Wasting Time Writing Bad Reviews
One pet peeve I have when looking for new titles to watch / read is reading the comment section. Now I know these places are filled with spoiler landmines or senseless garble but these occasionally spit out reasonable reviews about what you're getting into. Now it's not really a surprise that my tastes in stories featured on my blog can range from vanilla slice of life to the most depraved stories because it largely depends on the plot and execution of the storytelling.
I mean, people aren't exactly trained to be objective when they're out reviewing the show they just watched most of the time. If you talk to someone about a show they already love, the chances of hearing positive remarks is high over negatives. The same is true if you hear people talk shit about a show that ain't their cup of tea.
Listen, if the tags on the title says there's harem, isekai, ecchi, NTR, and smut or something you don't want to see, maybe you should've just moved on from the title and search elsewhere than complain at the comment section about how the story is a harem, isekai, ecchi, NTR, and smut trash of a story because that's how exactly the author already warned you the story would be.
See this trailer? I made a review about Hentai Kamen
And it's exactly the time of story you'll expect on first impression of the trailer. But even with this obvious tell, some people will get reactions like how it's nothing but a huge waste of time to watch. I get that reaction if I'm talking to someone religious but for some social circles where I talk to degenerates that love a good bizarre comedy film, this is the stuff that gets them high.
I'm saying, no matter how great the story can be, if it's never going to be your cup of tea, it wouldn't be good. And as far as you want to believe you're being objective about your reviews, if you already are predisposed to dislike a genre, it's never going to be a positive experience for your so better to just drop the title than waste your time.
But people want to waste their time so they spend a few minutes of their time consuming the content and arriving the same conclusion with now minutes of their lives they can't get back.
Even the most beautiful stories can get dropped or axed if the art style just sucks so bad. Has anyone seen the original webcomic version of One Punch man before a famous mangaka artist picked it up and made it visually better? the story was great but it's traction wouldn't have reach that far if it didn't get polished. And that's what it means to be objective when it comes to writing reviews, you're not only entertaining everything at face value.
The art can suck, the story's pacing maybe bad, but it's not entirely all that bad when it comes to character development and plot twists. It's conclusions like these can generate me more interest in the title because of strengths and weaknesses are laid out.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, that's their taste. The problem is having people shove down their preferences over your throat on what to like. Take for instance the Yaoi or Yuri genre, I know there's a market for these types of content because they've been booming but I'll wouldn't bother with such titles. And I don't see any productive reason to go into forums denouncing how bad these genre's are for people that do patronize them. But I know there are people out there creating anon accounts just to talk shit about these titles on a forum that's exactly made for people that love these titles.
You go into a community that loves anime and talk shit about anime, you're going to get flak. And that's the same thing with groups of anime lovers patronizing different genre's and subgenre's of anime. Let them have fun in their own space while keeping your intrusive thoughts to yourself.
I made a guide on Writing an Anime Review based on what I think are essentials when selling your story. By story, I mean what title you're trying to endorse. I noticed that people write about their favorite show like everyone else has an idea of what's it about or has heard of that anime. I swear, some of the users here are out of touch when it comes to being an audience. If I happen to be someone that doesn't know what a Naruto, Demons Slayer or Bleach is, and the first impression of the show I have to go on are some of the posts shared here, I won't watch it.
There's more to writing than plainly saying "this show is interesting" how interesting is interesting to you? show not tell, what does the character or story showcase that makes it so distinct from the other shows, what's the value behind the gist? is it a slice of life isekai story but actually a love letter to cosmic horror?
Think about your posts when you're trying to introduce a title and how it comes across to audiences that encountered the title for the first time. How would you react if you encountered your own writing? would you be interested in searching for the title if it was endorsed to you the way you write? That's how small improvements happen.
I don't frame my reviews with long winded plot lines and go straight to the core of what the story is about. If people are going to be interested in the premise of the show, they'll read further and maybe pause at the spoilers to see for it themselves. But for people that want to know more and don't mind getting spoiled, the manner of your writing can either make of break an audience's interest.
