Oh boy, I remember all the hate this show got when it was announced. Well, that was years ago, let's have ourselves a looksie 3 years later.
As a member of the LGBTQ+ community who is not cis or het, I was personally offended and outraged when these people advertised their show using the terms "diversity" and "representation." I mean, seriously? We are not ad campaign fodder; we are human beings; don't exploit our culture for Good Boy Points. But, hey, this could be a good show. Perhaps their focus was in the wrong place when they advertised this.
Well, no.
All representation of trans and gay people feels... stiff. Unnatural. Forced, even. Our protagonist finds pictures of a male character pre-transition, and wants to understand why he is a SHE in these photos. She even asks the most appropriate question to prompt a response from him - "You were a girl?" Now, this is a world full of magic and monsters, anything is possible with magic, even transing your gender! A simple explanation like, "I used my magic to transform into the real me" would have been just fine! But the moment the words "I'm transgender" left his lips, I knew it would just go downhill. He gives the most textbook definition of transgender possible, you know, "I was born in the wrong body" and all. And that's all he is; a coined transgender character (and I use "character" loosely. We all recognize he's only there to be pretty representation).
I for one would rather have a good story and no representation instead of a bad story and great representation. But, High Guardian Spice doesn't offer much in the story department either. It takes from Steven Universe, She-Ra, Voltron, and Madoka in presentation and story, but chooses the worst aspects from all the aforementioned and the end result is a dumpster fire covered in glitter and pride flags.
Animation wise, the presentation is just... okay. Character designs are kinda cute, but the animation is stiff and feels bland. The art style is generic and leaves much to be desired, but, I feel that people are overreacting when they say this looks like a "how to draw anime" book. It's just a plain artstyle that I've seen in both the professional and freelance world time and time again. It's pleasing to the eyes if you can keep them open long enough to get a good look.
Voice acting? Again, just lackluster and so very disappointing. Their voices fall flat, and I wonder how many of these people have actually voice acted before? And for whatever reason, all the male voice actors sound like their microphones are out of whack. Poorly compressed voices come out of the men's mouths, while the women sound smooth and fluid.
But then again, the people making this show are hateful misandrists that refused to let male writers onto their team, for the sake of a diverse all-female team. I wouldn't be surprised if the men got the short end of the stick in terms of recording equipment for this sole reason alone.
No, men are not shown in a positive light here. Most of the men in this show are feminine or androgynous, which I don't mind, but the few masculine ones are so full of toxic masculinity and immaturity that I'm surprised they aren't overflowing with it- oh, wait, they are. They attempted to address this by depicting a masculine character struggling with expressing his feelings solely because he's a guy and is expected to be strong. And that's fine... except the show went on to equate "showing feelings" with "crossdressing"... yeah. I'm not opposed to men wearing feminine clothing; in fact, I believe it should be normalized for men to wear girl clothes if they so desire.. But this is NOT how you do it. In fact, lots of guys don't express themselves for this exact reason - they're afraid of being seen as "girly" and "less manly" because their whole lives, they've been told to suck it up and be a man whenever they show any hint of sadness. So showing a male character becoming more open with his feelings by dressing like a girl would just confirm that belief (though lets be honest, who is taking life advice from THIS show?) Just snap this poor boy in two, give the emotional constipation to one and crossdressing to the other, and boom, two good characters right there.
And one final note, who is this show for exactly..? The art style and story says "children's show" but occasional swearing shoves it into adult territory. Is this the kind of thing an adult would watch, though? The LGBTQ+ community hates this show and refuses to associate with it, and cishet people, whether allies or not, will notice the gay rep wedged in so awkwardly that they'll cringe with us. Boys will be upset at how the male characters are treated, and girls won't even look at it because there are so many better shows for them already. Anime fans are laughing at this western cartoon in an overcoat trying to pretend to be an anime, and cartoon fans, again, have better things to be watching right now. Somehow, these people have made a show that appeals to nobody.
In conclusion, if your show rides on representation alone with no tasteful story to be found, it's time to get back to the drawing board.
