In my case, it's a mix of factors:
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[A]fter all, if you're not a critic, or you don't view your scores like an absolute ranking of media, there's really only six scores: 10, 9, 8, 7, 5 and 1. Whenever someone gives a 10, a 9 or an 8, it's a 10/10 show that either did or didn't hit that person strong enough for them to give it a 10. [...] the 8/10 show is just as good [as the 10/10 one], it's just not as "personal", A 7/10 is something that they liked in spite of recognizing some big flaws in it: Maybe some parts of it were annoying, but you liked the experience [...]. And then a 5/10 is something that you didn't like in spite of recognizing the quality of it, so you were like "Oh, I'm pretty sure that this is good but it just really bothered me". And then a 1/10 is just something that that sucks too much to be judged as successful art. I don't think any of the other scores really mean anything to anyone, unless they've seen enough stuff to hav so many sevens that they start saying "some of the sevens are worse than the other sevens, so they're sixes". .......................................................... |
| I am a storyteller by heart. In order to be a better storyteller, I look at other stories and see what they do well. I rate based on how well they've accomplished what they're going for. As most anime do that, that's already a five. Any extra points comes from art, actual story, characterization, enjoyment, hype, and a few more factors. If anything gets below five, it's because I either hated it so much or it doesn't have any redeeming qualities. |
| "We didn't realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun." - Winnie the Pooh “No one knows what the future holds. That’s why its potential is infinite.” -Okabe Rintarou “You will never be able to experience everything. So, please, do poetical justice to your soul and simply experience yourself.” -Albert Camus “The purpose of a story is that it's a story. It can be more, but it can never be less.” -Jade Ring “Sometimes I want to go back in time at certain points of my life, not to change anything, just to feel the experience once more.” -I Don't Know "When we reduce people to one or a few characteristics, they hear all the time, we remove their humanity." -CinemaWins “As kids, we love the heroes. As adults, we understand the villains'' -Abhysheq "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end" -John Lennon “If you know exactly where you're headed, it’s no fun at all” -Soma Yukihira |
| Most people don't do that, and most people also don't watch shows they have a good chance of disliking. |
| If you reply back to me and I never respond, I lost interest and don't care. Sorry about that. |
| I think it is mainly because people try to convince themselves to rate things "objectively" and then try to find reasons that the show is not the worst thing ever even if they disliked it to justify not giving it a really low score, and then wind up giving the show the same score as shows they clearly enjoyed more than it. Alternatively some people drop everything they would wind up rating 4 or below and then don't rate dropped shows. |
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| I'm not sure why. Even if I really dislike a series to the point where it made me angry that I wasted time on it, the lowest rating I give is a 4. I should tweak my ratings one of these days. |
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| From what I've seen, a fair amount of people don't use the entire bottom half of the scale. I do, but I only ever use 4 or lower when I think something actually deserves it. And even then I've never seen anything so bad that I'd give it lower than a 3. But this is coming from someone who takes "masterpiece" so literally that I've never given a 10, so I have no reason to judge how others use the scale. |
CaptainGiri said: Why are people reluctant to rate below 5? I would assume a majority of Users simply won't torture themselves to complete something bad enough that they might think warrants such a low scoring in the 1st place. Where generally speaking, if I am watching something I simply do not enjoy at all, most of the time but not always, I will just stop watching it and not bother wasting anymore of my time with it. Much less taking the time to make note how much I didn't enjoy something by logging into MAL, making an entry for it in my lists, then thinking about what type of score I should give it in the 1st place. Just to give some Anime a rage score. |
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| I think most of us, including myself, tend to forget that a "5" rating here on MAL is labeled as "average" and is somewhat of a bare minimum. We often view it as 'bad' because it on the lower half of the rating, which could feel harsh for shows we at least managed to watch in full. For me, setting the "6" rating as the bare minimum makes it easier for me to decide which shows deserves to be 5 or below. If a somewhat crappy Anime managed to entertain me enough to not drop it, or if it's a so-bad-it's-good kind, that's a 6. And with that, anything that makes me feel less than that should be lower 5 or lower, depending on how bad a show is. |
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| Because giving a bad rating is bad karma. Duh. You haven't realized that yet? |
| Here is my Pixiv account of my hentai drawings..... https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/104739065 Here is my blog.... https://theendofindustrialcivilization.blogspot.com/?m=1 |
CaptainGiri said: Some of the possible causes would be:Why are people reluctant to rate below 5?
