growth in what show you want to present and is the reason why some of the more successful animated projects prosper without the use of this monotonous device however she-ra might be a bridge too great for equal comparison and if we need to send it home somehow allow another stand-in to take its place that's right it's time to talk about ruby [Music] ruby is an online animated series created by monty ohm and ruse teeth productions best known for red versus blue and a variety of okay to forgettable side hustles it's about a group of young teenagers going to a school may for exceptionally gifted students trying to learn the core of their crowd so that they can become the best at their niche job requirements second verse same as birth it was also made by its producers as a homage to japanese animated works and based its world on the grim fairy tales of old hunters are much like guardians as each one has their own different styles and weaponry to fight the monsters and villains of the series it mostly cements our characters initially into situations centered around the school and how it will affect the wide scale of the universe it is formed in ruby was released in 2013 and by that point the landscape has already been oversaturated with similar high fantasy concepts that take place of course in an educational institution all aimed at a young teenage audience and during the time when animation from japan was seeing a massive surge of popularity the creators chose the right time to market a show for that demographic and has since been their biggest show of all time now of course ruby doesn't smell like roses the animation is shoddy the main casts are interesting and the storylines are generic even by early 2010 standards however it was also using new technology with very complex techniques not seen on web series up until this point on top of being advertised well and scoring more fanfare and profit than any other independent project at the time ruby has already made its shot in the markets this was the exact situation high guardian spice was looking for in order to cash in on ruby's success but by modern metrics they were just too late ruby's popularity was dwindling per season and the audience was looking towards more fresh avenues to stimulate their pleasures they've begun to outgrow shows about cute high school girls doing badass things but if we really want to make a comparison between each series first season ruby has a much better hook its action is a lot more exaggerated due in part to the creator's experience and over the top antics and the execution of its wild ideas cohesively fit with the story they want to tell a sight that turns into a rabbit velocity sniper rifle fits well into the realm of cool and the red trailer for ruby makes this marketing far more realized than the limp toast hgs trailer i can't deny that ruby is the textbook example how to market your show as it gives the audience what they want while high guardians tries to present what it could be it's a classic show don't tell or as chekov put it don't tell me the moon is shining show me the glint of light on a broken glass not to say that ruby was a critical darling as it certainly has several problems that affects his long-term appeal you want more of that i'd say go check out h bummer guy's video on it but keep in mind how fresh it was when it came out of the oven during the early 2010s high guardian spies tried to win an audience it didn't know wasn't there anymore and all that and more is partially why their buildup to a second season will probably never get produced which is kind of sad if you ask me [Music] in episode 11 snapdragon confronts the same student that mocked his choice of wardrobe back at the fall festival and gets into a fight with him professor caraway then takes snap aside and talks to him about what his troubles are he and snapdragon have a heart-to-heart about their experiences and how carraway learned to love himself after his transition snapdragon you have time to figure it out there are so many paths to becoming your true self and this one is mine i'm not saying that it's yours and i think this scene in particular highlights the main reason for the show's inception ray rodriguez wanted to make a show that could speak to a young teen going through the process of transitioning genders and how it can genuinely make you happy all art regardless of its end result is made with good intentions in mind not from corporate boards but from the pan of someone who truly wants to tell a personal story high guardian spies is a story that speaks to someone's love for shows and anime that represent what they've gone through in their adolescence maybe it could have worked as a light action-adventure show where the characters go to school to learn fighting and magic it could have worked as a tale of self-discovery and passion but we must always be careful with how it eventually ends up and i can speak from experience i made halo machinima back in the day and i honestly don't put it up in high regard anymore i made several mistakes and i was chasing the trend that i thought was spectacular but was kind of well cringy it's a discovery that's hard to accept and that for many creations to fully work it's sometimes on the advice of constructive criticism that can open up the big picture not from a committee of yes people it's a balancing act and sometimes you will have ideas that won't see the light of day and even when an artwork you make doesn't surpass expectations you have learned from it rodriquez went far and away in making his dream a reality it just was a bit too late to the party but despite that it's not all bad news rey is still working in the industry and is said to be working on a new show so i don't think the failure of this one will hinder any progress he has made in his career his first as a showrunner was a flop but i'm confident in saying that rey can certainly recover from it high guardian spice is another drop in the bucket for crunchyroll's original content that was killed by poor marketing and a lack of oversight and that's before it even came out when it did it became an underwhelming piece of media that became clogged with unimpressive visuals a by the numbers plot and writing that affects the story characters and principles i try my best not to nitpick every single microscopic detail as it would only make some arguments redundant and unclear but i wanted to highlight how a passion project turned into a mess of warped expectations not sure if another season's been picked up yet which i'd be amazed if it were but i only wanted to get my opinions out there on where things went wrong high guardian spice might be the base ingredients for a decent brew but unlike the title it neglected to add in any spice [Music] thanks for watching i hope you guys enjoyed and let me know what your thoughts are about high guardian spice comment down below and subscribe if you want to see more content whenever i get the chance to upload it's your bra man signing off [Music]

Channel: Brah

Views: 499,489

Keywords: high guardian spice, raye rodriguez, high guardian anime, anime spice, sailor moon, fantasy anime, isekai, funny, funny anime, harry potter anime, animated tv show, anime inspired, harry potter, magic school, archetype magic, crunchyroll original, crunchyroll anime high guardian spice

Id: 8RKjqsbLtFg

Length: 31min 59sec (1919 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 16 2021