Crunchyroll's long awaited disaster. (High Guardian Spice Review)

So High Guardian Spice finally dropped after three years and it's not great. It follows four girls who are named after herbs but apparently the writers mistook them for spices. Probably could have researched that a little bit better. Still like the Scarborough Fair reference (assuming that's what it is.) Anyway, everything about this show is mediocre and Crunchyroll's resources could have been put to better use.
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[@hibikiholmes2867]

For a cartoon made to be "progressive", they sure like to reinforce stereotypes.

[@bunnywithakeyboard7628]

That’s been the way of people who call themselves progressive for well over a century, though. Woodrow Wilson hosted a movie Birth of a Nation about the KKK.

[@danielconti2383]

Not to mention some of those stereotypes are poorly executed, have little to no context(and those contexts are badly executed too), or overexaggerated

[@dy031101]

Progressives™ only ever have problems with stereotypes they didn't create. They want government-enforced stereotypes arguably more than everyone else.

[@aubrey_animations9880]

The one feminine man actually is a trans woman, most of the men are complete jerks and the ones who aren't are side characters. The only man is who isn't a jerk and who isn't a side character, is carriway, the creators self insert. And all the men in the show are stereotypically masculine and all the women are also just feminine, i wouldn't consider this show progressive unless it was released in the 1950s and that might be pushing it

[@SprinkleMyDoughnuts]

As a lesbian myself, I absolutely hated how they tried to portray Rosemary's and Sage's developing romance (if I can even call it that). Not sure if both of them are really intended to be lesbians in the first place (since they crush on boys) but the man-hating rant also left a very sour taste in my mouth with Sage.

[@PhantomOfTheKnight]

“You just wouldn’t understand how the bond between boys and the bond between girls are different” …maybe if there were a single man in the writer’s room, YOU would understand, but there wasn’t.

[@emeryltekutsu4357]

Also funny how they bragged about being all women while supposedly having a transman as well? Shows how much they actually respect transpeople.

[@Demolitiondude]

A repeated viewing of platoon might help.

[@dork7546]

@@emeryltekutsu4357 Crunchyroll purposely misgendered the creator in order to claim they got an all "female" writting staff. Geez, what a woke company...

[@Mupyeong]

Ngl but these people obviously don't have guy friends they share deep connections with. But then again their understanding of emotions is limited to telling each other they feel sad/angry/happy and then validate those feelings vigorously. Very distanced and cold.

[@dork7546]

@@Mupyeong It kinda surprise me the show reinforces these stereotypes about men when the creator himself is a trans man. But then again, if one of your writers is Kate Lenth, I guess there's not much you can do to stop her...

[@toganium4175]

This show recently became the lowest rated cartoon/anime ever.

[@bunnywithakeyboard7628]

Calling this show an anime is like finding a bottle, putting a worm inside, getting a Russian to fill it with their pee, and calling it authentic Mexican tequila.

[@KeybladeMasterAndy]

Surprised to see you here. Discovered you because of your Mr. Enter videos.

[@rdphoenix07]

This isn't an anime. This is a pathetic anime knock-off.

[@kelpietales4503]

It feels like animation's answer to The Room but that doesn't seem fair to The Room.

[@shawnculpepper4589]

It managed to get a lower rating than Ex-Arm.

[@starcatcher9699]

Wait, why is having only women writing for the show something that the staff was proud of? That's literally the same thing as having only men write a show and the exact opposite of diversity. I don't get people sometimes.

[@jendoe9436]

If I was stuck in an all female team, I would go crazy. I’ve found when I’m in a guys and gals mixed group, everything feels much calmer and stuff can get done. At work, my side is an even mix of guy/gal and the other is one guy/ 10-ish gals. My side is pretty chill and we can all get a lot done, the other side is alright but there’s definitely something off balance whenever he’s gone for more than a few days. When my gal only group tries to do anything, it’s sometimes pulling teeth and I’m bout ready to bang my head against the wall. I just find ‘all female’ groups to be annoying and I mentally set a stop watch of when they’ll start clawing at each other 😅

[@GarethDragon]

@@jendoe9436 There was an episode of Family Guy that had a joke about that at the end. In the episode Brian says something to Stewie about how good friends he and Peter are, to which Stewie refutes otherwise. Later when Peter, Brian, Joe and Quagmire are in the car they're blinded by a mysterious light and crash, waking up in a hospital with no other memeories of who or where they are. On top of that everyone else in the world has disappeared, with streets abandoned and cars crashed into lightposts etc. Anyway they find their way home to Spooner Street and Brian comes to believe that he is Quagmire's dog and stays at his. But when Joe and Quagmire come to find 'evidence' that Peter was responsible for the disappearances they use Brian to distract him while they concoct a plan to kill Peter. Brian finds that he enjoys Peter's company and ends up trying to help him escape when Joe and Quagmire attack, only for Brian to die taking a bullet for Peter. Brian awakes along with Peter, Joe and Quagmire in Stewie's room where they discover that it was all a simulation with the intent to prove that Brian and Peter wouldn't be friends in different circumstances. Stewie admits he was wrong and that Brian's friendship with Peter is genuine. Brian notices that Lois, Bonnie and Meg are hooked up to another simulation machine and on the monitor showing what's going on in said simulation all three women are at the hospital where the guys woke up but are brawling. Brian asks what that was about and Stewie explains that they pretty much attacked each other on sight and haven't even bothered to at least try to figure out their names!

[@ShyGuyXXL]

Because they see it as revenge for all the male-dominated writing teams in history. They don't want balance, they just want payback.

[@cafecubano_]

well I mean, if its something thats specific to women, then I feel like having an all-women team would be great (which this show is not but im just saying) also I could get what they are saying, because a lot of things are dominated by men so its just something different, I don't think its meant to be like a diversity thing, more of like an empowerment-of-women thing I guess but I don't know this is just what I get from it edit: its like how people are proud of having a project thats made by all Black or LGBT creators. yeah, sure, real diversity would be also including white or straight people, but its supposed to be more of an empowerment of minorities and marginalized groups

[@michaelwilson1683]

When you look at shows as a whole the vast majority of them are staffed by men. Meaning minorities being the only ones staffing a show is diversity, not in the minutia of the show itself but instead on the grand trend of “how many shows are run by men vs run by women.”

[@MaverickhunterXZero]

This show was doomed to fail. It was based off a Tumblr webcomic that had four panels total. It was lead by a woman known for conning other women out of money. They cared more about checking boxes then skill in every field of production and it shows - and the best they could do was a ham-handed 16 episodes filled with modern stereotypes. So progressive.

[@johannesseyfried7933]

Well, some types of Webcomics, like the "Ask Questions" Genre sometimes only have a single big Panel. It really depends on the Skill of the Artist if that kind of stuff can work. Do you happen to know more about the comic? I only ever saw a single Panel of it somewhere, where Sage was.....repairing her Staff or something.

[@SuperVini310]

Actually, there were just 12 episodes.

[@alpyki2588]

Out of all the wonderful webcomics, this low quality garbage got the series... lame.

[@ponponpatapon9670]

@@alpyki2588 be happy they didn't pick a better one, lest they butcher something of actual quality lMAO

[@alpyki2588]

@@ponponpatapon9670 That's fair enough. I'm not really looking forward to any film or tv show anymore. It's kind of sad.

