Something I want to mention about my comments about Slime Boy’s VA, Julian Koster. I wrote that there were serious allegations leveled against him (grooming), but it has been pointed out that the information is hard to find or flat out missing. I first heard about this around the premiere of the series, thinking it was commonplace. A couple sites seemed to mention it in passing, along with the occasional comment on videos featuring the character. Looking for concrete evidence now though, all I can find is a Reddit thread mentioning the allegations, and that the person talking about it deleted their tweets. At this point, it’s hearsay, and I apologize for not double checking before releasing the video. I stand by the quality (or lack there of) in the performance, but not on the comment I made during the rant until information is made clearer.
I can see that. I haven’t seen High Guardian Spice but from all the videos I’ve seen of it Parsley and SnapDragon seem like the characters I would like the most.
Make Parsley, Amaryllis, Snapdragon & Slime Boy the four main characters, keep Olive as the villain, and give this IP to a studio which has a budget and a soul. NOW we're talking.
Goblin Slayer and Parsley. So, a show about a stoic knight with an exciteable but friendly short-stack who can fix up his armor and weapons, and also tell him how much of a reckless mess he's being when needed going on adventures killing irredeemably evil beings. Yeah, that's something I'd rather watch.
Ironically, it would fit a lot of the themes of Goblin Slayer without any real adjustments beyond "add Parsley." On that note, how come nobody has joked yet about Sage needing cinnamon for her potion-gone-wrong? What with all those herbs and other plants being the names of most characters, the lewd jokes write themselves with that line!
Honestly, I'm surprised that High Guardian Spice actually had a few characters that were actually decent. Parsley is of course more well-rounded compared to the bland and annoying cast with a relatable motivation as well as generally being a pleasant girl to be around. Amaryllis actually has consistent development compared to the rest of the cast and actually had some mildly funny moments, and what's not to love about a chaotic girl with an axe? Olive also had some surprising depth not present in the rest of the show, seeing how she's a literal cat girl who while she works for the supposed big bad, actually developed feelings for the heroes from being around them in her cat form, to the point where she doesn't really want to kill them. Plus she's a catgirl, and I love cat girls for the most part. ^_^ Honestly, the main problem with High Guardian Spice is that is doesn't know what it really wants to be, and it wastes its time just doing jack until the second half. Seriously, that first half is one of the most dreadfully boring things I ever had to sit through in a very long time. If it wasn't for the PR nightmare it was invoked in as a result of being under Crunchyroll's belt, no one would remember it. It's just a relatively low-quality show that despite having some surprisingly good moments near the second half, ultimately fumbles from its own inconsistency and ineptitude. It's less of a awful garbage fire that deserves to go to hell like other terribad anime like Master of Martial Hearts, but rather a mostly generic and forgettable at best mess that got a bit more hate than was necessary.
I like Snapdragon but I don't really like that they are making him trans because throughout the show we see him traumatised by the way his overly masculine family members treat him, he is mocked pretty harshly for not being man enough by Cal and even Sage shits on him for being male, he talks about how he just wants to be able to feel beautiful and elegant while also being strong, which is a hard 180 from what his father is and wants him to be. I was expecting him to realise he didn't need to be a lumber jack that can't express himself and that manhood isn't defined by the activities and appearance you love and enjoy and that men are capable of not only having emotions outside of anger and indifference but also able to form deep bonds and friendships. Instead he is pushed into being trans which to me hurts his character and it ends up making it look like he only becomes a woman because everyone constantly told him the things he did, the way he acted and the way he looked is only acceptable for women and therefore he must become a woman. He very clearly has some serious issues to work through and I like the dynamic that he has with Amarylis where she is a girl that tends to do and act in ways that would normally be considered boyish i.e she likes to fight, she likes to break shit to feel better, she doesn't express much emotion outside of smug asshole much like Cal and Aster while Snap is a boy that leans towards things typically considered girlish. They could have been a good expression of not conforming to gender roles without doing the dumb stereotype extremes of the girl has to be a man with tits and the guy has to be a lispy gay guy. But instead it feels like Snap is being beaten down into becoming trans and the only one that actually supported him and didn't shit on him for being a guy/a feminine guy was Amarylis, she doesn't draw attention to the fact he is a guy doing girly things or that he can't do shit cos he is a guy. She is the only one that really says he is fine the way he is and if he wants to be pretty than she will help him be the prettiest, their friendship honestly feels the most genuine.
The character could even be non-binary, i.e. not identify as masculine, and it would still be both LGBT-supportive and less troubled. Right now, it feels like the series is heavily picturing a lot of male characters in a negative light if they don't follow stereotypically feminine traits (with a few notable exceptions), and yet manages to make some male characters the most likeable in a manner that seems off-handedly unintentional.
trans person here, and let me say... you're absolutely right. I actively push for our representation, but with Snapdragon, i was genuinely disappointed. it didnt feel right for the way it felt like they were building his character. him being trans feels more like a cop-out than representation. he was the only major character who was cis, male, and a good person, which couldve helped the show with the "anti-men" tone i was getting. but no, he couldnt be feminine. he couldnt show he was just as much of a man, even with him being more feminine. he couldnt have that depth. instead, he was trans in a way that felt more indescribably forced than the trans teacher character. i still really like Snapdragon, but as a trans person, i couldnt let his handling slide. i could be missing something as im a trans man and not a trans woman, but its still so saddening for his whole person to now just be seen as "the trans one (woman edition)!".
I like snapdragon,, and like you,, i am not on board with the idea he should be a trans woman,, a man can be beautiful and strong at the same time too... like have you seen black butler? strong beautiful men everywhere... and the moment where amaryllis cheering snapdragon at his lowest make me fall in love with the gremlin axe girl..
What I like about you and your reviews is that you're such a genuine person and your videos tackle every subject that needed to be addressed:story, characters, problems, personal opinions.Every other reviews I saw were kinda superficial, as in:"The story is unoriginal, the art is shitty and the characters are bad", and that's it.I am usually the type of person that watches reviews without watching the show, and that's why I watch your reviews, because they are detailed and you don't need to watch the show to understand the review.Plus, you're the type of person that is not afraid to say"controversial things", as seen in your She-ra review, where you said that you don't like Catradora because it is toxic, yet a lot of people crtiticized you for it.
Parsley should have been the Lead Character. We the audience can put ourselves in her shoes and the drama between Rose and Sage can be a good "Side friends who fight and make up all the time" is a pretty decent idea. We'll get to know more about the characters thru these lil fights and make ups and without 20 flashbacks of Rose missing her mom.
Fruit of Grisaia is also an underrated show that made me reconsider why I'm even watching it XD Can't say it traumatized me but it made me think about it all night and I also saw this once on a kid's anime channel which idk how they even though was a good idea
@@crosslineanimator2040 If you're not a harem fan, you might reconsider though it's so dark that it's barely a harem anyway. Plus, the protagonist isn't an idiot and is an actual chad so it's probably disqualified as a harem lol
I headcanon that the kid who shot at professor caroway( don’t know how to spell his name)!is a secret assasin in training tasked with killing him as like a test or something but subtlety and stelt isn’t his best field.
when sage killed the water dragon I was so surprised and literally said “that’s so much gore for a *show made for kids*” and then remember that it’s not made for children. 😀
first of all i love parsley too and i am severly gratefull you made a video from it cause i heard alot of videos that had entitled opinions that came from people who didnt even watch now i dont say that these people dont have the allowance to have an opinion and besides all of this i was kinda hoping for a fast world building like the rodd and how it affects the world i loved that personally i do also have my cons on the show over all point where i wanna go with this i thought it was interesting but they have alot of room to be better and i am ready to elaborate my point further below
If Sage is going to display a character flaw like the sort of sexism she offered, that's fine. But a good show would show why she's wrong, or at least challenge that attitude with a different opinion from a different character.
One of the annoying things for me personally is that, while the story isn't good, it's in this weird mediocre spectrum that has me actually wanting to see the end of it, hoping that it might at least have an okay ending. I need closure. There was no closure in this. They barely established the plot, a thing most shows do in their pilots.
I like how you zoomed out to the two best girl of the show at the end of the video Amaryllis Supremacy Parsley Supremacy very nice review,,, you said exactly what I have in my mind about the show.. it had potential.. but it's kinda ruined because it kinda forced to represent the lgbt stuff and the show is also like 'man bad woman good' thing.....
This was the most fair review of the show, and most honest one that I have seen in my opinion. It’s pretty much how I feel about it too. Thanks for this review!
I wondered why I thought Thyme (is that how you spell it) was the best out of all 4. I figured out it was because she talked the least and well, told everyone to shut up
I really hope that Raye gets a chance to either reboot this show or make another. I think Crunchyroll really screwed with its development. Forcing it to be graphic, hiring awful writers and giving them way more control of the product than him, giving a low budget and little time, etc. Obviously, there are many problems that stem from Raye’s original concept. But those are problems that can be fixed with a good team of writers. People willing to go back and forth with Raye, give him the freedom he deserves with his own show, but still reign him in on certain things. It’s like the original writers let him keep every bad part of his idea and threw the rest in the garbage. There’s clear potential here, it just needs to not have such a lack of passion from the rest of the team.
