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What's considered a low Mal Score, I don't watch below 7.5. Im willing too though?, What's your cutoff score?

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Mar 14, 2019 12:11 AM
#1
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With 7 being good and 8 being very good score. I usually watch anime in between those ratings or higher cause I figure If it's lower it probably isn't that good. Now, I've watched so many anime I'm running out of higher rated anime, but I also work so I don't wanna spend my time watching trash anime, when I decide to watch anime. I love anime btw just not enough to sort through something that thousands to hundreds of thousands of people on average gave a bad score to. Ik people have different tastes,but Is this too high of a score? If so how low of a score are you willing to go? It will help me be more open-minded.
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Mar 14, 2019 12:30 AM
#2

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For a newer anime 8+ mean good and 7.5+ mean fine.. For older anime 7.5+ for good and 7+ for fine.. My preference is like that, I usually trying to watch every "good" anime based on above criteria..
For why it is different for newer and older anime, it is because newer anime ordinarily more overrated because people who only watch newer anime usually have higher average ...
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Mar 14, 2019 12:42 AM
#3

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Mar 2019
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Anything over 7 I'll check out, but I've watched some lower rated ones before
Mar 14, 2019 2:02 AM
#4

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I'd say 7.5-7.6. There's still some shows I enjoyed at 7.7 - 7.9 but even then I can still feel them as being a bit mediocre compared to others
Mar 14, 2019 2:21 AM
#5
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Sep 2015
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Nowadays I won't watch anything below 7.
Mar 14, 2019 2:37 AM
#6
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Jul 2018
562029
For me a low MAL score is less than 6.
Mar 14, 2019 3:07 AM
#7
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Thread moved from Creative Corner.
Mar 14, 2019 3:10 AM
#8

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I don't take the MAL mean score into account. I watch anime, therefore I'm a masochist.
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Mar 14, 2019 3:11 AM
#9

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Oct 2018
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I watch anything. Listening to other people’s ratings is pretty dumb, sorry. You don’t know if something is good until you try it for yourself. My cutoff is 0 in case you’re wondering

Mar 14, 2019 3:11 AM

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Mar 2019
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Timz0r said:
I don't take the MAL mean score into account. I watch anime, therefore I'm a masochist.


That's a pretty hilarious way to put it.
Mar 14, 2019 3:11 AM

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2110
I don't really have a cut off. I watch anything and everything so that I don't restrict myself and miss out on what this medium can offer.
Mar 14, 2019 3:17 AM
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May 2016
975
i don't have a cut off. score doesn't matter to me when deciding whether or not i pick up a show, the synopsis is what matters
Mar 14, 2019 3:20 AM

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Jan 2017
4
MAL scores aren't worth shit, to be honest with you
Mar 14, 2019 3:25 AM

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3777
I case of popular shows, for me low means below 7.5, although it doesn't mean that I won't watch popular shows scored lower - I try anything that piques my interest. For mildly popular shows (around 40-80k members), it's around 7.2, and for obscure shows (10k members and less), it's below 6. I usually just look at the correlation between ranking by the popularity and ranking by the score and draw conclusions.
fuyukiMar 14, 2019 5:16 AM
Mar 14, 2019 3:28 AM

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Apr 2012
3546
You shouldn't have one. Understand your own tastes, and MAL's tastes, and interpret the score intelligently with reference to the synopses etc to see how relevant MAL's verdict on a particular title will be.
Mar 14, 2019 3:28 AM
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Apr 2018
1488
I usually watch anything that looks appealing to me but if the score is too low (<4), I'd only watch it if it's a short series.
Mar 14, 2019 3:29 AM

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For random shorts, OVAs, and other stuff like that I'll watch anything. Hell, I watched Mars of Destruction earlier this evening. Had a good laugh with my buddies on Discord. If I'm seriously considering picking up a show, I never choose anything with less than a mean score of 7. I just know that the vast majority of MAL's user base rates shows way too high, so if it's lower than that it's probably smoking hot garbage.


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Mar 14, 2019 3:31 AM

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Oct 2010
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I think below 6 is a low score and that anime is pretty much bad. You can find good anime rated between 6.4-6.9 like Kitakubu or Dragonaut.
Mar 14, 2019 3:34 AM

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Luffyskywa1ker said:
What's considered a low Mal Score, With 7 being good and 8 being very good score.
Uh...a 6? I dunno lol

Luffyskywa1ker said:
I usually watch anime in between those ratings or higher cause I figure If it's lower it probably isn't that good.
I dunno about you, but I've had so many experiences where I've enjoyed watching things rated below 7.5, or even below 7.

