High Guardian Spice creator explains why it sucked...

[@sharzinlalebazri5673]

I have done writing. both as a job and as a hobby. and I can tell from firsthand experience that budget does not affect the quality of what you're writing, but rather how long you're willing to put up with your boss and keep writing. most of the stuff I write in my first draft remain in the final version (unless if my boss demands me to change / retcon something or if some of my jokes get too adult / anti-establishment). with HGS, it is quite clear that these writers could never come up with anything good even if you give them all the money in the world.

[@NatalieXHunter]

Here's a secret - loads of novelists actually only write one draft. Dean Wesley Smith has a really good talk about this.

[@mariobenedicto3582]

I agree... for what it's worth; I wrote a couple of fanfictions... the only "payment" I received for all my "work" are the comments I got... Guess what? Those comments were payments enough for me to continue writing my stories and write them well!

[@resengan123]

I was one of those people who dogged it early. I supported crunchyroll on the premise that my money was going to fund Japanese studios, not multi hair colored white women. The fact that the staff proceeded to lump all critics into "istaphobes" did nothing for me wanting to give it a try. I want to know the actual budget. I'm confident that ghost stories had a smaller budget and that dub is certainly more popular than high guardian spice. the show isnt being trashed because of its inclusivity (im willing to bet a decent portion of its critics would have enjoyed steven universe). they made a trash show that appears to have only focused on inclusivity. there are shows such as boondocks, the last air bender, and samurai jack, which create debates over what is considered anime. Then there's THIS disappointment prominently featured on a PAID anime platform.

[@NatalieXHunter]

Yes, when anime fans want to support a white woman with brightly colored hair, it's supposed to be ME, dammit! :D

[@SergioLeonardoCornejo]

The budget thing is a lame excuse, since we know Crunchyroll had the money, and it was going somewhere. They didn't save it, since they ran out of it. They delayed payments to anime studios when this began pruduction. They didn't spend it all on that office building they bought. That money had to go somewhere, and it was HGS. There is also a claim of not having enough time... But... Well... They had plenty of time, and money. They just cared more about politics than about entertainment. I have seen anime affected by budget cuts, and those shows still do better than this.

[@mr.selyumor5402]

It’s also funny complaining about low budgets the same month smiling friends got made

[@alex_zetsu]

Look, Crunchyroll has had bad anime before because they bought license to bad anime. They had non-anime before like RWBY. People shouldn't be upset that something that is a combination of "bad" and "not anime" ends up being aired unless they are purists who refuses to air stuff like RWBY. Because there is such thing as "so bad it's good" you can't say that produces will get things right 100% of the time. I'm OK with people who are purists who don't even want RWBY or anything not anime there, but for those who tolerate it, you must remember that the bad stuff will come too.

[@Saibot_the_Noob]

@@NatalieXHunter Damn straight

[@zkeletonz001]

His comments would have seemed a whole lot less self serving if he had acknowledged any mistakes that he had made or tried to take some kind responsibility for it not ending up being what, at the least, he wanted it to be. Throwing out blame on everyone and everything else makes him not only look very petty it should be a huge red flag to anyone he pitches a concept to in the future--sadly, it probably won't be though. Of course the 'nothing is my fault I'm the victim here' narrative is no surprise to hear from someone on this project.

[@gaming1zanagi-1999]

Yep

[@Fractorification]

Yeah, same for Kate Leth. “I just wrote my scripts. Everything else wasn’t my problem”. I swear, these type of people are the worst, throwing everyone under the bus in order to save face. But, they’re activists, so they’re just gonna keep getting hired anyway.

[@brian_Austin27]

@@Fractorification their not activists their using that title to gain fame/support

[@theberrby6836]

Ikr 😅

[@andresluz3664]

The saga to dunk on Spicy guardian continues, amazing

[@crestofhonor2349]

I bet the animation problems was due to pre production issues not just money. Animation is expensive but also requires lots of pre planning if you want it done well. Money cannot be the only excuse. Time is another crucial factor. There’s a reason why western studios like Disney were one of the few studios putting out animated stuff for a time because no other studios could do it efficiently. Nowadays more studios do animation because they understand what needs to be done for animation. I’m certain Crunchyroll had no clue what they were doing and how to allocate money because it was their first animated series Same applies to Japanese animation. Most studios get about the same amount of money. The difference in animation is up to the directors involved, what animators they have, and how pre production went. Money is a bad excuse to use when they’re just not experienced

[@Fractorification]

I agree; in fact it might explain why the latter half of the season looked better than the first. They probably understood how to manage their resources better to get the art and animation on point by episode 6 and onwards.

[@shadeofthenight8988]

Time is very important for making animation and time necessary varies depending on what type of animation. Leika a stop motion Studio takes about 5 years to make 1 movie.

[@danny90099]

And 5 year is consider fast with that amount of quality they put in. And Laika is one of few studio dont have budget problem since owner is son of Nike boss

[@leileyaravencroft]

@@danny90099 Oooh I did not know that! I love Laila Productions

[@theberrby6836]

Absolutely People need to keep stuff like this in mind!

[@Reptile64]

I don't know, my hate is mainly on how hamfisted and awful the writting is, and you can probably make an excuse for that I guess? But when you insert yourself into a character and provide said character's dialogue, then it's hard to use that as an excuse, and also it is a little hard to provide any sympathy for the crew working on it, when you had crew members attacking others on social media, but hey that's just my two cents

[@ThreeEyedMonkeyMan]

That right there just tells me their lives were poorly written

[@gtf234]

Plain on its face it's just blame passing and his excuses don't make sense for all the writing mistakes; most of the animation errors are typical results from sloppy storyboards too. These are mistakes of inexperience; while budget certainly helps the whole project, it's them not knowing how focus on anything that hurt them more. No fat was trimmed when it needed to be.

[@otbaht]

normally i dont care about the creatives when I look at content but when the creatives turn themselves into the content, both as self inserts and the only subject of their promotional work, well they turned themselves into the subject to judge things on.

[@gtf234]

@@otbaht The problem of their promotional reveal being about them, Ellation Studio, more than the project is because, by Raye's own admission in this 'defense' of his, they had nothing to else show or talk about when those interviews were recorded. Which is another Raye-problem more than a budgetary one: the lack of fundamentals in place are his fault, not having even the tiniest vision or direction for HGS before pitching it. Writing room starting from scratch because the showrunner had nothing in mind before getting it greenlit. All goes back to my aforementioned positions that the show's fatal flaws are from inexperience and incompetence, not tight budgets and deadlines- just about every anime studio in the industry does better with the same or less

[@otbaht]

@@gtf234 seems pretty obvious that if you don't have anything to talk about don't talk about it. if the show has nothing to show don't show anything until you do have something to show, but hey I only have common sense. raye had a generic idea >

[@sharkmanro]

Blaming the budget issues for the writing... Look at the last 2 seasons of Game of Thrones and the new Witcher series, their high budget didn't help the garbage writing

[@hanofsoul]

Natalie, you don't have to apologize for making 2 commentary videos in a row. You've put thought and consideration into the topics that you covered in them so it's not like you were slacking off. Don't worry about having to make a specific type of video. Yes we love your regular content but we love stuff like this too. Pretty much, if it's you we'll like it, so don't stress. I don't want you to get KZbinr burn out. Make the videos you like making. But continue to work hard and don't slack off at the same time. ( That last sentence was added mostly so as not to be simping too much. )

[@NatalieXHunter]

Hehe, thank you, much appreciated! This week I have been upgrading a lot of my gear and setting stuff up ready to start streaming regularly on top of my normal content, so that's another reason why I haven't had as much time to make videos. Commentary type stuff is generally quicker to write because I just write what I think instead of having to check I'm remembering the details of a novel chapter I read months ago correctly!

