So, there comes a time in a man's life when he has to bite the bullet and watch anime. This time happened, not for me, but for Tom Clift of Plus Trailers, after many years of me insulting him for not watching anime, and he insulting me for watching too much. So, after much discussion, we decided he should enter anime in a fashion that suits him...With children's movies. Not really, but some would say that Studio Ghibli is akin to Disney, and in some ways it is, but not in all.
Our journey is somewhat chronological, but not completely due to my inability to find some movies either in stores to buy, or to rent. However, Tom's come a long way on what I've shown him so far, and he might even be starting to enjoy watching these films, something he probably will admit to, but not as much as wants to.
After each movie we watch, we're recording a 5-10 minute discussion on it. These will be uploaded to my youtube account, in this playlist, since Tom has the technological savviness of a fish. The discussions can be seen as reviews of sort, but without definate numbers behind them. We hope you enjoy them, and possibly learn a little about what anime is if you don't know, and if you do, maybe revisit the classics.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Rating Systems
Since I'm going to be rating a variety of things, there will be multiple systems in place to rate various media. Similar medias will be rated similarly, such as Movies, Anime, and TV series, or Books and Manga. The systems will be as such:
Movies/Series/Anime
- Plot/10
- Visuals/10 (Animation/10 for anime)
- Sound/10
- Enjoyment/10
- Overall/40
- Pros/Cons
- Letter Grade
Pretty much, the ratings will all be out of 10 for various aspects of the movie or show. Plot will contain the overall story, character likability and development, as well as anything else that I decide falls under it. Visuals will be things like visual effects (explosions and such), camera angles, and overall quality. Animation is much the same but applies only to anime and will include smoothness and style. Sound is everything you hear, from music to sound effects. Enjoyment is an oddball one that will likely not depend on the other ratings, but instead solely on my opinion of the movie. A movie can rate a 10 in every other category but still get a 1 in this one, inversely, it can score abysmally in all other sections but still rate a 10 here (see: The Room directed by Tommy Wiseau). The Overall score will simply be the other categories tallied up and the pros/cons and letter grade will give a short insight to the whole review. The pros will either be many or few and inverse to the amount of cons, while the letter grade will be the simple A+ of stunning to the exclusive F(ail) to the worst of the worst.
Games
- Plot/10
- Gameplay/10
- Sound/10
- Graphics/10
- Enjoyment/10
- Overall/50
- Pros/Cons
- Letter Grade
Games will be rated in a similar fashion to movies, but with a few minor differences. Plot will be the same, as will sound, but graphics will replace visuals, and gameplay is a whole new ball game. Graphics will be scored on how good the game looks and runs. If it looks amazing, but can’t run on anything but a super machine (Crysis is a good example), expect it to garner an average score here, but if it runs well and looks good, it will score well. Gameplay will be how good the game is to play, including factors like controls, camera views, and everything else that goes on when you start playing. Enjoyment will once again be dictated by my opinion alone, but I’ll try and reflect how enjoyable the game can be as well as how enjoyable I find it. Overall, pros/cons and letter grade will all work the same.
Books/Manga
- Plot/10
- Writing/10
- Art/10 (applies only to manga)
- Enjoyment/10
- Overall/30 (/40 for manga)
- Pros/Cons
- Letter Grade
Plot once again works the same way as for the other media, but everything else is different from there. Writing judges how well the book or manga is written, obviously. It includes factors like how descriptive it is, how well dialogue comes across and how easy it is to understand. Art, which will only apply to manga, is much like graphics or visuals from other media. How pretty it is, how well it conveys it’s meaning, and how much it suits the text. Enjoyment, overall, pros/cons and letter grade will all be the same as before.
Music
Unfortunately, music doesn’t have a system yet. I’m working on making one, but it’s proving harder. For now, I probably just won’t be rating anything.
So there you have it, that’s how I’ll be doing all my reviews. Each section will have a short (or maybe long) paragraph explaining the score it got, the ups and down of each bit as it were. If there are any questions, direct them by way of comments, and the same applies to any criticism you may have about the above systems.
