Raye Rodriguez: 'Anyone who criticises the show is a racist.' Also Raye Rodriguez: 'The reason the show is bad is because of Koreans.'

As a Korean artist myself, it's quite triggering that Rodriguez blamed the outsourced Korean studio for the bad quality of the show. Although I have no connections to it, the studio has worked on multiple animations that was brilliantly animated. As is for the nature of outsourcing, we can only work with what we are given, and I seriously doubt Rodriguez gave any creative liberties to those studios. There's a reason why so many of Japanese anime and western animations are outsourced to Korea. We get the job done.

I honestly thought Snapdragon’s story arc was leading towards being a boy who was perfectly fine with being a boy while having interest in traditionally feminine things but being upset about gender norms denying him that. Figured was the one male character they wrote competently. Nothing wrong with Snapdragon being trans, it just seemed like the story was going in a different direction and Snapdragon being trans felt like it came out of nowhere.

Sage doesn’t even have to be a villain, they just have to acknowledge her flaws and fix them later. Have an arc about Sage learning to put other people’s problems before her own

Regarding Parsley: I think the show should've had her start with blacksmithing and make it seem like she decided to do it because she likes it, but then reveal in a later episode that the only reason she's in that class is because she knows her parents want her to take over their shop someday and she doesn't want to disappoint them. After episode 4 is resolved, they could've changed her arc to be about her trying new things to see what she actually likes.

I think people should pitch their pilots like they’re supposed to instead of being given a show and a budget when they don’t have writers yet. I don’t want to see Raye have another chance without being able to pitch a concept successfully like most people do to get shows made.

What really bothers me is that the writers made these characters not as characters but as devices to move the plot along. Thyme is from the very beginning shown to be smart, coolheaded and calculating. So of course she would be the one to SUMMON A DEMON. Why? Well so the girls can fight it of course duh. But why would Thyme summon it? Why not Rose or some other dumbass character? Because Thyme is literally the only one who seems to care about the healing water and getting it to her father so she needs to do it, doesnt matter if that act goes against her character completly.(on that note I found it rewlly funny when the water thing dropped onto the ground since you know, the fountain still exists and they can get more very easily.....ALSO WHY DID SHE PUT IT IN A VERY FRAGILE BOTTLE AND KEEP IT ON HER AT ALL TIMES WHEN SHE FIGHTS A LOT???) Another example is when Parsley just destroys the strawmans foot, why would she do this? Shes the nicest person there Rose would be a much better person to do it. They did it so the 'sexist' character gets his comeupance, doesnt matter of it ruims Parsleys character. I hope you are doing well after this thanks!

I agree with you on Snap! It still bugs me that the writers had no desire to have a male character that can like feminine things and/or dresses femininely. Like Forrest from Fire Emblem Fates. Nope, we needed the self insert trans man to tell the child that being trans is the solution to him enjoying feminine things and not wanting a beard. He was boiled down to one trait from that moment on which you would think this diverse creative team wouldn’t want to do.

"Appeal to the broadest audience possible." Ironically, they forget that many of the best works meant to target one single audience often reach outside their audience.

one of the things that bothers me more, now that i've just thought about it... Up until the point where Snap talks to Professor about transitioning, Sage tells Snap (who still identifies as male by this point) that boys don't talk about their feelings and that their friendships are not deep. Yet, Snap has a crush on Sage and it never gets addressed... Why!? Why would Snap continue to crush (or begin crushing, I forget the order of episdoes) on someone who outright invalidated their feelings? and when it comes to the mermaid insults aimed at Snap... is it meant to be a gender insult or a racial one? Is it a racial stereotype that mermaids are all women/feminine? or is it meant to be a gendered one aimed at Snap? Especially because we see a male mermaid

Its truly amazing how the show is so bad that we've become fans of it. Its so close to being adequate, like if you squint hard enough you can find things enjoyable. I feel like if the show had any idea what it wanted to be it would at least be a cult classic. You also hit the nail on the head that it should have strived to be a romantic comedy more than a plot-based magical girl show.

I find it incredibly unlikely that Snapdragon has only one friend, a guy like that would have quite a few female friends but not as many male friends (but they'd still have them), snap doesn't come off as one of those kids who seems "strange" (not trying to be mean ofc). Unfortunately for snap the people who wrote her are nothing more than ideologs who think sexuality is a personality trait, snap deserved far superior writers

High Guardian Spice wasn't even the worst animated series of 2021. That goes to Santa Inc.

maybe the real high guardian spice was the friends we made along the way

Your reviews made me realise that Olive becomes a character so late in the show (when I was under the impression she must've appeared sooner than she did), thus meaning she gets so little screentime she barely gets time to be an antagonist, let alone a redeemable one. Like she only gets like one MAYBE two fights with the girls in the ENTIRE SHOW.

Still pisses me off that it's for people to say that Sage is a shitty friend who manipulates Rosemary (because she is) yet would still fight to the death to this day that Catra isn't an abusive friend that gaslit Adora into dating her just because she's a woobie gay cat girl.

"It feels like it was written in an echo chamber." And it was, most likely. Worse, it seems like they didn't talk to any people with experience or do any research. I'm going to take a wild guess that the life experience of most of the staff didn't vary much: born in America, probably in middle class households, went straight to university, got into animation/production not long after school. There's nothing wrong with that, but when everyone in the room has done nothing except go to school and work in a single industry, you get a lack of diversity in the writing team that really hurts things... They let 'kill all men' lady on the team, but I'd rather have ten of her who all walked different paths in life. One was a tradeswoman, one is ex-military, one grew up poor, one rich, and so on. Ten 'kill all men' lady could have done better than however many 'Same as each other Sallies' we had.

I agree with you on Snap! As a trans masc I related a lot to Snap when I thought she was a guy. It made me feel validated seeing a male character forming emontimal bonds with friends and being in touch with his feminine side. But then she turned out to be trans and it genuenly upset me cause as you said, it validated Sage´s toxic masculinaty and only girl form emotional bonds statement. It also really annoyed me that Rose appearantly is allowed to be a rough and tumble masculine girl but Snap can´t be a guy with feelings who enjoyes feminine things? Like what the hell?! Plus I rarely see famanine men portrade in media unles they´re gay which there is nothing wrong with but it makes it seem like strait men can´t be femanine which is not the case.

