High Spice Guardian is a mere symptom of the western anime industry
Why I don't I like mainstream anime websites
Previously, I moaned about anime websites like MAL, short for My Anime List and ANN, short for Anime News Network. To be fair, I don't dislike everything these websites have to offer. I like their clean anime database, especially if I want to quickly find a staff member who worked on a piece of animation.
What I don’t like about MAL though really are the childish users themselves, and the rating system which I have a beef with. It unnecessarily turns anime into utterly stupid fanbase wars where fans of a particular anime would downvote another anime just so that their show could get to the top, and that is a pathetic sight for anyone. As for ANN, the reviewers are always subtly pushing their political agenda down the readers’ throats. If you don’t believe me, check out their Mazinger Z anime review where the reviewer called the show sexist just because the main character acts like a total douche towards his girlfriend, although the feeling is reciprocated, which the reviewer doesn't mention, of course.
The Crunchyroll Case
Now, we have another animation controversy on our hands, besides the unfortunate reboot of the Space Thunder Cats. I never had any animosity towards Crunchyroll. On the contrary, I used to visit the website regularly in the past, during a time when users could still upload any anime they chose to on it. That was all before they had all their deals with anime studios and went completely legal. I never bothered with a subscription, because of the region lock, but also because it never had the kind of anime I wanted. As I’ve said previously, I’m a bit of an old school, having a deep affinity with all things retro, and Crunchyroll just didn’t cut it. Amazingly enough, before the legalisation of the site, they had what I wanted, given it was the users who were the uploaders.
Nowadays, they have a good editorial team which writes anime news that no one else would cover. That is indeed something I respect. But with the announcement of High Spice Guardian, the constant bawling from anime fans who think it’s the duty of everyone to buy a subscription to “support” the industry, the moderate amount of respect I had with the site dropped, considerably, and fast.
Low Diversity Guardian
Gosh. Where do I even begin? High Spice Guardian is Crunchyroll’s first original anime series akin to Netflix’s own selection of original series and right off the bat, it’s making all the mistakes it shouldn’t be making. Now, to be fair to them, there is really nothing wrong with streaming platforms partnering up with studios to bring us their own exclusive animation content. We’ve had absolute gems like Devilman Crybaby, bringing Go Nagai’s classic manga into life and some crapfest too, like Mute. It was different and I enjoyed it, but I’m sorry, David Bowie’s son, It wasn’t enough for a recommendation.
But High Spice Guardian? Let’s just watch the trailer and I’ll comment on everything they have to say about it. After all, I’d love to give them a fair assessment, even though it didn’t quite work out with my previous cinematic adventure that was The Last Jedi.
Head of Ellation Studios
“This show has a lot of heart which I don’t think would have come through any other studio.”
This is a very strong claim, but I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. I wonder what kind of series it will be.
“One of the things that attracted me to this position was the opportunity to do traditional hand drawn animation…”
Great! I love 2d animation too! So far so good.
Creator of High Spice Guardian
“High Spice Guardian is about four girls who live in a magical city and are going to school to become Guardians…”
Huh? This could have come from any other studio. Ever heard of magical girls? It’s one of Japan’s most iconic genre going all the way back to the 60s.
Story Editor
“It’s funny, it’s warm and it’s adventurous and they’re letting us make it a little weird…”
Yeah, that’s cool, but these are hardly uniquely amazing properties an animation series could have. Also, the girl in the picture has pink, twin tails hair. Yes, that’s totally unlike any other studio, except for all the ones that worked in the magical girl genre. (Madoka, Chibiusa etc, I’m sure there are many more)
Head of Ellation Studios
“There’s an authenticity to it, and a sincerity that’s just heart-warming…”
Authenticity and sincerity mean the same. It’s such a pointless statement but moving on.
Staff Writer
“It’s a very modern reflection of the world and our characters are diverse…”
I agree. People are very diverse, but how is this a selling point? Good diverse characters aren't walking stereotypes like that butch lesbian looking girl that's shown in the trailer. Furthermore, if a character is well developed and written, no one will care about his or her sexual orientation or skin colour. Why even bring the characters' diversity unless you're trying to push some sort of political agenda that's rampant on social media these days?
“Our cast is really diverse and that’s one of the things that excited me the most.”
HERE WE GO. AGAIN. I need to put this bluntly; every single anime fan I know, doesn’t give one flying fuck about cast diversity. It’s not something we see on screen. That’s her own little world over there, not the viewers. Second, why is she most excited over that, and not over the fact that she’s working on an exciting project?
Unknown Staff Member
“People are really excited about what the show is and what it represents.”
He obviously means people at the studio and Crunchyroll staff members, because I don’t know anyone who is seriously excited over this project. Again, anime fans don’t care about representation, and they care even less when social justice warriors try to shove it down their throats even further.