[@affablesage9582]

"What is a Guardian?" Is a question that should've been answered long before High Guardian Spice, a show that was reported to follow the journey of two kids trying to become Guardians, was greenlit. Rodriguez clearly didn't do any thinking on this and was clearly more concerned with the themes and "representation" than with actually telling a story with characters that people can relate to.

[@TwilightWolf032]

I keep saying this, but Hori-san to Miyamura-kun was a webcomic that had a TERRIBLE art and no budget at all, yet the story was so good, Square Enix published it in several volumes, it got a six episode OVA adaptation, then later on would get a proper manga adaptation and even a 1 season anime adaptation in the form of Horimiya! You writing quality is not reflective of budget constraints! HGS had terrible writing because the people behind it only cared about making a propaganda-filled self insert fic, rather than a proper story to be enjoyed by audiences outside of their label group!

[@gtf234]

ONE with One Punch Man is similar. ONE and Hero's writing carries their webcomics, which otherwise lacked quality visual presentation. Hero still jokes that Souta looks completely inhuman in most of his appearances in his webcomic depiction. Money can help pay for the rewrites, rechecks, etc, but it doesn't excuse the team's inability to come close to doing any of it right the first time. Wasting the first 6 episodes on what is essentially filler instead of properly building the world and characters isn't a budget and deadline constraint, nor is running 3-4 b-plot in each episode, all of which go nowhere significant and never come up again due to resolving themselves by the end of the episode. Time and budget limitations demand all that fat be trimmed and they just lacked the competency to see that- and I say that's Raye's fault, as the showrunner, even more than Leth and the rest of the writing team. All signs point to this project being greenlit with nothing more than a single sentence "magical girls going to a magic school" and his middle school tumblr sketches...which is again on him for not having even the tiniest expansion on this idea after all those years. Couldn't bother to define what a Guardian actually was; couldn't explain the difference between New and Old Magic but make half the series revolve around it (how does New suddenly compliment Old in the finale when you said New is strictly better, does the all the same but with less prep and easier access?), etc- these are things that he needed to figure out before even pitching and that the show couldn't explain any of it screams there never were answers to such questions during production, even pre-production, and he very likely still doesn't have them even post-production

[@David-bf6bz]

HGS: "our show sucked because we didn't have enough money " also HGS: "only istaphobes didn't like our show"

[@dg4545]

The fuck is an istaphobe? Are people just making up words now?

[@David-bf6bz]

@@dg4545 it is a generic catch all for the collection of accusations the identitarian left makes when you don't follow their religious dogma. Since they lack coherent counterarguments you will be accused of being racist, misogynist, capitalist, homophobic transphobic, non binary two spirit phobic (logically pointing out that a two spirit is by definition is binary just makes you more phobic) etc. It dosen't even matter if you are a member of any of these groups, they just add "self loathing" to it. When the resort to gamer gate or alt right you know they don't even understand the subject at hanf theybare just parroting the blue church catechism.

[@Butter_Warrior99]

My take: Bruh, the show was a hot mess, if a series was delayed by a 3-4 years. You can tell that the outcome can only be messy.

[@callanevermelt6392]

They wanted to sell the show on being woke

[@ramendope2894]

the show shouldn’t have existed in the first place, money instead should have been given to animators for the anime they made..

[@AKIBATAKU39]

Hey there Natalie! Let me share my thoughts if you dont mind. I had a friend in Japan who draws hentai. He has a saying. "No matter how much blood is spiled, no matter how much capital invested, no matter how much sweat is dripping, no matter how much pain you endured, if the final product is shit, it is gonna be shit". I thinj that can be applied to this. I CAN sympathise with the animators and everyone else who worked in the shows. It is just the thing they are making is not even good. Honestly all I can say about the budget reasoning is that "Wow! Crunchyroll never gave you a higher budget! I did not know that it is the reason the show lacked quality! I did not know Crunchyroll cannot invest much in it! It is almost as if it should have not even been made!"

[@burck6113]

That's the sad part to this. Crunchyroll probly knew it would be shit and so they just let them spit it out and move on, but they still put money into it instead of better shows that people actually want to see. I think crunchyroll definitely didn't make their money back on this and hopefully that means they won't try it again

[@N_DAnimationEnthusiast]

Welp, can’t be surprised I suppose. Controversy regarding Crunchyroll aside, the show could’ve been great had they improved their writing, lore, and animation quality. There are aspects of the show people find favorable. However, the writer is blind by his own bias to see this. Then again, he could just be overwhelmed by the negative reception. Yet, he could’ve explained things a lot better than he initially did.

[@zkeletonz001]

Your second sentence is basically saying, it could have been great, if it was great. You could say that about anything. I don't think this group of people is capable of putting out anything great. The best they could probably hope for is, 'not terrible.'

[@indigowendigo8165]

@@zkeletonz001 What do you mean? You make it sound like their inherently bad... You know final drafts are a thing in Literature class in School at least, right? :p Like checking on your grammar and spelling, and writing essays, I had to do that kind of stuff all the time... ... Does that actually not even happen in professional places sometimes? Sounds pointless to learn then... maybe their stuff should have gotten proofread. :? Never even though of it like that until now, but there you go. :p

[@inendlesspain4724]

I think the animation is passable, not great, not awful, juuust passable. It's everything else that's the problem.

[@peterwright5311]

Raye says it himself: they had years. How can you have years and not come up with something coherent?

[@yoseisovereign6728]

They didn’t, though. When the trailer came out it barely started. Then it got finished in a rush, and it got sat on for years. (Which is something you see when a studio has no faith in a production…)

[@gtf234]

They didn't have years, they banged it out in 1; CR sat on it for years before release; it wrapped in 2019, illustrated by the writers soliciting new work mid-late that year.

[@NatalieXHunter]

They didn't have years to make it, but Raye was pitching it around for years before production started, so a lot of the story and setting related decisions that the creator could have made as part of the concept did have plenty of time to be worked on.

[@rangerreview1780]

@@NatalieXHunter Yeah. That's the problem with this show. The most important element. What is the difference between old and new magic. Should have been completed before the show was even pitched. That's as important as deciding what video game genre you're making. A RPG, a side scroller, a mmo.

[@sophiagonzales8974]

@@NatalieXHunter You know he could've had the time to work on writing the show after the first attempt to pitch it to Crunchy roll at the very least if he claims that he lacks time. Since he was successful after his first attempt at pitching with Crunchy roll. At least by his second pitch he'd have a better concept.

[@Necroxion]

Considering the youtubers who already rewrote High Guardian Herb for free, I'd say this was less a monetary issue and more a hiring out-of-touch writers issue Seriously, a good story can overcome almost any other issue there is

[@sophiagonzales8974]

I'm also rewritting the lore of high guardian spice but with name changes and maybe a more expandable lore and at least a decent story if I ever feel like the worst of my writing. Also a story at least I'm not going to make it a fanfiction but maybe a story with more incorporate elements

[@yoseisovereign6728]

I want to throw out there that Raye liked a tweet calling the trailer shitty, implying he agrees. Apparently none of the people who were interviewed knew what it was going to be used for. That’s pretty scary. Then exactly who did think it was a good idea?

