A blog dedicated to the history and production of Crunchyroll's Original series, High Guardian Spice
Thursday, July 29, 2021
The (Un)Official and (Mostly) Complete Timeline of High Guardian Spice
This has been a bit in the making. Since the opening of the High Guardian Spice Archive (and even prior to opening the High Guardian Spice Archive), I have always wanted to make a High Guardian Spice timeline. After digging through Twitter threads, old resumes and other websites, I have what can be considered a "complete" timeline of events surrounding High Guardian Spice.
Before I begin, a few notes:
NOTE #1: THIS IS NOT A COMPLETE TIMELINE
The "Mostly" in the title of this blog should already tell you this, but this is not a complete timeline of High Guardian Spice. If new information gets discovered, or if anyone corrects me (which I highly recommend doing if I flubbed a certain point in time) then I will edit this article and make notes on said edits.
NOTE #2: NONE OF THIS INFORMATION WAS OBTAINED THROUGH ILLEGITIMATE MEANS
Much of this information was found on, but not limited to: Tumblr, Twitter, Anime News Network, Reddit, and various resumes of people involved in the production of High Guardian Spice. None of the information presented was found through illegitimate or illegal ways.
NOTE #3: THIS BLOG POST TOUCHES UPON RAYE PRE-TRANSITION
I mentioned this in my Before Crunchyroll article, but this blog post will include material of Raye pre-transition. This in no way is meant to harm Raye or push transphobia, as this is historical material. If anything comes off as transphobic in this article, please let me know and I will gladly edit out anything deemed harmful.
NOTE #4: IF YOU ARE FEATURED IN THIS BLOG POST AND WANT TO BE REMOVED, PLEASE LET ME KNOW
Although this blog post is meant to be informative, if you are featured here and would like your content to be removed, please email me or post in the comments and I will oblige by removing your content.
NOTE #5: DO NOT HARRASS ANYONE MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
It should go without saying, but DO NOT, AND I MEAN DO NOT, go after or harrass anyone featured here. Many people involved in the production were simply doing their job as artists, animators etc., so there is no need to send them hateful messages.
As of now, we do not know the full story of High Guardian Spice, but I do imagine with its impending release, more details will leak to the public about what happened behind the scenes. For now, make your own assumptions based on this timeline (but remember, assumptions do not equal truth).
Anyways, here it is. The Timeline of High Guardian Spice.
Pre- 2010's
May 15th, 2006 - Crunchyroll officially opens up as a website hosting pirated anime.
March 11th, 2008 - Crunchyroll receives a US$4M capital investment from venture capital firm Venrock.
November 11th, 2008 - TV Tokyo announces they will stream the anime series Naruto an hour after new episodes in Japan. This marks the first series Crunchyroll officially distributed outside of Japan through streaming.
2011
May 1st, 2011 -Raye Rodriguez makes his first post on his Tumblr page, RayeToons.
September 2011 -Raye begins attending New York University at the Tisch School of Arts.** **NOTE: This is an estimate based on the academic calendar provided by New York University.
2012
As far as my research goes, nothing significant happened during this year in relation to Raye Rodriguez or High Guardian Spice.
2013
February 2013 - Raye works as a Design Intern at Little Airplane Productions. His internship ends in May 2013.
May 2013 -Raye starts an internship at Frederator Studios. In December, he moves up to freelance artist. This position ends in December 2013.
July 15th, 2013 - Raye posts the very first known drawing of Rosemary, the protagonist of High Guardian Spice.
August 30th, 2013 - Raye posts the very first known drawing of the main four girls of High Guardian Spice: Rosemary, Sage, Parsley and Thyme. These initial character designs would later be drastically redesigned.
September 2013 -Raye begins work on his student film, Treasure Hunt.
2014
May 2014 - Raye finishes his short film, Treasure Hunt.
June 2014 - Raye graduates from New York University with a B.A. in Fine Arts (Film & TV).
July 12th, 2014 - Raye uploads his short film, Treasure Hunt, to YouTube. This marks the first time Rosemary appears in animated form.
