High Guardian Spice and Lazy Writing | Full Series Analysis Part 2
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- Опубліковано 11 чер 2024
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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
1:20 Episode 3
7:39 Episode 4
15:53 Episode 5
21:42 Episode 6
28:18 Episode 7
40:26 Retrospective - Розваги
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Here's the timestamps!
00:00 Intro
1:20 Episode 3
7:39 Episode 4
15:53 Episode 5
21:42 Episode 6
28:18 Episode 7
40:26 Retrospective
Hey Trumann, might I ask what you teach?
Do you work in a school? I am a tutor, and I was thinking of getting a teacher license.
@@alexcaplan9271
Sorry somehow I missed this, I teach martial arts, been doing it 10+ years now.
AYOOOOO YES OVERLY SARCASTIC PRODUCTIONS, also what video of Toupe talk is that from?
A transgender character can exist in a fantasy fictional world. A character can't be a Russian Mafia member if your setting is World War 2, and not some alternative history setting.
One thing that's really annoying about the portrayal of Sage's mother. She's not a hypocrite! Just because you USED to be that way, that doesn't mean you're being hypocritical if you try to change. If she was STILL using new magic, THEN she'd be a hypocrite. They can't even get bad writing right.
You are correct, I think this is demonstrated if you exchange the "new and old magic" with passed drug addictions. This is the equivalent of saying that you should take drugs because you parent was a drug user once, but is now clean and does not want their kid to do the same. The argument is not valid argument by itself.
It's actually worse, if you think about it. There must be a reason why Sage's mom stopped using new magic, perhaps an accident caused by that. And, knowing that new magic is bad, she told her daughter to not use it BECAUSE SHE HAD LEARNT THE LESSON THE HARD WAY. In other word, Sage's mom having been a new magic user when she was young adds her credibility.
The writers unironically told us old magic is better
Exactly. It's like the writers never got past the "Ugh, my parents punished me for _______ even though they did it when they were young, what hypocrites!" mindset. Sure, that's normal to think when you're a kid or teen, but as an adult you should be able to figure out that they were trying to prevent you from making the same stupid mistakes they did, and that's part of their responsibility as parents.
The fact that these grown adults writing this show haven't figured that out yet really shows their maturity level.
Frankly the writing is immature. And it shows. The problem is that from the get go the focus was on LGBT as THE premise and everything else was secondary to that. Which is backwards. They should have started with working out the general plot, characters, and worldbuilding independent of LGBT issues, and then incorporated that into the framework, so it added more to what was already there, an extra dimension.
lmao i didn't notce that :,D
OH MY GOD.
I GET IT.
We all wondered who was the target audience for this poor excuse of a show !
It's the staff ! They made a cartoon out of their own OCs and first drafts for the show of their dreams, but they made it for nobody but themselves to enjoy !
THEY ARE THEIR OWN TARGET AUDIENCE !
It's devilishly genius!
Quite a genius observation 👏
Makes perfect sense looking at it
That answers WAAAAAY too many questions
The fact that this makes too much sense and answers so many questions is concerning for the show
I dont know about sages mother being a hypocrite though. My mom used to be a heavy smoker, but she quit, and she told me not to smoke. Is it hypocrtical of her to tell me not to smoke because she used to do it, decided it was not good for her and suggested i dont do it either? If anything, i think it gives more validity to sages mother's position. Cleaely, shes tried out new magic, realized it wasnt it was all cut out to be, learned from her experience and doesnt want her daughter to repeat her mistakes. Thats how I see it. Not sure how its hypocritical.
Well you've thought about it more than the writers did or even cared to show.
@@trumann5975 lol oof
The problem is the writing, yes, its a possibility but i watched the first 6 episodes and all i could understand is that Sage mum just want her to do the "Old" way cause she refused to learn new things and upgrade. The writing is so bad till i dont even understand the old vs new magic system.
@@chen1759 I hear you. I guess with more context it makes more sense......... maybe
If the show was more competently written, they could have use this to their advantage.
What I would keep is: Sage's mom being an old magic advocate, and the school heavily enphasing new magic (keeping the original conflict)
What I would change: Sage's aunt being an advocate for old magic too.
Sage's mom purposely sent Sage to the Academy to know both magics and their pros and cons (without Sage knowing this, so she comes with her own decision). The aunt doesn't know why her sister sent Sage there, but she now serves as a constant preassure of "Old magic good" which contrasts with the school's agenda "New magic good", creating more conflict. The "New magic is polution" storyline also has to play more of a role in Sage's development, as this is the HUGE con of new magic. Yes batteries are nice, but they make huge polution problems. And the solution can be either stick to old magic (wind turbines, hydroelectric dams, etc) or find a stupidly super efficient way of using new magic (Rechargable batteries, or better yet, Nuclear).
The whole "diverse staff" thing always gets me because it was little all white women. Like is that how they diversity?
16:50 to be honest, this scene should never happen in a school. A healthy school environment would let a student practice and study old magic as well - hell, we have Latin classes on Earth, and that's pretty much a dead language, but plenty of people study and practice it. Why would old magic be any different?
I just realized something, the blonde girl who got out of the cave test was the same blonde girl who almost got her face eaten off by that plant! She DOES have a reason to be worried!!!!
The real question is why didn't she pack up and leave after getting Venus fly trapped in class lol
@@trumann5975 I guess going into a cave where you could possibly "die" & have very little knowledge about was the turning point.
The reveal scene with Caraway drives me NUTS. There is nothing wrong with revealing that he's transgender, but it doesn't fit that scene at all. It doesn't even make sense that Rosemary not only doesn't know that he and her mom were such close friends, but that, considering this, she should also know he's trans. It makes no sense that a girl her age wouldn't know what that means, especially in a universe where "transition magic" exists. And it makes less sense that in a scene where she's supposed to be feeling closer to her mom through Caraway's memories that she would drop that just to ask about transgenderism just to drop THAT to return to the subject of her mom. It also drives me nuts how irresponsible Rosemary is with her sword. I get the "hero with a lot to learn overestimating themselves" trope, but even characters that are as meatheaded as Rose wouldn't be so reckless with something that means so much to them. That sword is supposed to mean the world to her. It represents her mom and her desire to be like her mom. Yet she is CONSTANTLY swinging it around and dropping it and being an overall idiot with it. That makes no sense. It would make a lot more sense and give her character far more dimension if the one thing Rose was overly cautious about and protective of was her sword. If she rarely drew it because she didn't feel worthy and was afraid of damaging it. As she grew as a warrior she could be shown drawing it more and more with less and less hesitation. But, no. That would take thought and effort and there is none of that here.
In a world with transformation magic (and a presumably accepting society where bigotry is a problem with individuals rather than a systemic issue), it doesn't really make sense for gender to be treated as rigidly as it is. Why does this society uphold gender norms? Is this society supposed to be analogous to our modern day society or are they even more socially progressive? What has shaped the culture into what it is today and what problems do people still face? I know not all of these questions are going to be answered in season one, but at least give us something!
@@TuesdaysArt It also doesn't make sense because the show wants to address real world issues, but the only somewhat sexist and anti-LGBT character is Cal. Even Astor isn't really written as sexist (yes, I know that's the intention, but that's not what came through). Everyone seems to be accepting of the LGBT characters, who make up most of the cast anyway. We never see anyone hassle Caraway for being trans. Even Sage's "conservative" mom has no issue sending her daughter to stay with her lesbian cousin(s). And Rose's mom is revered as a warrior and guardian, so women clearly aren't viewed as weak in this universe. ....unless a guy acts like one? It's contradictory and doesn't make sense, much like everything else in this show.
I've said my grievances with Caraway's derailing, so I'll skip to your bits on Rosemary. Agreed - while Sage and Parsley were proving their merits early on (during Episode 2, mainly), Rosemary's clumsy self was failing at just about everything. For an academy that "doesn't accept just anyone", they sure have no problem allowing a talentless doof. Ah, scratch that, TWO talentless doofs - the second being Aster the boy-Rosemary, who pretty much existed so she can one-up him and magically cure her clumsiness.
@@SunnysFilms That's a good point...HGS seems to want to have its cake and eat it too. It's one thing if you want to make a utopia where women are powerful and the LGBTQ community is widely accepted, but trying to write a story about sexism/homophobia/transphobia is going to come across as you (unintentionally) perpetuating the idea that bigotry exists purely on an individual level at best and absolutely nonsensical at worst.
Something I realized while watching the Parsley conflict -- why is she the only young adult in the family? All her other siblings are like seven, tops, but we can surmise dad didn't pause on the babymaking for seven years. It makes no sense, like most things in the show, and seemingly only exists because the writers wanted the angle to be there.
I compare view Parsley’s conflict like they took Buling’s character arc from Tokyo Mew Mew and just didn’t put in the legwork. Trust me there’s many MANY parallels with the two characters conflicts but Buling’s was 10x more impactful because the writers actually put in the effort to show her struggles and her good heart, but in HGS we see parsley do something for 3 seconds and lose her temper. The writers definitely didn’t think many things through in this show, they just did stuff because “THIS SHOW DID IT LOL WE CAN TOO AND WE’LL DO IT WITH DIVERSITYYYYY!”🤩🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
You would think leaving the cave to help an injured comrade would be a secret test of character, or something.
