How do you rate Anime?

[H-man]

I though I'd just put up this thread because it might be needed and it's kind of a sidetrack to "What is overrated?". It's fun to hear what other poeple look at and want in a good Anime. So what do you look at?

First, I'll post in what I look at. What I look at when rating an Anime is first of all drawing style, does the Anime have a drawing style that suits me? One of my favorite studios is the one that draws FLCL. One that I don't like is the drawing style of Paradise Kiss, I lived through it though. Then I "look" at the intro/outro and insert music, it's not right to rate an Anime after this but I have a tendancy to do it anyway. Then I look at plot/storyline, does the Anime have a progressive story? I hate when they end in a way that it mind as well have never happened. Characters, are also very important, a wide imagination of different characters that can contrast different angles of the problems/issues arising in the Anime. And the last thing that I look for, my own gut-feeling, was this what I wanted right now?

Then, what do I want? Well, changes from day to day. Today I want a Vampire, Gothic/Goth-loli, Romance, "*Sob, sob*", girl with Glasses (always!), hints of Comedy and lots of dark secrets! (Tsukuyumi Moon Phase whould have worked if I hadn't already seen it...)

Well, please post what you look at. Might change my view of things also so I can start liking series I've given up on such as One Piece, Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho and more.

[LionsMane]

I'm big on first impressions so I tend to look at a series OP sequence as a basis. It usually doesn't make that big of deal but when I'm watching a series for the first time I usually hold in anticiapation the OP sequence to guide into what I'm getting. It usually helps me get an insight on some basics of the series including music and art.

In the end all I actually want(and even look for) is good characters and plot. Specifically, just depends on my moods.

[Meron]

The four main things which matters the most to me is:

- The visuals
- If it has an original story or not
- Character designs
- Flashy opening/ending theme

[FatPianoBoy]

Qualifiers in order of importance:

How much I personally enjoy/relate to whatever it's trying to portray
Script
Characters
Story
Directing
Animation
Music
Fancruft factor (does it make people want to discuss it?)

[Tancos]

Story and charcters come first, and the quality of the writing. Everything else is secondary. If things just happen for no good reason, or if I don't care about the characters, it doesn't matter how clever the concept is or good the art and music are. I'm not interested.

[Zu Ra]

I do belive there was a very similar thread , I actually felt that thread was revived .

[Mirrinus]

Ah yes, because I'm bored and don't want to write my rhetoric paper, here are my criteria for enjoying anime, in order, and with examples:

1. Characters - I believe this is the most important quality that I want from an anime. These characters must make me want to care about them, relate to them, cheer them on, and remain in my heart long after I finish watching. Almost every anime that I really enjoy has at least one such endearing character. A good example of this is Shana from Shakugan no Shana, for reasons that any fan of the series can undoubtably tell you. An opposite example would be Mushishi; while the series scores phenominally in most of the other categories, this is the #1 point it fails at, since I feel most character's aren't fleshed out enough due to time constraints, and Ginko himself seems too perfect for me to relate to well. It still ranks fairly high for me regardless, because of other merits.

2. Plot - To be honest, I can suffer through a bad plot if I love the characters enough, but story will definitely make me love a series all the more. I do not demand the plot to be believable (*coughKanoncough*), but merely enjoyable. Regarding plot, I expect the story to obey certain rules that the anime has already set forth, and not break them with plot twists at the end. These rules differ with each anime; for example, if an alien, an esper, and a time traveler appeared at the end of Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora to heal Rika of her illness, I would consider this a rule break, as nothing in the series suggests such things exist in that universe, but obviously if the same happened in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya that's fine because that's the basic premise. A good example is Last Exile: the plot was engaging (war stories are cool), and I felt the ending conformed to the rest of the series, as there were enough hints to the true identity of Exile to justify the plot twist at the very end. A bad example is Read or Die the TV, which I still enjoyed a lot, but felt what happened to London in the last few episodes was too fantastic to conform to the preset rules of their world. I feel that a lot of Shounen series also fail on this point.

3. Setting - I want to be interested in living in such a world! I consider anime an escapist venture, so naturally I want the world to appeal to me. It doesn't have to be fantastically different from earth, so long as it has something that interests me (doesn't have to be supernatural). Strangely enough, somehow high school settings interest me too (maybe it's because I had a great time in high school and am now feeling nostalgic for those days?). Utawarerumono, Last Exile, and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya are good examples of settings that interest me. Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora is not, as I've worked in a hospital before, and it's not a setting I'm particularly crazy about.

4. Animation - In particular, I like detail in what I see. This won't kill a series that performs well in the other fields, but it certainly helps. Kanon 2006 and Mushishi are both great examples of beautiful animation and attention to details. Azumanga Daioh and Higurashi no Naku Koroni are not, as I'm not a terribly huge fan of chibis and deformations, although both those series still score high for characters and other fields.

