Quote: Brittania is an empire (from
the looks of it that originates in the US and Canada, which is crap because
Canada sucks) which has all but conquered 1/3 of the
world
From what I understand, Britannia is simply an extension of the British Empire,
except in this alternate history the United States and Canada never gained their
independence, or were simply re-conquered at some later point in time.
Geopolitical nuance aside, I must say that I was never all that impressed with
the series. Certainly the artwork (including, of course, the designs by CLAMP_
and animation were excellent, as was the voice acting, but the plot was
pedestrian at best, with barely a creative element anywhere.
Moreover, the melodrama is really grating. Why is everyone so intensely angry
all of the time? That is, except for when they're at school, which brings me to
another grating aspect: the dissonance between the school scenes -- where
everything is bright and beautiful and cheery and happy -- and scenes everywhere
else, where everyone just rages at anyone and everything. I'm convinced that
there's something in the water at Ashford Academy.
Anyhow, that's that. This post NOT brought to you by Pizza Hut.
xxKurumi, accolades to you for an excellently-written review. I find it very
interesting how even though both of us found much to like about the series (and
gave very similar scores to each of the categories), we focused largely on
different aspects in our reviews. Perhaps
that just goes to show that there is much to like about the series regardless of
what perspective you're approaching it from.
In particular, please see the sections on how to properly score reviews and what
to put in the sound section of manga reviews. Remember that liking a series is
not in itself a legitimate reason for giving it a good score.
I have to say that you have a very quirky -- and therefore amusing -- method of
reviewing series. If nothing else, it makes your reviews enjoyable to read.
Quote: In conclusion for this
section, I believe that that averages out to 9.5. All of you who have read any
of my past reviews know I like to give the benefit of the doubt and round up
when it's above a .5 decimal. Victory music, if you please. After this, it
receives a 10.
Giving a series the benefit of the doubt is
all well and good, but given that a score of 10 is supposed to indicate an
effort that represents the pinnacle of human achievement, I don't really think
rounding up to a perfect score is appropriate, but that's just my two cents.
Your reviews are well-written, but they seem to suffer from a very common
problem: more often than not, you significantly over-rate series. Here, for
example, you raised concerns about the character design, and yet you saw fit to
assign a score of 9 for artwork -- a clear example of cognitive dissonance. Not
only should you be pointing out what you like or dislike in each of categories,
but you have to actively explain and defend the scores you are assigning,
something I do not see in your reviews.
I have not seen Kanon, but judging by your own descriptions of the various
categories, I would give the following scores to each of the categories:
Plot: 7-8
Art: 6-7 ("One downside that I should point out is that the original
character design wasn't one of my favorites. It was animated well, but the main
point is that the characters were not made for such high-level animation.
")
Sound: 5 ("The music in Kanon was nice, but not extraordinary."
"I did enjoy the sounds, but after a while, it all sounded the
same.")
Presentation: 8
Remember, liking an anime is not sufficient reason to give it a good score.
Reviews need to be as objective as possible in order to be useful, and so if you
just want a place to rave about a series you really like, a better place might
be the forums.
As always, when in doubt, read the Review Guidelines in the Minitokyo Forums for
a good idea of how scoring should be done. Again, scoring aside, your writing is
good and your reviews are enjoyable to read, so keep up the solid work!
I like that you've been submitting a number of reviews during your time here on
Minitokyo, but I do still think you have a habit of overrating your series. As I
noted in one of your previous reviews, look at the Review Guidelines for the
scoring criteria
(http://forum.minitokyo.net/thread/43545/reviewers-guide-minitokyo-reviews/). In
each section, you can't just say what you liked or disliked; you have to
actively defend and explain why you believe the series deserves the score you
give it.
Again, I see that you've dished out a perfect score in this anime. Use this as a
rule of thumb: if you've given one series a 10 for artwork, you can never give a rating of 10 ever again on any of
your other reviews for the art category. In your case, I seriously suggest that
you go back and rethink your scoring in all of the reviews you've submitted.
Honestly, reviews that just blindly give good scores across the board are not
particularly useful to anyone, and if you just want to express your love of
particular series, this section is not the place to do it.
Quote by syeung321Yes i may be a
fangirl and maybe i rated the animes a bit too high but as i said before in my
review, this is MY opinion and you didn't have to read on if you didn't like
it.
If that is the case, don't clutter up the review section
with your ravings. Instead, go find a nice forum thread to post your opinions
in. Reviews are supposed to be quality writings that objectively critique the
merits of a series. That is something you certainly have not done here.