[@DragoNugget]

You could save bad animation with good writing But when you have bad writing, good animation cant save it. But HGS literally has both bad animation AND writing. If the dialogue was less cringey, maybe people wouldve liked the show

[@hypnospaceoutlaw3376]

I have seen tons of shows with below average animation quality with God-Like writing [at least compared to HGS]. (E.G. Nyan~Neko Sugar Girls, Xavier: Renegade Angel, etc.)

[@josteinhenrique2779]

Bad special effects with good writing: Kamen Rider Build Good animation with bad writing: Masters of Universe Revelations

[@acerbic5806]

@@josteinhenrique2779 Yep

[@TF2Fan101]

Hoodwinked is a perfect example of good writing saving bad animation. Sure, the story’s not the strongest overall, but the writing, characters, concepts and jokes are top notch!

[@gellax111]

Another exemple: Inferno Cop (though I think the writing falls more into "completely insane" territory)

[@hibikiholmes2867]

That crying scene is on par with Megaman's "WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOOOR?!!" line.

[@generalbolivar9736]

I would have said the 'I should have been the one to fill your dark soul with LIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiIiiight' from Devil May Cry but that also works well.

[@TF2Fan101]

At least those lines are great meme material.

[@Ballade90]

At least those scenes can elicit emotion, the fuck is the crying scene for? "Owie my wrist hurts ahwuuggh"

[@Ozarka0]

Hey now, at least that line and delivery had some charm.

[@lennyztrobos8678]

You made me google that. nice!

[@michaelfireheart8300]

This show is pretty much every rainbow oriented show, where they hire people for diversity instead of being able to voice act and they really can't structure the story well. It's sad how these shows act like they're full of diversity and inclusion, yet are extremely bigoted towards other groups, which is why I don't support these types of shows.

[@ronanjager3829]

@Kanuii Scan okay, do you keep coming in every single comment? Get out you weirdo.

[@mjtannertwins]

@Ronan Jager We reported and blocked them. Not sure what that was about.

[@ronanjager3829]

@@mjtannertwins okay, good thing you did. It always irratates me when people make comments like that.

[@DragoNugget]

@@mjtannertwins its a bot! It happens to other channels too!

[@KeybladeMasterAndy]

I just came in and now I'm curious.

[@SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

Snap and Amaryllis may have a snappy girl/quiet boy team up but that doesn't NOT invalidate their friendship just because the two are different genders. Sage's statement was typical Tumblr bullshit that's been said for YEARS by women who THINK they know men by projecting what little friendship they have on ALL MEN. It's just as backwards and sexist as saying...well, what you brought up; that women are more in touch with their emotions which some people do claim is sexist! Aside from that how many times have we heard people say 'men need to be in tune with their emotions' only to flip it and laugh when they do? The show is boring as fuck and anyone who knows me knows my gripe with it but that simple example raises as massive red flag because all the show is a Tumblr mindset of how the world words and it's just as sexist if not more sexist than what they claim 'problematic' shows do. This is NOT good character writing; HGS is just jargon babble meant to validate very pretentious and judgmental people. They want shows like this to work like this in order to say that because their preferred way of life is shown it justifies them acting like ripe assholes and it's not like this is something new. A lot of shows are doing this and one thing they have in common is the refusal to have a bigger mindset for the cast but instead rely on 'acceptable heroes and acceptable targets' which results in awful storytelling.

[@lother1111]

Very well said and I completely agree. I'm so tired of this sexist dribble. The whole "Masculine man bad. Me no like masculine men. Men no good with feelings ugga bunnga. Women are better than men >:(" shit is so toxic I hate it with every ounce of my being. I wish this garbage trope would be thrown away already!

[@SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

@@lother1111 I think what makes it so bad is the people who wrote this are either so pretentious or so unaware that a lot of their statements are not EMPOWERING towards women but more detrimental since they clutch onto a lot of old stereotypes and rather than 'owning them' they just show us why they're bad stereotypes to begin with. This show wants so hard to be the many things that it's pulling from (Sailor Moon, LWA, a wide variety of newer fantasy anime/manga series) but what it fails at is having the charm of said series. They can slap on as many orientations as they want to characters and remind us countless times that the mains are girls but that's already been done and done better before. So as many people have brought up before, this show isn't doing anything new so why are we expected to act like it is? And as a final note, I absolutely hate how the male characters are treated in this series unless they are the 'appropriate boys'. Snap is okay but he gets better treatment due to being a feminine boy, same with the FtM teacher. Any male who is masculine is treated as being bad, more or less implying that because they are comfortable with being MASCULINE and not more feminine they should be shown in a negative light. It's the whole 'be comfortable with who you are unless it doesn't make US feel good' shit all over again which contradicts the statement of finding self worth to begin with but it's not hidden that the people working on this hate guys anyway so this is more projecting on their part but they're just pulling everyone into their fucked mentality. Just because they hate guys doesn't mean the rest of the female population does too. And just because they're women other women don't agree with the attitudes shown in the show. It's just a mess but what did we expect?

[@lother1111]

​@@SuperCosmicMutantSquid "Just because they hate guys doesn't mean the rest of the female population does too. And just because they're women other women don't agree with the attitudes shown in the show. " God, you can say that again and you're 110% right. None of the shit they say that's supposed to be "empowering" is and I'm so sick of it and the way that they act like it is and that they're the first and ONLY ones to ever make "strong" female leading character. It's just so aggravating to me! Like, personally as a woman, I don't CARE if the mains and/or writers are men or women, I just want a good show with good characters! Not their woke bs Mary Sues and super toxic behaviour. I'm just so sick of it. I really wish these terrible kinds of people would be replaced out of these kinds of positions where they're just wasting money and then screaming at the audience when they don't like the craptastic show filled with harmful stereotypes. They only know how to write strawmen arguments, hella out-of-date stereotypes, and boring nonsense that takes the plot nowhere then get mad when no one likes it. They don't know how to make compelling villains nor plots, and they definitely don't know how to make compelling characters. "Just slap a non-white/straight/male/cis label onto a character and the rest writes itself! What do you mean 'Personality' or 'character drive'? She's a gay woman, isn't she? You have to love it!" "No? Fine, Rosemary can't find her mom or whatever now look at all our super #Diverse characters! We have tall gay, Pink bi, Blue bi, and dwarf gay!" I also just really hate how obvious everything is going to play out. Like, of course, the more masculine, "handsome" guy is a shallow tool that only thinks women should sit there and look pretty. Of course, the only "good" guys are the fem guys or the trans ones. Of course, the girl that's supposed to be a villain changes her tune and helps save the good guys from the bad guy. Of course, the bad guy is super controlling and dismissive of his female counterpart and of course, all of the main characters are gay or bi. I'd bet money that Rosemary's mother is being controlled or "tricked" into being evil and/or is easily redeemed. It's always like this in these types of shows. It's boring, outdated, and pathetic. Honestly, with the way things are going, they'll probably make Snap a trans gay/bi woman too because with the way the first season was written if they were to have a second they'd probably go that route. It just feels really toxic, like, he's got family issues and issues with not being very masculine and growing up surrounded by hyper-masculine and aggressive guys. It sounds more like he needs to sort out his issues with his family and learn to accept himself because transitioning just feels like he's running away from his problems with Toxic masculinity and not addressing it properly. I hate that I feel like I need to say this but I'm not against trans characters or anything like that! It's just, there is a better way of doing it. Of course, I could be wrong with how they would treat him if they got a second season and maybe he'll be allowed to stay just a feminine guy but with the group writing it... I doubt it. I don't think any of the writers talk to any men that aren't spineless male feminists or trans men. The way they write the male characters makes it feel that way at least. They're likely all too misandrist to ever try to listen to a man's point of view but if the roles were reverse you know they would be screaming. They can't write good male characters, female characters, nor LGBT characters. They've got nothing going for them and yet they demand praise. So, Idk, they could be unaware but it feels like they're really pretentious to me.

