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Ratings

Manga

When rating my manga, I rarely ever look at an individual series as a story unto itself, worthy of consideration on its own merits; rather, I have elected to examine the components of each within the context of every series I have read to date. I believe this approach to scoring is more honest and it allows for (and even demands) constant reflection on the elements of good storytelling.

As such, the vast majority of the manga I have read has been (and will continue to be) awarded a "5." That should not suggest that I did not (or do not) enjoy the series. In fact, it is often the case that a series currently awarded a "5" may have, at one point or another, been awarded a score as high as an "8," though it was more likely awarded a "6" or a "7."

My scores are in a fairly constant state of flux, so I periodically reevaluate everything I have read and assign new scores as the upper tiers become crowded (I don't like assigning too many "10"s, "9"s, and "8"s). Fun fact: though I frequently lower scores, I almost never raise them because I tend to know which series I definitely won't like and choose to avoid them (so the lower end of the spectrum tends not to change all that often).

The takeaways from this: a) a "5" should not be seen as a negative; b) series that are ranked higher than the average each have something special that appeals to me and are thus recommended to anyone with tastes that mirror my own; c) any series ranked lower than the average is probably not going to be worth your time if your tastes are similar to mine.

Note: not all "5"s are created equally, so feel free to ask me about a series if you want to know more about why I gave it the score I did.

Anime

At one point I attempted to evaluate my anime using the same strategy I employ when rating my manga; however, because I so rarely ever watch anime, I have given up that attempt and, instead, grant scores based on my own enjoyment of the series.

For that reason, it is better to ask me if you want to know if an anime series is worth watching.

Tastes

Likes

Romance: I thoroughly enjoy a good love story, and you'll find that most of what I have read has dealt with romance in some fashion. As a seasoned purveyor, however, I admit that there are quite a few repetitive elements, so I try to find stories that 'break the mold,' and that includes both GL and BL (though even those have their own cliches).

Drama: Perhaps because I am fortunate enough to have so little of it in real life, I enjoy seeing drama unfold between characters because it is usually in those moments that a character's true strengths (and weaknesses) are shown. I admit, however, that there are some series that take it too far -- I don't care for series that throw endless challenges at an already suffering character.

Tragedy: Life doesn't always have a happy ending, so I like my entertainment to occasionally mirror that reality. I should note that throwing together a sad ending for the sake of a sad ending (I'm thinking of cases where a happy ending is just as likely an outcome) is usually disappointing. A good tragedy is one that prepares you to deal with the outcome well in advance.

Slice of Life: Sometimes, it really is the little things in life that counts, and these are the stories that reflect that. There are cases when such stories can be boring; however, by and large, I tend to find these stories incredibly touching.

Obviously, there are exceptions to this list; however, generally speaking, those are the elements I enjoy most in a story.

Dislikes

Ecchi: I don't mind explicit material, but ecchi, in my experience, is almost always gratuitous fanservice, which I don't care for at all. In addition, it is almost always sexist by nature.

Gore: More often than not, I tend to find gratuitous violence -- like gratuitous fanservice -- uncalled for. I prefer a more subtle approach to death, destruction, and anything of that nature.

Mecha: Robots just aren't that interesting to me, and mecha is usually all about the robots, so I tend not to care about this genre too much.

Action: Action is difficult to follow when reading manga because so much is left out. In addition, I've almost always been disappointed by series that are, at heart, action flicks -- far too often the development of characters is limited to their ability to achieve set goals (as is often the case, that usually means the character 'levels up' throughout the series).

As with before, there are going to be exceptions to this list; however, generally speaking again, those are elements I tend to dislike most in a story.