Quote: Although the background is
not as spectacular as in Princess Mononoke, i really think that you should watch
it if you like a well balanced anime full of colours. I gotta say, though, the
guys in this anime were all pretty average looking except for Saito, Ward,
Guiche and the Prince of Albion.
Given your own words, the
artwork obviously does not deserve a score of 9. A six or seven seems more
likely here. Likewise, in your other sections, nothing you wrote indicates that
they deserve scores higher than a seven or eight. Remember that a score of 10
indicates nothing but the pinnacle of human achievement, and having a fancy for
a particular show is definitely not reason enough to give such a score to any
anime.
Quote: 7. How should scores be assigned for reviews?
Scores should be assigned based on the merits of the item being reviewed alone
and not by how much it was enjoyed. Remember that the scores should be written
to support the review, and not the other way around. In general, reviewers
should follow the following scheme when assigning scores for reviews:
* 01: embarrasment to human capability
* 02: terrible
* 03: bad
* 04: poor
* 05-06: average
* 07: good
* 08: great
* 09: excellent
* 10: pinnacle of human achievement
Note that a score of 10 should never be given lightly, as it should only be
given for an item that has demonstrated unparalleled achievement in the area in
question.
In all honesty, your review is a very poor effort. You toss out glowing
adjectives left and right, and yet you never truly explain why. You hand out perfect scores with abandon,
and never properly explain your rationale for doing so. Scores of 10 are
supposed to be few and far between, as they are intended to indicate the
pinnacle of human achievement, and yet you give out four such scores here. You may like CCS, but that is no reason to
score the series that way.
In the future, if you just want to rave about your favorite anime, please don't
do so by cluttering up our reviews section. Instead, go find a thread in the
forum to post in; ones about your favorite series, favorite characters, etc. are
a dime a dozen.
You suffer from the same problem that many novice reviewers do: you rate things
far to highly. Scores of 10 are supposed to indicate the absolute pinnacle of
human creative ability, and yet you give not one, not two, but three such
perfect scores. I have watched Tsukihime, and even though I recognize that
everyone may have their own opinions on particular series, there most certainly
are anime whose plot, art, and/or presentation are better.
Furthermore, you indicated some serious issues with sound in the series, and yet
you scored sound at 7, which simply does not match with what you wrote.
That all said, aside from concerns with your scoring, your writing style is
succinct and easy to read, and as a whole makes for a solid review. A good
effort for your first submission.
First of all, a wonderfully written review (as expected!).
I admit that while I knew about the manga, I didn't actually venture into Nodame
Cantabile until the anime came out. It certainly did give off the Honey and
Clover vibe, as you noted, but in a much more light-hearted fashion, and I've
been enjoying it (the anime) quite a bit. Naturally I've been hunting for the
dorama as well, but haven't found
anything other than raws or versions subtitled in Chinese, both of which don't
work for me because (1) my Japanese is only good enough for me to understand
half of what is going on, and (2) I read Chinese too slowly to keep up with the
subtitles. The soundtrack for the drama (and the anime) is certainly wonderful
though, and it's inspired me to start playing the violin again. In fact, I've
been dragging one of my unfortunate friends to me to the practice rooms recently
and we've been slowly putting together the Spring sonata.
I'll keep my eyes out for the drama, but if somehow I get lucky enough to find
something I can understand, I'll make sure to follow your advice regarding
watching the drama and the anime concurrently.
As the former moderator in charge of reviews and as an anime fan who considers
Last Exile his favorite anime of all time, let me congratulate you on writing so
excellent a review. Certainly I disagree on a number of points, e.g. I believe
that an anime doesn't have to have a nice ending packaged nicely and without any
loose ends to have a good story. That said, your attention to detail is
impressive and your use of the normal distribution to give a fair and uninflated
score is definitely commendable. Kudos to you!
Quote by friedricebomberdamn, i
already screwed up this
review is meant for the anime series ONLY. meh...
Fixed.
Good work, by the way. This is a nicely-written review with fairly-allocated
scores whose values you certainly justified in your descriptions. Keep it up!
When reviewing manga, please don't just assign an arbitrary value for the Sound
section. Instead, you can review things such as the dialogue, translation
quality for the particular edition you purchased, etc.
I must admit never having seen this anime or even reading about it, so your
review really gave me a good idea of what to expect. It does seem quite over the
top; if panties are the star of the show, then I will probably steer clear of
it. Then again, I guess at times people do need less substance and more
entertainment.