October 2014 - Raye begins working as a Storyboard Artist, Character Designer, and Animator for FOX's Animation Domination High-Def channel. This position ends in December 2015.
2015
March 24th, 2015 -Raye posts a lineup the four High Guardian Spice girls. This line up would showcase designs that closely resemble the official designs when the series was greenlit.
August 3rd, 2015 -The joint venture between AT&T and The Chernin Group, Otter Media, announces a new brand named Ellation to house over-the-top streaming services, including Crunchyroll.
November 2nd, 2015 -Raye Rodriguez appears in a Wacom video titled, "Wacom Presents: How We Work at FOX ADHD With Raye Rodriguez". According to Raye's resume, he also directed and animated this video.
2016
June 2016 -Raye begins working on the Amazon original animated series Danger and Eggs as a Character Designer and Assistant Model Designer.
2017
Sometime in 2017 - Raye officially transitions from female to male.
February 2nd, 2017 -Raye posts a comic featuring Rosemary and Sage.
February 9th, 2017 - Crunchyroll reaches 1 million subscribers.
July 6th, 2017 -Raye posts another comic featuring the four main girls. This comic spoofs a page from the manga Tokyo Mew Mew.
July 12th, 2017 - Raye officially declares he will go by the name Raye for now on, a name he had used for years.
September 2017 -According to co-developer of High Guardian Spice Claire Stenger's resume, Crunchyroll picks up the series. The series begins development.
October 2017 -According to Lauren White's Linkedin profile, High Guardian Spice begins recording sessions.
2018
January 24th, 2018 - Otter Media purchases remaining stakeholders in Crunchyroll's parent company Ellation.
August 18, 2018 -Verité Entertainment posts about High Guardian Spice, announcing they are casting for the new series. This could be considered the first public announcement of High Guardian Spice(albeit not by Crunchyroll).
August 22, 2018 -High Guardian Spice is unveiled to the public as Crunchyroll’s first foray into original content, which draws massive backlash from Crunchyroll’s user base. The likes and dislikes and the comment section would eventually be disabled.
August 24, 2018 - Crunchyroll posts an article titled "Crunchyroll Originals and the HTML5 Player", which addresses the criticisms against High Guardian Spice and the website. They also announce plans to release the HTML5 player to all Crunchyroll users.
August 27th, 2018 - Comic Bookpublishes an article about the backlash, titled "Crunchyroll Fans Rise Up to Defend Site's Original Animated Series". Written by Nick Valdez, the article goes over the support from fans who were interested in High Guardian Spice.
September 1st, 2018 - A High Guardian Spice panel at Crunchyroll Expo is held. An anonymous user gives a rundown of the panel on Pastebin with information such as the characters, development and release date. The crew states High Guardian Spicewould be released in 6 months from the time of the panel (Panel photo taken from Evan Minto).
September 7th, 2018 - ANNCast episode 334 is released, which provides a field report of the High Guardian Spice panel. According to Jacob Chapman, the panel room had an awkward yet welcoming atmosphere, most likely due to the backlash. .
November 29th, 2018 - Crunchyroll announces a partnership between Adult Swim and Alcon Television Group to produce a new Blade Runner anime titled Blade Runner - Black Lotus.
2019
Spring 2019 was the year High Guardian Spice was set for release. However, the series would miss its release window.
April 12th, 2019 - Verité Entertainmentposts on Instagram about High Guardian Spice.
September 5th, 2019 - A Twitter user makes a thread detailing the first episode of High Guardian Spice they saw on a test screening website and gave a general synopsis of the first episode. ClownFish TV would be notified of this and eventually makes a video about it. However, the video was pulled after Crunchyroll sent a DMCA requesting them to take it down. The duo would later discuss this in a follow-up video.
September 10th, 2019 - Raye tweets on Twitter that the crew are finishing FX and the final mix.
September 10th, 2019 - The Facebook page for the Joy Music House shares their appreciation of High Guardian Spice composer Steven Argila and his collaborations with the recording studio.
