や～ハロ！！！I'm Addison! (They/Them pronouns, please!) I don't know that I'm all that interesting of a person, but I'm non-binary and play various TTRPGs and watches anime. I'm also a Director and the Secretary for Anime Fusion, Operations Leadership for CONvergence, and Programming staff for Anime Detour! ........Yeah.......I'm kind of a nerd lol. Come say hi if you're going to any of these!
I don't get into sorting and rating anime as much as I used to, but I still follow the below guidelines when rating the anime that I watch.
Rating Guidelines
I don't know how many people actually care about this sort of thing, but I'll explain my rating system and give a few examples for those who were curious. Please note that I tend to focus on atmosphere and setting more than most and I tend to focus on plot holes and character development much less than most. I also tend to rate based on an overall impression of the anime rather than rating many different aspects individually and then adding/averaging them to give a final rating. As such, I often find myself disagreeing strongly with the MAL reviews who attack a show's plot consistency and character development as the primary (and sometimes, only) justifications for giving something a 6 or below. I apologize for being rude here, but such people would be much happier watching AMC or HBO (many of these reviews seem to imply that they prefer the straightforward plots and character development in western TV that I got bored with years ago). Additionally, I believe below a 6, rating differences mean little and I find focusing how much one hates an anime to be of questionable utility. I enjoy most of what I watch (at least moderately) so I give most anime I watch a 7 or higher. Finally, I try not to criticize an anime for its stylistic choices (dumb fun is perfectly fine with me) and I wish more people would do the same. Here's my rating criteria (in general, I recommend anything that got an 8 or higher):
10 - I absolutely love it! Extremely recommended!!!
If I give something a 10, I enjoyed it thoroughly from beginning to end. I try not to give out too many 10s so that I don't dilute the significance of the rating. Please note that I don't require something to be perfect to warrant a 10 rating as long as I can't think of any anime that I would consider to be unquestionably better. Examples: Mawaru Penguindrum (There are a few odd moments, but I love it way too much to give anything except a 10.), Ghost in the Shell (Great blend of action, dialog, and cool cyberpunk ideas with a great plot and strong characters.), Sennen Joyuu (Very imaginative and a beautiful story told extremely well.)
9 - I like it a lot! Highly recommended!
I tend to give 9s to two kinds of anime, those that felt like a 10, but were missing something and those that felt like an 8, but had something which brought them up in quality. For both categories, an anime rated at 9 was very solid and a blast to watch. Examples of 9s that felt like 10: Mononoke Hime (Gorgeous world, very strong throughout and Miyazaki's finest work IMO, but its message felt a too shrill and preachy and reduced my enjoyment of it.), Serial Experiments Lain (Super though provoking with great atmosphere, but the animation sucked and didn't really put much into the characters besides Lain.) Examples of 9s that felt like 8s: Samurai Champloo (Didn't have any major standout points to me, but was very, very good throughout and pulled off hip-hop in Tokugawa era Japan very well.), Ergo Proxy (Meandered quite a bit and felt rather pretentious, but was very, very solid throughout).
8 - I liked it quite a bit! Recommended!
I don't really fanboy over anything I gave an 8 to, but I still definitely had a good time watching it. When I get down to 8s, my reasons for rating something start to differ greatly. I'll give 8s to anime that were fun to watch, but had nothing in particular that I really, really liked enough to give a 9 for (Kill la Kill, Princess Jellyfish, Fate/Zero). I'll also give an 8 to anime that did some things amazingly well, but did other things poorly (Revolutionary Girl Utena, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Patema Inverted). Finally, I'll give 8s to anime that felt like 7s, but had something that made them feel stronger than a 7 (Problem Children, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's, RahXephon).
7 - I liked it. Not particularly recommended.
A rating of 7 or lower tends to indicate that I found something I disliked quite a bit while not seeing anything I liked enough to give the anime an 8. It also gets harder for me to talk about anime I rated as 7 since I feel like I start stepping on people's toes. Just like with the 8 category, I give 7s for quite a few different reasons. I'll give a 7 to an anime I that was ok, but didn't have a lot to recommend it (Tenkuu no Escaflowne, K). I'll also give a 7 to something that did a few things very well, but had enough issues that I didn't consider it an 8 (Dennou Coil, Origin: Spirits of the Past, Shinreigari: Ghost Hound.) I use the 7 category to classify anime that were very solid overall, but I still didn't find myself getting into them all that much (Nastume Yuujinchou, Mushishi). Finally, I'll give a 7 to something I liked, but wasn't quite good enough to warrant an 8 (The World God Only Knows, Berserk, Yuki Yuna is a Hero, Another.)
6 - I didn't like it. Not recommended!
From here, my views on anime tend to get simpler. If I give a 6 to something, it really didn't have anything I liked while giving me plenty of things I didn't like. Viewers of my list will notice some very highly regarded anime I gave a 6 to (Clannad: After Story, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Haibane Renmei, Monster, 5 Centimeters per Second,). 6 tends to be the rating I use for acclaimed anime that I didn't like. I also use a 6 for an anime that has things to recommend it but those things are greatly outweighed by the anime's negatives (Dennou Coil, Shugo Chara!, Seirei no Moribito). I always feel bad when I give a 6 to a well-loved classic, but I just couldn't get into it. Sorry.
5 - What is this even trying to do? Definitely not recommended!!!
I've only given a few 5s and in each case, I just didn't understand what the point of the anime was. For a 5, I didn't like it and I have a hard time seeing how anyone else could.
As of now, I haven't given anything less than a 5 and I honestly have no idea what sort of anime I would consider giving a 4 or lower to. I do occasionally reevaluate the standards by while I rate anime and may use lower ratings in the future. If you read all of this, I applaud your patience and hope that you have a great day!
Thanks for the review of Bokurano. Really Helpful. :-)
Still watching. Deep dark drama psychological, I think.
Although this series has a sadistic and less of happiness thing, but I really enjoyed it, especially about how the characters face their daily life problem..
All Comments (10) Comments
At first, I knew Anime Bokurano, from its opening song, "uninstall".
I Love this song, Then I Planned to watch bokurano. :D
Still watching. Deep dark drama psychological, I think.
Although this series has a sadistic and less of happiness thing, but I really enjoyed it, especially about how the characters face their daily life problem..