[@eatatjoes6751]

Yep. Pretty much, really.

[@megametexe5129]

@@SuperCosmicMutantSquid God damn these comments are so on point

[@Groomsman]

It was created by a controversial company, over hyped, delayed for years. And it doesn’t end there, it had more dirty secrets surrounding it pop up, like how one of the members of the studio actively stated how much she hates men on social media and recently I heard that the show was actually finished back in 2019 but they waited to get it out this year for some reason. This show was dead before it arrived, and personally I don’t think it deserves a tombstone

[@hypnospaceoutlaw3376]

It's the Cyberpunk '77 of Western Cartoons.

[@ironpulcinella3586]

Slime boy's VA is a an alleged groomer........

[@Groomsman]

@@ironpulcinella3586 Well shit. And slime boy was a fan favorite for being so hilariously bad

[@eve123princess9]

@@ironpulcinella3586 Slime Boy does not deserve such a VA. I still stan him. 😢

[@Ballade90]

@@ironpulcinella3586 I couldn't find anything about that, source?

[@miscielrossvillegas6307]

"You wouldn't understand! Guy Friendships are different! They don't talk about their feelings." Tell me you don't hang out with men without telling me you don't hang out with men. (But considering one of the shows writers is an enthusiastic advocate for genociding one specific gender, I'm not surprised by that take 🙄🙄🙄🙄) I am severely tempted to re-write the entire show into a generic magic school like a kids' show from the early 2000s. Got to say the only thing they got right was including an elf character because Scarborough Fair is another name for Elfin Knight (basically a classic story on how a girl outsmarts her kidnapper's impossible task by requesting him another impossible task).

[@bunnywithakeyboard7628]

Understanding that things like sexual prejudice are bad requires intelligence. Does it surprise you that none of the women in the writer’s room knew that?

[@hypnospaceoutlaw3376]

I like the idea of turning this into a early 2000s kid's show. You should do that. You can't do any worse than they did.

[@towelgirl21]

Plus isn't Snapdragon trans? As in, he's a girl on the inside... going to change into one on the outside one day? So his part in a guy friendship wouldn't count, right?

[@johannesseyfried7933]

Please do. I always enjoy rewrites of bad Shows with Potential. :)

[@DD8842]

@@bunnywithakeyboard7628 All they know is they didn't get to go to prom, and they are appressed because the entire world doesn't revolve around there feelings.

[@LetralXIV]

"Girls have deeper friendships than guys!" The chicks that made this show have clearly never talked to mem that fought in wars together.

[@muddashucka9743]

They've clearly never talked to men period

[@no_title0w0]

As someone who has guy friends, I can say that we're a lot closer than expected

[@michaelpeacock640]

I think the main word that describes this show is "arrogance". Ellation Studios was arrogant enough to believe that simply by saying their show was allegedly different and "diverse", they would get thunderous applause. Unfortunately for them, it seems that no one at the studio had the barest hint of knowledge or talent in animation, which left High Guardian Spice an inconsistent mess with poor characters, poor story, poor writing, poor animation and sound quality, and poor execution. As for the show, I only watched the first episode and checked out. The pacing was extremely fast yet wasted a lot of time, Rosemary and Sage's relationships with each other, their families, and their village aren't even explored, and old and new magic were barely touched upon. From the other clips I've seen, it kinda just remains the same even when the story kicks off in the second half of the season, which is too long without a real story. As for the mature content, it's lackluster. Madoka Magica, for example, uses tropes of the magical girl genre to create a darker, more brutal tale about how magical girls are used until they fall into despair and become monsters. High Guardian Spice, meanwhile, stops at blood and swearing, using tropes in an unimaginative and uninteresting way. For being "a story that's not like other stories", it sure is as cookie cutter as it gets. The political stuff is obvious to anyone with two functioning eyes, but what's irritating is that the world clashes with those kind of politics. Take for example the transition potion. Why make a potion you need to take every month when you can just completely change your body with new magic? Is the potion meant to be an allegory to sex change hormones? Why? Why not use this unique fantasy world to explore and flesh out these topics the creators hold so dear? For something so important, it truly is half-baked. High Guardian Spice is definitely a meh show with poor decisions coming from everywhere in the show, using cheap and easy tactics to make the show "mature". Honestly, had this show been scrapped and never come out, barely anyone would've cared.

[@Slitheringpeanut]

The idea that guys can't have deep friendships, blood hell. The misandry of the writers is disturbing...

[@VerdantRange]

This show just shows so damn many rookie mistakes. It's tonally confused by having so much of it being so kiddie, but then they throw in stuff like blood and cursing. Not to mention that when they try to tackle progressive themes, they do so in a clumsy way. And man, Slime Boy's performance/mic quality sucks. Did they just have his actor record from home using a mic from the dollar store or something?

[@noahwiley2846]

Yeah it feels too inconsistent it kinda confusing to know what to expect. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eIPYZIN6atShp8k

[@dezzyly]

The funniest thing about slime boy is that he is literally one of the only characters i can stand from that show lmao

[@lpsfoxstar8454]

ngl as a kid i've watched shows that get darker. A couple of scenes from stuff i watched as a kid: From my favourite cartoon: -girl is linked to computer, she goes to turn it off in secret, comitting suicide knowingly -kids parents get brain washed, throw their own children off a roof -kids get trapped in a fake version of their world where everything is set up to kill them if needed -the line "you will all die now!" from an adult animation that i watched all the time with my parents and that is in kids netflix idk why: -lots of guns -an episode about the chinise opium trade -a plane crash and following mission of finding out if a guy survived -a suicide by letting oneself out of a spaceship -murder attempt by leaving people on the moon for good -lots, lots of actual murder -characters almost get sacraficed to the son god, burned at stake -a reanimated corpse throws poison crystal balls at men, traumatizing scenes ensue -an acid trip of a scene about a characters baby version floating around them -character finds empty coffins for him and his dog yes i watched and loved these shows with all my heart, only three episodes total that i refuse to watch much today due to trauma but i respect those eps so much...and high guardian has....the word fuck? some blood? bruh...

[@muddashucka9743]

If I remember correctly from seeing other reviews of HGS, Slime Boy is actually one of the more popular characters

[@youshallsufferthewrathofth6307]

apparently they were initially making it a kids show and after starting it crunchyroll came in and said “actually, make it for adults” so they had to add random cussing to make it “mature”

[@Critter97]

Good Grief. This show makes the Netflix She Ra look like it was written by JRR Tolkien

[@MothMAN351]

@Kanuii Scan ummm honey this is not the place

[@mjtannertwins]

@Cameron Arreola We reported the spammer. That was weird.