I never thought I'd watch a 5 hour + review series on a cartoon I have zero desire to watch, but damn. This is easily the most in-depth look at a show that arguably doesn't deserve much attention. Thanks to your excellent analysis and editing, I felt a bit emotionally attached to this series by the end. If a review can make me feel something while the actual series can't, then you're clearly doing something very right.

"It's everyone else's fault but mine" is an argument nobody believes. I really wish show runners would stop trying to blame the fans for their failure. You are not entitled to success just because you made something

I have had the same swirling thoughts about Snapdragon, and hearing you finally snapped them into place and had given it cohesive words for me! I have to bring up too the absolutely wasted potential for potential character writing for when we first see Snapdragon. We see Rose and Sage split off into separate classes. We see Sage make a rival in Amaryllis, they're in the same specialty so we can have a contrast and competitive dynamic for Sage's magic progression. Meanwhile, we see Rose meet Snapdragon. At first I thought it was setting up a similar dynamic, that we were going to have a "opposite side of the coin" between the two friendship duos. Snapdragon seemed hostile towards Rose, they're both physical fighters, and in the early episodes we get this budding sense of a rivalry between them, only this time Rosemary is a much more willing to fight person than Sage is, with Sage being moppy and passive towards Amaryllis. But no. In fact, the moment Snapdragon meets Sage, instantly they stop interacting with Rosemary, like, at all. We honestly get the sense that Snap doesn't give a shit about her at all anymore. If not for the first episodes we would have assumed that they had never even met. The potential! Of Rosemary being disapproving of Sage's crush because Snap is *her* bully. That's like if Rose and Amaryllis started a relationship with Sage still butting heads with Amaryllis. Character building on both sides as Snap and Rose can compete over who's the better warrior, and what that means to both of them. All of this while still being trans! I could go on, but overall the moment where Snap gets attached to Sage and is starting her trans arc, she character immediately gets neutered. Er, forgive the unfortunate wording.... But yes, all the bite and flavor of her potential character gets thrown out the window for the sake of another squeaky clean, doer of no wrong, character like the others.

Any relation to Rayearth has to be entirely surface level. Because no way does anyone go through all of that show, or even the first half, and wind up with inspiration for any fantasy story as devoid of ambition or drama as HGS. Rayearth is a ride.

Snapdragon going trans is a slap in the face to the idea of inclusivity, it's like, guys can't be straight and good characters or guys can't be feminine and remain strong male characters who are interested in the opposite sex without going trans

I think a Season 2 would be a win-win. Ideally these guys would hear the criticism and make the show better, but also Ideally we can come together again and clown on the show while also learning more of what not to do in our individual works.

I think this has been a really cool and interesting series. Do you think you would be open to making more with the concept of taking a bad or mediocre show and going through what works and why the rest of the show doesn't? It's been a fun watch and I think you really have a knack for it.

I just remembered another inconsistency. When Caraway threatens Snapdragon too be suspended, he mentions that the Triad wants him to suspend Snapdragon. My question is how. How did Caraway contact the Triad, since we know "phone calls" need a demon to be summoned or you need the smoke/flame thing the villains use. Did Caraway summon a demon?

I actually started watching these HGS videos a few days ago, and was really happy when I noticed that this last one had been uploaded (right as I was halfway through the fourth one, too). I really enjoyed the way you talked about everything meticulously, didn't stick to just hating on everything as you also touched subjects you found were done nicely in another light... along with a bunch of other things, like recommendations I got from watching. I'd never heard about Gaslight, and now I'm pumped to watch it. So yeah, I think I'll stick around here a bit! I hope this channel grows a lot =]

To be honest, I am very grateful for HGS existence ! I got to learn a lot from well explained videos like yours who explain how to make functional storytelling and what makes this good anime interesting to learn from ! Before HGS, even if i was pretty decent at writing characters, i was a shit at having a good and consistent plot , how to make sure my audience would understand what i want to showcase in my stories, HGS is a very good example on how to not make storytelling ! I have been watching good review of this since litterally last year and now i am able to figure out thing myself ( and of course, learning from many things else than HGS ) As much as i didn't liked the show and i am seriously worried to see that Raye deosn't seems to learn anything from the backlash , I think i would always stay grateful to its existence somehow ! ( for real, if there will be a 2nd season... i really hope it will get better than this ! )

I feel like there are easier ways to expanded on the 4 main girls on why they want to be guardians. Like for parsley maybe her family is going out of business due to the rise of new Magic, since we saw mandrake summoned swords out of thin air maybe militaries and warriors find no need to spend money and resources on the real thing when they have magic that's easy to use. So all the blacksmith lose are out if the streets and parsley's parents are tirelessly finding ways to stay afloat, which would inspire parsley to go to high guardian academy to create something that would save her parents and other people suffering the same fate as her. Basically parsley would create the world's first magitek. And for rosemary maybe they could have rosemary cheat her way into HGA due to her desperate tempt to be like her mother. Like lavender was barely in her life so rosemary tries to fill that role by acting like a miniature version of her own mother to the point her usual look is just her hand me downs. And at the end maybe mandrake outed her to cause some turmoil in the school and she gets expelled, later at the climax she groups up with everyone, defeats mandrake, and carroway or the triad whatever wants to reinstate her back into HGA but rosemary refuses and leaves to forge her own past and discover who she is as a person

You know what's sad? If Raye had put a little more work in, and had a better support system in the writing room (one that can say 'no' to the boss), there'd probably be people writing Crunchyroll to give S2 a better budget so the animation won't suck. I know a lot of the writing can be blamed on him, but still.

Amazing video series, your commentary on the show was both really insightful and made me think about the show in ways I hadn’t before. These videos also convinced me to watch re-creators which I enjoyed so thank you for that as well

What's frustrating is the original short cartoon of Rosemary dungeon crawling 8 years ago looked kinda promising, I feel like the show would've benefitted from a more adventure oriented story. Rosemary leaving to find her mom and meeting characters along the way and getting into hijinks due to being a bumpkin from a small village, probably would've been more entertaining. And you probably coulda done a whole stages of grief thing with rose, as she slowly realises her mom is actually dead and works par the denial stage.

