Its tough being a reviewer.

I know its kinda selfish of me but I just want to know if anyone is even reading the reviews. I know i read my fair share of reviews here before I couldn't take the bad reviews anymore and started writing them myself. I'll probably have to rewatch my entire collection to put a fair review of each one but it just feels like no one will see them cause thier old. How can you tell if anyone is even reading them? How do you guys write them knowing that it might never be seen?

I guess I just want a little recognition cause i'm extremely funny in my reviews. Oh well. Just forget I even put this up.

Just look at the right side most visited yesterday. Those are the ones being read the most.

I notice that everyday and its always about the same titles. I don't know why Gravitation is on there but thats another story. All three of those list never really change.

The "most visited yesterday" site does not really change. Most of the visitors to this site are the casuals who are following up on what they saw in their local Walmart or Best Buy or what they heard was 'cool' from their friends. Green numbers means more visitors than yesterday and RED means less visitors.

I created and posted the DCap II - 2nd season about four days ago and you posted the only review. The web page has gotten 50 hits so far. Not bad for a series that has already ended in June and 'not new'.

The series Asu no Yoichi! is so new that it does not have a release date yet - so only people in the 'know' have heard about it and but already the web page has scored 460hits.

But to answer your question ... YES writing anime reviews is mostly a thankless job.

If you get really bored, you can always find a nasty little piece of anime and then wack the dickens out of it ... It is fun and gets rid of the frustrations of week. Example - really bad anime 1 and I really like the way ICEMAN bounced off my review in Ninin ga Shinobuden

Edited on 08/25/2008 09:38 PM.

Oh ... if you want to write a review for something that is going to take off - try writing one for Seirei no Moribito. The series is great, but severely underrated. But it is being aired on Adult Swim - Saturday nite, so it is going to generate some interest. (Is anyone watching adult swim any more? I have gotten bored with all of the repeats and stopped watching it.)

Those 50 hits were probably all mine since I updated it after nearly every sentence and checked what it looked like. All my Da Capo reviews were extensive and detailed as well as extremely funny (I'm laughing just thinking about the things I said on them)(^ ^). I'm proud of them since I just started this reviewing thing. Did the vets on this site (Jan-chan, Forbin, Devil Doll, Stretch, and AstroNerdBoy, read them is what i like to know and did you like how I wrote them? I know you guy have other anime to deal with but I thought they were funny as hell (of coarse I would say my own reviews were funny) LOL. Since the other reviews of Da Capo were bad reviews and didn't give credit where credit was due!

Edited on 08/25/2008 08:46 PM.

Da Capo is going to be the next anime I'll be watching, triggered by your activities reviewing it (I tried not to read your texts thoroughly in order not to get spoiled too much), just like Stretch triggered me into Night Wizard.

Edited on 08/25/2008 09:22 PM.

Thats what i'm talking about. (^ ^) LOL You'll love it, I promise. Thanks Devil Doll.

Edited on 08/25/2008 09:18 PM.

Looks like Da Capo will have to compete with Kanon (2006), Shuffle! and Clannad (TV) to do that.

I really try to read all the reviews posted and I did look at your Da Cappo II (briefly). I will admit that I tried to watch Da Cappo II, but I just did not like it. But I did read your other reviews and yes, they were fun. It seems like you enjoy sharing your opinions about your likes and dislikes.

Edited on 08/25/2008 09:44 PM.

You seeeeeeeeee. I told you. Thanks Jan-Chan.

And for Devil Doll: Da Capo will make you forget about Clannad (though it was good) through sheer length and storyline but I'm not sure if it matches or beats the MASTERPIECE Kanon 2006 and the LEGENDARY Shuffle. (legendary shuffle is another joke in case you missed that) (^ ^)

Edited on 08/25/2008 10:28 PM.

I know I read the reviews of others. I give more weight to reviewers who've been around for a long time (and frequently write new reviews) as to whether or not I'll try out something I hadn't previously considered though (I have such a huge backlog as it is of anime I need to watch). But yeah, I do check out what people write, including yourself, Xenoknight. ^_^

Thank you kindly AstroNerdBoy. I've seen gallons of animes but i just now started reviewing them. You can trust my word as I've seen a tremendous amount already, and i'm watching one now and checking this site every few minutes. (multi-tasking genius, I know)

Edited on 08/25/2008 10:46 PM.

