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The Summer 2013 Anime Preview Guide


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Galap
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Joined: 07 Apr 2012
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:22 am Reply with quote
It's interesting to have that information in one place where it can be read as a whole, but I think that the text the previewers write about these series is far more interesting than the number grades they give them.
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The Coffee God



Joined: 22 Jul 2010
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:29 am Reply with quote
Galap wrote:
...but I think that the text the previewers write about these series is far more interesting than the number grades they give them.


This is essentially what Zac has said for years, and part of the reason why his number scores are the way they are.
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Zac
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:38 am Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
yadda yadda


I said "spreadsheet all you want, here are my mild objections". Enjoy yourself, I have my reservations about the usefulness of something like that.

Yeesh. Such a drama queen.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:44 am Reply with quote
Galap wrote:
...but I think that the text the previewers write about these series is far more interesting than the number grades they give them.


And I agree with you. No, really I do. I've read every single writeup that each one of the six previewers wrote at least once. That's goodness-only-knows how many thousands of words. Plus I've also read numerous reactions from regular users in the thread, even those ones where people gave a score. That's even more thousands of words. I've spent far more time contemplating what was written than what the scores were.

But like I said before, one can't do quick and easy comparisons between previewers and seasons using text. The spreadsheet is not meant to replace the written previews, just allow for analysis that is otherwise impractical. That's it. The spreadsheet is just a tool, nothing more.

Zac wrote:
Yeesh. Such a drama queen.


Says the guy who deliberately needles people just to get a reaction. You've incited more than a few shitstorms over the years.

I see nothing wrong with defending my point of view and my work when you accuse it of being banal, passionless and uninteresting. The fact that you go ad hominem and accuse me of being a drama queen just proves that you had no legitimate rebuttal to the points I raised.


Last edited by dtm42 on Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:51 am; edited 1 time in total
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shamisen the great



Joined: 08 Jun 2010
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:49 am Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:

Analysing numbers is fun...
You and I apparently have very different ideas about what's fun. Laughing
Joking aside, I can see why some might like an aggragate of scores like metacritic; as long as there is a written opinion for context.
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dtm42



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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:58 am Reply with quote
^
Of course there's written opinions readily available; after all, this is the discussion thread for those opinions. Like I said, the spreadsheet is just a tool to allow comparisons and quick reference. It does not exist to replace the written opinions which are of course the heart and soul of the Preview Guide.

----------

Anyway. I believe I have more than adequately explained why I made the spreadsheet and why I personally find it helpful. Since I'm pretty much repeating myself at this point I'm going to stop talking about it unless anyone has something new to add.
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Blood-
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Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 6:45 am Reply with quote
I trust nobody is going to confuse me as being a dtm42 fan, but I do find the spreadsheet thing useful for its handy "at a glance" reminder of how different previewers felt about the same material.
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Alan45
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Joined: 25 Aug 2010
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 7:48 am Reply with quote
I tend to side with Zac in this. I seldom even notice the number scores when I read the previews. I don't look at the letter grades in the full reviews either.

I seldom completely agree with any of the reviews. I've noticed that the reviewer can be favorably impressed with a show and give it high marks while a reading of the text tells me this is the type of show I don't like and will not be watching. On the other hand they can completely dislike a show and at the same time give a description that tells me I need to check the show out. And on the third hand (?) we sometimes agree. I do check out shows that I have reservations about that are highly rated, but usually my initial reaction is correct.

There are so many elements that go into a show that what makes it enjoyable to one person is not going to work with another. There is no way to capture this in a number or letter grade. A show can be very well done in all technical aspects, but if it is not your type of show it can be boring or worse disgusting. If you only watch shows that are highly rated you are missing out.
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Mesonoxian Eve



Joined: 10 Jan 2012
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 8:20 am Reply with quote
Zac wrote:
The entire concept of prioritizing the preview guide scores themselves and compiling them into some kind of aggregate mean is disheartening.

The purpose of assigning a score to anything is to aggregate various entities in order to provide feedback.

Some of your review scores don't actually contain numbers, but most do, and each and every one is based on your aggregation of emotion, film school study, like and dislike of content, etc.

All dtm42 did was take them all and combine them even further to provide an overall generalization of what reviewers thought.

That's actually pretty useful, if one's planning to view a show based on overall popularity, rather than wasting time with "heavy, ragged sigh", the rating you gave Day Break Illusion.

Personally, I'd like to see this compilation done with preview guides moving forward, provided dtm42 (or other user) is willing to do the work.
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ChibiKangaroo



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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 8:48 am Reply with quote
Yea my thought on the spreadsheet wasn't that it was going to somehow replace text based commentary, but that it would supplement that with a simple and easy summary of the larger number of opinions all in one place. If you want to read each person's take on a specific show, you read their text review. If you want to know generically how everyone placed all the shows of the season, and you want to compare all of that in one place, you look at some kind of spreadsheet.

I am a bit of a math person so number crunching does have some appeal to me, but I also think it is kind of useful as a quick comparison of the full season as a whole, and also allows us to take notice of the little particularities of how the reviewers rate things from season to season.
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nargun



Joined: 29 Mar 2006
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:17 am Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
I believe in one of his posts in this thread Zac referred to it as the "samey trash" as other (unspecified) shows about highschool girls, so I'm guessing he wouldn't have rated it very high.


It's not, of course: if this were K-On they'd never shoot anything.
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Zac
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:26 am Reply with quote
Zac wrote:


I said "spreadsheet all you want, here are my mild objections". Enjoy yourself, I have my reservations about the usefulness of something like that.


All I said. Knock yourselves out and please stop arguing with me like I tried to stop you from doing this.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:52 am Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
^
Of course there's written opinions readily available; after all, this is the discussion thread for those opinions. Like I said, the spreadsheet is just a tool to allow comparisons and quick reference. It does not exist to replace the written opinions which are of course the heart and soul of the Preview Guide.

----------

Anyway. I believe I have more than adequately explained why I made the spreadsheet and why I personally find it helpful. Since I'm pretty much repeating myself at this point I'm going to stop talking about it unless anyone has something new to add.
This look's like someone has too much time on their hands and not using it for more productive endeavors. At the end of it all, who the feck cares, except for you? Laughing
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dtm42



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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 10:09 am Reply with quote
^
Sigh. I had an hour to spare, decided to use it to do something I wanted to do. What's it to you what I do with my spare time?

And I'm not the only one who found the spreadsheet useful; either you're trolling or your reading comprehension needs some work.
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Tuor_of_Gondolin



Joined: 20 Apr 2009
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 11:28 am Reply with quote
I think that there is some worry that these sorts of spreadsheets can lead to some people getting a bit too stuck on the numbers instead of on the actual previews, and that this is exacerbated by the fact that the previews are not, by any stretch of the imagination, intended to be actual reviews.

Someone bringing up Metacritic, which takes "getting caught up on numbers" to a rarified level, led me to actually post a comment on it.

I can see the pros and cons of making a spreadsheet like that, and I don't have a problem with the spreadsheet per se. I just worry that there will be people who place undue weight on it -- on the numbers -- and miss out on something that they might otherwise have tried watching.
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