Why do the people who rate every series a 4 and below with the occasional 5 or 6 even bother wasting their time watching anime when they seem to not necessarily enjoy most of it?
| Why do the people who rate every series a 4 and below with the occasional 5 or 6 even bother wasting their time watching anime when they seem to not necessarily enjoy most of it? Just something I've been curious about as of late. I believe this question, like most everything else, has been asked in some capacity before but I can't recall when or in what form. If I happen to glance at the profiles of said folks they often seem to have watched a large amount of anime - so it's understandable your standards are liable to raise the more anime, and media generally, you've seen. But why continue to watch so much if most of it receives a pretty abysmal rating in your estimation? I'm probably an overly generous scorer - specifically with my 7s - as it's my go-to default rating to lazily stamp something with the indicator of being "about as good as the average of everything else I've seen" whereas a number of those could probably be downgraded to 5s or 6s if looked at more critically and going in-depth with the comparisons to greater works, but I just want to provide a platform for the harsh scorers to voice their perspective. |
| Rating it low =/= not enjoying. Analyzing why a product is flawed can be more enjoyable than the journey. |
 |
| most of my bad scores are from mainstream anime so i finish them so when i express y opinion on the show, i font get fucked upon in the internet for having an uninformed narrative and i just dont like dropping things |
| "Nobody is stronger than me, even when I go easy on them. Remember that" - Ayanokoji Kiyotaka |
| Actually, only my 1s and occasional 2s are things I consider time wasted. The anime I rated 3 and 4 have at least enough merit to deserve some points from me and in a matter of facts I enjoyed some aspects of these shows in some ways. I don't consider my 3s and 4s time wasted, but it's true that I enjoyed them less than some other highly rated anime on my list. Why bother you asked? Because I thought I would enjoy them more than that when I started them. I don't watch something I'm sure I'm going to hate. My dropped list is not empty. There is a history behind each anime I watched. |
newazurill said: I'm the same as you but instead of 7 being being the "about as good as the average of everything else I've seen" it's 5 for me. That makes 4 being a below average but having some enjoyable aspects. I find keeping the numbers 6/7/8/9/10 exclusively for anime I think of positively allows me to differentiate between anime I like with more tiers. Pretty much this. I used to give a 7 to everything I enjoyed, but when i watched more anime it became harder to differentiate between good shows and even greater shows, so i had to reconsider my grading scale. |
| Often when you watch more of something it becomes a necessity to show difference within the scores given to series. Taking that on a scale from 1-10 the average score should be 5,5 – I’d say it’s not surprising that someone who has watched quite a lot of anime would start to score more and more series around that average point. In case someone rarely gives anything below 7’s it probably just means their scale is between 5-10 not 1 to 10. Methodology of scoring is so individual that it makes little sense to try to guess how person feels about a series simply based on a score. This is exactly why written reviews are much more helpful than simple numeric value. Your 7 might simply be someone else’s 5. The enjoyment of the series might still be the same. Even if a series might not be very good in some of the areas there still might be other factors that the viewer liked. For example, a series might not be well structured, but it had beautiful animation or backgrounds which might still make it worth while to watch. Or you might just want to have a better understanding on the medium itself, which is why one might watch series despite not liking them very much. Having a critical point of view itself does not mean that person cannot enjoy the medium. It is simply more efficient for some people to make a bigger scale where to score the anime so that you can more effectively differentiate how much person liked the series. |