Regardless, another very detailed and well-written review. As a suggestion, you
may want to put in a line between paragraphs to make your reviews a little
easier to read. Other than that, I have no complaints. Good job!
This is a very well-written review; your writing style is very natural and easy
to read, and you make good use of examples to demonstrate your points. I did
make one adjustment to your scores, however; as you found a complaint with the
artwork, I bumped the score down slightly to a 9.
Quote: I like the voices in the
english version except for Risa's. I don't know I imagined Risa's to be a little
more conceited than innocent. In the Japanese version I like all of them except
for Dark's voice.
If this is the case, then clearly the
sound in D.N.Angel isn't quite perfect. Your sound score has been adjusted
accordingly.
Personally, I hated the story. Not only did I think it was ridiculous, not just
with the overall premise but also the ongoing accumulation of female borders in
the mansion, but it got old really
quickly. Besides, with the notable exception of Tina, I absolutely hated
the characters, Aoi in particular. I do agree, though, that the animation was
very well-done.
Anyhow, some minor adjustments are in order:
Quote: The animation is nice, its
good to look at.
Nothing really special, but it's simply good.
One point
removed from Art category.
Quote: The BGM music is fair
enough, but not that great...
bluecheese, you raised a very good point at the beginning of your review by
drawing the distinction between quality and enjoyment. It would do many
reviewers good to recognize that divide and learn how to weigh both in reviews.
This is, in fact, facilitated to a certain point in the review system here; in
many ways, the final category in reviews (presentation for anime reviews or fun
for game reviews) is intended for the latter while the rest of the review is
intended for the former, though obviously it is difficult to write of one
without being influenced at least somewhat by the other.
Anyhow, back to your review. Your writing style is nice and down-to-earth, and
your candor is appreciated. Again, I like how you split up art and animation, as
well as music and voice acting in this review as you did in your Elfen Lied one.
All in all another very good review. Keep up the good work!
Let me preface my remarks by noting that I have not watched Elfen Lied. You
certainly feel strongly about this series, bluecheese, and it's good to see
someone who doesn't enjoy an anime writing a review that does an excellent job
of analyzing the anime to demonstrate its lack of quality.
I like how you divided the art section into two subcategories to be individually
rated. Additional detail is always appreciated in a review.
In all seriousness, however, I have to agree with you. I watched the first
episode, found it mildly amusing, but neither the story, characters, etc. could
compel me to watch any more.
What can I say? This is certainly an excellent -- and exhaustive -- review. I
tend to approach reviews where the reviewer gave a particularly high aggregate
score with some measure of wariness, but here you certainly qualified and
justified your score assignments.
Finally, another Genshiken review, and a well-written one to boot! It looks like
you reached a lot of the same conclusions as I did in my review, so I'll just
leave my stamp of approval and leave it at that. Keep up the good work!
From what I understand, Britannia is simply an extension of the British Empire, except in this alternate history the United States and Canada never gained their independence, or were simply re-conquered at some later point in time. Geopolitical nuance aside, I must say that I was never all that impressed with the series. Certainly the artwork (including, of course, the designs by CLAMP_ and animation were excellent, as was the voice acting, but the plot was pedestrian at best, with barely a creative element anywhere.
Moreover, the melodrama is really grating. Why is everyone so intensely angry all of the time? That is, except for when they're at school, which brings me to another grating aspect: the dissonance between the school scenes -- where everything is bright and beautiful and cheery and happy -- and scenes everywhere else, where everyone just rages at anyone and everything. I'm convinced that there's something in the water at Ashford Academy.
Anyhow, that's that. This post NOT brought to you by Pizza Hut.
xxKurumi, accolades to you for an excellently-written review. I find it very interesting how even though both of us found much to like about the series (and gave very similar scores to each of the categories), we focused largely on different aspects in our reviews. Perhaps that just goes to show that there is much to like about the series regardless of what perspective you're approaching it from.
Before writing a review, make sure you read A Reviewer's Guide to Minitokyo Reviews
In particular, please see the sections on how to properly score reviews and what to put in the sound section of manga reviews. Remember that liking a series is not in itself a legitimate reason for giving it a good score.
I have to say that you have a very quirky -- and therefore amusing -- method of reviewing series. If nothing else, it makes your reviews enjoyable to read.
Giving a series the benefit of the doubt is all well and good, but given that a score of 10 is supposed to indicate an effort that represents the pinnacle of human achievement, I don't really think rounding up to a perfect score is appropriate, but that's just my two cents.