Man, your closing thoughts really struck a cord with me. On Raye as a creator, the nature of redesigns and rewrites being the absolute proof that this show *did* have *potential*. Like, I've consumed what feels like every video on HGS because, let's face it, in a morbid way I'm a fan. Not to throw around the word "hyperfixatiom" but yeah, that's what it is. Not every hyperfixation of mine is a "perfect product" or even a "good", half the time it's pretty terrible 😅. I mean who here is going to argue Delgo is a masterpiece without flaw, but I rewrite that movie too because I like to look at and find the potential diamonds in the rough, in media and in people. I do genuinely wish the best for Raye Rodriguez's future as a creative and can only hope that off-line, out of the pressure of internet performance, he acknowledged his flaws and is trying to improve. Not to mention I hope the feedback hasn't tanked his creativity because I feel like with my imposter syndrome it certainly would for me, haha 😬. Nah, Raye seems to be doing fine, living his best life no matter how cringe it can come off to others. As much as I'll continue to throw out about over the top negative comments about this show (because that's just the easiest way to communicate on the internet) I gotta emphasize that I don't hate this show's existence in the world. I'm quite happy that it exists. Also, I had intended to comment this no matter what, but I've been genuinely enjoying your channel and it's content even when it comes to non HGS videos 😉. You're very thorough and convey your subjects greatly and are a joy to watch! Benefit of KZfaq algorithm giving anything HGS an immediate boost is that I get to find my new favorite channels like yours! I'm looking forward to your future content!

All of your points are valid and has given me even some new insight on the show itself. I feel like you really did your homework! My only complaint about this video is...i like princess and the frog and it is one of my favorite childhood Disney movies...thats about it. And also Thank you for bringing up those animes and “Not Crystal Tears”! I am starting to read the book now and I want to take a peak into Magic Knight Rayearth as well! Both look like they are right up my ally! Thanks again!

The tone of this whole series felt like a fellow animator and artist trying to understand the show and artist intent but getting frustrated as it continues, not getting angry like how most other youtube reviews of this show are but more so disappointed frustration. For me it was a nice, calming, and interesting essay on this show that you should be really proud of. I came from the Raymond animation you made and stuck around, really enjoying your videos, keep up the great work :)

You make Snapdragon being trans sound elegant with how much it retroactively explains about Snapdragon's character and interactions

Another good example of a reaction-based character is Madoka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. She doesn’t have any real power to do much of anything, so she just watches her life crumble around her until she finally has a chance to make a difference.

Well you see, Sage *_Is_* "Lovable" and "Relatable" as a character . . . To the people who conceptualized her. *_Because she's exactly like them._* That being said, I would be lying if I said I didn't want to see a second season. I am being genuinly sincere when I say I would *_love_* them ass-pulling another season of this. Not only because this show occupies a niche so fascinatingly bizarre and bad that it's almost endearing, but because as you said; maybe it could actually even be _good;_ there were so many interesting, if not decent, concepts and ideas that could have been expounded on and explored, and the potential for depth in the setting is immense. Alas, they did not take advantage of any of it. It could potentially be rectified in a second season, if they managed to work a miracle to bring it. I dont exactly have super-high hopes, but I mean . . . if nothing else, this show will stand as a constant testament to what exactly not to ever do for writing or creating media in general.

I agree with you on Snapdragon. I feel like that entire analysis of them could apply to Caraway and Sage's cousins. As in the only personality they have is their identity. Also, further with Olive, I heard from some other people online is that she is one of the better characters... I disagree with that. I agree that she doesn't an arc to earn that redemption at the end, but there's one thing that makes her being a villain completely nonsensical... why is she a villain in the first place? Seriously, why? Firstly, Olive doesn't like killing people but is completely okay with others doing it (Like when she was trying to bring the girls to Witch Country so the Triumvirate can do it), but when Mandrake was going to burn down the school, she's against him killing (Despite being alright beforehand) and THEN later tries to kill him. Secondly, she also mentions she likes causing mischief but we've never actual see her cause any mischief (The closest you'll get is at the festival, but all she did was hand brochures... that's it). Thirdly, we also never seen her interact with the girls in any meaningful way despite them mentioning it (A cardinal sin: Show-don't-tell). This doesn't make sense for her to switch sides besides previously contradictions up above. And finally, the most important part, why is she even working for the Triumvirate? Money? Self-interest? Fun? What are her motives to working with an evil organization that is possibly destroying the planet? Were they going to reveal this in season 2 (Like that's going to happen) So, I don't think enough people look at Olive and realize how much of a terribly written villain and mess of contradictions she truly is.

- You know, while Sage and Parsley were proving that they had a place in High Guardian Academy in Ep2, Rosemary demonstrated that...she really shouldn't have even been accepted in (going by what Sage's dad said about the academy's selectiveness). Seriously! The Everything Hour part shows her failing horribly at every activity she attempts. And then, while Sage is saving her Potions classmates from the poison and even showing compassion to Amaryllis, Rosemary is just being a nuisance in Battle Tactics, screwing up a basic yoga pose and taking forever with wrestling her dragon whelp. She had no chance in that episode to prove what she could do, and didn't even show any semblance of resolution with her vague tension with Snapdragon! - I think you might've nailed it on why Snap's sudden turn to trans was so shoddy. Flanderization is a pretty terrible thing that any writer can do to a character, namely one that's going to have a lot of focus. (That goes to for you, too, memers!) - Oh yeah, I don't think I corrected you in the previous part, but Parnelle is actually a boy. Everyone in-show even refers to him as a he. Which...actually makes Sage's claim that "guys don't talk about their feelings" worse! Parnelle was talking about his feelings a LOT. To Sage. In the immediate previous episode. Insulting, since she at least remembered the fact that Cal is his jerkish cousin. Then again, I don't remember if Kate Leth (the one writing Ep6) was involved with Ep5...which just reminds me further of how inconsistent this show was!

This series is probably my favorite analysis of this show out of all the ones I've seen, largely because it's more than just a rehash of all the bad things about it. It's willing to acknowledge the times when it does do things well and recognizes the potential and how things could be made better.

