Anime Reviews: What This is All About
Anime Reviews:
What This is All About!
After wrapping up sampling and reviewing every subtitled anime show for the previous year, it's time get crackin' on 2011! This is simply a quick explanation of what these anime reviews are all about.
My goal is to attempt to watch and review every single anime show that has been subtitled into English for the entire year of 2011. The reviews are grouped into four season, starting with the Winter 2011 Season, which includes all shows that debuted between December 22nd, 2010 and March 21st, 2011.
Included for review are the following:
- The first episodes of all weekly television series, including second/third/fourth seasons or returning shows.
- Every feature-length movie (60 minutes or longer)
- The first episodes of all OVAs (Original Video Animation), ONA (Original Net Animation), or OAD (Original Animation DVD)
Excluded from review are the following:
- Pornography or hentai shows (anything that could be rated NC-17 or XXX)
- Any yaoi or hardcore "boys-love" shows (where the guy-on-guy relationship is a major part of the show)
- Special extra "bonus" episodes of already-existing series, omake, DVD special features, "Picture dramas", or similar ancillary material
Looking back at 2010, I quickly reviewed somewhere north of 150 different shows, starting in April, almost exactly a year ago. If you want, you can go back and browse through all the old reviews. But in the end, I put together a "Top 20 Best Shows of 2010" list, broken down into four parts: part 1 (#20 to #16), part 2 (#15 to #11), part 3 (#10 to #6), and part 4 (#5 to #1). Conversely, I also suffered through the "Top 20 Worst Shows of 2010", also broken down into four parts: part 1 (#20 to #16), part 2 (#15 to #11), part 3 (#10 to #6), and part 4 (#5 to #1).
Looking forward, here's my very quick preview of the Winter 2011 Season. I'll watch and then review each of the first episodes that are available; the reviews of the first episodes will have plenty of pictures and longer descriptions, and in the end each show will get a simple "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down". This time around, I plan on being pretty lenient and between 2/3rds and 3/4ths of all shows will probably get a thumbs-up, and move on to the "second round". I will then watch and review the second episodes (if and when available) for those that received a passing grade the first time around, once again giving a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, with a little stricter criteria and judgmental eye. The process then continues with third, fourth and future episodes (where available), weeding out the good from the bad shows as I progress along. The reviews of later episodes will have fewer pictures and shorter descriptions.
Yes, yes, I know that I am getting a very, very, very late start (about three months behind), but that's just the way it is. Because I am jumping in to the shows so late, I am going to quickly review the first episodes of the Winter 2011 shows, then immediately launch into the Spring 2011 season while concurrently checking out the second episodes of the Winter season. I don't want to fall too far behind, after all.
Furthermore, throughout the course of the year there will be a trickle of shows from 2010 that will eventually get subtitled (for example, I *just* downloaded "Welcome to the Space Show"), and a couple of long-running series from 2010 that I am still watching with new episodes in 2011 (Gundam: Unicorn, Broken Blade, Yozakura Quartet). As they become available, I'll review those as well. Once each season (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall) is finished up, I'll give a review spotlighting the best and the worst, as well as a status update. And at the end of the year, I'll do another "Best of" and "Worst of" list!
Anyway, that's just a quick look at what these Anime Reviews are all about, and what I have planned in the future. Please be aware that I am always chronically late, so if you're looking for timely reviews, there's plenty of other sites for that (I like checking out Random Curiosity, Star-Crossed Anime Blog, Sea Slugs, Emory Anime Club, Hanners' Anime Blog, Moetron, Otaku Review, and that's just for starters). On with the show!
As always, comments are appreciated, although please note that I have to "screen" comments due to incessant Russian Livejournal spammers.
A little about me: I'm a bit different from most reviewers, in that I've been watching anime on and off for a couple of decades, beginning in earnest with the theatrical release of Akira. I worked in the comics industry for about fifteen years, including some (non-creative) office work on some of the early translated manga. If a show is based on a manga series, video game or light novel, there's also a 95% chance I'm not familiar with the source material (especially more recent material), so comparing the anime to the original is meaningless to me. While many reviewers get hung up on well-known production studios, directors or voice actors, that rarely means much to me. I am also not a big fan with many of the "standards" in anime, such as giant robots/mecha, harem shows, "moe" characters, magical girl shows, sentai teams, or historical samurai dramas. If you want to get a better idea of my tastes, go back and check out the "Top 20" and "Worst 20" lists for 2010 links above.