[@NatalieXHunter]

I'm guessing Crunchyroll. If their intention was to try to win over a certain audience that tends to not like anime (the kind that whine about the fanservice and so on), then you could see why they would focus on the things they did in the trailer. But, the thing is, they could easily attract that kind of audience by doing more to get rid of the misconceptions about all anime being like that and marketing the shows they already have to more people. Or they could just stick to what they already do and ignore that audience, who are usually more hassle than they are worth to keep happy anyway.

[@rangerreview1780]

If true. As the only defense i can think of. They might of assumed this "trailer" was actually going to be a bonus feature for a bluray. It feels more like a behind the scenes mini featurette. Geared towards the crew. But no one made an actual trailer for the show first.

[@borochifox]

A lot of creators nowadays seem to be deluded with the notion 'If I create a thing, it is great because it is my thing!' but you can create a bad quality thing. Art is not wonderful just because it is created. You can come up with a story but that story is not great just because you wrote it up. It just might be a mess with filler, pointless scenes, shoddy dialogue, and cliches that are so tired by now. People worked hard, yes, but, people work hard on a lot of things that don't turn out great. The video game example was a perfect example. A bad game will not work correctly, is boring, or just looks bad and just because it was hard to make doesn't mean its 10/10!

[@supermaximglitchy1]

true art is not something to simply look at it is something to simply feel at

[@stuckerfan2563]

As someone who is aspiring to be a writer and is still learning. I am ashamed of this. You shouldn't try to put the blame on other things. It's alright to accept that your writing suck. Why Because you can learn from it. No one is perfect everyone will make mistakes and as a writer. It's alright to make them because you learn how to better your writing. You can try to see what you did wrong and how you can improve it. If you keep thinking that your writing is perfect or already good when it is not and blame it on something else. You won't become a better writer. Here's an advice for aspiring writers: Don't be afraid to make mistakes or accept that what you wrote is terrible or shitty because you learn from it and become a better writer.

[@TheJustforcommenting]

" because it will always look shit " I couldn't help laughing at that, Brutal but honest, its sad maybe they did try, but as others have said multiple times ' out of touch ' a lot of people who create these things, are very out of touch of the field they're trying to get into, and want to force their own point by hitting you over the head with it, rather then making it a believable story, or media (sadly maybe a victim of a echo chamber). Also, do whatever content you like, no matter what you do you break it down logically and your takes are pretty good I feel, on the nose and doesn't beat around the bush that much as some other youtubers would do (spend 3-4 minutes talking on something but add nothing new). Anyways, Thanks for the content.

[@cgecko3]

She straight up roasted this shit show (literally) with facts and logic.

[@ConsciousnessisRough]

7

[@alwayssonnie]

Clumping the LGBT+, poc, and women as the "phobes" urks me the wrong way. I think what pisses me off the most is that they made it more about being woke and being a woke group over making the woman, lgbt+, and poc characters feel real. When you focus more on being woke rather than making meaningful queer poc characters, you tend to not make actually good queer poc characters.

[@SagaVonDrusus]

4:04 this is such a good point, I'm not even in the field of screenwriting or anything like that but I've been writing a story since high school and I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've had to rewrite plot points, characters and events. And the show was put on Hiatus for two years and they really couldn't have done any restructuring of the story?

[@Azzaciel]

It was probably already finished at that point but just not released. Having stuff re-written and re-animated, especially the latter, would have probably cost 80-100% of the original cost again. Because like Natalie said, the really big problems like a messy plot and no concrete target audience are things that need to be fixed before any production even begins. And if you want to fix that after your show is already done, you have to start over from almost literal scratch. Because after fixing that, you have to re-do everything for the fixed version. And by that point the show was probably already counted as a financial loss. As for-profit companies, sunk-cost fallacy is the one thing to really avoid, so yeah, they could have had 20 years to redo it, but that still wouldn't have happened on 0$.

[@NatalieXHunter]

Yeah, I think when the show was shelved it was already made, otherwise nothing Raye said about the time crunch makes sense. But, that doesn't alter that he had created it as a concept and was looking for someone to fund it before any of the work started. During that time, normally the creator would have already made a lot of those creative decisions, and would also be constantly tweaking things in response to feedback they were getting as they pitched it. I'm a novelist, not a screenwriter, so I know they're different disciplines, but the 'coming up with a setting, plot and characters' part of writing (especially when it is fantasy or sci-fi so you're going to need to work out how stuff like magic and tech work and the way the societies are), is no different, and that's all stuff I'd have thought should already have been done before any other writers were brought in...

[@happythoughts3170]

@@NatalieXHunter In now deleted/hidden comments, when asked why he didnt have a finished storyboard before production began, Raye responds with “That’s not how pitching works”. So Raye actively refused to write and wanted to heavily rely on the studio he worked with to provide him with writers to literally create a story from the ground up.

[@Slitheringpeanut]

The big issue is that lack of willingness to take accountability for their bad writing. I'm an amateur writer myself, mostly self-taught and still making mistakes, but I know I make mistakes, and I want to improve. But Rodriguez is a typically Leftist kid, who has never had any criticism because people were afraid to hurt Raye's feelings, worse being Trans means that Rodriguez is one of the Protected Class. And yes, they are protected. Make any sort of comment they don't like, suddenly you're an Ist and Phobe.

[@lonelybluey]

I feel like he's an adult whose stuck in the maturity level of a high schooler. I sort of feel sorry for him in a way because he's always going to be shielded from criticism and he'll never grow as an artist or even as a person that way.

[@jiv3o275]

> And yes, they are protected. Make any sort of comment they don't like, suddenly you're an Ist and Phobe. Maybe if you spend all your time online, it might feel that way. In the real world, that couldn't be further from reality.

[@totally.normal]

@@jiv3o275 Yeah, thats the honest truth. Reality changes everything you think about the behavior of people.

[@willianfrancisco9703]

@@jiv3o275 It depends more in where you live at and who you interact with, it isn't the same everywhere.

[@Slitheringpeanut]

@@jiv3o275 Yeah... No. The GLBT are the MOST protected class in North America. You can't do anything to them without getting attacked and insulted and turned into a villain. There's a little cake shop in Colorado that got sued by a woman trying to defend a gay couple when the shop didn't want to make their cake because it didn't want to put anything GLBT due to religious beliefs. Kids are coming out as 'Trans' in schools because it makes them Bully Proof. You pick on one, you're EXPELLED.

[@JusticeforLiberty]

Blaming other people for your own problems while maintaining an echo chamber of like minded people is exactly what social media is for ...... and why I still don't have a Facebook or Twitter account

[@marcuscarana9240]

Hate and harassment is never acceptable but it is a part of the entertainment industry. You give the audience something they like, you profit, they scream, become your fans, treat your product as masterpiece, but on the other end, give them something that they hate, they will destroy you. It's the nature of the gig and honestly the show was so bad, the show was utterly offensive that the hate was understandable.

[@joseruizdiaz9622]

11 views, 13 likes. That's why Nathalie is legendary.

