| I think most of us have already figured out that mean ratings are about as reliable of a source of projected quality as whether or not the anime has a dub (ie. not very reliable). Review scores may serve a better representation, but even they can be flawed. Seeing if it's recommended for anime you enjoyed could also serve as a better way to test it as would checking if the staff who worked on it are people who have worked on anime you enjoyed in the past. Sort of like a "order the restaurant's simplest dish to test the quality" attitude some may use the opening theme as a way to gauge how good the anime should be, but there are some obvious exceptions to this. One method that does require watching it would be to watch the first episode similar to how reading the first chapter of a book is more informative than reading the back, but there are plenty of anime that change dramatically after the first few episodes. Is there any easy way to test if you'll like an anime before watching it? What method has worked the best for you? Do you prefer comparing numbers or judging it using other tools? Have you ever turned down an anime because of a method that others consider to be unreliable? |
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| One of the good ways I've found is to find a youtuber who reviews a lot of anime, and see if your taste line sup with his. Basically just type %WHATEVER% anime review on youtube and you should find somebody to discuss what it's good and bad points are, etc. Reviews should be good too, in general, but the difference with youtube is that you can easily find dissenting opinions in comments so you should find even more people whose tastes line with or against your own. As far as numbers go, I can definitely tell that an anime will have >7.00 score or less than that, it's just usually kinda obvious when you watch it, so I am really cautious with everything bellow 7.00 There's some stuff I don't like even in 9.0+ section, but it's kinda rare that I dislike it for some specific reason, usually it's just that it is not my cup of tea and it's otherwise good anime. So I guess knowing your taste is the key here, know what you like, and find people who have similar tastes, talk to them about anime they've watched but you haven't, etc. |
| Personally I don't really like using any particular method because I'm a fairly easy going viewer. The most I generally do when looking for a show is scan the genres, then the synopsis, then maybe watch the op theme if it's a case where I'm trying to pick a show out of several. I always gauge my mood and only watch series that I personally want to watch, which includes never taking recommendations. Personally I have a disdain for reviews, both because I like to go in relatively blind and generally hate other people telling me their opinions be it positive or negative. I mean if somebody gives you a positive impression of a series that you end up not liking it would probably leave a much more negative impact on you versus going in blind. So basically the only way to truly gauge what you believe to be the quality of an anime would be by determining your own tastes and preferences beforehand and seeing if they align with the basic premise of the show. Be it art style, story type, concept, genres, etc. |
| I personally prefer checking the reviews. If I can put up with the flaws mentioned in the reviews, then I'm more than willing to give it a go, provided that the rating is around 7 and the genre is something I'd be interested in. |
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| Reading reviews before watching the series is never good because the reviewer's opinion may influence yours, so I never do this (only in rare cases). What I do is look at the rating and popularity and compare it. - If a series is rated very high + it's popular I take it with a grain of salt, but I usually expect something at least decent (there were some letdowns tho). - If a series is very popular but the rating doesn't reflect it, I usually expect something not very good (like SAO: popularity #2, ranking #645). - If the series in unpopular but is scored high, I usually expect something good. - If the series is popular but is rated low (like ~5,5-7), I expect something bad. - If the series is unpopular and is scored low, I think it deserves a chance. It means that it was mostly watched by experienced viewers who like to discover stuff and don't give out 8s,9s and 10s easily, and for whom scores 5, 6 and 7 are decent-good, so unpopular series (like less than 10,000 users) with a score of 6,5-7 might be actually something good, you never know. - If the series is rated very low (below 5) I expect something bad, nevermind if it's popular or not. This is not 100% accurate ofc, you can never fully determine whether or not anime is good if you haven't watched it yourself. |
fuyukiJun 15, 2016 5:14 AM
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| Write down a list of possible anime. Start crying. The name closet to where your first tear falls is the anime you should be choosing. |
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| I just check their posters and tags and sometimes the reviews too. Don't bother with the synopsis since they can be often very misleading |
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| Write down the number of the anime on three separate pieces of paper, 1, 2 and 3. Shuffle the bag, pick a number, the first, second or third anime you see the name of henceforth will be the anime you watch. Foolproof plan, you will only watch good anime. |
| ゴロゴロゴロ ゴロゴロゴロ ゴロゴロゴロ ゴロゴロゴロ ゴゴゴゴゴゴ ゴゴゴゴゴゴ ゴゴゴゴゴゴ |
| Personally I don't do very much. Does the review interest me? I'll eventually watch it. If not I don't even bother checking it out. |
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| There isn't a way to begin with. The only thing you can do that is even remotely close is asking some of your friends who has already watched it.. |
