High Guardian Spice - It Just Sucks (Video Essay)

So, to clarify something - this is a directors cut of my two videos on High Guardian Spice - Due to some unsavory comments made to one of my friends in my previous video, I am uploading the two as a conjoined video and removed the cameos - So you only get me.
The previous two videos are up, but I would prefer if you guys were to watch this video instead.
But if you want links to the original videos:
• WTF is High Guardian S...
• WTF is High Guardian S...
Editing helped by / waverunner5642
/ fanfickleentertainment
Chapters
0:00 - CrunchyRoll Sucks
4:50 - Let's review the first episode specifically!
15:02 - And then my fans screwed me over to Cover the Rest of the series
16:44 - Part 1 - Who is this for?
20:35 - Part 2 - Pacing
25:41 - Part 3 - Sound/Voice Acting
32:24 - Part 4 - Characters
39:25 - Part 5 - Representation
46:16 - Part 6 - Magic and Morals
52:46 - Part 7 - Conclusion
55:29 - End Credits
Wanna contact or support me?
Patreon: / mangakamen
Twitter: / manga_kamen
Deviantart: flairnightz.deviantart.com/
Discord: / discord
G-Mail: [e-mail]

[@Mangakamen]

So, to clarify something - this is a directors cut of my two videos on High Guardian Spice - Due to some unsavory comments made to one of my friends in my previous video, I am uploading the two as a conjoined video and removed the cameos - So you only get me.

[@christianramirez6578]

Any plans on Power rangers abandoned it's Tokusatsu roots Video?

[@thenerdyginger6226]

Sorry your friend received those comment Kamen. That's really not cool.

[@christianramirez6578]

For better explanation, a video about the Hasbro Toei split rumour.

[@benpower3912]

I love the video and I give a 10/10 keep it up

[@matmil5]

The fact that your friends got harassment over opinions just plainly sucks I wish good for them, even though their content is not my cup of tea

[@mushroomanjcc1954]

I fucking love Slime Boy so much, he's the only thing that makes me laugh in the show. He's like stoned out of his mind or something

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

if you´re male or male presenting you kinda have to in the world of high guardian spice. That´s why the dad escaped to the rural area in the first place

[@Volyren]

The HGS world would be a paradise for a straight dude with 3 or more brain cells. Me: I identify as a woman. Every HGS character: But....you look like a dude. Me: I take pride in my body. Don't be a bigot. Them: uh....uh....um, i mean.... Me: Now get on your knees and unzip me. Or are you a transphobe? 😈 Snapdragon: Okay! 😊 Me: No. Snapdragon: 😢 Me: Go put that mermaid costume on first. Snapdragon: 🏃‍♂️

[@ddjsoyenby]

i love rosemary's voice acting.......she sounds like she smoked 40 packs of cigs 90% of the time :D

[@kittycat5972]

@@Volyren bruh/gigga chad moment

[@nero2355]

@@Volyren [] Yo wtf?

[@azzburgersaf1973]

Sage's comment about men really rubbed everyone the wrong way. She's a country bumpkin girl from a small village and the only male she probably knows in her life is her dad (as absent as he is in the show). How does she get to pass judgment on men not having feelings and women being more better at bonding and loving? Why? Because Sage didn't actually say that. The writers took direct control of Sage and revealed how they truly think about men. Sage is just a puppet and this dehumanizes men into being unfeeling cold monsters.

[@AtelierGod]

Truly the strings were visible on this puppet.

[@bernkastel7438]

The fact that my brother is also named Sage is so cursed lmao

[@CB7368]

True, just a reminder who really made high guardian trash.

[@MrAuthor3DS]

Amusingly, she was just talking about feelings with two guys (Parnelle and Slime Boy) in the previous episode.

[@arumaka3662]

Ah finally we discovered Sage reason to exist Being a pupoet

[@undulycriticalobserver2510]

High guardian spice has: Lesbian characters Gay characters Trans characters Furries Blood And a medieval fantasy setting. What it doesn’t have: *Consistent storytelling and quality.”

[@gaming1zanagi-1999.]

And what does it have to do with "diversity"?

[@undulycriticalobserver2510]

@@gaming1zanagi-1999. diversity was its selling point, it had nothing else.

[@gaming1zanagi-1999.]

@@undulycriticalobserver2510 welp even if it is it's selling point the show is nothing diverse to me.

[@undulycriticalobserver2510]

@@gaming1zanagi-1999. I think the original intent was to sell the show on the grounds of it being diverse, which is a polite way of saying “queer/trans-baiting” the show on its own has a cookie cutter background, vague story and uses the SJW diversity angle as the support pillar of the show, and it’s failed spectacularly IMPO.

[@ExtremeWreck]

"gay characters" pardon me, but the writers likely hate gay men no matter the race more than straight white men. Double standards pretty much.

[@RogueFox2185]

This show will forever be an example of what NOT to do when making an animated show, can’t believe Crunchyroll somehow thought this mess was worth sinking donated money into in the first place.

[@Zelnyair]

Probably finished it to write it off against taxes.

[@noahberg101]

U.S. government ✋️ Crunchyroll ✋️ Wasting people's money 🤝

[@mattwo7]

At least Ex-Arm had animation so bad it's funny. I'd probably find this show f*cking boring if I watched it. (haven't watched Ex-Arm either but still)

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

what NOT to do if you want to make a progressive show for kids? terminally online tumblr dwellers? anti SJWs?

[@andrewthemandrewstudios5822]

Apparently crunchy didn’t even wanna sink money into things at all From what I can tell they rushed all of their original shows productions and only a couple of them by some miracle are apparently okay

[@theoneandonlyme9731]

Since nobody’s mentioning it I’m just gonna say it: Rosemary’s hair is AWFUL.

[@edwinbuana555]

yeah her twintail suck

[@edwinbuana555]

yeah her twintail suck

[@schizophrenic_rambler]

Not as awful as the static background characters and magical hovering PNGs

[@WetBoy]

Rosemary looks good r34'ed

[@theoneandonlyme9731]

@@schizophrenic_rambler didn’t say they weren’t.

[@lazycat836]

After like months of release, the creator then came out and said the show is bad because there's not enough budget and that writing was also affected because of it. He even claimed that they had to start animate before the first script is done. I thought he said this show was his vision since highschool or something, he never even came up with a finished story other than "4 girls go to a school, train to be guardian and fight some monsters"? Are the people in CR stupid or insane? Like they just slap any project with the ok-to-go sticker after hearing some vague ideas without a plot for at least a few first episodes?

[@jamesneese7663]

to be fair, for all we know he could be lying his ass off. We only have his word, when he ORIGINALLY said that this show was going to break boundaries and do things no "anime" had ever done before, and all from a woman's writing room. Don't be surprised if he lied his ass off to Crunchyroll and is now throwing them under the bus to save face and act like NOTHING was his fault even though he was the #$@#$ DIRECTOR.

[@lazycat836]

I think they said "do things no studios had ever done" (I don't remember they mention "anime" in the interview) Even so it's quite a bold statement coming from a studio I have never heard of or done anything remarkable comparing to other cartoon studios, I can't even find any of their previous work other than HGS. The guy never showed any evidence or figure to back any of his claims and it took him this long to respond with excuses only raise suspicion. For all we know he could have more fund than an average western cartoon and still complain it's not enough or that he just got the idea on a whim and never put much care into it in the first place. It's up for speculation but not like anyone would care now that the rice is cooked.

