DUME66

DUME/Dominic
40/KY, USA

Gaming/Music/Movies/TV/Anime, basically a Good media enjoyer.

The first anime I can remember seeing was early runs of DBZ on Fox or the WB. That's aside from US adapted-from-anime shows like Voltron and Thundercats. My tastes probably leaned heavily into shonen, as I imagine it does for most young men my age but as I've grown older I've learned to appreciate the many different genres. What anime was available in the US during the 90s-2000s also played some role :3. I try to give everything it's fair shake as I don't believe a story should be judged without seeing it's entirety (some real stinkers excluded).

I'm looking to expand my horizons, writing reviews for shows here on AniList in my free time. Hoping to one day turn that into a podcast/vlog type thing and expand into other areas, but for now, I just love watching anime and talking about it with others!

Below is my Grading System for all my Reviews:

I try to be as objective as possible, and to that goal, I decided to grade based on a few categories and criteria within those categories. Every Category is graded 1-10, based on the average of their Criteria, which are graded 1-5.

First Category: Animation

This is pretty self-explanatory, but I break down animation into 5 criteria. Style, Fluidity, Background, Shading, Composition. I’ll give a brief breakdown of each:

• Style: Unique artwork, drawing styles, mediums. Basically does this have an art style that stands out or is just generic? 5 is very Unique, 1 is Simple, Bland artwork.
• Fluidity: Is the animation fluid or very choppy? Are things like hair and clothing well-animated or do they just seem to stay in place? 5 is very Fluid, 1 is still frames over a moving background.
• Background: Are the backgrounds well drawn? Are they as basic as possible? Are the backgrounds enhancing the scenes or just a forgotten part of it? 5 has well drawn, thoughtful background, 1 does the bare minimum for the background of their scenes.
• Shading: The use of lighting and shading. Are characters well-lit in bright surroundings and dark and appropriately shaded in underlit surroundings? Do the backgrounds also show the effects of light sources? 5 is making excellent use of Shading and Light, 1 hardly uses Shading properly or at all.
• Composition: Directorial composition. Is the scene animated in ways that are cinematic? Is the fight scene well choreographed? Is the grand scenic view of a city one that looks like a flat drawing or does it have depth and weight when you see it? 5 is excellently Composed work, 1 makes little use of Composition to add to the viewer’s experience.

Second Category: Audio

This category is all about what you hear when you’re watching a show. This category is broken into 4 criteria: Score, OP/ED, Tone, and VA. Here’s their breakdowns:

• Score: The OST of the show. Is it well composed? Does it make use of music fitting the vibe of the show? Are they unique compositions or just a variation of something you’ve heard a thousand times before? Does the Score make the scenes better or worse? Are they fitting or distracting? 5 is an Excellent composed Score, 1 is a Score that takes away from the scenes they’re composed for.
• OP/ED: The Opening and Ending sequences for the show. Are they well made both in composition of animation and audio? Does the animation and music sync together to create a scene? Is the chosen song good, in general? Does the OP/ED invoke emotional connectivity to the story? 5 are very well made OP/EDs with songs you could listen to at anytime, 1 are poorly made, either through bad song choices or poorly made animations
• Tone: Tone is about how well scenes are being set by the audio. This can be through background music, noises, sound effects, etc. If the scene is scary, is the tone of the score reflecting that? Is the audio majestic and uplifting when something grand happens? 5 has excellently chosen audio that is setting the tone for scenes in ways that increase their emotional impact. 1 is not using their audio to set the tone of scenes at all. Setting incorrect tone for the scene or distracting from the scene as well.
• VA: Voice Acting. Is it well done? Do the actors portray emotion in real ways? Is there a star studded cast? Are there unique voices of characters that will stick with you? 5 has amazing Voice Acting, 1 is untrained people reading lines on a piece of paper.

Third Category: Story

The Third and Final category is Story. We all know that at the end of the day, no matter what, the story is what is really important. Story is broken down into 3 criteria: Plot, Pacing, and Character Development. One last time, their breakdowns:

• Plot: Just that, the Plot. Is it a good story that’s interesting? Does the plot compel you to keep wanting to watch more and more or is it boring you to death? Is the plot intricate, with many twists and turns? Is it simple and straight to the point? Are parts of the story done in clever ways that surprise you or is it predictable? 5 is an Excellent plot that continues to keep the viewer on their toes and excited for more, 1 is a boring, predictable plot.
• Pacing: The speed or Pacing of events in the story. Are things moving along at a fun pace, not too fast, not too slow? Are things moving so fast it’s hard to keep up with what’s happening? Are things moving so slow that you become bored or disinterested? Pacing is important to a story to keep the viewer stimulated, but not over/under stimulated, it’s a delicate balance. 5 is an Excellently paced story, never too much, never too little. 1 is a poorly Paced story, either too fast or too slow. I’d generally say that too slow is worse than too fast.
• Character Development: Are the characters in the story growing and changing or do they stay the same? Do they learn from their actions in the story or do they continue to do the same things over and over? Do they grow, not only in power, but in maturity or wisdom? Do they break bad habits or shed flaws they dislike in themselves? 5 is for Characters that go through significant development over the course of a story. 1 is for Characters that never change at all.

Finally, to get an Overall Score for a particular show, we use the Average of all 3 categories. So Animation + Audio + Story divided by 3. We then round that to the nearest .5 (just for the sake of the AniList scoring system) and that gives us our Final, Overall Score.