[@NatalieXHunter]

LOL, the views on the KZbin page are always a bit behind the amount of views I see in KZbin Studio, is the technical reason for that, but I'm happy for people to just think I'm legendary!

[@HateshWarkio]

That Twitter thread is not about changing someone's mind or discussion, it is just about passing the blame somewhere else so he can keep his job and ensure future jobs

[@artistanthony1007]

Yeah, he doesnt care about us and never did even in the Announcement so honestly I hope he gets what he deserves, unfortunately he wont because he's protected by Crunchyroll and those like him, Arin also follows him which is a disappointment.

[@Rammsoldat]

There was a lot of appealing for sympathy to how hard the craft of animation is and Im well aware of how hard and time consuming animation is, even bad animation with fewer in betweens and less frames takes time but just because you work hard on something it doesn't mean its going to be any good. And the question still remains as to who the hell the show was for.

[@mudpie6927]

It's gotten to the point where if a trailer or a Creator says something specific it's usually easy to tell where or not an anime or show is good enough to succeed

[@bigup6126]

I love how you went from Philosopher to Businesswoman to Political Scientist

[@bobi200samatar6]

I said this somewhere else, and I'll say it again here. The fact that they started storyboarding before they had finished scripts is a scheduling and organization issue, not a budget one. The team probably wasn't being directed and coordinated properly to compensate for the apperently super low budget. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the director's job aka you Raye. Honestly it upsets me that this show that had so little vision behind it got picked up by a network, but so many impressive pilots and shorts made by people with real talent and experience have just been left to the way side: Constant Payne, The modifiers, Mina and the Count. Even going to webcomics, they are so many great webcomics that have been going on for years that have great potential to be TV shows, like the little Trash Maid, Ava's Demon, Alice's Nightmare, and yet this thing that didn't have ten pages to it's name got the greenlight.

[@LunaMane]

The only point I give Rodriguez is that you can't always expect star quality from a small budget. Having said that there many stellar animations from people who also work with small budgets. Look at Vampair from Daria Cohen, and she's a one woman show. Additionally a budget really doesn't affect storytelling. Even as a head writer all you're really doing is writing the first draft of the script, crafting the dialogue, editing, maybe breaking down interactions for the storyboard artists and deciding what type of physical expressions are best suited for certain kinds of dialogue and finishing up the final draft. And maybe dabble in the marketing of the project too if you're lucky. This is a low labor career out of all the ones in the entertainment industry. You're not paying a writer the same amount as you're paying animators or illustrators. You can get many good writers to work with a low budget. Rodriguez didn't do that however, and instead hired the sanctimonious misandrist we know as Kate Leth. Then it led to a snowball effect of harsh but warranted criticism. In short - when you suck you suck. Live and learn rather than project your faults onto others.

[@Wolf_Appledore]

You make all valid points. The Soundtrack, the Voice Acting, and the Background is all Budget-related, but the Plot and Storytelling isn't. Appearently, they pitched the Story Thrice before it being Picked up by Cruncyroll.

[@MagillanicaLouM]

Their conditions weren't the best, definitely acknowledged. But what came out is what came out and understandable reasons or not, it's ass. The initial reveal marketing definitely was the red target though, I think if not for the implication that CR sub money went to THIS plus the usual "we're diverse so we're good" schtick, this would've just been a lame show most ppl ignored. But that initial reveal definitely made it larger target. Edit: also as you mention, better stuff has definitely been made with less so...

[@pacosalvs13]

When it comes to this kind of things I hate when creators brush off valid criticism by categorizing it as hate or bigotry, of course there will always be stupid people but if you got that kind of mindset you'll never grow as a creator

[@ricardojurado9121]

While true that a low budget can be a legit reason why certain aspects of a proyect ended up with not the level of quality the creators originally wanted, not amount of budget can resolve what from it's very conception is a troubled production, because none amount of budget money is going to make less of a hack a hack writer, less messy a messy producer and more though out a poorly though concept without much sustance. More money is not equal to more talent and better product, more money just helps if it's in the hands of people who are talented and have solid foundations to give life to their ideas.

[@Dharengo]

The cynic in me assumes the trailer was made that way on purpose to bait a specific reaction that they could use to make wokeists flock to the show to ‘own the haters’. Except that never happened.

[@NatalieXHunter]

That would be backed up by how hard they advertised the series on Tumblr...

[@samanthot_]

The thing I'm pissed off about the most is that they used money to make this garbage instead of paying translators more. I'm never watching it, and I'm most certainly never giving Crunchyroll any of my business any time soon. (Well, I never have... Nor any anime streaming service, because none of them actually pay the people making them money in the first place) I just hope this show doesn't start another trend of "if it has LGBT+/PoC/neurodivergent/etc. representation, it's political" again. It's tiring. You either get people complaining about girls kissing, or you get a gay character with an insultingly stereotypical personality, saying shit like "im gay get over it sweetheart" to a random strawman. At least there's some good representation out there, but HGS? Definitely not it... (good LGBT+ representation imo is having a character that has a certain sexuality or gender identity, but isn't their defining trait. There's not really a straight/cis character out there who has that as their defining trait, so why should it be like that for LGBT+ characters? Representation is supposed to represent normal people, y'know, so make them act like actual living humans, instead of walking stereotypes. Oh, and if you're gonna have a gay character or whatever, don't just have them for the sake of having representation... Disney is the fucking worst with this, adding gay characters to movies where their role is so minor that they can either be erased, or swapped to male/female to make it straight. If HGS just went for something like that, ot might've been a bit better... But the biggest issue again, was shitty production, not really representation issues... Just wanted to rant about that for a bit :p)

[@Lockz1111]

The owl house does this pretty well imo first and foremost it's a story about a young outcast girl finding her way into a world of magic and making a new family of friends there. There's lgbt relationships in it but they don't feel forced and they're built up over several seasons.

[@megaman9393]

@@Lockz1111 I think they meant in the movies, like some kiss in the background of one of the new Star Wars movies.

[@Lockz1111]

@@megaman9393 Oh I'm aware, it was more like a recommendation if they haven't watched it or a reminder that some media actually does it well

[@wannabehistorian371]

You’re talking about Caraway, right? Though, isn’t showing a gay relationship that could easily be swapped to be straight just showing the relationship as normal?

[@firebug_05l61]

As someone who still watches American cartoons I think that no matter how good the show was it was always destined to fail on crunchyroll and even if it aired on a cartoon network it probably would've been forgotten quickly and only would've been watched because it was airing before a cartoon that people actually cared about

[@bobfrancis123]

Budget is important, yes. That really showed in the production. But budget doesn’t mean diddly for bad pacing, bad world building and not answering the basic question of the whole dang show, Raye: what IS a Guardian? To add to/counter the low budget=bad animated show argument, I found the Duke of Death and His Maid absolutely unwatchable with its no budget cgi. But I hear it was well written and that made up for the visual shortcomings. Maybe I’ll get around to watching it.

[@NatalieXHunter]

I watched a comedy anime called The Way of the Househusband that was literally PowerPoint levels of animation, but it was hilarious and the voice acting was great, so it was still a good experience watching it. If it hadn't been, it would have at least made me want to read the manga.

[@simonenoli4418]

@@NatalieXHunter man that serie was priceless and it was basically stillmotion. But the concept was cool and the little episodic struggles were refreshing. I honestly left looking forward for another season even thou its an episodic serie with no real plot to speak of.