[@Bladezeromus]

@@jamesneese7663 Funny thing is that no matter his excuse, the show's execution proves that the staff is incompetent from top to bottom. When Rey got the memo with the budget and the time frame he should've said "hold up, we can do as many episodes as we wanted and things look tight." If they'd just tightened it up into, like, a 2hr movie about Sage and Rosemary having an adventure and finding the conviction to become guardian's it could've be much better.

[@darrelsam419]

Honestly he has no excuse considering how Smiling Friends, another adult show that just came out, was revealed to have the budget of one Family Guy episode for their entire season. If that show can be good despite its smaller budget, so can HGS.

[@osets2117]

@@lazycat836 you can't find anything else from this studio because the studio didn't exist before HGS

[@adriannaranjo4397]

The root of the issue isn't the show itself (despite its many, *many* issues). It's the fact Crunchyroll, an anime streaming service, made a nickelodeon cartoon and tried to pat themselves on the back for how progressive the crew was. Then ever since the backlash they've only deflected and tried to sweep it under the rug. The creator blaming the _budget_ (and homophobia) for every problem the show faced & refused to take an ounce of responsibility says a lot about their mindset

[@maldon3659]

And the funny thing is they were originally going to put the show on Cartoon Network

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

not made, they hired people who made a webcomic to turn it into a fullfledged show. Turns out Tumblr famous isn´t worth shit in the vast world of animation

[@maninanikittycat4238]

I always found it jarring that the show looks like something I would see ether on nickelodeon or Cartoon Network. and Crunchyroll is an ANIME streaming service

[@ExtremeWreck]

@@maldon3659 Thank humanity they refused to since they have better quality standards than Nickelodeon.

[@ddjsoyenby]

honestly as someone who is watching the show it's biggest issue is it's bland and badly written if it was for little kids that would be fine.

[@JaePlay]

Its pretty bad when before this aired, there was a sneak peek into the show, and there was little substance. 90% of the entire sneak peek was the crew talking about how diverse they were. That raised huge red flags that they didnt really have anything worth selling about the show.

[@maxentirunos]

Even more when their 'diversity' actually meant 'exclusively white women'. When you reach this level of delusion in your life, you can't really expect good thing to be written out of such a mind

[@monocell.]

The art style looks like one of those, “How To Draw Manga” books

[@zebnemma]

Yeahhhhhhh. The art style is so.... Basic. Why would someone want to create a whole ass animated show but then make the art style bland af? What's the point??? And all the characters all look like ripoffs either of characters from many other shows or like common stereotypes, literaly nothing original. First glance at the main characters and I spotted all the members of Tokyo Mew Mew! Same hair colors AND 2 even look almost identical! Coincidence? I think not!

[@DangerDan64]

HGS is basically a perfect example of, what not to do when you make your story, world building, characters, and even representation. I don't want talk high and mighty, but I can literally make far better versions of all the things presented in HGS myself if you give a month to make up the serious half of the show. I'm not even a professional writer, I at least know the basic story telling and how to present it properly. Also pro tip, how to make representation of a minorities be done right, "NEVER QUESTIONED IT AND TREAT IT AS IF IT WAS NORMAL!" It dosen't take philosophers to figure this out.

[@nenmaster5218]

The Quality-Drought we're living in? Yeah, we had it coming a long time. "Plot Holes dont matter" MANY said. Consistency is for the Weak, the Idiots yelled. There is no such thing more Excused than Objectivel Bad Writing in this day and age. So of course more Onisions spawned. Doctor Who and Star Trek burn for a very obvious Reason. Excusing bad Quality creates more bad Quality. That's how the World works.

[@DangerDan64]

@@nenmaster5218 Finally! Someone who speaks English. As in, Someone who is actually looking at the bigger picture.

[@nenmaster5218]

@@DangerDan64 Youre welcome.

[@worldscoolestperson7672]

ago I literally have no clue who you are and still know you could almost certainly come up with something better than HGS. The simple ability to recognize that characters are supposed to be more than mouthpieces for the author already puts any random person ahead of the curve in front of whoever wrote this show.

[@schwarzerritter5724]

I don't entire agree about the minority representation. Being a minority will affect someone's life, especially if it is a minority being surrounded by only majority people. It will affect someone's sense of identity. High Guardian Spice just falls into the same trap basically every other woke piece of media does: Reduce its characters to their group identity instead of actually making them people. What can you tell me about the transgender teacher, except for him being transgender? What can you tell me about the lesbians aside from them being lesbian? What can you tell me about the toxic masculine men Snapdragon knows, except for them being toxic masculine?

[@marymaza2187]

What I hate about this show is how the straight males (Astor, Kale, and the assassin) are either bullies or villains, and STAY like that until the end, but the LGBTQ male (Snapdragon) is a bully who changes for the better. Whereas the female bullies and villains (Amarillis and Olive) end up having a change of heart or being good the whole time. This series message (to me, at least) is basically: "You can't be a hero nor redeem yourself unless you're either a) A woman, or b) LGBTQ."

[@BryonYoungblood]

Yeah. I know how you feel, Mary. That pisses me off too. It's like, c'mon, it's obvious how much the writers hate men, but you DON'T have to incorporate that into your work for God's sake! Try to tell a compelling story. Try to explore the fact you could be very nuanced or even just show bad guys to be bad guys! This is just really misandry that people like this on Twitter complain about all the time for women, but they're doing it in reverse. Hell, there's been plenty of women in creative roles for TV, movies, comics, and more over the years, and before this new trend began to try to push the SJW's for that, many of them were as good if not better as men in many fields!

[@jovan.v7690]

@@seventeenseventythirteen7465 do you need a therapist you know you dont really seem like a sane and average person

[@tonyflamingo3444]

@@seventeenseventythirteen7465 Yes Both Things Are Bad. What Happened In The Past Suddenly Doesn't Make This A "Role Reversal" Especially Because We Don't Choose Our Race Gender And Sexuality.

[@meatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatme]

​@@seventeenseventythirteen7465 not everyone complaining about this shit is a white man, what are you even talking about? Stop being such a racist sexist, dude.

[@marcusreading3783]

@@seventeenseventythirteen7465 Correct. Now explain to me why swapping it around is in any way helpful?

[@Mana7Origin]

52:30 That teacher should really get fired. But then again, it seems like all teachers are competing to see who has a higher death rate in their classes.

[@schizophrenic_rambler]

It reminds me of dead pool (not the Marvel character) Basically, guessing when someone will die. Sometimes, doctors bet to "guess" their patiens' death, and end up killing their patients to win

[@leila13dnd]

Funfact: I was going to make a fanfic that is basically HGS but better. Except when I got into collecting lore I realized.... There was basically none. I can just make the whole world from scratch and rework everything because yes, that is how much it sucks.

[@loturzelrestaurant]

Lke this here and Channel like Terrible-Writing-Advice? Then try Hello Future Me, Krimson Rogue and Reedsy. And if we stretch tue Fun to 'Hilarious hour-long Criticism-Essays', Hbomberguy, Madvocate and Jay Exci enter the Arena.