| I don't know if am harsh enough with my scores to properly answer this question, i just recently gave something a 7. But if 1.43 points lower than the MAL average is enough i will try to answer your question, even if the biggest reason for so many low scores is not really present anymore. My main reason for scoring so low was watching Seasonal (around 8 a Season sometimes more sometimes less), i enjoyed some but most only as a filler of time and thus after completing them i just gave them the 3 or 4 they in my opinion deserved and still deserve to this day. Most Seasonal are just hot steaming garbage, but they are new shows and 20 min a week is not a huge commitment so in the past i just watched them for a hour a month and then after completion just moved on. These Seasonal just paled and still pale in comparison to most shows i gave a score above 6 and because of that i just gave them a lower score, my ratings also serve the purpose of a ranking and if something is worse than most shows with a 6 then it won't get that score. This is also backed up by the stats of https://anime.plus/Mullerio/favorites,anime. Every year after 2010, with maybe one exception , was worse than the year before that and the main reason for that is that i watched more new shows in these years then i did in the years prior to 2010. Another reason is that i like guilty pleasures, hell i still watch Sword art Online and somewhat enjoy to laugh at it. Most of those shows also wont go above the 6 point mark despite me enjoying them very much, i still differentiate between just liking a show for being fun and or to just make fun of or genuinely thinking a show is worthwhile and should be seen by more people.... this is also where most Seasonal i watch nowadays fall. The last reason is probably that i am just pretty critical with my ratings, i often compare anime with everything across fiction since for me at least its just a small part of it and thus always find so many stories which do similar things than the anime i am about to rate but just better or more suiting to my tastes etc etc. which on the other hand makes the show look worse. |
-Mullerio-Oct 13, 2020 3:20 PM
 |
| what are you talking about? 4 is a big score, I recently watched Saekano Fine and rated it a 4, what can I say, it's not that good compared to romance anime I scored 5,6,7,8 and 9 but that movie sure is high class entertainment, better than the trash I don't even bother to watch |
    |
| There is an undeniable amount of terrible anime that comes out every season. If a person has thousands of anime logged then there is a good chance that their averages will be pretty low. I have no idea why they would want to go through all of that instead of just sticking with the handful of good shows each season. Sometimes I think it's just a way to prop up their favorites. Essentially saying that everything is trash except for a few shows.. |
 |
| Give low score and don't enjoy is not the same, i watch many anime and i talk for my case, some anime that i score as 5 are just average but don't mean i hate him, or hate anime as medium just in my own perspective is average anime, plot, animation, sound, all those parts that make up an anime for me...one example is music, are music that you can like listen in parties but are not for your favorite playlist, is the same with anime, you watch 12 episodes and was fun, but plotholes, bad quality animation, bad plot, absurd overpower characters, annoying actitudes, It all adds up to a final grade, at least for me i judge anime not only as anime, i judge and entertaiment form. also i think people care to much for scores when is something so subjective. |
 |
| We, 10-score elite, have the ability to distribute everything we watched into ten certain categories. This means we had reasons to watch and enjoyed EVERYTHING we finished and didn't drop, even 1s and 2s. If you don't rate things below 5 that only means you are unable to use full 10-score system and actually use only 5 scores instead. That's your problem. It's because of you, guys who get the wrong idea, ratings are fucked up and make no sense. |
Nemo_NiemandOct 13, 2020 3:09 PM
 |
| Some (mostly) very informative answers so far. firstawahono said: because they are tsundere type people. :D Best answer thus far, methinks. Nemo_Niemand said: If you don't rate things below 5 that only means you are unable to use full 10-score system and actually use only 5 scores instead. That's your problem. It's because of you, guys who get the wrong idea, ratings are fucked up and make no sense. There isn't a "wrong idea" - This isn't a mathematical equation. It's an entirely subjective system saddled with boundless debate, interpretation, and assignment of relative value which is often arbitrary and completely idiosyncratic. Don't confuse never rating something below a 5 with just not rating a large amount or the majority of what you watch below a 5. I have rated anime with some 4s and a 2. I just don't rate most that way because I am both able to select what I watch based on intuition about its quality and how suitable it will be to my own interests and preferences and because I choose to do so and curate my own viewing experience in this manner. |
