Everyone needs a rating system in order to truly judge something. This is my personal rating system, based off of five particular elements, which is then assigned a number based off of my own experience with media and entertainment. This is to help you, my dear followers, get an idea of how I grade the subjects of my reviews. Just remember that this is only my opinion of course, and if you have a different opinion, that's completely fine. This is just how I judge things.
The Elements:
Setup- The setup has to be somewhat unique, giving me some sort of interest that would make me want to read or watch this piece of entertainment. I normally judge a setup differently than the rest of the elements here, mainly because setups can be misleading, making you think something is amazing but is actually not worth your time. For the most part, the setup is not the most important part of the subject, but it is the part that got me interested in the story to begin with, so that's why it is relevant to the overall judgment of the media.
Characters- This is where I judge the most harshly, mainly because of a rule that I live by; if you're not invested in the characters, then you're not invested in the story. Of course, there are some pieces of entertainment that have really great stories and characters that are average like 11Eyes, but that's not my point, especially because characters are, in my opinion, what connects you to the story. Characters have to be likable and relatable, along with having a personality that helps them deviate from your average archetype. When I judge characters, I normally take into account how much of an impact they left on me, due to either being complex or some other likable aspect about them. They don't have to be the most unique character the world has ever known, but they do have to have some sort of reason we should care about them, otherwise the story just fails in my opinion.
Story- The story, in its core, just has to be engaging. I honestly don't care if it's the stupidest story ever known to mankind, it just has to be engaging enough so I can just immerse myself within the entertainment.
The Presentation- This is a little more complicated to talk about due to the different presentations of each medium, so I'm going to be a bit more specific.
The Writing Style/Grammatical Errors (Books)- In books, the writing style in my opinion should be smooth, fluid, and straight to the point. I despise books that have pages after pages describing some flower on the windowsill that has no relevance to the story whatsoever. When it comes to descriptions, one to two paragraphs is where my limit is reached. The writing style also has to be engaging, with smart dialogue and the usage of elaborate words (in other words, no frequent usage of "like", "nice", "good", ect.). The writing must also make sense. To be more precise, the writing is describing the pacing, and for something like a romance to suddenly spring into the story without any sort of buildup hinders both the story and the reader's suspension of disbelief because they are asking the questions of "Who? What? How...?". As for grammatical errors, this is actually pretty major when it comes to enjoyment. This is my message to self-publishing authors; if you don't know your grammar, you shouldn't write a story! Improper grammar, punctuation, and spelling can be a huge distraction from being engaged in a story or characters because the reader constantly notices the incorrect grammar and wonders why this book was published. At least, I do; I probably shouldn't be speaking for the majority of readers here, but to be perfectly honest, I think most readers should be able to tell the difference between "their" and "they're".
Animation and Sound (Anime): I'm pretty lenient when it comes to animation and sound in anime, but there are times where it is either exceptionally fantastic or exceptionally horrible. I normally judge character designs, colors, and fluidity when it comes to the animation, along with how much it left an impact on me. When it comes to the OST, I normally judge how well it fit the anime and whether or not there are particular songs I would like to listen to without visual accompaniment. I also judge whether you should watch the anime in Japanese or English. I'm going to be perfectly honest and say that I prefer English dubs, mainly because it's the language that I speak and I take advantage of the fact that there are dubbing companies within my country that take the time and effort to create these dubs for an American audience. When judging an English dub, I normally look for how well it portrayed the character and not necessarily how it sounds, unless the voice just doesn't seem like it fits at all. I also pay attention to dialogue and how well the dub fits the setting. For example, Baccano!'s dub portrays the New York accents of the characters, which helps immerse the viewer into the setting. When it comes to Japanese dubs, well, I don't speak Japanese, so it's kind of hard to judge them. I normally look for how well the actors deal with the emotions of the characters and the dialogue, even if I'm just reading it. Just to be perfectly clear, I do not think that just because the anime is in Japanese means that it is better-acted, because I've heard sub-par Japanese dubs before, see Code-Breaker or Valvrave the Liberator. Finally, I also look at the openings and endings of the anime, where I only judge how memorable they are.
Presentation (Movies): Since most of the movies I watch are live-action, I normally judge the cinematography of the movie and how well the special effects blend in. The time period in which the movie came out in also applies. For example, the original King Kong came out in the 1930s, and back then the effects were ground-breaking, so I take that into account as well. As for music, cut and paste what I said concerning music in anime, because I judge it in the same way.
Personal Enjoyment- This is the biggest factor in any type of entrainment; did I enjoy it? Did I like the characters, was the story intriguing, how did the presentation hold up, was the setup interesting enough so I would check it out in the first place? My enjoyment of the media in question can either make or break it. For example, I acknowledge Madoka Magica for having a great story and well developed characters, but I personally did not like it due to my own personal tastes. With something like Angelfall, the only thing that saved the book was the fact that I enjoyed it, perfectly reflected when I wasn't enjoying myself while reading the second book and ended up hating it. This is kind of where personal bias does factor in, however, and I try to make my reviews as unbiased as possible, so while I do include my enjoyment in the Final Judgment, I try to factor in every other element (with the exception of the setup) as equally as I can.
The Rating System:
I always rate the media I'm reviewing using the 5-Star Rating System, though I also use decimal points and in my mind I have my own personal title. I set up the rating system also by comparison, using media that I have already watched to help compare the media in question, as shown here:
5: Masterpiece (Fullmetal Alchemist/Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Looking for Alaska, The Pianist)
4.5: Amazing (Ouran High School Host Club, The Lux Series, Catching Fire (the movie))
4: Great (Attack on Titan, Divergent, Speed)
3.5: Above Average (Madoka Magica, Finding Eden, Iron Man 3)
3: Average (Dream Eater Merry, Starters, Pacific Rim)
2.5: Below Average (Sword Art Online, What's Left Of Me, Now You See Me)
2: Bad (Valvrave the Liberator, Angelfall, Man of Steel)
1.5: Abysmal (Code-Breaker, Nightshade, North)
1: A Sacrilege Against The Human Race (Needless, Incarnate, Batman and Robin)
Anything in between the numbers such as a 4.25 (Amazing-Great) indicates that the media in question is not quite "Amazing", but it's not "Great" either, but somewhere in the middle of the two. For example, Legend got a 4.9, which barely scathes the designation of "Masterpiece", but it just doesn't hit that mark.
