High Guardian Spice - Tumblr: The CalArt Anime

[One Man Bland]

I'm seeing smears, but that's about all I see. Whole thing feels like the Koreans crapped it out in a day at best.

Of course, when actually compared to American cartoons these days, I'd say it's about on par with most Fox sitcoms and CN crap at best. Or maybe with something from a b-tier anime studio like Bridge or J.C Staff if we're being really generous here.

Yeah, I can see the smears now too. I guess I didn’t count those because they don’t seem to actually be used as smears but as manga-style speed lines - and aren’t even doing a good job of it since they’re just sprinkled in random spots to cover up for the lack of frames.

My favorite is that second one. The pink haired chick is moving at a linear rate making it look like that sword she's carrying has no weight to it. I also like how that sword in the foreground just kinda awkwardly moves around in place.

You can tell this wasn’t made by people who have any interest in making an action series or even so much as looking at references. I can’t tell if the second slash is supposed to be from the same sword or a different sword that is somehow striking above the first swordsman, but her little spin into the next swing makes no sense when her opponent is that close and there’s no implied momentum to make it seem like it’s stronger than the first one.

Considering Raye's getting her breasts removed in about 15 days and has gone on about how several of the characters are trans, the question is not if, but when. Hindsight's gonna be a bitch when the trooning fad moves on, though. Definite lolcow potential there.

I do find it hilarious that Raye made a whole comic about going to a fucking psychic for transitioning advice and then getting mad when that obviously didn’t work out.

Also if according to your own posts you flip-flopon being trans every other month, maybe the psychic had a point.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

Yeah, I can see the smears now too. I guess I didn’t count those because they don’t seem to actually be used as smears but as manga-style speed lines - and aren’t even doing a good job of it since they’re just sprinkled in random spots to cover up for the lack of frames.

That's something Anime does on a regular basis for pretty much the same reason. Only problem is that Anime has an excuse- they have shitty production schedules and different animators having different styles they work with. HGS has been in production for what? 2 years and only now we're seeing animation?

 

[One Man Bland]

That's something Anime does on a regular basis for pretty much the same reason. Only problem is that Anime has an excuse- they have shitty production schedules and different animators having different styles they work with. HGS has been in production for what? 2 years and only now we're seeing animation?

I think the other big difference is that no one who worked on this is really an animator.

Raye is the closest this project has as they apparently went to school for animation - although I can’t find the school they graduated from, the student films Ifound of theirs suggest that they were a mediocre student at best - but every job they’ve had has been character design, prop design, and the occasional story boarding gig. Then you have the rest of the notable crew members like Kate Leth, who not only hated animation and comics before it got them into the Tumblr Artists clique, but have no formal training or outside discipline except for some half-assed web comics. Doesn’t help all the recognizable names attracted to this project are all infamously flakey, the fact that Raye has apparently bailed on the entire studio after one “season” is very telling to me.

This is the inevitable result you get when you make a vanity project based on a several year old Donut Steel, and then hire a team based on nepotism rather than talent or reliability.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Raye is the closest this project has as they apparently went to school for animation - although I can’t find the school they graduated from, the student films Ifound of theirs suggest that they were a mediocre student at best - but every job they’ve had has been character design, prop design, and the occasional story boarding gig.

I'll give Raye a pass for that. In animation school (and just about any career-driven school), you learn the tools of the trade from every angle, but you are free to professionally choose what to do when you graduate and get a job. Storyboarding is still a key job to animation (but it's sadly overlooked way too often), although it's still not as easy as it sounds since you're planning out what the eventual-finished product will look like. So you still need to have a good grasp on cinematography, pacing with the script, and art in general so it doesn't look like a mess to be considered a competent storyboard artist. Oh, and all storyboard artists also have to go up in front of the team and director(s) to act out how the scene plays out, so you have to get over your shyness, and accept criticism and the acceptance that the scene you drew out may not make it into the final cut.

Raye I'm sure is much happier in just drawing character and prop designs, and that's perfectly fine. Creating characters is a lot of fun, I'll fully admit this, but it's still frustrating that she never tried to make them not look like Madoka Magica rip-offs. She at least has a good grasp on drawing so they're not complete blobs (as long as there's color/effort, mind you), but her creativity doesn't leave much to the imagination.