Well, that's a shame. I thought the show looked cute and figured people were just being harsh for the sake of it, but I guess it's disliked for a reason (though people are still too harsh). Though Hell, I have lower standards than most, so maybe I'd like HGS anyways! I mean, even making something bad or mediocre takes effort, and that demands respect. They can't have made HGS with, like, the budget and resources of some sort of top-tier anime, right? They worked with what they had, and it went how it went. People complain about Crunchyroll spending their earnings on making HGS instead of supporting the anime industry... Yeah, I suppose that's fair, but either way it's supporting the animation industry, right? Which side of the Pacific shouldn't matter. I dunno. Maybe I'm dumb. But I really should get around to watching Madoka Magica and Owl House and whatever else was "HGS but better". I did really like Little Witch Academia, and I only checked that show out because you made a reference to it in an Equestria Girls video, and I figured if you liked it I probably would too. You have good opinions, my dude. Also, as a trans person myself (she/xem), that's an interesting point you made about Professor Caraway. The word "transgender" literally only dates to the 1990s, which makes its usage in a fantasy world exactly as tonally jarring as saying "word up, that's totally tubular, man". Not just that, but if the writers had substituted "transgender" for a historic term for trans people or trans men, it would've added another dimension to how they handled the topic: by sending the message that "trans people have always been around", which is a message that goes untold far too often. But unfortunately, finding a good historic term for trans men would've required a lot of research and deliberation that I'm not too sure the HGS staff would've been willing to do even if they had thought of it. Hell, even my own knowledge of medieval transmasculine vocabulary is severely limited. As someone who's never seen HGS and doesn't know who worked on it, it makes me wonder if there were any trans staff involved in the production, and if the Caraway scene was basically just meant to be "trans people exist and are good actually" with no more actual substance.
Which side of the Pacific does matter because almost all of the anime shown on Crunchyroll are Japanese made (with a few exceptions), and they have a really dangerous work mentality over there where there are extremely high suicide/death rates because of it. We wanted the money from Crunchyroll to go to them to make their lives easier, not to a group of people who half-assed the job and post tweets telling me I should die just because I was born a male.
@@Jazzer995 Call me jaded, but Crunchy money would help anime workers' lives a Hell of a lot more if it went directly into their pockets - as it stands, this isn't the case, and the money instead goes to whoever owns the international rights to a given anime. More often than not, this isn't the studio, who will often only see the initial payment to produce an anime and zilch of that anime's actual profits. The international rights to an anime certainly do not belong to the employees and freelancers who that studio pays. So all in all it's basically as wishful to expect Crunchy money to trickle down to your average Tarou and Hanako Yamada as it is to expect Amazon money to trickle down to the folks in warehouses pissing in bottles. If throwing money at the employers really helped the employees so much, you'd think things would be far better now than they actually are. So if you're looking to improve labor conditions, which side of the Pacific really doesn't matter. Crunchyroll certainly supports the *industry* of anime - the more profitable an anime is, the more anime like it will be made - but it's a stretch to say that Crunchy does much to support the actual *laborers* of anime. My impression of Crunchy for its own employees is mixed, too. So if you want to vote with your wallet to improve anime workers' lives, vote for studios that already are good for workers; and vote for original anime that studios actually own the rights to. Beyond this, Japan's overall culture surrounding labor needs to change - less freelancing, more unions, things like that - and this requires the Land of the Rising Sun to change values in a way that can't be achieved simply by a bunch of gaijins paying a few bucks a month for a streaming service. I'm sure there is something we can do, but this ain't it. Or maybe I'm just dumb. I'm not an expert on the anime industry. This is just opinionated rambling.
For the presence of trans staf in HGS, there was at least the main author that also voice Caraway(it is suspected to be a self insert). And the only reproach that I can give to this scene is that it interrupt the plot. There is also a second trans representation in the recurrent cast of the show in the personage of Snapdragon, but in my opinion it could have been better handled. First thing ,the fact that he now she is transgender was revealed in a tweet not in the show(doesn't see herself as her in any episode or at least it's not referenced in the dialogue) she first appeared as a bully, then a feminine guy that is not opposed to cross-dress, and finally after counting his backstory to Caraway(that can be resumed as all the man in her family are toxic macho, and she doesn't want to become like them) and then say that she doesn't want to be more masculine in her physic. Caraway then says, and I kid you not, "did you heard of transition magic" they speak a little more, and he ends the conversation by saying that it's his answer/way and that Snap should find his own. I find this last scene as being a little heavy-handed(can be perceived as grooming) on Caraway side because there could be many answers other than "you are transgender" to the situation of Snap. Like, maybe, she was just a more feminine guy and lack of good male model in her life (male representation is a big problem in this show all males(Caraway excluded) are either only mentioned, bully with matchist tendency's, dumb, or plain evil).
16:10 This notion is one of those toxic masculinity things, I would definitely say this show reinforcing that idea is much more harmful than the Twitter "kill all men" comment since I don't tend to take such ideas seriously, like no one is going to make that into political violence against men in all likelihood, but the idea that men can't or shouldn't have deep emotional connections in platonic relationships, is a very common one in society and is actively harmful to young men and boys.
The show is a victim of circumstances, a show that had it released on Netflix without the baggage would have gone about without hatred or praise and no one would have talked about it. But no, not only did it come as an "Original" series for an Anime site, it came as an original non-anime series for Crunchyroll, the company that guilt trips you into paying their service while promising they'll support the Anime Industry. The company that only subs their episodes once and never goes back to correct the Plethora of mistakes that are left by the rush job. The company that was happy without investing on a functional video player until Flash was set to die. Add to that the nightmare combo that was that first trailer and the participation of that writer and you have a recipe for disaster. The show had to be amazing to manage to carry through with that baggage aaaaaaand it ended up being ok at best, if not mediocre. If a show is not entertaining enough, it's flaws will be made all the more noticeable, and when you consider the ammount of people coming in expecting the worst and looking for it, it was never gonna end well for this show.
My problem with the tone of the Caraway reveal has nothing to do with them being transgender or anything (totally on the "ally" side here), but the fitting of the theme with the setting: we're consistently shown that New Magic is just so OP, specifically stated that it carries "no cost" in the same episode (and which is a bit of a Chekov's Gun thing, but let's not get there), and yet transition magic breaks that mould *_drastically_* - with Caraway openly stating that he used new magic on one hand to transition, but also having to drink a monthly draught to maintain its efficacy. In other words: the writing is inconsistent with how new magic is otherwise propped to operate in order to fit the real-life themes of hormone replacement therapy; I'd like to believe they won't force the character to abandon transition because of abandoning New Magic, because it's been very strongly hinted that this will be the major theme magic-wise in the series.
Honestly, the magic system is so confusing. If "new magic" was JUST the terrasphere stuff and everything else is "old magic", that would make everything so much clearer. For one, potions seems awfully redundant when you can do "anything" with the terrasphere (to the point where you can preload spells into it). It also (kinda) answers why Caraway can't just do a one and done sort of thing if he KNOWS he's a man.
In a review of High Guardian Spice, someone suggested that we employ Death of the Author when discussing Kate Leith's tweets. Do you agree or disagree? I disagree because Death of the Author, in my opinion, should only be employed when an author can't add anything to the conversation.
Honestly, I don't like the scene where Carroway explains what being trans means to Rosemary because it adds literally nothing to the episode or the plot. It's only there to give Ray Rodriguez an excuse to explain to the audience what being a trans man is. Even the characters in the scene move on after the explanation was given as though it never happened or mattered, and Rosemary even has a brief moment where it feels like she's awkwardly trying to steer the conversation back to how she feels about her missing mother. You can lift that scene out of the episode and nothing would change. Actually no, I think it would actually be better, because if Carroway's explanation of trans people was moved to the same episode where he's talking to Snapdragon about it, it would make more sense because that point in time is literally the moment in the entire show where Carroway's status as a trans man had any relevance to the plot or any character's story arc. You'd have to change a bit of the dialogue, but if you have to have an explanation of what trans people are, THAT is the place it should've been.
This show is ruff, it's filled with holes, it's got some bad writing, and honestly... The show can be even hurtful to the viewers sometimes. Yet deep inside the show it has the potential to be good, great even. I do not think this show with be picked up again, but shows like this are great to fix. Not to take for yourself! But, to craft it into something better. *Great video EquesTron* 👍
I actually like the one thing they don't show enough of the world it is in . The writing is horrible , the animation is bad , the reuse of animation as worse the later years Hannah Barbara , and then the poorly placed politics but the one thing it has going is it is set in a magical world where literally anything can happen and the sad thing is they show absolutely nothing about the world or magic . Instead they want to tell us about it .
Prozd's voice acting is better in his skits than high guardian spice imo Also that sage scene really pissed me off because theres friends I have that if I were LGBTQ, I would probably come out to them before my actual family because I trust them that much.
Even in HGS, Prozd's voice acting is really good. He gives some of the best vocal performances in the show, even if the lines he was provided with aren't exactly great.
15:22 As a female person I disagree with the statement of "the bond between girls is deeper". Almost all of the people who I can talk about my problems and feelings with, and actaully feel understood by, are male. While in all of my realtionships with other girls/women, there were a lot of gossiping, not trying to listen and/or trying to understand each other, fighting and backstabbing... "The bond between girls is deeper" is one of the biggest lies...
@@EquesTron I am not really a fan of those "all girl"-friend groups you see in a lot of shows aimed at girls since I fell like they depict an unrealistic depiction of "the female friendship experience". You often see girls standing around in groups (like at school) that is true, but often those girls are not friends...not really. Maybe there a two or three who are actually friends, maybe best friends even, but most of them don't really care about each other. They just stand next to each other and talk to each other, because they don't want to be alone. But as soon as one of them leaves, you can bet the others will talk shit about her. Of couse I can only speak of my experience, but from what I have witnessed over the years I can say girls often pretend friendship. And I wish that was only true for teenagers...but I am in my twenties now and I am still seeing this patern at my work place...