[@bachilles3285]

​​​​@@loturzelrestaurant Or they could just reach out to Celtic Phoenix (even though he's busy with Fixing RWBY at the time of writing) and bring him on as Assistant Loremaster (that's not the word, but you get the idea behind it). Also, what the fuck kinda comment are you trying to MacGyver with that kind of structuring, mister/miss?

[@loturzelrestaurant]

@@bachilles3285 Elaborate!!

[@bachilles3285]

@@loturzelrestaurant Okay, fuck that last part I said about grammar, I was not trying to be condescending. Also, I thought you were recommending KZbin story writers to look to for inspiration on creating lore and history for "Fixing High Guardian Spice". Because, Celtic Phoenix's Fixing RWBY fits the objective criteria.

[@loturzelrestaurant]

@@bachilles3285 Well, i kinda did. Just not specifically and ONLY for 'High Guard Spice'.

[@reagansido5823]

I pretty much can tell a show is bad when criticism is met with something along the lines of "well actually, the show has a ____ character in it, which means you hate it because of that. therefore, your opinion is invalid because you are now a _____phobe." even though what was said has nothing to do with that.

[@ExtremeWreck]

If Raye were to tell me, a gay man, that, I would go, "No. YOU are!", because seriously, that's what this show is. It's a big fat homophobic insult towards the entire LGBTQ+ community!

[@frankieyuen9363]

I don’t really care for this show like many people but I just want to say it’s called high guardian spice and everyone is named after a fucking herb

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

how awful. everyone should be named after a narcotic instead (hence the HIGH in the title)

[@heistingcrusader_ad3223]

@@PancakemonsterFO4 hell yes

[@sparaxisblanc2473]

And worse yet, their names are rather confusing. Amaryllis, for one, looks like she should be named Violet (the little purple pansy flowers).

[@vehicleunhandler]

name someone opium

[@NEETKitten]

​@@vehicleunhandler Should be slime boy's name. Dude always talks like he's zooted outta his damn skull.

[@theresivy]

So, two things I wanna touch upon here. - If Snap was canonically written to be a trans female later on and currently have the thoughts of wanting to be more female, why’d he get upset at Cal for calling him “his dad’s daughter”? - Continuing from the first bit, why did Snap sprain his arm from beating the everloving fuck out of Cal but has shown to be able to do more with no setbacks or injuries in previous episodes?

[@MrAuthor3DS]

It gets a little more confusing when you remember that his mermaid costume was actually Amaryllis's idea, and Snap's personal issue during the Processional was being fed up with doing everything Ryll tells him to.

[@motxmod]

Plot convenience can answer the second question most likely

[@suddenllybah]

trans people have a progression, and at that point, he was feeling more he than she. eh. the nature of closets.

[@dx.feelgood5825]

@@suddenllybah it would've been so much smoother if they'd given snap hints to gender dysphoria, like looking in the mirror and rubbing at their shoulders or wishing to have bigger hips. Maybe mentioning to the girls he wants to look more like one of them.

[@ohyoo1208]

Inconsistency. That is all.

[@bernkastel7438]

And thus, the two videos are complied in a joyous compilation for the viewing audience.

[@xxbaguettesniperxx2414]

What anime or manga is ur profilepic from ? She looks cute

[@amirite3989]

You absolutely do not need to know

[@mwwq1]

@@xxbaguettesniperxx2414 DON'T LOOK FOR IT!

[@colt1903]

@@xxbaguettesniperxx2414 It's called Metamorphosis or something like that. It's one of, if not THE most notorious hentai out there. Before you ask if that's for good reasons or bad reasons... Yes.

[@NoHandleLol13]

@@xxbaguettesniperxx2414 oh you sweet summer child

[@kingbash6466]

Honestly, the production history behind this show fascinates me. It’s like the Island of Dr Moreau or Duke Nukem Forever. Everything that could have went wrong, went wrong, and people will talk about how infamous HGS is for decades.

[@jamesneese7663]

no...they were handed EVERYTHING they needed to make a great series, but #$@#$ it up THEMSELVES and the director is now tweeting that NONE of it was his fault; claiming it was all Crunchyroll and their budget why things went to #$@#$. It was not that things "went" wrong. It's that they went in saying/believing that they would make an anime "unlike anything ever seen before" and so proud of themselves, but crashed and burned instead. This is a tale of hubris, selfishness, and ambition gone amuck but everyone involved are STILL too headstrong to even acknowledge it, just gaslighting all critique as "transphobia" to silence people.

[@GamersHolyArmy]

Well, turns out that no one ever thought about it ever again.

[@MidnightFae375]

If they needed a demon to talk to her dad...Would not the teacher be someone more safer to set up communications then? It just hit me after so long.

[@MrAuthor3DS]

Maybe the writers' mindset was the typical "teachers are useless" shtick? That's what they went with in most of the preceding episodes.

[@lovinani7]

Snap being confirmed as trans is fine in a vacuum, but given the context of the show, it feels like there's just NO WAY for a male character to exist as nuanced unless they are trans. Way to exclude drag queens and feminine men in the lgbt+ community HGS 😑

[@eggedsalad]

as a trans man, i approve of this message 👍 hell, id love if a cis-male character was openly proud of having a more feminine appearance, even if it took time for that character to become proud of themselves. it would make me and a lot of other transmasc peeps more comfortable with experimenting with more "feminine" stuff like make-up and dresses. it would tell young trans kids that they dont have to be hyper masculine to be a guy or hyper feminine to be a girl. HGS does this with its female cast, why cant the cis guys get the same love? ah, right, they dont like cis guys. damn.

[@gaming1zanagi-1999.]

Precisely. Just because Snap is being more feminine lean that doesn't mean he is necessarily trans

[@thebaron2277]

Exactly. Femboys exist

[@spoopyvirgil4944]

Transmasc femboy here to say, storywriters need to give more transmasc femboys! Some of us like dressing femme in a guy way! I hated dresses and skirts when I thought that I was a girl but now that I'm open and clear about my identity, I love that stuff!

[@twinzzlers]

@@eggedsalad You see, pandering to you would be more contoerverial than gay people, so you don't exist. Wooooo, you're a ghost, joined by bisexual people too, so you at least you got company, wooo.

[@doubleh333lix]

the high as shit slime guy is my favorite character 100%. he’s relatable and lovely in all the right ways

[@mushroomanjcc1954]

35:07 Ngl, making Snap trans really takes away from the self discovery thing his character was going for, especially with it being announced through Twitter. I think it would had been way more effective if Snap was queer because that makes him a character most non-binary people can easily identify with, even my jackass. Once he becomes trans, you make it a lot harder for 4/5ths of you audience to identify with them. Not to mention it implies that any male character that likes to paint their nails or cross dress is automatically trans which is just oversimplified and dangerous writing imo. Slime and Snap were the two things I liked, but they went and ruined Snap

[@mushroomanjcc1954]

Jesus, and then I actually read the twitter thread and its just garbage. That Egg shit is so fucking stupid, and it puts unnecessary pressure on people who are most likely going through some mentally taxing shit. To go and force that on someone who's trying to find them self is fucking toxic, it can seriously fuck their head up for the rest of their lives. I wish nothing but the worst the planet has to offer to people like that, fr

[@bobmclovinelectricboogaloo]

They're actually people saying that if you crossdress you are in fact trans which is so funny and false. And I mean there are even people in LGBT community that says this and believes it.

