I apologize for the lack of posts this past week. If you must know the reason, I decided to take a short break from blogging to indulge in playing Pokemon Black =P My review of the game will be posted soon, as well as some belated series reviews and first impressions of fall 2010 anime I decide to watch. Posts should be going back to their regular schedule for now (2-3 per week I would say).
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Whenever I think about my favorite anime, or any anime I like actually, I often find myself liking a certain series better than another even though I recognize that the latter is clearly better in many respects than the former. When I post any list of favorite anime, I feel obligated to make a statement such as “These are the anime I enjoyed the most and not necessarily what I think are the best anime.” To give an example, why am I much more into K-ON! (i.e., buying K-ON! products, looking up fan art, etc) than Eden of the East, even though I know that the latter is an overall better show? A post by digitalboy however, helped me figure out this distinction between anime I like and anime I think are good…
digitalboy distinguishes the two by assigning each title a “head score” and a “heart score.” Anime I would give a higher head score to would be the ones that I admire because of great stories and production attributes, unique plots, stellar character development, or similar things that make them stand out among generic or blatant fan pandering anime. Anime I would give a higher heart score to would be the ones that simply have attributes that I enjoy watching for whatever reason. They usually don’t have creative stories or solid characters, they just happen to have something that appeals to my personal taste, whether it’s pretty animation, cuteness, a particular style of humor, etc,. In my previous example, K-ON! would have a high heart score and little to no head score, while Eden of the East would be the opposite.
To delve into each a little further, let’s look at head score first. Some of my high head score anime would be Death Note, Mushishi, Spice and Wolf, Cowboy Bebop, and many original anime films like Nausicaa, Summer Wars, and Millennium Actress. I like them because of their unique, mature stories and I admire them for telling creative narratives that never insulted my intelligence. Anime I give a high head score to are usually good “anime ambassadors” – their lack of otaku fan pandering makes them more universal and they’re great for showing non-fans how interesting and imaginative anime can be. The heart score for these titles would be low because, while I have tons of respect for them and would recommend them to anyone, I don’t care much for them outside of just watching them and respecting them.
Now we’ll look at some of my high heart score anime – Lucky Star, K-ON!, Pokemon, Bleach, and Kannagi to name a few. Unlike the aforementioned head score anime, these series are not unique or particularly mature to me in any way. Besides Pokemon and maybe Bleach, they’re not universal either and have obvious traits that are made to appeal to otaku. Then why do they have so many fans? Because the fans who like them are not looking for creativity and serious, mature storytelling – these titles give them some sort of fulfillment they want in their entertainment, perhaps something more desirable than what head score anime can give considering the popularity of these series. Lucky Star and K-ON! are virtually plotless and full of obvious moe appeal, but the characters, animation, and humor just happen to appeal to me. I feel that Bleach is one of the most uninspiring, predictable shonen anime I’ve seen, with a cast of characters I don’t really like as a whole, but I keep watching it for the few characters I do like and for the cool action scenes. The amount of flaws and redundancy in the Pokemon anime is unbelievable, but despite this, I love the franchise too much to not like the anime too. And Kannagi has a plot and characters we’ve seen a million times already, but there’s just something about them that stands out to me.
Of course, whether a series leans more towards head score or heart score is still a matter of opinion. I love Death Note for its unpredictable, suspenseful, complex mystery plot, thus a high head score. Another person might be a big Light or L fangirl and mostly like the show because of them, in which case it would have a high heart score for them. There are also some anime I feel have a good balance of head score and heart score elements. For my current favorite, Haruhi, I would give it a fairly equal head and heart score (though probably a little more heart score) because I feel it has a very unique, interesting plot and characters (especially if you read further into the novels), but I also recognize that it’s marketed with its share of moe and fan pandering, and I acknowledge my own bias towards the series =P To give another example, there’s no denying Evangelion’s impacting plot that made anime history, thus a high head score. But I would give it at least a small heart score because I have a bit of Asuka moe and I used to have a thing for Shinji+Asuka pairing XD
My favorite anime tend to be the ones I give a higher heart score to, or at least the head and heart scores are more or less balanced. There are a few exceptions, like Wolf’s Rain and Noir that have higher head scores for me, but usually the series I get the most into are for heart score reasons. That’s just the kind of fan I am…I know all about what masterpieces Mushishi and Cowboy Bebop are, but I just can’t get into them as much as my high heart score anime like Pokemon and Haruhi. Pokemon and Haruhi give me something that better series don’t, and that’s what I’m looking for when it comes to favorite anime. But I won’t say this is true for most fans, since I know there are plenty who only like unique, mature, high head score anime and despise any title that has moe, fan service, or anything else that appeals to fetishes. On the flip side, there are also fans who only care to watch heart score anime – anime that appeals to whatever genre or fetish they like, and whether a title is unique or artistically compelling has little bearing on how much they like it. In a way, it all comes down to something I talked about in a previous post – fans like anime because they like to adore it, analyze it, or both. I rate anime on MAL based on how high the title is in one of the two scores. If I didn’t have a strong head or heart score for the series, it will probably get a lower MAL score.