 

[One Man Bland]

I'll give Raye a pass for that. In animation school (and just about any career-driven school), you learn the tools of the trade from every angle, but you are free to professionally choose what to do when you graduate and get a job. Storyboarding is still a key job to animation (but it's sadly overlooked way too often), although it's still not as easy as it sounds since you're planning out what the eventual-finished product will look like. So you still need to have a good grasp on cinematography, pacing with the script, and art in general so it doesn't look like a mess to be considered a competent storyboard artist. Oh, and all storyboard artists also have to go up in front of the team and director(s) to act out how the scene plays out, so you have to get over your shyness, and accept criticism and the acceptance that the scene you drew out may not make it into the final cut.

Raye I'm sure is much happier in just drawing character and prop designs, and that's perfectly fine. Creating characters is a lot of fun, I'll fully admit this, but it's still frustrating that she never tried to make them not look like Madoka Magica rip-offs. She at least has a good grasp on drawing so they're not complete blobs (as long as there's color/effort, mind you), but her creativity doesn't leave much to the imagination.

I get all that, and I wasn’t dissing those professions. I mostly brought it up to highlight that going from prop design to show runner/producer/director is a pretty big jump seeing how most people in animation tend to spend at a little time as a storyboard supervisor, assistant art director, and/or episode director, before they are even given the chance to do their own show. It’s like going from being a theater tech to being a theater director with no in-between steps.

The fact that one of the most experienced people on the project has such a glaring gap in their experience, and at a start up company that has pretty much no veteran talent, should’ve been Crunchy Roll’s first clue that this wasn’t going to go well.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

I get all that, and I wasn’t dissing those professions. I mostly brought it up to highlight that going from prop design to show runner/producer/director is a pretty big jump seeing how most people in animation tend to spend at a little time as a storyboard supervisor, assistant art director, and/or episode director, before they are even given the chance to do their own show. It’s like going from being a theater tech to being a theater director with no in-between steps.

The fact that one of the most experienced people on the project has such a glaring gap in their experience, and at a start up company that has pretty much no veteran talent, should’ve been Crunchy Roll’s first clue that this wasn’t going to go well.

Most definitely, and I know you weren't dissing the professions . Although I wonder how much of the show Raye had much control over, even creatively. She's not being considered one of the screenwriters, and as far as I can tell has not been listed as a director anywhere. She might just be a creative consultant, but otherwise has no real power over how it's made. It's not like she could've gone over to Korea to oversee it.

It's not all that unusual for a creator to not have much power over their work, but something's up in that we don't seem to know the studio who animated it, nor have any names really popped up in known any credits. It's as if they have to rely on a Twitter presence for anyone to know who's worked on it, and a good majority of them are no longer on the staff now, and the PR was fucking terrible.

 

[One Man Bland]

Most definitely, and I know you weren't dissing the professions . Although I wonder how much of the show Raye had much control over, even creatively. She's not being considered one of the screenwriters, and as far as I can tell has not been listed as a director anywhere. She might just be a creative consultant, but otherwise has no real power over how it's made. It's not like she could've gone over to Korea to oversee it.

It's not all that unusual for a creator to not have much power over their work, but something's up in that we don't seem to know the studio who animated it, nor have any names really popped up in known any credits. It's as if they have to rely on a Twitter presence for anyone to know who's worked on it, and a good majority of them are no longer on the staff now, and the PR was fucking terrible.

That is true, but usually if it’s not the show runner getting final say on all creative decisions it’s because there’s an executive produce or head of a studio that’s overseeing the project. And it doesn’t seem like Crunchy Roll is acting as such. So who the hell is making decisions if not Raye, the creator who’s been pitching this for years?

Personally I chalk up the vagueness of the positions to the fact that this company seems to have been a fucking mess right from the get go with no organization to speak of. The founder/CEO(?) lady gave me serious “insane former EiC of Archie Comics” vibes.

 

[Robert James]

What still blows my mind about all of this shit is how they could fund almost literally any decent manga to anime adaptation, and even if it absolutely sucked, it would still likely gain more interest than this shit.