[@mushroomanjcc1954]

@@bobmclovinelectricboogaloo at least at 43:47 there were some sane people questioning their decisions on Twitter

[@CJMGalaxy]

I don't necessarily disagree with the broad strokes, but I do have a small disagreement as far as making characters "relatable" goes - yeah, making a character trans means that it's going to be harder for a lot of people to relate to them. But a huge part of the power of representation is that if they're a good character, people are going to relate to them anyway, and thereby relate to trans people IRL a little better. In the hands of a capable writer, a transition story should be relatable to everyone. Snap wasn't handled well, but saying she should have been made more relatable to the masses defeats the purpose of telling trans stories. There have been a million cis characters who had arcs of self discovery, it's about time there were trans ones. It just should have been written right instead of the ham-fisted mess it was.

[@lextatertotsfromhell7673]

Hi, I was the one who asked about it.

[@Gizmomaster]

50:55 what gets me is that this “Kal” character genuinely walks up to Snapdragon and immediately proposes having apparently been smitten. Snapdragon had said he wants to be beautiful and like the main cast as the mermaids. And so a better done scene to further his/her character would be to have Kal guy genuinely fall for snapdragon without knowing who it was. Which happened but then the writers just used the opportunity to denigrate this Kal character instead of making something more out the situation. Unless this Kal character just proposes(with a ring” to any girl in his vicinity. It just feels like a more competent writer could do this scene better where it gives Snapdragon more confidence in his decision about the potion maybe gives just a peak at some redemption what seems to be a crappy guy. Like instead of him reacting when he finds out it’s Snapdragon by evilly bullying Snapdragon, you keep the same line said in surprise “Snapdragon! You looked like a girl” and have this Kal character be very embarrassed and fall back on making fun of Snapdragon. The obvious thought I had when he said that line was that he was so attracted that he immediately proposes. I thought Snapdragon didn’t like being “big” and having “a chin like this” you’d think he/she would take this as a good thing or maybe even a compliment. I don’t know I just think they could have had an important character moment for both Snapdragon and this Kal but it was missed because the writers were so focused on making bad men bad. There is no redemption if you’re a man.

[@MrAuthor3DS]

Yeah, it's a bit contradictory. Snapdragon is embarrassed for looking like a girl at the Processional (and the costume was apparently Amaryllis's idea), gets most offended when Cal calls him a "daughter"...and then suddenly he wants to be less like a man as possible? No, something's definitely wrong here.

[@miunya]

I like how you open a bracket but just never close it. I do that way too often when I'm on a tangent lol

[@emeryltekutsu4357]

I think people really don't understand much when they think representation or diversity means what skin color someone has or something. They insist on it based on "IT HAS TO REPRESENT WHAT THE REAL WORLD LOOKS LIKE", or some such. Why? And where? The casts they insist on don't represent the majority of history or majority of the world. My sister-in-law NEVER SAW ANY OTHER HAIR COLOR than dark brown/black before she left Vietnam when she was in her late teens, and told us how shocked she was to see different hair colors. So if she wrote a story and everyone in it looked like what she knew, suddenly it would be a crap story because she didn't have a "one of each pre-approved ethnicities" (which always lacks a massive amount of ethnicities, might I add...)? It also completely overlooks amazing storylines that can come from having a story occur within one group. What if you want to write about a group that is isolationist and xenophobic? Or eugenicists? You can have really interesting stories with groups of characters that shun outsiders. It's also often based on pretty patronizing ideas. I am trans. I wouldn't mind seeing a transcharacter if they were written well, but I have zero interest in looking for stories about transcharacters specifically, because what I'm into is hot guys. They have this idea that we only care about people who have the same physical traits as us, and that's not even remotely true. I have never needed a character to look like me, or have the same identity as me. I'm not as self-obsessed as they assume I am. Their handling of Snapdragon and Caraway is groan-inducing for me. At no point did I ever think, "Finally, someone who represents me!" Because they don't. At all. They're generally bland, uninteresting characters that follow completely predictable beats and aren't allowed to be flawed (in Snapdragon's case, when you find out he's "questioning" he's presented as being righteous all the time. He beats up another student, for example? But the show presents it as "the student totally deserved it"). Amaryllis is actually the more interesting one, I think, because they let her be more flawed and it can be funny, but they still drop the ball with her overall. I think it's better to think of their pandering as representing one certain ideology. I get so tired of being told how these type of shows represent me when they clearly push ideas I'm against. For example, I work with children. I would never, NEVER discuss my private parts with my students. Whereas Caraway not only casually brings it up for no reason and inserts his opinions into their lives without any parents there or anything, but the show promotes "child transsexuality", which I would just call "child abuse". You should never diagnose a child or push them to be trans. They are not developed enough for that, and the vast majority of situations you could be doing permanent damage. And, funny enough, for people who insist they're so progressive they often insist children are trans based completely off of stereotypes. And in real life a lot of those children end up getting sexualized. I absolutely loathe this aspect of their ideology and want nothing to do with it. It makes regular people think that transpeople are pushing child abuse, when really I wish these people could be put on an island and kept far away from any children. Suffice to say, I'm not interested in how "they want to represent me" in media, because they will never be able to do so. They usually show an inability to understand any other ideas but their own.

[@fr4rq236]

Thank you very much it was very insightful to see what those, who are directly confronted with this trendy writingstyle everyday and naturally think about it much say about such tropes. Thx again :)

[@notananimegirl]

30:37 “My wrist feels like it’s on fire”, Snap Dragon said calmly. **begins giving birth**

[@mushroomanjcc1954]

46:08 Never knew that was a trans man, and thats exactly how it should be. Good on Hero for that, making representation regular instead of a spectacle

[@theALTF4]

nah she ruins it by existing

[@motxmod]

What's the name of that anime?

[@sirapple589]

@@motxmod My Hero Academia, character is named Tiger.

[@Alucard2356]

The only thing I have against gay/trans/whatever in media is that 90% of the time, from what I've personally seen, it's all so God damned preachy. It's forced in and given a soapbox to stand on and preach for a few minutes, then the show moves on to other things for a while. Then when that character that was preachy about being whatever it is they were, that's their character for the rest of the series. They'll show up at random times, go, "Hey, I'm here! REMEMBER THAT I'M " and that's all they contribute. It's annoying and makes it seem more like the kid wanting attention rather than letting them actually have a character outside of their label and just having that be a part of who they are. They people who hate tokenization of characters will tokenize their characters and be blind to the double standard.

[@heckarockstick802]

Looks like ur just looking in the wrong places

[@axie545]

What Heckarockstick said. Most of us aren't looking for tokenization. We just want to see the same consideration go into characters who happen to be gay or trans or nonwhite, and including that part of their identity in the narrative WITHOUT it being their whole character. E.g., "Hey everyone look it's my wife! I'm going to acknowledge her in this scene and then you will never see her again! Lesbianism is actually kinda hot you guys lol!" = tokenization, whereas "When my dad found out I had a boyfriend he threw me out, which is the circumstance that led me into this story, and this is an important and carefully handled part of my character that will deal with not only the issue of gay homeless youth but issues related to homelessness and self-love and the struggle of abused children to see their parents for who they really are in ways that appeal to many different identities and walks of life" = actual compelling characterization work. But one of these is a much cheaper, "safer", and lower effort way to integrate an LGBT character than the other.

[@resdraon]

As a gay I agree and it pisses me off. Only show that I've seen do it right is owl house.

