I hate writing episode reviews. If you’re wondering why no one writes episode reviews on this blog recently, this post might answer some of your questions. If you want to know why I don’t write episode reviews any more, this post will tell you why. So, why do I hate writing episode reviews?

You know what, my blogging life/career started from writing episode reviews (Clannad, True Tears, and Hayate no Gotoku back then) and I have been writing them for about 6 months now (January – June). Actually, episode reviews are the only thing that I write about, until now that is. So, why do I hate it now? Honestly, I hate writing episode reviews since the beginning. I had no choice back then since episode reviews are the easiest thing to write about and the only thing I can write about, thanks to my lack of knowledge on otaku-related things.

But it’s different now. During the 6 months in the animeblogosphere, I learned a lot from reading posts that people write and I learned about what people usually write about. Thus, I gained more knowledge on otaku-related things. So, I don’t need to write episode reviews any more, writing editorials is for me now. I have been planning to write editorials in the first place after reading the awesome ones at RIUVA.

Enough of that, I am here to talk about episode reviews. Episode reviews are very common and you can find people writing it in any blog. Just like what I said earlier, it is the easiest thing to write about, and I still think so even now. It is also the hardest thing to write for some people, including me. To me, writing episode reviews spoils the fun of watching the episode. For example, I always say “Oh man, the latest episode just came out, now I have to write about it. Sigh…”. Trust me, it gets boring every time I said that.

So..yea, you get it, right? Writing episode reviews spoils the fun of watching the episode. When I watch an episode, I always think of what I should write about. If there is an interesting scene, I will think “Ok, now that is something to write about. Now how should I put the words together to explain this scene”, and I then I forgot some details about that scene (lol). The thought that I am going to write a review of the episode also affects my impression of the episode. I will say, “Awesome episode. But now I have to write a review of it. This sucks”…

Aside from spoiling the fun, you also have to write the episode reviews right on time. Well, actually, you don’t have to force yourself to do so, but this is the best way to get people to read your post. For example, if I write a review of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya episode 12 now, will you find people commenting on the post? Most likely not going to happen, unless you are a big fan of Haruhi (just like myself). During Winter Season 2008, I will watch an episode of Clannad or True Tears today, and write about it tomorrow so I won’t spoil the fun much. After a tired day of watching anime, will you write a review of it just to make you even more tired? Not that watching anime makes you tired anyway..

Ok, speed is important and so does the quality of the post. No one will read crappy posts, unless it is so bad that it is funny. So, someone who is bad at explaining how they feel at certain scenes, someone who is bad at summary writing, someone who just copies whatever other people write, someone who has lack of knowledge on animes to make a pun/parody, and someone who has bad english cannot write a good episode review. An example of that someone would be me. Maybe I do not have any talent to write episode reviews.

So, a good episode reviewer will choose either speed or quality and sometime both of them. An example of it would be Random Curiosity. The guys at randomc (yes, it’s a team blog) write excellent episode reviews and they are usually the first one to write them (speed). Moreover, they review many anime series at a time and they take good screencaps. I don’t know how Omni and the guys can keep up with it. Doing something like that needs patience, devotion, and A LOT of free time to watch and review an episode. Unfortunately, I have neither of those things. I would never able to do it and 1 series is enough for me. I really respect those guys.

Then again, they have hundreds and maybe thousands of followers. Some posts can get up to 300+ comments. You know, comments are VERY important to us bloggers. It shows us that people actually read what we write. A comment is like saying thank you to us for writing the post (well, to me at least). My episode reviews get very little amount of comments and it is usually by the same person ^^. Well, not surprising since I lack talent in that field and why would people read my posts when there are other people writing about the same topic as well. Another reason why I like writing editorials (like this one) better. Also, my editorials usually get more than 10 comments and I consider that as godly. Since my episode reviews barely get any comments, I can assume that no one reads them.

And here are some wise words from nutcase23 and oOgA, fellow Banzai!-nian.

“Regarding episode reviews, I feel they are a good and simple way for beginning writers to get a feel of blogging. However, unless special effort is made, an episode review becomes just another summary. Also, the commitment to do regular reviews for a show, especially in a long series, can eventually become drudgery and actually kill the joy of watching the show for the writer.”

“Of course, success stories abound such as Random Curiosity and DarkMirage’s Code Geass reviews.”
- nutcase23

“Episode reviews were one of the things that I started with as well and honestly I have no qualms about it if the anime is good (i.e. for my fave – Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni) however, I have decided to make a change because there are simply too many anime episode reviewers out there and I decided  to keep out of the league and the let the others do the job while I prefer more editiorials and news kind of articles. Being a person that requires a balance between real life and blogging, I have to drop long ep summaries to keep my life in balance. It is about passion and devotion and sadly, the flame has died in me”

-oOgA

I don’t hate reading episode reviews though, I actually like reading it. After watching an episode of a certain series, I will take a look at some of the blogs to read their reviews. I will skip their summaries and I read their impressions. I want to know what I don’t know about and I want to know their ‘theory’ if they have any. It is interesting and fun to read people’s opinions and thoughts on stuff. Some blog makes fun of the episode and a good laugh is harmless no?

Well, that’s all I can think of now. With that said, I probably won’t write episode reviews for a long time starting from now. Unless it’s next year (when I won’t be as busy) and there are shows worth wrting about. Also, this post is just my opinions on episode reviews and other people have their own opinions on the topic. To sum it up, episode reviews is not for everyone, only certain people can write a good one.

~Setsukyie~

Side Note: ~darkside~ means bad things/things that I hate. So, every time I write a post with ~darkside~ in the title, that means I’m gonna rant about something. ^_^