To think they could have done the Dorehedoro animation and gotten everything they wanted and would have gained a loyal fanbase.

Spoiler: Reasons why Dorehedoro would have been perfect.

• It's creator/artist/and writer is a chick they could have done the made by women shtick and still made people happy
• There is a range of body types for women from tiny flatchested plain-faced Ebisu to Giantess muscle-bound Noi, who you are told multiple times throughout the manga that she is beautiful.
• Tits pop up throughout the manga and it's treated as a normal thing, it comes off like a woman is writing it and could help push the whole free the nipple argument with weeaboos. The only time characters get flustered by it is when the characters have feelings for one another I.E. Noi and Shin. Other than that it's usually used so someone can say oh, you're a woman.
• The whole plot of the story is about a grudge brought to life by magic users killing humans because the magic users wanted to have fun.
• Every villain is a male, the only exception I can think of is a minor antagonist trying to get the heart of the man she loves.
• Gender swaps are a common thing in the world and can last for a while if not permanently. Nikaido transforms into a dude for a few chapters and Turkey, a member of the En familly, was a man that became a woman and never bothered to reverse the magic.
• There is a pretty loyal fanbase that they could have gained since the manga has been around 2000 and ended two years ago.
• En was a freed slave and the En family, an organization that effectively runs the wizard world, was composed of magicians that were considered weak and pathetic by the other magicians.
• It's filled with Lol so random gofic humor, the final battle has kaimen unleash his magical power, Gyoza wand, to fight against a giant monster that's only interest is "Kill al magic users" that a demon calls Whole-kun.
• There is a heavy oppressor vs oppressed theme with humans being abused by magic users and horribly deformed if not killed. Slavery comes up quite often and magic users see most humans as less than them.
• There is discrimination from both magic users and nonmagic users about breeding with others. One of the characters Shin is a half magician and his father is beaten to death and he is almost murdered because of it.
• Magic users are almost all White while whole residents, the oppressed, tend to have a darker skin color. Yes, I know this is more about Japanese culture where fairer skinned people are richer and higher up in a society where people with tanner skin tend to be poorer, less educated, and from rural areas. They could have easily made it about race and American audiences would have a hard time saying "retards they aren't meant to be another race they are meant to be tan" without being called racist.
• Magic users are all unique and have different and interesting forms of magic. Abilities range from turn X into mushroom, heal, reverse time, Meat pie, turn into a dinosaur, to the previously mentioned Gyoza wand. Their is also a heavy theme about it's not the power it's what you do with it. This get's you the same appeal as Stands, quirks, Devil Fruits, Etc.
• The series ends with the slaughter of almost every magic-user and the oppressed humans getting totems that immediately ward off magic users.
• There is an openly gay character and En's favorite thing in the world is a cat.
• It wouldn't be yuri smut, a slice of life, or a romance based show and could appeal to their main demographic, Men.
• Kaimen, the lizard head dude, isn't the main character, he disappears for half the manga. Nikaido is the main focus for the last half of the manga, excluding the final battle, they could have pulled a "Fooled you, this chick is the true hero of the manga shtick"

They could have had everything that they wanted from producing Dorehedoro and it would have been a good show. Alas they wanted to be the saviors and it's hard to promote the "Anime is sexist" Narrative when you pay for a series written and drawn by a woman.

Then again I think Mappa is the best team for the show, the 3D models look off at times but they put so much love into the show that it's hard to imagine any other animation studio having it.

There are a ton of manga made by women staring female characters that deserve to have anime adaptations but they couldn't be the saviors of anime if they did that now could they?

High guardian spice was probably picked because the staff wanted a show made by a gender special that was anime-inspired. They called it Anime because RoosterTeeth called RWBY anime and got away with it. It feels like most of the staff at crunchy roll are starting to hate anime since they don't have as much control over it so they picked a show that fits their narrative and that they could control.

 

[mr.moon1488]

To think they could have done the Dorehedoro animation and gotten everything they wanted and would have gained a loyal fanbase.

Spoiler: Reasons why Dorehedoro would have been perfect.