[@simonenoli4418]

I mean Berserk is one serie that is constantly bashed (rightfully so) for being absolute garbage in terms of animation amd even if i feel its quite generic as a plotline at least there is one compelling enough that people actually watched the show.. Also i did watch the duke and his maid because she T H I C C as hell and the cgi wasnt half bad as long as you dont expect much out of it (better than tesla note by a mile anyways) but aside that the plot is actually interesting. Premises being that hes a teen that cant literally have any physical interaction with nobody and hes basically left for dead in a mansion cause everybody scared as shit. He lonely to an unbearable degree and the maid teases him to get him out of that existential dread. Its funny. Its ecchi. And has a touch of sadness/reality check that spurs on the plot to move forward. Overall its a 6/10 but you should give it a 3 ep rule imho.

[@AtelierGod]

From what I can gather from what clips I’ve seen of the show on KZbin a Guardian, “Be lawful good or die” that’s all I can gather.

[@KeeKage37]

As much as Ray may want to blame it on ether “the Budget,” or “the culture wars,” in the end HGS is still a train wrecked a show. Some of it can indeed be blamed n the budget. The poor animation full of errors, the face some of the voice acting sounds like it was done with poor microphones. But the story, weighting, and world building. That’s all on him. No budget explained how that’s so bad. Hell, for as much as Ray may wanted to focus on the “trans,” part of the show, he doesn’t even do that well. We see lots of times in the show how people can transform: The main girls turn into mermaids. Nepptcat turns into a bigger humanoid cat. Olive turns from a cat to a cat girl. Mandrake being able to turn into anyone. But what exactly makes this “transition magic,” different from every other transformation? For a show so chalk full of magic, the magic used is woefully unimaginative and just not fleshed out. And if you didn’t want to be dragged into the “culture wars.” Maybe focus on you’re actual show, and not how you’re creative team is so “diverse,” when it’s not diverse at all. Or have a writer infamous for her “#killallmen.” Again he brought that on himself.

[@NatalieXHunter]

There were even issues like the BGM being too loud that a lot of people pointed out. I'm sorry, but that's not budget - that's something people have complained to me about on some of my older videos, and I'm just one person with no sound engineering training or experience, making KZbin videos. I can say why it happened and my excuse is reasonable, but I still am very rightly expected to do it better. A show made by a studio shouldn't have the same issues as KZbin videos made by people who are trying to develop a bunch of skills they don't have any training in yet, and if they do, you can't say it was just because they didn't pay you enough to hire someone who knew what they were doing.

[@charlesfcopeland9756]

If I was on the board of executives at Crunchy Roll and a creator pitched a idea about anime series for a few years till the board finally decided it may be time for this idea, then, calling the creator telling them "Congratulations, we are going ahead with your idea! So, tell us how you plan to do it." Then getting the answer, "I have no idea". How much financial backing would I give? How would I explain to potential writers for this idea that it's only a idea so write something? High Guardian Spice proves sometimes mistakes aren't happy accidents.

[@SporkSlayer]

My favorite part of this tweet thread is that everyone who previously made a video on High Guardian Spice is making a response to it. I loved hearing people of different backgrounds, ideals, etc. unify under the belief that this was a bad show. Now I get to see it again.

[@dragowolfraven3806]

Budget nothing. I think the writers cared more about "diversity"and hamfisted LBGTQ representation than writing a good show.

[@acsound]

The sad part is that if you give audiences a good story, you can have *all the "inclusivity" you want*. Bruce Timm (and later, the late Dwayne McDuffie) gave us the DCAU: aka the damned GOLD STANDARD on how to adapt comics to animation. They had people of multiple races and backgrounds, and even non-normative sexual identities (Maggie Sawyer, anyone). DCAU planned for John Stewart Green Lantern for years before JL was finally green-lit. Again: write a good story, and you can tell ANY DAMNED STORY w/ANY DAMNED MESSAGE YOU WANT. Sonic SatAM (a Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon adaption from the 1990s, simply titled "Sonic the Hedgehog") had a pro-environmental message -- and I know that poor show had a 90s animation budget, b/c the show ended on a unresolved cliffhanger!

[@TheJasonBigdaddy]

Surprised she didn't blame men or something else like that. Either way laughs in Steven Universe

[@NatalieXHunter]

He did kinda blame 'the culture wars'...

[@TheJasonBigdaddy]

@@NatalieXHunter to me that's just deflection from the fact that he did a terrible job writing. Instead it makes him look like a con-artist that got caught cheating

[@MrTakajimi]

Remember Kemono firends? an anime which looked like a ps1 game, but due his writting, characters and world it ended as one of the best anime of that season, it helped save zoos from bankruptcy, it trend on twitter, it even make a penguin want an anime waifu. HGS failed due to budget? yeah no, they simply dont have the talent or passion, but they are to arrogant to see that.

[@NatalieXHunter]

Awwww, now I've remembered that penguin and his waifu!

[@gtf234]

Also look at ONE with One Punch Man and Hero with Hori-san to Miyamura-kun; their webcomics were made with more or less no budgets but for their personal funds and neither could draw for shit. But they got incredibly popular though the quality of their writing, which pulled in interest to adapt them to properly published manga (Yusuke Murata was a huge OPM fan to begin with and begged ONE to let him adapt it and continue writing it instead of ending it like ONE planned).

[@ocarinaplaya]

I've said this pretty often: Good writing can save bad animation/art, but stellar art/animation can never save bad writing. HGS has problems in art and writing.

[@ocarinaplaya]

You can tell the writers live in their own little bubble when inclusivity becomes a huge distraction. Sure, gay people exist but outside of California and New York they're pretty rare and don't flaunt their sexuality in public.

[@hassathunter2464]

"If only we got more money people paid to go to Japanese developers" Also yeah, needing money to write better is a very hot take.

[@SERAFMIKE]

Natalie anything you upload is an immediate banger, your commentary videos are impartial, your readings are super entertaining and relaxing and your explaining videos gives more insight of the stories and characters that the anime series don't have enough run time to expand ever since I subscribe i haven't miss a video. I even started to pay for a KZbin premium so I could listen to your reading while I'm working.

[@NatalieXHunter]

Wow, thank you!

[@Cybermoonmage]

I feel like these excuses only amp my dislike of this show. I have seen better personal animations that didn't have a full studio and they had basic animation errors

[@PlanetZoidstar]

Raye: "I have to blame someone, or it's my fault. Fuck that!" Rogriguez

[@MII19]

My take on this monstrosity they have created it sucks and ray is a cowardly creator because he didn't make the tweet so we can reply that's a coward move if he made so we can reply to it maybe he wouldn't take this much hate after this cowardly move And he must learn from it And thanks Natalie for this video

[@How_to_LA]

It's funny to hear how people were angry about HGS from the trailer that I never even saw. I was vaguely interested when it came out because I heard it was getting hate on Twitter and other such places and decided to give it a shot as the internet is usually wrong about stuff. Not even 1 episode in and I stopped. The sound design was so off: soft voices, loud BGM. The characters didn't look like they're in the same animation world as the back/foreground. Funnily enough I can watch shows that have uninteresting plots and generic characters if I like the sound design or soundtrack, but we know how that turned out. Raye says they didn't have time to slow down and fix issues but wasn't the show delayed for like 2+ years? Sounds like plenty of time to me.