I will applaud Raye for sticking to his guns and hold HGS near and dear despite the trainwreck it has become. Though, I will admit, there doesnt seem much other option. These characters arent ones he made for a show for his career, theyre his oc's from his webcomics given animation so naturally they'd remain in his heart.

You are right about Snapdragon's character arc, making him a trans, makes her character weaker to non-existent. Also, nothing in the story foreshadows that until the Halloween episode. I cannot look at it as anything else but a last-minute change, due to his/her voce actor being trans.

This last year I've watched more hours of HGS commentary than actual shows. It grows on you indeed.

Apologies for the drop in audio quality at 53:03. I had to use KZfaq's BGM remover due to a copyright claim. The credits list "Curse My name" by Blind Guardian as extra music, however I had to switch out the song as it got a copyright claim. The music at the start instead is "Goofy Sings Simple and Clean" by ProZD.

You know what, Sage reminds me of Misao Shinohara from Sasami magical girls club but Misao actually done right. Both have anxiety, both does similar tactics but Misao character arc went in the right direction. I don't wanna spoil but if only Sage went that route.

Ok, I've finished the video and I have to say that your series was the best HGS critique of them all and it was absolutely worth the wait! ☺You managed to put into words a lot of things I felt about the show. Ever since I first saw what the finished series was like, it reminded me of something an algorithm would create out of a bunch of posts of a tumblr user brainstorming ships and OCs. Like the "incorrect quotes" jokes or the billions of "quirky and relatable" posts talking about generic fantasy badassery. I mean, I'm on tumblr and I've probably seen/reblogged my fair share of these 😆, but it's no replacement for an actual writing process. Honestly, I'm kind of sad that HGS has lost its relevancy and will probably fade into obscurity because I loved most of the community its critiques have created with all of the creative rewrites and video essays.

I enjoy watching videos about high guardian spice because i find creative breakdowns very interesting and you did this so well in this series. This really was a joy to watch

...if Snapdragon is actually trans, that itself is handled pretty poorly too. From where I sit, it's quite possible that he's just gender non-conforming. Just because you don't fall 100% into stereotypical maleness doesn't necessarily make you not-male, after all. Now the broad shoulders and facial hair thing COULD be dysphoria indicating transgenderism, but it could ALSO simply be anxiety about growing up, as both tend to happen around puberty if they happen (not all men have broad shoulders and facial hair, and I myself really wasn't all that enthusiastic about either happening. In my case, my shoulders didn't broaden too much and my facial hair doesn't grow as fast or as much as I feared it would, so yes I am speaking from personal experience here), and it would have been something interesting to explore as the show went on and we'd see if Snap actually was transgender or was simply a feminine male (you know, kinda like how both Rosemary and Amyrillis are both masculine females in their own ways), but without that season two we'll never have a Canon resolution for it and would have 50 different fanfic interpretations if the show even had that many fans. A shame, really, as they could have done so much with this aspect of Snapdragon no matter which way they went.

You starting this vid off with Goofy Cover of Simple and Clean is a very accurate representation of my feelings.

it's very obvious to me that certain characters are self-inserts from the writing team. Rosemary, from a self-deprecating weirdo who wants to feel badass, and Sage from someone with a _severe_ personality disorder trying to convince themselves they're a good person. Also known as: the two kinds of artists.

Honestly I think snaps character arc would be more interesting if the purple haired guy who's name I can't remember was his friend but still kept the transphobia so you'd have snap dealing with the transphobia but instead of it being from some random(because I don't actually think they have any interaction outside of him harassing snap) it's from a person close to snapdragon which could turn into an actual arc for the purple haired kid actually reflecting on his beliefs when he finds out snapdragon is trans Edit:His name is cal

I’d encourage writers to check on this show during writer’s block in order to understand what not to do with their own story and characters. You learn a lot from poorly written stories, they teach you how not to make the same mistakes.

The sad part about this is that I feel like if they talked to some HEMA or SCA nerds, they could have got Rosemary looking pimp and still have an anime outfit. I realized those gloves she pulls on so easily wouldn't protect her from much more than a cool breeze.

A few days ago, I was chatting with some writer friends about ways to fix the issues in this show, and while most of us had different ideas, one, in particular, came up. What if we removed certain characters or combined them? For example, instead of Rosemary being the main character, we could remove her and give the arc of a missing guardian parent to Parsley, which further explains the conflict between her and her father. Similarly, we could remove Sage and transplant pieces of her arc to Amaryllis since she and Sage have connections to Witch Country. The team of the series would be Parsley, Thyme, Amaryllis, and Snapdragon. This idea isn't a perfect solution, but it would've cut down on the filler and streamlined the show.

I agree on Snap, and I'd also say that it feels kind of better for Snap to be GNC in some way without being a trans girl? There's something strangely uncomfortable about High Guardian Spice and gender, and maybe it's just what I know of one of the writers coloring my perception, but... I don't know how, it almost feels like they replicated the discomfort of the show with the all-male cast except for a few badly handled minor girl characters in reverse. It feels uncomfortable and exclusionary in ways most shows with all-girl main character groups don't, and I can't figure out how to express that discomfort. The show as a whole, and Raye, confuses me. I don't know how it turned out as bad as it did, and any attempt to explain it to myself feels both mean and false - character-focused shows are good, character-focused shows with a larger season-long threat can be good, starting with the characters when writing can be a good starting point especially for character-focused things, being your own characters' first big fan is FINE and is even (supposed to) help avoid having cardboard or mouthpiece characters... I'm not a fan of creators answering questions about ongoing shows online, or enmeshing yourself in a fan community as a creator, but even that is theoretically fine. I've been in the position of being young and excited and wanting to Say Things with writing, but I was a child - Raye is an adult, he has to have some experience at writing workshops or creative writing classes or even reading and writing fanfiction online. Plus the entire issue of HGS seeming cynical and flat and inconsistent in its tone and target audience - that'd make sense for a rushed cash grab, but this was apparently Raye's passion project. Passion projects aren't guaranteed to be good, but it feels like the one thing a passion project should safely not be is soulless. I know this is even more unlikely than HGS getting a second season, but I really want to see a High Guardian Spice reboot. Reboots happen for beloved childhood favorites and nostalgic properties, I doubt it'll ever happen for a show whose main impact so far is how badly it was hated, but I really want to see what would happen if, in a couple decades, an experienced team with an adequate budget and decent time was handed High Guardian Spice and given the freedom to make it something better. It just feels like the show has the right amount of nice-but-generic characters, pretty-but-unexplored worldbuilding, and just enough heart that it could be done well with a second chance.

