ANNCast

This One's About Reviews!

ANNCast Episode 015 - This One's About Reviews!

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Justin is still in Singapore, and so my co-host this week is Bamboo, who has a lot to say about stuff. We chat about Witchblade on blu-ray, the Dragon Box, and then there's some tomfoolery and shenanigans with sound effects, followed by some videogame chat.

Then we bring in Mike Toole, Brad Rice, and Clarissa Graffeo for a particularly lengthy chat about reviews, writing, them, responding to them and everything in between. We get in to all of it - the "best" way to review things, the response from hardcore Key fans, all that stuff. It's more than an hour of fun! Fun, I say!

You can listen to the show on our player here, direct-download the MP3 version here, or you can just use these handy links:

Subscribe in iTunes	RSS feed (for other software)

Also: if you like the show (or don't like the show, I guess) be sure to write us up a review over on iTunes! It'd be a big help!

NSFW Language Warning: Someone had to be reminded that it's OK to curse so the sodium level on this one is pretty low.

ANNCast Episode 015 Breakdown

00:18 Host Introductions

00:44 Bamboo keeps watching Miracle Train even though she hates it

01:35 Witchblade on Bluray and the Dragon Box

08:30 Time to mess around with the mixer!

10:14 Videogames and why buying Modern Warfare or Madden isn't "nerdy"

14:52 Break time! I'll grab my stuff!

15:37 Guest introduction - Mike, Brad and Clarissa, and what their personal philosophies on reviews are

20:50 The worst things you can do in a review

25:40 Kneejerk reactions vs. actual criticism vs. people who think they're critics but aren't

28:50 Are anime fans allergic to analysis and criticism?

30:30 Is there value in reviews that don't offer anything other than a plot synopsis and a mild, brief opinion?

33:20 Anime reviews are peculiar - everyone's already seen what's being reviewed

36:12 Deconstructing "it gets better in episode 20!", and the definition of hardcore fan

39:40 How the release format changes have impacted reviews

42:40 The value of scores

46:00 The evangelical supporters of Key anime

52:40 Plugs, and then Twitter time: specific genre reviews, misused review quotes, the difference between pro and amateur critics, the worst thing we've had to review and the thing we'd like to re-review, and the responsibility of the critic to their audience.

And that's it! Next week is Thanksgiving so we'll have a shorter show.

Have questions for the ANNCast crew? Tweet 'em to @ANNZac! Or check out the community forums thread about the show, or send email questions to zac@animenewsnetwork dot com!

Special thanks to Phillip Harrington for designing and creating the ANNCast logo.