Like in My Hero Academia, where Midoria did not get enough points in the entrance exam, but passed anyway, because he got secret points for helping another candidate.
Yeah and when Ochako wanted to give some of her points to Izuku which had also given her some Rescue Points in the entrance exams. But that takes good, creative writing, something this show lacks.
The aunt's remark on Sage's mother, can drastically change if you replace new magic with LSD.
"You're Mom was really into LSD back in the day"
"You may know me as a mage ("Wow!"), but you may also know me as 'that homeless heroin addict'."
@@ryanm.8720 vine sauce reference :D
For some strange reason I get the feeling that Astor is a fusion of boyfriends who dumped some of these writers... and is equal parts how they remember him / how they want us to remember him
I don't know what the show is talking about, but it's not hypocritical to go through a phase like that. People's outlooks and beliefs change in whatever direction all the time.
If anything, it just shows that she tried it, found some kind of flaw with it and came back to a better way. This "argument" is destroying itself.
I hate how that all brothers of Parsley have the same designe, just copies of each other, despite not being twins or triplets.Only her being girl have any real designe. Look at some big families like Weasleys. Ron have a lot of brothers too, but other that George and Fred they all distinct from each other, despite being side characters. The same goes for Loud House, if you introduce big family at it's a oportunity to your designe skills to shine, not to clone one character model multipule times.
Lol the character designers definitely don't have much of a creative bone. Three of the main protags are carboard DnD references.
@@trumann5975 true that, but it's especialy bad when they have 10+ clone-siblings for no reason.
Even in the book they are described differently
Yoou expect way too much from calarts design practices.
Even Barbie and the 12 dancing princesses did it better
That laugh the teacher does before announcing to the world he's trans fuels my soul with the rage of a thousand apes, it's so condescending you feel me? It's like he laughed, paused for a break where everyone held hands and patted each other's backs for creating this iconic moment, and then he continued to read off of this horrid script while the pink haired lady who wrote it was tearing up in the back of the studio.
My headcanon is that Slime Boy's voice is canonically hard to hear because of the slime situation that he got his name from
I'll make that my headcanon as well!
that's actually really creative!
Hard to hear? I hear it fine, I don't know what people mean by his mic was bad.
@@bayardkyyako7427 I think they meant slime boy is hard of hearing
@@devilfishmanta He answered just fine to all questions asked of him, so I don't think he's supposed to be deaf.
As for Episode 6...eh, not much to comment on Aster. He's not even the worst man in this series. But boy oh boy, does Sage's clinginess take a startling jump here! And why doesn't she approve of Rosemary looking in Aster's general direction? Is it because he's a chauvinist, a braggart, or a moron? No wait, she disapproved even before he demonstrated any of those traits. And she doesn't comment on those traits, either...
Oh, I see, it's because he's a GUY and he's stealing Rose's attention from HER. Is this show just Sage's origin story as a crazy yandere?
That or Sage has a crush on Rosemary and the series will give us the big reveal that they'll become a couple :O
Honestly, i dont even think aster was evil. He was just portrayed as one. Her just seemed to have a crush on rose and just awkwardly trying to impress her
Edit: was..because i was sure sage took him out back and shoot him
I can almost guarantee you Sage's shittiness in this episode was due to Kate Leth being the writer. You can almost pinpoint what parts were her (The man-hating, the mommy/daddy issues, angsty lesbians, etc.)
It's ironic that he was written specifically to be hated but he is most likeable than the 4 protagonists, specially Sage.
@@misaelorozco1000 Weirdly, in Episode 10, she acts like she isn't even aware that she's crushing on Rosemary. Oh wait, this is the "egg from a conservative family" story, of course she'd be told she has a crush.
3:18 If your gonna take the character seriously than that sword should never slip out of her hand. Let alone both hands while swinging it around. Swords' are kinda hard to lose grip on in the first place because, like smart people, swordsmiths didn't make their handles out of slippery material and in a shape that lends itself to slipping.
But considering this show has the logical consistency of a loony tunes episode, I guess this sword was made by ACME.
So, after seeing the mission to get the healing water, the potions class and the weapons training class. High Guardian keeps giving the vibes of "You better have talent, otherwise you are going to fail".
In the first day of potions class the students are poisoned and forced to make their own antidote. In weapon training a teacher just switches two students weapons instead of talking to them and figuring out what they wanted to do in a fight. In the first mission, they are straight in a life or death situation without prior experience. They never train their students.
You makes you ask, How do they get into the school? If they go by talent alone, then what tells them who is fit to join, how are they not known for being a glorafied kid graveyard?
I know it's a sort of a cliche, but a entrace exam is perfect for stuff like this. Hunter x Hunter, Yu Yu Hakusho, My Hero Academia and a bunch of manga have stuff like that. An entrace exam let you see what each character got, what they can do and what they still have to overcome. An example in HxH, each step in the entrace exam was harder than the other, to make sure if you are skilled enough before getting in the dangerous stuff.
That makes High Guardian feel very poorly through out. Then don't even give them a docie explaining what they'll do in the mission? You do realise that each mission requires different stuff, right? What if they brought climbing gear and turns out it would be a underwater mission, or a forest mission? Oh well, guess I'll carry dead weight for the entire mission, guess when we graduate and get our official missions we'll jsut spin a wheel and pray I got the right stuff to not die.
I just realized, this show doesn't have characters. This show has _plot devices_. Even Thyme, as much 'agency' as she seemingly has, is just a plot device to move the over arcing plot forward. The only 'real' characters here, are Amaryllis and Snapdragon--and they are still done very terribly!
Agreed and the show doesn't do a very good job at hiding their characters being plot devices at all.
Isn't that what this person and all the other self-proclaimed experts say it should be though? Everything should move the story forward or else it's fluff that should be removed?
@@wakkaseta8351
Idk, if I say I'm any expert. Anyway you're correct, everything in the story from characters to settings should provide benefit to the plot. HGS's issue is that all the characters or plot devices are convenient to the story or far too straight forwards. Which in of itself isn't a bad thing, if you're writing isn't generally lazy.
@@wakkaseta8351 You can still do that with finesse though. Utilitarian writing can be boring if done in way evocative of an instruction manual or encyclopedia, but the logical opposite ain't much better IMO. If you are only describing the things that matter you can still do it in an interesting way.
Like the difference with saying that a few characters have to cross a cold river but the bridge is broken vs a few characters have to cross a river but the bridge had been completely shattered, with charred bits and pieces scattered nearby with a few on top of nearby buildings. Now they must risk fording the icy waters. Same central idea but one carries more interesting information since both situations are important to crossing the river.
Also, if how the bridge was destroyed is irrelevant to the plot than it could be changed again to just mentioning that it was in rickety or was in dire need of repair. Either way this information is useful to the river crossing conflict as it introduces a complication without too much effort. People assume that a sudden occurrence has a reason behind it. Less so with something like neglect or disrepair.
As someone pointed out in this comment section, a plot device can still be a somewhat good character. But this? You're giving to much credith by saying they're plot devices. They're simply tropes and stereotypes who is actually either a mouthpiece to the writers' political agenda (Anise and Caraway) or strawmen (Aster and Cal)
Let's be real, if the genders were reversed, this show wouldn't even survive past the episode with aster. Female aster being portrayed as a one dimensional asshole girl who only exist in this episode. And male sage being outright unbearable, spouting the most painful sexist crap to female snapdragon. It will be cancelled by twitter puritans without a doubt.
Thank goodness you didn't show the entire interaction between sage and snapdragon in the maze about the friendships, that was painful when I heard it. The fact that sage (or the writer behind sage's lines) can say that insensitive sexist garbage to a boy and get away with it, really...you write what you know.
Ikr im like..girl, if no boy want to talk to you about their insecurities, maybe because you were assholes about it. I got male friends...he came to me when hes worried, when he have doubts and i go to him when im upset, and im just... Full of bad thoughts. I mean, there might be no solution but we both know the other wont betray you, and wont make fun of you, even if the problems are deemed small.
I hate sage's preachiness how men dont talk about feelings. News flash, maybe if youre kind and understanding, people, men or women will trust to talk to you about their feelings
Now that you say it, I want to watch a show where Aster (and perhaps Snapdragon) goes into a very misandric school where every girls, including all the teachers, are being jerks toward Aster coz he's a straight cis white male, while Snapdragon, although receives a better treatment, is being told 24/7 that he's actually an egg, a transgender waiting for the transgender. In the end, Aster slowly befriended the girls and finally reach his dream to be a guardian, while Snapdragon finally accepted his identity that he's a feminine guy. The school learns the lessson and change for the better. But yeah, a show like that would be cancelled in no time.
Also, Sage is an a-hole (although not to the same extend as Parsley). What's wrong with guy friendship? As shown irl by NUMEROUS EXAMPLES of camaraderie between soldiers in war, as well as many nakama-ship in anime, it seems to me that guy friendship is actually more genuine (I'm a girl, anyway). No gossiping, no unecessary dramas, no bad-mouthing behind the back. It seems that in guy friendship you either talk things out or use violence. Either way, at least you're not being a coward.
