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Archen's Corner Review Handbook Statistics Review List Archen's Anime Page

Why review multiple seasons? It mostly comes down to the packaging when I saw it. I prefer to glob an entire series together if possible because I think the idea of a review is to be brief and give you the gist of a title, not be a play by play analysis that takes longer to read then watch the show. On the other hand some titles I purposely break apart by season if there are big changes in between them. I do update reviews for a series if I see more of the title.

Hidden Info & Spoilers - I babble a lot, and I try to keep that stuff out of the way if it isn't critical to the review. Sometimes that stuff may be interesting to some which is why I don't cut it out completely. As for spoilers, I find one of the joys in life is getting an unexpected surprise. Warnings about a crazy twist is fine provided I don't elaborate too much, but sometimes it's hard to give a good enough context for a review without a spoiler. The best compromise is to hide the spoiler you can look through if you want to.

[+] (spoiler) click here for example

ZOMG. Plot details revealed!

Spoiler content is always indicated by (spoiler) in parentheses.

Why are your overall ratings so low? - If you like anime, then you may like the average anime, but this doesn't make it "above average" by definition. Go to a review site and sort by ratings and look at how many titles are all skewed towards the high end. Can you really trust someone who thinks everything is good? There are thousands of other sites that love to give their view of the latest darlings of an anime season. I wouldn't say everything popular is good, but popular titles are rarely bad. Instead I like to dig into obscure titles and find hidden gems. By doing so, I naturally encounter a lot of bad titles - warning you about titles to avoid is just as important after all.

Also keep in mind that just because I rate something as weak, doesn't mean it's not worth watching. Even some poor titles have shining moments which are great. I try to rate titles by quality, which is also why I try to avoid rating titles higher just because I like them. Just because it's average doesn't it's not fully enjoyable. My reviews are intended to inform you so you can decide. It's not me telling you what to watch.

Ratings: The 1 to 10 stuff

I really shouldn't be using numbers for this stuff anymore. It's too ambiguous. Most people grade things they like a 10, things that are decent (mostly everything) an 8, 5 being ambiguous non opinion, and 1 for things they don't like. I start everything at a 5 which I consider average, and a title moves up or down from there. This resulted in most titles being squashed around 5. I needed more granularity so I cut it up by thirds (x.3 x.5 & x.7). Assigning numbers to attributes is a poor way to do it, but I haven't worked out a better system as of yet.

Animation: - Covers overall movement. Titles that aren't reliant on animation, or aren't conspicuously good rate as 5. Fluid movement increases the score, but the only way to achieve an 8 or higher is to utilize artistic / high action sequences. I am very picky about animation.
Design: - This covers overall design of characters, machines, cities and pretty much everything in between. Note that this is not the same as animation. An anime may have great design and terrible animation, and the reverse is also possible. Budget cuts go can go against one or the other (or both).
Characters: - This is the do-all character rating. Is the character likable? Is she a good villain? Does this character make the anime stand out? Good character development can play a critical role in most anime. After all if you don't care about what happens to a character, or what they do, then you take a back seat instead of really being drawn in.
Depth: - This is basically complexity in the details of a series. That includes things like environment structure, how the world works, and other details. This isn't the same as complexity of the story, and a good story will never push the depth higher than 7 unless there is some driving force within the story that makes it exceptional (rare). Depth below 5 indicates a lack of key information, or being poorly thought out. Stupidity is always detrimental to the depth score.
Story: - General plot. Interesting? Unique? Innovative? I find the story to be the driving force behind nearly everything in anime, so this is generally correlates to the overall score (excepting some comedies).
Dub/Sub: - I used to grade this, but it's basically worthless information. Instead I just use it to denote what versions I've seen. (+) means good, (-) means bad, (x) means I didn't see that (commercially released) version, or I possibly saw it in raw Japanese.

Archen's Overall Ratings

This is my opinion of the title's quality. That's not the same as how much I like it, and may not neccesarily mean you will enjoy or dislike it either. Titles that are a mix between good and bad can make this a tough choice. If a title is mostly bad, but has a really good part I'll still rate it as "weak". If you think something sounds interesting, I'd expect you to read the review and decide for yourself. Hey, even I have some favorites that are pretty bad!

Excellent > Good > Average > Weak > Sucks

I also abbreviated this to a "stars" system shown by my bird award logo, but I think the words best describe what I think. For reference I never rate any title as Excellent after I see it. I make a note, to take that under consideration and wait a minimum of 3 months before I decide if the status should be promoted.

Review Mission Statement

While I don't claim that all my reviews adhere to these rules (especially the older ones), I do have a set of rules I try to stick to.

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Every Title Deserves a Chance: A review is more than a log of random rants and likes. When approaching a title, look objectively at the good and the bad.; If a review is to be done, the entire series (per season) needs to be watched. Dropping a series in the middle is an option for regular people, but it is the duty of a reviewer to follow through to the concluding and give an assessment of the whole thing. Note: some older reviews don't follow this.
Focus: Aside from the guts of the review, other things should help to clarify the strengths and weaknesses. Provide information that is relevant, avoid content that is not. Occasional babbling is an unfortunate reality of the way I write, but don't do too much of it.
Reviews Should be Brief: Reviews should be short and to the point. Reviews should not become an exercise by the author to see how much they can talk about a subject. Reviews on this site look longer than they are due to larger fonts, and the narrow column format.
Boring is Bad: Reviews should never read like a boring wikipedia page. Who wants to read a bunch of dry articles like that? Maybe they don't qualify as entertainment, but hopefully they're worth a read even if there's no interest in the title. Professionalism doesn't mean being bland. AAP is founded on the idea of having a personality.; Avoid a heavy writing style. Instead keep the review light and easy to digest. It should read much like a conversation.
Accessible Reviews for Those New to Anime.: Lingo is one big problem with the anime community in general, and it's really tough for people who are new to anime to understand what people are talking about. Reviews offer both a reference section (this page) and in line hints for words like this. Avoid pointless terms like seiyuu which simply means voice actor, as there is no reason not to simply say "voice actor".; Some terms are anime centric like "Shoujo", which is a class of anime with it's own attributes. At times using these terms can't be avoided, but try to keep their use to a minimum.; Avoid saying title X is like title Y, because that assumes you've seen title Y.; Don't talk about animation studios. Each title is judged on its own merit, not by who makes it. That information is irrelevant and similar to referencing other titles.

