On August 22, 2018, Crunchyroll unveiled a new original series titled High Guardian Spice. The series, created by animator Raye Rodriguez, follows the story of four magical girls (conveniently named after spices) attending academy who "form allegiances and comical kinships, uncover legacies and betrayals, and discover their true identities while preparing to protect the world from an ominous unknown threat.” This new series was Crunchyroll's first forray into original content, and although Crunchyroll has co-produced anime before, this was Crunchyroll's first fully original series developed in Burbank, California. The initial trailer held the series in high regard for its all-female writing team and diverse crew, which was "50% female" according to staff in the reveal trailer. Despite the lack of actual footage, it was clear Crunchyroll put diversity in the spotlight, and rightfully so. Diversity is lacking in the animation industry, and there is no problem celebrating that. To Crunchyroll, this was an easy homerun and good PR for the company.
Unfortunaetly, it was not.
What followed was a PR nightmare for Crunchyroll. High Guardian Spice received massive backlash from Crunchyroll's userbase, criticizing the series for a laundry list of reasons. Some users felt that Crunchyroll was taking money away from subscribers to funnel new projects that should have been sent back to Japanese studios (this is untrue, by the way). There was also criticism of the series being a Steven Universe, Puella Magi Madoka Magica or Little Witch Academia ripoff. Some users mocked the art style for being "CalArts style", a term initially coined by John Kricfalusi to mock the formulaic nature of modern animation. This term slowly morphed into a term used by animation detractors to criticize series such as Star Vs. The Forces of Evil and the aforementioned Steven Universe for having "samey" art styles. While the term "CalArts style" has multiple holes in it, the term was nonetheless used against High Guardian Spice.
And then there was rampant sexism and LGBTphobia. Many users took aim at the crew showcased in the trailer, such as series creator Raye Rodriguez and Kate Leth. They were called SJWs, or social justice warriors, a term used to mock progressive people. A common stereotype for SJWs in the eyes of detractors include plus-size bodies, glasses, dyed hair and other features, and reactionary Crunchyroll users took this stereotype to mock the High Guardian Spice crew featured in the trailer. While there's a plethora of screenshots, tweets, and Reddit posts ridiculing the crew and the trailer, it's too much to go over or even handle. Abandon all hope if you do your own research.
So while all of this was happening, what did Crunchyroll do? During the backlash, they disabled ratings (and at some point even comments) and two days after the initial announcement posted an article on their page titled "Crunchyroll Originals and the HTML5 Player". In this article, Shinji Akari (this is a pseudonym), addresses the criticisms thrown at Crunchyroll and even announces an update to the website's video player, a source of contention for many of its users. While this article was seen as a win for some users, others saw it as nothing more than a typical PR statement to appease angry users who weren't going to watch High Guardian Spice in the first place.
A week later, a High Guardian Spice panel took place at Crunchyroll Expo 2018. This panel detailed the characters, development and other tidbits about the show. It was also announced that High Guardian Spice would be released in six months, which means it would have been released sometime in Spring 2019.
However, as you may already know, this did not happen.
Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and months turned into years (or 2 at least), without any solid information about High Guardian Spice during or even after production. There were little pieces put out there, ranging from a transcript of the pilot after it was posted on a test screening website, to a show creator accusing High Guardian Spice of ruining the chances of series with diverse themes getting picked up.
The series wrapped up production in November of 2019, but there was hardly any news about it outside of Raye Rodriguez's Twitter and other minut sources. Crunchyroll eventually showed off High Guardian Spice in a sizzle reel in early 2020, but only for a few seconds. That should tell you how they felt about it.
Silence took over High Guardian Spice, and onlookers wondered where the series went, and why Crunchyroll abandoned it. Some even speculated that it was lost media, a series shelved due to the immense backlash it sparked.
However, this all changed in May of 2021. Almost two years after HGS ended, Raye Rodriguez posted a tweet announcing to the world to be on the lookout for High Guardian Spice news in the future. It would eventually be announced that the series would receive news at 2021's Virtual Crunchyroll Expo during their Industry Panel on August 5th, 2021.
As of this writing, it's too early to say if High Guardian Spice will be a success in the eyes of Crunchyroll. While the series has fans who are eager to watch it when the series becomes available, it has a huge uphill battle to face, not only with Crunchyroll's userbase, but also Crunchyroll themselves (FYI, the last few pieces of HGS advertising were from Raye Rodriguez himself, meanwhile Crunchyroll has been silent about its announcement besides a small paragraph at the bottom of their VCRX panel announcements and retweeting Raye's tweets).
This is an abridged version of the story, and I know I missed a few things (which will eventually be touched upon in the future). To onlookers, High Guardian Spice is either an SJW cartoon by Crunchyroll that was a waste of money, or it is seen as an example of the sexism and LGBTphobia of the anime community. However, many can agree that the biggest takeaway from all of this is how High Guardian Spice is an example of Crunchyroll's poor business decisions and handling of their Crunchyroll Originals lineup. (which was put into the spotlight in this Anime News Network article by Callum May).
After hearing the rocky story of High Guardian Spice, you might be wondering what the point of this blog is. And it's simple: To archive and document the history, development and issues of High Guardian Spice.
This blog is not intended to be satire or to mock the High Guardian Spice series or crew behind it. This blog is meant to be educational for visitors to learn more about High Guardian Spice, Crunchyroll's original series they want you to forget about.
I have more posts planned, such as a timeline. If you know anyone or are someone who was attached to High Guardian Spice, please shoot me an email or DM me on Twitter @HGSHistorian. And if I missed any information or other material please comment and I will update the article. Thank you.
Let's see where this goes...
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