These writers most likely have never meet a real guy irl (and that's why Sage said thise things), and we know the reason why
The thing is, I’d be okay with the sexist crap if she was proven wrong by the end. Or proven that even if she is right, that male relationships also have their own thing that can be better than the one between girls, and that she shouldn’t value one over the other.
It would be interesting to analyze female and male relationships, since women ARE more open discussing their feelings versus men. I’ve heard things about male relationships as well, and while I’m not sure of the veracity of them (since it’s biologically proven that women are more open to discussing their feelings to process them better) since they say that they’re more honest with each other, I’m sure there are unique aspects as well that are better than female relationships (I’m a girl so I can’t say what, but I can say that I am more comfortable speaking to strangers that are boys than I am to strangers that are girls).
What makes this worse is this is the scene that is meant to show his gender dysphoria. So not only is this sexist, this implies that Snapdragon should transition because it's the only way they can express their emotions.
“GUYS AND GIRLS AND GIRLS AND GUYS AND GUYS AND GIRLS”
For the terrasphere, I was thinking :
Each sphere have magic, they can be recharge, but at some point they break.
They are very famous so a lot of them are made, and so, pollution.
And because they are still new, we only start to see the bad effect it have on nature and magic, but some people, like Sage's mom, see it early on little scale and decide to only use and teach her daughter old magic.
Great idea, but alas, the writers aren't that good.
I mean, it really sucks how instead of the show teaching how both sides have pros and cons towards issues they instead teach one side is good and bad.
@@selenium3447 Yeah because, technically, the terrasphere are not bad, it's how they are made that's bad.
An IPhone is not bad on itself, using it is not bad, but how they are make is questionable on many points.
Wait, do we know how the terraspheres are made? I don’t remember it actually being explained.
@@nicholasrowland5899 They don't explain what a guardian is.
Did you expect them to explain how shiny rocks that pew pew butterflies are made?
love how they are tryna push the whole 'guys dont talk about their feelings' drivel. As if anyone on the writer's staff has talked to a male for more than 30 minutes.
Sheesh, they may as well have called Episode 4 "Your Moms Suck Because We Said So". Also, calling Sage's mom a hypocrite for using New Magic _during a phase_ is just...stupid. Anise and Aloe don't say WHY she gave it up - they just gloss over that entirely, as if to say "Your mom used to be cool, but now she's lame, don't ask why". Is it because New Magic might be harming the earth (which is heavily implied later on)? Is it because of something that happened back in Witch Country (where she used to live, which we learn later is home to the bad guys)? Point is, something clearly happened that made her drop New Magic usage - and if she's still not using New Magic right now, then she's NOT a hypocrite.
Also, imagine this same excuse being used to get a kid to do DRUGS.
Honestly, this just makes Anise and Aloe look like idiots that are talking out of their asses...
I've had a revision idea where instead of trash-talking Sage's mom, the couple bring up why she switched from New Magic to Old Magic. Perhaps she was trying to find ways for Old and New to be utilized together to create something more overall efficient, and taught some of this to Anise, which would lead her to share this with Aloe. Perhaps then, they could help Sage do the same, as a way to achieve her mom's dream. Something like this would acknowledge that her mom had experiences, both positive and painful, that influenced her decisions today, and would be a much better step in Sage's personal magic-learning journey.
Or maybe she cast a spell that went out of control and hurt someone, like what happened with Sage and the dragon.
I feel like the part with parsley could’ve been interesting to play into the dwarf stereotype of usually not liking humans and their traditions which would’ve given her parents reason to want her to stay but she wants to break tradition.
Oh joy, wanted to add, new magic is the creators beliefs put into the series: taking nothing but taking, for what i see new magic might as well be mako from ff7, it fits really, egotistical twitter/tumblerites only think on themselves, the school might be as well be funded by shinra, the diss against nature seals it
That would be an *intertesting* plot twist. Get SQUARE-ENIX to buy this series, and let T. NOMURA take over writing for this series. It'll be part of KINGDOM HEARTS by Tuesday.
That makes no sense, your comparisson with twitter and shinra 😬
@@EduardoFlores-bt4fo Both the Twitterati and the CORRUPT CORP EXECS are cluelessly destroying their own society while exploiting valuable resources. The "interesting twist" would be (at the hands of T. NOMUIRA) that the "toxic male" in charge of the Triumvirate turns out to *be* Pres. Shinra -- resurrected from the dead and pulled into the world of HGS by the other BBEGs in order to manage the world and restore the EVIL PATRIARCHY. Nomura, of course, would just have Sephiroth appear to kill Shinra (again!) and the Triumvirate -- including Rosemary's mom.
It would be just as hackneyed and batshit, but it would be INTERESTING, and we'd get good music from N. Uematsu. WIN-WIN.
@@acsound ngl I was thinking that High Guardian Academy was Shinra lmao. The way the teachers talk about new magic is insane.
@@acsound That'd never happen because Nomura writes good plot and knows how to progress a story and leave them off in an interesting way. HGS is about to make me fucking sleep and I'm only experiencing it through a review.
The sad thing about Sage comment about men friendship is that a lot of women do really think that we men don't share our problems with each other.
What if Xenia (the blonde girl yelling not to go into the cave) was told to wait at the entrance as everyone else entered? Out of sight the teachers tell her she passed. Why? She Was smart not to go in without being mentally prepared. The teachers tell her while she could've helped, she would cause more harm than good. Not just her, anyone could. Teams could've been split up as well.
Rosemary team of: who cares! Let's go!
Sage team: Let's have some items at least
Xenia team: "Let's not go! We better be safe! We need to know more before we enter!"
If only but that character only exist to falsely raise the stakes of the cave. As she's never seen doing anything else again.
That would have been an amazing lesson and it would have been cool if she was allowed to prepare and research before engaging with it, letting her enter on her terms and overcome her fear on her own.
Well, i didn't watch it, but it would have been cool
Zinnia being rewarded for challenging authority would be nice
22:40- That scene when the teacher just blatantly exchanges the weapon from snap and amaryllis really pissed me off. That is not just any weapon they picked up from the weapons rack, that axe was inherited from his father. You don't just disrespect your parent's weapon like that no matter what. What the heck is wrong what that teacher? The teacher should be teaching him form and strength, and how to use the axe properly despite his size. and he should be teaching amaryllis to not whack anything with the rapier. Not to mention stereotyping the axe as a masculine weapon. I'm pretty sure there are many cute anime girls out there that uses axes as weapons.
Why would the father even give snap the axe when he's not the eldest? And they really just dismiss the father's character like he's some stereotype when I find him to be surprisingly a strong character. The small flashback of snap and his father, he was basically teaching snap an important life lesson, that he should be fighting back for his things and beliefs, in this case get the pet back from him. So like what, Snap is going to be submissive and watch his pet be hurt anymore?
The father wasn't even condescending, in fact he was quite reasonable and nice to Snap. It's a genuine life lesson that builds character and the writers just be like 'oh that's toxic masculinity, shame on men for teaching values to their sons'. Why that scene was filled with shamed and disgust in snap's eyes, I don't understand. I have more respect for the father at that point, he is easily the most believable character in the show, and he's in there as a flashback for about 1 minute. That scene honestly just makes snap look like a little bitch when his father was just being a man.
He gave him he axe because he needed it. The weakest son needed the most support so he got the axe. The Dad was trying to help his son by giving him the thing that made him (the father) strong. A shame thats not what the writers wrote isnt it?
Snap was young when that happened, so of course he’d probably misunderstand what his dad was teaching him. Of course, the writers aren’t competent enough to write a good father son relationship.
@@iamcool544 Alternatively, Snap's father gave him the axe because the older brother was a bully. Snapdragon was more worthy than his brother, so he got the axe.
@@jimmygarza8896 Why not both?
@@TuesdaysArt that or simply they had many different weapons, and the father didn't wanted any of his sons to feel excluded
Said it before and I'll say it again, this show is a kids cartoon made for adults who only enjoy kids media because it's safe and has no conflicts.
Honey, The Lion Guard with was on Disney Junior have more conflict is more mature than High Guarian Spice. Damn, I think Teletubbies is more mature than this. They had to reshoot a lot of sceans because bunnies were doing what bunnies do best.
@@akanesaotome5924 Do you watch Steve reviews? Cos that stuff about the Teletubbies was mentioned in his vid on the weird lion and bear Teletubbies episode.
Never seen the Lion Guard but I have seen a lot of fanart for it.
@@Lesbiwolf92 Yeah. I think i heard it in some youtube video and I thought it was funny
I don't what shows they were watching, but majority of kid shows have conflicts.
@@Saltedroastedcaramel Most kids shows will have conflicts but they don't often have serious consequences and are usually wrapped up by the end of the episode like two friends having a misunderstanding, getting angry at each other but apologising by the end of the episode or someone lost some kind of trinket and the cast of kids have to find it and they do and the special meaning behind said trinket is revealed at the end of the episode. But because the writing is usually well done it makes you feel like the stakes and conflicts are bigger than they really are.
What I am mostly pointing out is, for a mature audience, late teens to adult, the stakes and conflicts in these episodes are very childish and 9/10 solved within literal seconds. There is no serious character harm or death or consequences and the biggest threat to the cast is the most incompetent assassin I have ever seen.
