This is a post consisting of a collection of tips in writing review posts, more specifically anime reviews. This post was inspired from the recent Anime Realm Contest where I reviewed the submissions and picked a winner. There's no standard on how reviews are made because it's an expression of the author's opinion about the subject but the least your could do with your reviews is make it worthwhile.
Disclaimer: I don't think my reviews are the gold standard because I'm just a random shitposter online with no credentials to back it up. There is no guarantee that applying these will bring results you want as it's just an opinionated guide on improvement. But if you find this guide helpful, great, go on your merry way.
I'm constantly experimenting with how to format my blogs so you may notice the occasional alterations with the flow of how I post, it's that or I'm actually just lazy and write stuff as they come into my head, whichever is believable.
Setting the Mood:
The parts I don't like about reading review posts:
When the post is more about a summary than an actual review.
Spending more than half of the content retelling the plot/story in short form isn't a review, it's a dragging to read retell of the show. It's a review and not a recap post of the show.
When it's all looks and lacking substance.
You can put fancy blog formats and images on a blog but that isn't enough to carry the post. Visuals help but that's no substitute for putting in the effort to think about who you're writing for.
In no particular order of importance:
Summarizing the plot without giving away the whole gimmick
I've lost count on how many anime reviews I've read here that details the plot twists when sharing a simple plot was all it took to get a review going. Think of any anime right now and try to tell the plot in your own words with a max of 4 sentences.
Naruto: A story of ninja boy from the Hidden Leaf Village who dreams of becoming the ninja village's leader one day.
For those of you who already knows Naruto (assuming most), you know there's more to this plot than just one sentence. But this is taking the plot at its bare bones.
Naruto: The journey of an orphaned boy who trained to become a ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village.
I changed some parts but didn't lose the linear goal of what the show is about. I could include parts like Hokage, team of ninjas, school and political strife here and there but too much of those will drown out the core of the show's plot, Naruto is training to become a ninja and this is his journey to become the village chief. Don't complicate your plot section of the review by mentioning too many specific details where the reader will get spoiled and confused.
Write as if the reader doesn't know what it's about
Because you're featuring a mainstream show like Demon's Slayer or Attack on Titan, people are going to relate to whatever you're writing right? I never watched Game of Thrones, I don't know what's up with the characters of that show but when I read fan reviews about it, it's alienating to read bits that assume you already had prior knowledge to understand whatever reference pops up in their writing.
Introduce the show like it's the first time people heard about it. If you've seen the show and saw a review about it, there's a less chance you're going to stick around because you already saw the show and have formulated your own opinions about it. But for people that haven't got the slightest clue what the show is about, it's bad writing to make references that only those that have already seen the show can get.
You're writing a review to sell the show and you're doing a bad job at it because you're framing the post as if the audience already got to see the show.
Trim the details without losing the message
Introducing Demons Slayer with a Plot: The Demon Slayer Corps is an organization that fights the demons. Slayers are trained with unique elemental sword breathing techniques that help them pew pew demons with sword swings and make believe special effects. There's a hierarchy among the slayers with a Hashira sitting at the top next to the head of the Corps.
The only thing I find usable for a plot summary is mentioning what the Demons Slayer Corps is. Avoid being too technical so that you don't spoil away majority of the gimmick unless you purposively made a disclaimer that you're going to spoil some of the gimmick on the first place. The technical details on a review post is like an exposition. If you had to say something about the gimmick then do it halfway.
Nobody cares about how cool the show is if their first encounter with the title is seeing it from your review. So the least you can do is avoid putting up a litany about it.
If the show is an isekai anime that incorporates the gaming elements like a leveling system, character inventory, and unique windows only the main character sees, you can sum it up as a character that interacts with the new world with a role playing game mechanics. You don't drag the details on and mentioning role playing game mechanics gives the reader a reasonable expectation of what they are getting into.
This part has no purpose but I'm writing it here cause I can.
Forget format and try experimenting
There's no golden format on expressing an opinion about something. A standard format that everyone uses is safe because it works and gets a coherent opinion out, intro, body and conclusion. You've seen some anime posts going around Anime Realm. It works and it gets votes but if everyone posted the same way, it becomes bland.
I don't think my shitposting review format is the best out there because I've seen reviews that are more visually appealing and good to read here. But I think I've made a point that if anyone ever visited my post, they'd recognize it unconsciously and say, yep, Adam definitely wrote this shitpost. So what's stopping you from figuring out your own voice on your blog?
Here's an old post My Lazy Format to Posting which simplifies the process of getting a post out.
If you made it this far reading, thank you for your time.