Yes I agree, I've always had deep and meaningful conversations with guys rather than girls. And "the bond between girls is deeper" is definitely not true for everyone.
@@beingafk3494 All girl groups are weird. I've always been confused about how you can pretend to like someone like that. Maybe that's just me thinking social norms are weird, as always, but I don't think I could fake being best friends with someone I disliked enough to make fun of and talk badly to everyone else about them. If you know everyone is betraying each other anyway, why do you all stay together?? I'd say the best groups are mixed groups. Mixed groups are nice.
- My issues with Caraway's "I'm transgender" monologue have strictly to do with the tone (the textbook-y description, which would be overlookable if it were for all ages), timing (it derails the topic of Lavender, much like the tea story in YIIK), and placement (I don't think meathead Rosemary really cares much about transition magic or potions). It gets better with his chat with Snapdragon, of course - but that probably would have been a better time to be direct about his trans status. - Aster...I think they kinda failed in making him the ultimate "cishet white male scum". Yeah, he's womanizing, but more than that he's a dimwit who doesn't realize he's getting himself hurt while trying to do the heavy lifting for Rosemary - that's more of a himbo thing. Now Call is definitely a more toxic man, being womanizing (and not in a sorta-polite way like Aster), transphobic, AND stupidly grudgeful (also very mean toward his cousin Parnelle). - I, uh, can't even take Mandrake seriously. His first scene DRIPS with tryhard edgelord energy. Also, that "A for Aster" line seems really random. - Anise and Aloe have a talk about Sage's mom that just rubs me the wrong way. Basically, they say that her mom used to be into New Magic, and that she's a hypocrite for discouraging Sage from using it back home...Uh, it's not hypocrisy if she doesn't use it anymore. Maybe there was a reason she stopped using New Magic? Anise and Aloe don't seem to care! "Your mom used to be cool, but now she's lame, don't ask why" - that's the only message I got from that! And...while I'm sure the writers may have been alluding to a certain other angle, I wouldn't be shocked to hear this excuse used in regards to drugs or something.
I wanted to like Mandrake so bad cause I like his design and don't mind his VA but his attitude is borderline edgelord IF NOT totally edgelord in certain cases like you mentioned XD Olive was a good fighter but held back; Mandrake would've been an actual threat for the girls.
I feel the the best episode was that one where Snap and Sage were hanging out leading to some endearing stuff and Thyme and Parsely were fighting a demon Thyme summoned
Think we all would enjoy an Adventures of Parsley and Thyme spin off. I say Thyme because she seems to be best to balance Parsley of the other three, it would be the Legolas-Gimili buddy story we never got to read, Thanks Tolkien
There's three movies that Ray and the writer's room (minus Kate for obvious reasons) needs to watch. Sandlot, Stand by me, and platoon. Each shows male platonic relationships that varies from close bonds to dysfunctional family. And at three stages of life. Circumstances are different, those bonds are still strong.
Tumblrpilled - A word to use when you don't want to be held accountable for old posts online. (Urban DIctionary) Ironically she's the quote on the page... at the time of this post. The content warning is probably for the easily triggered people that are going to watch it. As Robyn from Anime America put it in a video released after yours the Transgender chat should have been saved for Snapdragon's breakdown.
I, like you, watched the whole thing desperately wanting PRAYING for something good to happen because, in a way, I paid for this thing, I have the sub to support Crunchyroll and the anime industry... But sorry, I do respect you, but you are absolutely wrong... Amarillis Is the best girl, she has a clear personality (well, SOME PERSONALITY), an arc AND she made me feel more for her relationship with Snapdragon than any of the mains AND she CHANGES, oh boy, she AND Catgirl, Best Girls... Other than that, a mix between Episode 2 AND Episode 11 would be the perfect answer for a really small kid if they ever ask what "trans" means... TOO BAD IS NOT FOR KIDS YOH. BTW, I swear, Sailor Moon had More horrifying AND mature scenes AND they gave us that uncensored as kids, same for DB AND Saint Seiya... Hell, HeMan AND Thundercats packed More people exploding horrifyingly, I just dont get It... PD, Parsley still Best Girl of the Main. ✨
this is genuinely the best review I’ve seen of high guard spice and I agree with every single point you’ve made. also parsley is the best girl of the main 4 characters and I also love amaryllis and olive
So the main characters on the show are Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme. Riddle me this? Is there any place in this show that will be called the scarsborough fair? If you don't understand look up the song with the same title. Then you will get my meaning.
I saw the writing on the wall with this series from the first "trailer". I don't hold it against anyone who does enjoy it, but I refuse to support this stupidity. Nothing flows naturally AT ALL, why try to do this if you're not going to actually TRY!? In all honesty, I found that sexist conversation was about as tone deaf as the Dragons being BABY KILLERS in Dragon Quest!
1:57 Why wasn't Harry Potter in the examples of stuff that did this before but better? I don't think any media ever captured "irresponsible teachers" as heavily as Harry Potter lol. I mean I guess there's Naruto but I wonder which profession is _supposed_ to be more dangerous to begin with?
Honestly I kinda want a 2nd season to happen just so I can get more Parsley, Amaryllis , Snapdragon and Olive (or heck just reboot the entire thing and make them the main cast) like I genuinely liked these characters
For some reason I feel that the trans scenes could have been better if it was called something else in that world. It’s all pretty much because of the kind of setting we’re in. Because when you hear transgender it sounds normal and fits. But when you hear it in this show it sounds kinda harsh against other terms.
If transformation magic is so common and accepted that they have first year students use it to become mermaids without having the students ask their parents to sign permission slips first, does it really make sense for transitioning between genders to be so taboo that it needs its own term? Or is being transgender different because it's a long term thing? I'd say it's permanent but Caraway is screwed if he doesn't have enough transition potion before the end of the month...
Great video friend, i also wanted to love the show but unfortunately it has a lot of problems. I would never call it rubbish or something like that, like 99% of the internet and other content creators. I loved some of the characters like Olivia and (best girl) Parsley, plus the last ep was good. Its kinda sad that there's no way a second season will be made... I really wanted the show to have a second chance. Great video again.
my hopes were already pretty low for this show, especially after i read about the whole promo controversy back in the day. but then i watched it...... all 12 episodes..... i had no idea it'd end up being EVEN WORSE! just comes to show Crunchyroll should never be allowed to make another "anime" ever again! but Parsley was okay. she was the only character i genuinely liked
I hear people say Caraway is "trans representation," but if you think about it for two seconds, he really isn't. Caraway's transition was instantaneous, required very little effort, is completely reversible, and is not stigmatized by a world in which shape shifters are commonplace. Do you think Caraway spent years agonizing over the (nonexistent) consequences of his transition, or do think one day he just figured, "What the hell, I'll try it." He calls himself "transgender," and if that's enough for you to consider him "trans representation" then so be it, but objectively his experience is so unlike a real-life transgender person's experience that you might as well call Mandrake "trans representation" for transforming into Lavender.
On a 10 star scale I give this show a 5.....could had been so much better, but could had been so much worse. The show is serviceable it just needs a new captain who can right the ship and make the show great.
I try to hold what the staff say and do outside of production separate as I can HATE a creator but love their work. When it came to this though the outside provided context to the inside. A "I hate men" attitude explains how some of the plot points came to be. It provides context, now if it is played up for laughs and had a strawman female saying stuff like that with the main characters correcting that kind of behavior with a strawman male being a uber sexist then yeah plot points like that can work. Better yet have an episode that pairs those two together, two who hate each other on a fundamental level forcing them to work through a problem together allowing them to grow as characters.
10:12 Sometimes the voice or casting director is at fault. Like with Risa in PSO2, with Buckland obviously only being [mis]cast because she played 2B in spite of Risa being a brain-in-a-jar cyborg, not an android and being axe crazy rather than stoic as f*ck. Just like Kametz was never going to sound sleazy enough to get Luthor right and how whoever played Dudu (all of the NPCs who weren't story-relevant were uncredited (most of the VAs pull double duty so it's easy to guess sometimes, like how Tetsuya Kakihara of Gurren Lagann fame was identified as the emergency trial and PSE burst announcer because he also did the Japanese voice of Huey) because of course) couldn't get him trollish enough. All almost of the voice actors did Funimation dubs and most of them were in SAO and/or Jojo's so we know they _can_ do good work but were horribly miscast, only being chosen simply for their high profile portfolios with no regard for what roles they would best fit. And then there's the horrible use of no-namers in some of the important roles like Echo, Fourie(r), Ulc, Theodor(e), Saga and Marlur.
@@acsound PSO2 had eight years and yet they _still_ rushed the localization, it's still full of horribly romanized names (and "Risa" can't be fixed because it's a name that was voice acted and Buckland probably costs too much, union or not (I have no idea if she's union, all I could find was a tweet of her supporting a tweet that says being non-union has nothing to do with the quality of voice acting. That isn't wrong and as such, tells me too little).
@@mattwo7 A good voice director would've ensured solid voice performances, and Romano is arguably the best in the business: as the voice director for the Timmverse DCAU and ATLA. As to PSO2: it's a video game. Only in recent years do we even bother to *wish* for solid acting in video games. 2009's ARC RISE FANTASIA is one of the "better" ones--and that game is unfavorably compared to CHAOS WARS (which at least had the excuse of not having the budget to hire pro VAs). When you're a gamer, Slime Boy's performance is fine overall--he just needed a microphone vs the TIN CANS ON A STRING he was made to use to phone in his dialogue. W/a good voice director like Romano, all of the charas--including Slime Boy--would've had decent performances...which would mitigate some of the crappy dialogue these poor actors had to speak.