[@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051]

@@axie545 The problem with your second example is that it requires my fiction to take place in reality instead of the fantasy world where we are fighting the dark lord.

[@peiithos]

Ill get excited a character has my labels and maybe have a character with struggles i have then like you said, they get their 2 seconds to scream about how they're lgbtq+ then it's basically forgotten and the character becomes irrelevant. I'm either demonized or tokenized in most media ill see. Whenever i see good rep the pure joy because finally, an actual character and not something that screams about being lgbtq+ just to be lgbtq+, so the author feels good that they added "rep"

[@kyosokutai]

They were so busy bragging they were going to break new boundaries in animation they never stopped to ask themselves if they should. (Or could.)

[@DangerDan64]

I find it baffling why no one brought up a series where it's full of magic and basic fantasy type world, but done mostly right. I'm talking about "Dragon Prince". After me watching the series ATM it is basically HGS done right not only with world building, characters, story, but even the basic representation of gay characters/couples they did it twice and handled it appropriately. Kamen since you haven't talked about it yourself, have you ever thought to make a video on that series? If you can't weather if it's your tight schedule or just don't feel like it. That's fine by me. (But I would like at least your thoughts on it in a comment/post at least.)

[@323starlight]

“If you want me to review the whole series-“ We have to pay you $1000, we know.

[@volrag]

At this point I think he can up the price.

[@schizophrenic_rambler]

Shut up and take my money

[@ExtremeWreck]

@@volrag $999,999,999

[@TheGamingAngel18]

MangaKamen: Either pay me money or get me 10K likes and I will suffer more. MK’s audience: Just for that we’ll do both!

[@goldenangel158]

Anime does LGBT better without beating you over the head with it

[@bobmclovinelectricboogaloo]

And I've heard the Japanese looks at it as a fetish and yet they write better LGBT characters anyways.

[@goldenangel158]

@@bobmclovinelectricboogaloo yep and it's sad that America can't write LGBT characters well

[@ExtremeWreck]

@@goldenangel158 They can; it's just that this series is a giant homophobic insult, speaking as a gay man myself. If you want a good American LGBT thing, there's Caper In the Castro, a video game from 1989. Or Hazbin Hotel for more recent web animation.

[@goldenangel158]

@@ExtremeWreck oh ok

[@ryokiritani4187]

Bruh what, anime tends to treat gay characters as either jokes or perverts. That extends to most japanese media (remember those guys that basically assault Ryuji in Persona 5? All the "ew you gay i don't want to sleep next to you" shit in Persona 4? All the gay kisses played for jokes in anime?)

[@veggsbacon1891]

"Give me the Axe Girl and Cat Girl side series." Honestly, that would be nice, under competent writers of course.

[@Zeno11Salazar]

I was scared this was a reupload or if I was having deja vu, but glad to see I wasn't going mad. This director's cut was worth the watch.

[@yokuutsu9097]

I THOUGHT I WAS GOING INSANE TOO FOR A MOMENT.

[@nenmaster5218]

@@yokuutsu9097 The Quality-Drought we're living in? Yeah, we had it coming a long time. "Plot Holes dont matter" MANY said. Consistency is for the Weak, the Idiots yelled. There is no such thing more Excused than Objectivel Bad Writing in this day and age. So of course more Onisions spawned. Doctor Who and Star Trek burn for a very obvious Reason. Excusing bad Quality creates more bad Quality. That's how the World works.

[@yokuutsu9097]

Bro I was talking about how I eventually realized that the video was a director's cut.

[@asteroidalassassin6949]

High Guardian Spice criticism is my favorite genre of video.

[@Nazo-kage]

When are the biggest flaws in hi Guardian spice for me, is the lack of conveying why; why is there a school for this? And I can actually point to an example of a school in a fantasy element that actually explains why it exists. And it’s probably from something not very many people might’ve even heard of. Mana Khemia. Both it and its sequel are about students going to school to learn about alchemy, whether not only taught how to make items but also learn about combat. There’s even a reason given in game for why they have to learn how to fight, thanks for the fact that alchemy requires a lot of material components so they will have to deal with a lot of monsters to get them as well as other people who would like to steal their work since alchemy allows for a lot of powerful creations. Along with this aspect is of course the underlining plot of the games involving the main characters. But the reason for why there is a school is explained. I don’t think you really get that in high guardian spice, there’s no real explanation for what a guardian is, (despite there being a character that talks about their guardian vows being so important) And there’s no Real explanation for why there is a school especially one full of eccentric people teaching. I mean one of the teachers flat out poisons the entire class and the only reason they’re fine at the end is because one of the students didn’t drink the tea thanks to a bully.

[@TwistedChungus]

I've heard of [own, in fact] Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis. It makes me... so happy to see someone else has, too.

[@CJMGalaxy]

It's wild to me that they thought being both patronizing and characterless would make for good trans representation. I'm a trans guy and I'm just so annoyed at the wasted... I dunno, potential seems like a strong word, but they had a shot to make an interesting and iconic trans guy character and they instead made the blandest possible excuse for a character.

[@heistingcrusader_ad3223]

You shouldn't give them your time buddy they flopped big time and would probably never recover from this ever again

[@CJMGalaxy]

@@heistingcrusader_ad3223 yeah, I'm less concerned about them and more how it'll effect other trans writers and creators trying to do good work. Execs always take the worst possible lessons from failures.

[@novelty_thief]

It's really a more minor thing but can we talk about how well Kamen adressed the real representation problems and thus really hitting home the "I am not an E;R" stance? Way to stick to your guns! Damn Kamen you're a fuckin Chad- *looks at genderbent version😳* Stacy👌🔥💯 Edit: Also props for those encouraging words at raye despite them blocking you! Such a King move, you sadly don't see that often nowadays!👌

[@SenpaiSamaKun]

@middle aged man in extreme debt EXTREMELY edgy with politics critic that's not really at all easy to tell he doesn't truly believe a lot of the shit he says. What mostly makes him not a lolcow like One Angry Gamer or genuine incel troll comments is a lot of his reviews actually work. Like there's barely anything wrong with his Korra and Deathnote stuff.

[@LordofSadFac]

@@SenpaiSamaKun theres also the fact that his reviews are incredibly hilarious and fun to watch, his Deathflix trilogy is some of the best shitposting i have ever seen, and he really knows how to call bullshit on Life is Tumblr.

[@ddjsoyenby]

agreed.

[@novelty_thief]

@@SenpaiSamaKun I mean he would be just your average edgeboy with decent Editing if he doesn't go off the rails to dunk on political strawmen instead of keeping it to the actual content.

[@zoura3113]

Personally I dont think Snapdragon should have been a trans woman. I feel like it would have been better for his character if he was either cisgender or nonbinary. In that way both paths could lead to a deeper meaning of exploring gender identity and what it means to be who you are and self expression. It would also be great representation for nonbinary people since there is RARELY AMAB (assigned male at birth) nonbinary representation, which leads to the whole "hurr durr attention seeking mentally ill tumblr girls" view on AFAB (assigned female at birth) nonbinary people.