5. Opening / Ending - Maybe I give this too much weight, but I absolutely adore a good opening or ending. I don't demand it to have both, but at least one must be really good. Both song and visuals count, about 50/50. Higurashi no Naku Koroni OP and Utawarerumono OP are good examples, as is of course The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya ED. Mushishi is an example of OPs and EDs that I didn't really care for sadly, as even though the music was nice, the animation left me bored.

6. Music - To be honest, I don't notice background music half the time, unless it strikes me as particularly good to listen to for some reason. I'm also a sucker for a series using music that I already know. Good examples are The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Kanon using Tchaikovsky (I'm also partial to Mai's theme, "Girl's Prison"). Actually, using concert instrumentation such as violins and woodwinds scores extra points with me. Simplistic music and sometimes random or pointless music tends to bore me. Azumanga Daioh scores somewhat low on this point.

7. Directing - All I ask is that there not be any major mistakes. I don't ask for technical genius in this field, but if such genius does occur, then extra brownie points are awarded. If no glaring mistakes are made, the show will pass this point.

8. Voice Acting - I don't really care too much about who's doing the voices, as I don't usually pay too much attention to famous seiyuus and stuff. So long as the voice fits the character, I couldn't care less who's doing it. Although, sometimes a series gets bonus points for particularly amusing aspects of this field, such as the same seiyuus playing the lead characters for both Shakugan no Shana and Zero no Tsukaima.

All the examples I used were anime that I particularly enjoyed, just to show that a series doesn't have to pass with flying colors in all categories. For a show to earn my disfavor, it has to perform sub-par on a multitude of categories, although sometimes characters alone will kill a series.

[DanielSong39]

Ultimately it comes down to whether you enjoyed the work.

Plot and characters are two major factors; animation quality, effective use of visuals, music, and voice acting are all important as well.

But sometimes you'll come across anime that has all those factors - and you may still dislike the show for some reason. Be honest with yourself and give that anime a low score, because it simply didn't work for you.

In contrast, even an anime that may have second-rate production deserves a high rating from you if it provided with you a lot of entertainment. It's perfectly OK to rate Lovedol ~ Lovely Idol over Suzumiya Haruhi if you enjoyed the former show more. After all, these are YOUR ratings, not someone else's.

[Goofus Maximus]

I'm have different things I look for in anime, and I look for different things in different anime. For instance, I wouldn't be too picky about visual looks in anime like Azumanga Daioh, while look of the anime is really important in anime like Ergo Proxy.

Mostly, I look at whether the anime hit's the themes it's going for, whether that theme is comedy (Azumanga Daioh, or Kenichi), mystery/suspence (Monster, or Ergo Proxy), action (Kenichi, or Busou Renkin), and/or relaxing slice of life (Aria the Animation, or Quiet Country Cafe).

I dislike chibi-fication of charactors in the more serious/pretentious anime, and the over-use of chibi in general. Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge is really bad about using chibi/cheesy charactor versions too much, for instance. Watching Sunako-chan switching between "escapee from a leggo set", mid-chibi, and full charactor, is really jarring to me. Aria's frequent switches into "round-face" are annoying to me as well.

I don't like Ghost Hunt's method of leaving me hanging at suspenseful moments, but it has me hooked, so I suffer through it with an ill-temper.

[4Tran]

There's three different categories for rating Anime (or any other work). How much one enjoys the work, how much one likes the work, and how good the work is based in a more objective sense. It's quite possible for a single person to rate a show completely differently for each category. For example, Ikkitousen is a really bad show with almost no redeeming qualities, with fanservice in rather poor taste. However, I still liked the characters, and I enjoyed watching it. On the other end of the scale, Gungrave is almost certainly a good show, but it's also one that I couldn't stand.


The main criteria I use to judge any show are as follows (in order of importancce):

1. Character - if the characters don't work, there's not a whole lot one can get from a show. Likewise, really good characters can save an otherwise bad show.
2. Writing

Far less important factors:
3. Dialogue
4. Plot
5. Themes/Mood

Standout features add to a show's quality - anything that makes a show stand out, or something that a show does particularly well (for example, really good music or animation or artwork, or exceptional direction). The lack of standout features don't necessarily detract from a show. Likewise stupidity is a big minus. How much of one is dependent on the type of stupidity and the nature of the show.

[Mueti]

I don't really analyse why I like or dislike a particular show. Of course it'll have to with characters, plot, animation, soundtrack (I actually think this the music is quite important), and else but when it comes down to how I rate something at the end, it's basically gut feeling.