[the trailer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZSOGZFfSDk

"Getting the ad hominem out the way"

"This may also land me in hot water"

   On tumblr and deviantArt, I asked if I should discuss the trailer for High Guardian Spice. The poll on deviantArt received only two votes, but they unanimously said I should; but the poll on tumblr was (is?) much more divisive. Even though I myself voted, by voting "no," it was almost a tie. But combining the number of votes from both sites, the yes-votes have won.

   The main reason why I leaned towards "no" is because the trailer is only a minute and half long. Because I didn't watch it when it was first released, years ago, I also have hindsight bias. I only heard about High Guardian Spice and its promotion after other people covered, and criticized it. And it is the reason why I don't want to risk regurgitating an opinion that might not necessarily belong to me. I might also cover subject matter that is not entirely related to the show.

   I was also reluctant to type an analysis that is longer to read than it is to watch the trailer. In fact, it might have even taken longer to write than the amount of time to film (or shoot) the trailer; i.e. I put more effort in writing this than the trailer does in advertising the show.

   However, the story of High Guardian and its infamy is not complete without it. Not only that, but the video has just over half a million views; so this is a number that can't be taken lightly, especially when this announcement is specifically how the majority of people first saw (or heard) about it.

   A trailer is not the ultimate indicator of a show's quality, due to its purpose of being a promotion; but a bad trailer will drive people away. And it is the reason why this series achieved its level of notoriety before it was even released. Because what exactly is there to say about it?

   It doesn't even promote the show. It is so vague, it's almost hypothetical, if not theoretical. to the point where it wouldn't even be a dvd featurette. It barely scratches the surface of what the show is about to the point where we don't even learn the names of the main characters; and they don't even show up in the description.

   While some concept art is presented, showing that High Guardian Spice is a 2D, hand-drawn production, there should have been clips from the show. Instead, Raye Rodriguez happily expresses how he and his studio is for being fifty percent female, but later, he states that the writer's room is one-hundred percent women. The first issue is Raye contradicted himself, due to the writer's room being homogenous. The second issue is, diversity is not a substitute for a quality writing staff.

   Raye may be happy over the makeup or composition of his (or Margaret Dean's) studio, but imagine what his reaction would be if the writer's room was "male-only," as opposed to "one-hundred percent female." In fact, imagine the outcry if it said "no-females."

   Although, a "no-female" writing room would be more focused on actually writing instead of talking about what color to dye their hair. Alright, that's not what actually happens, but that what it looks like. But at least the room filled with men would focus on writing a decent story and no one would be focused, if not fixated on their demographics. Not only that, but if Ellation Studio really is (or was) fifty-percent female, they better not have been diversity hires; otherwise, it shows that they prioritize diversity above expertise.

   Later, Raye says his objective is to "get voices in there that are not being heard," but if he is talking about women, I don't know what he is talking about. If he is talking about trans-women, I barely heard about them in the show. But both groups of people can receive just as much, if not more attention than men.

   Audu Paden concludes the trailer by believing that High Guardian Spice will have a unique story no one has heard, because he and his co-workers do not say nothing about their own story.

   Obviously, one minute of content is a soundbite, but the trailer successfully boosted attention to the show by being a terrible representation in numerous ways.

   Another major reason I didn't want to talk about it is because the production studio had no control over how High Guardian was promoted. After the trailer was published, the people who were interviewed state that they were unaware that the network would publish what they said in a promotion; but I hope they were aware of the cameras pointed at them.

   Crunchyroll, not Ellation Studio, made the trailer. But in all honesty, this just makes the situation worse. The creators had no control of how to market their own show, despite having better knowledge of it than the network.

   Although, their statements give the impression that they don't even know what they're working on. However, this is obviously not true; and it seems Crunchyroll ambushed the studio when they could not (or did not) prepare their responses. Either that, or Crunchyroll asked the worst questions they could ask.

   Another problem with writing this analysis is that I don't want to review the creator(s), I want to review the creation. I didn't do this before with the other shows I covered, save for Tara Duncan who is a minor exception. Unfortunately, the trailer for High Guardian Spice has even more elements to cover.

   I hate to pre-judge people, but just looking at the people who are interviewed, and listening to what they say, it's extremely obvious as to who they are and what their beliefs are. I am extremely doubtful that none of them are not liberal.

   I'm glad they have the courage to show their faces on camera, and express what they think, but aside from barely showcasing their own creation, they are literally the embodiment of every nasty left-wing stereotype. They not only have the privilege of dying their hair, the majority of them look overweight, so they also have the privilege of a hefty diet. As a result, they look like elitist, upper-class snobs.

   They're also physically unattractive, and I would be fine with this if they weren't also the kind of people who believe they are better, if not superior than you because they vote liberal. They claim to be tolerant and accepting of other people, until someone disagrees with them; and afterwards, they become angry, nasty, and hostile. Afterwards, they believe they can insult people by talking down to them.

   The prime example is Kate Leth, who has tweeted highly questionable things about men in media. If she was a man who posted misogynist tweets, would she still have a career as a writer? I am highly doubtful she would, because she is credited for writing most of the episodes, aside from Raye Rodriguez himself.

   I didn't want to mention politics, but people like Leth are the reason why normal viewers, normal people fear agenda-based media, because the people behind them seem mission-oriented as opposed to producing good content. Viewers want to escape from reality, and this is why there has been a strong backlash against liberal (left-wing? far-left?) media.

   This is only my opinion on the trailer, not the show itself. Whether I like High Guardian Spice or not, you will find out later. But even if you do like the show, you have to admit, the trailer doesn't say anything worthwhile, despite the creators' highest hopes.

Part two: list of episode reviews