I think we can’t ignore the fact that the Professor is literally a self insert of the creator himself and doesn’t have a personality outside of being trans, we also can’t ignore that fact that they made every male character into some kind of stereotype of how all men are for being a man because some of the writers wrote them like that which you should know that this writer Kate literally said the word “Kill all men”, also I have a lot to say about how they written Snapdragon with instead of writing a man that is not 100 masculine but still masculine in their own way (similar to Hiccup from HTTYD) they basically screwed that over and the Professor asked him what transition magic is as applying that is the only way to fix his problem (which I have word to describe this but I’m sure if I should say it), I have a lot to say about this show especially with the interviews, reviews, and how broken the world especially with the clothing style that makes no since especially in a fantasy world but I don’t want to go into an angry rant about this

Honestly if HGS resurfaces itll prob be from somone wanting to fix it, just outright buys the license its not something thats unheard of

I like your take on all of this. It's not as vitriolic as I feel a lot of reviews are. I won't name names, but a number of reviews I have seen feel performative, as if they're supposed to be bitter and harsh to keep the attention of those watching. You've been harsh, but never particularly mean-spirited about it. I can't judge anyways as to whether HGS is bad as I really adore Steven Universe and a lot of people seem to feel that show is trash as well.

Okay, okay, let me try to rewrite some plot points (this may get really long): - First, the difference between old and new magic: old magic comes from the person themself, it uses the user's energy to fuel itself, but the excessive use of old magic can drain someone's energy, to the point of killing them. Now new magic comes from the Terraspheres, it's fueled by the planet's energy, however, they took awhile to recharge after being used too much, and the prolongated use of so many terraspheres actually cause the rot. - The characters are older here: Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, Parsley, Amaryllis and Snapdragon are 16 instead of 14; Slime Boy, Aster and Cal are 17 instead of 15; Olive is 18 instead of 16 and Mandrake is 19 instead of 17. - No mermaid episode because that one sucks. - After the Fall Festival episode, the main characters tell the teachers everything, rising suspicions in the Academy of who is a friend and who is a foul. - Here there's an actual reason for Thyme getting upset after olive broke the vial with healing water. When they escaped, the cave collapsed and the entrance for the fountain was unavailable and it would take a long time to get there again, and time is something that Thyme can't waste. - Both Rosemary and Sage actually flee from Pebble after their parents forbid them of becoming guardians. Rosemary's dad don't want her to disappear like Lavender and Sage's parents, especially her mother, don't want her around new magic. So that night, Rosemary convinces Sage to flee with her while Chicory covers their escape. - The reason why Sage's mom don't like new magic is because she knows what new magic is doing to the planet, but the Triumvirate is threatening her's and her family's lives if she tell anything she knows. In order to give more drama, we could make Sage's mother reavealing everything to Sage, Sage's friends, Anise and Aloe, somehow the Triumvirate discover and as punishment, they slaughter everyone on Pebble including Sage's mother and father. This makes Sage even more engaged on defeating the Triumvirate as a way to avenge her family. - Thyme is actually the princess of Elves. She is going to the Guardian Academy in order to find a cure to the Rot because her father is dying along with the forest. The monarch's life is tied to the Fairywoods, so if it dies, the king or queen dies too. On top of that, in this rewriting, Lingarth is on top of the branches of huge trees in the forest, and those trees are affected by the Rot too, therefore if the forest dies, Lingarth will crumble down, putting several lifes in danger. This would give a reason for the other characters to have a reason to fight against the Rot. - About Parsley, I like Loves Art23's iteration of Parsley being a boy, so here he is a boy. Here he still have a fuck ton of siblings and he is the eldest one, and we could add that Parsley is going to the Guardian Academy as a way to escape his hard home life. - The Triumvirate is like the "dark version" of the Triad: the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone. Lavender is WILLINGLY on their side. - Mandrake is actually Rosemary's older half-brother, being born before her and Chicory. But unlike his younger siblings, who were raised like normal childrens, Mandrake was raised to be a killing weapon, never experiencing the love and warmth of a family. Plus, on the end of the season, we could get Rosemary hugging him and making him experience what love feels like, the school crumbles down and Mandrake sacrifices his life to save Rosemary, but before he dies, he reveals that Lavender is the actual enemy. - Snapdragon is not a trans girl, he is a straight cis boy who only likes feminine things. Making Snap a trans woman totally mines that scene where he owns Sage after she said a lot of sexist bullshit on the episode where Rose falls in love with Aster. This is one idea that I saw in a comment, where >>>Cal

wow i didnt think we would get a part 5

It may be easy to redesign or edit something that exists, but...when the show makes what feels like a first draft and publishes it, I wonder why the writers' room didn't do a second or third draft...

This was some very well thought trough commentary about HGS. Most of what you said is similar to what others have said, but seen from a different perspective. What stood out to me however is that you described the writers as uninterested in developing the main plot instead of too incompetent. The idea that the writers didn't "forget" about the main plot, they simple weren't interested in writing it makes a lot of sense. They didn't seem interested in specifying what a guardian is and what magic can and cannot do, they'd rather just go with whatever they feel like. With that in mind, they most likely weren't interested in bothering with a coherent main plot, rather they just go with whatever hey feel like. If this is true, then the writers did not at the start of the show realize they would lose interest in the main plot. Both Rosemary and Thyme are written to require a main plot. Rosemary's status as a main character entirely hinges on the her mother's missing being central to the story and Thyme in turn needs the rot to be central to the story. At some point they must have thought that they would be interested in the main plot.

