High Guardian Spice is an American animated television series created by Raye Rodriguez, who formerly worked for Danger & Eggs as a character designer. The series is produced by Crunchyroll Studios (formerly named Ellation), and was originally slated to be Crunchyroll's first original series before it was delayed for approximately 2 years. The series premiered on its own streaming service on October 26, 2021.
Premise A group of four young girls who attend the High Guardian Academy are training to become guardians of West City. At the same time, they deal with friends, enemies, and betrayals, as they attempt to protect everything from an unknown threat against the world.
Characters Main Rosemary (voiced by Briana Leon) – A human who has pink hair and attends High Guardian Academy with her best friend, Sage. She is brash, bold, and wants to follow in the footsteps of her mother, Lavender, a former Guardian. Sage (voiced by Lauren White) – A witch who has blue hair and uses Old Magic. She often runs into problems with the New Magic-centered school, as she objects to New Magic. Parsley (voiced by Amber Romero) – A dwarf girl with blond hair who works as a blacksmith. Thyme (voiced by Michelle Deco) – An elf girl with red hair who is a skilled archer. She is committed to saving her home from a mysterious ailment called the Rot.
Supporting High Guardian Academy students Amaryllis (voiced by Katie McVay) – A rich, snobbish and violent human girl with purple hair who goes to the academy. Despite her aggressiveness, she is a loyal and caring friend to Snapdragon. Snapdragon (voiced by Julia Kaye) – A snarky, awkward, ginger-haired human student, and the best friend of Amaryllis. Parnelle (voiced by Barbara Goodson) – The youngest male human student and a child prodigy. Also see this tweet stream where he describes Parnelle as age 10 and a "child prodigy" Slime Boy (voiced by Julian Koster) – A human warlock boy and second-year student who loves monsters and is a musician. Cal (voiced by SungWon Cho) – A student at the academy who is transphobic to Snapdragon and plays into her gender dysphoria. Zinnia (voiced by Cindy Robinson) – A student at the academy who wanted to avoid danger.
High Guardian Academy staff The Triad (voiced by Salli Saffioti) – The three immortal female human headmasters; one is young-appearing, one looks middle-aged, and the last one looks elderly. Professor Harkone (voiced by Anthony Brandon Walker) – A human professor who teaches battle tactics. Professor Caraway (voiced by Raye Rodriguez) – A trans-male human professor and Lavender's childhood friend who teaches a class on sacred alphabets. Moss Phlox (voiced by Audu Paden) – A satyr professor who teaches blacksmithing. Wyverna Dretch (voiced by Haviland Stillwell) – A female demon professor who teaches an ethics class at the academy. Redbud (voiced by Barbara Goodson) – A science teacher at the academy who frequently puts her students at risk in order to "test" them.
Antagonists Olive (voiced by Stephanie Sheh) – A catgirl working for the Triumvirate. Mandrake (voiced by AJ Beckles) – A human shapeshifter and warlock, who works for the Triumverate. Smoke Face (voiced by Audu Paden) – A smoky purple wisp-like entity. The Triumvirate (voiced by Audu Paden) – The mysterious governing group who are the overarching antagonists.
Family members Rosemary's family Fennel (voiced by Audu Paden) – The father of Rosemary who has pink hair. Chicory (voiced by AJ Beckles) – The brother of Rosemary who has lavender hair. Lavender (voiced by Liisa Lee) – The mother of Rosemary who has lavender hair and was once a well-known Guardian.
Sage's family Anise (voiced by Haviland Stillwell) Haviland is referring to Anise.– Sage's lesbian cousin, who is married to an elf named Aloe (voiced by Joy Lerner). Sage's Mom (voiced by Michelle Deco) – The mother of Sage who appears in one episode. Sage's Dad (voiced by AJ Beckles) – The father of Sage who appears in one episode.
Thyme's family Flora (voiced by Cindy Robinson) – The mother of Thyme who visits her in the city.
Parsley's family Angie (voiced by Wendee Lee) – The mother of Parsley and many boys. Sorrel (voiced by Cam Clarke) – The father of Parsley and many boys.
Snapdragon's family Hawthorn (voiced by Audu Paden) – The father of Snapdragon who pushed her to be "strong" like "a boy". Yarrow (voiced by Audu Paden) – The brother of Snapdragon who made fun of her for being "girlish".
Additional characters Merpeople Kelp (voiced by SungWon Cho) – A merperson that Parsley, Thyme, Sage, and Rosemary meet. Elodie (voiced by Karen Strassman) – A mermaid at the underwater academy. Coral (voiced by Haviland Stillwell) – A mermaid who Thyme has a crush on.