Do you sometimes feel conflicted between head score and heart score anime? And do your favorites tend to comprise just one of them or a balance of both?
A cliche idea that is executed well is MUCH BETTER than an original idea that is executed badly
And that does not apply to just anime
Also distinguishing between heart score and head score is like distinguishing whether a movie which you just enjoyed watching had any actual “depth” or not
Honestly, I think people who think this way are either misguided or should work for the Academy Awards.
A movie should be judged on whether or not it accomplishes what it intends to do, not whether or not it has any “depth” or not.
And finally to paraphrase the late Satoshi Kon, anime that are perceived to be generic and moe sellouts are great because it fuels the industry and thus the demand for shows that are outside of that strikezone
I definitely agree with your first point. It’s one of the reasons I can justify many of the anime I like. Naruto and One Piece for example – are they basically cliche shonen series? Yes. But do they execute shonen cliches in an exciting, entertaining way? Certainly =)
I also agree that something doesn’t have to have “depth” to make it good. Some fans believe that any anime that doesn’t stimulate intelligence is automatically bad. Stuff like Lucky Star and Pokemon ruin their conception that anime is supposed to always be deep and mature. But for me, as long as an anime does what it’s supposed to do well, whether it’s meant to be fan pandering moe like K-ON! or a form of artistic expression like Aoi Bungaku, I can at least respect it even if it’s not one that I personally like.
Huh…Never really thought about it like that (as in head score and heart score). I mean there are some titles that you realize the plot is superior and the acting is better, but it essentially comes down to you; you like X anime over Y anime even though everyone else perceives Y anime to be better than X anime. Just depends on a person’s taste.
Of course when you review, you turn off your heart score and go with head score :D
Yes, like a lot of debates about anime, it does boil down to personal taste in the end =P
Heh, I do try to turn off my heart score when I review. I like most of the series I write about, but I do try to point out at least a few flaws that it may have so no one thinks I’m biased. But for series I’ve written about that I really love, like Toradora! and Kemono no Souja Erin, it gets harder to turn off my heart score during reviewing XD
I look at it as being connected in some way with the show rather than saying it’s “good” or “bad”. I can say that Clannad and After Story are two great shows and that they deserve a lot of praise, but they didn’t connect with me somehow like Railgun, Haruhi, or even Ookami-san.
I’ll be the first to say that Ookami-san isn’t a show that everyone will like, and most bloggers didn’t like it. But somehow it connected with me (or moreso Urashima did) and I greatly enjoyed it. On the inverse, Index I didn’t connect with me despite loving two of the characters in the show from Railgun and people like it. II may after reading the majority of the stories that should appear.
Your system with a heart and a mind score would work well on places like MAL to allow people that can admit that a show isn’t the best designed, animated, or whatever is wrong while allowing them to highly rate it to show their love for it.
Feeling connected to an anime or not is another good way to describe it. There’s a certain indescribable something that makes me feel more connected to Kannagi than Fullmetal Alchemist even though I recognize that the latter is superior in just about everything. Discovering that “indescribable something” in new anime I watch, especially when I least expect it, is one of the many perks of being a fan =D
I also agree with you about Clannad After Story. It would get a great head score from me for having such fantastic drama, but not such a high heart score because I didn’t particularly like the characters or feel the need to delve more into the show besides just watching it. For other fans it may be different, especially if they have the intended moe feelings for any of the female characters and feel an urge to play the visual novels.