I generally read the reviews of shows which I've also reviewed, to see if others agreed with me or if I've been exposed as the charlatain that I really am. It was a great relief that DD liked Night Wizard in the end, since DD is a much better reviewer than I am. Anyway, I read your reviews of Guardian Hearts and Guardian Hearts Power Up this morning. I took a look at your review of Da Capo II, since I also watched it, but it was so lengthy and in depth that I didn't read it all, since I've already largely forgotten what that show was about. Often times I wonder if anybody is really reading my reviews as well. How many of the "hits" they get are just people who quickly decide that this is nothing they're interested in and move on? But I wouldn't be doing this in the first place if I didn't enjoy it.

LOL thanks anyway Stretch. I always get carried away with writing. its not like I enjoy writing essays or anyting. I think I have some Hemmingway (i think that's his name - the guy in history that always gets carried away and goes into detail everytime) in me.

Edited on 08/26/2008 11:33 AM.

Hits from reviewers on series they've revewied are not counted, I don't believe. Mostly what the "most visited yesterday" reflects is the series that the site shows up the best in Google for.

You can see how many times total a series has been viewed by looking in the upper right of the review page, you'll see a "stats" box. The first three are general site stats, but the final one is "Viewed:" which shows you the total number of times that entry has been looked at.

First off - this is not a criticism, but rather a sempai sharing some their experiences with another reviewer.

I want to share a few things to think about and keep in mind when writing a review. These tips are items that I learned in my various writing classes and that I try to practice when writing both here and at my job.

(1) Who is your audience? Our audience is actually a casual visitor to this site who is trying to do research on an anime title. In all likelihood, it is a boy aged 14 to 18 years who has been exposed to but not seriously engrossed in anime.

Keep your audience in mind when writing a review. What are you are trying to say about this series that will help them to either like a series or not like it?

(2) Write what you are going to say off line .. then take a break and come back with a fresh mind and read it as if you were seeing it for the first time (I read my reviews out loud). I usually do this several times before making a review posting. It is a trick that saves me from revisiting my review a dozen times to have to clean up the minor typos.

(3) Is there a difference between writing a review and blogging? The longer and more complicated a review is, the more likely the reader will be to skip over it. Figure that you have about 2minutes of read time in which you have captured the readers attention. What can you say during this time?

Typically we stay or stick to the 'general' series summary in the review area. There is a EPISODE DETAIL section in the web page which designed to permit us to talk at about each episode in detail and at length. Here are some samples -

Kanon 2006 ep1

Kannon (original) Ep1

Suzuka EP1

And ANB has taken their personal rants and episodes comments offsite -

ANB Slayers blog

(4) While there might be a number of 'polite courtesies' and minor rules at our web site, there is only one major rule that you should be aware of. You have not broken it, nor do I see you ever breaking it but it should be mentioned.

Courtesy and respect of other reviewers and their opinions at all times.

It is ok to disagree with other reviewers, tease them perhaps or even slip them a really strange look or two, but FLAME WARS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.

There one reviewer who, while being a good writer and a fun read, always included their personal opinions of the other reviewers and how stooooopid they thought their reviews were. After a number of complaints and attempts to reason with them, Rebecca (our site host) just flagged their reviews so that they did not appear. A real nasty solution!! He can write and rant all they want, just no one will ever see their comments.

Otherwise you are doing great and I look to forward to reading your reviews.

Edited on 08/26/2008 02:02 PM.

Ouch, but I get you. I should be more formal i guess as I figured I was having too much fun on here. I can't do those one paragraph reviews though. It just doesn't feel right when there is so much to say if the anime was good.

Edited on 08/26/2008 02:10 PM.

I started doing those episode reviews here actually. However, I was never that keen on the format (and that's nothing against Rebecca) which is why I created a personal blog. Also, it gave me an opportunity to write a single article about an anime or manga issue rather than re-write things on the various boards I hit. ^_^;

As to 1-paragraph reviews...lol You certainly don't have to do that, Xenoknight. Whenever I write short reviews here, it usually means the anime I watched wasn't that impressive.

NO NO NO .. you are misunderstanding me ... you are doing fine .. you reviews are OK and if they are longer than mine .. then that is OK too ... just try to remember who your audience is.