Supervising Director
“The fact that Crunchyroll originals is doing this as a 2d animated series are giving us an opportunity to do things artistically that a lot of other shows and other studios really have forgotten how to do.”
Oh! So, 2d animation is really the show’s only major selling point, and this is how this show will differ from what other Western studios are offering. Except he totally forgot he is presenting a Crunchyroll original to the viewers, where the majority of anime offered on the streaming platform is in 2d!!! Doesn’t he get the irony of his statement?
Head of Ellation Studios
“We are 50% female in all of the creative roles and our writers room is a 100% female and I mean this is what my whole career has been about is trying to get those voices in there that are not being heard.”
She speaks of diversity, but then says the writing team is 100% female. How is that diverse?
Supervising director
“I don’t think anyone has seen stories quite like the ones we’re going to tell.”
Really? Because all the signs so far point to a lack of originality. The only and confidently 100% male person speaking in this video seems grossly misinformed, and probably misled by the female staff he's working with.
If that terrible trailer didn’t give you the confidence that it’s going to be a great show without an obvious agenda, consider this; Crunchyroll disabled votes and comments on the video, and they even blocked people on Twitter for speaking out against this travesty. Is this the kind of industry you want to support?
Now they've hid the like/dislike ratio. Yikes @Crunchyroll, I don't think this was a sound investment. pic.twitter.com/asmNZ3ufPY
— SNICKETY (@SnicketySlice) August 23, 2018
HOLY SHIT CRUNCHYROLL BLOCKED ME! pic.twitter.com/CUBJIEwYA2
— 【Tohruzure】 (@M3vangelion) August 23, 2018
Closing Thoughts
If you truly want to support the anime industry as a foreigner at this point, your best recourse is to buy the Japanese blurays of the shows you like directly from Japanese sellers. If they refuse to sell, or you can’t for geographical reasons, some licensing companies can fill you in, especially those like Discotek Media who obviously share a passion for anime given the kind of properties they buy. If that too is unavailable to you, then you have zero moral obligations to purchase anime.
Get a good torrenting program and fire away. Do not subscribe to Crunchyroll and let them know you don't like the direction the industry is taking. The kind of product they push is only but one example as to why I want to help Steemit become more friendly towards animation fans and to get away from all the mainstream nonsense perpetrated by these soulless money grubbing websites.
While I go with your points, you too seem to be quite biased in your SJW fear.
There's a lot to criticise about the trailer, because it basically said barely anything about why anyone should be excited for it. Its true selling point is the 2d animation, which is and isn't, because it's Crunchyroll and it will have to compete for attention from other 2d shows. Its crappy and fake selling point is diversity, which on the surface tells us nothing about the characters.
And even if I disregard their obvious agenda, and look past it, Crunchyroll basically blocked the comments, the likes/dislikes, and banned twitter users who criticized them. That I cannot forgive.
I love #Crunchyroll for their support to the original creators but if they're going to block people for disagreeing with them I think I have to reconsider.
It's damage control, pure and simple, but what do they expect when they put out a trailer not promoting the actual show, but their own agenda? This stuff with diversity is very politically charged nowadays, keep it to yourselves!
I know but this type of Damage Controls have a very high chance on increasing the damage instead... If ten people wrote articles like yours (and I imagine more did.) The service credibility is namely finished!
Lol I don't think I have that much power. I don't have much positive things to say about the industry, but I'll try. It's getting harder and harder everyday too. I rather stay on the piracy side of anime for now. Less headaches.
The problem with your statement that it's completely and utterly true with no questioning of the fact.
I'm staying at the piracy side too, I just thought the non-piracy ones were going in the good direction.
They're competing with a whole world who'd love give their life for their anime/characters for free, no, they'd pay to die for them!
Wow, cool, so cool, I'm going to send this over to the people at information wars for review. Information wars is a community focused on these kinds of things, BTW. Politics, media control, bad information, etc...
On the other hand, try to mix some more images next time to make the text easier to read, perhaps some images showing the crunchyroll logo, perhaps hyperlinking to the site or EVEN better, linking to the crunchyroll video instead of the youtube one. Just some suggestions... on the other hand, just so you know, many people don't like to get their hands dirty on themes like these, don't know the exact reason but curie and many others won't bother tossing a vote here, the only ones that tackle these kind of contents are information wars, so I'm going to send this post their way and hope for the best for you.
Thanks. I didn't think my post was that politically charged. Entertainment and politics are so intertwined these days, it's hard to not talk about it. As for the pictures, I could add more, true, but at the same time, I don't want to support Crunchyroll in any way.
Hmmm, nice way of showing that they're so shitty they don't even deserve an image :D