October 15th, 2019 -Crunchyroll announces a partnership with WEBTOON to co-produce original content.
November 6th, 2019 - Raye Rodriguez announces on Twitter that HGS is complete, and now it’s up to Crunchyroll to decide when to release it.
2020
January 11th, 2020 - The first Crunchyroll Original, In/Spectre, debuts.
February 25, 2020 - Crunchyroll posts a sizzle reel showcasing the Crunchyroll Originals lineup, with High Guardian Spice being shown off for the first time (albeit for roughly 5 seconds). This little bit of footage is the first time any animation of High Guardian Spice is shown.
March 23, 2020 - CBR publishes an article titled "10 Things You Need to Know About High Guardian Spice". Written by John Witiw, the article goes over various facts and other details about the series.
April 1st, 2020 - Crunchyroll releases the second Crunchyroll Original, Tower of God, an adaptation of the Webtoon of the same name.
June 25th, 2020 -Kate Leth, who was a writer for High Guardian Spice, posts in a now deleted tweet a comic which uses the term "gypsy", a divisive term that is considered a slur to Romani people. This would lead to Twitter users airing out past incidents** and grievances Kate Leth was associated with in the coming days.
**MORE INFO ABOUT KATE LETH'S PAST INCIDENTS CAN BE FOUND HERE
June 26th, 2020 - In a now deleted Twitter thread, Kate addresses the allegations brought against her. Specifically, anecdotes from former members of Kate's comic book group The Valkyries. What is noteworthy about this thread is that Kate mentions High Guardian Spice, but refers to it as the "Crunchyroll show". According to Kate, her appearance in the initial reveal trailer led her to getting doxxed and be on the receiving end of death threats.
July 6th, 2020 - Crunchyroll releases the third Crunchyroll Original, The God of High School, an adaptation of the Webtoon of the same name.
July 15th, 2020 - Crunchyroll releases the fourth Crunchyroll Original, Gibiate.
July 28th, 2020 -Crunchyroll reaches 3 million subscribers.
August 12th, 2020 -A report by The Information reveals that AT&T is in talks to sell Crunchyroll to Sony for $1.5 billion.
August 14th, 2020 - A consultant on the Buffering the Vampire Slayer podcast named Mackenzie MacDade posts a video on Instagram detailing her experience with Kate Leth while working on the podcast. Mackenzie explains that Kate took Mackenzie and an unnamed person's image and posted them on her Instagram story to tell her followers that she departed from the podcast to let BIPOC have "a bigger space". This, according to Mackenzie is false.
August 16th, 2020 - Buffering the Vampire Slayerannounces they will no longer be working with Kate Leth.
Later that day - Mackenzie posts another video on Instagram, detailing her experiences and the arguments against her after the initial video.
August 22, 2020 - A creator named Sara Eissa alleges in a Twitter thread that she pitched her show, Astur’s Rebellion, to an unnamed company (heavily implied to be Crunchyroll) but was rejected because CR saw the backlash of HGS and stayed away from shows with “‘diversity’ themes”. Sara lashes out against the staff (or white women as they put it) of the show because said white women advertised diversity in their trailer which caused backlash, and in turn cost shows with diverse themes such as Astur’s Rebellion to not get picked up.
Later that day - Raye Rodriguez vaguely responds to the original thread by Sara Eissa by stating that he is a Cuban American trans man.
Later, later that day - Samir Barrett, a storyboarder on Onyx Equinox, tweets about the thread, stating that while diversity should never be treated as a selling point, it is not wise to assume the creators were behind marketing decisions. Sofia Alexander, creator of Onyx Equinox, responds to Samir, tweeting that creators have no say in how a show is marketed.
August 24, 2020 -Katie McVay, a writer for High Guardian Spice, tweets about their rage as "as people erase the creator of the show in favor of being mad at a person who was tertiary to the entire process". While it is unknown who Katie is referring to, the timing of the tweet means the person Katie was most likely referring to is Kate Leth.
October 2020 -Raye Rodriguez begins a job at Legendary Entertainment developing a new series.
