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Shelf Life - Clanning Up

Does ANN have any reviewers who you can honestly say won't automatically give it a bad review just for being what it is? If the answer is YES give it to that person.

They tried. She didn't decry the "sexualization" of the girls enough.

Of course it doesn't help that ANN's unspoken review guidelines are extremely different from most other professionals in my experience: In my time I've always been told that making "I" statements in a review is poor form. And yet here I get lambasted for not making it clear that yes, I speak Japanese when commenting on the quality of the original sub track. Go figure.

Ceral wrote:

SPARKLING REVIEW

While I appreciate the time and effort you put into your review, you missed these few points:

1) The majority of your post was frankly, an advertisement. Not a review. Your opinion was too blended into your summaries. Point out the crisp animation, talk about the voice acting, describe the plot execution (if you know the source material). Don't sell me the series, that's what Promo Clips are for...

2)Plot and character bios should be the last thing on your list to note off. If that's one thing to put a reader to sleep, it's that. Unlike a blog, it's awkward to interrupt a review post with pictures, so you have to get to your point quicker. Thus, you can summarize. Here, let me try:
Tomoya: MC, deliquent
Nagisa: Shy, sick with some illness, wants to re-establish the drama club
Sunohara: Tomoya's friend, loud, comic relief
Tomoyo: Strong fighter (rapid kicks), mysterious
Kotomi: Avid reader, genius, ditches class to read in library
Kyou: Twin of Ryou, feisty
Fuko: Energetic, childish

(Now I feel like I'm stepping over my boundaries as a reader. I don't know the format for an ANN review, but I based my advice on what I look for in a review. Hope it's helpful.)

These shows my friend, are all about the characters, from the first minute to the last, it's all scenes of character interactions. Talking about how well the plot was executed or giving a brief review of the characters won't tell you a whole lot about whether or not you'll like the show. I gave character descriptions interspersed with opinion, because that is what this show is about. I want to give you a strong example of what a typical meeting with one of the characters is like, depending on that, that's all you need to know about whether you'll like it or not.