I've read reviews here that were good stories but ended up looking bad because the review post just fails to generate that much hype. It's easy to tell if someone is just writing an essay, like a post becomes their assignment so that they can get graded by upvotes. I don't want to spend my time grilling some posts that had potential but written bad. It might be just authors trying to figure out their own style to their reviews or really are just bad shitposters. You can still use the "it's my post and I'll do the hell I want with it card" as an excuse for not doing things better but it's been months since you started writing like this and I'm not seeing any improvements at all (my inner curator intrusive thoughts just wants to torch lit the post) and yet I will get a reaction that you're disappointed at the lack of upvotes for a botched work?
Yeah, just wanted to air out some frustrations about how some people in the community expect so much for their outputs.
Thanks for your time.
One thing with movie reviews is, that some reviewers don't belong to the demographics of the intended audience.
A slapstick comedy can be deemed senseless by the adult viewers. However, when kids watch them, they will giggle and laugh and enjoy the movie. That's because they are the target audience.
Like the trailer you shared here... you are right, some will dismiss this as a complete waste by some viewers. But others will be highly entertained by this weird vigilante wearing only his underwear!
I think this guy is the Japanese version of Captain Underpants... Then again, how should I know? I haven't seen that movie either...
Or maybe they are distant relative... or probable half-siblings.... hehehe
Hentai Kamen consists of two movies, it's a fun to watch show with friends over Friday night wanting some good laugh. I say everything has a target market and if it's not your cup of tea, then you're not its intended market.
I'm really not good in giving reviews; movies, kdrama series or anime series - that's the reason why I don't share much about them. I can say a lot in my head while watching them but when it comes to typing it down, diyan na nabablanko utak ko, lol. Although I enjoy that series or movies, I can't express it anymore, through writing, para to share sana to others. Madali man syang eexplain nalang yong plot pero sa super daming mga pangyayari sa series and sa dami kong gustong sabihin, I dont know where to focus na the reviews. If I share a lot baka makwento ko na buong series, lol. Sometimes I don't even know where to start and how I will start my review 😆. Wala lang share ko lang. Salamat sa guide, I'll try to copy that, baka ma improve din ang pag reviews ko.
Sa daming magandang series na napanood ko (for me lang ha maganda sila,) I really really want to share them but I'm so naaalangan coz I find it mahirap din. Writing a reviews is not that easy, especially a lot can read it and some has their own opinion on particular anime. I'm not sure din if what I see or how I understand those movies and series is same ba sa kanila. Kaya mejo nakakaalangan din talaga 😆
There's nothing wrong with not knowing how to do it right from the start. It's the process of attempting and keep getting better at it. I didn't start with making reviews blind, I checked how others do it here, off the platform, and other anime news feeds then snipped out the stuff that are applicable to my blogging style. You compare what you can and can't do then settle for things you can do at the moment then work on stuff you don't have now. There's no time bounded deadline since it's hobby posting.
There's also no right way to write a review since it's mostly a subjective experience. If your review is in favor or against the show, that's your opinion and you're entitled to it. But what I can pitch in is the manner of presentation and how you articulate those ideas for your readers. As a curator, I don't really care if we have opposing view on the same title, I'm more concerned if you have mastery on the show you're talking about. But that's just my opinion and way of curation. I everyone else has a different approach on evaluating posts or what speaks quality for them.
Gotta be careful with that. You see how @ruffatotmeee mentioned they aren't that good at going into detail? There are a lot of people on Hive that just don't have the experience nor interest in really being able to dissect something and create something a curator may consider of 'great quality'. I had that mentality for a bit and it was pretty much engraved into me from others, but I realised that the idea of quality is really subjective on here and falling into that odd assumption of what it is can be quite damaging for communities. Especially when top earners on here are posting things of significantly less quality than the average person does, even being the people that try to tell others what quality is and how to post.
That is always inevitable too. Partially with how people sometimes see that disconnect. Some people can post 400 words of something of similar quality and make $20, they do the same and barely break a dollar. Hive's just weird that way.
Definitely something I keep in mind most of the time. I'll never argue against someone's version of quality unless there is a specific criteria both parties have agreed on. There were close calls and the triggers were often from authors that have been posting for months to years, authors asking for votes, authors wondering why no votes, and it's mostly something related to people's mismatched expectations on what they can create versus what they provide. I know not everyone is a content creator or tries to do their best to be one but it wouldn't hurt to see some gradual improvement over the course of their stay.