The irony with the "Old Magic/New Magic" thing was that, if you wanted to conflate Old = Conservative and New = Progressive, I find it subtly fascinating at the hidden implications of society recklessly embracing "New" Magic: that it does not require any kind of concrete structure or study, nor "Requiring" anything to power it . . . that anyone seems to be aware of. They tote it as the next "big thing" but the rules of . . . well, the universe, dictate that to _make_ something, you have to _take_ something. But what is it taking? No one knows, but those who follow "Old" magic dont trust it, which would make sense in this regard because they see there is inherently something wrong with it, in that it is deceptive and very likely unsustainable dangerous, but the "New" magic users vehemently defend it.
Aside from being a subtle shot in their own ideological foot, dealing with the inevitable consequences of constantly taking from someplace unknown to power their overuse of this "new" magic would be a fascinating concept for an arc and story in and of itself.
But alas, this entire show is just a comedy of wasted potential.
Very well said
I mean, I don't think most people wear a witch hat unless they are magically inclined in some way. However, elves with archery and dwarves with hammers (or axes) is pretty cliché.
True, I only mention this because everything else is uninspired. So a generic witch hat is noticeable, especially since Amaryllis has a special hat with design on it. Sage the protagonist should have something unique about her design over a side character.
I think the healing water is a good example of the flaws of the show in general.
It's never embedded in the world... at no point is it mentioned or visibly used before the cave episode and its potential impact on a world that has it is never explored. As such it ends up being pretty much introduced and explained all in the same episode with no lead up.
In a better story people would've been injured and healed with it in episodes before hand, even maybe just in the background. The time accelerating properties of it would probably have had some initial usage maybe shown too, like throwing seeds into it to get instant vegetables or the like. With all this established, the cave episode would have even a bit more weight to it as you've already seen how necessary and integrated the healing water is in the world, so gathering it would have some more gravitas to it and the pools drying up would have greater implications than merely being an obstacle for the girls this episode and a nod to the potential new magic/rot issue.
It's always a pet hate of mine when a world has things in it that would have a definite impact on how it and its people would work yet somehow it hasn't because the author only wanted it as a macguffin or a cool set piece and never gave it appropriate thought beyond that :/
Not to mention, they don’t even need it because terraspheres can fix the rot as we see Neppy cat use one to heal the tree.
I find it interesting that they have an underlying conflict of new vs. old magic, even going so far as to set up rules like "new magic doesn't need the long incantations or the rituals," and then it's just dropped. If it hadn't been just a very transparent allegory, imagine where it could've gone. The folly of new magic users thinking that there are no limits, that they can do whatever they need no matter the cost. Imagine if they took that and made a story about how uncontrollable/environmentally destructive new magic can be, illustrating that maybe old magic was made the way it was for a reason. Maybe old magic took so long to cast and was so limited *because* old sorcerers knew the risks of normalizing shortcuts to power. This gives application and agency to both styles of power, and ties back into the Guardian oath of "respecting what came before."
or they could just do a really pathetic allegory of old stuff bad new stuff always good w/e.
I think HGS is a perfect example of what's wrong with today's writing staff. They're so focused on getting a message out there that they don't think about character growth, arcs or personalities. They just want to show these strong female characters with hardly any flaws and anything problematic or whatever questions their authority is immediately shot down on a silver platter. It's like the writing of Rise of Skywalker, Ghostbusters 2016 and RWBY.
In fact, if I was to compare HGS with any other show that's flopped, it would have to be RWBY which is a shame, honestly. What RWBY had going for it at the beginning was interesting. They had some sort of idea, or at least they built up something. Unfortunately, as the series went on, they've more or less retconned their own writing for plot convenience.
What would've been more interesting with Sage's conflict on why her mother only taught her old magic and not new magic? When the cousin showed her that Sage's mom used to practice and using new magic, my question was, "Why did Sage's mom stopped using new magic?" I would like to know more about that, instead of the paper-thin allegory of "conservative bad and progressive good" narrative.
This show is just all about dehumanizing men everytime you turn around. The only one who was ironically saved was slime boy. They tried to make people dislike him but it actually had the opposite effect. Everyone loves him, including me.
Well if you’ve seen Kate Leth’s twitter page (who is one of the writers of the show), this notion becomes more apparent when she wished death to all men.
So…Yeah.
@@HerrDeutschBlood Katie L. wants the following men (and men-to-be, AKA boys) to die: my older brother, my uncles, my cousins, my great-uncle, my eight nephews, my 1-2 grand/great-nephews.
I'd tell Ms. Leth to piss up a rope w/her misandrist bullshit, but she's clearly jealous that she doesn't have the equipment for that -- and doesn't even have the sense to crib from some prurient JPN sources to allow for better "transition magic".
(BIBLE BLACK had the concept for a forbidden religious magic tome that would definitely earn that MATURE AUDIENCE warning rating, w/futanari as a thing. Scale that down and make that the reason Caraway opted for a potion. || ASIDE: It's a sad statement that a 21+ year old eroge w/a 20+ year-old OVA adaption -- basically JPN *porn* -- has a more reliable magic system that scales well. SEE BELOW...)
= = =
You know how Thyme made the effort to protect herself and Parsley from the demon she summoned? In an alternate timeline where a group other than that SUPER-DIVERSE all-women writer's room wrote the script, this was b/c a trio of inexperienced self-taught mages/HGA students who only knew "new magic" w/a forbidden tome tried to summon a "trainer demon" to tame...it didn't turn out well for the lead mage (Sage's mom?). Then some other chara (maybe Amaryllis' aunt, a classic LIBBY/ALPHA BITCH) took over the coven and had an innocent woman... (you'd have to see BIBLE BLACK...) ANYWAY: Thyme learned from the demon teacher in Ethics class and Prof. Caraway not to attempt to summon ANY demons w/o a barrier to contain the demon. In-show, Thyme almost got it right, but (as the demon in-show noted) the barrier surrounded her and Parsley -- not the demon. Thyme's mistake cost her more info on the Healing Water on saving the forest, but thankfully that was all it cost her (and Parsley) b/c of Thyme's precautions. Hell, Sage's mom and Thyme's mom could've made an appearance here, and it would flesh out Sage's mom's motivations for using "old magic" exclusively. If the reason for her shift in attitude towards new magic -- not revealed to her niece Anise b/c it's "sensitive" -- was b/c of a demon summoning that went south b/c of failed prep: which taught Sage's mom the HARD WAY of the importance of old magic's prep time, then Thyme could relay that to Sage: as well as force some chara dev on Anise, who when she learned the truth would realize that she owes her aunt a damned APOLOGY.
Even more backstory: Sage's mom wanted to help Caraway w/a permanent TRANSITION MAGIC spell that didn't require potions to maintain, and she discovered a new magic forbidden tome w/a demon summoning spell to grant the caster FUTANARI (gender-bender) powers.
Now: why doesn't Prof. Redbud know about this? B/c she's a low-key moron at anything more than basic ABRA-KADABRA magic who only knows about TERRASPHERES and is a bit of a sociopath who wants to poison her students...so who cares about her?
This would be a setup for a possible Season 2 arc w/Snapdragon, Amaryllis (learning the dark truth about her even more jerkass aunt: who was a hero to her), and Sage: who wants to help Snap transition fully to womanhood. This would create conflict for Caraway: who doesn't want Snap to rush into a transition he may not need -- and definitely sees HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF for Sage (the way it did for Sage's mom), undoing all of Sage's progress in balancing old magic w/new, as well as for Snap and his family: especially his father, who wants Snap to stand up for himself and reveals that he's actually open to Snap transitioning if that's what he wants -- but doesn't want him to rush, either; Snap misconstrues this as CHEST-BEATING HAIRY MANSPLAINING and rejects his dad's advice on this. Thankfully, Thyme and Parsley back Snap's dad up; they summon another demon -- properly, this time -- and it's the demon that had assaulted Sage's mom.
TL; DR: EARN that "Mature Audiences" label, bitches. And hire CLAMP.
@@HerrDeutschBlood oh I know, I've seen her tweets. Which is why I said this. Its apparent with how they treat their male characters and its also one of the very many reasons why I despise this show.
I thought Slime Boy was meant to be liked? He was in the Crying Room with Parnell and we're meant to like him too.
You know....how she broke the sword's gem was so stupid it just sets the goofy tone of the episode. Every emotional moment later on felt flat following that.
I hate how they treat new magic like its answer to all universe's mysteries. Sound too good to be true, therefore unrealistic. EVERY thing has a cost and a limit.
honestly... this series treats itself like a long running show that's had like 20-40 episodes. it presumes relationship, understanding, and attachment that it never established. Very much the telltale pitchfall of an authour who's spent a lot of time with their characters in their head, privately, and forgets it's presenting it to brand new people whos only frame of reference is this show. It feels like there's atumblr blog with dozens of essay long posts replying to asks explaining the story instead of any actual story
The ages of the characters and other details were first revealed on twitter instead of the show. It was a tumblr comic like-thing before coming to CR. So I'm assuming it's just as you said, the creator had all the details laid out to themselves, especially since they came up with it in middle school.
One more thing i forgot, snapdragon in the end is the same crap with boys not being allowed to be soft, but the "show" goes one step forward saying you must transition to be soft, only girls allowed, if not you get insulted anyways, but please raye explain what makes you different than any ugh conservative man...yoy are a man now by your logic your self insert shouldnt give counsel to snapdragon
A feminine boy basically.