WatchTillTandavaOct 13, 2020 3:23 PM
| Why would I give more than a 5 to a show that I think it deserves 2-3? |
 |
z00nex said: Why would I give more than a 5 to a show that I think it deserves 2-3? I don't think you should and that wasn't my question in the OP. |
WatchTillTandava said: Oh sorry, there are shows that I enjoy even though they are trash. But the main reason is I don’t like to drop shows. I probably have some on hold but never once dropped.z00nex said: Why would I give more than a 5 to a show that I think it deserves 2-3? I don't think you should and that wasn't my question in the OP. |
|
| Some people don't have anything better to do, and they might be watching anime in the background while they work or something. |
 |
| 5 to me is 7 to a lot of people. Basically 5 is a perfectly average score for an average series. Average doesn't mean bad either. I have alot of fun with average series much of the time. |
  ♡ Harder Daddy ♡ |
WatchTillTandava said: Nemo_Niemand said: If you don't rate things below 5 that only means you are unable to use full 10-score system and actually use only 5 scores instead. That's your problem. It's because of you, guys who get the wrong idea, ratings are fucked up and make no sense. There isn't a "wrong idea" - This isn't a mathematical equation. It's an entirely subjective system saddled with boundless debate, interpretation, and assignment of relative value which is often arbitrary and completely idiosyncratic. Don't confuse never rating something below a 5 with just not rating a large amount or the majority of what you watch below a 5. I have rated anime with some 4s and a 2. I just don't rate most that way because I am both able to select what I watch based on intuition about its quality and how suitable it will be to my own interests and preferences and because I choose to do so and curate my own viewing experience in this manner. I believe it comes with time. The more things you have to rate, the more you can differ one thing from another. There was time when I struggled with a "3" rating, because shows seemed either too good and deserving a 4 or too bad and deserving a 2. And now I suffer from another dilemma: I almost stopped giving shows 1s and 2s. Is it because I've become too picky and started to drop many unfitting shows so that my scores are inevitably getting higher? Or have I just started simplifying things? I don't know and it really plagues me :D |
|
| Because they have too much free time. I don't get how you can waste time on something that you don't enjoy. I rarely finish something below average, actually I even drop a lot of what I consider average. If I'm going to waste time, at least it should be enjoyable. |
 |
| Maybe just like how your average rating is 7 maybe they're average is lower, Like maybe just like how you see the scale differently they did as well, So their 4 is higher than your 4. I don't think that I'm that kind of person so I'm only speculating but as someone who treasures 10s, I can see someone treasuring 10s and then 9s and then ends up giving most average stuff 4 or 3 because the "good anime meter" is more detailed in their list and they want to pinpoint exactly how good an anime is instead of pinpointing how bad it is. Just maybe. |
| I don't speak English that much, so please cut me some slack |
| So if you enjoy anime you are only limited to the 7-10 score range? |
 |
| i rate things mostly out of enjoyment, but some people do it out of technicality or their score range is different. but sometimes they do bash perfectly above 7 animes for no reason, or they make their profile full of things they hate about anime, but i think thats just being a troll, or not basing it off of enjoyment |
| Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines. |
| I feel personally attacked here. Clearly if they aren't getting enjoyment from the experience of the anime itself then they're getting enjoyment out of other aspects of the process. They might be enjoying the sport of anime consumption, ranting about their hatred after the fact, or the wonderful pain of watching anime if they happen to be masochists. They also might be intentionally blanket watching rather than picking out specific series they would have a much higher chance of liking because they feel that the bad shows make the good shows even better. It could also be that they actually are enjoying the anime they watch, but just consider their own taste to be trash and rate things low because "they're objectively bad" even though they're really enjoying them. They might also just be watching a lot of anime out of obligation, such as from recommendations or ones that are considered to be "classics" or "must watches" even though they don't expect to like them but feel they would be a better anime fan having them under their belt. The reason I personally hand out so many low scores is mostly that I watch a lot of shorts (less than 10 minutes per anime) that are absolute garbage most of the time, but on some rare occasions are actually decent. If I spend 5 hours watching 100 different shorts and 6 of them are 7s while the majority are 1-3s I don't consider that to be a waste of time since I discovered some good shorts I wouldn't have seen otherwise. |