Movies/Series/Anime
- Plot/10
- Visuals/10 (Animation/10 for anime)
- Sound/10
- Enjoyment/10
- Overall/40
- Pros/Cons
- Letter Grade
Pretty much, the ratings will all be out of 10 for various aspects of the movie or show. Plot will contain the overall story, character likability and development, as well as anything else that I decide falls under it. Visuals will be things like visual effects (explosions and such), camera angles, and overall quality. Animation is much the same but applies only to anime and will include smoothness and style. Sound is everything you hear, from music to sound effects. Enjoyment is an oddball one that will likely not depend on the other ratings, but instead solely on my opinion of the movie. A movie can rate a 10 in every other category but still get a 1 in this one, inversely, it can score abysmally in all other sections but still rate a 10 here (see: The Room directed by Tommy Wiseau). The Overall score will simply be the other categories tallied up and the pros/cons and letter grade will give a short insight to the whole review. The pros will either be many or few and inverse to the amount of cons, while the letter grade will be the simple A+ of stunning to the exclusive F(ail) to the worst of the worst.
Games
- Plot/10
- Gameplay/10
- Sound/10
- Graphics/10
- Enjoyment/10
- Overall/50
- Pros/Cons
- Letter Grade
Games will be rated in a similar fashion to movies, but with a few minor differences. Plot will be the same, as will sound, but graphics will replace visuals, and gameplay is a whole new ball game. Graphics will be scored on how good the game looks and runs. If it looks amazing, but can’t run on anything but a super machine (Crysis is a good example), expect it to garner an average score here, but if it runs well and looks good, it will score well. Gameplay will be how good the game is to play, including factors like controls, camera views, and everything else that goes on when you start playing. Enjoyment will once again be dictated by my opinion alone, but I’ll try and reflect how enjoyable the game can be as well as how enjoyable I find it. Overall, pros/cons and letter grade will all work the same.
Books/Manga
- Plot/10
- Writing/10
- Art/10 (applies only to manga)
- Enjoyment/10
- Overall/30 (/40 for manga)
- Pros/Cons
- Letter Grade
Plot once again works the same way as for the other media, but everything else is different from there. Writing judges how well the book or manga is written, obviously. It includes factors like how descriptive it is, how well dialogue comes across and how easy it is to understand. Art, which will only apply to manga, is much like graphics or visuals from other media. How pretty it is, how well it conveys it’s meaning, and how much it suits the text. Enjoyment, overall, pros/cons and letter grade will all be the same as before.
Music
Unfortunately, music doesn’t have a system yet. I’m working on making one, but it’s proving harder. For now, I probably just won’t be rating anything.
So there you have it, that’s how I’ll be doing all my reviews. Each section will have a short (or maybe long) paragraph explaining the score it got, the ups and down of each bit as it were. If there are any questions, direct them by way of comments, and the same applies to any criticism you may have about the above systems.
Monday, October 12, 2009
First Post
So, in the midst of VCE exam revision, I make the smartest move possible. Start a review blog. You may ask, why? I'll answer, why not? (don't aswer that, please).
Over the course of this blog's life, you can expect to see many different things posted on it. Reviews of things ranging from movies to music, from games to anime, and pretty much everything inbetween. Requests may be taken, advise will be accepted, trolling will be flamed (just kidding...Or am I?) Excuse the barren layout right now. When I have time I'll get around to sorting everything out properly and making it a little more lively.
There isn't much else to say but sit back, have fun, and enjoy the ride!
Over the course of this blog's life, you can expect to see many different things posted on it. Reviews of things ranging from movies to music, from games to anime, and pretty much everything inbetween. Requests may be taken, advise will be accepted, trolling will be flamed (just kidding...Or am I?) Excuse the barren layout right now. When I have time I'll get around to sorting everything out properly and making it a little more lively.
There isn't much else to say but sit back, have fun, and enjoy the ride!
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