October 3rd, 2020 -Crunchyroll releases the fifth Crunchyroll Original, Tonikawa: Over the Moon for You.
October 7th, 2020 -Crunchyroll releases the sixth Crunchyroll Original, Noblesse, based on the Webtoon of the same name.
October 30th, 2020 -Nikkei Asiapublishes an article detailing the near completion of Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll.
November 15, 2020 - CBR posts an article titled “Crunchyroll - Now is the PERFECT Time to Release High Guardian Spice”. Written by Constance Sarantos, she goes over the unfair silence and delay of the show. Constance also touches upon the poorly received Crunchyroll Originals Gibiate and EX-ARM,questioning why Crunchyroll was okay with the two aforementioned series but still refused to release High Guardian Spice. Sara Eissa's allegations are also mentioned.
November 21, 2020 - Crunchyroll releases their seventh original series, Onyx Equinox. While both Onyx Equinox and High Guardian Spice were in development during the same time, the former was released first. This makes Onyx Equinox CR’s first Western production to be released.
During the day - The earliest mention of an error regarding Onyx Equinox is tweeted. Users who accessed the series report that the series automatically switches to the German dub upon viewing.
December 9th, 2020 -Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. and AT&T announce that the latter will sell Crunchyroll to Sony for $1.175 billion.
December 21st, 2020 -Halfway through its run, Crunchyroll announces they will be releasing the remaining episodes of Onyx Equinox on December 26th after receiving multiple requests asking for the series to be released all at once for binge-watching.
December 26th, 2020 -The remaining episodes of Onyx Equinox are released for binge-watching on Crunchyroll.
2021
January 2021 - A Reddit user going by mothehalf claims to have known Raye's work for many years, and believes High Guardian Spice will be "genuine". They also claim that the series "may not be excellent" due to (what they believe to be) "constraints of CR" and the "budget/time it was given".
January 8th, 2021 -Crunchyroll releases the eight Crunchyroll Original, So I'm A Spider, So What?
January 10th, 2021 - Crunchyroll releases the ninth Crunchyroll Original, Dr. Ramune Mysterious Disease Specialist.
January 11th, 2021 -Crunchyroll releases the tenth original Crunchyroll Original, EX-ARM. It sparks massive backlash from site users for its horrible CGI animation, subpar plot and overall poor production quality. What makes people more upset is that CR released EX-ARM, a series of low quality, but still remained silent on High Guardian Spice.
Later that day - Tim Eldred, a former freelance storyboard artist on High Guardian Spice tweets about the series in a thread. According to him, he does not know why the series has been delayed despite the series featuring "nothing provocative". When asked if he was paid well, he replies that he did and even mentions the crew had a "positive experience while making [High Guardian Spice]". He even replies to another user that High Guardian Spice "wasn't cheap to make."
January 31st, 2021 - Raye Rodriguez tweets his support for Onyx Equinox and encourages his followers to watch it.
February 2nd, 2021 - Crunchyroll announces a 4 million subscriber milestone. Along with the announcement, they also announce a new original series titled Dantai, which will be co-produced by Idris Alba's Green Door Pictures and Sabrina Alba's Pink Towel Pictures.
Later that day - Brenna Coleman, a Visual Effects Supervisor on High Guardian Spice, tweets (in a tongue in cheek way) about CR still not releasing HGS in response to Dantai’s announcement.
February 14th, 2021 - Crunchyroll tweets out the latest The Daily Life of Crunchyroll Hime comic.In the third panel of this special Valentine's Day edition comic, a letter found in Crunchyroll Hime's locker reads "ONYX S2 PLS", a reference to Onyx Equinox. Sofia Alexander sees this tweet.
February 15th, 2021 - The Poorly Aged Things Twitter account posts the original tweet made Crunchyroll announcing High Guardian Spice. Raye sees this tweet.
Later that day - Samir Barrett (mentioned earlier) jokingly tweets how CR will make him wait a decade before he can post his High Guardian Spice storyboards.