| There isn't a 'best' way to do that, watch it and finish it, if all you want to do is to evaluate its quality. But you also said if you'd like it, well then it's totally up to you and still, watch it until you know it. |
| >What's the best way to determine the quality of an anime before watching it? There is no meaningful way to determine a show's quality without watching it. Any source of opinion that is not you is likely to have stupid-ass opinion about what makes "quality" that has nothing to do with real quality. You can only choose anime that appeal to you (from the description, genres, reviews and other people's opinions), and watch them. |
| You can predict quality of anime based on how it's marketed - anime marketed as ecchi have often been sub-par. But anime that looked brilliant on the outside sometimes turned out terrible, like Parasyte. Date A Live looked meh and destined to fail, but it was a lot of fun. I don't take first impressions seriously anymore, only well-written reviews. |
| WEAPONS - My blog, for reviews of music, anime, books, and other things |
| By reading the plot description. If it sounds interesting watch it, if it doesn't then move on to something else. If you end up being wrong you just drop it. |
| "The name's Gambit. Remember it." -Gambit "X-Men '97"  |
| Friends is one of the best way. Even my friends who hate the stuff I like are still very often able to say I think you will like this one or wont like that one with way higher accuracy than anything else I've found. By friend I mean specifically a friend who you've actually discussed some anime with before |
| I have never thought that MAL scores, Charapedia rankings, ANN rankings and the like are even remotely close to my liking of a series. No numbers, not in a thousand years... |
| If the anime has a lot of episodes, watch the 50th episode first, then if you like it go back to episode 1. |
| Read synopsis , if you like what you read, watch three episodes, if you don't like it. drop it. Why three episodes? well most shows will either have a killer first episode, or an absolute garbage first episode, take boku no hero for example, i struggled through the first episode, but afterwards, It picked up steam, by the third episode i was invested. If it's the other-way, you'll know by the third episode. all up, you're looking at a time investment of just under an hour. |
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| If something interests me I'm gonna watch it. I do check reviews but I don't really care if it has they are negative or positive . I just check them to see what to expect from the show but off course if the show has alot of positive reviews it's probably gonna be good. So i would say that reviews are the best way to determine the quality of an anime before watching it. |
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Austn said: this is crazy XD kinda want to see what affect this would have had on the few longer anime I do have even though I will never use it for a new seriesIf the anime has a lot of episodes, watch the 50th episode first, then if you like it go back to episode 1. |
ScarletSentry said: I accidentally watched the ~70th episode of a hundred episode anime while I was still only around episode 50 and it is the worst kind of spoilers. I'm sure this would take every bit of fun out of watching Death Note.Austn said: this is crazy XD kinda want to see what affect this would have had on the few longer anime I do have even though I will never use it for a new seriesIf the anime has a lot of episodes, watch the 50th episode first, then if you like it go back to episode 1. |
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| I see the key visual of the series, then I read the plot and the tags, and for last, I read some reviews to see if people think more negatively or positevely of the series. With series who hasn't been aired yet, I just do the first two steps. Dimethylanime said: Sounds legit.Write down a list of possible anime. Start crying. The name closet to where your first tear falls is the anime you should be choosing. |
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| I guess the first thing is, how did I come across it. Next would be the most important: synopsis and genre. If what the synopsis says interests me and none of the listed genres are on my hate list it's an automatic add to PTW with almost no second thought. I might skim reviews, but lately I've been ignoring them. I pretty much always ignore score or purposely seek out lower-rated anime. Once it's on my list I refuse to do any more research on it. I like to go in relatively blind. I've done pretty well finding entertaining shows to waste my time with. If I'm trying to find something more serious I might go about it a little differently. |
| watch the PV. it just ~2 minutes long |
| Funny, i find my friend's recommendation so much more trustworthy than any review or average score on mal or on youtube. I get such good recommendations from him but if i used mal scores as a trustworthy source on anime, there is a lot of great anime i would have missed |
| Grimgar season 2 please!!!! |
| I would say just watch it if you're curious. I don't think there's any shame in dropping anime if it turns out you're not interested. |
| I use a method that pretty much everyone will disagree with but its worked so far and at least 90% of the time I'm right. Cover art and plot summary is what I judge it by. Obviously I Check the genre too and rating but cover art and is what'll interest me enough to even bother checkin it out. Art style says a lot and usually describes what kind of anime its going to be before I even check. If one looks interesting then I Check the summary and genre and if Im still interested then Ill watch it. Another thing is Word of mouth. Everyone will talk about an anime and it'll pop up on my radar sooner or later so Ill give it a go. Recommendations count too. |
