Trib2Triv

One time I asked a friend what he thought of a movie he just watched, he said he’d give it an 8.25 out of 10. I then proceeded to shit into his mouth. That mentality has kept me away from not only rating anime on this site, but rating things in general. Trying to fully articulate a show’s value in the form of a number is a foolish endeavour.

In my opinion, they should be more like tiers, and the overflowing popularity of tier lists have encouraged me to rate all the crap on my watched list. No half stars, just 5 slots. A quick break down of what these star ratings mean to me;

5 – Not perfection. Nothing is. But I find that these anime have something truly special about them. Like the insane amount of effort that went into Redline, Bebop’s approach to storytelling or Princess Mononoke not being preachy. I would show these to people outside of the anime community. Not as anime gateways, but as great animated works in general.

4 – Great, excels in its genre. Examples include; SEL, a classic trippy but insightful and FMA: Brotherhood, which stands out from its long running shonen brethren, but its first chunk of episodes feel like rushed recaps, which hold it back a little.

3 – Fine, don’t regret watching it but I don’t think I’ll revisit it anytime soon. These shows still offer something which isn't overshadowed by the anime's flaws. Examples include Chrono Crusade and Claymore, which I can see tons people having a blast with, but only if it’s in their genre of choice.

Some of these are shows I thought were going to be awful, like Keijo. Then episode 4 broke me due to how straight they played it. The disgusted face, panty flash OVA also gets a 3, because its short and does exactly what it says on the tin. I can’t fault it for that.

2 – A regrettable watch. Either it started off well and jumped off a cliff half way through or it was an outright struggle to get through. Recent examples include Magus Bride and Franxx, one went a bit too far on the Stockholm side and the other shat the bed. Then there are anime like Naruto that would normally get a 3, but then I recalled the giant chunk of filler stuck onto the end, so the whole show drops to a 2.

1 – Bad. Just, Bad. Fuck it.