Grading = Rating = Reviewing
Who wouldn’t get perfect grades with a teacher like her?
I’ve been thinking about my grading system for a while now and there has always been something about it that bothered me. Perhaps it was because I believed that there was some inaccuracies present when I graded certain shows as a result of leaving out certain criteria. Whatever the case, I’ve taken a step back to look at how I graded in the past and there are a few that I am satisfied with (ef- a tale of memories and Gundam 00 for example) while others made me think twice/thrice/even more after I graded them (Gurren Lagann, School Days). After some thought and analysis, I’ve decided to grade anything and everything that I watch from now on based on these four criteria:
Story
Characters
Production (animation/graphics & music)
Presentation
I’m pretty sure the first three are straight-forward but the last one may need some explaining. Presentation basically asks questions such as “How well does this world come together?”; “How creative/original/well-written is the setting? Is it used to near or full potential?”; and “How does everything come together when combined”. Hopefully that explanation helps. For now, this grade system will be used for whole-reviews only. The four criteria will assist in determining the final grade which will be a letter or sometimes a number (depending on how I feel at the time). Here’s a guide:
A+ => 9.5 – 10.0
A => 9.0 – 9.4
A- => 8.5 – 9.0
B+ => 8.0 – 8.4
B => 7.5 – 8.0
B- => 7.0 – 7.4
C+ => 6.5 – 6.9
C => 6.0 – 6.4
C- => 5.5 – 5.9
D => 4.6 – 5.4
F => 0.0 – 4.5
Almost like school/college, right? Also, I plan on using a similar system for manga and games that I grade (I’m playing a few now that have my hands tied thus why certain entries were late *looks at Tales of Vesperia*). Hopefully this system will help me be more precise with my overall thoughts and feelings. Lastly, I call it the GRR system with four different modes: Mode A(nime), M(anga)/N(ovel), G(ames)!
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Yeah, ratings are never easy to pull off. Personally, I’ve always preferred a descriptor for a rating system (I’m actually using that on my blog currently) and it’s much easier because I can easily verbalize what my take on a show would be. Sometimes you have edge cases that come up, but it doesn’t happen quite as often.
Descriptions >>> Numerical ratings. People never agree on a standard numerical rating. 8/10 for someone could be “mindblowingly unique with superior execution” while for someone else 9/10 is “pretty good”. Ditto for letter grades. Anime is not school: there is no “right/wrong” answer where grades can be derived from.
Well, I do both descriptions and numbers so it all evens out.
Eh, who knows. My way of reviewing changes with my mood so it’s not possible for me to follow a system 100%. Let’s just say that sleep-deprived minds tend to type a lot of things that, at the time, sounds like a good idea.
the school teacher rocks.. what anime is she from?
does that mean I need to change my system as well?
Nope. It’s something I did for myself. The way I review changes with my mood so it can be numbers one day, letters the other, and neither on other days.