| My Manga List My Anime List Shabada shabadabadaba I am DjG545 aka Dj Fo Fo aka The Mutha Fkn Name I'm Usin Now |
lasterrending said: mouvite said: Reading reviews before watching the series is never good because the reviewer's opinion may influence yours I'm not sure this is inherently bad. Sure, it's always possible a review can ruin a show for me that I otherwise might have liked, and I assume this is what you mean. But there are other possibilities. For instance: A reviewer's opinion can give me a more positive view of the show, causing me to like it more. If it increases my enjoyment, I call that a benefit. A reviewer's opinion can lower my expectations. If I know ahead of time that there are flaws, I might be more forgiving of those flaws, and again it will increase my enjoyment. Aside from the above, a good review will let me know whether the show contains elements I don't like, such as heavy graphic violence, yaoi, etc. I'd much rather know ahead of time that these elements will be there so I can skip the show instead of watching it and finding out the hard way. In short, reviews not only help me decide whether to watch something, but to shape my expectations if I do decide to watch it. Because sometimes my enjoyment of a show is determined by whether I watch it with the right expectations. I prefer to form my own opinion first and then, after finishing the anime, read some positive and negative reviews to confront my opinion with them. If know about flaws, I will surely notice them in the anime as I watch. I will start watching anime with a belief that this particular thing is probably bad about this anime. If I don't know about them, I may not even notice them if they don't affect my enjoyment, or I may not even consider them flaws at all. Thing that other person didn't like about the anime may be a thing that I will like about it. Also, reviewers like to be biased and exaggerate things. I used to read reviews before watching anime when I was new to the medium. But the more I did it the more I realized that is completely useless in my case. I'd read a lot of bad reviews about things that turned out to be very good in my opinion, and the other way around - a lot of praise for shows I disliked. It makes my perception of an anime distorted. When I have big expectations because of reviews but the anime turns out to be not very good, it makes me annoyed and more harsh because of the disappointment, and I usually rate such anime lower than I would have without reading those reviews. And when I read very harsh reviews but the show actually turns out to be good in my opinion, I tend to score it higher that I should have just because of how wrong are those people in my eyes. I probably just get too emotional because of the injustice, lol. And the other important thing - spoilers. I know some people don't mind spoilers, but they ruin my enjoyment. And reviewers on MAL tend to put spoilers without warnings. I don't even know how many times I've been spoiled because of an review. |
fuyukiJun 15, 2016 12:58 PM
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| Generally I read the synopsis, look at genres, then watch the 1st episode; if I like it, then I'll keep watching. Sometimes, when a particular anime gets a lot of praise, (like Shouwa Genroku Rakugou Shinjuu or Bakemonogatari) I'll take a look even if the synopsis or genre(s) aren't my thing. I usually only read reviews for anime I'll watching; the only time I read them as a deciding factor is when the rating is low. Other deciding factor: art; animation and visuals quality. I don't watch pvs as a deciding factor; in fact I've never decided to watch something because of the pv. Ops are also not a good judge b/c they don't show you what the series is like, only the production values and what characters there are. I'm also a much more *veteran* of anime than most of my friends so I recommend more than get recommended... Only 2 anime that was recommended to me that I watched did I really like. tl:dr I use my instincts that I've honed. O and also super well received things. |
| Well I personally look up the best and worst review for it so I can get an impression of it's qualities and flaws,then I watch the first episode or 5 minutes of it and decide if continue with the next episodes.I look for all the little details and I trust the flow of let's say of the anime?.. If it makes me happy or I feel like it has potential.The things that make a difference are the design and animation,originality and plot,sound and the message it sends out in my opinion ,but you have to taste them from the start...no way of telling without watching^.^ |
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| Honestly, I just look at the genre from different sources (since most sites include certain genre others don't) to see if the genre suits my taste. Also, I usually just read the synopsis. If it piques my interest, then I'll watch. For certain anime that I feel might be "bad", I'll end up looking for a non-spoiler review. I mean really, to determine the quality of anime, it all depends on what you're looking for in an anime, whether it'd be a kawaii girl, a good story, good art, etc. |
 ♔ caught in the wonder ♔ |
| I just... read most recent reviews, overall score, trailer (if there is one) and stats... then if I like the synopsis then I'll watch it... I'll decide after 4-5 eps if I like it |
| Synopsis, poster, and how much i've heard about it before (and in what context) |
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| For most newer anime I would say.... general production quality. I just look at the art,animation and also listen to some of the OP/EDs. Sure there are some exceptions , like there are good anime with shitty OPs and shitty anime that have good music, but in general, if the art and music is shit/cheap then its quite likely that the story/characters don't have much more effort put into them. |
