Forum - View topicHow to write a good anime review?
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Viga_of_stars
 Posts: 1240 Location: Washington D.C. in the Anime Atelier |
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I'm actually starting up a podcast with my friends and I want to do anime and manga reviews. Since this site does reviews can anyone give me some tips of reviewing. I don't want to be just another person that says "OMG I like Bleach" without any reasons why or have no ability to say something "Iz teh suxxor!" without reasons.
Or if you can tell me of some sites that help reviewing n00bs. And finally some questions: Is there a huge difference between reviewing anime, games and manga? What makes or brakes an anime review? Is it better to review a whole new series you seen or try to review a favorite of yours. Is reviewing a favorite going to result in a baised review? Thank you so much! |
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jetz
 Posts: 2148 Location: Manila, Philippines |
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Here are some tips from myanimelist.net
- Don't steal anyone elses work, this review should be all in your own writing. - Don't include story summaries, users already have the synopsis written for them. - Be sure to tell us the reasons for WHY you liked or disliked this anime. - Try your very best to not write any spoilers. - Don't comment on other reviews or reviewers, focus only on the anime. - No URL's, pictures, download links, or profanities please. I think there is a difference in writing reviews for manga, games and anime. I mean, manga doesn't have music, so you definitely can't comment on that. What makes or breaks an anime review? I'm not sure but it's best to keep the reader interested. Also here's something I learned from writing my own [sad] reviews. If you make a review for a certain anime that's quite popular, and you say you don't like it, chances are many people won't agree with you. And whether or not an anime is your favorite or whether or not it's new shouldn't be your basis for writing a review. Just write a review if you feel like it. Hope that helped 
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Viga_of_stars
Posts: 1240 Location: Washington D.C. in the Anime Atelier |
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WOW it did! Thank you.
On the podcast im doing I think I'll add j-pop/rock/hip hop reviews as well. Besides I never heard an otaku themed podcast do that. |
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mistress_reebi
Posts: 735 Location: Canada |
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I think there was a topic like this a while ago (more than 6 months ago) but I don't know where it is. (Is there some sort of seach button?) Pretty much reviews are an honest opinion on what the person feels. If you didn't like it, explain why you didn't like it. (Same as why you like the anime) Explaining why is what makes a great review. Read plenty of reviews here to get a general idea.
EDIT: Reviews are always based on bias because it's an opinion. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 19166 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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The only real difference between reviewing anime and manga is that you have fewer things to concentrate on with manga reviews; you don't have to consider the quality of the musical score, voice acting, or animation, for instance, so you either have to go a bit more in-depth about the writing and storytelling or just do a shorter review. Reviewing games is a lot different, however, because there you have to focus much more on the mechanics and elements of game play and much less on story elements (if there are any).
Any review worth reading/listening to for any type of entertainment medium has to discuss both quality and entertainment value, and discuss them separately. (An anime can certainly be entertaining without being good, and vice versa.) Being flippant is acceptable if you establish that as part of your personal style, but descending into fanboyish/fangirlish raving is not.
Depends on what you want to accomplish. Reviewing established favorites is fine if you want to build up a body of recommendations, but it's easy to fall into the "fanboy raving" trap that way. Reviewing new series (whether as a whole or as volumes, as we usually do at ANN) is better if your goal is to provide a sampling/preview of what's new and out there. Either way you should not limit yourself just to what you like; reviewing stuff outside your normal interests not only builds character but can provide regular readers/listeners a feel for how your personal tastes and biases are influencing your reviews. (It's also great for exposing yourself to wonderful titles you wouldn't watch otherwise - that was the case with me and Kodocha, for instance - but that's beside the point.)
Usually, unless you're very careful to differentiate your personal view from a serious analysis. (And that's hard for a lot of people to do.) Besides, as others have said, even the most considerate reviewer is at least somewhat prone to bias. The points that jetz posted are all excellent ones, though I don't entirely agree with the "don't use story summaries" point and have to disagree with "no pictures." We at ANN always use DVD covers for DVD reviews and screencaps for our preview guides and some columns, and I've always found it nice to have at least one sample image when looking at reviews on other sites. Keep it to one or two, though. I do agree that if you're going to give a dissenting view to the popular take on a popular title, you'd better be well-prepared to defend your view and take heat for it. People are more likely to respectfully disagree if you provide a well-reasoned explanation for your disagreement, but they'll also take you to task if it sounds like you're just dissing a title or being contrary. (And some will do that anyway.) |
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Alestal
 Posts: 605 Location: Dallas, Texas |
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Use big words. Then people think your smart.
-and try to be funny. actually just look at shelf life archives. |
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mistress_reebi
Posts: 735 Location: Canada |
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Reminds me of some reviews on Myanimelist where some people only write, "this anime sucks," without explaining why they didn't like the show. Oh, and everything about that anime is terrible and should be burned medival style. That's why I prefer to read the reviews here because there is an explaination to why the anime is bad. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6921 Location: Kazune City |
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animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=34927 Also this one: animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=27094 I think in past threads, Key and Zac have mentioned that the hardest reviews to do are for "average" series that you didn't love or hate very much. For me, in writing MyAnime comments (which =/= reviews, though I have reviewed a few things over on AniDB, you can check their guidelines out as well). And I'd agree with that -- it's easy to gush about your favorites or trash something as the worst ever, but reviewing average series (or series that you judge to be average) forces you to discern the objective merits of the series, and describe why they're good or bad. |
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Ryvius213
Posts: 291 |
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I'd say that reviews also shouldn't be extremely long. Most people who read reviews are looking for something short to get an immediate and clear opinion.
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jetz
Posts: 2148 Location: Manila, Philippines |
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I forgot to add this in my previous post, but when you write reviews for myanimelist.net, they ask you to rate the story, art, characters, music, enjoyment and overall, each on a scale of 1-10.
If anyone's interested, here's one of my reviews. It's nothing special, but 6 out of 6 people found it helpful 
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Viga_of_stars
Posts: 1240 Location: Washington D.C. in the Anime Atelier |
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Wow. I got a lot of helpful info. Im going to print it out! Thank you!
Well since I got netflix I could que up something a bit different now. I might do innocent venus for my first review. I already seen 2 episodes and I didn't thin i'd be into that show. The podcast im doing reviews for is coming soon. I'll tell you all when its out! Thanks everyone! |
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mistress_reebi
Posts: 735 Location: Canada |
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You're reviewing music? Music is more difficult to review because one has explain the musical rhythms, harmonies, melodies, etc. I have a musical background, but I find it hard sometimes to decribe the music.
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Viga_of_stars
Posts: 1240 Location: Washington D.C. in the Anime Atelier |
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I was thinking of the idea of reviewing j pop/hip hop/rick since I don't see many do that. My musical background is basic compared to many. But I would like to try to give it a shot. It would take more research though. I don't want to just say "Heys! This has a cool 3/4 back beat and the vocals are smooth unlike so and so. This teh rulz!" |
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Alestal
Posts: 605 Location: Dallas, Texas |
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I dont want to be rude but you've made a few basic spelling errors in your recent posts, when you review you don't want that, and I really urg you to check out the Shelf Life archives, she's a very good reviewer.
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Aromatic Grass
 Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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I would assume that good writers would check over their work again and again before it is published, which is something I tend to do even when posting on a forum. I've noticed a lack of attention to good punctuation these days. 
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