[@artistanthony1007]

In conclusion, Raye is greedy and the team are lazy, we're talking about people who just talked about diversity and not the show, that is all they freaking cared about and I know it.

[@jackmcd3848]

First lets go.

[@troy612]

A lot of the animation problems I didn't even notice until someone pointed them out. That's because it was hard to pay attention to the show at all when the writing decisions were just awful. They wrote away any potential target audience they had with poor lgbt representation and "mature themes." If they really did pitch their idea to networks such as CN and they didn't pick it up, why does it come as any surprise that people have been clowning on Crunchyroll for taking up the idea? An anime licensing corporation funded and published a western made animation. Why does the author wonder why everyone compares it "unfairly" to anime? I wish those involved all the best, but my advice would be to stop blaming the inherent flaws of your work on budget and the audience reception. Locate the issues you've made in your part of the production and improve upon them.

[@AzazelSylphson]

You summed up my thoughts better than I ever could! Literally just moments before I found this video, I got into a debate with Kaylyn Saucedo on Facebook, who was trying to defend everything people were criticizing the show for the same way Raye Rodriguez did. She did mention something a tad eye opening however, she mentioned that the delay they got wasn't used to make the show better, it was simply shelved. Honestly, if you're going to tell me that they had to deal with a Futurama situation over at Crunchyroll, considering who they are, I'd be inclined to believe it. It just highlights how vastly inexperienced Raye Rodriguez is as a writer though. Matt Groening was able to create one of THE best cartoons ever written unsure if he and his team were going to be renewed for another season until the last possible second. This person kept dodging the issue, and even blocked me and hid their replies. The exact same thing Raye Rodriguez did to me on twitter after I made an entire twitlonger making these same points. Intellectual discourse is NOT their goal, it's just excuses from them. I even told Kaylyn Saucedo, "Am I mad at Crunchyroll? Yes. Am I mad at the regular workers on the show? Of course not. Am I mad at Raye Rodriguez and his peers? Absolutely." Should I have a reason to be mad at them? No, but here we fucking are.

[@jtlovescodelyoko]

I watch Animation KZbinrs who don't have a budget that make shorts that are 10 times better than High Guaridan Spice High Guardian Spice is the: Walker Hayes Of Animation The Island Boys of Animation The AJR of Animation

[@Lordmaster316]

ITS A CARTOON NOW AFTER IT FAILED i remember that they advertising it as Anime back then.. is my memory wrong?

[@angelbird538]

A lot of the criticisms of the show are Valid. The Dialogue being Unnatural and Awkward is a fair one. The Art style is not bad, however a lot of the background being basically PNG comes off as very lazy. It wouldn't have taken that much more time to draw a lamp post or bread. You're not even Animating it. Even if it was being animated, a few things just seem to vanish in thin air. As for the representation, I really don't need to see a representation of myself on the screen. Characters should be created to serve a purpose. If you can't do it right, Don't do it at all. The show as it is now is basically for Mature Audiences". AKA VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. This means that you should not need to explain what transgenderism is to your audience. Had this show been rated PG13, It probably would have been bombed because Kids even at 13 are not capable of knowing what they want or what is best for them. you would end up confusing kids and that would be a problem, but at least it wouldn't be pointless dialogue directed at people Who know what transgenderism is and have all ready formed their opinion of transgenderism. (be it Positive, Neutral, or Negative.) If it does not serve a purpose, it doesn't need to be in the story. Speaking of things that do not serve a purpose and do not need to be in the show, There are a lot of them. Like the stupid locket side story that turned into a meaningless joke. What is the point of Old Magic if New Magic does everything Old magic does but 100X better? What is the point of the old magic? Old Magic should have been like Combative, and new magic could have been Quality of life stuff. (Old Magic throws fire balls, new magic spawns a lawn chair) Its not perfect, but at least it shows a clear difference. I all ways hate stories on Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Ect. They are all ways handled so poorly. "You're an elf, I don't like elves" Ohhh, Absolutely scathing, and it has the weight of a gentle breeze behind it. If you're going to do a story that involves this, Go all in and actually make your audience feel something for the character and what the character is going through. I hate movies like Passion of Christ, Its a biblical story and that is not a bad thing, The thing I hate about Passion of Christ is, it spends too much time preaching to the viewer. A similar story to Passion of Christ is Prince of Egypt which is loved by all, including Me and Atheists, because it doesn't preach to any one. Most video games have more powerful stories about Racism or Pseudo-Racism like Detroit: Become Human, then anything in the television industry today. I did like Snapdragon's story arch, even if I hated the name of the character, Seriously why Snapdragon? I never understood that, but I guess that is far from the most random thing this show has ever done. The message that Being transgender is not for everyone is a good message. A lot of people believe they are transgender though, at some point during the transition process it doesn't feel quite right to them. Some keep thinking "Maybe the next step will complete me" others keep pushing in fear of the hate mob, some were peer pressured into transitioning by friends or even family. The truth is, If it doesn't feel right, then you should stop. If they ever cared for you at all, They will support you. Its a very mature message that doesn't just apply to transgenderism. If something feels wrong or off about a situation, You should stop. I also like how it leaves the choice open for Snapdragon as its a very Personal choice to make and no one should make a choice like that for some one else.

[@Xuhybrid]

Bruh, they don't want to change peoples mind. They just want to feel better about their terrible decisions.

[@sky-trevishere9638]

The SpongeBob anime in KZbin completely debunks the ENTIRE argument the creator of his godawful show makes. You can have shitty budgeting, but a good story, you can have shitty budgeting, but utilizing it by balancing the animation out (aka not have absolutely weird framing and pacing), and honestly there’s so many things that you can clearly point out the creator is just making crappy excuses for a show that has been pointed out it’s not good. Instead of worrying about your budgeting, Raya should be taking the criticism to then apply it onto the next season and better improve the shows writing, even with a heavily limited budget, you can absolutely make some good improvements with the show, instead of running with his tail between his legs and ranting about it on Twitter and blocking anyone who opposes anything he said because god forbid someone doesn’t agree with your idea of writing and making a show.

[@toTheWatcher]

I could care less about animation errors and stuff, but I think the nail on the head was the story concept wasn't thought out from the beginning & all they have is LGBTQ as the sale point & to me that seems offensive to the LGBTQ community as the show should stand on it's own first.

[@Nevir202]

Considering I've read FAR better stories, both written AND edited by a single person, this is entirely BS. There's no sense at all in going to animation with a BAD story, so, they either 1) Thought it was good, so went ahead with it 2) Knew it was shit, but didn't care, so went ahead with it.

[@vla1ne]

Did he really just try to blame bad writing on budget? I dont use twitter, but this literal golden verbal vomit of an excuse is a good reason. To make an account (just for a laugh)

[@ramendope2894]

You don’t need high budget to make good writing. Heck even some anime studios also get very small budget, but the thing is with Japanese animators is that they make every budget count in order to deliver a good show…

[@artistanthony1007]

Want an example of a CN show that began rough, had a small budget but eventually came to be loved in so many countries? Code Lyoko and I am one of those fans who loved & loves it, it was my first cartoon afterall.

[@Daramouthe]

In other words, everyone else is at fault, take no blame.

[@speakerrob1859]

Always in awe of your critical analysis, and how well you communicate your thoughts.