Luffyskywa1ker said:
What's your cutoff score?

Now, I've watched so many anime I'm running out of higher rated anime, but I also work so I don't wanna spend my time watching trash anime, when I decide to watch anime. I love anime btw just not enough to sort through something that thousands to hundreds of thousands of people on average gave a bad score to. Ik people have different tastes,but Is this too high of a score? If so how low of a score are you willing to go? It will help me be more open-minded.
I don't have a cutoff score.

In fact, I try to ignore scores before I watch something. I don't want them to bias me toward liking or disliking a series only because of what other people think. I want to have a personal experience of the show, as much as possible.

If you are trying to find shows you are likely to enjoy, instead of using the average score (which is just an aggregate of many different opinions for many different reasons of taste), you should ask yourself what you enjoy and what you don't enjoy, and pick shows based on that. (Also, ratings are often a function of popularity -- older, obscure shows often have lower ratings, but not necessarily because they are "worse".)

Remember that within that "hundreds of thousands of people" are a whole range of people who gave many different scores, from 1 to 10. There are some people who gave a 10 to a show whose average rating is just 6.25, for example. And there are some people who gave a 1 to something that is rated 8.44. What's important is not the average score, but why people gave it a rating that they did.

You want to try to find people with similar tastes as you, and get information from them as to what they watched, and why they did or didn't enjoy it.
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Mar 14, 2019 3:35 AM
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562029
Below 6. Considiering 7.5 as low is pretty weird.
Mar 14, 2019 3:35 AM

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6193
yep below 7.5 is low by Mal standards
the majority use the 7-10 scale

i also tend to avoid anime below 7.5
tragedydesuMar 14, 2019 3:39 AM
Mar 14, 2019 3:37 AM

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Dec 2018
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If it's between a 7.5-6.5 (below a 6.5 it won't normally be watched) I turn to reviews and see their scores. If they are pretty good I give it a chance, if it's filled with 4s,6s or 7s I don't bother.
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Mar 14, 2019 3:40 AM

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forget the score, as long as it looks interesting you try it. altho i have the habit of wanting to watch anything with a high score, why?! cause i wonder why it has the score
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Mar 14, 2019 3:41 AM

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Dec 2016
6113
Mal scores are just consensus, not facts.... you shouldn't put that much value in them. Not because something is rated 8+ that means you're gonna enjoy it much more than something rated 7.99 or less... also you have to take into account both the type and age of every title, it's well known for example that older shows (pre-2000 at least) tend to have lower scores than newer because most of the people rating the older ones tend to make full use of the 10 point scale as opposed to most of the people rating the newer ones who just make use of 7-10.... so let's say something old rated 7.5 is -in MAL terms- as good as something new rated 8.25...

As a rule of thumb (in general) for something old (that it's not an obscure ova or a kids' show) I'd say anything under 7.25 is questionable, for something new anything under 7.75.

SoldierDreamMar 14, 2019 3:45 AM
Mar 14, 2019 3:41 AM

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I don't take MAL's scores into account. There are plenty of anime that I would rate 8 or 9 that have a MAL score that is in the 6 range.
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Mar 14, 2019 3:46 AM

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I think there are pretty entertaining shows below 7.5, they are just hard to find among the garbage. Just think of some kind of niche story that, in spite of all its faults, mediocrity and low score, has its appeal to you for some reason, just like there are anime which you hate or find deadly boring even though it has a score above 8.5.

I have gone through my anime list and actually found three series scored below 7.5 that I liked: Mokke, Honobono log and Aoi Hana (gave to two of them 7/10, and to one 8/10). I am not saying you would like these three, it’s more likely you would not, but I am sure you too would find anime to your liking below 7.5.
IshitatesoMar 14, 2019 4:29 AM
Mar 14, 2019 3:50 AM

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May 2017
1039
I already consider everything below 8 a low score. The reason for that is because most people on this site have a mean score of around 8 and don't even use the full scale.

But anything below 7.8 is most likely pretty much average or bad stuff.

never found a show that I genuinely loved that has a low rating like that besides maybe naruto
Mar 14, 2019 3:50 AM

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Feb 2018
5213
For newer anime it's above 8.0 cuz everyone here only uses the upper part of the rating scale.
For older anime it's about 7.5
Mar 14, 2019 4:02 AM

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11990
I reckon MAL score absolutely useless thus I never check it and never considered it before starting an anime.

