Hello everyone! Back in the old site, we had a review guide written by Wales, one of best reviewers in the community. Unfortunately, we didn't save the guide. What we have here is a short, casual guide written by Dream and SnowyMountain of Anime Vice and Screened, long time expert reviewers in our communities. Please thank them for taking the time to share advice.
Then, we talk about formats. Basically, you pretty experiment and try new things to find out what your preferred review style is. We list formats that folks had used.
Tips
- The big one obviously: make sure it's your own work and you are not copying off someone else.
- Try minimizing spoilers. The whole point of a review is to give a reader your perception of the series for them to determine whether or not a title is worth their time and many do not want the whole experience ruined for them.
- Make it coherent and simple enough to follow. Not all readers will be familiar with series jargon that gets tossed around or elements to Japanese culture that are mentioned in a title. Minimize the jargon where possible and try to define as best you can the cultural elements brought up within the title in question if it is a major aspect of the series.
- Provide clear reasons where possible as to why you may like or dislike certain elements to a series. This allows readers to have a better perception of the type of series you were watching and whether or not it would fit into the expectations that they may have for it.
- Be honest with how you feel about a title. You don't always have to hop on the bandwagon with how many may feel toward a particular title and not everyone will buy into the praises and hype that popular titles receive. It is okay to have a differing point of view from how most may perceive a title in question.
- Everyone is going to have an opinion and not everybody is going to share it. It is very rare that 10 out 10 people all like or enjoy a movie, tv series, or anime. So it is important that reviewers understand that and accept this. Do not take it personally if someone disagrees with you. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, including you.
Formatting
Here are formats used by our reviewers. Don't forget to experiment until you find your own reviewing style.
Here is one that Dream uses:
- Introduction- Summarize the premise and elements of the series.
- Good- What I enjoyed from the series.
- Bad- My issues with the series.
- Presentation- Mostly cover the visuals, though I'll usually cover the music if anything stuck out with it (don't often do this since a good chunk of popular and recent titles milk the daylights out of J-pop and J-rock themes).
- Overall- Final thoughts on the series as a whole and whether or not it is worth watching.
Here is one that SnowyMountain uses:
- Introduction -- basic info about a series or movie
- Summary -- a brief plot synopsis or highlights of important details
- Impression -- my general feelings and thoughts of the series/movie itself; breaking down the good and bad sections from the story, the actors/characters, visual effects, sound effects, etc.
- Suggestions -- my feeling on what I felt could have been improved or perhaps what I would have done instead
- Conclusion -- wrapping up, general explanation of my overall rating for the series/movie
Another category you can add would be audience such as this X series is good for folks who like X this?
Feel free to suggest formats or areas you can review of anime and TV series/films, too.
Thank you everyone, I hope this guide help you write reviews. Have some fun!