Your reviews are well-written, but they seem to suffer from a very common problem: more often than not, you significantly over-rate series. Here, for example, you raised concerns about the character design, and yet you saw fit to assign a score of 9 for artwork -- a clear example of cognitive dissonance. Not only should you be pointing out what you like or dislike in each of categories, but you have to actively explain and defend the scores you are assigning, something I do not see in your reviews.
I have not seen Kanon, but judging by your own descriptions of the various categories, I would give the following scores to each of the categories:
Plot: 7-8
Art: 6-7 ("One downside that I should point out is that the original character design wasn't one of my favorites. It was animated well, but the main point is that the characters were not made for such high-level animation. ")
Sound: 5 ("The music in Kanon was nice, but not extraordinary." "I did enjoy the sounds, but after a while, it all sounded the same.")
Presentation: 8
Remember, liking an anime is not sufficient reason to give it a good score. Reviews need to be as objective as possible in order to be useful, and so if you just want a place to rave about a series you really like, a better place might be the forums.
As always, when in doubt, read the Review Guidelines in the Minitokyo Forums for a good idea of how scoring should be done. Again, scoring aside, your writing is good and your reviews are enjoyable to read, so keep up the solid work!
I like that you've been submitting a number of reviews during your time here on Minitokyo, but I do still think you have a habit of overrating your series. As I noted in one of your previous reviews, look at the Review Guidelines for the scoring criteria (http://forum.minitokyo.net/thread/43545/reviewers-guide-minitokyo-reviews/). In each section, you can't just say what you liked or disliked; you have to actively defend and explain why you believe the series deserves the score you give it.
Again, I see that you've dished out a perfect score in this anime. Use this as a rule of thumb: if you've given one series a 10 for artwork, you can never give a rating of 10 ever again on any of your other reviews for the art category. In your case, I seriously suggest that you go back and rethink your scoring in all of the reviews you've submitted. Honestly, reviews that just blindly give good scores across the board are not particularly useful to anyone, and if you just want to express your love of particular series, this section is not the place to do it.
If that is the case, don't clutter up the review section with your ravings. Instead, go find a nice forum thread to post your opinions in. Reviews are supposed to be quality writings that objectively critique the merits of a series. That is something you certainly have not done here.
Given your own words, the artwork obviously does not deserve a score of 9. A six or seven seems more likely here. Likewise, in your other sections, nothing you wrote indicates that they deserve scores higher than a seven or eight. Remember that a score of 10 indicates nothing but the pinnacle of human achievement, and having a fancy for a particular show is definitely not reason enough to give such a score to any anime.
Please read the Review Guidelines. I think that you will find them enlightening. A Reviewer's Guide to Minitokyo Reviews
Please read A Reviewer's Guide to Minitokyo Reviews
Note in particular the following section:
In all honesty, your review is a very poor effort. You toss out glowing adjectives left and right, and yet you never truly explain why. You hand out perfect scores with abandon, and never properly explain your rationale for doing so. Scores of 10 are supposed to be few and far between, as they are intended to indicate the pinnacle of human achievement, and yet you give out four such scores here. You may like CCS, but that is no reason to score the series that way.
In the future, if you just want to rave about your favorite anime, please don't do so by cluttering up our reviews section. Instead, go find a thread in the forum to post in; ones about your favorite series, favorite characters, etc. are a dime a dozen.
You suffer from the same problem that many novice reviewers do: you rate things far to highly. Scores of 10 are supposed to indicate the absolute pinnacle of human creative ability, and yet you give not one, not two, but three such perfect scores. I have watched Tsukihime, and even though I recognize that everyone may have their own opinions on particular series, there most certainly are anime whose plot, art, and/or presentation are better.
Furthermore, you indicated some serious issues with sound in the series, and yet you scored sound at 7, which simply does not match with what you wrote.
Please remember to read the Review guidelines before writing and scoring series. These can be found here: A Reviewer's Guide to Minitokyo Reviews
That all said, aside from concerns with your scoring, your writing style is succinct and easy to read, and as a whole makes for a solid review. A good effort for your first submission.
First of all, a wonderfully written review (as expected!).