I'm an artist, I have feminine guy characters, yet they are strong.
@@zeldaprincessgirl100 anime is full of them, ironic since they dared to call this trash anime, basically not being typically masculine doesnt make you less of a man, example ppl say g gundam are stereotypes, well they kinda are but they are characters first
So in those vows that teachers make, they talk about respecting your parents and ways of the past. Now they talk about old magic like it's dumb and useless.
I'm sorry I-I almost broke your sword!"
"It's alright sweetie, I should've been more responsible in teaching you how to wield it." her mother chuckled nervously as she's relieved that her daughter is alright including the sword but mentally scolds herself for not being responsible enough.
"Then I might grab another one because this sword is fragile."
"Fragile?" Rosemary asked her mother.
(Y'all can add the rest. Subtract if you want.)
I love the cult following Slime Boy has gotten!
Also I wish they went into why Sage's mom decided to get back into old magic... it almost implies that older generations with old magic/conservatism have a reason behind not sticking with new magic/progressivism they either don't want to or can't give an explanation to.
The Sage and her Mom bs could have been done with her mom explaining why she stopped trusting new magic. Like the fact she realized it was impossible for magic to give without a take and her possibly witnessing rot forming... but nah... let's just say "BuT sHe UsEd It WhEn YoUnGeR"
I hate the moment with Sage and Snapdragon, again you can tell a team of exclusively bigoted women wrote this, the "Guy friendships are different, you don't talk about your feelings" is such a misconception it's honestly laughable in today's world.
I can't speak for all men (because that's generalization) but when I was in school and even today, my friends and I are pretty open with each other about how we're feeling, and no, none of us are gay or have gender dysphoria. The only people who hide their emotions are either assholes or have mental blocks from bad parenting.
Fact of the matter is that people who speak about "Toxic masculinity" or tweet "#killallmen" and shit like that, don't actually understand men at all. What they understand only comes from generalizations and stereotypes perpetuated by people who don't even attempt to understand men.
So I have been binge watching videos like this and the show, because I decided to be a masochist and make a rewrite of high guardian spice. Nuance exists, Rosemary actually knows Caraway and that he and Rosemary’s mother were great friends. Heck, I am having it so Caraway is like an uncle figure to Rosemary. Surprisingly I am having a lot of fun with planning the rewrite lol
Edit: just wanted to say another thing. I uh had no idea what to do with parsley for the rewrite. So I just removed her. She will be replaced by a rewritten version of Aster. He is still going to be a little arrogant. No longer will he be defined by toxic masculinity.
So basically, here’s the rewritten version I thought up for him. he grew up in an environment where his sense of purpose was to be a guide for others, an environment where he needed to be actively helping his peers. So when he was moved to high guardian academy, he was now in an environment where he no longer had that role. Everyone was around the same skill level. He wasn’t the best one around anymore. So yeah. Basically failing to adapt to this new environment. He is trying to take charge of the situation and is telling stories of him accomplishments to try and regain this role he had played for such a long time. Won’t even realize if his actions are belittling others and does take responsibility when it’s brought to his attention.
If anyone wants to know more about my rewrite ideas I am more than willing to share 😋
This has been a very fun process
THIS SOUNDS A WHOLE LOT BETTER!! Esp Aster's character because my god he was such a wasted character.
Pop off!! Would love to hear more :D
@@EveeCake yee. What in particular would you like to hear?
Edit: changed a word
@@gamergurl3648 I was wondering what did you do about the other characters. It'd be pretty interesting to hear a rewritten version of the others like Slime boy etc
@@EveeCake hmmm… Slime Boy isn’t being changed. He is perfect lol.
Rosemary is changing quite a bit. So first off I am pretty much giving her abandonment issues from when Lavender left. I guess you could say she both resents and respects her mother? The thing is Lavender devoted her life as a guardian to do what was best for the people. So you can imagine is really stung when Lavender leaves and never comes back (I have it so she promised she’d be back soon). Years passed and yeah. Basically Rosemary is definitely hurting from this because, well, how is never coming back from a mission you promised wouldn’t take long and leave your happy husband and children alone in the hometown waiting for your return? Rosemary is kinda wanting to distance herself from her mother and tries suppressing any hurt she feels. The only time she ever really gets upset is when it involves her mom. She self-teaches herself swordsmanship. Rosemary isn’t exactly intelligent in the typical sense. She has very keen instincts and intuition, so you could say the battleground is her territory. Once she’s in the zone, she is I guess you could say a natural-born leader. Though once her concentration is broken, it can be difficult for her to get back on her feet.
Then there’s Sage. At a young age, she showed great promise in using magic. Since pebble is a remote town and new magic isn’t easily accessible there, she was only ever taught old magic. She was a prodigy. Her parents put a lot of time and care into Sage’s development. Of course, they still cared about her deeper than her skills as a magic user. New magic was never brought up, so Sage would just come to assume her parents didn’t like it. She always worked hard in her studies and was even introduced to Rosemary since they became sparring partners. Although, growing up, Sage developed a need to meet expectations and was a people-pleaser, even if it meant going against what she was comfortable with or if it meant keeping her emotions buried. She never talked to her parents when she was struggling, because she didn’t want to feel like a burden or trouble them. She always talked to Rosemary, who was very open to listening. The two became like sisters. They’d have sleepovers all the time to the point Rosemary got an extra bed set up in her room just for Sage.
And another change is gonna be that entire Aster thing and her conversation with Snapdragon. I have completely removed the part where she is talking about guys don’t show feelings or whatever. Instead, the conversation takes a different direction. After snapdragon comments that she is way too hung up over Rosemary, she seems guilty and says she can’t really help it. After being slightly questioned, she disregards her thoughts and feelings, saying they’re irrelevant and not worth worrying about. I feel like Snapdragon would maybe feel frustrated about this because he sees a little of his own internal conflict in her. Struggling with something but keeping it inside and away from others. After she returns to the puzzle but is noticeably upset and not in the best emotional state, Snapdragon says that whatever is on her mind is important and that he is willing to listen. Sage does say he wouldn’t understand, but he says he will try. So they have a heart-to-heart. Sage explains how she and Rosemary have been close for as long as she can remember-Rosemary is a little sister to her. They always had each other’s backs. Snapdragon comments he is kind of jealous that Sage has that kind of relationship. He then asks shouldn’t she be happy for Rosemary being interested in a guy. Sage says she wants to, but she feels like something is preventing her from doing so. Rosemary is the only person she felt she could confide in and is terrified that when they get older, their sisterly bond would break. She knew that would happen someday, but she thought she’d have a little more time. She knows this is a selfish reason and is beating herself up over it. She really, *really* wants to be happy for Rosemary, but this anxiety of hers is in the way. Separation anxiety I guess? Another way to think of it are the twins from ouran high school host club. Basically, in the end, she and Snapdragon do get a little closer and she does feel a little more comfortable with the thought.
Edit: that was a lot of typing. My fingers hurt now lol. Time to sleep
That sounds really interesting… Are you publishing these thoughts anywhere?
I was delighted at seeing an Overly Sarcastic clip about 40 minutes in. Really loving this review saga, thanks for watching this for me
Mmm, which episode of Trope Talks was it from? it's driving me nuts feeling like i've seen but not seen the snippet before, and vainly digging through the playlist trying to nail it down x.x
Why is Parsley the only child old enough to help take care her younger siblings? If her parents were having that many, wouldn't there be at least one kid who was old enough to help _other_ than Parsley? If there isn't, why not? If there is, why would Parsley not be able to go to school?
Some of you might argue that it is bad to expect the older kids to help out with the younger. I would disagree. Children have almost always had work around the house to do, from raking leaves to cleaning their own rooms. It only makes sense that helping younger siblings would be included in those chores. It also would help when the older kids become parents themselves, having practice with their younger siblings.
@@jimmygarza8896 Well, yes, kids were expected to work in mines and factories that killed them once, too. Back then, families were so large because infant mortality rates were so high and the poorest families needed a constant stream of workers available to them (not to mention, the older kids might not _want_ to become parents themselves, especially after spending their entire lives being parents to kids they didn't even have the enjoyment of creating). That doesn't seem to be the case in this fantasy world where, if magical hormone replacements and gender reassignment surgery exist, you'd also think magical contraceptive exists, but Parsley's parents just choose to keep breeding an army they can't take care of.
@@Silburific If you genuinely think that those scenarios are remotely comparable to helping take care of your siblings, you are either an only child, or you aren't arguing in good faith. Hardly anyone has died from helping raise children. Not only that, but things such as playing with children, making good decisions, and making sure your siblings don't accidentally off themselves aren't physically demanding like mining and factory work.
Not only that, but you seem to have assumed that since it _seems_ that child mortality is low, it must mean that child mortality _is_ low. This is a world full of monsters, where becoming someone who helps kill or subdue said monsters is a legitimate career path with a fairly large dedicated school for it. There is nothing to suggest that kids aren't being eaten in scores off-screen, other than the fact we've never seen it happen on-screen.