Very good idea.. I think all anime reviews from now on should come with both a head and heart score… My all time favorite anime (Love Hina) rates high in heart but not so high in head… while I do occasionally like me a high head anime , mystery or thriller, they just can’t come close to competing with a heart anime for pure enjoyment….
Yes, pure enjoyment and love of the characters is what I look for the most in anime, thus the majority of my favorites are higher in heart score than head score. For other fans, pure enjoyment means mature, deep themes, in which case their favorites would be high in head score. Just depends on the person =) I try to make it clear when I list favorites of mine that I’m going by personal taste (heart score) and not what I necessarily think are the best (head score).
This is a pretty sensible rating system. A lot of my favorite anime engage me both intellectually/aesthetically as well as emotionally/dramatically (GiTs, Planetes, ARIA, to name a few) all at once.
I also wonder if there are some anime that start out as purely “heart” <3 and later on begin to score points in the "head" category? My relationship with K-ON! is like that, I feel. I started following it because it felt like just pure fun and moe-ness, but I began to think about *why* this particular series seemed so appealing, and I came up with a few conclusions that I think I've posted in another comment. I think K-ON! scored a few "head" points when it made me go beyond basking in enjoyment and actually think a bit about how it executes its moe-moe-kyun-attack and does what it does so well.
K-ON! and the other better shows in that genre, such as Lucky Star, Ichigo Mashimaro, and Azumanga Daioh, also score some head points with me too. Despite the fact that these shows are quite obviously made for the pure enjoyment of otaku, there is definitely some level of intelligence and artistic ingenuity in presenting the humor and characters. There’s a reason behind why these shows become so popular while lesser ones in the same genre do not, which is where the head score comes in =)
Sometimes I really can’t patch up the differences between my likes and loves because I was bound to my over-excitement.
Somehow, I did watch a story that is ‘like-able’ and somehow ends up loving it.
But, even though many of them hates(?) it, I guess in the end your decision still counts, and you can just use their recommendation as a reference to further judgment.
Even though few of them really exist… All I can say that is you can it is not an issue if it is likable or lovable… all that matters is in the end of the day you learn something or enjoy what you thought to be is something entertaining.
Yes, it does just come down to what you enjoy in anime, whether it’s moe cuteness or deep, dark themes. Most anime I watch start out at least a little likable, but the thrill is when these likable series turn into series that I really love. It’s even more of a surprise when I can’t think of good reasons for why I like certain series and not ones that I know are better. I suppose it could also be a good way to learn about yourself along the way =)
I’ve always maintained some separation between ‘quality’ and ‘personal appreciation’. Along the lines of the quality of a piece being how well it does whatever it is trying to do, measured against how challenging and how worthwhile this goal is in the first place, (so a sort of ‘start value’ and ‘quality of execution’ rating system), while how much you like something depends in addition on how much you care about it all, how well the goal and the execution mesh with your own interests, preferences and the way your mind works.
But I find is very rare that I’ll like something without regarding is as being of high quality, just a few shows like Gokujou Seitokai, which is probably fairly mediocre but hits my sense of humour perfectly. It’s far more common for me to say of shows like, say, Cowboy Bebop, “that’s clearly of high quality, but I’m not really interested in it”. Certainly I’d defend the quality of the likes of Kannagi and K-ON; Kannagi may look a lot like a whole host of other shows which aren’t much good, but it has more interesting characters with stronger touches of reality in the little details, it subverts many of the normal cliches of the genre, with things like an adored-person-fanclub which tries to be sensitive, it certainly ends in a very different way, and it’s just plain well-drawn and well-directed. And K-ON just contains a masterclass in conveying mood and character through animation. I claim that while they might have mediocre ‘start values’, they have gained such appreciation because the quality of their respective executions is fantastic, and that makes them high-quality shows. (And quite why shows with cute girls get accused of stuff like “fan pandering” any more than shows with cool mecha, or hot bishies or whatever I just don’t understand.) A brilliantly made and ambitious show is going to beat them, and indeed the likes of Lain, Utena, Princess Tutu ride higher in my affections as well as my estimation, but those are pretty uncommon.