I admit that while I knew about the manga, I didn't actually venture into Nodame Cantabile until the anime came out. It certainly did give off the Honey and Clover vibe, as you noted, but in a much more light-hearted fashion, and I've been enjoying it (the anime) quite a bit. Naturally I've been hunting for the dorama as well, but haven't found anything other than raws or versions subtitled in Chinese, both of which don't work for me because (1) my Japanese is only good enough for me to understand half of what is going on, and (2) I read Chinese too slowly to keep up with the subtitles. The soundtrack for the drama (and the anime) is certainly wonderful though, and it's inspired me to start playing the violin again. In fact, I've been dragging one of my unfortunate friends to me to the practice rooms recently and we've been slowly putting together the Spring sonata.
I'll keep my eyes out for the drama, but if somehow I get lucky enough to find something I can understand, I'll make sure to follow your advice regarding watching the drama and the anime concurrently.
As the former moderator in charge of reviews and as an anime fan who considers Last Exile his favorite anime of all time, let me congratulate you on writing so excellent a review. Certainly I disagree on a number of points, e.g. I believe that an anime doesn't have to have a nice ending packaged nicely and without any loose ends to have a good story. That said, your attention to detail is impressive and your use of the normal distribution to give a fair and uninflated score is definitely commendable. Kudos to you!
Fixed.
Good work, by the way. This is a nicely-written review with fairly-allocated scores whose values you certainly justified in your descriptions. Keep it up!
When reviewing manga, please don't just assign an arbitrary value for the Sound section. Instead, you can review things such as the dialogue, translation quality for the particular edition you purchased, etc.
I must admit never having seen this anime or even reading about it, so your review really gave me a good idea of what to expect. It does seem quite over the top; if panties are the star of the show, then I will probably steer clear of it. Then again, I guess at times people do need less substance and more entertainment.
Regardless, another very detailed and well-written review. As a suggestion, you may want to put in a line between paragraphs to make your reviews a little easier to read. Other than that, I have no complaints. Good job!
This is a very well-written review; your writing style is very natural and easy to read, and you make good use of examples to demonstrate your points. I did make one adjustment to your scores, however; as you found a complaint with the artwork, I bumped the score down slightly to a 9.
Good job! Keep it up!
If this is the case, then clearly the sound in D.N.Angel isn't quite perfect. Your sound score has been adjusted accordingly.
Let's please try not to resort to insults please and stick to commenting on the substance of the review itself. Thanks!
Personally, I hated the story. Not only did I think it was ridiculous, not just with the overall premise but also the ongoing accumulation of female borders in the mansion, but it got old really quickly. Besides, with the notable exception of Tina, I absolutely hated the characters, Aoi in particular. I do agree, though, that the animation was very well-done.
Anyhow, some minor adjustments are in order:
One point removed from Art category.
One point removed from Sound category.
Now now, if you have problems with the presentation, it can't possibly deserve a 10, can it now?
*scratches the 10 out and slips a 9 in when nobody is looking*
bluecheese, you raised a very good point at the beginning of your review by drawing the distinction between quality and enjoyment. It would do many reviewers good to recognize that divide and learn how to weigh both in reviews. This is, in fact, facilitated to a certain point in the review system here; in many ways, the final category in reviews (presentation for anime reviews or fun for game reviews) is intended for the latter while the rest of the review is intended for the former, though obviously it is difficult to write of one without being influenced at least somewhat by the other.
Anyhow, back to your review. Your writing style is nice and down-to-earth, and your candor is appreciated. Again, I like how you split up art and animation, as well as music and voice acting in this review as you did in your Elfen Lied one. All in all another very good review. Keep up the good work!
Let me preface my remarks by noting that I have not watched Elfen Lied. You certainly feel strongly about this series, bluecheese, and it's good to see someone who doesn't enjoy an anime writing a review that does an excellent job of analyzing the anime to demonstrate its lack of quality.
I like how you divided the art section into two subcategories to be individually rated. Additional detail is always appreciated in a review.
All in all, a solid review.
*gasp* How could you not like Dokuro-chan?
*bashes you with nailbat*
Pi-purupiru-pipiru-pi!
In all seriousness, however, I have to agree with you. I watched the first episode, found it mildly amusing, but neither the story, characters, etc. could compel me to watch any more.
What can I say? This is certainly an excellent -- and exhaustive -- review. I tend to approach reviews where the reviewer gave a particularly high aggregate score with some measure of wariness, but here you certainly qualified and justified your score assignments.
Bottom line: great job, and keep it up!
Finally, another Genshiken review, and a well-written one to boot! It looks like you reached a lot of the same conclusions as I did in my review, so I'll just leave my stamp of approval and leave it at that. Keep up the good work!