| A thread to glorify other reviewers. Because sometimes positive feedback is better than playing moe-janken in a maid cafe. I shall begin with ShaolinRibiero's review of Grave of the Fireflies which opened up my eyes to another aspect of this anime. Its been a very long time since I saw it, so I cant 100% say that Shaolin is correct in his analysis, but I trust his opinion. It's even better that he defends his opinion with actual examples, so I dont just take his word for it that this anime is inexplicably a frustrating spiral of death because of an immature kid. (spoiler below I guess? The anime is based on a true story and everyone knows what happens anyway) However, that fact alone shouldnt make you drop points for an anime, because it actually makes a story even more interesting to watch, rather than have lovely kids befall a tragic death; having a stubborn kid cause the death of his sister is even more compelling. So Shaolin gives us more justifications for giving the renowned anime a moderately low score, namely that Fireflies has no statement, no original purpose for being. And its true, the story doesnt really do anything new, except for the fact that its animated well of course, but you cant just depend on animation production to pull you through, you need a solid backbone, a good story. Shaolin's review opened up my eyes to the possibility that this classic isnt so flawless afterall, although I personally would merely lower my score by one, because it's still excellently produced and although the story suffers, it still garners strong emotional feelings from viewers, well it did for me anyway, not Shaolin. Cold bastard that he is! Good review. |
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol |
| Thank you for the kind words. Reviewing a movie like "Grave of the Fireflies" is relative; there have been thousands of films about the plight of civilians during wartime, of which I've seen a fair number. I didn't consider the work in a vacuum, but rather, compared it to the other films I had seen in the genre. And while there were many positive elements of GotF, there were weak points that detracted from its status as a classic. For me, a 5/10 is not a bad rating, and many people probably don't/won't care about my complaints, but there were core weaknesses classic films in the genre either don't have, or are areas of strength. I was surprised people rated that review so positively; it was like 16/22 before my dedicated Hate Crew of 5 people saw I had posted something new, heh. Focus hikky has really good reviews. They're very short, but they say something pertinent about the anime, which is more than can be said for 85% of reviews on MAL. |
ShaolinRibiero said: For me, a 5/10 is not a bad rating, and many people probably don't/won't care about my complaints, but there were core weaknesses classic films in the genre either don't have, or are areas of strength. This is probably another debate entirely, but I've mentioned elsewhere in one of my threads somewhere on MAL that I hate the 10 rating system and prefer 5 as that is all you need*, and the way I approach the 10 rating is a bit like treating 5 as 0 and 10 as 5. Kind of. Shit I should stop before it all gives me a headache again. * 5 - must see/classic 4 - excellent 3 - good 2 - mediocre 1 - bad I was surprised people rated that review so positively; it was like 16/22 before my dedicated Hate Crew of 5 people saw I had posted something new, heh. Haha, you have them too!? Thought I was the only one! --- Here's another review thats quality. subdee's review of the Eden manga. Back when I was reading this manga I thought "man this is good shit, I should review it" but then re-read subdee's extensive review and figured there was nothing I could add that she hadnt already said. Not only does she let us know other works reader's would like, like Clancy novels, Chomsky, etc, but she analyses the form and content of Eden very well, giving us a very rounded look, and enough information for us to decide whether we want to check the manga out or not. The only thing I could elaborate on in my review to justify its existence, is the idea of having a story set after the end of the world, focusing on how Eden explores rebuilt societies and their corruption, tying it with other manga like Akira, and I'd be more critical of its reliance on crude humour too. I might review it later on when the manga finishes, but for now I see no point as subdee's review is enough for visitors to MAL. |
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol |
Cihan said: This is probably another debate entirely, but I've mentioned elsewhere in one of my threads somewhere on MAL that I hate the 10 rating system and prefer 5 as that is all you need*, and the way I approach the 10 rating is a bit like treating 5 as 0 and 10 as 5. Kind of. Shit I should stop before it all gives me a headache again. * 5 - must see/classic 4 - excellent 3 - good 2 - mediocre 1 - bad I disagree. I love the 10 point rating system for films or anything else, because each point has a specific meaning, whereas there's too much confusion between a 3/4, 2/3, and 1/2 with a 5 star rating system. 10- Godly, inspirational masterpiece; one of the greatest ever made. 9- A classic; does everything that it set out to do within its genre. 8- Excellent, great work, perhaps marred by a few flaws, or not quite ambitious enough. 7- Good, quality work. 6- Enjoyable, decent piece. 5- Average; either nothing special, or very strong in several elements, and weak in others. 4- Weak series or film; has enjoyable parts, but suffers from a lot of weak points. 3- Very poor; one can sit through the episodes, but they're very bad. Lots of errors, with little genuine entertainment. 2- Perhaps one or two bits of entertainment the whole way through. Sitting through the whole thing is now uncomfortable. 1- Seeing the whole affair is physically painful. Nothing even remotely enjoyable. |