[@tut28Angel]

Omg ur not wrong.....The F$%K

[@nobafan7515]

@@mjtannertwins were they an sjw troll?

[@Critter97]

@@nobafan7515 Probably seeing how sjws depise Tolkien’s works for whatever reason

[@vsGoliath96]

"We're going to tell stories that nobody's ever seen before." *creates a somehow shittier version of RWBY*

[@willow9145]

I never thought that was possible but here we are

[@muddashucka9743]

Well they weren't wrong Nobody'd seen such a shitty show before

[@JayRedGear]

Well, I already didn't care for any of the main characters besides Parsley, purple-haired Regina George, maybe Snap Dragon (best name) and the catgirl, but Sage's comment about guys not understanding emotions really got me annoyed. This show is trying to be progressive yet is still reinforcing stereotypes; all because the creator opening hating men which is super immature.

[@dork7546]

It wasn't actually the creator that made all those sexist comments about men, it was Kate Lenth, who is just a writer for the show. Funny enough, the actual creator of the show is a trans man so I wonder if Kate was okay with that...

[@SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

@@dork7546 Kate has always come off as the type of person who cares more for herself than anyone else.

[@streakyanchovy]

@@dork7546 Nope haha. Kate has equated gender=what's in between your legs at birth before and acted smug when trans people called her out on her crap. She has also allegedly bullied a lot of trans/NB people who have worked with her in the past. She's also a racist who used racial slurs in a comic...that complained about how Hollywood stereotypes minorities. How ironic.

[@dork7546]

@@streakyanchovy So her social justice warrior persona was fake all along, got it.

[@dork7546]

@@SuperCosmicMutantSquid She really comes off as a femcel who just pretends to give a shit about social justice.

[@jesterssketchbook]

That "girls have deeper friendships" scene was..... just..... just "wow"! That got written, recorded, and used in a final edit.... everyone in the production thought that scene was "fine" Freaking insanity!

[@plumaDshinigami]

Every episode just goes nowhere. They start with a minor problem and end without much changing or any realistic character development. There's black goop in a tree root which seems evil and may corrupt nature. Elf girl sees it and... says nothing to anyone. And she just doodles about it in her sketchbook in like one or two episodes later but the drama focus more on a blond jerk who main character gets a crush on... until he is too much of a jerk and she has to snap at him. Blond jerk is a boy whose dialogue is unnatural, like even straw-man dialogue has more humanity in it.

[@noahwiley2846]

Yeah I had a hard time understanding what he was saying or what he was trying to say 😕

[@QueenSydon]

I found him being a total jerk unironically interesting and was sad to him vanish in later episodes.

[@stuartcrippen5066]

I’d like to point out the irony of Sage making that sexist friendship rant in the same episode they have the blonde himbo exist as a way to criticize sexism. Can you say self-awareness?

[@jeangentry6656]

Men can and do create deep bonds, they just aren't as talky or expressive as women can be. Men tend to bond via shared experiences. There is a reason why soldiers are referred to as a Band Of Brothers.

[@reapordeath]

The problem is that this show pretends that bonding with women is just deeper than that though... They arent saying than men cant create deep bonds. Only that our bonds are shallower compared to girls bonds. And there are VERY talkative and expressive men out there. Your entire statement isnt wrong but its not genuine to real people either lol. Trust me dude, I was in the military. Lots of dudes in the military are open and expressive.

[@Zodia195]

Yeah I instantly thought of the military when Sage said "Male can't have deep bonds". I come from a military family so that comment really made me furious.

[@electricangel4488]

For a example in fiction Frodo and Sam

[@sarabaravati5856]

I don't know which century you come from but we now have female soldiers too.

[@electricangel4488]

@@sarabaravati5856 thats not the point. Its an example. Males bond via very diffrent mechanism then females. The brothood of soldiers is just a good example of it. Males bond in activities and shared stuggle. Be an intresting study subject. But the point still stand. male bonds are diffrent but not lesser.

[@stevensteviepryde5888]

Them claiming that no one has made stories quite like theirs feels like the production equivalent pf "I'm not like other girls"

[@roboexe]

That cry after the „My wrist feels on fire“-clip cracked me up so hard. Oh man, WTF?!? 😂😂😂

[@jaydraws4881]

For show called, High Guardian Spice, it didn't enough spice to bring me in.

[@davidgusquiloor2665]

"Guys just don't understand that the bond between girls is just deeper" I am going to assume ignorance and not malice from the writters but this is just one of the most missguided statements i have heard. Bonds between friends can be deep no matter if they are male or female, really if you think men can't be true friends read a little history, hundreds of thousands of examples. And i mean the kind of friends that would go out of their way to help the other just because they heard that they were having a rought time back when travelling and messages were a thing that could take years. Really to believe that men can't form strong friendships (or the opposite, some people i am sure believe women can't either) is insulting.

[@Rocket1377]

Yes, and even if we discount real world male friendships, there are plenty of examples in fiction for these cartoon writers to draw upon. Aragorn openly weeping for the death of Boromir in The Lord of the Rings, for example. These creators lack of experience in that area is no excuse.

[@freebretth]

It’s been the opposite IRL in my experience.

[@unknownguy8687]

@@freebretth forging true bonds of friendship takes time. Both for guys and girls, so don't be surprised if you can't seem to find a friend that will be there for you your whole life. Hell, I don't have any friends at all.

[@Rettomus]

While the show on the whole is a mess (or more like just "meh"), that particular line is taken out of context, given that Sage is portrayed as being in the wrong there and apologizes for her behavior later. Basically she was getting snappy and jealous when her childhood friend, the protagonist Rosemary was having a crush on the new guy in class, and constantly complaining about it to Snapdragon (the ginger boy). This prompted Snap to... well snap at her to stop, resulting in that "you couldn't understand the bonds between girls" speech. ...The message is heavily muddled by Snapdragon turning out to be a transwoman, though.

[@muddashucka9743]

It's malice, not ignorance. At least one of the writers has advocated for the genocide of all men.

[@cartoonking1789]

This show is the result of when you put “diversity & representation” in front of talent and hard work.

[@kalystagutierrez1607]

The fact that we still don't know exactly what a "Guardian" is(despite it being a major plot point) says all that anyone needs to know about the show

[@EquesTron]

I have a couple episodes left. I think it’s okay at best. Other than Sage’s rant about how Boys can’t have deep friendships like girls do, nothing about the show feels insulting or offensive. I think Parsley is a great character for the reasons you mentioned, and I find Amaryllis and Olive to be fun to watch. But other than that, the show is very generic and doesn’t stand out from other and better entries in the genre in pretty much every aspect. The one time the animation felt alive was when Rose and Olive fought in episode 9, but other than that, it’s fine but frequently janky. I’m tempted to do a slightly more in depth review, but it won’t be as epic as my She-Ra review. Great review.

[@mjtannertwins]

We'd love to see you review this show.

