I have a simple proposition. I don't think that minitokyo should allow partial reviews anymore. They don't happen all that often, but when they do I think they do much more harm than good. Firstly, that person is going to get credits for posting an incomplete review and will also get them as they recieve comments (good or bad) on that review. Also it is pretty misleading. I mean there are plenty of shows out there that the difference between an overall score of a 6 and a 8 can be the last 3 episodes. Or it can be considerably lower based on the ending. I mean how much would you put into a review on Ebert and Roper if they reviewed just the first 45 minutes of Brokeback Mountain? I get the same feeling when someone puts out a review of the first 14 episodes of a 26 episode series.

Just a proposition and I wanted to see how others felt about it. I just figure that a preview or a partial review would serve its purpose better in the forums. Thoughts?

shoujoboy, I certainly understand your point and I see where you're coming from, but reviews serve two main purposes: to foster discussion about a particular anime and to make a recommendation to others about whether or not to invest their time in it. Say that you're limited in time and can't devote hours a day to watching all of the anime currently running and as such you can only pick and choose one or two series to actively follow at any given time. An obvious place to turn to in order to make your selection is a review; you certainly do not want to have to wait for 26 long weeks to go by before you hear about what a series is about and if it shows promise, and as such reviews of ongoing anime can be really useful.

At the same time, balance must be found; a review based on the first episode of a 26-episode anime series is certainly not acceptable, but one written halfway through is ok. Basically, enough of the series must have completed in order for the reviewer to have really been able to get a good feel for the style and the direction of the story. It is true that certain series are made or broken by their endings, but for the overwhelming majority, while the story can go in various directions, sound, animation, and characterization are generally set in stone by the time the first quarter of episodes have aired, and as such I think that one can still give a fairly accurate review from an incomplete series and have it be very useful.

I agree with you shoujoboy! I don't think that someone who has not watched the whole anime series should give a review of the series. They might leave out information that they do not know or might misrepresent information about the series because they have not watched the entire thing. Then they are gaining credits for something that is false and that could be misleading other MTers. Now there are some exceptions to this. Like such animes as Inuyasha and Naruto for example where there are so many episodes that you don't necessarily have to have watched all of them to know what is going on.
Someone should have watched the entire series before they give a review on the anime unless it is like one of the before mentioned examples.

Hasn't this been discussed before?
I know, old long-dead thread Perfectly valid to start a new one. But some of us weighed in on the subject before, so it'll be interesting to see if anyone's changed their opinion. Rereading my own response in that thread, I still stand by my opinions.
Also, I note that one of my only arguements against partial reviews was the lack of an editing function. This has now been remedied

I'm going to have to take a middle road here. Shoujoboy makes a good point that a review based on an incomplete viewing of a series/show can be unhelpful. A case in point is the original review for Nadesico - before I submitted my one. The opinions of that reviewer were clearly formulated on a limited viewing of the series (not even half-way) and were at times quite off track. That being said, Shinsengumi also makes a good point where, for example, the local release of a series is not yet complete - but there is enough for a reviewer to get a good opinion or gist of the series half-way through, or after a complete story arc.

A review based on a coherent part of a series may be satisfactory in my opinion, provided that the reviewer makes this fact clear and up front in their review. At least readers would be able to see that the review in question is based on an incomplete viewing of the series (and draw their own opinions accordingly). Futher, the reviewer may be encouraged to update their review after the series has been released completely for a final and full opinion if some debate through comments received from readers are considered helpful.

*takes shovel out and digs up the thread*

I haven't been around much. This whole going out into the real world and having a full time job affords me less time to do other things. Moving on.

While there are some good points here, I will side on the pro-partial reviews. The examples shoujoboy are very valid, they miss the media type by just a hare. True, movies and books and such do require being experienced in their entirety in for the criticisms to be valid. However, remember that most anime comes in the form of a serial television show. It should be judged as a serial television show and not a movie or book.

TV shows in America are often scrutinized before they even air. Often, the success of the pilot determines at a very early stage whether the show lives or dies. People jump on the bandwagon very early to either praise or tear a show to pieces. Think 24 would still be around today if the first several episodes did poorly? Probably not.

I think that all shows are fair game for review. While it may be in poor taste to review something with only one episode out, it all depends on the reviewer and how much content was included in the first episode. For example, I thought Kannazuki no Miko was amazing after I saw the first episode. I also thought Tenjou Tenge was a keeper. One turned out to be awesome and the other turned out to be a dissapointment at the end.

With all the anime out there every season, I don't have time to sift through it all myself. I look to early reviews/previews to filter out what I want to try out and what I'm going to skip.

So long story short, yes to partial reviews

Well I just want you all to know that I officially hate you. Nah just kidding. I can see the point you guys are making, but it just seems like an anime preview section would be more appropriate for talking about 5 episodes out of a 26 episode series. Feasably I could review Dragonball Z after just watching 10 episodes even though it was like damn near 300. How acurate would a review just based on the first 10 be? The first 10 were actually interesting whilst the vast majority of the show sucked hardcore (purely opinion of course). I wouldn't mind so much if there was maybe a section on the forums like "Early anime impressions" or "anime previews" but putting something that is sometimes not going to be halfway accurate on the frontpage as a review, just seems wrong to me.

And although I don't see it happening right now, people could easily start padding their credits by putting out halfassed material. Unless someone completely screws up and just puts out an absolute garbage review, it's usually just left alone and allowed to accrue comments and credits. I mean if I was low on download credits, I could always put a 1 episode preview of Elfen Lied, give it an overall score of a 2, eat up all the ranting comments of a bunch of fanboys, and just rack up credits. Just a thought ya know.

I know some of my arguements are kind of the most out there thoughts you can imagine, but it's ones that have crossed my mind nonetheless. I simply propose that the way they are handled should be different, as I mention above. Well whatever the outcome, I'll just let it die at this point.