The topic of “What it means to be a reviewer” provokes a large variety of opinions and thoughts. I have had people say to me that they could not think of a more worthless job than a reviewer while I have had others jealously tell me that they would give anything to be able to become a reviewer. I have strong reservations about both of these viewpoints but I do believe they serve as excellent jumping off points for a discussion.
Before I go into my thoughts and opinions about what it means to be a reviewer, I should explain my experience as a reviewer. While I technically released some review videos in 2009, I consider 2013 to be the year when I really started to review media. Throughout all that time, I have never been paid to do a review from anyone (although I have received free products) and have only ever made money through adsense and affiliate linking.
My first manga review which was released in 2013.
Having got that out of the way, let’s begin by explaining what the purpose of reviewing is. A review is to help people to make a decision on whether to spend money/time on a product. There are so many products in the world now that it is nearly impossible to spend your money/time without regret and reviews help to minimize the chance of a regretful experience.
When reviewing a product, you need to remember that the highest priority is to inform the viewer/reader. Your personal opinions are, of course, important but the end goal is to help people to make their decisions. To do that, they need to learn about the many aspects of the product so that they can make an informed decision. Even if you ultimately choose to not recommend the product, the viewer/reader might still decide that, based on the information you have presented, they might still like the product.
When I began to review anime and manga, it seemed like a dream come true. “I can potentially make money from experiencing things I like?” I can remember thinking to myself. Then I began to receive free products and my thoughts changed. “How could that change your thoughts?” I hear you ask. It’s because I no longer had a choice in what to review. As I reviewed anime after anime, I soon realized how most media, at any one point, is mostly mediocre to terrible. I watched bad anime after bad anime (with the occasional good one) and quickly felt burnt out. It is a true luxury to be able to review what you choose to review and, most of the time, a reviewer has to review the product given, whether that be good or bad.
To those who would question the worth of the reviewing profession, I have no better counter argument than a speech given by Anton Ego in the film Ratatouille. The first minute of the video I have included discusses how relatively easy reviewers (in the speech referred to as critics) have it compared to those who create, easily able to criticize (perhaps even encouraged to do so) while creators struggle to create their works. However, he states that the sole time a reviewer risks something is when they advocate for something new. I don’t disagree with this statement as I can remember one of the reasons I began reviewing was to raise awareness of anime and manga that I believed were overlooked and deserved more attention. By the way, I would recommend ignoring the video if you have not seen the film as it contains spoilers for the end of the film.
It is often easy to forget the role of a reviewer. I would argue that even many reviewers themselves forget what their role is, choosing to review the popular and poke fun at it rather than helping people to make their decisions and experience new, relatively unknown products. I would love to hear what your thoughts are on what it means to be a reviewer and whether you agree with my thoughts or not.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!