anime are, in my mind, most valuable as stories; even those without coherent plot being visual stories. to that end, i treat the story and its delivery (cast) as the foundation for my score, and then add or take away based on production value. here are my general outlines:
10: masterpiece; subjective praise inc
9: exceptional; brilliant writing and cast with top-notch animation and music
8: amazing; wonderful writing and cast with highly memorable animation and music
7: very good; a noticeably well-written story with an equally well chosen cast and quality visual and sound production to match
6: good; a story that consistently engages and entertains, with a suitable cast and fitting visual and sound production
5: average; a story that carries out its goals to entertain without any major faults but also without any major victories, with a reasonably suitable cast and a solid production value
4: bad; a story which finds difficulty engaging the viewer due to a fault/s in the writing and direction damaging its integrity, but with a cast and animation/sound production managing to retain some value in the show's entertainment.
3: very bad; a story with one or two major faults in the writing substantially hampering the overall value of the show, with a cast and production value not noticeably good enough to alleviate said issues
2: appalling; a story with such glaring faults and inconsistencies that the cast, animation, and sound all falter into obscurity as the show repeatedly insults the viewer's intelligence.
1: catastrophic; the worst
thoughts on my 2017 Challenge anime, as i go:
pale cocoon: there is undoubtedly more challenge in tying plot points together and giving satisfying answers to questions you create than there is in creating those questions. on the flipside, a creative piece does not need to rise to that challenge if the rest of its design suits its delivery, e.g. if a movie were to be entirely reliant on audience interpretation of a nondescript series of unexplained events. unfortunately, pale cocoon's delivery does not rely on the audience not understanding the setting or characters; it is plagued by it. the anime is interesting to an extent with the whole found-footage horror undercurrent and the dystopian future, but that much should be expected in a storyboard, not as the sole supporting beams of the final product. it creates an explicit narrative in a mysterious and foreign setting, a modern message in a post-modern world, and the mesh between the two feels so jarring and obtuse that any entertainment the story has is impossible to appreciate. also the choppy animation, dumbass face closeup stills, motion-blur scenes and cgi all made this an equally horrible visual piece. 2/10
Great review. I want to watch Aria again but the next year, watching it slowly one episode per week/month( when you dont watch Aria for 1-2 months you get a beautiful nostalgic feel). I propose you to do the same
Great Aria review! The reaction you hypothesized was really true!
It has been a while since I've read an entire review. Nothing beats reading a review of one of my favourite series!
About your dissatisfaction, I can't really relate upon it since I literally "absorbed" the things coming without thinking much. It is understandable though. Great review anyways!
All Comments (8) Comments
Guy's been gone for like 4 years.
ironically I post this on his B-day. Kinda funny.
My heart still belongs to you though <3 n_n
It has been a while since I've read an entire review. Nothing beats reading a review of one of my favourite series!
About your dissatisfaction, I can't really relate upon it since I literally "absorbed" the things coming without thinking much. It is understandable though. Great review anyways!