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Don't you think you're taking the idea of what constitutes a review and what would "qualify" someone to review titles and putting an unreasonable standard on it, though? Like, sure, if you're talking about professional reviewing, there's a screening process for that. But this is just an anime website where people review, rate, discuss, etc. Don't most "experts" inevitably end up reviewing titles they don't like, even good ones, and they would underrate stuff you're saying is good? Look at, um, Ebert—I don't personally like him, but I guess people would call him an expert when it comes to film, and he absolutely shit on a few films most people seem to consider classics. In particular, I remember him having a low tolerance for violence.

Yeah, my experience for Higurashi was about identical to yours with DtB. Depends on the ending. Nothing immediately comes to mind tonight, but I have seen some truly abysmal endings for otherwise pretty solid shows. It's very contextual, though. I might give it a bit more of a pass and condemn it more in other cases. Then you might have cases where there's a huge tonal shift that people didn't sign up for. Usagi Drop might be a perfect example...

Well, I think it's possibly a tad too subjective to flat out say they're "underrating it," but while It could be that a minority is underrating a show, maybe it's the opposite, and the majority is overrating a show. The show might not even be bad. Could be closer to average, I guess. If you think about it from the level of the professional critic, don't they play a part in shaping culture—the dominant art? I'm of course not placing such lofty pretensions upon MAL reviews, and there's no reason to believe MAL has a serious impact on the anime industry. But I think that's really what people are getting at when they "underrate" a series on here—they want to shape the art form more to their liking (and have specific tastes, usually), and that's really no different from what you'll see with pros. What of the art critic Clement Greenberg, who did so much to promote abstract expressionism? For better or worse (I'd say worse, tbh), he shaped the culture. I don't think there is one proper reason or perspective for reviewing or critical commentary.

Also, speaking of history on the topic, how familiar are you with cyberpunk as a genre? I'm not saying C:E HAS to follow any specific trend, it's just that the genre has been around for a long time, and C:E is not really doing anything new (probably the one new thing would be the Trigger style, although Promare is fairly similar, I believe)—if anything, I think it's a shallower and more explicit retread of what you could find in 80s/90s cyberpunk novels; or even anime or films. As a casual fan of the cyberpunk genre, I watched C:E, and though it's not without its entertainment value, I didn't like it in the end, and I felt it had a high enough number of flaws to give it the rating that I did, which was just below average (the average being 5, and I think it's safe to say I view 5s as being a bit more worthwhile than you do).

Well, I sympathize with your plight and the specific conditions that come along with it, but I reckon we'll have to agree to disagree on this particular subject, ultimately, as I think we both have pretty firm views on this. Out of curiosity, is there a reviewer on here you like?

Edit: Sorry about adding something to an already lengthy message. One little thing to add just in case that seems too muddled, but like the majority/minority thing with reviews/ratings and such that you brought up. Basically, the majority attempts to maintain the culture/status-quo; while the minority attempts to tear it down and reshape or reform it to their liking. Even if a person is primarily reviewing for "attention" or whatever it is, I think that this impulse does play a subtle role in what you're talking about, and I believe that's quite natural.

"Blah, blah, blah, you like old titles and are more critical than me about media consumption that is so pretentious, and you used a bigger word than awesome and amazing to describe my favorite anime, you're not allowed to continue watching stuff you don't like ever even if it was years before you even used MAL, and don't post negative reviews on stuff I enjoy. People like you ruin my experience on MAL (but I take relish in reading them so I can post whiny messages on whatever reviewer's profile) and they shouldn't review BOOHOOHOO. You need to have my standards and barriers and not rate or review anything below 6 or otherwise you're a clown. If I think an anime is good, there is no question about it, and you need to shut up."

Despite your tone, I suppose a few of those are fair questions. As an example, I'm pretty sure my impression of Fumetsu no Anata e is 3-4. There are certain reasons I really dislike it, but it also has a fairly unique concept from the beginning that keeps me interested enough to finish it; it's also shifted in structure very quickly, so I'm not fully sure what the show will be like in the future. There are plenty of reasons, but in all honesty, even a 5/10 is not really a bad score. I would say I even admire certain 5/10s more than 6/10s or even 7/10s in some cases—it's just that it's more flawed in some ways. For example, an old unfinished OVA. I liked it, but it's pretty undeniable that being unfinished will hurt your score a bit. I've watched plenty of shows that were easily 6-7 for me that then plummeted during the final section as well. Sometimes it was because of a bad direction or a drop in quality. Sometimes it wasn't because of a drop in quality per se, but it was reflecting on the show more afterwards that led me to have a more negative appraisal.