The only score that matters to me is my own score and it's for my personal use (like remembering do I value this certain show or not).
alshuMar 14, 2019 4:49 AM
Mar 14, 2019 4:07 AM
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Feb 2018
315
Jim_Heart said:
For a newer anime 8+ mean good and 7.5+ mean fine.. For older anime 7.5+ for good and 7+ for fine.. My preference is like that, I usually trying to watch every "good" anime based on above criteria..
For why it is different for newer and older anime, it is because newer anime ordinarily more overrated because people who only watch newer anime usually have higher average ...


yeah i agree with that as well
here are three old animes below 8 that are actually quite good:

https://myanimelist.net/anime/593/Mugen_no_Ryvius
https://myanimelist.net/anime/1034/Ouritsu_Uchuugun__Honneamise_no_Tsubasa
https://myanimelist.net/anime/160/Ima_Soko_ni_Iru_Boku
Mar 14, 2019 4:16 AM

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I'm actually quite shocked by how many people let themselves be influenced by MAL scores, wow.

If I think an anime sounds interesting and/or the characters look likeable enough, I'll give it a try, scores be damned.
ChromatusMar 14, 2019 4:25 AM
Mar 14, 2019 4:31 AM
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I've read too much garbage that I shouldn't even think about the concept of having a cut-off score now. No number will deter me from good art.
Mar 14, 2019 4:38 AM

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as a rule of thumb, the older, shorter and obscurer something is, the lower the expected score
some genres i feel also have bias one way or another
in general i suggest to not think too much about rating before watching..

on another note, when i was new, i noticed most my favourites are in top 1000
i never used it as a cutoff point cause that would be silly
Mar 14, 2019 5:07 AM

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Generally speaking, if something is bellow 6, I will be a bit suspicious. But if it sounds interesting enough, I will still give it a try. Above that I don't pay much attention to it, because it doesn't really say much about quality of the show, at least from my experiences, I enjoyed plenty of shows with lower score.







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Mar 14, 2019 5:09 AM

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Anything below 6 can be a bit of a mixed bag but it's possible for me to be entertained by Anime in the 5 mean score range. So in tradition anything below a 5 is considered low for me.

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Mar 14, 2019 5:31 AM
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I don't have a cutoff score. I watch anything interest me regardless its score.
Mar 14, 2019 5:44 AM

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There are many people on this site who use only 6-10 or even 7-10 rating scale. That's why you can sometimes find a good show scored about 6 and just mediocre show scored over 8. Usually the more popular anime is, the higher mean score it gets here. Imo, there's no reason to rely on MAL scores.
Mar 14, 2019 5:47 AM

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I don't have a cut off score. If an anime interests me i'm going to watch it no matter what score it's got on MAL.
Mar 14, 2019 6:06 AM

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15619
6.8 is MAL's average score so anything below that would be considered low. This isn't to say there aren't anime that would fit your taste rated below that, just that most viewers considered it to be below average so if you don't have much time on your hands it might be best avoiding ones rated below that.

I refuse to watch any anime rated below 1.90.
zombie_pegasusMar 14, 2019 7:45 AM
Mar 14, 2019 6:22 AM

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Aug 2016
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I don't have a cutoff score but the higher the score, the higher the chance that i watch it quicker something with a lower score just to see what the general consensus finds interesting.

Mar 14, 2019 6:42 AM

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I don’t have any, I’m willing to watch anything, regardless on the score
Mar 14, 2019 6:46 AM

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Hmm, I never look at the MAL Score before deciding wether to see it or not. Well if something looks interesting I just check it out and about 7 out of 10 times I like it.If I dont like it I just leave it.
Mar 14, 2019 6:51 AM

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Depends on a lot. I don't usually have a cutoff score, but generally when it gets below 7 is when I start being less likely to pick it up, however a particularly good recommendation or just general good word of mouth can bypass that. Score to me is basically the metric for when I have nothing else to go on, and even then it's only useful in context given how score can be affected by factors like length of a series, whether it's a sequel, or how old it is.
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Mar 14, 2019 7:16 AM

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Oct 2018
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I used to watch animes that have a score above 7 only, but I don't now

I'm not saying I don't care about the score at all now, but I don't judge based on the score immediately
First I read the story of the anime, if I find it interesting then I don't really care about it's score or number of members
Mar 14, 2019 7:16 AM

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That depends on a lot of factors. MAL scores need to be interpreted accordingly, they can't always be taken at face value.