I've seen some authors that really do improve and that's great but what grinds my gears are authors that didn't have a good start and just quit being active at the community because there's no instant gratification. One or two posts down the line, it would have been easy for me to nominate their post, doesn't even matter that quality is the same, if I see they compensate for engaging with others that's already good in my book.
But I'm not going to deny that I really want to read some good reviews for titles I'm not familiar or have skipped, maybe there's like this second chance I could find the show worth watching based on their sales talk.
I'm not really sold on the idea that quality posts should be the staple content to be rewarded on the platform. We can agree not everyone can be as a prolific writer as the top earners and sometimes it's not really proof of brain that twerks on the curation game, sometimes it's just one opinion that gets a large vote trail that dictates the outcome.
But what I do want to see is an author's attitude towards their own blog, do they show personality, do they engage, what else do they do that affects the community around them, these things make it easy to have some conviction to reward them because we're investing in these community members and not on their content. When someone is really into what they're writing, it shows in the choice of words and personality. The feeling that I'm not really interested in the product but because the one selling it to me has a good sales aura going, I wouldn't mind rewarding their effort.
Oh yeah I agree there. I meant that there should be a constant change in the types of authors that appear and the posts they make. Contributing to that idea that the posts they make can be more subjective in rewards. The whole idea of curation in curation guilds is absolutely broken, in my opinion. The rules implemented into curators come from those that barely act them out themselves. As is typical in hive: friends come first, content is an after thought.
I can have fun with a series and not recommend it to most people (see my Redo of Healer review for an example of this while writing about it and watching was such a fun experience), but I mostly agree. If I don’t find enough merit in a series to write about, even if I enjoyed it, I typically won’t. It’s not fun to force myself to write anything that just doesn’t have enough to it for me to desire to write about it. That’s the key point, I have to desire to do it.
There are a small handful of series that I may post about in the future but not enjoying watching is part of the fun of doing it. It’s wonderful when a show isn’t for me but it existing enriched my life in some form.
Example: Madoka Magicka is a wonderful series that does most of what I enjoy in the type of series it is, but it’s a hate watch I’ll probably go through about 10 more times in my life. It’s special for me 😹
I just want people to tell me if its good or not.
With or without spoilers, doesn't matter to me xD
Long reviews are boring for me :c
Stayten would never approve of this.
What. He likes me. I got no worries!
I came to a similar conclusion recently. For many years I "fought" such reviews (mainly from newbies or reviewers I don't like) and criticized them. I mean, not reviews (unless they were badly written), but anime, movies, series. Today I know it's stupid. Since I stopped doing it for the test, I noticed that some of my frustrations disappeared. In this way, we breed bad traits, we learn to react to frustrations/nerves in a bad way and we forget that everyone watches something they want and has the right to their own opinion. Despite changes in worldview, I still think that people abuse this slogan a bit, but it is the truth. Even people who only like to watch SERIOUS series xD sometimes want to see something for fun. And the very question of what we like is such a random thing that depends on our experiences, emotions, requirements... There are much more incomparably more interesting things in the world than whining about such nonsense.
Good text. ;)
True. The comment sections where I expect some decent review about the titles were either filled with spam or useless garble I can't work with. Something like trash MC, wtf harem, the hell with NTR? in some titles that specifically tagged these stories as exactly what they are complaining about as if the plot summary wasn't a dead giveaway. Why do I even bother? probably just curious if my tastes are still alright based on how everyone else reacts but none of this stuff really matters. We just watch what we like and move on our merry way.
I've had two attempts to write an answer, but it doesn't make sense. These would be truisms and repeating what I wrote and you wrote, with a little bit of new content. It's a pity that people only understand the saying (or other similar sayings) "live and let live" only after some time. ;)
If a lot of reviewers just go straight answering those questions, it would create a better review. I hate reading long-winded plot that I can find anywhere online. But I think these days, some people I came across improved their reviews, which is a good thing. The problem that I am seeing these days esp with anime is that, reviewers assuming that we "know" of said anime :D
This. This. This is what really frustrates me more recently. I can forgive typos and grammar because it's helped with automated translation but if the presentation assumes you've seen the show, a lot of the good parts go missing due to misplaced context and it's just frustrating to read. I have to google the show or watch for a few minutes. They're not helping themselves if they make it hard for readers/curators.