High Guardian Spice

High Guardian Spice[2] is an upcoming American animated (anime-influenced) streaming television series. The series is produced by Ellation Studios, and was originally slated to be online streaming site Crunchyroll's first original content.[3] It was originally set for release in early 2019, but was delayed.[2][3][4] Its announcement—and the implication that Crunchyroll was beginning to produce its own media rather than anime and other Asian content sparked controversy amongst some of the site's users.[5]

High Guardian Spice
Created byRaye Rodriguez
Developed byClaire Stenger
Written byAmalia Levari
Claire Stenger
Kate Leth, Kristle Peluso
Directed byAudu Paden (supervising)
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producersRaye Rodriguez
Margaret Dean
Running time22 minutes[1]
Production companyEllation Studios
DistributorOtter Media
Release
Original networkCrunchyroll
Original releaseTBA

Premise

A group of four young girls who attend the High Guardian Academy and are training to become guardians of the city.[6][7] At the same time, they deal with friends, allies, and betrayals, as they attempt to protect everything from an unknown threat.[8]

Characters
  • Rosemary - presumably the leader of the group of four girls who has pink hair.[8]
  • Parsley - a protagonist and a magical girl with blond hair.[8] She also, apparently, works as a blacksmith.[9]
  • Sage - a protagonist, a magical girl, and a witch who has blue hair.[8][10][11]
  • Thyme - another member of the group and a magical girl with red hair who appears to be an elf.[12] She is also, apparently, a skilled archer.[13]
  • Lavender - mom of Rosemary who has lavender hair.[14]
  • Fennel - dad of Rosemary who has violet hair.[15]
  • Chicory - brother of Rosemary who has lavender hair.[14]

Production and release

The show began production in 2017. According to the resume of Claire Stenger, a co-developer, writer, and co-story editor for the show, she worked on pitch documents, helped with VO sessions, gave notes, and helped with the writing, between September 2017 and October 2018.[16]

The show wrapped production on November 7, 2019, as noted by Raye Rodriguez, the series creator.[17][18][19] Rodriguez, a Cuban trans man who formerly worked for Danger & Eggs as a character designer, called himself the creator, executive producer, and showrunner of the series, and stated that he produced "twelve 22-minute episodes" of the show on his official website.[1][20]

On February 25, 2020, Crunchyroll released a trailer for 8 original series including High Guardian Spice[21] and seven others.[lower-alpha 1]

On September 4, 2020, Ethan Supovitz of CBR described the series as an upcoming Crunchyroll original which would come out in 2020, but gave no exact date.[7] Later that month, it was revealed that Kristle Peluso, who also was a writer for Onyx Equinox and the second season of gen:LOCK, was a writer for the show.[22] On November 15, 2020, Constance Sarantos of CBR wrote an article advocating for Crunchyroll to release the series, with the latter silent about the show's release date, noting that it received backlash when it was initially announced, but that the delay seems ridiculous at this point.[23]

Reception

Pre-release

In March 2020, John Witiw of CBR said that the series reminded them of RWBY, Mysticons, and even the Harry Potter series, while noting that the names of the characters are a reference to "Scarborough Fair," and English folk ballad made popular by Simon & Garfunkel.[8] Another reviewer, Ethan Supovitz, also of CBR, said that the show has "a lot of anime influences," including of magical girl anime, blending Eastern and Western animation, calling it reminiscent of Steven Universe, The Owl House, and Dungeons & Dragons.[7] He also praised the diverse team working on the show and the variety of characters, even as they noted that shows like RWBY, Little Witch Academia and Soul Eater have a "similar set-up."

Apart from those at CBR, Tom Capon of Gay Star News described Rodriguez as the "creative force" behind the show, noting that he'll be "leading an all-female writing room," and calling the story "a coming-of-age tale filled with drama and sorcery."[24]

Notes
  1. The others were Onyx Equinox, In/Spectre, The God of High School, Meiji Gekken: Sword & Gun, Tower of God, Noblesse, and FreakAngels.