For a popular, mainstream seasonal a low score means something went horribly wrong, because a lot of people with very top-leaning scoring systems (like mostly using the 7-10 ratings for everything) so if the score is still low, it probably means something.

For more obscure shows, it means less because those are mostly watched by more veteran fans who use the whole rating scale more liberally. A 6.xx score for some old obscure OVA is a decent score, but for a very recent mainstream show with 100k viewers, it probably indicates that it is crap.

And certain genres or types of anime are in a similar vein. Kids shows always get lower rating by default, so a 7.xx score for a kids show like Youkai Watch means it's gonna be pretty great (and it is). Ecchi also tends to get the lower end of the rating stick so ecchi fans know not to value their scores too much when picking what to watch. Shorts in general probably get the lowest ratings cause people are just used to industry works and many can't really appreciate experimental shorts with weird animation and no real plot.
Even 5.xx scores for shorts still indicate that they are likely to be quite good, and I found stuff that I enjoyed at pretty much any rating when it comes to shorts.

And lastly old stuff in general gets lower scores because of the same reason, they are more likely to be watched by veterans who use the whole rating scale. Also people just have this inherent bias that new is automatically better than old for some reason. Sure, there are some classics with decent scores, but in general you should probably add a few .xx points to any old show's score to get a more accurate idea of its reception.

But you should keep in mind that personal preferences can trump score for any show. If you dislike a genre you'll probably even dislike highly rated shows that belong to it and if you like a genre you are more likely to enjoy even shows of that genre with a mediocre rating. The scores can't take your bias into account so that's your job when interpreting them. They're just guidelines, but they can be useful especially if you end up watching a large number of anime.

Personally I only take the score into account if I'm not confident I'll enjoy it just based on the synopsis, which I am most of the time since I know my taste. Anything in the 6.xx range is still very much a consideration, some of the best shows I know are in that range. Only beloe 6 I really start worrying, and even then if it's an (obscure) seasonal and still airing it often isn't reliable since for some reason many people check out seasonals they have no interest in in the first place just to drop them and/opr score them lowly.

This season has Ekoda-chan at a 5.05 score and it's honestly one of the best shows this season and one of the overall best short shows I've seen with almost every episode being great (not the most recent one, but all the others are in the 7-9/10 range). But because seasonal viewers and casuals are biased against shorts, episodic stuff and experimental art styles, all 3 things attributes of the show, the score is almost below 5.

You also have Kemurikusa at below 6 this season and it's probably my third favorite show of the season so far, with an intriguing setting and worldbuilding, a nice air of mystery, quirky characters and, unfortunately, CGI visuals which are most likely the sole reason for the low score.

Last year had Gurazeni, an episodic slice of life show about the not-so-glamorous parts of professional baseball, became one of my alltime favorites when it aired last year. It's unique, charming, atmospheric and great at episodic storytelling. But it has a score of 6.36 because seasonal anime fans are biased against episodic stuff and probably expected a hot-blooded sports anime like Kuroko instead of a laid back slice of life show.

That's just 3 examples from this and the previous season to showcase how misleading scores can be if you don't know how and when to take them into account. A score should never prevent you from watching something you think sounds genuinely interesting. But if you can't decide between two shows that look equally interesting, it's not a mistake to go with the higher rated show first.
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Mar 14, 2019 7:19 AM

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some Gems are below 7...
just sayin...

Mar 14, 2019 7:22 AM

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I don't have one, the score an anime has before I watch it, holds some weight but not to much. So even if the anime has a score of 9/10 if it looks unattractive, I won't watch it. And if I see a low scored anime, but the series itself looks good than I will both watch it and maybe give it a high score.
Mar 14, 2019 7:31 AM
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Viltas said:
my cut off score is nothing, I watch literally everything as long as it seems interesting

Same, one of my favorite anime’s from last season was rated a 5.70 and it totally didn’t deserve that score, it’s first episode was bad but it always got better form there.
Mar 14, 2019 7:38 AM
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368
First I look at the next seasons of anime before they release episode one and I pick out what I like then I watch the first episode and see if I like the series if I do I stay with it no matter the score but the lowest score of an anime that I like was 5.70
Mar 14, 2019 7:40 AM

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Dec 2018
1165
I mean if it was rated like 5 or something I would be skeptical, but I would never write something off entirely on score alone.
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