• It's creator/artist/and writer is a chick they could have done the made by women shtick and still made people happy
• There is a range of body types for women from tiny flatchested plain-faced Ebisu to Giantess muscle-bound Noi, who you are told multiple times throughout the manga that she is beautiful.
• Tits pop up throughout the manga and it's treated as a normal thing, it comes off like a woman is writing it and could help push the whole free the nipple argument with weeaboos. The only time characters get flustered by it is when the characters have feelings for one another I.E. Noi and Shin. Other than that it's usually used so someone can say oh, you're a woman.
• The whole plot of the story is about a grudge brought to life by magic users killing humans because the magic users wanted to have fun.
• Every villain is a male, the only exception I can think of is a minor antagonist trying to get the heart of the man she loves.
• Gender swaps are a common thing in the world and can last for a while if not permanently. Nikaido transforms into a dude for a few chapters and Turkey, a member of the En familly, was a man that became a woman and never bothered to reverse the magic.
• There is a pretty loyal fanbase that they could have gained since the manga has been around 2000 and ended two years ago.
• En was a freed slave and the En family, an organization that effectively runs the wizard world, was composed of magicians that were considered weak and pathetic by the other magicians.
• It's filled with Lol so random gofic humor, the final battle has kaimen unleash his magical power, Gyoza wand, to fight against a giant monster that's only interest is "Kill al magic users" that a demon calls Whole-kun.
• There is a heavy oppressor vs oppressed theme with humans being abused by magic users and horribly deformed if not killed. Slavery comes up quite often and magic users see most humans as less than them.
• There is discrimination from both magic users and nonmagic users about breeding with others. One of the characters Shin is a half magician and his father is beaten to death and he is almost murdered because of it.
• Magic users are almost all White while whole residents, the oppressed, tend to have a darker skin color. Yes, I know this is more about Japanese culture where fairer skinned people are richer and higher up in a society where people with tanner skin tend to be poorer, less educated, and from rural areas. They could have easily made it about race and American audiences would have a hard time saying "exceptional individuals they aren't meant to be another race they are meant to be tan" without being called racist.
• Magic users are all unique and have different and interesting forms of magic. Abilities range from turn X into mushroom, heal, reverse time, Meat pie, turn into a dinosaur, to the previously mentioned Gyoza wand. Their is also a heavy theme about it's not the power it's what you do with it. This get's you the same appeal as Stands, quirks, Devil Fruits, Etc.
• The series ends with the slaughter of almost every magic-user and the oppressed humans getting totems that immediately ward off magic users.
• There is an openly gay character and En's favorite thing in the world is a cat.
• It wouldn't be yuri smut, a slice of life, or a romance based show and could appeal to their main demographic, Men.
• Kaimen, the lizard head dude, isn't the main character, he disappears for half the manga. Nikaido is the main focus for the last half of the manga, excluding the final battle, they could have pulled a "Fooled you, this chick is the true hero of the manga shtick"

They could have had everything that they wanted from producing Dorehedoro and it would have been a good show. Alas they wanted to be the saviors and it's hard to promote the "Anime is sexist" Narrative when you pay for a series written and drawn by a woman.

Then again I think Mappa is the best team for the show, the 3D models look off at times but they put so much love into the show that it's hard to imagine any other animation studio having it.

There are a ton of manga made by women staring female characters that deserve to have anime adaptations but they couldn't be the saviors of anime if they did that now could they?

High guardian spice was probably picked because the staff wanted a show made by a gender special that was anime-inspired. They called it Anime because RoosterTeeth called RWBY anime and got away with it. It feels like most of the staff at crunchy roll are starting to hate anime since they don't have as much control over it so they picked a show that fits their narrative and that they could control.

Likely the most profitable one they could of done would have been solo leveling, though it's actually a manhwa. It has an insanely dedicated fan base, and it seems like the story is set to go on for years. Lol they were late on the draw for it though, if I recall correctly a studio has already bought the rights to make it and has season one in the works now.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

That is true, but usually if it’s not the show runner getting final say on all creative decisions it’s because there’s an executive produce or head of a studio that’s overseeing the project. And it doesn’t seem like Crunchy Roll is acting as such. So who the hell is making decisions if not Raye, the creator who’s been pitching this for years?