What This is All About!
After wrapping up sampling and reviewing every subtitled anime show for the previous year, it's time get crackin' on 2011! This is simply a quick explanation of what these anime reviews are all about.
My goal is to attempt to watch and review every single anime show that has been subtitled into English for the entire year of 2011. The reviews are grouped into four season, starting with the Winter 2011 Season, which includes all shows that debuted between December 22nd, 2010 and March 21st, 2011.
Included for review are the following:
- The first episodes of all weekly television series, including second/third/fourth seasons or returning shows.
- Every feature-length movie (60 minutes or longer)
- The first episodes of all OVAs (Original Video Animation), ONA (Original Net Animation), or OAD (Original Animation DVD)
Excluded from review are the following:
- Pornography or hentai shows (anything that could be rated NC-17 or XXX)
- Any yaoi or hardcore "boys-love" shows (where the guy-on-guy relationship is a major part of the show)
- Special extra "bonus" episodes of already-existing series, omake, DVD special features, "Picture dramas", or similar ancillary material
Looking back at 2010, I quickly reviewed somewhere north of 150 different shows, starting in April, almost exactly a year ago. If you want, you can go back and browse through all the old reviews. But in the end, I put together a "Top 20 Best Shows of 2010" list, broken down into four parts: part 1 (#20 to #16), part 2 (#15 to #11), part 3 (#10 to #6), and part 4 (#5 to #1). Conversely, I also suffered through the "Top 20 Worst Shows of 2010", also broken down into four parts: part 1 (#20 to #16), part 2 (#15 to #11), part 3 (#10 to #6), and part 4 (#5 to #1).
Looking forward, here's my very quick preview of the Winter 2011 Season. I'll watch and then review each of the first episodes that are available; the reviews of the first episodes will have plenty of pictures and longer descriptions, and in the end each show will get a simple "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down". This time around, I plan on being pretty lenient and between 2/3rds and 3/4ths of all shows will probably get a thumbs-up, and move on to the "second round". I will then watch and review the second episodes (if and when available) for those that received a passing grade the first time around, once again giving a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, with a little stricter criteria and judgmental eye. The process then continues with third, fourth and future episodes (where available), weeding out the good from the bad shows as I progress along. The reviews of later episodes will have fewer pictures and shorter descriptions.
Yes, yes, I know that I am getting a very, very, very late start (about three months behind), but that's just the way it is. Because I am jumping in to the shows so late, I am going to quickly review the first episodes of the Winter 2011 shows, then immediately launch into the Spring 2011 season while concurrently checking out the second episodes of the Winter season. I don't want to fall too far behind, after all.
Furthermore, throughout the course of the year there will be a trickle of shows from 2010 that will eventually get subtitled (for example, I *just* downloaded "Welcome to the Space Show"), and a couple of long-running series from 2010 that I am still watching with new episodes in 2011 (Gundam: Unicorn, Broken Blade, Yozakura Quartet). As they become available, I'll review those as well. Once each season (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall) is finished up, I'll give a review spotlighting the best and the worst, as well as a status update. And at the end of the year, I'll do another "Best of" and "Worst of" list!
Anyway, that's just a quick look at what these Anime Reviews are all about, and what I have planned in the future. Please be aware that I am always chronically late, so if you're looking for timely reviews, there's plenty of other sites for that (I like checking out Random Curiosity, Star-Crossed Anime Blog, Sea Slugs, Emory Anime Club, Hanners' Anime Blog, Moetron, Otaku Review, and that's just for starters). On with the show!
As always, comments are appreciated, although please note that I have to "screen" comments due to incessant Russian Livejournal spammers.
A little about me: I'm a bit different from most reviewers, in that I've been watching anime on and off for a couple of decades, beginning in earnest with the theatrical release of Akira. I worked in the comics industry for about fifteen years, including some (non-creative) office work on some of the early translated manga. If a show is based on a manga series, video game or light novel, there's also a 95% chance I'm not familiar with the source material (especially more recent material), so comparing the anime to the original is meaningless to me. While many reviewers get hung up on well-known production studios, directors or voice actors, that rarely means much to me. I am also not a big fan with many of the "standards" in anime, such as giant robots/mecha, harem shows, "moe" characters, magical girl shows, sentai teams, or historical samurai dramas. If you want to get a better idea of my tastes, go back and check out the "Top 20" and "Worst 20" lists for 2010 links above.