@@acsound Oh yea, don't even get me started on Phantasy Star Universe's voice acting and that one was made when voice acting in video games had really started to take off too. Say what you will about Erin Cahill (and I still think Karen Era (before the Ambition of the Illuminus expansion for PSU turned her into a DiD) and Jen Scotts from Power Rangers Time Force are great characters), she can _not_ emote for the life of her. Also Ethan Waber, the main protagonist of PSU Episode 1 was voiced by Nick Tagas who barely had much of a career. By contrast, Matoi, the leading lady of Episodes 1-3 and 6 of PSO2 would have been so much worse if she wasn't voiced by someone as prolific as Xanthe Huynh (some of her other notable roles include Haru in Persona 5, Nazuna Hiwatashi in BNA, Erika in Pokemon Masters, Platelet in Cells at Work, Anna in Gun Gale Online, Alice and Caster in Fate/Extra Last Encore and Sachi in SAO Extra Edition, lots of typecasting it seems).
So what makes the transgender scene cringe is: 1. New Magic can do anything. Everyone in the magical academy has probably tried being another sex, race, species, or even a daemon or angel once. The centaur teacher would probably have a two legged form so she could use the stairs in school easier, too. 2. Having to take a potion once a month is stupid when (above) and also rings exist that can change the wearer when in contact with (substance). Why can't we make a ring that makes you into a girl/guy when it's in contact with oxygen? New Magic can do anything! 3. Rosemary knew Lavender who knew Carroway, who is not abashed about pointing out that he is trans. She would know Carroway is trans, and she'd probably know quite a bit about the magic because guess what children do when you tell them about something they don't know about? They ask why, how, where, and what about a thousand times. 4. Carroway and Rosemary should know each other even just slightly, making most of the conversation unnecessary. " Like I came to see you when you were little, do you remember me?" "Kinda," would be better than the slop we got.
slime boy sounds like the voice acts or just got really stoned and then was told to sound awkward and say whatever he wanted to say and then there were no retakes. no that would actually sound better, it sounds more like this guy is actually using a microphone on very very cheap earbuds from Walmart
Honestly, if I had a chance at writing this show, I’d tone down or straight up cut out a lot of the agenda pushing. Specifically with Caraway, I’d cut out any and all transgender allusions his character has and just make him an unconventional, somewhat quirky teacher who functions as a bit of a Gandalf/Dumbledore/Chiron figure to the main cast who takes time to give them some advice when he notices that they’re struggling with something. Admittedly, I’m the type of guy who prefers good storytelling over pushing agendas. Which is why I’ve gravitated so much towards anime in the last few years. And I personally tend to avoid anything with blatant LGBT elements that are shoved in your face (e.g. Almost anything made by the CW or companies trying to appeal to these demographics), because I care more about the characters and stories, not agendas.
I think you can still have Caraway be trans, but it doesn't have to be a PBS Kids episode about trans people (especially if this show is aimed at an adult audience). Just show the photo album and let the audience put the puzzle pieces together.
i personally gave it 3/10 and that's giving it 5 episodes. very mediocre but the people trying to attack anyone claiming otherwise are in my mind why it is seen as worse and nitpicked so much etc.
How dare you say she-ra is not an anime it is more of an anime that High Guardian spice. i mean except that rosemary's mom looks somewhat like she-ra but still
My biggest complaint is the tonal whiplash one moment it's a Saturday morning cartoon then bam blood and cursing it sits in limbo not really fitting in either even a show like Madoka Magica sets a tone of uneasiness even before the chomp so HGS doesn't really appeal to any major crowd.
Funny thing about the animation that was good in the show, the only reason behind that, was because they outsourced it to Dr Movie, a well established animation studio in South Korea, it was not done by the Crunchyroll animation studio who did the rest of the show's animation.
It seems like cartoons these days are trying to copy Avatar The Last Airbender and Steven Universe, usually by trying to mix the world building and storytelling of Avatar with the slice of life style of Steven Universe and it doesn't really work
After I research for days, with multiple sources, and after watching the series myself, I need to admit that is, not a 1 out of 10/5 show, 3/4 out of 10 maybe, despite what a lot of my fellow weebs want to admit, "Anime" is not the absolute high bar that they think it is, for every Violet Evergarden, you have 10 generic Isekai Animes, for every Kobayashi Dragon Maid you have to suffer 50 shitty ecchi high school harem shows, High Guardian Spice could had ben really good on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon or Disney Channel and even be bold to have so many theme's censored or taboo with-in western animation, something like, MLP or Steven Universe but better, sadly, terrible marketing choices, a Trailer more focused on who is making the show, instead of how good the show is or even what it is about, the use of a very controversial person (Kate Leth) to appear on said trailer, and try to sale it to a community already use to shows like the ones I mention before, as if this one is an original story with great characters, when the writhing is generic, the production (Animation, Dialog, Character Design, Music, Voice Acting, etc) is just average or bellow on some cases, and to try to use the "diversity" card to fans already use to diversity (Demon Slayer and many others like Sailor Moon or Inuyasha where created by women writhers), and also use to lgbtq+ characters, was the final nail in the coffin of this production, it could have being good or interesting, sadly will never get a season 2 (Most of the staff move on to other projects already, and after the smackdown the show got, is not likely to continue).
Not going to lie, I couldn't get into Kobayashi Dragon Maid. "even be bold to have so many theme's censored or taboo with-in western animation" They're taboo because of international censorship getting in the way of the corporations making as much money as possible, it has _nothing_ to do with it being western animation spesfically. Japan never really shook off its isolationist attitude so it's natural that anime IP rights holders are more ambivalent to international market success and censorship. Not to mention they sure as heck wouldn't care about succeeding in China in a stark contrast to the west because of the mutual bad blood between them.
@@mattwo7 Not sure how old are you, but I remember back in the 80's, long before international censorship was a thing, and from China to dominate the world and his economy, western animation was firmly view as children entertainment, while in Japan show's like Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2, just to name two examples, where normalizing everything from Lesbian relationships to cross design, manga's and story's created by Women, western animation has always being censored by the conservative and religious views, mainly Christian and Catholics, not due to international censorships, since that was not a thing back then, and just as a spoiler, Dragon Maid S, features a lesbian weeding in one of its episodes, many anime show's Yuri and Yaoi bait, with out care from China, since they understand, that while the Chinese market may be close to them, they still have the rest of the globe to sale the show's.
@@mattwo7 MLP is Western Animation, thats why you never heard of lesbian horses, not in the 80 and very shy in the Gen4, Revolutionary Girl Uta, Sailor Moon, Ranma 1/2, Japanese animation never shy away from representation since the 80's while the western animator's could not.
![[UA] Eternal Fire проти NAVI | EPL Season 20 Malta](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/chvlsDygrZM/mqdefault.jpg)
Something I want to mention about my comments about Slime Boy’s VA, Julian Koster.
I wrote that there were serious allegations leveled against him (grooming), but it has been pointed out that the information is hard to find or flat out missing.
I first heard about this around the premiere of the series, thinking it was commonplace. A couple sites seemed to mention it in passing, along with the occasional comment on videos featuring the character.
Looking for concrete evidence now though, all I can find is a Reddit thread mentioning the allegations, and that the person talking about it deleted their tweets.
At this point, it’s hearsay, and I apologize for not double checking before releasing the video. I stand by the quality (or lack there of) in the performance, but not on the comment I made during the rant until information is made clearer.
ever realized that
applejack's summer job song sounds like the
space jam theme song
From what I've seen, Parsley is the most well-received character in the series. People who dont like the show love her, so it has that going on.
Facts
I liked Snapdragon as well, not as much as Parsley but I feel if you made a spin off show starting them.. and new writers, you might have a chance.
Don't forget the Tommy Wisau of this show: Slime Boy.
@@dard2240 AHAHAHAHA, WAT A SCHTOREE, PARCE.
I can see that. I haven’t seen High Guardian Spice but from all the videos I’ve seen of it Parsley and SnapDragon seem like the characters I would like the most.
Make Parsley, Amaryllis, Snapdragon & Slime Boy the four main characters, keep Olive as the villain, and give this IP to a studio which has a budget and a soul. NOW we're talking.
Okay, that would actually get me to binge watch the series
Goblin Slayer and Parsley. So, a show about a stoic knight with an exciteable but friendly short-stack who can fix up his armor and weapons, and also tell him how much of a reckless mess he's being when needed going on adventures killing irredeemably evil beings. Yeah, that's something I'd rather watch.
Sounds like a great show to me. :)
Ironically, it would fit a lot of the themes of Goblin Slayer without any real adjustments beyond "add Parsley."
On that note, how come nobody has joked yet about Sage needing cinnamon for her potion-gone-wrong? What with all those herbs and other plants being the names of most characters, the lewd jokes write themselves with that line!