//reminder: I should probably put an image or slide dividers on this post just to avoid making it a wall of text.
first of all, great input and quite summarized. To tell you the truth though i will agree with this:
The vast majority of us are not actually "writers". That doesn't mean ofc to copy/paste formats. To give you an example, my format was always pretty basic, like Generic info, Plot, What i like and what i don't and a final rating. I was one of the first people to actually write about anime and anime reviews from back in the days (Steem) and this was the way i grew my stake.
I saw many people copying and pasting my format, which was pretty annoying considering that my format was pretty dump to be honest as i had not idea and created a format out of my mind without any guides or such.
The bottom line though, is for people to ofc read and learn a thing or two, integrate these guidelines in their own posts and create something unique. I really enjoy reading different kind of formats and ways of writing, even for example if some give a lot of attention to the plot. If i haven't seen an anime i prefer a more extensive plot paragraph (without much spoilers) instead of "this is an anime with demons and demons slayers, or this is an anime with pirates and powers coming for fruits", that doesn't make me check the anime at all!
Basically, i am just saying to read your guidelines because they can find a lot of valuable info, but never forget as you say as well, their own way of writing. Don't try to make something that maybe lacks a bit of formatting to something that is similar to basically everything else! Write something and merge your format with what you like!
Not even sure what to feel about others taking inspiration from how I write, not that I have high opinions about my half-baked outputs but if people give me tips from it, great. I think the deciding factor why people trend follow formats is because it works, like a lot of the voted stuff have some standard format taught or promoted by other bloggers so it's natural to copy what works because it gets you votes? But this side gives me an idea what type of author is publishing the post and their motivations to begin with.
This is very valuable information and suggestions for content creators. Sometimes we need posts and guides like these to improve from now on, those of us who write live in constant search of our identity to develop our ideas and thoughts and what I see here are very solid foundations.
It would be a bad decision if they emulated my style of writing rather than do their own spin-off of the tip. I think I've seen 1 person in the community that got some close semblance to how I write.
This really is a good guide to make better posts.... I hope to improve in my future posts and that others can recognize them and say "yes, Bet wrote this"
Thank you so much
It's consistency to how you post and even the mundane things like how you comment on others. I know it's not in my character to use emojis on my posts and comments, that small habit is already character building to those who are familiar to you. Sometimes it's not the extravagant formats that enforce personality in a blog, it could just be the vocabulary or consistent tone per post that paints your character's picture.
It is always valuable to have some feedback on the content we do. I will analyze my reviews to see where I am failing and where I can improve them, thank you very much for the information 🤗.
Welcome. Though I don't recommend taking everything I said then apply since these things work for me. The stuff I say is something I personally look for when reviewing other people's review about the show which is a mix from commercial versus non-commercial point of view. The commercial reviews are from blogs that are paid to endorse the show so these posts have less incentive to say bad things about the show.
Of course, the thing is to know how to distinguish what works and what doesn't work for our style of content creation. I still like to read this kind of publications because I always find something of value in them.
About the reviews that only highlight the good things about series or movies, I hate them, hahahaha, I've had some fiascos thanks to them, so I try to be as honest as possible with mine, even if that means talking bad about what I watch 😅
Excellent tips, they help a lot to have a better orientation on how to write a review. I'm new to this and honestly it's really hard for me to write a short review without going on too long and becoming a summary haha
Actually I have a video review done, but I think it doesn't follow these tips very well haha so after this video, I'll put them into practice because it's really worth a try.
Thank you very much ❤️
I think you should find what works for you while using a safe template. I know I don't follow how Youtubers share their anime reviews and just figured out my stuff on my own. It doesn't mean it's good, it just means I have a reason why I go this and that whenever I'm writing about something than write unsure what to include, if that makes sense.
Thank you so much for this valuable feedback as it actually covers a lot of what I was expecting
this is why I don't write tv show/movies/anime reviews... it's impossible. lol. or If I did. just a few words.
Every day is a learning experience, I get a lot of new insights about how to write anime reviews from our perspective as viewers, because every viewer has a different experience and a different way of telling stories. Thank you for explaining it in detail and clearly.
Your welcome. There's no absolute way to do it, what I learned is just be entertaining or be technical at it. I think I already lean on the technical side where I just say the what, who, where, when and etc parts while some bloggers can take it to the next step and put a little showmanship on their blog.
This is really a great guide which I believe every writer should read whether you are a newbie or you have been writing for so long. It will helps to increase the writing quality
Thank you.
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Excellent guide to improve our reviews on everything that has to do with the world of anime and manga. I will keep it in mind for my future publications within the community. I really value your work with the users of The Anime Realm community.
Regards.
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