HGS makes me sad cuz I can see it's creator genuinely loves these characters but unfortunately he's just not a good writer. I'm not going to blame him for being inexperienced (we all have to start from something) but he needs to do better and learn from his mistakes if he wants to redeem himself as a writer

It really does show that the amount of content the internet made for hgs proves that it could have been special but maybe it was not meant to be

Alrighty now that’s its up on the KZfaqs time to comment: Starting with the production as a whole: I like the framework of starting with the characters 1st before the story, it is both thematically appropriate and serves as a good starting point as there’s a good amount to unpack with them. Also I think the use of the show’s title card music for each section was a nice touch :) Onto characters: -Hit the nail on the head there with Rosemary she’s lacking any major character foundation which sad to say is on par with a lot of shows (or at least anime) only instead of being intentional they clearly wanted her to come off a lot deeper than she was, mistaking a puddle for the Sea. -Sage building up into a villain would of been great, all the pieces are there and it would have given the story a much needed dramatic punch. Plus it would negate the biggest problem with her, the fact she’s written like a monster when she’s supposed to be likable. When I think about HGS’s lack of self-awareness, Sage is the 1st image that comes to mind. -Parsley deserved better.... not much else to say besides that. XD -Thyme is fine how she is personality wise but narratively it’s like the writers had her character arc on fast foreword while occasionally flipping channels to a documentary on the BP Oil Spill. Disregarding the rot entirely, if they were going to skip Thyme warming up to Parsley they should have written them as already being friends. Hell maybe even lean in on that, have Parsley be Thyme’s ONLY friend as a plot point and she’s closed off because everyone thinks she’s way scarier than she actually is. Have her cold exterior just be a mask she wears as a defense mechanism and Parsley being the little cinnamon bun that she is sees right through it, at times translating Thyme’s colder remarks into the intended message as a nice little wholesome moment. -Not a single thing about Amaryllis needs to change, though I do wish there was just a little bit more of her. -I don’t fully agree that Snap’s identity overshadows his complexities, but I do see where you are coming from. And yeah.... the further meta context episode 11 adds to Sage’s Mysandrist comments to Snapdragon in episode 6.... yeah... that’s pretty bad..

Congratulations on finishing this! I got to know your channel through HGS but I came to enjoy a lot what I found here so I'm looking forwards to whatever may come. Adding a bit to what you expressed here, I think that Rose also suffers from trying to replicate isekai protagonists. Characters like Saito Hiraga, Kirito or any other harem protagonists have extremely little personality so watchers can insert themselves into them. Yes, those shows are self-gratifying and aimed at horny teenagers, but isn't HGS just as self-gratifying and hyper specific on its focus? But yeah, this show is fascinating as a case study. As someone who started as a fanfic writer (I still write them) and who's venturing into writing his own original material, I agree that creating something new is far harder, but I believe that recognizing the errors in an already establishing product and tweaking them serves as good practice to not fall into those same traps.

6:14 Damn, that shinji over there is just a joke right? RIIIIIIGHT?

I'll give Parsley the benefit of the doubt she doesn't want to be a normal blacksmith but like an expert one that makes stuff for warriors instead of minor every day people or one that is more mixed like a battle blacksmith like how the class is in Fire Emblem Fates (meaning a mix of weapon creating and fighting with what she makes. I know that is not how the class works, but I'm working with what they're giving me.)

good stuff. I don't know why I have watched so many hours of critiques regarding a show I will never watch but I am glad to enjoy it

I think they put the mature warning to try to seem more mature. Like how kids who can't buy M-Rated games (legally anyway, practically of course they can) will want them more because they're forbidden.

Thanks for this series of videos. I've honestly watched enough reviews of this show so I kinda know it even tho I've never actually watched it. But your review stands out above the crowd cause you gave them a fair chance and you have a better understading of the themes around the show, and also the production behind it. All I'm saying, after listening to some angry teens bing angry that something that wasn't made for them was bad, your review was actually enlightening. Thanks again, and I guess I'll follow this channel from now on.

As a fellow animator, it's great to listen to somebody in the industry critizise shows I'm mot going to watch. You give an interesting indepth perspective most other video essays never get into, and it is familiarly refreshing. I'm subbing, next it's the Disney stuff, I hope I won't cry much.

13:36 , but don’t you see ? She is lovable and relatable….FOR A NARCISSIST Wichalotoftheshowwritersareshowing *COUGH COUGH*

*44:39** "He's normal now"* *This phrase is so wrong in so many levels*

I'm a definite latecomer to this party, but it came more from me wanting to dodge all the vitriol and controversy surrounding HGS until it dies down more than anything. And what do ya know, here I am after stumbling upon your channel lol. This show is utterly fascinating in how it went so horribly wrong. When others said this show could be used as a tutorial on how not to write, they weren't joking. But what really fascinated me was simply how you broke down everything. Not only is this a great analysis of HGS (and everything that went wrong with it), but it also acts as great writing advice. And as an experienced but still amateurish writer with a lot of the same weaknesses as the creators from an objective standpoint (as in things like weaknesses with plotting), I definitely am taking this show as a pretty harsh lesson in how *not* to write my own personal project. So what I'm trying to say is thank you. I learned something tonight in a craft I thought I already was fairly advanced in. I really like how you break everything down with all your experience and theories. Excellent autopsy! And now here's to hoping my own little pet project never ends up on your table (lol)!

As a novice writer, I find high guardian spice a really interesting case study for analysis since I relate quite a lot to the creator's ambitions. So to find a super indepth video series breaking down everything to do with it is amazing, thank you so much for this series and consider me a new sub. 😊

It would have been so interesting if "New magic" was more "mathematical" & high tech, like say 'old magic' would have like home remedy vibes, follow your gut, you're born with it or you're not but New magic is essentially more technology science based and the amount of magic in the caster becomes redundant, since New magic users could use wands or something that generates magic power letting those without a natural affinity for magic to use magic. Causing "old magic" snobs to be like "that's not really your magic, so it's not fair yadda yadda". It would have been interesting if Parsley wanted to go into the New magic sect and it's newest "engineering" classes instead of blacksmithing, that be one of the conflicts she has with her blacksmithing family and eventually she invents the first fighting mech or golem.