Honestly, I'm surprised that High Guardian Spice actually had a few characters that were actually decent. Parsley is of course more well-rounded compared to the bland and annoying cast with a relatable motivation as well as generally being a pleasant girl to be around. Amaryllis actually has consistent development compared to the rest of the cast and actually had some mildly funny moments, and what's not to love about a chaotic girl with an axe? Olive also had some surprising depth not present in the rest of the show, seeing how she's a literal cat girl who while she works for the supposed big bad, actually developed feelings for the heroes from being around them in her cat form, to the point where she doesn't really want to kill them. Plus she's a catgirl, and I love cat girls for the most part. ^_^
Honestly, the main problem with High Guardian Spice is that is doesn't know what it really wants to be, and it wastes its time just doing jack until the second half. Seriously, that first half is one of the most dreadfully boring things I ever had to sit through in a very long time. If it wasn't for the PR nightmare it was invoked in as a result of being under Crunchyroll's belt, no one would remember it. It's just a relatively low-quality show that despite having some surprisingly good moments near the second half, ultimately fumbles from its own inconsistency and ineptitude. It's less of a awful garbage fire that deserves to go to hell like other terribad anime like Master of Martial Hearts, but rather a mostly generic and forgettable at best mess that got a bit more hate than was necessary.
I like Snapdragon but I don't really like that they are making him trans because throughout the show we see him traumatised by the way his overly masculine family members treat him, he is mocked pretty harshly for not being man enough by Cal and even Sage shits on him for being male, he talks about how he just wants to be able to feel beautiful and elegant while also being strong, which is a hard 180 from what his father is and wants him to be.
I was expecting him to realise he didn't need to be a lumber jack that can't express himself and that manhood isn't defined by the activities and appearance you love and enjoy and that men are capable of not only having emotions outside of anger and indifference but also able to form deep bonds and friendships. Instead he is pushed into being trans which to me hurts his character and it ends up making it look like he only becomes a woman because everyone constantly told him the things he did, the way he acted and the way he looked is only acceptable for women and therefore he must become a woman.
He very clearly has some serious issues to work through and I like the dynamic that he has with Amarylis where she is a girl that tends to do and act in ways that would normally be considered boyish i.e she likes to fight, she likes to break shit to feel better, she doesn't express much emotion outside of smug asshole much like Cal and Aster while Snap is a boy that leans towards things typically considered girlish. They could have been a good expression of not conforming to gender roles without doing the dumb stereotype extremes of the girl has to be a man with tits and the guy has to be a lispy gay guy.
But instead it feels like Snap is being beaten down into becoming trans and the only one that actually supported him and didn't shit on him for being a guy/a feminine guy was Amarylis, she doesn't draw attention to the fact he is a guy doing girly things or that he can't do shit cos he is a guy. She is the only one that really says he is fine the way he is and if he wants to be pretty than she will help him be the prettiest, their friendship honestly feels the most genuine.
The character could even be non-binary, i.e. not identify as masculine, and it would still be both LGBT-supportive and less troubled. Right now, it feels like the series is heavily picturing a lot of male characters in a negative light if they don't follow stereotypically feminine traits (with a few notable exceptions), and yet manages to make some male characters the most likeable in a manner that seems off-handedly unintentional.
trans person here, and let me say... you're absolutely right. I actively push for our representation, but with Snapdragon, i was genuinely disappointed. it didnt feel right for the way it felt like they were building his character. him being trans feels more like a cop-out than representation. he was the only major character who was cis, male, and a good person, which couldve helped the show with the "anti-men" tone i was getting. but no, he couldnt be feminine. he couldnt show he was just as much of a man, even with him being more feminine. he couldnt have that depth. instead, he was trans in a way that felt more indescribably forced than the trans teacher character.
i still really like Snapdragon, but as a trans person, i couldnt let his handling slide. i could be missing something as im a trans man and not a trans woman, but its still so saddening for his whole person to now just be seen as "the trans one (woman edition)!".
@@eggedsalad Very eloquently put.
Full agreement.
I like snapdragon,, and like you,, i am not on board with the idea he should be a trans woman,, a man can be beautiful and strong at the same time too... like have you seen black butler? strong beautiful men everywhere...
and the moment where amaryllis cheering snapdragon at his lowest make me fall in love with the gremlin axe girl..
What I like about you and your reviews is that you're such a genuine person and your videos tackle every subject that needed to be addressed:story, characters, problems, personal opinions.Every other reviews I saw were kinda superficial, as in:"The story is unoriginal, the art is shitty and the characters are bad", and that's it.I am usually the type of person that watches reviews without watching the show, and that's why I watch your reviews, because they are detailed and you don't need to watch the show to understand the review.Plus, you're the type of person that is not afraid to say"controversial things", as seen in your She-ra review, where you said that you don't like Catradora because it is toxic, yet a lot of people crtiticized you for it.
Parsley should have been the Lead Character. We the audience can put ourselves in her shoes and the drama between Rose and Sage can be a good "Side friends who fight and make up all the time" is a pretty decent idea. We'll get to know more about the characters thru these lil fights and make ups and without 20 flashbacks of Rose missing her mom.
High Guardian Spice puts a content warning in the beginning of an episode
Me after watching Berserk and Devilman Crybaby: I see...
Fruit of Grisaia is also an underrated show that made me reconsider why I'm even watching it XD
Can't say it traumatized me but it made me think about it all night and I also saw this once on a kid's anime channel which idk how they even though was a good idea
@@remyhavoc4463 Might check it out
@@crosslineanimator2040 If you're not a harem fan, you might reconsider though it's so dark that it's barely a harem anyway. Plus, the protagonist isn't an idiot and is an actual chad so it's probably disqualified as a harem lol
I headcanon that the kid who shot at professor caroway( don’t know how to spell his name)!is a secret assasin in training tasked with killing him as like a test or something but subtlety and stelt isn’t his best field.
Parsley supremacy
when sage killed the water dragon I was so surprised and literally said “that’s so much gore for a *show made for kids*” and then remember that it’s not made for children. 😀
first of all i love parsley too and i am severly gratefull you made a video from it cause i heard alot of videos that had entitled opinions that came from people who didnt even watch now i dont say that these people dont have the allowance to have an opinion and besides all of this i was kinda hoping for a fast world building like the rodd and how it affects the world i loved that personally i do also have my cons on the show over all point where i wanna go with this i thought it was interesting but they have alot of room to be better and i am ready to elaborate my point further below
High Guardian Spice should have been good. With a competent writing room, a second or third draft, and some work, it could have been.
If Sage is going to display a character flaw like the sort of sexism she offered, that's fine. But a good show would show why she's wrong, or at least challenge that attitude with a different opinion from a different character.
One of the annoying things for me personally is that, while the story isn't good, it's in this weird mediocre spectrum that has me actually wanting to see the end of it, hoping that it might at least have an okay ending. I need closure. There was no closure in this. They barely established the plot, a thing most shows do in their pilots.
I like how you zoomed out to the two best girl of the show at the end of the video
Amaryllis Supremacy
Parsley Supremacy
very nice review,,, you said exactly what I have in my mind about the show.. it had potential.. but it's kinda ruined because it kinda forced to represent the lgbt stuff and the show is also like 'man bad woman good' thing.....
From my understanding it wasn't in production for 3 years. It finished in 2019 has been on the shelf the last 2 years
This was the most fair review of the show, and most honest one that I have seen in my opinion. It’s pretty much how I feel about it too. Thanks for this review!
Parsley and Thyme are my favorites from the main four.
Same
I love your analysis, it was honest and i also liked the show but I know it had its flaws and all.
I wondered why I thought Thyme (is that how you spell it) was the best out of all 4. I figured out it was because she talked the least and well, told everyone to shut up
I really hope that Raye gets a chance to either reboot this show or make another. I think Crunchyroll really screwed with its development. Forcing it to be graphic, hiring awful writers and giving them way more control of the product than him, giving a low budget and little time, etc.
Obviously, there are many problems that stem from Raye’s original concept. But those are problems that can be fixed with a good team of writers. People willing to go back and forth with Raye, give him the freedom he deserves with his own show, but still reign him in on certain things. It’s like the original writers let him keep every bad part of his idea and threw the rest in the garbage. There’s clear potential here, it just needs to not have such a lack of passion from the rest of the team.
Not enough people talk about how cute the grogs are! They're one of the best things about the show and I'd buy a grog plush if I could.
Well, that's a shame. I thought the show looked cute and figured people were just being harsh for the sake of it, but I guess it's disliked for a reason (though people are still too harsh). Though Hell, I have lower standards than most, so maybe I'd like HGS anyways! I mean, even making something bad or mediocre takes effort, and that demands respect. They can't have made HGS with, like, the budget and resources of some sort of top-tier anime, right? They worked with what they had, and it went how it went.
People complain about Crunchyroll spending their earnings on making HGS instead of supporting the anime industry... Yeah, I suppose that's fair, but either way it's supporting the animation industry, right? Which side of the Pacific shouldn't matter. I dunno. Maybe I'm dumb.
But I really should get around to watching Madoka Magica and Owl House and whatever else was "HGS but better". I did really like Little Witch Academia, and I only checked that show out because you made a reference to it in an Equestria Girls video, and I figured if you liked it I probably would too. You have good opinions, my dude.
Also, as a trans person myself (she/xem), that's an interesting point you made about Professor Caraway. The word "transgender" literally only dates to the 1990s, which makes its usage in a fantasy world exactly as tonally jarring as saying "word up, that's totally tubular, man". Not just that, but if the writers had substituted "transgender" for a historic term for trans people or trans men, it would've added another dimension to how they handled the topic: by sending the message that "trans people have always been around", which is a message that goes untold far too often.