[@Nr4747]

Even if most things aren't offensive, they're still objectively bad/terrible. The animation, voice acting and dialogue are all really terrible for what is - ostensibly - a professionally produced show (I would rate these 3 aspects of the show a 2/10). The characters are incredibly trope-y and barely have any (halfway believable) character developement (except Snapdragon) and the plot barely exists at all, and only at the last 3rd of the season, so I'd give those elements a 3/10 at best. The music is bland and forgettable (3/10) and the sound mixing is terrible (2/10). That overall leaves you with a show that just fails very hard at almost everything it attempts - and no, I'm not against progressive ideas, transgender or gay representation or anything - but I'd still like media to be actually well crafted.

[@ligtningdog6399]

The biggest irony is that for show with "Spice" in the title, it's the blandest show to come out in years. At least with truly bad shows, you can laugh at it or maybe try to learn from it's mistakes. But HGS is just dull.

[@Steven9567]

not to metion the main characters are name after herbs

[@goufr3540]

HGS is kinda like crossing HunterXHunter with Little Witch Academia, but failing at every aspect that them good. Besides that, HGS really should of just been put on Cartoon Network, maybe Toonami Block but looks so low quality though. I'll just wait till this show get forgotten shortly after its release and everyone moves onto something actually fun to watch.

[@ArCSelkie37]

I loathe that "Guys don't talk about their feelings" line, and just that general idea. Guys do talk about their feelings, they just don't advertise it to everyone and generally only open up to a few specific people...

[@redstreak9430]

It’s still a crying shame CR essentially scammed their customers by making them think the money they received would be helping the anime industry and not being funded into a show you could easily find on a channel like Cartoon Network instead. It doesn’t help that the show comes off as some people who watched a few clips of Little Witch Academia and said “we can do that but better.”

[@YanoLBP]

You know something's wrong with your writing when the antagonists are more likable than the protagonists.

[@leonishikino6873]

The cat girl antagonist is pretty cute

[@SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

Amaryllis FTW

[@YanoLBP]

@@SuperCosmicMutantSquid amaryllis supremacy

[@megametexe5129]

Who needs Rosemary when Maka Albarn( Soul Eater) exists.

[@towelgirl21]

Maka based

[@shaminabalamo525]

Soul eater is the best when portraying a female protagonist Plus soul eater is a shonen anime

[@MXALOVE]

It genuinely got annoying when the girl kept *REPEATING* "Guys don't have feelings, Guys don't talk about their feelings, Girls have feelings, did I mention guys don't have feelings?! HOW DARE YOU THINK OTHER WISE" Like please do everyone a favor and never speak again

[@SamuraiMotoko]

It may be mediocre, but people would be more fair with it if they were not claiming on making the best show in the world

[@maggiesheartlove2734]

I havent watched rhe show, only clips, but I have to say, that scene between Sage and Snapdragon.... im not a dude and even I feel insulted!! These women are not only ignorant but shallow, and rude, and disrespectful!! 😡

[@Ballade90]

I think I figured out why specifically that whole male friendship thing whatshernane said irritates me as much as it does: look at a series like yakuza and ask yourself if any of what she said makes sense after the fact. Top to bottom the series shows how men form and view friendships for better and worse, up to and including a close bond that rivals family. The examples even go beyond the whole organized gang hierarchy as well with how Kiryu and Date interact and the lengths the men go through in order to accomplish their goals. It's down right insulting to sit there and preach that shit when there are clear cut examples of how men are in friendships.

[@yuzukistardust87075]

Her name is Sage, but yeah I agree

[@BlazingKhioneus]

The "boys don't make connections" rant Sage made legit gets my blood boiling.

[@irmuusanaa4227]

I think they spent all their animation on the background, because the quality of it is like water and fire.

[@generalbolivar9736]

It seems that like for every great cartoon we get nowadays like Kid Kosmic and Hilda, we get another 10 or so like High Guardian Spice or the New He-Man. Like, it's honestly made me reconsider sticking with Western animation nowadays and just fully going over to anime. On another note, would you guys ever consider making some one shot reviews or retrospectives for anime? If anything to get some more variety in the channel since you guys know your stuff when it comes to anime as well as western animation.

[@dork7546]

But for every great anime we get these days we gets 10 more otaku pandering shitshows.

[@generalbolivar9736]

@@dork7546 Very true, but at least it's a more constant array of them compared to what we get from American studios at least. The term seasonal anime exists for a reason, and thankfully there's so many of them that the good stuff is still plentiful enough compared to the handful of good western cartoons on right now.

[@noahwiley2846]

That's what I've been thinking about to. Western animation has been doing bad in terms of writing, it's kinda depressing that most Western entertainment to is 10 to 20 years ago. There's a some bad anime but there's a lot more decent to good shows in that medium.

[@dork7546]

@@noahwiley2846 You only say that because only the popular shit gets licensed. I can assure you there are far more bad anime out there than good ones given how oversaturated the industry is.

[@noahwiley2846]

@@dork7546 I'm talking about in a general view, like I said there's bad, decent, to good shows in that medium. And the main reason people have been saying this is that we don't get the complaints from Eastern animation then the complaints western animation gets to which I'm referring to agenda.

[@RoseB45]

Crunchyroll's reputation was already shot with ex arm, this is just shooting the other foot.

[@Mecks089]

It feels like this show is just a huge load of modern feminist politics, it's all biased and one-sided. It puts too much emotional dramatic conflict over logical common sense and true understanding of all types of people. Instead the show pushes a _"progressive"_ narrative in a very poor to superficial form of explaining, making some of these characters just come off as stereotypes for their representation. But then again Representation and Validation are based on Superficial values of _"wants"_ instead of _"needs."_ But my final verdict on this, is that this is not Anime.

[@SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

The show was produced by a company that prides itself on being feminist at it's core (Elation, Women in Animation) and they will use the same tired tactics and words we've seen before in dismiss everyone who isn't in their little group. The show is everything you could expect from learning about feminism off of Tumblr from liberal arts drop-outs who had one bad date when they were 20 and base all their future views on that, even if they were the problem. From that you aren't going to get a wider perspective, just one where they see their viewpoint and themselves as the true 'messengers' and anyone outside of that is the heathen they have to 'educate'.

[@bunnywithakeyboard7628]

I’m sure the people who made HGS did the best they could with the limited mental capacity they have. Really, though, I don’t blame them for this. If you put a bunch of five year olds in a room unsupervised with large numbers of sharpened blades, don’t be surprised when limbs get cut off because they clearly don’t know any better. The people that should learn from this would be anyone who would consider bankrolling a bunch of woke fools who’d make a show like this.

[@IX4W]

I refuse to call 'that's an anime. That's insulting.

[@yumatsukumo1096]

Yeah if this is anime then voltron the legendary defender and avatar the last airbender really need to be anime . In all honesty this show is generic and halfassed , the political opinions of the writers definitely took a higher priority than the story and the characters range from forgettable to average . What pisses me off is that God knows how much money went into this over a decent anime series , calling this show anime is insult because of all the hard work and dedication animators in Japan put into their work .

[@redstreak9430]

Genndy Tartakovsky, an animator born in Russia, has a better understanding of anime than this entire studio CR has created. From stuff like the Speed Racer parody from Dexter’s Lab to Samurai Jack, I’d say that he’d be the perfect person to commission an anime esque cartoon from and would most likely make something that would blow this “anime” out of the water.

