So I have to write and evaluation which is the technical term for review. I immediately decided to write one on Sailor Moon's first season in the Japanese. Now I have to evaluate this like it is just a normal anime. I need pros and cons as well as what makes an anime good or bad. So I was wondering does anyone have any ideas for what makes a good anime? What do you look for when you watch one? Please help me.

Well, I'm not really a general anime fan, but what I can say is that a good series (wheter is anime or not) goes in a good pace. I mean, when a season has a lot of fillings it starts to get tedious, and if the writers doesn't solve that problem efficiently, the series runs the risk of losing fans.

That's my little contribution, hope it helps

To me a good anime is if I find the character interesting. If the are characters boring or if I don't care about them then I can't watch it. Also the plot has to be interesting. I hope that helps ^^. I really want to see this review!

I always thought it was interesting how the characters instantly loved each other. I know that if i was one day given a wand that transformed me, speak to a talking cat and fought off Youma it would take more than a day or two to get used to the idea. They seemed really trusting of each other from the start. (Trust for me takes a LONG time to develop.) Now whether that is a pro or con, is up to you to determine. I thought it was unrealistic.

You should try to throw any biases out of the window and look at the Sm the anime very objectively.

I would maybe decide on some things you want to discuss about the anime. If it were me I would first of all talk about the art style and quality of animation. Judge how it compares from the first episode to the last one of season one. Judge the pacing of the series. Is it going to fast, to slow? Are there parts that flow well while others seem to disrupt the plot?

How about the redundancies and repetitiveness of the formula of the anime?

Also, maybe consider discussing the good and bad points of character development, the lack of character development in some characters, maybe particularly the villains. You could also discuss why its such a good show from girls and also some faults the show has when aiming towards that age group.

Ok thats all I can think of for now. Sorry if I got lengthy there. XD

Thank you all! I think these ideas will help me work on writing my paper. I'll show it to you guys when I'm done.

You might also think about voice acting and music (music can really break or make the mood).

(You can also post your paper in the Tutor Hall, if you want someone to review and/or critique it.)

That is a great idea!

Sailor Venus wrote:

You might also think about voice acting and music (music can really break or make the mood).

(You can also post your paper in the Tutor Hall, if you want someone to review and/or critique it.)

Speaking of voice acting, this is something i've always been curious about. For me, its hard for me to judge how good a japanese voice actor is because i have a harder time telling if its bad or not because its not my own language. I think asking this could also benefit for your paper if you do decide to mention the voice acting. But how do you judge another language's quality of voice acting? Honestly, the japanese always sounds better to me than english (in most cases), but then again, how do I even know if the voice acting is considered terrible by Japanese (or whatever language it is) standards?

It's always something I've been curious about but never had the chance to ask.

Ooh! That's a great idea! Thank you Small Lady.

So are you going to rewatch the entire first season so you can write your review?

Yup. I am on spring break so on the two days that I was promised I am not working I will be rewatching it. I especially need to rewatch the episodes that were only released in Japan because I have seen those less than the English ones. Lucky for me, my complete collection of Sailor Moon DVDs should reach my house by Monday and I can't wait to open them and watch them on my tv.

Yay! Sounds fun! I love watching the first season.

I just love rewatching the series and rereading it too! Which is part of the reason why I wanted to write a paper on it.

You could also compare and contrast the parts the dub left out if you wanted to brig.g in the English version or even other versions.

OOH!!!! Maybe that'd be a good focus for the paper...

Okay so I have trouble with thesis statements and I need a strong one for this review.

I was thinking about talking about how the fan base has grown or maybe about the fact that this show is not just another children's cartoon.

Seeing how it's a review I would go with the fact that this show is not another children's cartoon. Also another thesis you can bring up is how sailor moon changed the magical girl genre.

Well, a thesis statement is (sort of) a short summary of your argument. What are you arguing? What are you trying to convince the audience(of)? What is your purpose in writing this review?

So I could say something like:

"Sailor Moon is not just another children's cartoon. It's actually far from it."

Would this work? I'm so bad with Thesis statements. ><

Well, at the moment, the thesis statement is very basic. Let me take you through a few thesis statement examples from another source.

Example One: The North and South fought the Civil War for many reasons, some of which were the same and some different.

This example is about at the same level your current thesis statement is at. It provides very little information. The thesis could be much improved by stating the reasons and adding a little bit of interpretation. Your thesis statement could be improved by briefly stating why Sailor Moon is not just another children's cartoon show. Summarize your arguments, so the reader knows where you stand and what you will discuss.

Example Two: While both sides fought the Civil War over the issue of slavery, the North fought for moral reasons while the South fought to preserve its own institutions.

This examples briefly details the reasons without going in-depth. The reader now knows the essay will cover the issue of slavery, morals, and Southern institutions. The reader also knows where the writer stands and what his/her argument is regarding the Civil War. At this level, your reader will know what aspects of Sailor Moon you are going to discuss and what your argument is regarding Sailor Moon.

You may find that once you finish writing the paper that you want to improve or tweak your thesis statement. Do it! You may be pleasantly surprised with the results. Your thesis statement may be revised multiple times.

So maybe like,
While the dub in America was made for children, this show is far from being just a children's show.

That's good, but maybe expand on your points. What are you main arguments in your paper? You want to briefly state those, basically like "this show is far from being just a children's show because of A, B, and C" or however many points you have.

I just thought about this. My main points are about why this show is so great and why it's fanbase has grown, but I don't know how to put that down.

Ok, so what are your arguements for why its great? And what are you saying about its growing fanbase?

Usually when I write a paper, I tend to break it down into an outline so I have all of my arguements down before I write it. Usually it goes like this

I. Intro - kind restates your thesis statement and tells the reader what the paper is about
II. Argument 1
A. Point 1
B. Point 2
C. etc.
III. Argument 2

IV. Argument 3
V. Conclusion

Now what you put with those arguments and how many you have, just depends. But doing that helps me get a concise idea of what I am talking about with the paper so when the teachers are like "what are you talking about" I can be like "bam bam and bam". lol, if that makes sense.

I'm breaking mine down into an outline now.

I'm analyzing the animation, music, story, pace, and believability.

I have pros and cons. I wanted to maybe talk about how the fanbase grew years after it was released and done being shown on tv.

It would be perfect to mention the animation, music, story, pace, and believability in your thesis statement. If it sounds like too much, then I think you could easily down-size that into animation, music, and story.

"The animation, music, and story of Sailor Moon.... blah blah blah."

"The fan base of Sailor Moon blah blah blah because of the animation, music, and story."

how long does the paper have to be? Usually for me, with three main points, it's more than enough for a 5+ page project. I'm not sure what the specifications of the paper are, but you also don't want it to be too broad.

Are you turning in a rough draft or a final draft?

The paper is three pages at the least.

I just turned in my outline. I will post my rough draft by Friday on the tutor halll page.

Oh well, then I'm sure you could crank out a 10 page paper easy with all the topics you want to cover. XD