But unfortunately, finding a good historic term for trans men would've required a lot of research and deliberation that I'm not too sure the HGS staff would've been willing to do even if they had thought of it. Hell, even my own knowledge of medieval transmasculine vocabulary is severely limited. As someone who's never seen HGS and doesn't know who worked on it, it makes me wonder if there were any trans staff involved in the production, and if the Caraway scene was basically just meant to be "trans people exist and are good actually" with no more actual substance.
Which side of the Pacific does matter because almost all of the anime shown on Crunchyroll are Japanese made (with a few exceptions), and they have a really dangerous work mentality over there where there are extremely high suicide/death rates because of it. We wanted the money from Crunchyroll to go to them to make their lives easier, not to a group of people who half-assed the job and post tweets telling me I should die just because I was born a male.
@@Jazzer995 Call me jaded, but Crunchy money would help anime workers' lives a Hell of a lot more if it went directly into their pockets - as it stands, this isn't the case, and the money instead goes to whoever owns the international rights to a given anime.
More often than not, this isn't the studio, who will often only see the initial payment to produce an anime and zilch of that anime's actual profits. The international rights to an anime certainly do not belong to the employees and freelancers who that studio pays.
So all in all it's basically as wishful to expect Crunchy money to trickle down to your average Tarou and Hanako Yamada as it is to expect Amazon money to trickle down to the folks in warehouses pissing in bottles. If throwing money at the employers really helped the employees so much, you'd think things would be far better now than they actually are.
So if you're looking to improve labor conditions, which side of the Pacific really doesn't matter. Crunchyroll certainly supports the *industry* of anime - the more profitable an anime is, the more anime like it will be made - but it's a stretch to say that Crunchy does much to support the actual *laborers* of anime. My impression of Crunchy for its own employees is mixed, too.
So if you want to vote with your wallet to improve anime workers' lives, vote for studios that already are good for workers; and vote for original anime that studios actually own the rights to.
Beyond this, Japan's overall culture surrounding labor needs to change - less freelancing, more unions, things like that - and this requires the Land of the Rising Sun to change values in a way that can't be achieved simply by a bunch of gaijins paying a few bucks a month for a streaming service. I'm sure there is something we can do, but this ain't it.
Or maybe I'm just dumb. I'm not an expert on the anime industry. This is just opinionated rambling.
For the presence of trans staf in HGS, there was at least the main author that also voice Caraway(it is suspected to be a self insert).
And the only reproach that I can give to this scene is that it interrupt the plot.
There is also a second trans representation in the recurrent cast of the show in the personage of Snapdragon, but in my opinion it could have been better handled.
First thing ,the fact that he now she is transgender was revealed in a tweet not in the show(doesn't see herself as her in any episode or at least it's not referenced in the dialogue)
she first appeared as a bully,
then a feminine guy that is not opposed to cross-dress,
and finally after counting his backstory to Caraway(that can be resumed as all the man in her family are toxic macho, and she doesn't want to become like them) and then say that she doesn't want to be more masculine in her physic.
Caraway then says, and I kid you not, "did you heard of transition magic" they speak a little more, and he ends the conversation by saying that it's his answer/way and that Snap should find his own.
I find this last scene as being a little heavy-handed(can be perceived as grooming) on Caraway side because there could be many answers other than "you are transgender" to the situation of Snap. Like, maybe, she was just a more feminine guy and lack of good male model in her life (male representation is a big problem in this show all males(Caraway excluded) are either only mentioned, bully with matchist tendency's, dumb, or plain evil).
I wanna see someone make a video comparing HGS to The Owl House since I've noticed they can be similar with their themes and some other stuff!
2:17 Also Steven Universe
11:11 Can't find anything on google about allegations against Julian Koster?
Fun fact: Sungwon Cho also voices Vaseraga from Granblue Fantasy Versus
Snap dragon can get it I like snap dragon
you hear slime boy i hear charlie slimecicle
Well thank you for helping me dodged that bullet. Little witch Academia is really good. Also have you watched Infinity train?
16:10 This notion is one of those toxic masculinity things, I would definitely say this show reinforcing that idea is much more harmful than the Twitter "kill all men" comment since I don't tend to take such ideas seriously, like no one is going to make that into political violence against men in all likelihood, but the idea that men can't or shouldn't have deep emotional connections in platonic relationships, is a very common one in society and is actively harmful to young men and boys.
The show is a victim of circumstances, a show that had it released on Netflix without the baggage would have gone about without hatred or praise and no one would have talked about it.
But no, not only did it come as an "Original" series for an Anime site, it came as an original non-anime series for Crunchyroll, the company that guilt trips you into paying their service while promising they'll support the Anime Industry.
The company that only subs their episodes once and never goes back to correct the Plethora of mistakes that are left by the rush job. The company that was happy without investing on a functional video player until Flash was set to die.
Add to that the nightmare combo that was that first trailer and the participation of that writer and you have a recipe for disaster.
The show had to be amazing to manage to carry through with that baggage aaaaaaand it ended up being ok at best, if not mediocre.
If a show is not entertaining enough, it's flaws will be made all the more noticeable, and when you consider the ammount of people coming in expecting the worst and looking for it, it was never gonna end well for this show.
My problem with the tone of the Caraway reveal has nothing to do with them being transgender or anything (totally on the "ally" side here), but the fitting of the theme with the setting: we're consistently shown that New Magic is just so OP, specifically stated that it carries "no cost" in the same episode (and which is a bit of a Chekov's Gun thing, but let's not get there), and yet transition magic breaks that mould *_drastically_* - with Caraway openly stating that he used new magic on one hand to transition, but also having to drink a monthly draught to maintain its efficacy. In other words: the writing is inconsistent with how new magic is otherwise propped to operate in order to fit the real-life themes of hormone replacement therapy; I'd like to believe they won't force the character to abandon transition because of abandoning New Magic, because it's been very strongly hinted that this will be the major theme magic-wise in the series.
Honestly, the magic system is so confusing. If "new magic" was JUST the terrasphere stuff and everything else is "old magic", that would make everything so much clearer. For one, potions seems awfully redundant when you can do "anything" with the terrasphere (to the point where you can preload spells into it). It also (kinda) answers why Caraway can't just do a one and done sort of thing if he KNOWS he's a man.
also it wont so far have a new season since crunchy dropped it and doesnt want to continue cause of the back slash it became
In a review of High Guardian Spice, someone suggested that we employ Death of the Author when discussing Kate Leith's tweets. Do you agree or disagree? I disagree because Death of the Author, in my opinion, should only be employed when an author can't add anything to the conversation.
So you are into short stacks . I can respect that
Honestly, I don't like the scene where Carroway explains what being trans means to Rosemary because it adds literally nothing to the episode or the plot. It's only there to give Ray Rodriguez an excuse to explain to the audience what being a trans man is. Even the characters in the scene move on after the explanation was given as though it never happened or mattered, and Rosemary even has a brief moment where it feels like she's awkwardly trying to steer the conversation back to how she feels about her missing mother. You can lift that scene out of the episode and nothing would change. Actually no, I think it would actually be better, because if Carroway's explanation of trans people was moved to the same episode where he's talking to Snapdragon about it, it would make more sense because that point in time is literally the moment in the entire show where Carroway's status as a trans man had any relevance to the plot or any character's story arc. You'd have to change a bit of the dialogue, but if you have to have an explanation of what trans people are, THAT is the place it should've been.
And the only time where there was a good fighting action scene done good, was actually outsourced to a Korean animation studio.
Where have I been, when did b*stard become a swear?
It’s crazy how women writing the show don’t know how women friendship works. And had weird close up shots during transformation sequence.
Ngl i clicked this video on accident but I genuinely started getting interested
Didn't we all
This show is ruff, it's filled with holes, it's got some bad writing, and honestly... The show can be even hurtful to the viewers sometimes. Yet deep inside the show it has the potential to be good, great even. I do not think this show with be picked up again, but shows like this are great to fix. Not to take for yourself! But, to craft it into something better. *Great video EquesTron* 👍
I actually like the one thing they don't show enough of the world it is in . The writing is horrible , the animation is bad , the reuse of animation as worse the later years Hannah Barbara , and then the poorly placed politics but the one thing it has going is it is set in a magical world where literally anything can happen and the sad thing is they show absolutely nothing about the world or magic . Instead they want to tell us about it .
Slime boy is best character
Oh my gosh interesting very interesting
Harry Potter gose to high guardian academy.
15:28
Prozd's voice acting is better in his skits than high guardian spice imo
Also that sage scene really pissed me off because theres friends I have that if I were LGBTQ, I would probably come out to them before my actual family because I trust them that much.
Prozd is just an amazing voice actor. Comparing even his casual skits to HGS is just insulting lol.
Even in HGS, Prozd's voice acting is really good. He gives some of the best vocal performances in the show, even if the lines he was provided with aren't exactly great.
I believe the word for this show you're looking for is mediocre
It's so fucking bad
“Who is this for?”
“I don’t know, the kids from the lord of the flies.”
I like making this joke anytime someone wonders who the show is for.
I'll be honest, that's a good joke.
AH, SAO Abridged, that joke will never get old.
15:22
As a female person I disagree with the statement of "the bond between girls is deeper".
Almost all of the people who I can talk about my problems and feelings with, and actaully feel understood by, are male.
While in all of my realtionships with other girls/women, there were a lot of gossiping, not trying to listen and/or trying to understand each other, fighting and backstabbing...
"The bond between girls is deeper" is one of the biggest lies...
Thanks for the second perspective. I can only speak as a guy, so I didn't want to make any assumptions of the female perspective of the line.