The reason why the show NEVER bothered to explain what a Guardian even is simply because the people behind it assumed we would already be familiar with the Huntsmen and Huntresses from RWBY, except in that show the worldbuilding makes very clear the reason of their existence and the academies, but here...??

The story behind HGS it's so fascinanting even if is in a bad way, i'm sure someone could a thesis about it also like i said before your reviews are probably the best thing came out of HGS

I feel what Rodriguez really needed most was a mentor - someone more experienced to bounce his ideas to and develop them together. He was woefully unprepared to helm a show (after only having worked as a character designer for an Amazon Prime-show before), but I really mostly blame Crunchyroll for putting such a newcomer into a position of power and expecting something high-class. In fact, I would say he was mostly chosen BECAUSE he would work non-union. On the other hand, the show had Audu Paden as a supervising director, who HAS decades of experience in the industry and worked on both Animaniacs (comedy) and Ever After High (a school-centered fantasy-oriented girls-show). So you would expect them to work with that. Then again, even the best director can't produce a good product if the studio limit their budget...

This is going to be a long video with a lot of comments of varying quality from me. The incentive to do a potentially dangerous job (especially if you have to go to a school where death is a possibility) is key for this kind of thing. Is it a high salary? Do you get to retire after twenty years of service with a pension? Is it hard to get work in general and becoming a Guardian means someone will always want you to do what you're good at? Is a Guardian a religious figure, and thus many aspire to become them as a part of becoming closer to God(/Goddess/The Gods)? I'm trying to become a plumber, and the money and job security is a great incentive to have to get cold, wet, dirty, smell things that most people don't have to smell, and potentially end up driving long distances for a customer to just tell me they don't want to pay for the service that needs done. I can't tell you why someone would become a Guardian unless I use my own fanon or headcanon.

There is so much to learn from studying this mess.. Thankyou for the videos.

When i was watching it with a friend, we had a full 30minute break to discuss how the story could've been inproved upon. There was an idea, it could've worked as a show you can put on and forget about after but it would've been enjoyable.

25:42 yeah... uh-huh... of course... guess she's right then... huh.... 32:15 her hair is REALLY pointing upwards here, is it just me? Is it longer instead? 32:25 😭😭😭 do not remind us dude 😭😭😭 33:40 Oh, had forgotten this quote. And I think of now, "what? What did you get?" (ed: 34:00 Ikr?? hahah 😂😅 Also I'm watching Rayearth recently on yt, honestly it's pretty dang good! Wish I could've watched it as a kid) 48:22 Wow, it can almost feel like a robot did it 😅 What a.. nice close. Good job for being committed and laying out a chuck of your thoughts on this up to now!~ It all must've took so long, a deserved rest is needed! Hope none of it gets taken down for some reason Also can't wait to see what ever you've in store for the future 😊 Thank you for sharing

Personally, i am not the biggest Sailor Moon fan, but wouldn't it be a much better homage if Sage found Olive on the street and rescued her (like Usagi Tsukino in episode 1 with Luna) instead of just taking sailor moon as meme face inspo's. Heck it could even be a subtle refrence to Madoka Magica, the Mascot character being the evil villain of the Story and all. A good point where they should have changed Rose's personality would have been, when Rosemary decided to kill the Sea Dragon. You know Rosemary loves Dragons and now she has to kill one...and it just doesn't realy happen, she still BARELY Developes. Also i know that Shipping is important to the creaters but NOT GIVING YOUR CHARACTERS ANY REAL RELATIONSHIP CONNECTIONS OUTSIDE OF ROMANCE IS BAD! I am 100% convinced that the reason why noone in the show has any clear dynamics is because they don't want peaple shipping the wrong characters. You can't ship characters if they barely interact with eachother, which is honestly soooooo stupid! Even Snapdragon & Amyrilles who have the best Connection, the Wrighters are VERY against shipping them, telling the audience indirectly that this is a No-Go ship....Okay??? I don't hate shipping or ronance stories...but my god Shows like this remind me of how F*cking OBNOXIOUS they can be. It does make me wonder, what would have happen if there was atleast one wrighter that DIDN'T care about romance, one person that had different creative opinions about stories & storytelling? The Tumblr comic idea of HGS was more episodic, Team Treasure hunt girls, go on Adventures that was Mr. Rodriguez's idea back in high school (i think?). Then when Mr.Rodrigueze realize that he was Trans & Gay, he got really passionate about telling a story about those themes (nothing wrong with that) but his old and new idea's don't mix well... atleast not ALL of them together. Kill your Darlings? Just mixing EVERYTHING in without thinking, when MOST peaple who have a basic understanding of how stories work could tell you that this just can't work. This show is kinda like M.knights Shyamalan's Filmography, its Bad but there are some actually good things in it. And at the very least you can learn what NOT to do from it. The Trans joke in Swan Lake was pretty funny though. 😂 Snap deserves an ACTUAL personality.

The solution to the Problem why Parsley is going to the academy is simple, i'm confused why they didn't take it: Just say that the Academy teaches *magical* blacksmithing. Have her dad be this grumbling "that's not how we did it for ten generations!" guy. Other people in the comments have proposed different solutions, that are equally simple and i don't get why the showrunners didn't think of it.

Fantastic job on making the video series! As always it was a great thing to listen to.

I've followed the some of the other videos you've made about this show, and I am definitely looking forward to seeing how the rest of this video goes. I've only seen the bit about the characters thus far, but I'll probably make another comment based on if I have any takes on the rest of the subject matter. In terms of characters, based off of what you've stated in your videos, I would probably think of several things that could improve the main cast: 1). Get rid of Rosemary as the main protagonist, or just in general. 2). Have Parsley take the position of main character as from what I've heard, she would probably be a much better fit for the role. 3). (and I actually found this one very interesting to hear; one that I might actually use for a story of my own at some point) turn Sage into a sort of slow burn villain/if not eventually becoming the main antagonist; from how I've heard you describe her as a gaslighting emotional manipulator, it would definitely be interesting to see how her character could spiral from somewhat clingy to downright manipulative and vile. I don't know if I have anything really to say on the other characters of Thyme, Amaryllis, and Snapdragon (other than Snap's poorly thought-out character development being removed from the latter half of the show), but as for the antagonists of Olive and Mandrake, I think it would be interesting to see their dynamic fleshed out if they were paired together earlier in the show. Granted, I've never personally watched the show, I don't know if I have any intensions of watching it, and I know that my opinion isn't the definitive design that would fix HGS in it's entirety, so I am open to critique. But either way, thank you for making the funny and insightful videos that you have made on this show.