  |
| Scoring all has to do with the fidelity that you want to represent to others. Those who most commonly give scores of a 1, like valoon for example, show more fidelity in the shows they like. Those who most commonly give scores of 10, of which I have no example for, but I'm sure exists, show more fidelity in the shows that they dislike. Everything in-between weighs to one side or the other. I would suggest reading about bell curves if you're interested. It's the same data, just represented in different ways to give different impressions. Nalusa_Falaya said: Maybe just like how your average rating is 7 maybe they're average is lower, Like maybe just like how you see the scale differently they did as well, So their 4 is higher than your 4. I don't think that I'm that kind of person so I'm only speculating but as someone who treasures 10s, I can see someone treasuring 10s and then 9s and then ends up giving most average stuff 4 or 3 because the "good anime meter" is more detailed in their list and they want to pinpoint exactly how good an anime is instead of pinpointing how bad it is. Just maybe. Exactly what I wanted to say. |
 |
| I agree. If I rated my anime ever below 4, it would mean that I hated that anime, and wasting time hating other anime you watch instead of re-watching your favorite anime is kind of... stupid Yes, I know, my total of 8.21 is not for someone who has a critical sense, but I mainly watch anime for fun, and if an anime doesn't have fun, I dropped it and rated it below, but it is for rare cases that I watch REALLY boring animes I don't care if a battle shounen don't have a philosophical message in the last episode, if have fun me, I give 10/10 |
 |
| I think I have less than 20% of my list with a rating of 4 or less, and I consider 5 to be "average", as in I don't completely regret watching it. |
| How others treat their rating systems is a topic I find quite interesting, but initially I forgot to react when I saw this discussion, so I'll allow myself to be a bit late to the party. A discrepancy between enjoyment and quality is by far the most recurring point here. Sometimes this is caused by the person in question finding enjoyment in picking something apart, which I find intuitively understandable - to an extent, I even experience it myself. There is another sentiment, however, hinted at in messages like this: Punkuin said: To me, this implies that are still 'quality' elements that you got enjoyment from; it's just that these are highly subjective, and thus you choose to focus on factors that are more generally accepted as indicators of how good something is. What I'm interested in is the reason behind this choice. Can someone explain? Just because I rate something low doesn’t mean that in didn’t enjoy it. It just meant that from a critical standpoint, I didn’t think it was good. And here's the other side of the coin: _Maneki-Neko_ said: I find it interesting that you'd drop a 6, because it's still a sufficient score. What is a 6/10, to you personally?Sae. I would go that far and say that I drop most anime that I score 6 or below pretty early. I don't know why I should bother with them. |
| Each to their own but personally, I struggle to understand why people don't just use the MAL scoring scale. 9/10 is great, 7/10 is good, 4/10 is bad, 2/10 is horrible - seems pretty simple to me. |
  🔥 🔥 🔥 . 阿良々木 暦, 傷 物 語 . 🔥 🔥 🔥 Build a man a fire and you'll warm him for a night but set a man on fire and you'll warm him for the rest of his life... - H E N D Y - |
| I am still new to the genre but If I had to guess then these people must be able to seperate enjoyment from quality when rating their animes. As to why they still watching it most likely in hopes of finding an anime that could rival(or beat) one of their high rated animes XD |
nhc9Oct 17, 2020 4:28 AM
 |
| My avg rating is 5.93 but it doesn't mean I don't enjoy what I watch. It just means I've seen a lot of good & bad shows. And that, I use the actual MAL rating scale, being 5 the average. Cuz, you gotta admit some anime are just fcking trash. People like you just rate 7 to everything, 8 good , 9 really good , 10 super duper good 5 and 6 really bad. below is basically non-existent thats why the Top Ratings are messed up |