@@EquesTron
I am not really a fan of those "all girl"-friend groups you see in a lot of shows aimed at girls since I fell like they depict an unrealistic depiction of "the female friendship experience".
You often see girls standing around in groups (like at school) that is true, but often those girls are not friends...not really.
Maybe there a two or three who are actually friends, maybe best friends even, but most of them don't really care about each other.
They just stand next to each other and talk to each other, because they don't want to be alone. But as soon as one of them leaves, you can bet the others will talk shit about her.
Of couse I can only speak of my experience, but from what I have witnessed over the years I can say girls often pretend friendship.
And I wish that was only true for teenagers...but I am in my twenties now and I am still seeing this patern at my work place...
Yes I agree, I've always had deep and meaningful conversations with guys rather than girls. And "the bond between girls is deeper" is definitely not true for everyone.
as a female, yeah this comment is true
@@beingafk3494 All girl groups are weird. I've always been confused about how you can pretend to like someone like that.
Maybe that's just me thinking social norms are weird, as always, but I don't think I could fake being best friends with someone I disliked enough to make fun of and talk badly to everyone else about them. If you know everyone is betraying each other anyway, why do you all stay together??
I'd say the best groups are mixed groups. Mixed groups are nice.
- My issues with Caraway's "I'm transgender" monologue have strictly to do with the tone (the textbook-y description, which would be overlookable if it were for all ages), timing (it derails the topic of Lavender, much like the tea story in YIIK), and placement (I don't think meathead Rosemary really cares much about transition magic or potions). It gets better with his chat with Snapdragon, of course - but that probably would have been a better time to be direct about his trans status.
- Aster...I think they kinda failed in making him the ultimate "cishet white male scum". Yeah, he's womanizing, but more than that he's a dimwit who doesn't realize he's getting himself hurt while trying to do the heavy lifting for Rosemary - that's more of a himbo thing. Now Call is definitely a more toxic man, being womanizing (and not in a sorta-polite way like Aster), transphobic, AND stupidly grudgeful (also very mean toward his cousin Parnelle).
- I, uh, can't even take Mandrake seriously. His first scene DRIPS with tryhard edgelord energy. Also, that "A for Aster" line seems really random.
- Anise and Aloe have a talk about Sage's mom that just rubs me the wrong way. Basically, they say that her mom used to be into New Magic, and that she's a hypocrite for discouraging Sage from using it back home...Uh, it's not hypocrisy if she doesn't use it anymore. Maybe there was a reason she stopped using New Magic? Anise and Aloe don't seem to care! "Your mom used to be cool, but now she's lame, don't ask why" - that's the only message I got from that! And...while I'm sure the writers may have been alluding to a certain other angle, I wouldn't be shocked to hear this excuse used in regards to drugs or something.
I wanted to like Mandrake so bad cause I like his design and don't mind his VA but his attitude is borderline edgelord IF NOT totally edgelord in certain cases like you mentioned XD Olive was a good fighter but held back; Mandrake would've been an actual threat for the girls.
I feel the the best episode was that one where Snap and Sage were hanging out leading to some endearing stuff and Thyme and Parsely were fighting a demon Thyme summoned
"Look how Parsley enters a room."
SomeBODY--
Missed opportunity for me to add in Smash Mouth.
Think we all would enjoy an Adventures of Parsley and Thyme spin off. I say Thyme because she seems to be best to balance Parsley of the other three, it would be the Legolas-Gimili buddy story we never got to read, Thanks Tolkien
Thyme constantly makes the face I made watching the show; she really understands me.
There's three movies that Ray and the writer's room (minus Kate for obvious reasons) needs to watch. Sandlot, Stand by me, and platoon. Each shows male platonic relationships that varies from close bonds to dysfunctional family. And at three stages of life. Circumstances are different, those bonds are still strong.
This show isn't good...but I want a second season. I want to know what happens with Snapdragon and Amaryllis.
YESSSS they're the best
Tumblrpilled - A word to use when you don't want to be held accountable for old posts online. (Urban DIctionary)
Ironically she's the quote on the page... at the time of this post.
The content warning is probably for the easily triggered people that are going to watch it.
As Robyn from Anime America put it in a video released after yours the Transgender chat should have been saved for Snapdragon's breakdown.
I, like you, watched the whole thing desperately wanting PRAYING for something good to happen because, in a way, I paid for this thing, I have the sub to support Crunchyroll and the anime industry... But sorry, I do respect you, but you are absolutely wrong...
Amarillis Is the best girl, she has a clear personality (well, SOME PERSONALITY), an arc AND she made me feel more for her relationship with Snapdragon than any of the mains AND she CHANGES, oh boy, she AND Catgirl, Best Girls... Other than that, a mix between Episode 2 AND Episode 11 would be the perfect answer for a really small kid if they ever ask what "trans" means... TOO BAD IS NOT FOR KIDS YOH.
BTW, I swear, Sailor Moon had More horrifying AND mature scenes AND they gave us that uncensored as kids, same for DB AND Saint Seiya... Hell, HeMan AND Thundercats packed More people exploding horrifyingly, I just dont get It...
PD, Parsley still Best Girl of the Main. ✨
The whole series itself felt like it could've been more relevant for actual fans if it was a comic series on Webtoon,
this is genuinely the best review I’ve seen of high guard spice and I agree with every single point you’ve made. also parsley is the best girl of the main 4 characters and I also love amaryllis and olive
So the main characters on the show are Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme. Riddle me this? Is there any place in this show that will be called the scarsborough fair? If you don't understand look up the song with the same title. Then you will get my meaning.
Haven't seen this bloody show, but that song plays as the first two we see leave on a cart.
There is a place scarborough Kingdom I beleive
@@sarafontanini7051 and there's a fair in I think the 7th episode
Wait, Slime Boy's VA has allegations against him???
There is not justice in the world
Wow. Son, we need to have a word.
@@ryanm.8720 lol the fact that I get this reference- 😂
I saw the writing on the wall with this series from the first "trailer". I don't hold it against anyone who does enjoy it, but I refuse to support this stupidity. Nothing flows naturally AT ALL, why try to do this if you're not going to actually TRY!? In all honesty, I found that sexist conversation was about as tone deaf as the Dragons being BABY KILLERS in Dragon Quest!
1:57 Why wasn't Harry Potter in the examples of stuff that did this before but better? I don't think any media ever captured "irresponsible teachers" as heavily as Harry Potter lol.
I mean I guess there's Naruto but I wonder which profession is _supposed_ to be more dangerous to begin with?
Because Harry Potter isnt animated, nor a tv series.
Naruto actually graduated from ninja school in the first chapter. After that, he is basically an adult and working his job.
Honestly I kinda want a 2nd season to happen just so I can get more Parsley, Amaryllis , Snapdragon and Olive (or heck just reboot the entire thing and make them the main cast) like I genuinely liked these characters
For some reason I feel that the trans scenes could have been better if it was called something else in that world. It’s all pretty much because of the kind of setting we’re in. Because when you hear transgender it sounds normal and fits. But when you hear it in this show it sounds kinda harsh against other terms.
If transformation magic is so common and accepted that they have first year students use it to become mermaids without having the students ask their parents to sign permission slips first, does it really make sense for transitioning between genders to be so taboo that it needs its own term? Or is being transgender different because it's a long term thing? I'd say it's permanent but Caraway is screwed if he doesn't have enough transition potion before the end of the month...
Great video friend, i also wanted to love the show but unfortunately it has a lot of problems. I would never call it rubbish or something like that, like 99% of the internet and other content creators. I loved some of the characters like Olivia and (best girl) Parsley, plus the last ep was good. Its kinda sad that there's no way a second season will be made... I really wanted the show to have a second chance. Great video again.
my hopes were already pretty low for this show, especially after i read about the whole promo controversy back in the day. but then i watched it...... all 12 episodes..... i had no idea it'd end up being EVEN WORSE! just comes to show Crunchyroll should never be allowed to make another "anime" ever again!
but Parsley was okay. she was the only character i genuinely liked
I hear people say Caraway is "trans representation," but if you think about it for two seconds, he really isn't. Caraway's transition was instantaneous, required very little effort, is completely reversible, and is not stigmatized by a world in which shape shifters are commonplace. Do you think Caraway spent years agonizing over the (nonexistent) consequences of his transition, or do think one day he just figured, "What the hell, I'll try it." He calls himself "transgender," and if that's enough for you to consider him "trans representation" then so be it, but objectively his experience is so unlike a real-life transgender person's experience that you might as well call Mandrake "trans representation" for transforming into Lavender.
On a 10 star scale I give this show a 5.....could had been so much better, but could had been so much worse. The show is serviceable it just needs a new captain who can right the ship and make the show great.
I try to hold what the staff say and do outside of production separate as I can HATE a creator but love their work. When it came to this though the outside provided context to the inside. A "I hate men" attitude explains how some of the plot points came to be. It provides context, now if it is played up for laughs and had a strawman female saying stuff like that with the main characters correcting that kind of behavior with a strawman male being a uber sexist then yeah plot points like that can work. Better yet have an episode that pairs those two together, two who hate each other on a fundamental level forcing them to work through a problem together allowing them to grow as characters.
