Pro tip: Stop calling every show with a cool fight an 'action anime'

I was on a forum last week and saw someone call 'Monster' an action show because it has a few tense scenes. That's like calling a thriller a horror movie. Genres matter because they set expectations. If you tell someone to watch 'Violet Evergarden' for the action, they'll be confused by the quiet story about a girl writing letters. How do you guys figure out the real genre before you recommend something?

4 comments

4 Comments

claire_grant343mo ago

Just check the tags on MAL or AniList. People get it wrong all the time.

max_brown3mo ago

But those tags are added by users too, so you're still trusting random people's opinions. The real issue is that genre labels are way too broad to be useful for personal taste. You gotta watch a clip or read a plot summary to know if you'll actually like it.

dixon.james3mo ago

Hold up, that's exactly why tags work better. A bunch of random people adding tags creates a crowd-sourced consensus, which is way more reliable than one official genre label. If fifty users all tag something "slow burn" and "atmospheric," that tells you something solid. You're right that a single person can be wrong, but the whole point is the average of everyone. A plot summary can spoil things, and a clip is just one scene. Tags give you the vibe without ruining it.

morgan_king361mo ago

100% agree with @max_brown that clips are way more useful since tags can turn "Monster" into "fast-paced action thriller" somehow. Guess the crowd consensus on that one would be as reliable as a weather app predicting snow in July.