[@alwaysangry2232]

why not just being a soft person?, the way lgbt is pushed reminds me of boomers who say "boys dont cry"

[@screwstars]

Glad to see i’m not the only one that feels about Snapdragon. I know there’s no right or wrong way to be trans, but Snapdragon’s whole gender identity feels like “I want to be a girl so i can do feminine stuff” rather than “I want to be a girl cause I feel more comfortable being one.” While in reality, you can like feminine stuff while STILL identifying as a boy. You think that with a few trans people working on this show would understand and write a character who is SUPPOSED TO BE TRANS, but apparently not. At least, that’s what i think.

[@destinyotaku3820]

I thought he was a man who like feminine things.

[@denjidenji9162]

I agree! As a trans man (so on the opposite side lol), I didnt transition just so I could do masculine stuff. And in fact, I find the whole idea that you can only enjoy certain things if you're a certain gender very harmful and stupid. Nobody transitions JUST for that, there's more there that I felt wasn't present in Snapdragon's story. But then again, to have a good transition story the character needs to have like, a proper personality and not feel like a cardboard cutout so they already failed with that lol Really, I'm more surprised that with trans people writing it, the trans rep is THIS obnoxious and on the nose. That and that the teacher has practically no personality outside of being trans and being vaguely nice. Cis people have written better trans characters than that lmao

[@zoura3113]

@@denjidenji9162 deadass im a trans guy too and the way they handled prof Caraway; who is a SELF INSERT FOR A TRANS MAN was so poorly done. they showed SOME promise in Snap but how does a trans man fuck up his own self insert lmao

[@gaming1zanagi-1999.]

And folks this is why you should follow the traditional storytelling101. Like sure if you want to try to write off a story that is unique and skewed a little bit on the traditional storytelling formula at least keep the important core of storytelling and that is prioritise storytelling first then other stuff later. If you want to make build up or add a build up before the main part of the story at least get the main story part done first then you can add some additional build ups or some new addition or even improve and improvised some certain parts. If you want it to be more dark or puts more conflict at least give it a reason why it happened not just out of nowhere. And lastly if you want to show some representations at least get it done well and not just show it at every panels. Everything this show literally missed the mark even if the target is in front of their eyes.

[@Treasure_hunter_21]

Is it just me or Snapdragon was simply groomed into being trans?

[@donutbevil9669]

It's not just you. 😬

[@mushroomanjcc1954]

Exactly. There was a point where Snap would have been a great character if he was just finding himself, but no, forced him to be trans when it would have been more relatable to make him anything else

[@zacyquack]

Oh great, the creators support egg culture too. Ffs

[@frootsnacc6790]

Yeah...him figuring out his identity would’ve been more natural if it wasn’t like this I can’t get over him describing how he wants a woman’s body despite being the most effeminate looking guy we’ve seen You want smooth skin? Honey, you HAVE the smooth skin, what’re you talking about?

[@WhiteManOnCampus]

That’s typically how it goes.

[@Danganraptor]

To be fair, most of the first half of Steven Universe's first season was fairly slice of life, but at least you learn about the citizens of Delmarvia, the Gems, and Steven.

[@LavaAnime]

I'm overjoyed you mentioned the voice acting. I love Cam Clarke, but I feel like they only cast him in a role because he's openly gay (the vast majority of the cast were either women or LGBTQ+). It's a shame they didn't make the most of his and Barbara Goodson's talents.

[@swaphero6656]

I like how you put up Corrin when you said "Gaming's most iconic villains."

[@MrAuthor3DS]

Conquest was a pretty big sin to the Fire Emblem series, yes. At least they weren't enabling a psychopathic tyrant in Birthright...

[@gejamugamlatsoomanam7716]

Violence, if it is not solving your problems, you're not using enough of it. Zaraki kenpachi

[@HangryOnPaws]

Violence isn't the answer... it's the question. AND THE ANSWER IS YES!

[@RaifSeverence]

Pokémon has ALWAYS been considered a kids game though. Just like MLP ND the PreCure series have both been considered shows for girls. And yet all of these properties have a fanbase that is not a part of their respective target demos. It's why I instantly write off anyone who defends garbage with the phrase " it's not for you"

[@RealGateGuardian]

I figured it out, why Cam Clarke voiced Neppy Cat: He had a pay of a drunk driving ticket.

[@CaptainFellowship]

Shows like Stephen Universe and Adventure Time were originally meant for children but gained popularity an older crowd because atleast initially they were well written and not overly patronizing. I get the sense that with this show the writers thought they could skip that step and go directly to the “Twitter/Tumblr adults who only consume childrens media” crowd, and unfortunately they missed the part about those series not being incredibly heavy handed and patronizing (again, at first at least.)

[@Nightband]

Really good content and great points. And so many cutaways, it felt like I'm watching an early 00s channel awesome video

[@Mangakamen]

hope you enjoyed it.

[@Nightband]

@@Mangakamen oh yeah, it's an awesome video

[@ExtremeWreck]

Cutaways? Man, that sounds worse than the time I almost got kidnapped by Chris Griffin! *cutaway gag happens*

[@sinfulwrath666]

I just typed HGS in certain anime pirate websites and oh boy I love democracy.

[@Nekosage]

I saw your post on this last night(Which sucks with how far some people take things over opinions). As I mentioned before, I didn't hate show. Even liked a little more than some did. I like Parsley, Olive, Amaryllis and Snapdragon(With Slime boy and Neppy Cat being close seconds). The technical issues, shoddy writing and world building really show(And no, Raye; Budget issues don't equate to bad writing. You should have had your world and story thoroughly planned out in advance. That's on you). That said, there were some things in my old comment I needed to describe better, along one other thing: I did say Cal and Aster are carboard cutouts. It definitely shows, they didn't even try to make them human. It's part of the reason why I can't take them that seriously(Plus, it's not like uber-idiot/massive jerk males are a new thing in shows). I mentioned Snapdragon's father, but didn't go much into it. I posted that his was portrayal fine. This is due to the fact that he wants Snapdragon to fight back against bullies. He doesn't even use any gender related insults. I'm not sure what the writers were thinking, but considering characters like Cal; I highly doubt it was intentional. I'm mostly fine with Caraway, he just needed better characterization and dialogue. He just wasn't fleshed out enough. The double standards in the show are something I never went into originally. Sage is one of the more notable ones in this area, but the teacher in episode 6 really takes the cake. Getting on Aster for being a rude little turd, but not giving Parsley a harsher punishment outside of losing first place? She "dropped" her big heavy hammer on his foot. She should have gotten a few days of detention on top of that. 26:06 - 26:20 - Marnie's theme is my absolute favorite in the game. (Something I forgot to mention on the first upload)

[@rga1605]

I watched until the end and I can say this mess happens when the creators don't have people telling them "are you sure this is a good idea?" around them (and that aren't in the corporate department). It ends up being an indulgent mess, it feels the creators wanted to have the cartoons they had as kids while forgetting they weren't kids anymore - this explains the dissonance between the art style and the level of violence.

[@Trollzord]

Man I still miss E;R

[@Delfite]

Whoever came up with the ideas behind these edits they're fucking hilarious, especially the reference to Courage 17:24

[@keiraaaa]

It’s crazy how the audio mixing in this video essay was better than the audio mixing in the show ! Good job Crunchyroll team 👍

[@frozenfoxgames5300]

7:20 Me to the show: STOP. TELLING. US. START. SHOWING. US

[@WalerianZ]

I like all the editing, oh my god. My favourite video because of that in a while

[@aimee6839]

The part with Deku holding a gun killed me.