Lastly, Parsley is explicitly stated to want to be a high guardian. Caring for other people and being willing to do what's right, no matter the sacrifice, would be a natural part of that; so why is Parsley not willing to do either of those things for her own family, for whom these feelings should come naturally? Instead the show portrays her decision to become a high guardian as a choice she made to get away from her familial responsibilities, which would be similar to the responsibilities of a high guardian, and portrays it as a _good_ thing.
Taken as a whole, this whole plotline seems like a case of the writing team applying their modern values in a situation where they absolutely should not apply. If anything, Parsley should have made the argument that becoming a high guardian _is_ her way of trying to help lher family, rather than complaining about her responsibilities. But she doesn't, because the writers just wanted to use the myth of parentification in their story, a sign that they are closer to being children than having them.
Come to think of it, weren't the boys working the forge early on in Ep4? It looks as if they're already earning their keep.
This comment is old, but I was just reminded of its existence. Here are two (2) better ways to deal with the problems in Parsley's storyline.
1.) A reasonable time after Parsley was born, her parents tried having another child but struggled to do so. Shortly after giving up, the parents were expecting their second child. They've been "busy" ever since because they are both making up for lost time and don't know if or when infertility will strike again, or if it will go away the second time. This explains why only Parsley can take care of her younger siblings, and also why she resents them. She was an only child but now has responsibilities and expectations put upon her. Cont.
Sage is just the definition of wasted potential, she could've combined both old and new magic creating something greater
Some defenders say they didn’t have enough time to develop the characters, yet the show has so much filler and no development of characters OR plot. They just don’t know how to write
24:30
Poke ball sounds! Now this is getting very illegal.
If new magic can do anything why hasn’t anyone used it to Auto-Conquer the entire world yet?
Better yet why can some people use magic and some can't? Even better why is there not a caste system for those who use magic over normal civilians?
@@trumann5975 I know a setting with magic means your a noble, it’s name is Zero no Tsukaima
@@AtelierGod And then there's the Magic Kingdom of Zeth on The Continent, where being able to use magic is everything to their caste system and those without are second class citizens with legally no right to live. Their army has a massive battalion of non-magic users, their rank is called Meat Shield.
@@trumann5975
Sounds like ascendance of a bookworm in exception of nobels only allows themselves to have magic while peasant with mana aren't allowed in.
a thing i find funny is that in the cave there is pretty much TONS of the most legendary material in the world (as we know off) and the blacksmith did not even took a small chunk of it. They got 4 bags in total why not TAKE THE SUPER RARE METAL !
Hell they could have gone back to grab some or tell the teachers they found a mine full of uber material and infinite source of healing waters.
I would like to add that "new magic" and "old magic" are incredibly lazy titles. You could have called them Alchemy and Sorcery or anything else other than what were probably placenames to be filled at a later time.
Hopefully so but I'm going to assume it was intentional as any other name would've been better.
17:55 the most hypocritical line of this show. New magic does have limits. You see two at this point, the alchemical hrts and the staff losing power. While old magic being condoned as conservative is the pro environment argument.
This also extends to the technology base. They do everything in medieval methods, note I didn't say times. The coach, trolley, and train, the setting on average is Victorian. Then the vr game and giant robot, that is Sci-fi. They should be exploring the fucking galaxy.
Very good and detailed review. I think this is a big issue in modern writing, that a lot of art isn't created out of passion, but more used as a tool to spread out your political opinion.
Whenever I feel bad about my writing I always look at this show to make me feel better. my writing is not the best but I'm positive my writing is miles better then the writing on this show
...leave it to HGA to make KAKASHI look like a model teacher...
Thank you for making part 2! I think you would be a good commentary critical channel I will definitely watch your videos
Glad you enjoyed! I definitely made this channel to talk about this show, since I had a lot I wanted to say.
@@trumann5975 good video and thinks for bring up Saturday AM. I would love to see an anime of Apple Black
@@kingj9664
Yea Apple Black or any of the other SatAM artists have been working their asses off for their stories and I think they need a good push. Ofc I'd still judge it like I do anything else.
@@trumann5975 True that man true that. If you want to find some other cool stuff that deserves to be made into an anime go to webtoons and check out Is ordeal and black sun
i bet parsley's dad will be the main villian next season
Lol I wish
@@trumann5975 damn, that'd be cool but... Unfortunately, that won't happen due to HGS' terrible reception from the viewers.
If only if it aired on Netflix.
They could've just idk give a better concept about old magic and new magic. Like for example old magic being more powerful and limitless yet hard to cast while new magic is easier to learn and can give little to less effort to cast yet less powerful and limited. And not only that they can just at this point give more backstory about how Sage's mum didn't allow Sage to use new magic cause of Idk since she found out how unstable new magic is and how lethal it can get to the caster? That would at least makes it more valid and can potentially give Sage some newly driven motivation on continuing what her mum failed at or experimenting a way on making a new type of magic that consists of balancing out both old and new magic.
There has been so many elves with a bow. Why isn't there an elf with, say, throwing knives? They're still ranged weapons.
Why be different when you can recycle the same thing seen hundreds of times before?
Rayla from the Dragon Prince would like a word with you.
wait,
isnt hypocrate mean doing something that you tell others not to do?
sage mom seems doing new magic in her younger days, and she stop doing that.
is that still called hypocrate?
It wouldn't be a hypocrite, since her mom doesn't use new magic while praising/using old magic. Something changed and now she switched from OLD>NEW>OLD, but the writers don't want to explain it.
Personally, running so you can fight another day is an honorable warrior trait
I agree, a lesson can be learned in humility.
this series has so many concepts for character motivations and stories it's amazing how many they miss out on
I see no issue with having trans characters in a fantasy setting, but the way they introduced the teacher's identity was just so shoehorned in for the sake of representation. Also I get the comparison of monthly potions = hormones, but to me that has some oddly unfortunate implications? Like what if they lost access to those one way or another? Would the spell revert and make their life a living hell because their progress is reversing? and if new magic does literally anything, what's the point of having to keep up consistent doses when it can be a one-and-done? obviously not my only issue with the show but that was definitely the first point that made me double-take.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who had mixed feelings about that. I get that the creator chose new magic specifically because new = progressive, but I feel like it would have been interesting if transition magic was possible with both old magic and new magic. You could have the monthly potions be old magic-it takes work/energy to maintain and you have to reapply it, but it's a much safer method that pretty much guarantees you'll feel less dysphoric. New magic is permanent and convenient, but there's more risk to it. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Both are valid methods of changing one's gender. They don't really do enough with the old magic vs. new magic thing and it's a shame.
good video! i agree that they could've handled caroway being trans in a different way.. the world has a mix built of being in the steam junction era and medieval times, they could've had something interesting done with magic, like a FLOATING TRAIN RUN BY MAGIC CRYSTALS, or A CITY THAT RUNS OFF OF NEW MAGIC THAT CAUSES THE FOREST'S UNDERGROWTH TO BE DYING SLOWLY.
If there's a trans character with a NEW EXPERIMENTAL SPELL that's used to turn them into the gender they want and society isn't really receptive to their identity.. then why not have caroway be quiet about this fact, even to rosemary? have them get close and by the end of the first season they'll have thst scene again in the middle of the episode while the villain silhouette shows up at the end with their eyes on a portal viewer looking at rosemary. who is this person? did thry have something to do with rose's mom dying? WHO KNOWS?
also with the new experimental magic.. what if there was a cost and it slowly fed off the body? because that's ehat dysphoria can often feel like.. like it's something that's eating you alive. having that visual representation of caroway from when he started to use the spell vs his self today with scars or rot would make for a more interesting character. i'm suggesting this both as a character writer and a trans man myself. i'd like to see the internalized conflict more fleshed out and made to fit that mature theme.
This has me wondering just how "old" Old Magic and New Magic are. Old Magic is apparently ancient, I guess? Okay, but was it always called that? Theoretically, "Old" Magic would have been new at some point to whoever first discovered it, correct? If so, why would it be called "Old" Magic? Why is New Magic called "New Magic" when it's at least a generation old? What is it, New York? Or is it like the "V Gundam" and it's actually the greek letter "V" (pronounced nu) and it's just a homophone for "new"? Even if it's only about a generation old (which is as young as it can possibly be given what we know about it), you'd think its limitations and issues would be better understood. High Guardian Spice wouldn't be the first fantasy story to frame implied nuclear material as "magic".
In all my years, I have never seen a magic system so _adamantly committed_ to the idea of being as poorly written as possible. There's soft magic systems, but good God. It's like the writers were tired of getting "that's not how the Force works!" thrown in their face, and so designed a magic system that could never, ever have that specific accusation thrown at it. But in their commitment to dodging a meme, they forgot that most magic systems have upper limits for a reason...
Both soft and hard magic have limits. Hard magic just front-loads its limitations straight to the audience. Soft magic's capacities and nature are more implied by what the characters can do with their power, or perhaps more specifically what they _can't_ do (e.g. summoning a nuclear warhead) because the narrative is often busy with other things. It's less to do with the power itself and more to do with the framing. With enough applied quantum mechanics, or even a simple POV shift, you could probably present Gandalf the Grey's magic as _very_ hard. In fact, many stories depict magic as a form of applied science in its own right. Just because magic may break known scientific principles doesn't mean that it doesn't adhere to any principles of its own. In fact, if magic had no limits, as HGS proclaims regarding New Magic, why would one need to go to school to learn to use it?
