Crunchyroll’s streaming service may have made it a central figure to anime fans, but it wants to expand beyond that with a new studio producing original animated content.
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The announcement of Crunchyroll‘s and Ellation Studios’ first original anime effort, High Guardian Spice, has sparked debate among fans about the streaming service and their projects, but the majority of fans are in full support of Crunchyroll’s new endeavor.
Crunchyroll announced that its new studio would be producing a new animated, anime-inspired series with a diverse cast and crew involved. The first trailer sparked many negative reviews online for this very reason as several wondered if this new series meant that Crunchyroll was not spending the proper money to license more anime series instead.
This isn’t the case as demonstrated by Crunchyroll’s previous efforts for original content, and many fans have come to Crunchyroll’s support as a response to this backlash. Fans see the series as a cute initial effort for the new Crunchyroll Originals’ label and see it as an extension of the widening of the company’s efforts over the last few years.
With anime as popular now as it ever was, Crunchyroll has expanded beyond an anime streaming destination into a company with its own fan conventions, award ceremonies, and many original efforts such as the incredibly popular Anime Crimes Division.
Whether it was due to the content of High Guardian Spice, or the initial trailer boasting its diverse cast, something about the initial announcement rubbed a minority the wrong way. But thankfully, the majority is supportive.
Is High Guardian Spice a purported “nail in the coffin” for the service? Did it make you end your subscription? Did you start a subscription because of it? Most importantly, will you be watching this new series when it launches? Read on to see what fans are saying about Crunchyroll’s new project, and let us know your thoughts in the comments!
The new Crunchyroll Originals project, High Guardian Spice, will be releasing some time in 2019. The synopsis for the series is as follows:
“In High Guardian Spice, the lives of four fierce girls, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme and Parsley, converge at High Guardian Academy, the one place where they can stumble towards adulthood while becoming the heroes they’ve always admired. As they master the ways of battle and sorcery, our foursome form allegiances and comical kinships, uncover legacies and betrayals, and discover their true identities while preparing to protect the world from an ominous unknown threat.”
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
โ Dan ? (@suprememeatloaf) August 22, 2018
It’s So Adorable Though
genuinely feel sorry for the joyless fucks that saw this and didn’t immediately think it looked adorable pic.twitter.com/J4hLOwdnmL
โ damnable rascal (@CaptainSnoop) August 24, 2018
All-Female Teams Have Been Around for Awhile…
How do you reconcile this statement with the fact that all-female teams have been making popular manga and anime for decades without issue? pic.twitter.com/qvAYGWu9Lx
โ Best Mom Eva (@mombot) August 26, 2018
Where Does the Money Go?
Hey! Two can play this game ๐
โ Arara | ไธญ้็ฎก็่ทใขใฉใฉ (@arara_) August 24, 2018
The anime you help support when subbing to Crunchyroll are works like Yuru Camp, A Place Further than the Universe and Kino’s Journey (all Crunchyroll co-productions)
The “anime” you help support when subbing to Netflix is Death Note USA movies https://t.co/EjOubZ3ebC
There’s a Lot Going on Behind the Scenes…
Anime fans that really want to invest in the narrative Crunchyroll is diminishing anime output by investing in stuff like High Guardian Spice show how much work needs to be done on fandom understanding how this industry works / and or improving an intolerance I thought was dying
โ Todd DuBois (@GWOtaku) August 24, 2018
Ask Your Parents…
People mad about Crunchyroll making a TV show or whatever: you were supposed to ask your parents before going online
โ โโฌโ๏ธโ (@Elurchin) August 24, 2018
Remember ‘Neo Yokio’?
Seeing all this discourse about this new orig Crunchyroll show is gonna ruin โanimeโ but if anime can survive Neo Yokio it can survive anything
โ John Suarez, Part 3: The Revengeancening (@littlemac1183) August 24, 2018
It’s Just Really Cute
High Guardian Spice looks like a hella cute show
โ Saltydkdan (@saltydkdan) August 28, 2018
I know thereโs a lot of discourse about it being on Crunchyroll and other stuff, but Iโd just thought Iโd say that it looks cute and Iโm excited to see it regardless pic.twitter.com/1128VJ68io