[@DangerDan64]

For how much High praise they wanted to present the trailer and only focus on the representation mostly just reminded me how well this line aged when Mr. Incredible said about society, "They're creating new ways on celebrating mediocrity." Yeah because society, mostly in the US has been doing this shit too much for the most undeserving reasons, mostly related with "Diversity" and how "Woke" the person is. When that dosen't hold bearing on to the product itself. That is insulting to those who actually put the work into making same said product without the shallow pandering. I personally hate most series that exist to pander. Because that tells me, you couldn't really get your audience's actual attention by clever writing, world, or even the characters by their merits. (I do make exceptions, like products of their time and things within that category)

[@mao-sama6446]

It’s almost amazing how many things this show does wrong. From big issues like the world establishment being incomprehensible to minor things like the weapon training scene being inacurate. There’s even the title, High Gaurdian Spice, referring to main characters, but the all the main characters are named after herbs, not spices. Even if you analyze one episode, you can find a lot of negatives in it.

[@russellmarch4983]

I approached the first episode with a mindset affected ExArm-induced Stockholm syndrome; so I hoped it could at least be bad enough to staple drinking rules onto… No. Nononono Everything about it was just painful to watch. Voice acting? Weak, whenever you could hear it because the audio balancing was just nonexistent. The music was way too loud compared to everything else, and there weren’t even English subtitles- meaning I’d end up rewinding dialogue asking “what did she say?” Not that the dialogue was worth rewinding to hear. Actual quote: “Is sleep a food?” That’s not clever. And then there’s the visuals. Dear god, the artists apparently had no sense of scale/perspective/whatever. Meanwhile, so many assets are copy + pasted, with barely any tweaks to not look as lazy as it is. But it gets lazier! The fucking breakfast scene… three different food items that were very obviously some sorts of stock images, except each had a different aesthetic. By the end of that single scene, I was convinced that the lead animator was fucking Google Images. It’s not even fun to see how it can fail. It’s just sad.

[@Bubbleskittymaster]

i mean the old vs new conflict is pretty dumb to me i believe in keeping both. sometimes you need to think old school to solve a problem sometimes you gotta do something new to solve a problem but keep a mixture not just on or the other. old stuff can be more taxing i own a 33 year old truck sometimes you have to treat her with patience for her to run. new stuff can be overly complicated and frustrating cause when you go to fix it and you realize you can fix it with simple tools but both have their place in the world. cause i don't think it's a good idea to tell somebody like a native American or other indigoness people their traditions are bad because they are old. i am the types that is open to new ideas with in reason but i will still listen to grandpa and his old stories cause i respect him.

[@addison_v_ertisement1678]

47:47 I was not propared for a picture of Deku with a gun. That's damn hilarious. 54:04 Okay, no. If they blocked you just for your valid criticism, then they hardly deserve kindness. The creator blocking people just because they criticise their works says a lot about the creator's character.

[@wintersupremacy]

During part 4, I’d also like to note that in every Pokémon introduction (whether in game or anime), they make a point to introduce you to WHAT Pokémon are and why they live alongside humans. Not to mention it’s simple mechanics that are easy for beginners to pick up on.

[@seventhofearth]

I love your editing so much. Why do you make me laugh so much? The martial arts teacher was standing in the river 😂😂😂

[@yuvgi]

Theres no way, theres no way I can believe that neppy cat and corrin share the same voice actor

[@MrAuthor3DS]

I personally would've joked that Simba looks different. Y'know, since Cam is his most frequent VA.

[@mysterykiddo2167]

I would rather watch Sword Art Online, Tokyo Ghoul AND the 4kids! Dub of One piece before going anywhere near this. If you want a story about 4 girls in a world of magic who go to an Academy to enhance their skills just go watch RWBY instead. That series might have it's flaws, but at least it takes time to explain different points and doesn't rush to the answer.

[@blacklight683]

The show main selling point is just "look gay people and trans people give me money now"

[@100organicfreshmemes5]

That one teacher appearing out of the river and following Cal as he swims away at 42:58 was one of the funniest edits of HGS I've ever seen, holy shit.

[@alex_zetsu]

With more money available the production team could have at least made it look like _pretty_ garbage there is some value in that even if the story sucks. Heck, they could even fire the current writer and hire a new one to make something that doesn't suck. A lot of people say all the money in the world can't polish the turd when the incompetent creator complained about budget, but you're not being creative in imaging what you can do with extra money.

[@AtelierGod]

47:00 this scene is one of many which infuriates me, it shows the writers believe that one should only attempt to do that which they’ve got an apparent talent for not try and improve on something you’d rather do for in the eyes of those who see it that way “If you don’t do what you’re talented at, what was decided for you at birth by your genetics, you’re wasting your life because you’ll never be as good as those who do follow their talent” things like a guy saying “I like writing but I’m a bad artists so I’m not gonna try” is their motto. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Destiny plan from Gundam seed destiny is their wet dream. kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3PPZYJ5hcqNpbc

[@Dynaman21]

To quote another video channel - “IT’S. JUST. BAD.”

[@dezmas9332]

I love the side characters you're supposed to hate or make fun of, the coward girl and oblivious blond dude were likeable

[@kinggalactix]

The real audience meant for this show is the staff themselves. They made a show with all their weird thingies, just so they could get a kick out of it.

[@nickwhright5848]

The Video Editing is fire in this one. I personally lost it after the smart Squid game References resulting in the both sarcastic and self ironic Mockery Rising Clip

[@MXALOVE]

Summoning a demon just to kill it is more villianous than this show could ever even start to comprehend to think about having with an actual antagonist.

[@loturzelrestaurant]

Lke this here and Channel like Terrible-Writing-Advice? Then try Hello Future Me, Krimson Rogue and Reedsy. And if we stretch tue Fun to 'Hilarious hour-long Criticism-Essays', Hbomberguy, Madvocate and Jay Exci enter the Arena.

[@vehicleunhandler]

@@loturzelrestaurant James Tullos

[@tissuebox915]

The only thing I'll give this show is at least the sword thing is somewhat accurate to dreams. That does sound like something that would happen in a dream. Its not consistent, dreams are not consistent. But consistency is an issue with the show, so I can see why that's brought up. But besides that, I agree with this essay, like, a lot-

[@Aquarius-zz6bo]

47:39 as somone who has MHA as his 2nd favorite show ever i that was a good comparison. Also it was funny as fuck at the end. If Horokoshi made an AU where that happened I would pay good as money. Fuck being One For All’s successor we finna be Snipe’s successor. Great video man and funny as hell

[@S3cr3t_Qw1rtz]

11:57 Rose thinks guardians are supposed to be brave and hides the actual picture because she doesn't want to show weakness. There, made a quick fix for ya. Took me like 3 seconds to think of it. How a whole studio couldn't think of a better reason to make the picture thing work is outstanding to me

[@robxholicfoxyfan8552]

I adore Slime Boy, Snapdragon, and Neppy Cat. Everyone is a bit of a mess, but I know that at least some genuine stuff is in there even if a lot is just numbing. Slime Boy seems just genuine.

[@frankieseward8667]

Kate Leth better not get anymore high profile after thid.

[@lucasventura473]

The amount of yakuza and dmc memes along with persona music....that my friend made my day

[@sonario0074]

The clips that you edited are better than the entirety of the show. And I’m not complaining about that.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

Oh, look! A video longer than his video on Cvit’s Persona 5 review! Somebody else: But it's only 56 minutes! Me: Give it time...