Creatures Neppy Cat (voiced by Cam Clarke) – A housecat near the academy who has secret powers. Grog (voiced by Audu Paden) – A creature that is sighted on the academy campus. Kino (voiced by Raye Rodriguez) – A cat at the academy. Demon (voiced by SungWon Cho) – A demon that Thyme tries to appeal to so she can talk to her dad.
Production Development In 2013, Rodriguez first came up with the idea for the show and pitched it to Frederator Studios but it was rejected. It was later pitched to Crunchyroll in 2016, developed into a comic in 2017, and re-pitched in 2018 when Marge Dean started at Crunchyroll, becoming a TV show. In October 2023, Rodriguez told Melanie Cionco of Skwigly that he tried to "pitch the show for five years before it would eventually get picked up by Crunchyroll as part of their original series" and noted that he downplayed the show's queerness when he was "pitching it as a kids show for like Nickelodeon, Frederator, Cartoon Network etc."
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. The show was originally set to be released in early 2019, but was delayed. The show wrapped production in autumn 2019, as noted by Raye Rodriguez, the series creator, and Anime News Network, even though Crunchyroll missed deadlines for release in 2019 and 2020. ANN reviewer Callum May stated that negative backlash by some people to the series was why there was a lack of communication or release of the series and argued that Crunchyroll has an internal and external "communication problem".
Rodriguez stated that he produced "twelve 22-minute episodes" of the show on his official website. This number of episodes was confirmed with the official announcement of the series premiere date in October 2021. Apart from Rodriguez, who is a trans man, the show had a writers room composed completely of women, and a crew that was 50% female, and "very ethnically and LGBTQ+ diverse" according to the head of Crunchyroll Studios, then named Ellaton Studios, Margaret Dean. It was later confirmed that William Ruzicka worked as a storyboarder for the series.
In January 2022, Rodriguez revealed that the series was "significantly low budget by U.S. animation standards," saying that many of the problems people attributed to the series, in terms of writing and art, could be "attributed to this low budget." He added that even though the show was on Crunchyroll, it was a cartoon created using a similar production pipeline to American animations like those on Cartoon Network, describing the show as ambitious artistically within the schedule and budget which was provided. He also stated that Onyx Equinox learned from mistakes made on the show and was union, but had "a lot of the same team and same pipeline" and urged people to think about what happened behind the scenes while thinking about who started hatred toward the show.
Release
On February 25, 2020, Crunchyroll released a trailer for 8 original series including High Guardian Spice and seven others. Previously, the series had been announced as the first project under the "Crunchyroll Originals" brand. In May 2020, Alden Budill, head of global partnerships and content strategy at Crunchyroll described the series as "anime-inspired," like Onyx Equinox but said they are created by a "team of people who both love and respect anime as an art form because they are designed and produced by true fans who seek to infuse that same spirit into their content even though it is created outside of Japan."
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. The same 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. 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 "seem[ed] ridiculous" at that point.
On May 13, 2021, Rodriguez told people to be "on the lookout" for news regarding the show later in the summer.
In June 2021, it was announced that at the virtual Crunchyroll Expo 2021, taking place from August 5–7, 2021, there will be "news" about the series, specifically at the Crunchyroll Industry Panel on August 6. The same month, Anime News Network stated that show will receive a "new release date in Summer 2021" and no other shows from the studio have been announced apart from High Guardian Spice. On August 6, 2021, a trailer for the series was released, along with new art of characters in the series In the announcement, no release date was noted, only that it will premiere soon, and that the series had magical girl influences.
On September 21, 2021, Crunchyroll listed the show as part of its Fall 2021 lineup.
On October 10, 2021, Crunchyroll revealed the release date as October 26, 2021 and cast list. The series had a 12 episode debut. Before the show's debut, Animation Magazine said that Rodriguez wants to make the world a "more loving and empathetic place by sharing fantastical stories about queer, diverse and relatable characters."
Influences In a November 2021 interview, Rodriguez noted that he was inspired by Magic Knight Rayearth, Sailor Moon, Petite Princess Yucie, and Little Witch Academia, and described the show as having a "hybrid Eastern-Western cartoon style." He also praised the show's cast and crew, noted the representation of various body types in the show, and argued the show's message is that being a Guardian means risking your life to stand up for what you believe, while the protagonists "have to decide for themselves if this really is the path they want to walk down." Rodriguez also said that the content warnings before episodes were not put there because of him, and that the series is not "an adult show" and that while there are curse words and mild blood, it is not for "mature audiences only". He also said that sexual content is "nonexistent".
LGBTQ representation