And the talk about formality is BS ... I have gotten down right personal and nasty on a series too. It is fun. You seem to be adding a few paragraphs to each episode that you what .. but step back at the end of the series and look at your review on the whole.

It is YOUR review and you have done nothing wrong ... in fact I think your reviews are great... I am a technical writer and suffer from a chronic condition of having my thumb up my ass, which has me wacking myself about getting my reviews tighter and cleaner. It is not a good thing, because some of my reviews sound like some soulless generic technical manual.

Don't take my comments personal ... I am just trying to offer some tips and share my experience.

And you are worried about your reviews being too long and complicated .. then check out some of DD's reviews. They are amazingly detailed, infused with his insight and mulitiple off-site links and are purely his style. We all like reading his reviews and I strongly suspect that he does not care if his reviews get lost on or are beyond the understanding of the average mundane neo-anime pleb.

Edited on 08/26/2008 02:39 PM.

I just wanted to point out that I have absolutely no qualifications to be a professional reviewer. When I got into anime I was awed by the reviews at other websites which seemed to have been written by people with a degree in literary criticism or something like that. I wanted to try to do something like that, but clearly wouldn't be anywhere near as good at it. Mikomi seemed a site which welcomed amateurs like myself, since many reviews were little more than a sentence or two written by people who knew little about spelling or grammar.

When I really love a show I may do fancy reviews of every episode, like this: Area 88 (TV) episode 4
This takes a lot of time and effort, so I don't do it so often anymore.

Sometimes I compile brief notes on a clipboard while watching a show, such as episode 6 of Yakushiji Ryoko no Kaiki Jikenbo:

dodging SMG bullets
This is f-----g insane
Salamander-why so big?
Makes no sense--was it supposed to be funny?
episode 5 (robot) was pretty good

These are just sort of reminders of thoughts which occured to me, to keep me from forgetting them before the next time I log on here.

I know Jan-Chan, I know. Don't worry about it. I just figured quantity = quality when it comes to reviews. If its long then the anime must be great. Thats how I started choosing which anime to watch from this site. Like I said, I got some Hemmingway in me so I can't help it. By the time I look at the page, its already too late.

What I normally do is an episode by episode summary then when I finish the anime I go back and take out useless information and try to tone it down by removing some spoilors here and there so I don't feed the reader the entire story. When an anime is the normal 12-26 episode length, it gets the works, while OVAs (often bad anyway) and movies get quick thoughts.

Edited on 08/26/2008 03:00 PM.

Oh .. just a quick after thought ...

What would happen if you decide that your 'audience' is yourself? Or your grandmother? Or your best friend? And then you write your reviews for them?

I have often been tempted to post a review in form of a Dear John Letter addressed to a character in an anime series. Or perhaps as a letter of complaint addressed to an anime company. Or even an off-the-wall psycho rant in a style reflective of the disturbed nature of a troubled main character who might appear in one of the more strange anime series.

We really have no rules at this site and no standards as to 'what a review should be' ... This is our play space, do what you want...

Edited on 08/27/2008 11:41 AM.

@AstroNerdBoy "I started doing those episode reviews here actually. However, I was never that keen on the format"

Ya, they were added as an after thought and I've never really spent any time rethinking them. And since then, fixing them has never seemed as important as other things.

(this posting contained a truckload of desert sand)

Edited on 09/01/2008 03:42 PM.

Whoa, I need a glass of water after reading that. LOL. I want to ask if you do get paid (if not on this site then somewhere else) because that was a little much in the "serious" department. LOL

Edited on 08/27/2008 09:40 AM.

Hummmm .... this web site is like of one of those dating-sim animes that you enjoy so much. Imagine yourself in the center role (typically male) and surrounded by a friendly group of colorful and slightly bizarre other characters ......

In my experience, it's the average shows that tend to get the most brief reviews, probably because I simply can't think of a lot to say about them. I'm too lazy to systematically analyse each and every element (animation, characters, music, etc), so I pretty much just point out what seemed unusual to me--unusually good or unusually bad. Average shows by definition have few of these so there's not much to mention.

LOL

Did you all see how I "fixed" my Night Wizard review?

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats Stretch for you. Your funny as hell man. That was rich. LOL

Edited on 08/27/2008 05:45 PM.

To use your own words - Brilliant! Bravo! Excellent! Superb!

