simonthezhao's Profile

I judge anime based on their execution and thematic value. What I look for and praise in a show differ depending on the genre of anime and what it is aiming to achieve. My tags indicate how much I enjoyed watching the show purely subjectively but the two scores are usually correlated due to good shows being more enjoyable in general.

No rating: I don't rate it if the show fails to capture my attention simply because I subjectively don't like it to a point where I drop it and feel that I can not give it a fair rating. The likely alternative is that I don't remember what happened in it clearly enough to comment on it having watched it before I started rating things.
10: Masterpiece - It's unique, brilliant, has meaningful themes that are fleshed out to their fullest potential, and is executed well enough to be called flawless. A fully realized work.
9: Exemplary - It fully captures its genre while possibly portraying interesting, more intricate themes depending on the genre and leaves an impression. Flaws that exist, if any, are minor and can be disregarded since they don't interfere with the goal of the show.
8: Excellent - It sticks true to its themes and ideas whilst having superb execution. It's a prime example of what its genre is capable of. There might be a few noticeable blunders but the highlights and strengths get the intended point across and causes the blunders to be forgettable.
7: Great - As the description says, it's great. Anything that is a 7 can be considered a solid show of its genre. There are things that could have been done better but are fine as they are and nothing is done poorly enough to be an issue.
6: Good - The show is a decent portrayal of it's genre. However, it begins to become uninspired and may contain flaws that hinder it slightly. It succeeds at what it was trying to do, albeit simple. Alternatively, it could be an ambitious show that has a mixtures of highs and, unfortunately, non-trivial lows.
5: Satisfactory - It has problems that affect the overall quality of the show but is still of acceptable quality. It has an idea of what it's trying to do but is pretty uneven due to the problems. Anything that is a 5 I would still recommend if you just wanted to watch something given that you like the genre.
4: Mediocre - The highlights and good points of the show become outnumbered by the flaws and problems. It does not present itself very well but still has potential.
3: Inadequate - It has flaws and problems that directly detract from the quality of the show. Any good aspects that exist are completely nullified by the overwhelming amount of bad ones.
2: Bad - The show is not engaging nor does it present any interesting ideas or themes. It's likely to contain flaws that cause frustration and has nothing good about it.
1: Terrible - It's frustrating and illogical. Anything placed here is a show that is either just downright awful, or a show that not only fails to properly express its ideas, it does so in a way that has the opposite of the intended effect.