Anime Terminology

Well honestly if you're this new to anime then I'm not sure my reviews will be much help to you. But hey, I'm making this page for everyone not just veterans. So with that in mind I'll explain some of the terms that come up in my reviews. This list isn't comprehensive and I'm probably omitting a bunch of stuff, but I'll try to add anime terms as I find them in my reviews

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OAV / OVA: Original Animated Video, or Original Video Animation. Both terms are interchangeable. Basically this means direct to video. Keep in mind that historically TV series weren't easy to obtain on video, so a direct to video title was actually quite viable in Japan. With the current market and reselling TV series being the norm, OAV series are becoming more and more rare. In years past OVAs were noted for their exceptional quality but in modern times it's more often TV quality but wasn't broadcasted on TV.
Manga: I've written a lot about what manga is before, but here I'll keep it short and simple. Manga is basically anime on comic book form. Usually Manga has distinct styles varying by artist. The source of many (if not most) anime is from Manga. The anime / manga industry is often referred to as a whole as they go hand in hand in the mind of anime fans.
Mecha: One of those things you can say about the Japanese, it's that they love their giant robots - and that's basically what Mecha anime is. Over time it seems to have been expanded past just robots to all "big machine" oriented genres. Tanks and jet fighters can also qualify an anime as being mecha under the right conditions. Usually mecha anime is futuristic in its orientation. Gundam is an example of this type.
Eye-catch: That little ditty before and after the commercial break. Some series have them, some don't. Often the eye-catch is left on DVDs.
Otaku: Crazed anime fan. Most Americans don't know what this means, but in Japan it has negative connotations, similar to being a nerd or a geek. Similar to how attitudes to geekiness has changed in the U.S., being considered an otaku isn't as bad as it used to be in Japan either.
Shoujo: Anime / Manga targeted at teenage girls. Series of this sort typically chronicle social ordeals of teenage girls - hey, imagine that =P. Shoujo is typically quite emotional and melodramatic. The vast majority are interwoven with some sort of romance as well. Shoujo is also often introspective from a female standpoint. A perfect example is Hana Yori Dango.
Shounen: Anime / Manga targeted at teenage boys. Shounen series are typically action packed ass whooping fests. More often than not they involve super over-the-top fighting techniques. Usually all other elements (which may or may not be present) are sidelined for action. This is often hard to class because so much anime can be classed as Shounen for various reasons - thus usually it's reserved for "spot on" titles characterized by what teenage boys would be interested in. Bleach is a good example of this type.
Harem Anime: The dictionary definition of harem is "a group of women associated in any way with one man or household". While this concept isn't new to anime, it has become more common in series. The term itself came into common use for anime sometime after 2000. At that point I think it picked up popularity as a term, not only because there are so many series that do this, but also because it accurately sums up something so neatly in one term.
Lolicon: Short for Lolita Complex. This is a topic that comes up every now and then in anime, usually in titles based off a date sim game where one of the girls is underage and considered the "lolicon option". In that case the girl would be referred to as a loli.
Con: Short for (anime) convention. Same as pretty much any other convention but with anime fans. Not to be confused with your normal fantasy alternate reality where guys walk around pretending to be able to shoot fireballs, and girls walk around in ultra skimpy outfits.
Cosplay: I'm not sure about the source of this term, but it's short for "costume playing". While in anime convention land this is usually used in context of dressing up as your favorite anime character, it can also refer to dressing up in any sort of outfit - nurses, stewardesses, etc.
Meganekko: Literally translate to girl who wears glasses. In anime this is a phenomena where there is typically a (one) character who wears glasses as a distinctive trait. Sometimes thought to pander to guys with a fetish for glasses.
Omake: Literally means "extra". In anime terms these are often short animated bonus content that is usually just silly fun stuff, that has no impact on the story.
Moe: A more recent term, this refers to an attraction towards some sort of ideal. It's similar to fetish, but often not sexual in nature. I usually refer to this as a "character template" in reviews as there is often a character feature set that goes together with a moe personality, but it can be something as simple as being quiet, or wearing glasses (Meganekko).
Tsundere: This comes in many forms, but basically refers to an initially hostile person eventually warming up to someone, or at least showing a tender side. This is also considered a moe trait. Tsundere originated from early date-sim games where there was often a girl who was cold to the player and took considerable effort to win over.
Yaoi / BL: Term for fiction aimed at Japanese females where the focus is a romantic relationship between two males. Not much of a market in America, but it is gaining traction and has a bit of a following. The more common term in Japan these days is "Boy's Love", often abbreviated "BL". It's weird when you think about it because in America this genre continues to be called Yaoi which is a Japanese term, but the Japanese literally say boy's love which is English.

Ratings: The 1 to 10 stuff

Archen's Overall Ratings

Review Mission Statement

Categories

Anime Terminology