[@yumatsukumo1096]

@@redstreak9430 that would be a way better alternative to this horse shit

[@Awesome_Pichu]

The trans concept is kind of stupid in context of a world of magic. "We have magic that can transform normal humans into completely different species such as merfolk, but a woman using a potion to turn into a man is simply unheard of."

[@mariablanco8678]

There's plenty of spices that sound fine for names like Ajwain, Pepper, Coriander, Anise, Fennel, Cumin, Cardamom, etc!! Girls talk about their feelings....no we don't, everything is fine and I'm okay.

[@DororoXPenana]

I started a random witch girls story cause I was bored. After hearing about this I feel more confident in my half ass idea than this fully produced, animated and funded show...

[@danielconti2383]

I'm an aspiring writer myself and the the scene of sage and snapdragon arguing about female and male friendship really put me off due to Sage's view never being challenged. I honestly do like the concept of a woman not respecting male friendship because of lack of experience with guys her age and it's not the same as female friendship but then realizes male friendship isn't bad, in fact it's great. I would like to know how any of you would have written it. Please tell me, however long or short it is.

[@sims4kiwi162]

IM DYING THE CRYING FROM THE REDHEAD DUDE WAS SO TERRIBLE I CANT 🤣

[@KelShu]

The swearing and violence feel so out of place given the show's tone and design

[@Muna-Jlore0997]

Agree.

[@ReFriedNoodles]

These women really put their own personal bias on display for everyone to see. An embarrassment of an animation built by a group about as diverse as a Klan meeting.

[@CherryCharm2009]

This show is basically for adults that have the mentality of children

[@zillauniverse7208]

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cartoon community defends this show and call the people who don’t like it biggots

[@MrAuthor3DS]

"High Guardian Season". There! That name would've given more sense to the main four's names. Anyway, next thought I have: this show has its approach on representation backwards. It's not a label that make a character great - it's a CHARACTER that makes a LABEL great. So for instance, if Caraway is gonna be a great trans rep, then he should be a great character - so make him pursue Mandrake after revealing him, instead of just having him sit down and have a leisurely chat with the main four. Oh, sure, it plays into him willing to offer assistance to Snapdragon, but the way they talk make him look like he's grooming the boy into going trans. It's not good if the delivery misses like this. So, thoughts on Aster, Mr. Cis-White-Male-Scum...I think I hate the concept more than the character, which doesn't look good on the writers. One thing I've learned is to avoid writing strawman characters. Hell, the bit where Parsley drops her hammer onto his foot felt unnecessarily cruel, even for him. Oh sure, let's laugh at the boy whose foot is most likely crippled because...uh...cis white male scum, hahaha! (Given my own foot pains, this makes me cringe...) On that note, actually, there's so much myopia going around this academy! Like you said, the faculty must be insane to allow a legit psychopath into their fold. Then again, the Crone of the Triad seems ridiculously mean, so maybe she hired her... One more bit that really confuses me: Anise's whole story on how Sage's mother used to be into New Magic until she eventually dropped out of it. What's that supposed to mean? "Your mom used to be cool, but now she's a lame hypocrite"? No reason given on why she gave up on New Magic? Part of me thinks this is analogous to...drugs or something. Heck, I've been hearing theories about how New Magic might be indirectly responsible for the Rot, which makes me feel even more like Anise has no goddamn clue what she's talking about...

[@joshhacker8503]

These characters are so stock! When playing D&D, I often like playing against type. My favorites include a swashbuckling rogue who never steals, an eccentric dwarven bard, a spellcaster who's afraid of fire (thus not solving all my problems with pyro magic).

[@AL-ws5yi]

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for reviewing this. No one asked for this and no one wanted it. It’s like it was written by a middle schooler’s idea of edgy.

[@deanthomas7003]

I agree.👍

[@Dekomata]

You know. When your show overthrows an animated movie that was considered the worst thing humans have ever made, then you need to rethink your entire career as a storyteller.

[@mistercrow396]

Nice review Mjtanner. Keep up the good work! I would have like the show if it weren't for the horrible dialog, voice acting, the force message that was being pushed and the characters was quite a stuck up. Rosemary especially how she swung her sword in a public area where people are walking and she could have seriously hurt them, and the elf girl was right to be upset toward her. And the fact Rosemary was being immature when she's the swinging the sword. I was even surprised that Rosemary called the elf girl "pointy ear" which I thought was in reference "knife ears" that is a slur against Elf race people. And what the heck with Sage saying "Guys don't talk about their feeling." "Rose and I are girls. You and Amaryliss are a different story. In any case, guys don't understand that the bond between girls are just deeper" Sage. Shut. The. Hell. Up. I think the show runner knows nothing about friendship. You can have a deeper bond with the opposite sex as the same with people of the same gender. The fact that she straight up attack Snapdragon and being misogynistic is disgusting. And boys do talk about their feeling when they feel like they can trust you to let their guard down. Sage is easily the most hated character in my list. Another thing that was creepy was the people who are doing the show seemed to fetishize LGBTQ people and trans people. I don't know, it might be me, but it was creepy how the teacher immediately suggested a underage character to try to "transition" magic. There something called shapeshifting. Hell, I like Double Trouble. And how everyone is lesbian majority of the show and there's barely any ace, pan, heto characters, beside that guy who dressed up as a groom. But it their show and I can't do much. I like the villains as they're pretty interesting. I was rooting for Mandrake to carried the show. Olive was interesting and I did like her design.

[@Dashound46]

High guardian oof. This is the perfect example of being high off your own spice.

[@acsound]

I think re: "Slime Boy's" mic, that his actor literally phoned or Skyped his performance in.

[@hisdudeness8328]

My god, the original artist for One Punch Man wasn't very skilled, in fact his work was downright amiturish, but at least he crafted a great story with equally great characters to compensate for the crappy artwork.

[@Ergeniz]

That's slightly inaccurate. He CAN draw noticeably better than the art depicted in the original webcomic.

[@saltbaker8683]

Talk about a "Recipe For Disaster" and say what ya want about Mysticons, Winx Club, and others; but back when Anime was still hot new thing since the 90's-2000's and everyone still wanted that Anime Pie, Anime Dumplings, Anime Ramen, Anime whatever food other craved back then and all wanted a piece and yet years later time does repeat themselves here to this very day.

[@bunnywithakeyboard7628]

Which is why people who aren’t Japanese and have no scruples are more than happy to just slap the name “anime” on it and trick suckers into going for it.

[@saltbaker8683]

@@bunnywithakeyboard7628 I can easily swap the "actress' who playing "Rosemarry" the same actress who played Audrey from Harvey Street Kids with; Stephanie Lemelin or "Slime Boy" can be replaced by that one burnout teen from The Banana Splits Movie and be no difference but unlike these amateur actors there at least trying and giving there all. I still wound' be surprised that both regular parents and grandparents just didn't know what to get there kids and ended up with these bootleg versions of anime and scolded them anyway to watch It cause how "Expensive" they are these days so that's also why.

[@bunnywithakeyboard7628]

@@saltbaker8683 But the same people who have no issue with slapping their anime label on things will claim that it’s cultural appropriation for a white kid to dress up in a way they deem unacceptable for Halloween.