March 24th, 2021 - The Informationpublishes an article which reveals that the U.S. Justice Department has extended its antitrust review of Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll to determine whether or not it would give Sony dominance in the anime market.
April 22nd, 2021 -The High Guardian Spice soundtrack is found on the websites of series composers Steven Argila and Scott Greer. The found songs would later be uploaded to YouTube.
May 13th, 2021 - After almost 2 years of silence, Raye posts on Twitter to be on the lookout for High Guardian Spice news “later this summer”.
June 10th, 2021 - Raye tweets that High Guardian Spice will have an announcement during Virtual Crunchyroll Expo.
During that day -As part of their Virtual Crunchyroll Expo announcements, Crunchyroll announce (at the very bottom of the article) that High Guardian Spice news will be reported at their Industry Panel.
June 18th, 2021 -Anime News Network posts an article titled, “Crunchyroll Originals Have Been a Disaster”. Written by Callum May, it goes over the many problems that plagued many of the Crunchyroll Originals, including poor communication, massive spending on a Tokyo office before its closing, and the silence on High Guardian Spice. It also repeats the claims brought against High Guardian Spice and Crunchyroll by Sara Eissa from 2020.
Later that day -In a response to a thread of the ANN article, a ResetEra user named mreddie claims to know people involved with High Guardian Spice whosaid the production was “a mess”.
June 24, 2021 -A High Guardian Spice storyboard artist named Christina Mijares-Doung tweets about her experience on the show. According to her, when she joined the High Guardian Spice team after the trailer was released, everyone was “tired”, likely due to the backlash.
July 1st, 2021 - Raye Rodriguez posts another High Guardian Spice tweet, again stating that news will be announced at VCRX.
July 22, 2021 - Raye posts another tweet for followers to lookout for High Guardian Spice news at VCRX.
August 2nd, 2021 - Raye tweets for the 5th time to look out for news during Crunchyroll Expo.
August 3rd, 2021 - Crunchyroll announces they have reached 5 million subscribers, and announce a new project with Zoe Saldana's production company Cinestar Pictures to produce a space opera anime series titled Death Star Squadron.
August 6th, 2021 -During Virtual Crunchyroll Expo 2021, a new High Guardian Spicetrailer is released. Raye Rodriguez also appears during the panel to showcase the series. High Guardian Spice is given a "Coming Soon" release date. Just like the initial trailer, the reaction to this trailer is divisive.
August 9th, 2021 - Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. and AT&T announce that Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll is complete.
August 15th, 2021 -Crunchyroll releases their eleventh Crunchyroll Original, Fena: Pirate Princess. This is the first anime co-production between Crunchyroll and Adult Swim.
August 20th, 2021 - Crunchyroll's Senior Development, Production & Content Executive Marisa Balkus (who produced and oversaw development of Onyx Equinox, High Guardian Spice and other Crunchyroll Originals) announces she is leaving Crunchyroll after 4 years and will start a new job at Netflix Animation.
August 26th, 2021 - Marisa Balkus, in a Twitter thread, shares her final day at Crunchyroll and her experience over her four year time at the company.
September 2nd, 2021 -Sofia Alexander tweets about her lack of knowledge on a potential season 2 of Onyx Equinox and the internal happenings of Crunchyroll, something made harder by the current Sony merger.
September 14th, 2021 - Sofia Alexander announces her new job at Marvel Studios.
September 19th, 2021 -Rosemary's voice actress, Briana León, is discovered.
September 21st, 2021 -Crunchyroll announces High Guardian Spice will debut as part of their Fall 2021 lineup.
During that day - An Anime News Network user named AnimuDude, who claims to be close with people who worked on High Guardian Spice, posts about the production of the series. Many onlookers call into question the validity of these claims.
October 10th, 2021 -Crunchyroll announces the series voice cast and release date, set for October 26th, all accompanied with a new trailer. The entire series will be released all at once. A trailer for Crunchyroll's other original series, FreakAngels, is also shown off.
