Forum - View topicAnswerman - Do Anime Creators Pay Attention To Reviews?
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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4Gamer critiques gaming and I've seen some bad scores lately with the dogcrap in Langrisser Reincarnation getting the worst score of 10/100, however Famitsu is the opposite, which is why you don't see a lot of scathing reviews and low scores and when you do see a 15-25 these days it's usually either a Misc game or a VN, it wasn't always this way as if you go back about 16 years+, you'll see a lot more titles getting 15-25 and less getting 30-40 (there was an Japanese archive on all of the Famitsu scores going back to the late 80's that I seen in 2008 and 2009 but got taken down).
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9848 Location: Virginia |
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Shenl742 Wrote:
Which is why we have our own reviewers here in North America. If the Japanese don't produce something like that there is nothing you can do. Sales are probably the best metric as to how the Japanese audience likes the show. It is not as if any reviewer here is a definitive voice. They are, hopefully, more informed and articulate than the average viewer, but in the end you have to make your own decision. A good reviewer will tell you enough about the show to know if it is something you will like even when they don't or will not like even though they do. After that, well that is what streaming is for. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what the Japanese think of a show, or the reviewer on ANN or what I think. If you like or dislike a show is all that matters to you. |
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Shenl742
Posts: 1524 |
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^Oh, I definately agree with all that Alan45. What I was trying to get across could basically be summed up as, "It would be nice to hear what these hypothetical critics/reviewers in Japan have to say, if only for the sake of curiosity".
It certainly wouldn't (shouldn't) be a definitive view, it would just be one more that would cool to have, just to find out what's making things tick. Another perspective. |
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stilldemented
 Posts: 232 |
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Oddly enough, I was just thinking about this earlier today and came up with the hypothesis that Japanese anime probably isn't used to being criticized. Then lo and behold, Answerman just so happens to do a segment about it and confirm it for me.
Has this ever happened to anyone else? Anyway, the reason I came to that conclusion was just thinking about all the anime/manga I've consumed that might be seen as directionless. More often than not, they come up with a story concept and roll with it. At any rate, this was extremely informative to me. It really defines why anime/manga is what it is, but also explains why the medium is hard-pressed to evolve. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But no one is willing to tell anyone if it is broken. 
Last edited by stilldemented on Fri Oct 23, 2015 8:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Gasero
 Posts: 939 Location: USA |
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Profit and viewership say a lot more than criticism. I think it is valuable to pay attention to criticism, but most industries shift towards what sells more rather than what is more critically lauded.
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Tylerr
Posts: 475 |
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Isn't that the reason that gundam seed destiny was changed, and they brought back the old cast?
Because fans complained at how terrible the new ones were. |
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jojothepunisher
 Posts: 799 |
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In SaeKano, the protagonist himself was a reviewer of anime, manga, light novel, and games, and he didn't seem like the type to be sugarcoating bad products, so the concept of harsh critics is definitely there, but they are probably mostly consisted of fans rather than professional critics.
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Mr. Oshawott
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I think some anime creators take notice of a few reviews every now and then, but in the end, it's the sales that generally determine how big (or small) of a chance a show has of getting a sequel and/or film.
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falcon.punch
 Posts: 693 |
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The curious case of Devil's Third in the West (Generally 2 to 4/10) vs. the 33/40 that Famitsu gave to it. I feel that Famitsu is quite forgiven about some games, even Sonic Lost World for the Wii U scored higher (36/40). In the subject of the theme, Sales matter big time especially at late night shows in BD/DVD format. Even with Opinions and else, general reviews included. |
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Hoppy800
Posts: 3331 |
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Sonic Lost World shouldn't have a 36, it's more like a 9 or a 10, the game is of unacceptable quality by any standards, it looks and plays like crap, Devil's Third just isn't up to modern standards and is an acquired taste like Earth Defense Force (which often gets at least 30/40), I understand why Famitsu gave it a 33, Japan isn't as judgmental on graphics and framerates as the West is and were focusing on gameplay. |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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If I had to choose between paying attention to sales--including merchandise licensing---and other business metrics like streaming stats, ad revenue vs professional criticism or cirques from select sites or people, I would pick sales every time hands down no matter what business I'm in.
This is especially so in niche mediums like anime where you may be aiming at certain audiences and not others. Often there is a lot of usual harsh criticism coming from non-intended audiences that can be safely ignored. The only time where criticism matters is where it intersects with intended audience--not necessarily professional reviews--to explain what they did and didn't like. |
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Wandering Samurai
 Posts: 875 Location: USA |
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Sales, revenue, profit. That's what makes or breaks a series or movie in any part of the entertainment industry. Just look at what Marvel has been able to do with the MCU, of what WB is going to be able to do with the DCEU. It's how a series like One Piece has been able to make 714 episodes for the anime portion of the series so far. Or other cases like Case Closed, AoT, Doraemon, etc.
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ajr
Posts: 465 |
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This sounds really interesting. The same has happened in the West and outside of the entertainment industry over the past few years as companies learn how to effectively engage the public through social media without botching their PR efforts, but it seems like this is talking about more than that. Clearly fans both in Japan and elsewhere talk about what they did and didn't like about a given work, and in the West the fan communities aggregate and commercialize those efforts through places like ANN (capitalism ho!). I'm a little baffled that Japan doesn't seem to have developed institutions/establishments/portals (I'm struggling with word choice there a little) for fan reviews; you'd think the fans themselves would have developed something. The only reason I can think of is that, from the sound of it, media criticism as an academic endeavor doesn't seem to really exist, or perhaps more likely, is limited to works of literature, poetry, or other "traditional" forms of art, so acknowledging media criticism as itself worthy of criticism (and therefore with a range of quality) isn't really done, nobody bills themselves a professional / professional-esque reviewer. I'm speaking from the a deep well of ignorance there, so I suspect I misunderstand the reality of things, but it's really interesting from a cultural point of view.[/quote] |
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Hiroki not Takuya
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Here I was hoping some of these comments and discussions would somehow get to anime industry people through ANN, but according to Justin all of your and my comments go nowhere and serve no purpose except to attract trolls and flame (and the occasional moderator's wrath). That makes all of the discussion of sales figures as a marketing metric here ironically pointless. Why bother posting?
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Half Life
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Not really a big tragedy. Most critics have a strong bias, and that bias tends to be so far removed from the mindset of the average viewership as to be almost alien.
I read reviews for the descriptions more than the opinions. The opinions have to be bias filtered, but the descriptions will actually tell me if I want to watch. Critical reviews only matter if the individual reviewer can drive sales by themselves (rare). Otherwise what matters much more is the overall reception -- which is why aggregator sites are so useful (ANN user ratings are one of the better features of this site). |
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