| http://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?uid=3319 I'm a big fan of all of moozooh's reviews, especially his write-ups of Devil May Cry and Akira. |
| Her SF2 write-up is hilariously inaccurate, which stood out to me since the series is practically like a religion, but yes, her reviews are generally quite good. |
| One of my favorite reviews on MAL would be Merril's review on Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade After watching this movie and then reading his review it was like he was reading my mind and putting my thoughts into words describing it to a very fine point, but without giving away the story. An example of what I’m talking about is how he described the ending – “I do not know if the good guy won in the end or if the country is worse off. But this isn't to say I felt a lack of resolution, I am very content in the story.” I do not think anyone could have described that any better without giving away pieces to the story, and the other parts of the review were just as good. |
Cihan said: ShaolinRibiero said: For me, a 5/10 is not a bad rating, and many people probably don't/won't care about my complaints, but there were core weaknesses classic films in the genre either don't have, or are areas of strength. This is probably another debate entirely, but I've mentioned elsewhere in one of my threads somewhere on MAL that I hate the 10 rating system and prefer 5 as that is all you need*, and the way I approach the 10 rating is a bit like treating 5 as 0 and 10 as 5. Kind of. Shit I should stop before it all gives me a headache again. * 5 - must see/classic 4 - excellent 3 - good 2 - mediocre 1 - bad I heartily agree, though my approach is to rate it out of 5, and then double the score (I'm okay with using 1/2 stars. So 1/2 star = 1/10, 1 star = 2/10, etc). Basically, I like the 10 point rating system, except for the fact that most people tend to not use half of the scale, where with a 5 star system, you don't have that problem (or, at least, not as much of it). My favorite reviewer on this site is Washi. I only agree with him about half of the time, but he almost always brings some things to the table that I haven't thought about. |
| Just read a fantastic review of "Howl's Moving Castle"; http://myanimelist.net/profile/Arakkis/reviews |
| Well, two reviews that have always tuck out as excellent to me are TheCriticsClub's review of Honey and Clover, and Dozer's review of Top wo Nerae!. I imagine the second one is a less-then-popular opinion to have. I also find it quite odd that my review of Top Wo Nerae, which makes similar points to Dozer's, and which I personally consider to be worse than his, is actually rated higher. |
| I just read Dozer's review of Gunbuster, and have to agree; it is a very good one. Still, don't sell your own abilities short; your review was also good and helpful. I was only disappointed when seeing a mention of your dislike of FLCL...but that you hadn't yet written a review of it. |
YoungVagabond said: Still, don't sell your own abilities short; your review was also good and helpful. I was only disappointed when seeing a mention of your dislike of FLCL...but that you hadn't yet written a review of it. Actually, I have. But I haven't posted it here. I've met some serious Fan Dumb as a result of my FLCL review. I haven't posted it here because I really don't want to discuss it again. Plus, I don't think many of my earlier reviews (Of which FLCL was one) are very well-written. I've reposted the few early reviews I've written that I think are worth reposting. I may rewrite some of my earlier ones, actually... my first review was Full Metal Panic, and I'm pretty sure I could write up a good one of that. |
| I just read a fantastic review of Mahou Sensei Negima, one of my favourite manga of all time, which was written by Zalxoras. I think he just completely nails it. Negima is a series that should, by any and all accounts, be another stupid harem series/stupid shonen series, and yet simply isn't. |
| http://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=30579 http://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=27169 Pure quality work |
| Even when I was in crowd, I was always alone |
| Angel beats was good when it was mostly comedy. I couldn't tolerate the slice of life in Clannad. |
| My favorite reviewers on MAL are Archaeon, tehnominator and Stark700. |
HotaruKara said: My favorite reviewers on MAL are Archaeon, tehnominator and Stark700. Unfortunately, technominator's reviews are no more. She deleted them herself. Most of my favorite reviews are the one's by beatnik. Vinland Saga is just one shining example among many great reviews that he has written. His recent review of Samurai Champloo is another great example. It opened up my eyes and helped me see the show in a completely different light. Champloo was one of my earliest anime, and it has been a favorite ever since. But I only truly began to understant it after i read beatnik's review on it. |
| "...our faces marked by toil, by deceptions, by success, by love; our weary eyes looking still, looking always, looking anxiously for something out of life, that while it is expected is already gone – has passed unseen, in a sigh, in a flash – together with the youth, with the strength, with the romance of illusions.” - Joseph Conrad ('Youth') |
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