October 26th, 2021 - After 3 years of delay, Crunchyroll's twelfth original series High Guardian Spice finally airs. Many users report Crunchyroll's website crashing, while others report audio mixing issues in the series.
October 29th, 2021 - Raye Rodriguez privates his Twitter account due to online harassment.
November 2nd, 2021 - The official High Guardian Spice Twitter account announces fixes to episode and audio issues that viewers experienced.
November 8th, 2021 -Kate Leth addresses her past tweets.
November 12, 2021 - Crunchyroll announces pre-orders for a limited edition High Guardian Spice pin set, featuring chibi versions of the four main girls exclusively on the Crunchyroll Store.
November 14th, 2021 - Crunchyroll releases their thirteenth original series, Blade Runner: Black Lotus, as a co-production with Adult Swim.
During the day - Sofia Alexander announces she is working on a reboot of the 1997 X-Men titled X-Men '97 for Disney+.
December 2nd, 2021 - The Animation on HBO Max Twitter account reports that the Crunchyroll hub and branding will be removed from the HBO Max on January 1st, 2022.
December 10th, 2021 - Crunchyroll releasesHigh Guardian Spice-themed recipes. This would be the last tweet posted by the High Guardian Spice Twitter account.
During the day - Loot Anime announces a limited edition Onyx Equinox item set to be included in Crunchyroll Crate. The account encourages users to purchase it before time runs out. The item is a plush of the character Meque.
2022
Janurary 2022 - Margaret Dean, Executive Producer of High Guardian Spice and Head of Crunchyroll Studios, leaves the company for Skybound Animation.
Janurary 18th, 2022 - Raye Rodriguez reveals in a Twitter thread the multiple issues that arised during High Guardian Spice's production, including the lack of unionization, little time to work on the series and a low budget, which was the same amount as an 11-minute comedy Cartoon Network show. He also implores people to think about what happened during production, have empathy for the staff of the show, and think about who "started this hate campaign in the first place".
Later that day - Sofia Alexander also provides information about the production of Onyx Equinox. According to her, the budget for the series was roughly 1/3 of other Western shows, and she threatened to leave the series during its initial stages as a push to unionize the studio. She does express gratitude to Crunchyroll for allowing her to tell her story and acknowledges the good people who worked at the studio.
January 27th, 2022 -Crunchyroll releases their fourteenth original series, FreakAngels.
February 6th, 2022 - Crunchyroll releases their fifteenth original series, Shenmue the Animation. This would be the third and last Adult Swim co-production.
Later that day - Anime YouTuber Mother's Basement uploads a video to YouTube titled "The (Absolute) State of Crunchyroll Original Anime" where he reviews every available Crunchyroll Original.
Later, later that day - Anna Lencioni, wife of Onyx Equinox creator Sofia Alexander and former Crunchyroll Studios Burbank employee, shares her experience and feelings about High Guardian Spice and Onyx Equinox. Anna called the budget and subtitle issues "frustrating" and recalls working at CR being the "wildest experience" she has ever had in her animation career. In the end, Anna believes a lack of confidence and more cost-effective practices ("licensing existing anime") damaged the Crunchyroll Originals brand.
February 13th, 2022 -DaftPina releases a video titled "High Guardian Spice: Nightmare Production". After speaking with anonymous members of the animation team, he reveals multiple new details about High Guardian Spice's production, including Crunchyroll's insistence on more "adult" writing, changing of release date and schedule, and lacking any time to fully polish the series.
March 1st, 2022 - Sony Pictures announces FUNimation content will be moving over to Crunchyroll as part of the merger. The FUNimation brand is also set to be slowly phased out.
March 11th, 2022 -Anime News Networkposts an article titled "What We Know About the Funimation-Crunchyroll Merger" to answer many questions regarding the merger. During the FAQ, the future of Crunchyroll Originals was asked. Per a Crunchyroll spokesman, their future was not addressed, but investments in co-productions will continue.
March 16th, 2022 - Crunchyroll announces new home video releases for June, which will use the Crunchyroll label instead of FUNimation's.