10:12 Sometimes the voice or casting director is at fault. Like with Risa in PSO2, with Buckland obviously only being [mis]cast because she played 2B in spite of Risa being a brain-in-a-jar cyborg, not an android and being axe crazy rather than stoic as f*ck. Just like Kametz was never going to sound sleazy enough to get Luthor right and how whoever played Dudu (all of the NPCs who weren't story-relevant were uncredited (most of the VAs pull double duty so it's easy to guess sometimes, like how Tetsuya Kakihara of Gurren Lagann fame was identified as the emergency trial and PSE burst announcer because he also did the Japanese voice of Huey) because of course) couldn't get him trollish enough. All almost of the voice actors did Funimation dubs and most of them were in SAO and/or Jojo's so we know they _can_ do good work but were horribly miscast, only being chosen simply for their high profile portfolios with no regard for what roles they would best fit. And then there's the horrible use of no-namers in some of the important roles like Echo, Fourie(r), Ulc, Theodor(e), Saga and Marlur.
You'd think that w/THREE YEARS to prepare, that Crunchyroll and the HGS crew would've sprung for *Andrea Romano*...
@@acsound PSO2 had eight years and yet they _still_ rushed the localization, it's still full of horribly romanized names (and "Risa" can't be fixed because it's a name that was voice acted and Buckland probably costs too much, union or not (I have no idea if she's union, all I could find was a tweet of her supporting a tweet that says being non-union has nothing to do with the quality of voice acting. That isn't wrong and as such, tells me too little).
@@mattwo7 A good voice director would've ensured solid voice performances, and Romano is arguably the best in the business: as the voice director for the Timmverse DCAU and ATLA.
As to PSO2: it's a video game. Only in recent years do we even bother to *wish* for solid acting in video games. 2009's ARC RISE FANTASIA is one of the "better" ones--and that game is unfavorably compared to CHAOS WARS (which at least had the excuse of not having the budget to hire pro VAs).
When you're a gamer, Slime Boy's performance is fine overall--he just needed a microphone vs the TIN CANS ON A STRING he was made to use to phone in his dialogue. W/a good voice director like Romano, all of the charas--including Slime Boy--would've had decent performances...which would mitigate some of the crappy dialogue these poor actors had to speak.
@@acsound Oh yea, don't even get me started on Phantasy Star Universe's voice acting and that one was made when voice acting in video games had really started to take off too. Say what you will about Erin Cahill (and I still think Karen Era (before the Ambition of the Illuminus expansion for PSU turned her into a DiD) and Jen Scotts from Power Rangers Time Force are great characters), she can _not_ emote for the life of her. Also Ethan Waber, the main protagonist of PSU Episode 1 was voiced by Nick Tagas who barely had much of a career. By contrast, Matoi, the leading lady of Episodes 1-3 and 6 of PSO2 would have been so much worse if she wasn't voiced by someone as prolific as Xanthe Huynh (some of her other notable roles include Haru in Persona 5, Nazuna Hiwatashi in BNA, Erika in Pokemon Masters, Platelet in Cells at Work, Anna in Gun Gale Online, Alice and Caster in Fate/Extra Last Encore and Sachi in SAO Extra Edition, lots of typecasting it seems).
So what makes the transgender scene cringe is:
1. New Magic can do anything. Everyone in the magical academy has probably tried being another sex, race, species, or even a daemon or angel once. The centaur teacher would probably have a two legged form so she could use the stairs in school easier, too.
2. Having to take a potion once a month is stupid when (above) and also rings exist that can change the wearer when in contact with (substance). Why can't we make a ring that makes you into a girl/guy when it's in contact with oxygen? New Magic can do anything!
3. Rosemary knew Lavender who knew Carroway, who is not abashed about pointing out that he is trans. She would know Carroway is trans, and she'd probably know quite a bit about the magic because guess what children do when you tell them about something they don't know about? They ask why, how, where, and what about a thousand times.
4. Carroway and Rosemary should know each other even just slightly, making most of the conversation unnecessary. " Like I came to see you when you were little, do you remember me?" "Kinda," would be better than the slop we got.
Omg! I’m not the only one who thought she looked like Best Girl(TM) Tron Bonne!!
slime boy sounds like the voice acts or just got really stoned and then was told
to sound awkward and say whatever he wanted to say and then there were no retakes. no that would actually sound better, it sounds more like this guy is actually using a microphone on very very cheap earbuds from Walmart
Honestly, if I had a chance at writing this show, I’d tone down or straight up cut out a lot of the agenda pushing. Specifically with Caraway, I’d cut out any and all transgender allusions his character has and just make him an unconventional, somewhat quirky teacher who functions as a bit of a Gandalf/Dumbledore/Chiron figure to the main cast who takes time to give them some advice when he notices that they’re struggling with something.
Admittedly, I’m the type of guy who prefers good storytelling over pushing agendas. Which is why I’ve gravitated so much towards anime in the last few years. And I personally tend to avoid anything with blatant LGBT elements that are shoved in your face (e.g. Almost anything made by the CW or companies trying to appeal to these demographics), because I care more about the characters and stories, not agendas.
I think you can still have Caraway be trans, but it doesn't have to be a PBS Kids episode about trans people (especially if this show is aimed at an adult audience). Just show the photo album and let the audience put the puzzle pieces together.
so this show has content warnings on crunchyroll... but shows like goblin slayer (at the time) didn't? lmao
"It's not good... but it's not unwatchable."
So it's the Star Wars Prequels again right?
i personally gave it 3/10 and that's giving it 5 episodes. very mediocre but the people trying to attack anyone claiming otherwise are in my mind why it is seen as worse and nitpicked so much etc.
I wanted to like this too cause fantasy epics are my favorite genre and I haven't heard of seen enough of those.
How dare you say she-ra is not an anime it is more of an anime that High Guardian spice. i mean except that rosemary's mom looks somewhat like she-ra but still
My biggest complaint is the tonal whiplash one moment it's a Saturday morning cartoon then bam blood and cursing it sits in limbo not really fitting in either even a show like Madoka Magica sets a tone of uneasiness even before the chomp so HGS doesn't really appeal to any major crowd.
Funny thing about the animation that was good in the show, the only reason behind that, was because they outsourced it to Dr Movie, a well established animation studio in South Korea, it was not done by the Crunchyroll animation studio who did the rest of the show's animation.
Slightly off-topic, but I love the brief praise for Little Witch Academia. It's one of my favorite anime
It seems like cartoons these days are trying to copy Avatar The Last Airbender and Steven Universe, usually by trying to mix the world building and storytelling of Avatar with the slice of life style of Steven Universe and it doesn't really work
7:43 killed me lol
Nah man animaniacs is WAY better than this shitshow lol
Oh, so that's why it sucked
The writer was sexists
Well I think Snapdragon was the best out of the worst. Don't @ me. Well the crying not the best sounding crying but I've heard worse.
12:10 - Fuck YES! I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought so!
i feel like parsley is the only likeable character in the whole show
6:50 the word you're looking for is lazy.
I feel you
After I research for days, with multiple sources, and after watching the series myself, I need to admit that is, not a 1 out of 10/5 show, 3/4 out of 10 maybe, despite what a lot of my fellow weebs want to admit, "Anime" is not the absolute high bar that they think it is, for every Violet Evergarden, you have 10 generic Isekai Animes, for every Kobayashi Dragon Maid you have to suffer 50 shitty ecchi high school harem shows, High Guardian Spice could had ben really good on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon or Disney Channel and even be bold to have so many theme's censored or taboo with-in western animation, something like, MLP or Steven Universe but better, sadly, terrible marketing choices, a Trailer more focused on who is making the show, instead of how good the show is or even what it is about, the use of a very controversial person (Kate Leth) to appear on said trailer, and try to sale it to a community already use to shows like the ones I mention before, as if this one is an original story with great characters, when the writhing is generic, the production (Animation, Dialog, Character Design, Music, Voice Acting, etc) is just average or bellow on some cases, and to try to use the "diversity" card to fans already use to diversity (Demon Slayer and many others like Sailor Moon or Inuyasha where created by women writhers), and also use to lgbtq+ characters, was the final nail in the coffin of this production, it could have being good or interesting, sadly will never get a season 2 (Most of the staff move on to other projects already, and after the smackdown the show got, is not likely to continue).
Not going to lie, I couldn't get into Kobayashi Dragon Maid.
"even be bold to have so many theme's censored or taboo with-in western animation"
They're taboo because of international censorship getting in the way of the corporations making as much money as possible, it has _nothing_ to do with it being western animation spesfically. Japan never really shook off its isolationist attitude so it's natural that anime IP rights holders are more ambivalent to international market success and censorship. Not to mention they sure as heck wouldn't care about succeeding in China in a stark contrast to the west because of the mutual bad blood between them.
@@mattwo7 Not sure how old are you, but I remember back in the 80's, long before international censorship was a thing, and from China to dominate the world and his economy, western animation was firmly view as children entertainment, while in Japan show's like Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2, just to name two examples, where normalizing everything from Lesbian relationships to cross design, manga's and story's created by Women, western animation has always being censored by the conservative and religious views, mainly Christian and Catholics, not due to international censorships, since that was not a thing back then, and just as a spoiler, Dragon Maid S, features a lesbian weeding in one of its episodes, many anime show's Yuri and Yaoi bait, with out care from China, since they understand, that while the Chinese market may be close to them, they still have the rest of the globe to sale the show's.
@@sergiocygnus The 80s are irrelevant. It's 2021, our culture has changed since then.
@@sergiocygnus I mean, I sure as f*ck don't remember hearing about any lesbian horses in the 80s MLP cartoon.
@@mattwo7 MLP is Western Animation, thats why you never heard of lesbian horses, not in the 80 and very shy in the Gen4, Revolutionary Girl Uta, Sailor Moon, Ranma 1/2, Japanese animation never shy away from representation since the 80's while the western animator's could not.
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