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Oakmi

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Hey all Kuro here and I wanted to put this out there for all anime fans.

So the other day I was perusing MAL looking for an anime to watch. Seeing a couple titles I (as always) went into the reviews section to see how the overall opinion of the show stood. Mind you, the title I looked at has an overall viewer rating over 8.14. So the very first review I read was informative but seemed like it was harshing the title. So I read on, seeing many reviewers rating it around a 9 and 10. So taking it on its overall score and the multiplicity of 9's and 10's and watched it. 

Long story short. I was duped, and ever so hardcore. This was a show comprised of nothing by Deus Ex Machina and fan service (And we all know how I feel about stupid useless fanservice (If not please see my post about fanservice)) and boy was this puppy loaded with them. Anyway, I delved further into reviews being posted on other titles and discovered something that apparently I missed. 

My question, when you personally review a title, do you do so after you watch the show, during your viewing of the show, or basically after a couple episodes? 

Honestly, being tricked I found that a lot of people do so right after watching a couple episodes. Frankly this irritates me. Please, watch it in its entirety before stating your thoughts on it. One or two episodes doesn't give enough material to form a sound judgement on, yet many people apparently think so and don't hesitate to place those incomplete views on many websites like graffiti on the side of a box car. Besides this can cause other people who rely (Myself for instance) on those reviews to decide whether or not a title is any good, to be led astray by watching something that may be a steaming pile of waste my time. 

So what are your thoughts on it?  Can't wait to hear what you all think. 

Cheers as always,

Kuro 

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I don't really do reviews on MAL (I just give star ratings), however if i was reviewing an anime or a manga, I would finish it first then review it. I will not give an anime a review if i dropped it because it would be too biased and can put off many potential viewers. I would only go to reddit, see a thread that has the anime's episode discussion and give my take on it.

Personally, reviewers should give a review once they have finished the last episode of the anime or read all the chapters of the manga. I don't know about MAL's review system but I think it lets people edit their review? So, they may do a review on a couple of episodes then edit it again to give feedback on the latest episode etc.

I honestly don't rely on reviews to know if the anime is good or not. For instance, (I may get hate for this lol) I looked up on SAO's MAL reviews and a significant portion of it were bad. However, that didn't stop me from watching it, after a couple of episodes I just got hooked to it. SAO is now one of my favorite animes. It all comes to personal preference.

Anyways, I can see why people would look at the reviews but if the review is only for the first couple of episodes, don't bother reading it. Only read people's reviews if they have completed watching all of the episodes. In addition, if you are looking for an ongoing anime's review, then you can read 'unfinished' reviews however, I would suggest watching the anime yourself first and if you don't seem interested within the first 4 episodes, drop it. Then again, the anime may be good on the later episodes so if I was you, I would then look at the reviews for the later episodes and if it interests me I would give it another chance.

On a side note: I rely on genres to know if it interests me or not because I'm 95% sure that a genre that I hate will just make me drop the anime.

TL;DR: Finish the anime first, then review. Not the other way round.

Hope it helps ^^

Edited by FriendlyP
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7 hours ago, Oakmi said:

My question, when you personally review a title, do you do so after you watch the show, during your viewing of the show, or basically after a couple episodes? 

The answer is....it depends...

 

So, I normally review after having watching a series in its entirety (and even reviewing then is pretty uncommon - it would have to speak to my soul to get a review).  However, there's always a few that slip in that are so incredibly atrocious that they don't even make it past my "3 episodes before quitting" minimum rule.  Now, I have this rule because I know most anime directors and writers suck, suck, SUCK at introducing people, places, and things.  The first 1-2 episodes are generally super corny and full of bad flyby introductions of random characters, usually complete with a laughable plotline that is formed and resolved within the first two episodes (a mini anime, so to say).  Oftentimes, it makes an episodic stab at an otherwise overarching plotline type anime.  These "mini-anime's", so to say, are usually lightyears below the quality of the actual anime (usually episode 3 and onward).  Sticking with this rule has served me well in the past.  The anime that most frequently comes to mind with this rule for me is Last Exile.  I recommend this little gem to my friends a lot.  However, I always tell them that they are required to sit through at least 3 episodes before quitting.  I warn them that Episode 1 and 2 are extremely super corny and that they should not judge the quality and content of the rest of the anime by the corniness of the first two episodes.  This piece of my recommendation has always managed to get the person to finish the anime (and I have heard countless times, "I was ready to quit after episode two but then I remembered my promise and.....")