[@IN-tm8mw]

For all the faults of HGS, i give them major props for making their own show. for years, i've been saying "Stop fucking with old IPs and just make your own." and they did. So bravo. To the shows credit also, i expected it to be ALOT worse. So far, i can see myself tolerating this show more then She'ra. Art isn't too bad but what can kill the show for me now, is the character arcs and storytelling. what i wanna know is that what's the overall theme for the show "High Guardian Spice"? is it "friendship is magic"? i wouldn't be surprised if it was but is it really?

[@RidiculousThoughts]

Netflix She-Ra fans should be rejoicing...this show seems to be the closest thing they will get to a spiritual successor. The animation, the voice acting, the designs (fake anime style). All there!

[@SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

Most of the crew worked on both shows, including the designer I believe.

[@remixchild]

No… no. Not even close

[@Zodia195]

You know, I have sensitive ears, and high pitch noises aren't the only things that can hurt, it's very low pitches too and Slime Boy's voice is VERY low pitch. This is why I can't handle Rav's because the base in there uses a low pitch, which gives me a headache almost instantly. @8:49- *Shuts mouth I want to say a bunch of inappropriate language* WHAT!!!!!!! Okay as a 100% Straight female, let me say this- Men can have very strong and DEEP relationships too! I am the ONLY girl in my family and my brothers BOTH have male friends that would do anything for them (one is in the Air Force, and in the military you become FAMILY). AND LET'S not forget the relationship fathers and sons can have too, because you're also dissing on that! Also FOR YOUR information Miss Sage, females wouldn't even BE here without guys because there's a little thing called REPRODUCTION! Gees these writers were probably female the way they treat their male chars . . . . . I ashamed of them and I AM a modern A-typical female. *Sees the writing staff was all female* How can you call that diverse when the writing staff is ALL one gender. Hmmm, maybe have a mix? Or right, it's important to show just how great females are and forget if you're good writers. Just from the small bits I've seen, I think I know just how 'great' you really are. Please, I've seen better independent female comic arts with more class and better writing then ya'll. *Looks to Elle Skinner and Gina Biggs, who's works include sweet LGTBQ+ relationships*. Oh and let's not forget that Japanese Mangaka creators like Yu Watase, CLAMP, Arina Tanemura, and NAOKO TAKEUCHI! I know there are plenty more out there too. These people know how to make interesting fun stories with a lot of heart and great chars, which to me is what ya'll should have been doing instead of trying to shove your agenda down everyone's throat. I pray that you writers and creators of this show learn how to create entertaining shows one day, but I am highly doubtful.

[@donutbevil9669]

Do you have hyperacusis?

[@Zodia195]

@@donutbevil9669 I am autistic and one of the the things autistic people may suffer from is sensory issues. Besides hearing, I am also sensitive to light, touch, and even taste. It's why I am super picky when it comes to clothing and I can NEVER buy clothes online because I have to 'test them' first.

[@donutbevil9669]

@@Zodia195 It's not really recommended to buy anything online because of the lack of quality control.

[@emilyb5307]

Ah yes, being progressive and inclusive by shoving people into preconceived boxes and then telling them it's just impossible for them to understand. "You just wouldn't get it. People in this group never talk about... I would know that because I clearly have no experience!"

[@AB-jt4rs]

4:09 I literally just died in 839 different ways after hearing that

[@QuaestorL]

The whole rant about guys' friendships shows that none of those writers ever bothered to learn about men's relationships, would expect no less from a writing room full of wahmen. Men do talk about their problems with their buds, but it's a rare thing, men just don't open to anyone, just their closest friends, and it depends on how dire are the circumstances. Society has expectations that men have to acomplish, such as not showing weaknesses in public, one of the things that feminists can't understand, along with all the social pressures that men have to deal with to be even considered as men (or even people in some places).

[@arielleloved7341]

I didn't think I'd find something I thought was worse than She-ra but here we are.

[@TaliEpshtein]

I'd totally watch an entire season review like you did with She-ra 💖

[@Newsgomergirl]

I watched a video where someone had redesigned the girls, (even going as far as giving Sage a sentient witch hat, which ended up being adorable!) I think if you would have that redesign, took out all the of the SJW politics and made more suitable for the younger audience, this probably would have been a more decent show. Not to mention, it would do better airing on CN, Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel. Sometimes I believe regular people come up with better ideas than the so-called professionals.

[@sangheiliwarrior86]

The high guardian spice "trailer" reminds me of a women in animation panel where jamie marchi and monica rial were saying that women got few roles in the voice acting industry, only for Debi Derryberry, the voice of Jimmy Neutron, a male character, who is voice by a woman (one of many) to rebut that claim.

[@Ergeniz]

We know from the Vic situation that Monica Rial in particular is a lying POS so that's no surprise.

[@vash3055]

I would say that yes the names are a reference to Scarborough Fair. You can hear it in episode 1 during the traveling music.

[@triggerfairy4070]

Strawberry Fem-boy and Axe Girl have a better relationship than pinkette and blueette

[@cutiepie120048]

The tonal whiplash, abysmal dialogue/sound quality, and nonsensical character choices did much to N O T endear me towards this show. I kept thinking of ways it could've been handled better smh. I think I hated the teachers the most, looking back on it.

[@lightnight1481]

Everything about this show is clunky. It doesn't help that it's absolutely nothing like real anime, it's more like a Saturday morning cartoon made by people who have the bare minimum understanding of anime. Can't believe they took money from anime fans to make this nonsense instead of adaptating a manga by paying an actual Japanese studio.

[@Saltedroastedcaramel]

Let's not insult Saturday morning cartoons. At least the have effort

[@djdragondrawer9339]

That's an insult to Saturday morning cartoons. I watched shit like DBZ, Yugioh and Justice League Unlimited; the actual *entertaining* stuff. This show is something a network would shove into a 4 am spot on weekdays at best, lol

[@lightnight1481]

@@djdragondrawer9339 Your right, it just reminds me of anime-ish stuff that used to be abundant back in the early 2000s like Winx club, Teen Titans, and MegasXLR, Symbionic Titan but the difference is that those shows were actually good, competently made with good writing and interesting characters, I'd still watch those shows today and fondly remember them from my childhood. High guardian spice on the other hand looks, sounds and is written like it's meant to be as soulless as possible.

[@skirdus367]

why are this show's writers trying to make statements about men when they don't even have a single one as part of their writing team

[@tsuneomccormick1104]

Nice that you guys referenced Ojamajo Doremi in this video. Which I say is a way better magical girl group show than High Guardian Spice and highly recommend giving it a watch for those into the magical girl genre.

[@kyokugenryudisciple9349]

I guess the names Paprika, Pepper, Ginger, and Cinnamon were out of the question in the naming scheme I bet.

[@Ergeniz]

Probably too reminiscent of Blue's Clues?

[@kyokugenryudisciple9349]

@@Ergeniz Heh…took me a while to catch what you said. Clever.

