“Whether or not criticism is an art form in itself, whether subjective opinions should be completely removed from an objective review, whether a critic should also be an artist and vice versa – those aren’t questions I hope to answer. Those are questions that professionals in the field have spent hundreds of years trying to answer, and will likely never come to a single, concrete conclusion.”

I don’t understand, first of all, how this is a relevant concern. Secondly, there’s no such thing as an objective review, and words like “should” evoke an instantaneous subjective connotation. Thirdly, I don’t think there would be any value to a conclusion about the potential superiority of critical artists over artistic critics (or vice versa). However, there is value to writing what you want to write and reacting to the readers that you receive. Fourthly, and finally, I’m going to exit the front of the stage and return to my seat.

I think there’s one factor being left out of this animeblogging criticism idea, and that is the actual writer. No matter how [non]pro-style a criticism may be, it allows the community, or whoever reads it, in on the perspective of that writer. This builds relations.

If I read some technically great criticism, but don’t really connect, I lose interest. The other route is debate, but even with agreeing, one can still not connect… entirely possible. Then again, I could read someone’s 2.5 sentence “paragraph” criticism on episode Q and if it enlightens me, I applaud, psychologically.

Some people are just magical. ^_^

Ryan As last blog post..Sweet 日本語

@ kadian1364: I think that’s enough of an admission in itself. I’m glad that our work is of value to more than just ourselves, and I hope that the blogosphere as a whole continues to provide insight on all manners of the medium.

@ animekritik: I guess you could call it critical, but having read Super Fani, I felt obligated to put something in there to make it obvious that I’m not trying to do what they do :P

@ IKnight: Well, I still like to think that all art can have some form of criticism for it, and at the very least, it has the power to entertain. Incidentally, you also cleared up a few questions that I didn’t even know I had about the difference between an analysis and a review.

@ Pontifus: You’re welcome :P
Frankly, I’m not entirely sure what to say about your comment, other than the fact that I agree. Especially since we don’t have the confines of academic standards to abide to, the kind of criticism that we do is largely for the sake of, without any particular end in mind. It also helps our readers, of course, but it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that the act of criticism is what encouraged many critics to continue, rather than the feedback that they receive from it. I’m sure that anyone who has tried to write an analytical blog post on something would agree that the act of writing can teach you a lot, often times much more than you ever thought you knew.

@ gaguri: The good thing about meta, especially the kind of meta that links to Super Fani and The Animanachronism, is that it spawns a plethora of epic comments. As for what you were saying, I’m sure that we all enjoy what we write – we wouldn’t be doing it otherwise. I don’t believe that too many anibloggers have truly crossed the “over-analytical” line, either, because your posts often confuse me as much as animekritik’s or cuchlann’s, and none of you seem to be complaining about one another :P

@ coburn: Well said. I know for a fact that I’ve learned a lot so far in both reading and writing, and lately, I feel as if I haven’t truly completed an anime that I like until I’ve written something on it. I suppose it also functions as a method of organizing one’s thoughts.

@ M12: Actually, I’ve noticed that as well: people, especially those you know in real life, would never really criticize you if you’re bad at something. It can get annoying to be criticized because you’re good, but once you acknowledge the reason behind the criticism, then it’s all right :P

@ Owen S: Well, it’s an honor that you consider this to be an honor :P
Like I think I said, the “why” is an extremely important question, and it’s something that not enough people ask themselves. Your writing helped drive that point home for me, and I started to see why people might like or dislike shows like the Key adaptations, without repetitive comments like “it’s heartbreaking” or “it’s contrived.”

@ Omisyth: Criticism is definitely risky business, but I guess I never bothered to think about the risks when compared to the rewards. It can definitely be dangerous to look too deeply for flaws, but when it comes down to it, a show that I’ve already deemed to be a favourite won’t drop too far in its standing even if I do go nitpicking. Either that, or I just haven’t done it enough yet.

@ moritheil: Thanks! I saw your post, and I swear I’ll read it some time soon!

@ Chris: I think that’s exactly why I still like the Key shows and the visual novel genre as a whole: even though their flaws are blatant, they connect with me emotionally, and that’s what really matters. There’s a fine line between being too subjective and being too objective, and I suppose we’ll spend a long time searching for the right balance between the two.

“I can also understand the train of thought that excessive criticism doesn’t help anyone and hinders the enjoyment of the writer. I’ve long since believed that pure objectivity in ratings is a waste of time, since we’d all end up saying more or less the same thing, and I don’t think that anyone would benefit from the black-and-white “this is good, that is bad” outlook”

This is why for the most part, I only do ongoing reviews of anime that I like or find interesting. Over time I have found that what makes one person like or dislike a certain anime to be a very personal judgment call, does that show touch you on some emotional level? Do you actually like or identify with the characters? Do you actually care about what happens to the characters? If it does, then you’ll probably like the show regardless of the production quality or other issues surrounding the anime.

So, when I first watch a anime I ask myself, “does this show actually make me feel something, or do I really give a damn about the characters?” If I can’t answer “yes” after watching about 3-5 episodes than I won’t bother watching or blogging about the anime. If I had to sum up my blogging/criticism style it would be, does this anime have heart.

Chriss last blog post..White Album 9 review; Touya’s further indiscretions, but also a rant about Yuki.

I am going to have to blog on this, it seems. I will link you!

In fact, criticism on the blogsphere seems to be focused on why we like something rather than why we dislike it. Of course, that’s more to do with our urge to express our thoughts and opinions on something we believe worthy of mentioning, but if we become too embroiled in criticism we may find ourself disliking a show for reasons only apparent after close analysis.

Recently, I commented on digiboy’s when he said Shana had shit animation. I told him it didn’t, he set up his own parameters for “good” animation, justified his claim and proved me wrong. Now, a show that I previously thought had great animation has a blemish on my memory of it, thanks to criticism.

I hate to think what would happen if I looked at Toradora too closely. Perhaps that’s just sweeping the imperfections under the rug, but I don’t want my awesome show of the year to be spoiled by nitpicking.

Omisyths last blog post..A Few Words On Ghost Hunt’s ED (And OP/EDs In General.)

In blogging with this in mind I found myself making a carpet out of a spool of thread in no time, and realised that I enjoyed it. I think there’s too many confused fans out there who aren’t aware why they like what they like, or what exactly it is about what they like that they like, and I wanted to be different in that respect by being an active consumer, not a passive one.

But that’s just me. Glad to hear you liked my archives, although I daresay I’m more than just a little tsundere for them, and like to pretend they were written by someone else with the same name.

Owen Ss last blog post..Wanko to Kurasou, or A Postmodern Patrasche