Forum - View topicSurvey: Should ANN Review its own Simulcasts?
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lostinagoodbook
 Posts: 114 |
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I don't want this to come across as harsh to the hardworking reviewers on ANN, but a review is just one persons opinion. It's happened before where a reviewer loved a show that I ended up hating. So I stopped watching the show. Ultimately I end up deciding what I want to watch so I don't see how this can affect me either way.
I don't trust any reviewer 100% because how one responds to art/anime/movies/music is subjective. But I do love to read reviews because it can give me a general idea about a show and then I can decide from there if I want to pursue it. I don't like mecha, if I read a review about a mecha anime and the reviewer loves it thats great. I'm still not going to watch it, but I appreciate the heads up. If an anime doesn't have a review attached I will frequently not take a chance on it in favor of one that does, whether a positive review or not. So in my opinion ANN reviewing simulcasts can't hurt and might help. |
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Leebo
 Posts: 660 Location: Somerville, MA |
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I think this is more a matter of "do you trust them to say how they feel" and not "do you trust that you'll agree with what they say." |
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maehara
 Posts: 9 Location: Northern Ireland |
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Was just mentioning this on Twitter...
Strikes me as a conflict of interest, regardless of the best intentions of your editorial policies. I wouldn't trust a review that a FUNimation staffer wrote of one of their DVD releases, as I could never be sure that it wasn't written with sales promotion in mind; so similarly I wouldn't trust an ANN review of a show that ANN was simulcasting - it's in your interests to drive eyeballs to the streams. There'll be plenty of other people reviewing OreImo and whatever other shows you end up simulcasting - let them speak for you. |
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Takeyo
 Posts: 736 |
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There's certainly a possibility for a perceived conflict of interest. Personally, though, I'd be inclined to take the statement of policy at face value and accept ANN reviews as unbiased in this respect, at least until I was given reason to suspect otherwise. Still, kinda shaky ground.
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3492 Location: Back stateside |
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I'm sort of torn between trusting them 100% and feeling that it's suspicious. Let me put it this way: I want them to review their simulcast series once, so that we can see whether they seem to cut their own shows some slack. How can we know whether they can be trusted unless we see it in practice?
I also trust the staff to know themselves; if they worry about whether they'll be personally biased in a show's favor, then they should recuse themselves. |
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bored-otaku
 Posts: 112 Location: Odessa,Texas |
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While I like the idea of reviews, I fully believe ANN should not to do any. From what I observed over past anime reviews from them, they are way too biased in their opinion and are very unprofessional (yeah I'm talking to you Zac and I'm not afraid to say it).
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wandering-dreamer
 Posts: 1733 |
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But one of the main purposes of this site is to review anime...? I've been reading the reviews here for a few years now and I think I'd trust ANN to review what they show as well. They've reviewed others shows before that they streamed and those reviews seemed like their normal and honest opinions. And with so many shows coming out each season it can be hard to find other people who review all of them so I really appropriate what ANN does here and it would be sad to miss one or two shows because the site, not necessarily the viewer, has a connection to them. |
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asimpson2006
 Posts: 3151 Location: USA |
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I agree with you vash. I trust the staff to write and unbiased reviewed for this show, but I also hold some reservations about if this should be reviewed or not. |
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Mad_Scientist
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 3011 |
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I believe you should review them.
There is a perceived conflict of interest, yes, but there has already been one in the past as well. While this may be one of the first shows that ANN is exclusively streaming, you've been streaming a ton of shows for a while now through various deals with Crunchyroll and Funimation and the like, and you have also reviewed many of those shows. Some of those reviews were done before the shows starting streaming at ANN, but some were done afterwards. Does the fact that Gintama is available at a both crunchyroll and ANN really lesson the potential conflict of interest Erin had in her recent Shelf Life column that much? Maybe a little, but not entirely. Didn't Hope's review of Gunslinger Girl Blue-Ray appear after at least part of the show was streaming at ANN? I understand that was a review of the blue-ray and not a stream, but it spoke about the quality of the show itself a lot. |
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ShinigamTakuto
Posts: 50 |
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I don't see how it matters, it's not like we are going to buy a product, like say video games or DVDs. ANN is simply a host and I don't really see how a biased or a non honest review would affect anything, it is ultimately up to the reader to decide if they want to watch it if they do, good, if they don't it's their loss for not at least watching 1 episode and deciding for themselves whether or not to watch it.
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bored-otaku
Posts: 112 Location: Odessa,Texas |
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Well you see, the thing is, I would respect their reviews a lot more if they weren't a bunch of haters (loli haters, moe haters, fanservice haters, ecchi haters, et.c.). How can I respect someone if all that's behind their reviews is hate? You see what I'm saying man? They're just way too unfair (remember their Kiss X Sis review?). Zac pretty much inferred that any one who thoroughly enjoyed that show (such as myself) were trash. Sorry, but I'll be damned if I let some fool even so much as INSINUATE that I'm trash. |
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bahamut623
 Posts: 1463 |
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Just have Zac review OreImo. If he likes it, we'll know something's up
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rabrek
 Posts: 188 |
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I'm of the opinion that any ANN reviewer who wrote a review that skewed toward promotion rather than critique would be roasted over the fiery forum coals. Same any other ANN reviewer, really, though I'd expect a significantly shorter grace period before deployment of the pillory and devices of torment. Any spike in viewership would be short-lived if a series failed to deliver entertainment value, and the uproar would be in direct proportion to a reader's sense that something fishy was going on.
That said, I can understand why there'd be concerns, both on the part of ANN and of the ANN readers. Perhaps it would be acceptable to fold ANN simulcasts into the Anime Preview Guide but avoid assigning them for in-depth review. That way, readers can get a rapid, short-form assessment from multiple ANN reviewers at about the same time (assuming the reviewers don't decline the opportunity outright, knowing that it can only end in tears). While I do browse other anime sites, I don't cruise them with any regularity and consider ANN to be my primary source of news and reviews. I doubt I'm alone in this preference. I'd rather get a more complete sense of the new season here than trudge around picking up the missing reviews elsewhere. That's time I could use to catch up on my anime. Last edited by rabrek on Mon Oct 04, 2010 12:47 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Mad_Scientist
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 3011 |
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To add on a bit more, while I may be too trusting, I'm pretty confidant that ANN's reviewers can avoid letting a conflict of interest affect their reviews. Even though certain reviewers have at times made me wonder what the heck they were smoking (Carl's Death Note reviews for example), I still trust him enough to think he'll be honest at least.
But I suppose there is the potential issue that the perception that a conflict of interest is altering reviews (even if it isn't really) could hurt the site's reputation. But as I said, despite the fact that ANN has already reviewed a fair amount of content that they have streaming, I haven't seen that issue crop up yet. Last edited by Mad_Scientist on Mon Oct 04, 2010 12:57 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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I'm flattered that of the 7 or so different opinions we run during the preview guides and among the 5 staff critics, my opinion is the only one that matters to you. |
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