In fact, "magic" need not necessarily be literal magic at all. The T-1000 from Terminator had very specific properties, limitations, and vulnerabilities in spite of having all the "magic power" of a "magic" marker. It's a "hard magic" system not because it's just applied technology, but because the T-1000's limitations are all expressly described, demonstrated, or explained. By contrast, the sonic screwdriver from Dr. Who is a form of soft magic. Though it's never explained exactly how it works or what it does beyond its name, its use is fairly consistent with some kind of highly modular hand tool that the Doctor knows how to operate. We can _presume_ that it can't fire a laser powerful enough to scramble a Dalek's insides simply by the fact that it is (again, to my knowledge) never used to do so despite a plethora of opportunities. Thus, we must presume that the sonic screwdriver can't be used as a laser cannon because, if it _could_ have been, it _would_ have been. If the sonic screwdriver inexplicably gains this power later, suddenly we must wonder why it has that power now and wonder why it had never been used as such before this (cough cough, hyperspace ram, cough cough.)
This! All of what you said.
12:05 I've seen plenty of badly animated, and even badly written, cartoons get some redemption by having stellar voice actors, but this is at Dingo Pictures level of voice acting.
"You give the dwarf a hammer."
I had dwarves use spears, because that makes the most sense for a species that lives in tunnels.
Also for characters who are named Snapdragon and Mandrake, never have I ever NOT wanted them to have dragon abilities or even transform into dragons.
The parents bad episode is really stupid when it comes to parsley, and honestly insults me on a personal level. For starters her parents aren't forcing her to do anything and we're just hoping that she would want to stick close to the family and help out.
They do not get angry when she admits that she doesn't want to do that and she instead wants to pursue the guardian thing more than she wants to stay at home and be a blacksmith. There's like quite a few reasons why people might not want people to do that for example this is their parents and she's doing something that could get her killed, but they completely gloss over that and they don't have any realistic kind of interpretation here at all.
On top of that she throws a temper tantrum about them asking if she would rather stay and do the work there when they're not really planning on stopping her from doing anything else. She right away gets frustrated at her dad asking about that and lashes out by insulting her mom as a cum dumpster. It doesn't do anything besides make parsley seem like a shitty selfish girl.
I personally take offense to it as a grown man in his twenties. Few years back my dad actually passed away and my mom needed financial help.
She didn't need to ask me to change what I was planning on doing in order to take care of people that are important to me. Listening to someone in the privileged position of having the choice to go and do whatever you choose to pursue in doing harp and whine about how much it sucks to have choices be picked out for you based on anything other then your own desires is really insulting. To paint the people that might ask you to do something like this or think about what you should do in the future as horrible toxic and manipulative people is really evil.
You'd have to be a literal scumbag to take the same position as parsley. You'd have to be a complete self-centered goblin of a person in order to think what she's doing and saying is reasonable. You have to be a moron to think that people caring about what you're going to do in the future are the people that have it out for you. Shitty people don't care what happens to you, they'll give you the ultimate freedom to eventually bleed to death on the side of a road if you like. Good people are concerned about what they are choosing to do and what other people are choosing to do.
In short fuck this dumbass show insulting my own mother, on a personal level I hope each of them has a miserable life and aren't around to fuck with other people's. They deserve the ultimate form of Independence, dying alone. In fact I hope they have the freedom to speed that process up.
And before someone says it I understand that I'm taking this too personally. I understand that it's actually like this because the show's written by an actual moron that doesn't understand any kind of idea of being self-reflective or introspective. I understand that the morons writing this don't realize how self-important and selfish they're making the characters appear. Problem is if this is their attempt at writing a character that's supposed to be a decent person then they're probably really bad people in real life. Either that or they're completely useless and pathetic. If they think that this would be a morally justifiable position to be in, then honestly I hope these people don't have the self-esteem to ever treat people like they think people should be treated.
Frustrates me to hear people complaining about toxicity proving that they don't understand what being a decent person is. They're no place to lecture anyone about anything.
Nah, your rant was justified. Overall, Parsley is the best of the four main girls in my opinion, but that doesn’t mean her writing was good, just better than Rose, Sage, and Thyme’s.
So are the swj. To me, they are people that I could describe as: rich kids, with no real problems, drowning in a glass of water.
This. I wonder why people seems to think Parsley is one of the best character. Like, no. Parsley is actually the WORST of all the four and here's why, aside from the point you mentioned: in the end of the episode where Aster appears, Aster seems to try his best to compliment Rosemary. Whether he's genuine is irrelevant. The most important thing is that for some unknown reason the black teacher (the worst teacher I've ever seen, both irl and in fiction) was ready to tell Aster off. Then Parsley, out of nowhere, intentionally dropped her hammer and most certainly broke Aster's foot. She then giggled while saying sorry (and, unlike Aster's effort to compliment Rosemary, which might be genuine, Parsley's apology is really meant to be ingenuine). Then, the bad teacher laughed, supporting Parsley. Like, is this social commentary about our educational system or what? Girls get away with everything (even praised for being violent against a guy) but guys will get the harshest punishment for even daring to speak bad things about girl. I mean, I'm a girl but I know that this is straight up sexism.
Anyway, back to topic. Parsley is the worst out of the 4 main cast because here we could see what kind of morality governs her: solve every problem with violence, especially against the guys, because you will get away scots free from it since you're a girl. It is actually the school's fault too for being so misandric. If HGS is about Aster (and Snapdragon and Slime Boy, perhaps) being trapped in a highly sexist institution against boys and trying his best to be a guardian (and Snapdragon accepting his identity as a feminine boy instead of unquestioningly following his teacher who obviously groomed him), I would most probably love it.
@@xuniepyro7399 I think that's where alot of the problems with this stem from.
Nothing gets solved well with only focus on one aspect. And it's pushing of a single aspect with no regard for extent and intent that makes these kinda "moral" messages fall flat.
Sure, it CAN be a problem for parents to set unhealthy demands and expectations on their kids, and people CAN deserve a knock on the head for acting a certain way.
But we got scenes where parents seemed to ask their daughter what she wants to do, adding that they hope she puts family before work, something that they clearly do it seems. From there it's not allowed to escalate to the parents actually doing anything wrong, instead parsley just acts like it was a horribly cruel thing that was done to her for them to even suggest the idea that her family is important, and that they think that's what you should focus on. Which I don't think the writers even realize is exactly what happens when her parents say it's fine if she wants to go and focus on the academy. To them their daughter's happiness is important, however the main character doesn't seem to care as much about her own family's happiness.
Same with aster, if he was going to be smacked for having that kind of mouth, it would have made a lot more sense for it to happen when he was actually trying to be a dick. However it happens when a very conceited person, seems to actually be appearing to do their best to be genuinely complimentary. The character they made would probably struggle to do that well, but it doesn't mean that it comes off as insincere. So basically they punish asked her for turning a leaf even if it is a slow process to actually change. I mean Heck if they're justified at being upset with him because he was acting like an ass when he tries to say sorry about that, then they've completely justified him getting hurt by the rejection of him trying to do better. And he doesn't escalate things to anything other than a petty insult.
When it comes to the whole idea of things being sexist in it, it has to do with masculinity having a leg in teaching boys to be a martyr, to take on burdens of others despite the consequences. A lot of people criticize this as a very unhealthy standard, but it's kind of asinine to do so. Sure it's not a good thing to expect people to die for others, that's an unhealthy standard for anyone to take up. But there's a difference between something that would cost you your life, in something that would simply be difficult to handle but genuinely good for someone you care about. People like to look at it as a highly melodramatic take. And I mean that on both sides. Men will bring this thing up and try to talk about how they're great people because they're willing to die for someone else, even though that's a check they've never cashed, so really don't feed into that spot unless you're actually talking to someone who truly has a relationship with you and cares about you, like I'm a dude but I know that some of my closest friends would be serious about putting themselves in danger for my sake. We've all done it before for each other.
And on the other hand you have women that act like men will not do anything for them, and burdens are placed evenly on people. That always heavily contextual when it comes to real people, but having any kind of stance like that really makes you worse off person. We live in a time where people don't like to be judgmental, but how can you give someone credit for the things that they've done for you if you can't judge what they've done as opposed to other people have. There is a standard that comes in the idea of masculinity versus femininity, we're a lot of times burden and struggle and suffering is more likely to be put on a man, or is expected more so from them. I ain't going to pretend to be any expert on femininity, but I do know that that is the expectation of men. What did a lot of time leads to is blame will be pushed towards men or responsibility will be given to men whether or not men are looking for it or not. Sure some people will focus on this as being more opportunity', but that's only if you don't understand how time actually works. If I'm stuck with obligations and responsibilities that are put on me because of my gender I will miss out on opportunities that could have presented themselves in the meantime.
And that reflects very much so on my current state of life. Only a few years ago I was set to get hitched, and I spend about 4 years taking care of a girl I cared about. Despite only a two-year difference, I at the point when we started dating had much more world experience considering I've lived alone since I was a teenager, so when it came to us being a couple and trying to do the adult thing a lot of the responsibility was mine. Did I regret doing that for someone I cared about? Definitely not at the time. I like putting other people before my own needs, and it's really easy and fulfilling when you actually care about them. However that same exact trait, was what caused the relationship to dissolve. Towards the end of the relationship my father passed away, and just left a lot of financial and emotional burdens on me because I want to support my mother. I won't get into too many details, but that ultimately was a problem for her and I ended up having to break it off with her.
