Understanding Reviews

I love to enjoy manga and anime, I really do. But I critique them much like an english professor might a novel. I look for rising action, climax, and resolution. Manga doesn't have this of course for the most part so I have changed it to apply. Here is the basic idea and rubric for what I look for. this applies to only some manga so I might add other things.

Story:
-what's the objective Lead is going for
-is there progress to that?
-Are we interested in what's happening?
-Is there some sort of set up for future events?
-do we see an eventual conclusion?

Scene:
-Scenes should be interesting. Their intensity can be measured on a scale of 0-10. It should never reach 0 but it shouldn't reach 10 more than one or twice. There have to be times when it drops below 6 or 5. Why? There should only be a few moments that really excite us, so readers know what moments are REALLY important (seen through comparison). All scenes should be good and many scenes can be really good but we should be able to tell which are scenes that are meant to stick out (and be tense). If its a constant push for us to be excited, we'll run out of adrenaline and all scenes will seem the same to us. Breaks are necessary in the story. Think: harry potter is not always fighting! He is doing boring stuff too so we can see which parts are really important, like fighting Voldemort. Sometimes, the slow parts tell us the most about a character or story. Slow parts should be used as a supplement.*
-Is this conflict appropriate and advancing a plot or subplot? Or is it setting up a character?

Character:
-are the characters necessary?
-interesting or unique?
-any that stick out (good or bad)?

Art:
-does it look good and have effort put in it.
-computer created graphics is fine if it doesnt detract from over pictures.

Overall score (sometimes I compare it to other books of the genre or a precendent):
Overall score (all manga): Just my general feeling, not based on other ratings.

Final thoughts: general interest in the topic. Do I recommend it? To who? Worth reading? So and so.

*Since this a hard topic to grasp, here is more help if you DONT get it:
Scenes should start off slow but interesting (like 4 or 5 in intensity), through the introduction of a conflict, it picks up and is resolved. Really important scenes (usually related to main plot) will reach maybe a 9 or 10 which excites us and it clearly stands out. It is resolved (quickly, though might be dragged out appropriately) and next scene starts out low again. If all scenes are intense, there are no scenes that stick out and there is nothing truly interesting (even if every part interests us). We WILL get bored eventually because tensity can only last so long...and the scene is inappropriate.


Hopefully you will understand my reviews and not feel TOO offended when I rate your favorite manga or anime terrible. If I hate the manga, I will tell ya straight out (I judge manga I like a lot tough too!).