References
  1. Rodridguez, Raye (2020). "About". Raye Rodriguez's Official Website. Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  2. Whittaker, Richard; 4:22PM (December 12, 2018). "Corporate Reshuffle Signals New Era at Rooster Teeth". Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on July 4, 2020. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
  3. "'High Guardian Spice' is Crunchyroll's first original series". Engadget. Archived from the original on July 4, 2020. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
  4. "Ellation Launches Studios In Burbank And Tokyo To Produce Crunchyroll Original Series 'High Guardian Spice'". Cartoon Brew. 2018-08-22. Archived from the original on April 6, 2020. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
  5. Valdez, Nick. "Crunchyroll Fans Rise Up to Defend Site's Original Animated Series". comicbook. Archived from the original on April 2, 2020. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
  6. Crunchyroll (August 22, 2018). "High Guardian Spice - Coming 2019". Crunchyroll. YouTube. Archived from the original on June 14, 2020.
  7. Supovitz, Ethan. "5 Reasons To Be Hyped For Crunchyroll's High Guardian Spice (& 5 Reasons To Be Worried)". CBR. Archived from the original on September 11, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  8. Witiw, John (March 23, 2020). "10 Things You Need To Know About High Guardian Spice". CBR. Archived from the original on March 24, 2020. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
  9. Rodridguez, Raye (January 5, 2016). "I'm feeling stuck". Raye Rodriguez's Official Art Tumblr. Archived from the original on December 14, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  10. Rodridguez, Ray (February 2, 2017). "This comic leaves us with a very important..." Raye Rodriguez's Official Art Tumblr. Archived from the original on December 14, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  11. Rodriguez, Raye (August 16, 2017). "It's m'girls!! Not totally satisfied with this, but I'm still learning how to do backgrounds and stuff, blah blah blah". Instagram. Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  12. Rodridguez, Raye (August 26, 2018). "Heya everyone, long time no post :v I'm just here ..." Raye Rodriguez's Official Art Tumblr. Archived from the original on December 14, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  13. Rodridguez, Ray (August 30, 2013). "So here's my characters of a thing I've been ..." Ray Rodriguez's Official Art Tumblr. Archived from the original on December 14, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  14. Rodriguez, Raye (July 19, 2017). "A beautiful family line up <3 Been spending some time designing my characters' families, it's pretty fun! This is Rosemary, her mom Lavender, her dad Fennel and her brother Chicory!". Instagram. Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  15. Rodridguez, Raye (July 18, 2017). "A beautiful family line up <3 Been spending some..." Raye Rodriguez's Official Art Tumblr. Archived from the original on December 14, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  16. Stenger, Claire (July 19, 2017). "Resume". Official website of Claire Stenger. Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  17. Raye Rodriguez [@dinoraye] (2019-11-06). "Soooooooo... it was my last day at Crunchyroll a week and a half ago! High Guardian Spice has wrapped, now it's just a matter of when Hime-Sama wills it to be released into the wild. I animated a bouncy Rosemary in my now copious amounts of freetime to celebrate" (Tweet). Archived from the original on January 26, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020 – via Twitter.
  18. Rodriguez, Raye (November 7, 2019). "Soooooooo... It was my last day at Crunchyroll a week and a half ago! High Guardian Spice has wrapped, now it's just a matter of when Hime-…". Instagram. Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  19. Rodridguez, Ray (November 6, 2019). "Soooooooo… it was my last day at Crunchyroll a..." Raye Rodriguez's Official Art Tumblr. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  20. Raye Rodriguez [@dinoraye] (2019-04-25). "I'm the showrunner of Crunchyroll's upcoming show High Guardian Spice! Smiling face with smiling eyes I started my career interning at Frederator, was on the shorts team at Fox ADHD, was a character designer on Danger&Eggs, and storyboaded on Tinpo! #ThisisAnimation" (Tweet). Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020 – via Twitter.
  21. Crunchyroll (February 25, 2020). "Crunchyroll Originals - OFFICIAL TRAILER". Crunchyroll Collection. YouTube. Archived from the original on February 29, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  22. Ogihara, Jordan. "Rooster Teeth Reveals Diverse Writer's Room for Season 2 of Mecha Series 'Gen:Lock'". mxdwn. Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  23. Sarantos, Constance. "Crunchyroll - Now is the PERFECT Time to Release High Guardian Spice". CBR. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  24. Capon, Tom (August 25, 2020). "A trans man is making the first ever original anime series by Crunchyroll". Gay Star News. Archived from the original on February 15, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
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