I think there’s some pressure to regard artistic attributes as more of a form of quality than entertainment attributes, which may get conflated with quality/personal preference judgements, and which I think is rubbish, just an idea which a certain segment of culture pushes so they can feel superior. It’s easy to write a story with a complicated plot and allusions to well-known philosophical ideas, just as it’s easy to write a story where a bunch of cute girls go through ordinary life. But if the complicated philosophical story doesn’t give you any reason to want to watch it, doesn’t convey any feeling, then it’s as useless as a cute girl story created by a talentless hack, you may as well either go and read the relevant philosophical tracts, or look at some pictures respectively. Quality in media and art comes from the synthesis of what can be very broadly grouped as the sophisticated and the entertaining, neither should be seen as a poor relation. Neither thought nor emotions work very well if the other is left too idle.
Wow, thanks for the very informative comment.
I agree with your point that shows should be judged by how good they are at what they’re trying to do and not how “intelligent” they are. Saying that one should like Fullmetal Alchemist more than K-ON! because it’s deeper and more unique ignores the fact that the shows have entirely different goals. Both shows follow through well with what they’re trying to accomplish, so saying that K-ON! is a worse show because it’s moe and all is speaking more subjectively than objectively. Instead of putting it that way, just say that moe isn’t your taste and you prefer deeper anime. Like your comparison between a complex, philosophy-ridden story and a K-ON!-like story, if the former doesn’t provide that special something that makes us care about the story/characters, it’s not any better than the generic cute girls story.
Oh, and I loved your defending remarks for Kannagi and K-ON! Right on XD
I actually agree with the heart and head score thing. I love a bunch of deep anime(Deathnote and Blood+ come to mind) and will buy merchandise for them because I like a certain character in them.
Animes with only a heart score from me, is questionable. I’m probably one of the few people that thought B Gata H Kei was extremly funny but I wouldn’t buy merchandise from it while something like ookami-san, I would. So I would say I have two levels of heart scores. The one where I will flaunt that I like the series proudly and the other where I’ll just keep it to myself.
Interesting. I’ll buy merchandise for just about any anime I like, whether they have a high head score or heart score. But the ones I’ll buy the most merchandise for are of course my favorites, which are usually higher in heart score. But I have bought some Death Note and Spice and Wolf stuff, which are shows that have more head points. Just depends on the anime and how it makes me feel.
I like the head score and heart score idea. I think the same is actually true for movies as well. For example, Schindler’s List probably scores high in the head score category, but would anyone look forward to rewatching it again and again? To me, a high rewatchability factor indicates a high heart score.
Another way to look at it might be: if your favorite anime was food, what would it be? ;) Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden are like a full banquet (it has everything – deep characterization, great action sequences, a story with large scope). The Prince of Tennis is like eating all my favorite snack foods at once (a treat and indulgence I can relax with). Bleach is candy (just plain fun, without having to think about it too much). (Or maybe I’m just hungry for dinner… o_O)
Yeah, it could definitely work for movies, books, or any form of entertainment. Strangely, books with a higher head score tend to be my favorites while movies (Disney!) with a higher heart score are my favorites ;)
LOL, the food idea is good too XD
If I give an anime a “head score”, it means that I like it, using my logic sense (i.e I should like it). For example:
– Everyone I know is talking about it, so I should like/follow it to the point that I can talk about it together with my friends. (social reasoning).
– It has some really nice effects/ideas that I can reuse in some of my projects, so I should like/follow it.
On the other hand, if I give an anime a “heart score”, it’s simply because I truly like it (or even love it and is a fan of it) from the bottom of my heart. I may appear as a know-all to normal people who watch anime, but only before fans of a certain anime, would I reveal my true feelings.
The same goes for movies, music, applications, blogs… which one I give a “head score”, which one I give a “heart score”.
I’d give animeyume a heart score (^_^)
I think the “everyone talking about it” aspect applies to both actually – for head scores, everyone analyzes and interprets it, while with heart scores, everyone argues about how much they love it or hate it XD But yeah, heart score anime are the ones I also truly love, while head score ones are the ones I truly respect.