Personally I chalk up the vagueness of the positions to the fact that this company seems to have been a fucking mess right from the get go with no organization to speak of. The founder/CEO(?) lady gave me serious “insane former EiC of Archie Comics” vibes.

Too many cooks, mayhaps? Or maybe everyone thought it was a sinking ship and bailed, leaving no one at the helm?

 

[One Man Bland]

Too many cooks, mayhaps? Or maybe everyone thought it was a sinking ship and bailed, leaving no one at the helm?

That could be it, though I chalk up a lot of the failure of #woke projects like this being because SJWs are the absolute worst collaborators; especially when it’s just them. They’re super sensitive to criticism, expect everything to go their way just in the virtue that they’ve graced everyone with their presence, have been taught that compromise is an Alt-Right virtue, and tend to be well versed in using manipulative “woe is me” tactics while simultaneously claiming that every minority’s opinion is valid (though some are more valid than others.)

It’s actually kinda fascinating to see it play out in real time if you’ve ever had the misfortune to get a behind the scenes look at a project run by SJWs/Tumblr. There’s always the inevitable drama moment where two or more people will disagree, someone gets upset and pulls a victim card, and then it’s like a poker game as people try to out “my idea is the MOST valid because [insert ID political talking point or current hot button topic here]” until someone’s either shunned, quits, or cries it out for a while and act really passive aggressive to each other for the remainder of the project.

 

[BroccoliBrain]

Raye, though cringy, gets a pass from me for not being cowish. I feel sorry for her, getting your own little webcomic adapted into an official looking animation should be something you can truly be proud of, not this mediocre abortion nobody wanted. Then again from what I saw her comic is a creatively bankrupt soapbox of Madoka ripoffs talking Tumblr and the way she talks about it on Twitter feels insincere somehow, like she doesn't actually care. I know I wouldn't at this point, the whole thing's a mess.

It's not all that unusual for a creator to not have much power over their work, but something's up in that we don't seem to know the studio who animated it, nor have any names really popped up in known any credits. It's as if they have to rely on a Twitter presence for anyone to know who's worked on it, and a good majority of them are no longer on the staff now, and the PR was fucking terrible.

It's almost creepy! Or maybe this is a real world example of the high school project everybody slacks off on, only there's no genius kid to bully into doing all of the work.

 

[KingCoelacanth]

https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2020/05/07-1/hbo-max-and-crunchyroll-team-to-bring-fans-more-anime-on-may-27th

Crunchy Roll is getting in on HBO Max streaming service. The show's creator twitted about this, and there were rumors about the show being on a streaming service, so this may be where it ends up.

 

[Scratch This Nut]

Threads like this are inspiring in a way. If these dummies can turn their terrible idea and horrible art into a show, so can I! And so can you!

 

[Horribadger]

Threads like this are inspiring in a way. If these dummies can turn their terrible idea and horrible art into a show, so can I! And so can you!

Time to make Kiwifarms: the Anime

 

[PopRocks]

Time to make Kiwifarms: the Anime

I call dibs on being the comic relief!

 

[Piga Dgrifm]

Time to make Kiwifarms: the Anime

"My Little Sister Can't Be A Lolcow"

 

[PS1gamenwatch]

Threads like this are inspiring in a way. If these dummies can turn their terrible idea and horrible art into a show, so can I! And so can you!

Let's make Kiwifarms: The Musical. This should be our opening song:

Time to make Kiwifarms: the Anime

Better yet let's make an entire iseakai of all the Sonic recolors in one dimension. Complete with bad English and Dragonball references, or let's make this into an animated show:

 

[Kari Kamiya]

https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2020/05/07-1/hbo-max-and-crunchyroll-team-to-bring-fans-more-anime-on-may-27th

Crunchy Roll is getting in on HBO Max streaming service. The show's creator twitted about this, and there were rumors about the show being on a streaming service, so this may be where it ends up.

So basically, it's going to be thrown into a dark corner and then promptly forgotten about. Sounds about right.

 

[BroccoliBrain]

Sorry for mild necro but I haven't seen this posted. Says it all, really.