Reviews

I’ve just read some reviews about series that I don’t know and about series that I know… and I must say… there are hardly any good reviews…

The "I’ve always wanted to write a bad review!!"-review
There are hate-filled reviews that have obviously been written after watching only the first episode. Often the writer is unable to remember the main characters’ names ("that boy"), and the thought that maybe it needs time for a plot to unfold, like more episodes, doesn’t even cross their mind. They stress only the bad things, and ignore everything positive that might be in there.

The "Look what I know!!!"-review
Here the reviewer has seen the anime in question, or read the manga, or both, and possibly other manga and anime, and books, and knows music and history and so forth, and HAS TO SHOW THIS IN THE REVIEW! Such reviews have simply too much information on the series. They sometimes re-tell the whole plot, make (sometimes far-fetched) comparisons with other animes, they offer detailed descriptions of every damn character, generall full of volume-9-or-much-later spoilers: They just have to know that they really really know a lot about the thing they are reviewing.

The "OMG this is the best series in the world!!!"-review
Written by fans, without the slightest attempt at being neutral or unbiased. Graphics great, story great, everything great, because you love it. Emphasize your opinion by ending or beginning with the sentence "This is my absolutely favourite series EVER!!!" so everyone gets an idea just how wonderful this is. Don’t mention things like: This story advances awfully slow at times" or "the artwork shows that the author has still great weaknesses", or "People who don’t like sweet repetive love stories should stay away", because this is your favourite series and stuff like that is heretic.

The "I fail at maths" rating system
Story: 8
Art: 8
Animation: 7
Sound:8
Overall: 6

😀

So true… That is why I stopped reading any reviews of any animes.. I just always download and see if it is good or not by myself.. Reviews are good source to find screencaps for archiving though :eggsweat:

Uh huh, reviews are just opinions.

Reviews can’t be opinions…. that’s the funny thing. ^_^

Yeah, what Hanh said, reviews MUST NOT be just opinions. Reviews must state in a neutral manner what the anime or manga is about and in what way it’s good and in what way it’s bad. Even if I review my favourite series, I will still have to be objective about it: Mention the negative things even if they don’t disturb me, and it’s necessary to mention that maybe the series isn’t really for everyone but for a certain group.
And opinions… You know, if someone has the opinion that a series sucks, that’s okay. As long as they can state why. But nobody should form his opinion after watching only one episode (out of 24? 100?) and then write a review. I don’t consider this an opinion, but an impression. o_o

*rant… rant…*

That’s not true, though. Reviews have to be opinions. There’s no absolute scale on what’s good/bad in a genre, or about the different elements. When you make a comment on the animation/storyline/characters, you’re saying what you thought of it, another person could think completely the opposite. If you rate anything as good/bad, then you are stating an opinion, and that’s precisely what reviews do.

:O