I have a problem. Actually I have a problem with reviews on amazon.co.uk and how the public likes to play "ding-dong-dumbass" with the system. If you're like me and love reading elegant, analytical reviews then few things vex you so than to have those that can write and produce these rare moments of entertainment verbally abused and "thumbed downed" and marked "unhelpful". What has brung my blood enough to a boil to highlight this here is a review of 'High School of the Dead' by John Clayton which you can delight in here: [link]

If you have a grain of common sense (being a bit forceful here) then you can see that the series lies deep in cliche', poor characters and OTT ecchi that jars stupidly with the serious tone of the series. This is noted and explained rather soundly (despite some grammar errors) in the review but the fact that it's been marked down as largely unhelpful despite it's superior writing quality to the other reviews posted strikes me as odd. Wait. No it doesn't because it's obvious that the people who love the show (good grief) have marked it down for negativity rather than how helpful it is to people who know nothing about the show. This is supported by the fact that the large majority of reviews being postive, five star in fact. Since when were five star reviews so easily obtained? Since when could shows be so easily excused because "it's just for laughs"; an excuse applied to Transformers 2 like movies. Since when did we stop reading deeper than the surface and quality became a simple stylish accomplishment?!

I'm not sure but though this a significant problem that anime has had to dealt with for years this applies to all entertainment products. Flick though amazon and the same problem is apparent throughout with my last journal about the Sonic fanbase bringing up similar problems. If you recall in that journal I mentioned that I have lost a deep amount of trust in online game review websites because they have a habbit of blouting review scores; Edge and GamesTM being my UK magazine gospel. The magazines have the 'audacity' to give games reviews low scores, those are based on an average, that's 5/10 not 7/10 my friends but not for cynical reasons; not that I always agree with them but the writing is superb it's a non-issue. Without the constant pressure of the internet weighing down on them, shooting off vulgar comments they can write clearly and honestly; the social internet age has had a negative effect on how review websites operate in constrast. Websites operate largely on advertising revenue generateed by page hits with the fear of upsetting and losing "customers" more apparent than magazines.

Opinion is opinion I suppose but you don't add much weight to an agument when you can't analyse your source material on a basic level.

You can keep Comic-Con's worst manga of 2011. That's fine. Me? I'm going to go watch some Cowboy Bebop and then, maybe I can write a review of HSotD and just pray, pray that the public turn the light in their brains on...