Do I regret not being self-centered and focusing on the needs and wants I had back then? Not at all. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I was the type of person who could just leave their mom hung out to dry like that. And now flash Forward in those burdens if only grown for me. Now I'm also worried about caring for my grandfather on top of my mom. And going through dates with multiple people is really giving me a distaste for dating currently. Like all things in life it simply makes it more difficult to fill the obligations that I have. As well as that a lot of my dates tend to go well girl wants a lot more coming from me, but more often than not this leads to some shitty ultimatum they try to put my way, were they asked me to abandon my family if I truly care about them. And I answer no. I don't want to spend the rest of my life with a girl that looks at me being willing to care about others more than my own wants. If I ever answer yes I deserve that type of selfish person that can't think about how others need things, and simply chases what they want the moment.
And that's my shitty to talk on martyr standards from the masculism perspective. There's nothing wrong with it being a standard. But it's a standard that requires a degree of thought to it. You can't understand it by looking at it the most extreme or the dismissal of it. This is a good standard for men, if you could not suffer any burdens for those you care about you truly do not care. Not everything should be looked at as life and death, and it shouldn't be completely dismissed or you'll lose the beneficial aspects of it. So even though this show could be used to point out a downside to it, you have to compare those downsides to the benefit of teaching young men to put others before themselves. And as someone who doesn't know a lot about femininity, especially with a lot more new modern interpretations of it, the only downside I can see is if this isn't being taught universally to people. Not going to lie that I don't know what your ladies are expected to do.
Eh, I've never really had a problem with stereotypical or stereotype depictions. It kinda goes back to your point in your previous video, if you turn a trope on its head too many times, the subversion becomes the norm, and thus expected. Sometimes straight-forward depictions are good, when done well. Problem is they are very much not done well here.
Yes, stereotypes can be presented in a good manner. Unfortunately these writers took the lazy way and rolled with the average stereotypes with no subtext outside of the clichés used for said stereotypes.
@@trumann5975 Can't disagree there.
I was gonna type out an entire paragraph doing my own little analysis of the plot, characters, or the themes(or lack thereof). But there are tons of those already made by people who can word it far better than I can and in better detail.
So I'm just gonna say this. You got a sub out of me for including a clip of Ame.
Thank you! Ground Pound!
It's hurtful how edgy, forceful, dry, and unfunny the humor they wrote like..c'mon
It's horrendous!
@@trumann5975 exactly..you know like thhis show is perfect manifestation of a bunch of girls who trying so hard to act quirky and different to impress people
Thank you for uploading part 2, it helps to do and not to do to write a story!
Glad to help!
My headcanons for old and new magic
Old magic is a concept of magic where you use external means to create something without the risk of draining energy from your own body
New magic is a concept of magic opposite of Old magic, using energy from your own body instead of external means
The pros and cons of Old magic is that you can create items convenient for your needs, but it’s time consuming and fuel dependant
The pros and cons of New Mgaic is that you can create spells in a pinch, but overusage could kill you
The pros and cons are more of examples than p and c, but you get the idea
The show just insults their "adult" viewers' intelligence sometimes
But if Snapdragon becomes trans, doesn't it make him a woman, which in turns makes Sage right about being bigoted about men expressing feelings?
It basically throws out the whole "men can be sensitive too" by implying that if a man is like that, it's only because he's actually trans and hasn't found their true identity yet
As someone who got their graphic novel this show really is a first draft that was cobbled together....in my opinion
This cartoon is one big propaganda show. Driven by people who wanted to spread hatred and try to make the viewers as miserable as them.
On that cave mission, I would have expected a "Goblin Slayer moment" during it. What a waste of that "Mature Content" warning. 😏
I dig the avatar, very realistic.
I like how I had never heard of this show, until it started getting roasted.
Change my mind sagie's family is the writer venting about their catholic family.
Sounds like it to me.
If the golems were the same ones from the beginning of solo leveling the show would've ended right then and there
The sad thing is that the themes and allegories covered (like parsley being the eldest sister, traditionalism vs progressivism through old vs. new magic, environmentalism, etc) can actually be good themes but the writers just... didnt explore it?
Also hi, trans man here, professor "im transgender" carroway's representation was crap lol, if you want decent transmasculine representation, look up krem from dragon age inquisition (one of the lines about him makes me cry to this day)
Moral of the story: dont not trust the portrayal of a trans man by a KAM kinda lady 🤷♂️
0:51 To be fair, Goblin Slayer has the Elf character wield a bow. Then again, it's Goblin Slayer.
Yea and I think Goblin Slayer does it wrong as well sticking too hard with tropes but Goblin Slayer has the "Rule of Cool". So it can get away with being a bit lazy with it's cool scenes as a distraction.
In all fantasy settings elfs have bow or magic and are into trees anyway... one original franchise I saw with elves was I'm a spider so what where they have freaking robots and mechs lol
It certainly can't benefit anyone, but it sure can *harm one.*
All they needed to do was connect Lavender to Carraway's transition. Like, that she was the one who discovered the transition potion for him or something. Boom, done.
"Guys don't talk about each other's feelings" Um... yes, they do
“AND MY AXE”
They didn’t even give the dwarf women beards 😔
The art direction of this show and it's character design is what bugs me, and it took until seeing the combat teacher to really nail down what it was that really bugged me about it. It feels as though the character design is supposed to come across as Androgynous, when really all it accomplishes is Effeminate. Like they want to have all the characters blur the lines of feminine and masculine, which I guess makes sense based on the creative team behind the show, but in reality all they present to us is a bunch of pretty women, only occasionally one will have a male VA, and every now and then there's a fat or bald dude, because I guess those are the only masculine traits they could think of. (No surprise again considering both those are things seen as negative traits, but I'll move on.)
Androgynous Character design is great, and can work really well when an artist knows what the hell they're doing with it, Osamu Nishi accomplishes this very well, but here all the characters just lack any impact. Every single character looks exactly the same with no diverse features to their silhouettes whatsoever. The most diverse character in terms of design is Parsely I guess, but she still gives the impression of just being the same template, but the artist did a squash and stretch in MS Paint. They all have the exact same Eyebrows, the exact same eye shape, the exact same body shape. Everyone looks like they're little girls, and the only marks to let us know that these toddlers aren't being taught by slightly taller toddlers are the eye lines and occasional square jaw line, which isn't enough, since all it does is make them look either sleepy, or like the artist got lazy and used the square and circle shape tools because they didn't want to draw a head.
This art design is exhausting, there's no shading on anything that isn't a pre-rendered background piece, the colors are all bright, and pop, with no shadows or accent colors to break up the characters or the world. Nobody in this "Diverse" show is at all diverse or Unique. Okay, I will say Thyme is a diverse character in terms of color since she uses a much darker palette, but it's still the same issue where she doesn't have anything in her palette to break up the design. Another good comparison for this is the Megaman franchise where comparing Classic, X and BN Megaman's designs. BN falls flat when put side by side with the other two, while X runs far ahead, and it's because of the palette and ways they're used in the designs. BN has a full body suit that's all the same color head to toe, while Megaman Classic has dark blues to break up his design and make it more recognizable by the way the important parts like his arms, legs and head pop out from the rest of the body, while X takes the Classic design and brings it out even more, adding Blacks, grays and red, and adding more flare to the design as a whole, while still keeping the basic Megaman silhouette.
One thing that bothers me about this healing water is how unutilized it is.
Think about it: you have a magical liquid that is naturally occurring at no cost to you and no one is bottling it up on the regular?
If such a thing existed, the caves would have been wiped clean of monsters centuries ago and a walkway installed for easy access. If the monsters are a naturally reoccurring problem that can't be permanently removed, then 24/7 guardians would work in shifts to ensure safe access at all times.
The lack of thinking about any of this for more than a few minutes really show how little the writers understand how things work or how people in general operate.
You know what’s worse? The fact that a magic system that can either come a personal cost of a global one sounds like an interesting concept. This shows seems to embody this kind of writing where people think “I have an incredible, original idea,” and rush into things, rather than taking the time to hone their craft and maybe come up with something better. I could be wrong, I’m still a newbie that prefers writing stories in my head than on paper, but this is just how the market seems to be these days, to me at least. Thanks for reading this TED talk.
I think that it would've been a lot better if it was never explicitly told that the Headmaster was trans. Just show the pictures of him pre-transition and maybe have her say something along the lines of "Is this you?"
The healing water scene could've also been played a lot better if she had put herself in a position to be injured to get an advantage KNOWING they were close to the healing water. She gets chided for her recklessness and also has to sit out the golem fight because the healing water wasn't instantaneous like she thought.
I like your videos. I've learned a lot about writing from this video and the last one.
ooo i've been waiting for the second part!! thank you so much for making such a good videos
Thanks for watching! It means a lot!
Slime boy is Legit cool and totally chill.
I would have really loved to see the reckoning on their world for using new magic and draining the planet so that these characters can have some consequences. That would actually be interesting to watch.