[@blindedjourneyman]

Nothing like seeing mangakamen rip something horrid he suffered thru for us appart ^^ to make my sick day a little better XD oh directors cut, ah well thats fine, will still rewatch.

[@emperorofscelnar8443]

People on KZbin that I have come across like Amaryllis but hate the four main characters, I can see why, I too like Amaryllis that axe wielding psycho who was also a pirate, yeah that girl is amusing.

[@magentialice]

16:48 for slime boy enthusiasts #FreeSlimeBoy

[@Culo_Sniffin_Cheezit]

Parnell is underrated and idk why man. Him and Squid Boy seem like such homies

[@Yan_Alkovic]

I love how this essay had foreshadowing for Kamen making an MGR video Even though his decision was greatly influenced by a surge in the game's popularity

[@Vollification]

I like your style, liked and subbed

[@ThatguycalledJoe]

I reckon I'm just gonna repost a comment here. I feel like they're trying to straddle a line between giving their characters what they're written to want, and keeping them reasonably easy to identify with. Like, if Carroway just had a one dose permanent change-over with no upkeep or side effects, then there's not much in the way of internal weight to it which I think the writers believed would break relatability. Real trans-people, real people in general who aren't satisfied with their bodies in one or more ways that can't be "fixed" with positive thinking and gumption, they don't get an out like that. If you're not born with a uterus, you will never be able to carry a pregnancy, and that street goes the other way too. For some people this doesn't matter to them, but for others it can be pretty crushing. There's also the matter that in a setting that does have a perfect solution, having characters that identify as trans will be jarring because the identity of being trans ultimately boils down to wanting something that you can't "just" have. If Carroway can stroll into the apothecary and say "I'll have one potion to turn me into do a dude indefinitely, please.", and the guy at the stand says "Coming right up, that'll be some amount that isn't prohibitively expense.", then the problem is solved and it'd be weird for him to make a big deal of it because he doesn't even have to think about it anymore. Having there be an upkeep means that it's something that makes sense for him to keep somewhere in his mind. Effectively, at the point that he is permanently changed to the dude, he is no longer trans and goes to just being a dude, and if he still called himself trans then inherently the word could not have the same meaning as it does in the real world because it would refer to the fact that he did a thing once, not that it's a persistent element in who he is. Truthfully I find the fixation on labels that people tend to exhibit to be at high risk of being unhealthy. It's alright to want to live up to personal expectations of how you should be, but I feel that, for example, asserting one-self as being "non-binary" is less of a matter of gender, which in this case I'll define as being "a categorization of traits traditionally expected to divided based on the biological sex of the party exhibiting them", and more a matter of feeling uncomfortable with labels, and I have the hunch that the true root cause of this discomfort is that there actually isn't much of any gendered language at all, what people called gendered language is more akin to sexed language. Feminine still carries the baggage of "female", and the only word that jumps to mind that is used with any frequency to describe someone of the male sex who expresses a feminine gender without actually having any interest in being of the female sex (and thus is arguably not trans in any respect) is commonly interpreted as a slur due to having an extremely muddy use-case and its etymology relating to the idea of something (usually some kind of contraption or manufactured circumstance) that is generally not seen as something one would want to willingly interact with, thus giving it an inherent negative connotation on some level. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a way to solve this for two main reasons. One, there's always going to be people who want everything to stay the way it is and also people who are just going to not get the memo, and two it's incredibly difficult to intentionally spur a change in language. Any new word that one or more people actively try to create to define something is just about certain to end up sounding awkward or silly, and that'll prevent it from catching on so therefore it's not really practical to try to develop language befitting everyone. I think that people should on the whole let go of trying to conform to societal labels, and focus on just being who they are irrespective if who they are can be easily described or not.

[@popstarprincess123]

Representation foe representation sake That’s who this show is for

[@amuu8216]

I really dislike how we don’t know what they inherently are fighting against. Madoka Magica is a good source for inspiration if you want the characters you’re rooting for to have mysterious enemies [spoilers ahead] In Madoka Magica we *know* that we’re fighting witches, beings born by curses who cause distress, disasters, and hunt humans by manipulating them into s[ ]cide. We don’t know where they come from until later on when it’s revealed why magical girls have to use grief seeds harvested by killing witches, it being because the darkness in their soul gems that slowly muddy their gems is negative feeling like despair and hatred. It’s why Sayaka is so down and upset soon before her witch transformation; she lost hope especially after she discovered that her soul gem actually contained her soul. She didn’t believe her crush could love her and thus allowed her other friend to date him. She wasn’t a human. When she becomes a witch she realizes that her not using grief seeds was foolish and so was her decision to become a magical girl. She realized that she let herself go and she thought she was stupid for not reaching out or asking for help, she believed she had to save people from witches and familiars because of her perspective of a hero and, more specifically, of Mami. We only find out the truth of witches and magical girls when one lets it all get to her. Kyuubey never tells them that their soul gem is what keeps them alive and that it pretty much *is* them, and Kyuubey doesn’t tell them the truth about witches because it gives no shits about them. It used them for balance and probably knew that they wouldn’t agree to become a magical girl if told everything that includes. This isn’t to say that High Guardian spice should do exactly what madoka magica did, but I *am* saying that it should have given us some info of what they’re fighting. In Madoka Magica, we know after watching the series that witches powers depend on how many people the magical girl saved. Charlotte saved nobody and thus is much weaker than Madoka’s witch, who was originally so powerful you physically couldn’t beat her; the only way was for the world to already be perfect, which wouldn’t be possible. She’s not a fightable opponent because of how good of a magical girl she once was. Giving us something with our overarching villain is a good thing. Even their *name* is a good start. You don’t even have to be similar to Madoka Magica. Just make the story good and the characters enjoyable to some degree. My story for my characters originally was much more obviously inspired by Madoka Magica than it is now. Obviously I do still add some inspiration from Madoka and other sources but it’s still my own story. High guardian spice is its own story yet, it’s just not good. I’m shit at writing stories but even I’m confident enough that my character writing is better than whatever dogpile this is.

[@adzukibean2190]

Ur right. I agree as a Madoka fan, and also, I read ur whole comment and gave it a like, because long comments deserve to be read too

[@TheeGamingBard]

I legit hated snapdragon being trans. Obviously there is nothing wrong with trans rep and trans people are amazing. But my issue is the erasure of more feminine men there is hardly no representation for people who are men that don’t fit into the masculine trope

[@Cyber_Artist]

This vid was entertaining, thank u good sir,

[@Activesilver97]

what's funny about the way they write males in this show, is the same way how some males who write females who only see them in fewer categories. like they don't know how males are irl or the fact the only interactions they ever have with males are mainly negative. like this spells more out to how that one feminist who works in the show about how she hates men spilling into the show, but in a subtle way without the overwhelming hatred slaughter on top of it.

[@voicey5831]

Why are there even trans characters in a setting where there's magic and potions able to cure basically all diseases and ailments?

[@justthere845]

Shots fired

[@cameronsmiljan9374]

The edit with Eda's eyes on Rosebud hits different. I couldn't stop pausing and laughing at it lmao

[@nixy1244]

I have yet to come across a video about this show without one zoom in on the water marked street light 😂