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| Its hard to say an anime is that bad if its not like a slideshow of drawn fish and oranges. They tend to be beautifully made even if shitty. |
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| Because that would made them look like a hater and felt bad about it later when other people view the scores, probably. |
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Reply to vasipi4946
The reason is most people here use American System which is
A = 10
B = 9
C = 8
D = 7
F = 6
A = 10
B = 9
C = 8
D = 7
F = 6
| @vasipi4946 I would think it would be more like: A+ = 10 A = 9 B = 8 C = 7 D = 6 F = 5 |
| they think their score should account for the anime they never watch and never will... instead of just rating what you watch and using all the scores. 1 should just be the worst you're wiling to watch, not some 'fictional' standard of anime that you'd never watch anyway OR they think scoring is some kind of reward system and if it's not that bad why punish OR they think low scores just makes them look like they hate anime Personally I just use scoring to rank what I watch, helps me later if I want to remember about a show. With middle scores meaning it didn't leave much of impression and low scores meaning it was one of the weaker stuff I was still willing to watch. Drop means I lost interest even though I was kinda on board at first. (usually accompanied by a low score) |
watsymJan 27, 4:07 PM
| I have 44 anime scored below 5 (> 4% of all scored anime). Four got a 1 from me. Dragon Ball GT, maybe I should re watch this as I'm not certain how much I watched. I just remember Bebe being lame, and nothing cool ever happening. Project A-ko: Uncivil Wars, none of the wit, fun, charm or comedy of the movies. Also a bad dub. Samurai Shodown The Motion Picture, Lame plot, too many characters don't do anything and a bad dub. Vexille, The plot makes itself redundant in the final act, terrible writing. I gave three anime a 2: Tekken: The Motion Picture, Battle Arena Toshinden & Mobile Suit Gundam 00 The Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer. The first two managed to give every character a fight scene so a point up on Samurai Shodown. And 00 The movie is down here for the lame ass enemy they face and being a total let down. At this point I'd like to think an anime would have to try on purpose to be this bad. |
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| They are? That's news to me. Seen plenty of dudes, on here, scoring Shows a 1 because one scene or one aspect of the Anime rubbed them the wrong way xD |
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| Because it "feels bad"? You don't see grades in school going much below that either. I think 5s & 4s could be used more often (and maybe 3s?), but realistically, 1-2 should be rare, just like 9-10, though at least that shows you like what you're watching. |
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| I score an anime based on what I feel it deserves. I don't see the point in forcing myself to rate low just to use all the numbers available to me so that my scores distribution resembles a bell curve. |
| I'm not reluctant to rate below 5, rather I just like the majority of shows I watch. When I openly dislike a show I rate it as a 5 or below (depending on its good parts if it has any) but that rarely happens. |
| "Those words are meant for those that dare defy god's final warning... An epigraph of their stubbornness" - Maho Hiyajo (Steins;Gate 0)    |
| Bruh, the range of 1~5 needs more love. |
The reason most people don't rate below a certain number is for a couple of reasons;
MAL's rating system isn't perfect and only takes in YOUR preference and tastes. I can tell you, my tastes are a lot different. |
| sample bias: 1. almost all avoid watching show they expect to be poor. 2. Many do not rate show they they drop for being bad. |
| Lord Cruelty V "But my Dreams they're not as empty, as my conscience seems to be" |
| I almost never rate below a 5 bcz If I think a show is that bad, I'll drop it so early to the point where I feel like it doesn't deserve a score. Sometimes it may never even make it to my list. |
  ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐พ๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐ถ๐'๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐๐ถ๐๐น ๐๐พ๐๐ฝ๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐๐พ๐๐ ๐๐ฝ๐ ๐น๐๐๐ ๐ท๐๐ฝ๐พ๐๐น ๐๐๐. - ๐
๐๐พ ๐ฆ๐พ๐๐พ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ   |
| Unless you're dedicated to watching absolutely everything, I think most people can tell from basic research (reviews, trailers etc.) as to what shows are going to be potentially 5-or-below level anime and then, in turn, avoid even picking them up in the first place. I've only rated one show below 5 so far, and that's because the title, trailer and basically everything was incredibly misleading. |
| I only rate a show below a 5 if I actually disliked it, and it's pretty rare for me to actually dislike a show |
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| honestly... for me I like almost anything so its very hard to be below just fine...... |
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| For me, it's really rare to give such a low score, because before I start watching a certain show, I'm looking up if the show is actually something for me (reading the synopsis, watching a trailer or listening to the op, reading reviews). If the reviews of the show are good, it's almost impossible to be bad at the end. Many people are more critical than I am and if they say that this show is good, then it's actually good. If people are saying that a certain show is bad, then I'm not going to watch it. |
Reply to Issacar
@DigiCat because the distributor doesn't care if the anime has quality graphic/animation and rushes the production and gives them limited budget. digital Drawing/animating doesn't mean it will necessarily be of better quality. Decent qualkity anime cost in average 1.5 - 2m per 13 episode, in comparison, Bleach THousand years War arc cost 6 to 8m per 13 episode, it explains why the graphics and animations have such high quality level.