[@Hate_Silvia]

I can agree with all of this. The only thing I don’t like is that we were called homophobic for criticizing the show. That makes no sense to me. Because the majority of us don’t even care that there are gay or trans characters, that’s fine. What’s not fine is the fact that not a single character (besides snap dragon) has any actual character development. I can forgive bad art and animations. What I can’t forgive is bad writing. This show had absolutely zero world building. And depth. And each episode felt like it was poorly made improv. But calling us homophobic is just childish. One of my closest friends along with my younger cousin is transgender. But I love them both, we still hang out all the time. And even they told me that they hated the show because it felt long and tedious and political. And it’s not like this is the first show in the world that got a ton of backlash. Hell it’s not even the worst show that exists. All we are saying is just. PLEASE put a little more effort into the writing, and make memorable characters that don’t feel like side characters to their own show. People even point out that the best characters aren’t even the main characters. It’s snapdragon, olive, slime boy

[@simonenoli4418]

Biggest problem is they made a show to sell an ideology the same way Coke does it to sell its drinks. It was blatantly obvious what they were trying to accomplish and even if i am very supportive of the lgtbq community i felt that they made an actual mockery of what people are. Sexuality has nothing to do with character and maturity and Raye is quite the apropo for that. Also i dont get why crunchyroll had to do a "genderbender" ""anime"" when homosexuality is widely accepted in the community (i mean we have literally genres dedicated to same sex romances, and although there is not a lot of space for nonbinary i'll admit, but also because there is not a big market for it either) i mean did we forget RANMA 1/2? It was the 90's man, and sure there wasnt much of a romantic subplot there but still. HGS would have been so much better if they just followed a yaoi plotline and explored the genre from there. But no, they had to make the worst assorted group of girls (i mean they were MEAN to each other so much i just wondered why they stuck together andnwhere this phantomatic friendship bond that solves all at the end came from) awkwardly stump upon blatant subtleties that arent explained (if not in a "in your face" way) and barely even explored...

[@burck6113]

Same. I think people generally love shows and characters with lgbt aspects and characters in them, but not when it's being forced so violently. I didn't mind the avengers scene when all the women got together on the battlefield just for a cool shot cause it wasn't so "in your face" about it. Plus badass women are awesome so I can't complain about that shot lol. Kinda like the whole "trap" thing. A lot of people love those characters and the fact that it's so popular is proof that the community accepts them. I do understand that there's limited representation for lots of different groups but those groups are small and everyone has unique aspects of their personalities they would like to see more in the content they watch. I think it's perfectly doable to make a series with multiple lgbt main characters but hell, it has to have some sort of plot to it.

[@simonenoli4418]

@@burck6113 i mean netflix's Disenchantment has Teabeanie have a relationship with a female mermaid after 2 season of enstabilishing her as a general straight tomboy and it was brief but so in character that i thought nothing of it until it hit me that they just made her a Bi so naturally i didnt notice. Thats a good way imo to go about writing characters.

[@burck6113]

@@simonenoli4418 sounds like a smooth transition but probly still would've been better if they had planned it from the start. Gotta keep in mind that it's realistic for some people to change as they grow and explore their interests. Could use some in-show acknowledgement if they want to take that route, though.

[@simonenoli4418]

@@burck6113 there was ofc but i cant explain here a whole season of disenchantment to contextualize it so just take my word for it or if possible go watch it. Dont mean to be rude eh!

[@burck6113]

@@simonenoli4418 i understand lol. There are plenty of shows that are just so well written that it would take a long time to explain them. Really good point, though. I think it's generally understood that most people in the community have no problem with characters that fit into different groups. We just want well written and interesting characters who show growth throughout the show.

[@inendlesspain4724]

I want to become a creator someday, but I'm often worried about whether or not my ideas are good enough for people to like and stand out at all, not to mention, if I'll even have the time to not only learn a lot of necessary skills like art, animation, writing and maybe even programming, but if I'll even polish them all to be up to the standards I want. When I see the whole HGS situation it kinda makes me feel better about it; if these doofuses with not enough experience somehow managed to put something like this together, even if it took them a really long time and basically hijacked money that was meant to go to japanese animation studios, maybe there's still some hope for someone as hopeless as me.

[@mr.selyumor5402]

Smiling friends had two writers and if I’m being perfectly honest probably had a lower budget. The difference is talent and planning. Probably didn’t help that the HGS team were hiring based on identity

[@richardbell7678]

Compare "High Guardian Spice" to "The Real Ghostbusters". While the animation of "The Real Ghostbusters" does not have any glaring flaws, the animation is even more low budget than "High Guardian Spice". In fact, going only by the animation, in my personal opinion, "The Real Ghostbusters is almost unwatchable. However, the stories told in the episodes were compelling enough to keep me from switching the channel. One of the writers eventually went on to create a series famous for its writing strength-- J. Michael Straczynski and "Babylon 5". "High Guardian Spice" stands or falls on the strength of its writing, the writing is very weak, so it falls.

[@acsound]

Oh: THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS... An 80s Saturday morning cartoon show -- a spinoff from a movie at that! -- designed to be a cheaply-made toy infomercial, and the writing was very good. No excuses, Rodriguez. You and your team at HGS couldn't write compelling-enough stories to get us to ignore the PNG bread: BOTTOM LINE.

[@truesonsofmandalore]

Dunkin some spicy nuggies while Dunkin on spicy Gaurdians. It is a good day lmao.

[@tirramasu7948]

Can these people ever take a lick of accountibility?

[@vysethegallant638]

I really get tired of hearing people use the word 'hater'. "You don't like my show? You must be a 'hater'." The word, as used by people like Raye Rodriguez, refers to someone who hates something not for its poor quality or execution, but rather for petty reasons like the people who made it. If you don't like High Guardian Spice because the show sucked, you are not a 'hater'. You just didn't like it. Their dismissal of your criticism by labeling you a 'hater' shows just who the real 'haters' are.

[@Adonteon21]

It deserved all the negative reviews and thoughts it got.

[@JockWeebHarukaCh]

When I hear stuff about "think of the person behind the work," I always think about my own approach to sports journalism. I was lucky to grow up in an environment where I was always able to meet and talk to players on my favorite team. And when I eventually wanted to become a sports journalist, I had to take some unfortunate stances on certain players due to how bad they were. And while I have to constantly say they sucked, I always try to recognize once in a while that they're a great person. There was a goalkeeper who had beaten cancer and was actively doing a lot of amazing charitable works that also just happened to suck as a goalkeeper. I wanted him to not be the goalkeeper of our team because he sucked at being a goalkeeper, not because I didn't like him. And there were many more players like that (unfortunately, cause the team sucked). This is a similar thing where I honestly don't care about the people behind a bad show. Not in a bad way, but in a way that I recognize that there's so many voices and abilities that went into it that show that I can't say "If you made this you're a terrible person." Just because I hate UzaMaid doesn't mean I'm not gonna watch Gabriel Dropout or Yuru Yuri because it was directed by the same guy. They put in bad work that time and they're gonna move on. Just like how a footballer can suck for one team for years, maybe a chance of scenery gives them more room to prove themself. It's in telling people to "consider the person" that things go wrong. I've had people ask me for some writing help before and I've been brutal to them. They're people I care about, but I will rip through what they wrote with notes on why it sucks and what they can do better. And I expect the people critiquing me to give me the same courtesy. When you "consider the person" behind something, it means remaining honest and not adding any malintent in what you say. "This sucks. Here's why. Here's what I think you can do to fix it." If someone goes beyond that, they're the asshole. And there are always assholes. But there are times where people use assholes as an excuse to dismiss anyone with criticism. And if you use assholes to give yourself the high ground, then you're the one full of shit.