I watched some of it for myself before it got put behind the paywall. I don't remember where I left off, but it hardly matters. My assessment was the show is bad, but not nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I agree with you 100%, there was potential here. I'd almost like to see a second season just to see if maybe it can reach that potential. Most people, even the harshest critics, seem to agree the show did get a bit better toward the end. Maybe a second season is what it needed to hit it's stride. But I think your also right about it's not coming back anytime soon, so we'll probably never know.

Nice vid series Congrats!

How I would change the characters, I haven't watched the full video yet so I might repeat ideas said in the video Rosemary: Rosemary want's to become a Guardian because her mother was a Guardian and she want's to follow in her footsteps however she secretly has another motivation, Rosemary believes her mother is alive whereas everyone else thinks she died and Rosemary thinks that by becoming a Guardian she could learn more about what happened to her mother and find her, whether her mother is alive or not is irrelevant either she's dead and Rosemary accepts her death, potentially avenges her and moves on or she's alive and Rosemary saves her probably from the main bad guy showing how she's surpassed her mother as a strong Guardian. Sage: Sage's motivation to going to the Guardian Academy is from her parents as Sage is good at old magic they want her to become an old magic using Guardian and show people that old magic is better than new magic (also Sage's mother no longer used new magic when she was younger) when Sage gets to the city she finds herself growing interested in new magic though she's still bad at it and she worries about how her parents would feel about her wanting to learn new magic then she would find Caraway combining new and old magic, in this version the hybrid magic Caraway uses is experimental and something he's recently started developing this inspires Sage to help Caraway create this new hybrid magic system, also make Sage less clingy to Rosemary and make her less complain-y. Parsley: Parsley needs the least changes mainly just her needing a grander motivation than just "I want to be my own person outside of helping my family" maybe have her realise how dangerous the main threats are and resolving to become a powerful Guardian to protect her family and those she cares about. Thyme: Thyme's motivation is fine she want's to fix the evil corruption effecting her home, the main issue with her is plot holes and bad writing mainly I would make it so the healing water doesn't fix the corruption also she keeps the corruption a secret because she wants to be the one to fix it but after she runs out of ideas of how to fix it she turns to asking others for help from her friends and eventually the academy teachers. Edit: Snapdragon: I completely agree on you thoughts about Snapdragon they should've been an example of how not conforming to archaic gender roles is fine, a storyline about sexism and how unhealthy gender roles can be, even better if there was a scene with present day Snapdragon and their father reconciling this issue

I must say, you’ve got a fairly unique take on this compared to many of the other videos I’ve seen. It’s nice to see some different takes on aspects of the show.

I saw your play list and figured I would watch the Autopsy and call it good, but afterwards I was, "Well now I have to watch the whole play list." Watching your whole go through did make realize why HGS sticks in my brain. As you say, there is a core of a good idea here. Couple that with my mind's habit for taking details and logically extrapolating to build a setting and HGS snuck into my brain. It's a weird sensation seeing a trait that normally works for me working against me.

So I've just finished the video in it's entirety, and... at the end of the day, you're right. The show did have potential. It had potential to be something that could stand out on it's own. If not for potentially more deep and thought-provoking, then at least something we could turn to watch and feel comfortable doing so. I mean, as you've stated, there were certainly good points to HGS itself. But it unfortunately found itself at the bottom of a pit and couldn't manage to claw itself back out. I don't say this to be hateful. I myself am trying to go through the process of trying to create his first original work to be written down, but I really do think that if Raye could learn from the trainwreck that HGS left in it's wake, he could really go ahead and make something truly spectacular. Once again, thank you for this funny and insightful take on this subject. I don't know if I'll subscribe to the channel, but I will give it some thought. Hope you're having a fantastic day today.

Fantastic commentary, yes, I would like to know more. I look forward to more content

Greatly for the detailed character breakdowns Never watched the show ,but I feel like I know their all like now

I really liked to see your take on this. I take notes on how to wright a fantasy storry and it helped me to identify flaw and narative problem. Im exited to see what you will do next :3

Fantastic series of videos, you really captured so many of the thoughts I had about this show that were kinda formless generalized emotions. I saw elsewhere in the comments you might do something like this again for another bad show, and I'm definitely subbing for that! Your writing style, presentation, and general vibes are really, *really* good and genuinely entertaining. It's very hard to get me to sit still for even just an hour but you had me enthralled for *5 ½* of them. That takes real skill lmao, seriously keep up the good work I'm excited to see what else you produce!

Like many others, I was directed to your vids on this show by Guardian HQ, and I really liked your analysis of this series! It was interesting to hear it not just from a fan of cartoons or a critic of media but also someone who seems to actually WATCH and LIKE the kind of shows HGS is supposed to take inspiration from, such as magical girls, 90s-era fantasy anime, or shoujo. (For the record, your reviews have directed me to some series I might wanna put on my watchlist, like Magic Knight Rayearth and Re:Creators.) I think it helped a lot in getting your points across about the way HGS either botches those tropes or only applies them in the most surface-level way possible. This show is really interesting to me as someone who makes characters and tries to write stories - it genuinely BAFFLES me how Raye could get to the point he did and not seem to think ANYTHING through beyond a few points. At times I felt like HGS would have been better off as a fantasy-flavored yuri webcomic or something since that seems to be all the thought he put into it. I really do wish him the best, since this at least is valuable experience as a creator to have made something like this, but the running implication he hasn't seemed to learned much makes me skeptical about any future works he makes. I don't want to be mean, but in an age where it's INCREDIBLY hard to get studios to even look in your direction when you have an original idea you wanna show the world, it feels a bit of a waste. This whole show could have been decent. Still, thank you for the informative video(s). Your art style is very cute and the rest of your content seems promising, so I might stick around! ^v^