5 MAL Scores I Disagree With

MAL scores (or myanimelist scores) – they serve as a rough estimation of how well an anime is received.

But ofcourse, if something has a high score, it doesn’t mean its a series that will most certainly without a doubt work for you.

Nor does a low score mean you will find the series terrible too.

The majority may feel one way, but it doesn’t mean you will feel the same way too.

In this post I will highlight some of the MAL scores that I would change. Cases of both the score being too high and too low will be included.

Remember that this is just my opinion, which I’m not supposed to have (in the words of PewDiePie, or should I say – Gloria Borger).

Clannad After Story (Score: 8.99)

Starting straight away with what I think is the most controversial entry on this list.

Many have described Clannad After Story as a lifechanging, unforgettable experience.

Unforgettable maybe, but lifechanging? I just never felt that.

After Story definitely had its moments. Episode 18, if I’m not mistaken, when Tomoya starts telling Ushio about his mother, broke me and for me that was probably the highest point of the series.

But I still have an issue with that ending. It would have been much more impactful if Nagisa was the only person that Tomoya lost. Seeing Tomoya moving on after that event would have been a great way to end.

Instead, the series basically goes back to Ushio’s birth and restarts everything from that point on, with a happier outcome than the first time.

And I know the message here is probably of karma, give to the city and the city will give back to you, but the whole supernatural aspect of Clannad never really worked for me, and that ending made all the events after Nagisa’s death feel useless.

Another issue are the characters. For a story like this to work on you, you need to get attached to the characters and for most of the Clannad characters, that wasn’t the case for me.

Saying all this, I’m making a Clannad AMV so this is kind of awkward…

Oh and the rating. It almost has a 9, making it one of the highest rated anime on the site.

If you would ask me, I wouldn’t rate Clannad After Story over 8.10.

Kimi ni Todoke (Score: 8.11)

Well, I did drop this anime afterall. So it’s kind of self explanatory why I disagree with the 8.11 rating.

I tried to give this anime a chance, I really did. I made it to Episode 18 I think, which was the recap.

But even with anime characters there is a limit to the dumbness that I can handle and Sawako was just too much.

Since on myanimelist I never actually give ratings to the anime that I dropped, I’m not sure if its fair that I talk about the Kimi ni Todoke rating.

But for the sake of this post, let’s say 7.5 is the highest rating I would give for this anime and nothing above that.

Harukana Receive (Score: 6.84)

It’s easy to dismiss an anime like Harukana Receive as nothing but fan-service without much value otherwise. It is a story about girls playing beach volleyball afterall.

And yet I ended up enjoying this anime more than I expected, and not simply because of the eyecandy. It was an interesting story with likeable characters that had a very sweet friendship.

Another strong aspect of Harukana Receive was the music. The opening and ending songs always improve my mood and the OST from the anime called Rise still serves as my alarm ringtone.

All of this for a myanimelist score of under 7.00? Harukana Receive deserves to at least break that barrier. I rated the anime with an 8 but I would be fine with at least a score of around 7.5.

Kimi no Na Wa (Score: 9.14)

I was not sure if I should include this. Not because it would be too controversial but because I’m not sure if what I’ll say about this will make sense.

This is the second highest rated item on myanimelist. And for this reason, the expectations were high when I watched this movie.

And it delivered. The story was well-made. Animation was gorgeous. The music was beautiful.

But I was still missing out on that feeling after finishing a 10/10 anime. It simply didn’t feel like I finished one of the best anime out there.

Maybe it was the characters? Actually, it probably was that. There was not too much you could take away or learn from the characters.

Which has a lot to do with the fact that its a movie, and in the time-frame of a movie it’s harder to create the attachment for the characters. At least in my opinion.

Which is also why movies usually work less well for me than a TV series.

I rated this movie with an 8. Something like an 8.30 score would be more appropriate I think.

Sakura Quest (Score: 7.45)

One of my most recently finished anime. Sakura Quest was beautiful.

I recently moved to a rural area just like Yoshino. Altho, if a city like Manoyama which has a population of around 50 000 counts as small, then I wonder what the village I’m in right now should be called…

In any case this was a well-made story about the life in a smaller area. Moreover, each of the girls had something I could relate to. Yoshino wished to live in a bigger place, then tried to make the most of an unplanned situation.

Shiori is an airhead. Maki all but gave up on one of her dreams.

Sanae is a web designer and blogger who hates bugs. Ririko is an introvert who can’t stop talking when asked about the things she is knowledgeable about.

I guess my point is, pretty much all of them are worth being called best girls.

P.A. Works is becoming one of my favorite studios. They really know how to hit my slice of life sweetspot.

Sakura Quest deserves to at least break the 8.00 score barrier on myanimelist.

Do you agree with my list? Which anime do you think have a myanimelist score that should be changed? Feel free to let me know in the comments 😉