| Well, I don’t know how others rate but if I rate a lot of shows between 1-3, that doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying them and wasting my time. 2/10 and 3/10 are definitely bad but I still find a bit of enjoyment in them. A 4/10 for me is decent and for the ones I rate 1/10, I keep watching them just to know how it ends. I reserve the 5-10 scale for shows that I consider good. |
| i mean maybe thet do enjoy it but think its not a good show i dont rate my shows anymore because every month i score the same show different i hate to say it but, damn pls stop the "custom" ratings u dont need to tell me what every number stands for i know the scale 1/10 you dont need to explain damnit also i cringe hard reading the criteria of those rating systems the best rating system is just not rating it at all because you tend to be either not impressed by an anime or full of adrenaline of how good it is... then a month later your opinion has changed and you think totally different of it i dont care what you guys do but everytime i see a dude with an avg score of 4.5 or something i cringe and deep down i die a little inside btw if you think a 5/10 is "average anime" then you cant rate ur shit correctly there is a lot of bad shit but 5/10 is like just passing, that means its just enough not to drop the show |
 |
| I wouldn't call shows I gave a 4 or under bad, it's just that I enjoyed the shows I gave a 5+ more than them |
 IT'S NEVER OGRE |
a-1337 said: People like you just rate 7 to everything, 8 good , 9 really good , 10 super duper good 5 and 6 really bad. below is basically non-existent thats why the Top Ratings are messed up No, that is not true at all in my case. I don't consider a 6 or even a 5 to be negative. Only at 4 would the negative elements of any given series really begin to outweigh the positive. The average of what I watch is a 7 because I intentionally curate my selection of series to watch based on my known interests and preferences and usually am successful in finding them. Consequently, I don't watch a lot of stuff that I have more negative than positive feelings toward. I don't frequently utilize the lower ratings because I can't honestly in good conscience give such a poor rating to series that I ultimately did think have a lot of artistic merit even if some were less so to my personal taste. |
| I don't really consider 4 a terrible rating and I use it regularly—it's literally "below average", which, frankly, an awful lot of anime and manga fall into, especially if you're an avid consumer of the medium, and you can perfectly enjoy something that's below average. That said, I understand a lot of people tend to think critically when rating their stuff, to the extent of having a 7 as their highest rating, but giving a bunch of 1 to 3s to things they legitimately enjoyed or thought of as good is just weird. Personally, if I'm giving something a 3 there's already something very wrong with the show or manga that got in the way of my enjoying or even considering it good. So I'll stand for 4 as a kind of "threshold of quality", but seeing people with a 2~3 mean score is crazy. |
| many different reasons for it, including: a) different people have different rating styles - some refuse to rate something under 7, some considering 4 as a "average" marker b) just because someone rates something low, doesn't mean they necessarily disliked it. there are lots of animes out there, which are funny solely because of how poor quality the production was c) in some cases, these people are burnt out with anime, hence they can't really enjoy any of the shows they watch, but they still do watch them, because they consider watching anime as part of their personality, and they don't want to lose that |
AnimeFreak-San said: is this a male gender issure...human issue...mental illness perhaps? |
| When I was newer to anime I tried never to drop a series out of obligation. Now I just acceot dropping series to save my time. |
 |
firstawahono said: because they are tsundere type people. :D Here this is the correct answer.... |
More topics from this board
» What percentage of your waifu's body is kissable?Catalano - Oct 12 |
20 |
by Nysse
»»
16 minutes ago |
|
» Do we need more girls in tank tops in anime?Catalano - Oct 11 |
15 |
by Nysse
»»
17 minutes ago |
|
» 🍷 AD Summer 2025 Best Girl Contest ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )Shizuna - Sep 28 |
414 |
by Shizuna
»»
18 minutes ago |
|
Poll: » Has BL animanga been getting better?Auron - Oct 12 |
16 |
by Nysse
»»
22 minutes ago |
|
» Do you iss the Femme Fatale trope?VabbingSips - Oct 11 |
15 |
by rbp_pbr2
»»
27 minutes ago |