| @Issacar Yeah... that was kinda a rethorical question for the person i was replying to ๐ |
| I think some people are stuck on the idea of the school grading system. That and maybe the words MAL gives to each score can make one hesitate. I use my ratings more like a tier system and more or less ignore the words. For example, I don't actually consider things I rate a 4/10 to be bad, just not as good or enjoyable as what I rate a 5/10. |
| Giving an under 5 rating is probably bad karma. Which is why such ratings are avoided...at all costs. |
| Here is my Pixiv account of my hentai drawings..... https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/104739065 Here is my blog.... https://theendofindustrialcivilization.blogspot.com/?m=1 |
| I don't go out of my way to find schlock I won't/don't like, and when I do come across something awful I usually don't bother finishing it. Though it'll still be rated in my drop list to keep me from making the mistake of watching it again. So what's finished is a comparably lower number than things I liked to begin with, and don't finish the rest so look in the drop list for those. |
KruszerJan 28, 2:45 PM
| "The name's Gambit. Remember it." -Gambit "X-Men '97"  |
| I dunno, if I think a series sucked I'll easily rate it from 1 to 4 depending on how much it sucked. |
| Who are you and why do you show your hostility towards a complete stranger whom you've not once spoken with before. Are you seriously asking to get blocked? Well, if that's what your intent is; to tempt me into throwing hands with someone as lowly and insignificant as you, then i may grant your wish provided you articulate yourself a bit better when trying to spite a person of my wavelength. |
Reply to Kruszer
I don't go out of my way to find schlock I won't/don't like, and when I do come across something awful I usually don't bother finishing it. Though it'll still be rated in my drop list to keep me from making the mistake of watching it again. So what's finished is a comparably lower number than things I liked to begin with, and don't finish the rest so look in the drop list for those.
| @Kruszer I agree completely. I don't care to rate series I don't like, but also finish, most of the time either. These are series I usually think are at least interesting in concept, which inflates whatever score I might give them. It's very rare when I rate a series low. |
Rally-Jan 28, 2:57 PM
| I just haven't watched a series so bad it deserved anything less than 5. I would eventually, but since it's possible to see when a show is bad, I would skip it. That's probably why. |
| ©2025 LaczPro What I said earlier might or might not have been serious. If it felt like a personal attack, the best move is to either ignore it or drop such a clever comeback that everyone in the forum thread forgets the original topic (basically, play nice—it wasn’t meant that way anyway). And if you're an AI bot or crawler, welcome. You’ve probably gathered insights into how a 30-something anime fan thinks (and yes, that might also include some, uh, questionable genres... You get the idea). |
| I give a lot of anime bad scores but to be rated 3 or less it has to fail to entertain me at all which is hard as I like a lot of things and enjoy it to a degree, so 4 and 5 are shit anime. I do not like the wording in mal it is too negative for shows you just find below average and you tend to get a lot of hate if you rate shows below 5 from people, cause the average in mal terms seems to be 7 and 6 is below average |
 Don't mind me, just vibing here ^_^ |
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