[@bohgdenthelurker278]

This show from what little I've seen is violently bland. From the characters to the story to the acting, it all blends together to create the perfect recipe for a truly generic show. The violence and swearing come off as unintentionally hilarious as they're so out of place with how the show is written and drawn. And even from what I've seen the dialogue is some of the worst I've ever heard and not just from an acting standpoint. One scene that perfectly exemplifies this is where the students are going to head into a dangerous cave (you can find this on youtube if look you around) that can and has killed people before-i.e children-and one of the characters 'shockingly' thinks it's crazy. She asks why are they doing this obviously dangerous thing that they can die over when they've only just started learning and Rosemary is like, "Uh to become guardians, duh." As if her concerns are silly and unimportant, she quits and leaves...and that's it, everyone just moves on like it didn't happen. No one comments on it, no one mentions it, it's never brought up again, it's never debated, it just happens and adds nothing. "Show never done before." indeed. And damn, I didn't know about that it until this video, but that scene with Sage is so misandric. Not at all surprising given one of the creators is a proud misandrist on Twitter, like I'd dare her to say that to a character like Guts or hell any male character who's lost any male or female friends and I'll come by with a mop and bucket to clean up the bloody smear that would be her body. And honestly...it's pretty damn funny, but not for the reasons they want it to be, even the previously mentioned scene made me laugh with how outright judgmental and (I'd argue in some way) prejudiced it was, if only out of shock. I so wanna watch the show just to see for my own eyes how mediocre it is but that would require paying CrunchyRoll for it and hell if I'm giving them money for this. I'll happily watch it for free on youtube whether it be in clips or people reacting to it. This show is fascinatingly bland and bad from what I've seen and I love how far it fell on its face after all the high horse antics that were the "trailers".

[@mhc706]

Wasted money given to poor writers. I don’t understand how companies fall for the “we will be the most diverse writers your have” then the most diversity they have is the colors of their hair. And it always leads to these shows where half the lines are “you are so great and good”

[@TheGamingAngel18]

This show is so boring that you guys even sound so bored trying to review it 😂😂😂

[@minimogus2603]

4:08 this part made me laugh

[@towelgirl21]

Wish Crunchyroll had bought the rights to show Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out instead.

[@Ergeniz]

Or Shin Crayon Chan.

[@jamesprice6015]

High Guardian Why

[@jwchampagne1]

THANK YOU. Thank you for calling attention to the fact that they're NOT spices. That has grated my nerves since the show was first announced. My guess is that having the words "high" and "herb" both in the title would be a bit too much.

[@TheSpawnfan]

8:47 I call BS on Sage here, Axel from KH, had a great friendship with Roxas, to the point he sacrificed himself to save Sora, because he was the person Roxas originated from.

[@crazygamer_1082]

There’s already a problem if everybody’s mics aren’t clear. Like-WTF? How you bout to be in a professional studio and NOT having a working mic. Make it make sense. And the fact that they had an all girls team-yeah no. How are you suppose to get a good story if you’re in an echo chamber? The short answer? You don’t

[@SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

It says a LOT when the twins have a better mic THAN THE SHOW.

[@spookynigga3112]

I was confused how they really tried to compare this to anime especially when there already better anime about lgbtq+ representation and magical girl too I feel like they really drop the ball

[@SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

Their main goal is to 'replace' Japanese produced shows, claiming them to be too 'problematic'. HGS is the end result of HOW they want anime to look and feel.

[@spookynigga3112]

@@SuperCosmicMutantSquid so modern american tv show bassicly

[@pallasdiana4206]

I can FEEL the poor quality of Slime boy VA's mic. That's how bad it is.

[@ChosenandUntamed]

Does this mean Snapdragon is the new Kyle?

[@johannesseyfried7933]

Well, those two *do* have similar Hairstyles.... But at least Snapdragon doesn't have a Catra in her/her/their(?) Life.

[@shaesullivan]

M&J, I have a somewhat curious question for you two about this, so bear with me here. Is this the death knell cry for the MeToo era? Like hear me out, most people who knew anything about art/anime/storymaking were already apprehensive about HGS when it was first announced because of the very unusual elements behind its development, the staff, and the producer, however, much of what HGS and the staff were coasting on at the time was the MeToo movement and the idea of a basically all female staff of animators being something...I guess unique is the best word to describe it, since anyone who knew anything anime knew that women animators/story writers was not knew. Yet now that we're going into the 2020s, I wonder if all of that goodwill which had been fostered towards the project by the MeToo movement and the wave of social activism/outrage that it stoked has died. I ask this because Bill Cobsy, the face of what the MeToo movement was trying to persecute if we're completely honest, had his charges basically dropped. The young men from Yale who were basically kicked out for their outcry have been reinstated within the college. And the Coronavirus hit, thus drawing media attention away from social implications of what the MeToo movement was trying to strive for, you barely hear anything about it anymore in any shape, despite nothing really changing in American culture with regards to women's concerns about being sexually assaulted/harassed/etc. With all three of these elements working in conjunction with one another, I wonder if works like HSG, I am Not Starfire, Masters of the Universe, and the She-Ra reboot, shows which were made during the height of that era, are going to be seen as evidence that the phenomenon of the MeToo movement were just a passing fad, a thing that allowed a certain group to voice their dissatisfaction with men, the socially accepted perception of women, and the LGBT+ community, but didn't do anything to move the needle for bridging certain concerns that are had by women at large. I mean, going back and looking at them, everyone almost immediately agrees that these shows are shallow, mean spirited, and focus on making straw man arguments all for the sake of pandering to a certain demographic of jaded individuals, the likes of whom may have had concerns about how the world perceived them, but don't know how to constructively voice their opinions. And now that we're going into a new decade, and these individuals are growing more into themselves, the icons who they saw as being able to speak out on their frustrations are going to be seen as pariahs that serve more as a cautionary tale about what not to do in storytelling and social commentary than anything positive or productive. Because I know that the term 'tumblr crowd' is going to be a sticking point for many of these people going forward, now that they are not going to be pandered to by media studios, and corporations which are looking to make a profit, seeing as new She-Ra is in the works, and it will probably have NOTHING to do/say about the She-Ra cartoon remake.

[@lavenderplace8591]

5:34 oh hi, Catra.

[@lavenderplace8591]

I was going to force my self to watch the entire series but after seeing a few clips around KZbin I'm kind of grateful I didn't. This show ain't spicy enough for me.

[@octapusxft]

At least according to my mother's experience at school, it was the girls friendships who ended up being the more shallow. Based on how they broke apart when there were common love interests

[@bobbyjohnson6061]

Anyone else got the feeling that new magic is gonna turnout to be evil, or is it just me?

[@mjtannertwins]

Probably. Got the vibe that new magic may be causing the rot because they're taking to much from the Earth.

[@johannesseyfried7933]

Now that you mention it, I *could* indeed see it happening.

[@oldstyle5114]

@@mjtannertwins Wait, isn't taking the magic off the planet very similar to that plot point in that isekai that had the spider as the protagonist? (this isn't meant to be critisism, just being curious here)

[@r.d.4465]

@@oldstyle5114 It's a point also made in Atelier Sophie, where a certain type of alchemy saps the vital energy of the earth. I do hope they go down that path because otherwise it's just "NEW GOOD OLD BAD" discourse which... Ugh.

[@gabrielcasagrande7909]

4:09 seriously, this sounds like someone trying to hold back laughter