March 28th, 2022 - Raye Rodriguez is a guest on the 68th episode of the webseries Creative Block.
April 18th, 2022 - Sofia Alexander is a guest on 71st episode of the webseries Creative Block.
April 26th, 2022 - Raye Rodriguez the art used in the end credits on his Twitter.
June 2022 - High Guardian Spice is included in Crunchyroll's Pride Month selections.
Sometime between July to October -The Crunchyroll Originals website shuts down. The last time it was recorded was on July 21st, 2022. The website URL now redirects to Crunchyroll's main site.
August 6th, 2022 - Crunchyroll announces a second season of their second original series Tower of God.
August 21st, 2022 - Tim Eldred, a former employee of Crunchyroll Studios Burbank who worked on High Guardian Spice and FreakAngels, shares his experience working on the latter.
September 6th, 2022 - At El Festival Pixetl 2022, Sofia Alexander appears as a guest of honor and hosts a panel about show pitching.
September 27th, 2022 - Several Crunchyroll and Adult Swim collaborative series are removed from Adult Swim's website. Toonami co-creator Jason DeMarco confirms the removals and says a second season of Shenmue: The Animation is unlikely. He also says Crunchyroll is not interested in releasing English dubs for these collaborations and does not know if it would be allowed.
October 2022 - Several Crunchyroll Original series, including High Guardian Spiceand Onyx Equinox, are no longer available for free viewing. They now require a Crunchyroll Premium subscription for viewing. Sofia Alexander responds negatively to this announcement.
October 5th, 2022 - YouTuber Sarah Z releases a video titled "Sacrificial Trash", where she discusses High Guardian Spice's controversies and how it relates to current media trends.
Later that day - An animator by the name of Michael Nanna, under the username "Oldmandarin" shares his experience briefly working on High Guardian Spice in the comments of "Sacrificial Trash". They point to uncaring executives who only wanted to make money off of "underrepresented demographics". They also state that the writers and artists working on the show were "strangled" for budget and time.
October 26th, 2022- In honor of High Guardian Spice's 1st anniversary, Raye Rodriguez releases the opening animatic onto YouTube.
2023
January 19th, 2023 - Raye Rodriguez announces a limited run of High Guardian Spice stickers.
February 1st, 2023- High Guardian Spice and Onyx Equinox storyboard artist and animation director William Ruzicka passes away. A GoFundMe was made to cover medical costs and memorial services.
February 21st, 2023- Raye Rodriguez tweets that he is looking for work.
Later that day - Raye Rodriguez lets a High Guardian Spice fan know that a season 2 is sadly not up to him.
March 31st, 2023- Industria Animación conducts an interview with Sofia Alexander about Onyx Equinox and her career in animation.
April 4th, 2023- Sofia Alexander tweets about a potential Onyx Equinox sticker series, along with t-shirts, notebooks, and other merchandise.
May 25th, 2023- Sofia Alexander reveals in a tweet that Crunchyroll did not archive production materials of Onyx Equinox episode 4-12. She also says she was unable to backup any copies of said material as it wasn't allowed to do so because it was "studio material".
May 26th, 2023-Raye Rodriguez tweets a redraw of a frame from the High Guardian Spice opening.
June 5th, 2023- Sofia Alexander shares a photo from Onyx Equinox's production.
July 6th, 2023- An unlicensed Persian dub of High Guardian Spice titled محافظان برتر (Mhafzan Bartar) is uploaded onto Iranian streaming service Digitoon.
And that is the end of the High Guardian Spice timeline. This timeline will be continuously updated.
If you plan on using this timeline for videos, blogs, or any other media, please make sure to credit this blog.
Holy Swearword. This is nuts. All of these writers having, possibly, the worst Pasts imgainable, no wonder the quality of HGS was low. It could've be good, but only if someone else, with a different Crew and Studio, had done it.
Holy Swearword. This is nuts. All of these writers having, possibly, the worst Pasts imgainable, no wonder the quality of HGS was low. It could've be good, but only if someone else, with a different Crew and Studio, had done it.
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