daAmazinFatB0y said: I use a method that pretty much everyone will disagree with but its worked so far and at least 90% of the time I'm right. Cover art and plot summary is what I judge it by. Obviously I Check the genre too and rating but cover art and is what'll interest me enough to even bother checkin it out. Art style says a lot and usually describes what kind of anime its going to be before I even check. If one looks interesting then I Check the summary and genre and if Im still interested then Ill watch it. Another thing is Word of mouth. Everyone will talk about an anime and it'll pop up on my radar sooner or later so Ill give it a go. Recommendations count too. Good to see I'm not the only one who uses art as a guide. If the anime has beautiful art, I know it already starts with one good thing going. |
| WEAPONS - My blog, for reviews of music, anime, books, and other things |
| Look at the genre and the staff You know Kabaneri is going to suck when it has the director and script of Guilty Crown Not sure what people are expecting |
| It is so dense. Every single image has so many things going on. |
| watching promotional videos helps also |
| Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines. |
| You can never "determine" the quality of anything without watching it yourself. You can get estimations, nothing more |
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TheBrainintheJar said: daAmazinFatB0y said: I use a method that pretty much everyone will disagree with but its worked so far and at least 90% of the time I'm right. Cover art and plot summary is what I judge it by. Obviously I Check the genre too and rating but cover art and is what'll interest me enough to even bother checkin it out. Art style says a lot and usually describes what kind of anime its going to be before I even check. If one looks interesting then I Check the summary and genre and if Im still interested then Ill watch it. Another thing is Word of mouth. Everyone will talk about an anime and it'll pop up on my radar sooner or later so Ill give it a go. Recommendations count too. Good to see I'm not the only one who uses art as a guide. If the anime has beautiful art, I know it already starts with one good thing going. Same, thought it was just me coz of the whole "don't judge a book by its cover" rule but it just works here. The art style really gives off the vibe its going for. |
| My Manga List My Anime List Shabada shabadabadaba I am DjG545 aka Dj Fo Fo aka The Mutha Fkn Name I'm Usin Now |
| "quality" you mean animation ? then for me is the PV but sometimes PV disappoint me. |
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| Well, I know what I love and I know what I hate. Everything in between I tend to give a shot when I feel like it. But there's always gonna be stuff I just know I'll love before I ever watch an episode. Which becomes even easier if you wait for other people to have opinions on it (aka not picking up every single show in week 1 of the season). Of course I won't always love everything I think I'd love, but I usually like it at the least. Some recent examples where I knew I'd enjoy them without ever looking at a preview or anything were Erased and Ushio to Tora. Then there's stuff I'll never ever watch which is also easy to avoid. ecchi harem LNs and the likes for the most parts. Another method for finding stuff to watch is obviously going by Director, author of the source material, maybe VAs or key animators, or in case of a strong identity (KyoAni, Trigger) even the studio. A lot of stuff I start I start because I wanna get deeper into some directors filmography or because I have faith in the author of the source material to write something decent no matter what it's about. For example Silver Spoon and Arslan Senki because of the FMA author, or Uchouten Kazoku because the book is by the same guy who write Tatami Galaxy. The list goes on and on. |
| I probably regret this post by now. |
daAmazinFatB0y said: TheBrainintheJar said: Good to see I'm not the only one who uses art as a guide. If the anime has beautiful art, I know it already starts with one good thing going. Same, thought it was just me coz of the whole "don't judge a book by its cover" rule but it just works here. The art style really gives off the vibe its going for. Book covers and anime posters aren't the same thing. Book covers don't have anything to do with the story, since literature isn't a visual medium. Even if the artist designed the cover it still won't matter much. Also, book covers are a fickle thing. They change from edition to edition, not even consistent like album art. Anime is a visual medium and so how the visuals everywhere - from artbooks to promotional material to screenshots - tell you about it. |
| WEAPONS - My blog, for reviews of music, anime, books, and other things |
TheBrainintheJar said: daAmazinFatB0y said: Same, thought it was just me coz of the whole "don't judge a book by its cover" rule but it just works here. The art style really gives off the vibe its going for. Book covers and anime posters aren't the same thing. Book covers don't have anything to do with the story, since literature isn't a visual medium. Even if the artist designed the cover it still won't matter much. Also, book covers are a fickle thing. They change from edition to edition, not even consistent like album art. Anime is a visual medium and so how the visuals everywhere - from artbooks to promotional material to screenshots - tell you about it. Ano, it was just a figure of speech lol. People say, don't judge it by how it looks but as you described, anime is an art form so judging that way just works. |
| My Manga List My Anime List Shabada shabadabadaba I am DjG545 aka Dj Fo Fo aka The Mutha Fkn Name I'm Usin Now |
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