A generally accepted consensus here is that ratings here on MAL dont matter.

I always thought that shows like this get low ratings because of wannabe "mature" people who downvote all comedy shows with an silly fun premise. For some reason, it's been believed for years that goofy shows can't be good.

@RobertBobert I've seen some people even add said shows to their list as soon as it's announced, just to give it a 1 rating. No surprise, it's people who give "deep" and "mature action" anime high ratings.

@RobertBobert I've seen some people even add said shows to their list as soon as it's announced, just to give it a 1 rating. No surprise, it's people who give "deep" and "mature action" anime high ratings.

Facts! I enjoyed every episode, every week it came. The best Character in the show is the Manager.

I think the problem is that the ratings and statistics that sites like this present about something as subjective as entertainment media are misinterpreted. People assume that a show with a score validates their opinion that it is in a higher/lower category compared to others or that it represents what is great about our society, instead of assuming that these are first trends and numerical data that is collected from according to what is considered "popular" today or is generally criticized. A mainstream series from the 90s will not receive the same treatment as a current one considering that the technology and means to collect that data was different (and I assume more difficult) than today.

Also, as a rule on this page, series tend to decrease their score a little as they get older and will increase if they are more recent. It's not so much that people think that the old is more "shitty", but that the current is "better than before."

I remember once talking to someone saying that TTGL was more popular than Franxx on a numerical level of popularity by at least approximately 100 thousand members (a year ago), but while TTGL has been around for more than 15 years, Franxx is much newer and has picked up a number close to the first in less time.

What I'm saying is that the ratings shouldn't be used to figure out which "taste" is better than another, but only used as a guide to what's trendy, criticized, and popular that you want to explore.

Not a big fan of incest, but that series was pretty funny. Also, I liked Kilmaria the most

To be honest you could believe MAL scores at least 10 and more years ago.... but now you can't. It is hard to tell when it changed. But when I first joined the score definitely was reliable. Now...meh.... I dunno. Now I check reviews. If a person with whom I have similar anime scores rates anime high I watch it.

@serina7 I don't think the trend has changed that much in the last 10 years to say that MAL mean scores stopped being reliable. New popular anime have emerged, some received a lot of hype, some received a lot of hate; more people, with different anime references, have joined the site and voted for various shows.

Although yes, it's always better to search for people sharing similar interest in shows and check out what they might be recommending, instead of fully or mostly relying on the general audience's point of view. An anime can be given score both by its genre's enthusiasts and those who might not be into it, after all.

@Adnash I suppose Sousou no Frieren is a good example of ratings being reliable. Though if you look at the amount of scores given you could also see that the show was watched only by those who were likely to enjoy the show. In other words suppose Sousou no Frieren were to be marketed differently.. perhaps to draw a broader market and viewership.. then you could expect more eyes and likely those that do not feel its all that great. In this manner the score would suffer.

Many amazing shows have lower scores because more eyes were on it; it's viewed and reviewed by those not likely to enjoy it. In that sense marketing could be a double edge sword.

As someone who's easy to please, I'm far more likely to watch an anime based off of descriptions on interest stacks it's in or recommendations lists that it's on than I am to look at ratings or reviews before (or even really after) watching the anime or reading the manga. Then again, judging by a lot of my anime scores, I've come to realize that I am very easy to please most of the time (Yay for the ability to very easily suspend disbelief).