And thanks for the heart score ^_^
Well, I guess my post about the difference between anime you like and anime that’s good is never going to go up. I got beaten to it….
I get what you’re saying though. For example, I liked Seitokai Yakuindomo a LOT, but it was a pretty bad show in terms of pretty much everything except animation. The characters were good too, but it didn’t really have a plot, it was all jokes…..best anime of 2010 though so far for me.
LOL, I actually had the idea for this post when I read digitalboy’s back in March, but I just got around to writing it now. Looks like you waited on the idea even longer than I did XD
I agree about Seitokai Yakuindomo – a total heart score, though not a very high one for me. The series did have nice animation and the first half was actually pretty funny. But I found the latter half to be kind of stale.
It seems to me that a higher “heart score” indicates that a particular anime is able to evoke more emotional response, which can mean it is a good anime. I don’t think Eden of the East is clealy better than K-On! In fact, I would argue that K-On! is clearly better than the latter because it is an anime that could carefully evoke a heartwarming experience. To me, “head score” vs. “heart score” is kind of an unnecessary distinction when judging how much I like an anime or how good an anime is. To explain further, some anime appeals to our intellects and some to our feelings. A good anime has to do one of them well. Eden isn’t necessarily better than K-On! just because it appeals to our serious side.
I’ve never really felt a conflict between “head” and “heart”. I believe it’s a trivial thing when judging an anime. Ultimately, it is all about the overall experience and that’s how I decide my personal favorites.
Very well said. I agree that you should just like whatever anime you like for whatever reason, whether it appeals to your feelings and fetishes or your intellect and artistry. Like I said in my previous comments, if a seemingly uninteresting anime does what it’s supposed to do in a good, refreshing way, that makes it just as good as any intellectually stimulating anime, even if one of them just doesn’t appeal to your personal taste. I guess the reason that some fans feel the need to make the distinction is because it’s hard for fans of only head score anime to understand the appeal of high heart score anime like K-ON! (not so much the other way around strangely).
I personally have never felt the need to set up the barrier between the “head” and “heart” score. It’s probably because I end up subconsciously merging the two, and that goes into whatever “score” I decide. I never really liked objective rating systems for things that are subjectively decided anyway, but when I do end up giving objective ratings, it comes down to just whether I personally liked the anime or not. It doesn’t really matter if it has inconsistent production quality issues like Ergo Proxy. What matters is that I loved the show for what it was trying to do, so it gets a high score on my end.
I see…so you rate anime based solely on how much you like them rather than dividing them between the subjective heart score and the objective (with some subjectivity) head score. That works too I suppose. Again, at the end of the day it’s all about enjoying an anime, whether it stimulates your mind or just your emotions =)
I just spent God knows how long writing a blog entry about Bamboo Blade, trying to express why I didn’t think it was very intelligent or creative (while not necessarily criticizing it for being stupid or anything like that), but why I still enjoyed it immensely. I could have saved myself a lot of time if I’d read this blog entry first. Food for thought!
Yes, I saw your pingback – thanks! ^.^
I’m always surprised when I enjoy an anime immensely while I’m simultaneously telling myself that it’s totally generic (Kannagi), full of flaws (Angel Beats!), or just plain redundant (Pokemon). When prompted, I try as hard as I can to explain why I like them, but it turns into more rambling than reasoning. All I can say is that there’s just something about these shows that I like that’s enough for me to overlook their bad points =P
“But I won’t say this is true for most fans, since I know there are plenty who only like unique, mature, high head score anime and despise any title that has moe, fan service, or anything else that appeals to fetishes.”
Using the word ‘like,’ by its definition, has a high heart score, since it is inherently irrational and therefore unexplainable only that, in this case, at the same time, this anime also exhibits characteristics, as you said, by ‘being mature and unique’ sets them apart and by those descriptions will merit a high head score too.
I think a much better distinction would be ‘rational’ or ‘irrational’ likes.
Rational by its definition, beauty that can be justified by existing trends and standards in anime, while irrational, by its definition, cannot be explained and as such cannot be expected to meet any existing standard or trend with the exception of the one liking it.