[@TwistedDanns]

Ngl, I haven't even seen High Guardian Spice. XD I knew ever since the embarrassingly bad trailer back in 2018 that I wouldn't like it. Regardless, I do wish Raye the best.

[@reviewman]

A poor craftsman always blame his tools

[@Uta_Chandra.H]

That's crazy expensive to rush a project. It tells alot about the narcissism from the "Diverse" studio

[@panoxiaoxiao3492]

I have been recommended many great content creators by KZbin who have been covering HGS, I just wished I'd subscribed for a happier reason haha. I'm liking you're channel though :)

[@NatalieXHunter]

Much appreciated!

[@steelionknight3949]

I want my Tower of God season 2, crunchyroll should just focus on that and maybe some other Manhwa as well as D.I.C.E or Solo Leveling

[@NatalieXHunter]

Yeah, nobody complained when they were just doing the Webtoon adaptations (I mean, they did complain about the adaptations of some, like God of High School, but not about the decision to make them at all). Why not? Because that seemed like them genuinely looking for stuff that their audience would like to see, and because they were still anime, just based on Korean source material. Also, because Korean source material shares with Japanese source material that it doesn't have the obsession with certain ideologies and is just aiming to be good and interesting. I hope Tower of God does get a second season, too.

[@Necroxion]

"Our budget was like a Cartoon Network show" Gumball: Regular Show: The OG Adventure Time pilot from Oh Yeah Cartoons:

[@ArCSelkie37]

Funnily enough i'm not even one of those that is particularly bothered by Crunchyroll funding non-anime or western "anime" using part of my money... as long as they continue to fund and license Japanese anime (which they still currently do). But making this sack of shit and then saying "It was all the budget" in regards to it's faults is insulting. Now maybe they should have opened with some of these more reasonable reasons rather than insinuating everyone who disliked it is part of some culture war or is a bigot of some sort like what happened in the lead up to it's release.

[@acsound]

If COWBOY BEBOP (CB 1997) had the same shitty writing as its live-action remake (CB 2021), then... Let's just say that CB 2021 wouldn't have existed. Think about it; no one wants to do a remake/reboot/live-action adaption of CHARGEMAN KEN. But no. CB 1997 was a writing and animation master class. I'd say that even if the animation were bad, the story would've been good enough to make it a solid anime. Writing doesn't need a *budget*. UPDATE: Onyx Equinox was successful b/c it had ART DIRECTION. If the writing was at the same level as the art direction, then I'd say that was a good show (and Rodriguez at least notes that the team "learned lessons from HGS mistakes and applied them to Onyx Equinox" (paraphrase)). From the intro (kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHi9an6wjMahjZo), it came across to me as a serviceable animesque cartoon: almost like MUMMIES ALIVE, but w/o the lame "average kid" in San Francisco suburbia.

[@MrBolo808]

Damn you look stunning in that dress Natalie and if the dude don't wanna listen to both good and bad reviews than leave the fool be. If he don't wanna have an open mind and find a way to improve than it is what it is

[@bumblehoney7206]

I've been watching clips of high guardian spice because I don't have Crunchyroll, but I kinda like what I have been seeing. It just looks like a dumb kids show and I like dumb magical kids shows..

[@bethlaria812]

Thanks for a great vid!!!, Taito 1978 love that dress!!! and since hgs looked horrible !!! that's my reason for not even entertaining the thought of watching it

[@indigowendigo8165]

Hmm... You know, I'm not sure what else people like Raye should have done for a job to get money and stuff instead, but I kind of feel like this should have started as a free webcomic or maybe just a web novel like one of the versions of Re:Zero apparently, and then from there, changing and improving on it could arguably be more flexible, and it can grow from there, and THEN get animated, and having a low budget might not even be an issue. :p

[@sodapop-rockstar]

Funny you say that! HGS actually WAS a webcomic. It seems the idea got changed as he pitched it, with the characters being the only constant. From what I've seen of the webcomic, like the cartoon it was also pretty eh but because it was very short it avoided the level of writing issues of the show

[@wolfbane7497]

Natalie again I'm surprised that you watched High guardian spice. I'm surprised your brain didn't melt as soon as you watch the first episode. I seriously don't want you to end up like AZ from Hill versus Babyface. Where he has to review Naomi and batwoman from the CW.

[@501BlakeG]

Your channel has exploded lately since the mushoku tensei content! Kinda wild how fast you’ve grown lately

[@theberrby6836]

I can agree and disagree with the creator's post.. also sympathize with the staff. It MUST feel bad feeling your being dooged on for something you made. :( But it doesn't take away from the 'wrong' you did and the improvement you can show by listening to criticism and working. I think the staff may improve in future years and I pray they do well, and that their passions will be felt in the good they do, not only the mediocre!

[@bella_the_arist9804]

Also, night of living dead exist. Granted it’s live action but, I think should count. That movie had zero money.

[@JustAnArrogantAlien]

_High Guardian Spice_ is objectively awful for many, many reasons, but I wanted to focus on the “culture wars” bit. This show was obsessed with “diversity” (translation: no white straight males allowed) right from the beginning. A lot of people, myself included, assumed that _High Guardian Spice_ was an attempt by a certain political faction to invade the online anime community in order to politicize it. The fact that critics of the initial trailers were given the usual labels (“racist,” “misogynist,” etc.) only strengthened those convictions. Despite the claims of people like Raye, anime fans come from all walks of life and all sides of the political spectrum. You don’t have to be an “alt-right” whatever to hate a show that is written, animated, and stapled together as badly as this one is _(especially when people found out the money they were donating to help Japanese animators was actually being siphoned into this!)._ People don’t like it when you try to hijack their hobby for your political grandstanding, and even after all this time, it still seems pretty clear to a lot of us that that was the intent behind this show.

[@fraktaalimuoto]

I am now feeling kind of "meh I really don't care anymore" with this right now. Not a subject anymore worth of energy spent.

[@draeitygmon6536]

You know, I was going to leave a very long winded comment, that certainly no one asked for, about the audience demographic targeting or lack there of. Instead, I'd just like to say I love this comment section. You know people have good taste when there can be so many different comments on just as equally varied topics & still everyone can reasonably discuss the subject with plenty of logic, examples & similar comparisons with more thought & understanding than the show itself presented. Good job Natalie & commenters. Have a wonderful day. 💕

[@Kisuke242]

It wasn't just the animation. I feel people are sick and tired of identity politics in our hobbies. Nobody cares! I watch anime for escapism not more politically charged crap! Also it is not anime! It's just Steven universe all over again.

[@selena9887]

HGS had potential, it was just not what people wanted nor liked. The money for the show should have gone to already struggling JPN animators and translators. They also focused too much hyping up the type of people creating it rather than making an amazing story to back it up. As a fellow woman, I'd love for an all women studio together to be paid to animate and create, but this show wasn't it. Personally I'd rather have no representation than bad representation.

[@haydencrawford8552]

If a better budget ment better writing then Roosterteeth wouldn't have pissed on Monty's grave after season 3 of RWBY.