 

Now, if I can't make it past three episodes, I promise you I preface my review with "This anime was so bad I couldn't even make it past episode X!"  Then I list what either really turned me off (The Irregulars at Magic High ~ That he was turned on that his sister wanted to bang him and every female on campus made googly eyes at him before the end of the first episode.  BLECH!  I think that one I didn't make it to Episode 3 truthfully) or another similar reasoning (for example, The dub's Voice Acting was terrible!  I switched to Japanese w/subs and found it was actually worse!  The HORROR!).  Note, a positive review comes after having watched the entire anime.  A negative review occurs when I couldn't even finish the anime instead.

 

Now I know, sometimes if I keep going I'll find something good.  A lot of times, I was right to quit after Episode 3.  It's up to anyone reading my review to decide if they want to take a chance on it after that.  Truthfully, with my usual lack of time in the past, struggling to get through 2 bad episodes is hard enough.  I don't have time to throw away on half a season of rubbish if I can identify it as rubbish from the get go.

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I don't do anime reviews myself, but I plan to get into it soon. When I do I would like to have watched the titles in their entirety before giving my thoughts. I actually have a anime from this season that I plan to give a negative review on, but I don't just want to tell you that I think it's a bad show--I want to also tell you why I think it's bad show.

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On 2/28/2018 at 7:53 AM, Beocat said:

However, there's always a few that slip in that are so incredibly atrocious that they don't even make it past my "3 episodes before quitting" minimum rule

I have that same rule for the same reasons, but because generally if I watch anymore than that I'm committed and then just sit there sighing into the air at how crappy it is and how I should drop it but can't because, well OCD you know. 

 

On 2/28/2018 at 7:53 AM, Beocat said:

"This anime was so bad I couldn't even make it past episode X!"

At least you put that disclaimer in the beginning. What I get about is when they just do the review as though they have seen the whole thing.

 

On 2/28/2018 at 7:53 AM, Beocat said:

(The Irregulars at Magic High ~ That he was turned on that his sister wanted to bang him and every female on campus made googly eyes at him before the end of the first episode.

I haven't seen the anime but have read the Manga. I think the Manga explains his reactions better and her's to an extent (Or at least my memory serves me that way since it's been a minute since I last put my eyeballs on it). I can't relate to the sibling fetish (Which seems huge in Japan according to my perceptions) but can laud a story for at least somewhat suitably attempting an explanation rather than just making it seem like its an every day occurrence and those that don't want to sleep with their sibling are the weird ones. O.o

On 2/28/2018 at 8:37 PM, Mars Terra said:

I actually have a anime from this season that I plan to give a negative review on, but I don't just want to tell you that I think it's a bad show--I want to also tell you why I think it's bad show.

That's actually another good point, listing the reasons why you either like or dislike the anime rather than ranting or raving about it without giving a clue as to why. 

On 2/28/2018 at 1:19 AM, seemore_bhutts said:

Shows with redeeming endings often go overlooked because of people who don't even complete the show before telling others how they feel about it. 

Another good point, how can you know if a show is good or bad if you don't finish it and watch the ending. There's been a couple of titles I've watched that had that redeeming ending to them. 

 

On 2/28/2018 at 7:06 AM, FriendlyP said:

I honestly don't rely on reviews to know if the anime is good or not. For instance, (I may get hate for this lol) I looked up on SAO's MAL reviews and a significant portion of it were bad. However, that didn't stop me from watching it, after a couple of episodes I just got hooked to it. SAO is now one of my favorite animes. It all comes to personal preference.

I won't be from this point going forward. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. :$ As for SAO I did the same thing, though I had a couple friends really trying to get me to watch it. I hesitated because of the negativity on MAL about it. But enjoyed the regular seasons (Yes including S2, which will probably earn me some hate...Lol) with the exception of Ordinal Scale. Couldn't stand the movie and felt that the whole mess betrayed the sense of what made SAO epic in the first place. 

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If we're discussing how long to keep with a anime I once saw this show that was 26-episode long, the first few episodes were a little silly but I thought the concept was interesting so I stuck with it--and I'm glad I did, because it turned out to be a pretty great anime by the end. The title was Dennou Coil in case you were wondering.

I tend to drop a series if I don't like it after 3-episodes. I was willing to stick with that series for longer though--but I only did so because the concept is interesting, I wonder if that's okay?

 

14 hours ago, Oakmi said:

That's actually another good point, listing the reasons why you either like or dislike the anime rather than ranting or raving about it without giving a clue as to why.

I like to look at anime objectively--so if I did a review I would talk about what I found worthy of praise, what I found was done poorly or lazily as well as how I felt it could of been improved--that kind of stuff. I like it when a anime has meaning to what happens and I can take something away from the story.

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