I would like to compliment your review of School Days (ONA). Your review up-sells the single episode ONA, but then you short-sell the episode and rate it as a simple watch because it did not meet your criteria.

You have broken through a barrier - in which a reviewer can both like and dis-like a series/episode at the same time..... but more important - you stayed true to your values..... You openly praised a series or episode with a glowing review, but then admitted to yourself that the series does not rate a BUY rating...

To quote your own words ... it is tough being a(n anime) reviewer .....

Edited on 09/02/2008 09:15 AM.

Thanks Jan-Chan. Its only one episode so it has to be a watch I suppose. I myself wouldn't pay for one episode unless they "sweeten" the deal with something else. As for the episode, It was incredible and I wish they didn't use this work of art for the School Days franchise because if they used this for some other anime, I would've been a brilliant love story. Since we know School Days for what it is, this episode is almost a waste if you think about it.

I know there will never be a first ep. as powerful as this one for years in any anime to come so it really is a shame.

I should mention school days episode one in my notes.

Thanks for the Code Geass clean up Jan-Chan. (LOL) (^ ^)

I was in a rush to get back to finishing xxxHOLiC...

Edited on 10/19/2008 11:47 AM.

That's a spirit booster... (^ ^) At least it works properly. (of coarse I knew that already)

To those who have been paying attention to the right hand side links under stats; Did you notice what changed today?

To those who haven't been paying attention; Take a look at "Most visited yesterday..."

If you can't figure it out, take a look at the title in the post above this one.

Edited on 10/19/2008 01:30 PM.

Today the sequel was added!

As things are heating up with certain titles coming to an end and new titles about to step into the spotlight, that is when my darn computer fails me and im without sound again (this is going to be an everlasting issue for some crazy reason)! This is the worst possible time for this situation and im about to scream at the top of my lungs!!!

Getting my 360 back again doesn't help me from wanting to watch all the current hot titles before the new stuff comes out. I need some help ASAP... V_V

Does anyone know if I need any specs from my computer in order to buy new speakers or sound card or can I just buy new stuff and it'll work regardless? I'm about to just buy them and hope for a miracle because this is the fourth "sound-related" issue ive encountered with this computer of mine...

I'm afraid I don't even know what a "sound card" is. Devil Doll used to be the number one expert on computer problems here at Mikomi, but not anymore.

Sound card? Is your computer old enough to require a 16-bit ISA card (more info here) or does it need a 32-bit PCI sound card (more info here)???

Well .. in any event ... here is a good web site which talks about a number of inexpensive sound cards......

I hope that this helps ...

Edited on 12/31/2008 12:55 PM.

What brand name and model type of computer do you have? If you can provide this type of info, then I might be able to point you a strong, inexpensive and easy solution.

Adding or replacing a card-component of a computer can be tricky ... especially on older computers ... there might be issues such as IRQ settings, motherboard BIOs settings and finding the correct sound card driver that works best with your OS (operating system - such as Win95/XP/Vista)

If you know what you are doing .. then it is as simple as 'plug-n-pray' .... if not, then it can be a real terror ....

Thanks for the input but I found a new RPG (Infinite Undiscovery for the 360) to hold me until I find the courage to face my computer again.

I hate leaving all my anime unfinished like this (it works for some people to leave titles for a few weeks and watch them all at once) but maybe this tragedy can work in my favor in that regard...

I'm completely transfixed with this new game so I don't think I can pry myself away for anything else anyway. I'll log on to continue reviewing dubbed titles (yet another convience of dub) that I can watch on TV, hence Code Geass (wink wink) and other DVD purchases.

I'll be watching everyone on the site when I can so i'm not gone or anything.

Thanks Jan-Chan and I'll take your info to thought when I find my courage again.

Okay, that was a ridiculously long process but everything seems to be back to normal now (except for a non-responsive mouse that is). I found out that my computer (as old as it is) has been well kept and it has a serious amount of extra upgraded RAM that my dad must of added while I wasn't aware. Oh well...

I have sound again and I plan to make up for the time I lost by 10 fold!

That being said, I guess i'll start off with Naruto and Bleach eps.

Just in case anyone was wondering, Infinite Undiscovery was alright but it was no where near as epic as Lost Odessey was...

Thanks Jan-chan for the fix in Kiba. I was worried it was too small.