As I watch Nekopara and grapple with how to approach my review of it, I've been thinking a lot about how assumptions about my audience shape my process

When I'm reviewing for AniFem, I can assume my readership shares my knowledge base and values. I approach things with a specific focus on progressive-left feminism. I can let my personality drive my process, because my readers like that.

If something is bad, I can have fun with it because my readership isn't seriously weighing the pros and cons of the fan service in High School Prodigies. Plus, it's all first episode reviews; after that, we lean toward recommendations of things we sincerely like

For the Daily Dot, I don't assume shared knowledge base or shared values. My style is a more detached and neutral, discussing the positives and negatives of what I'm reviewing, but it's still MY review, MY opinion, MY values.

There's a number of other factors too - how Netflix mostly picks up certain kinds of anime, the lack of meaningful response/engagement from my audience, and so on. I don't go in thinking, "but what if reader xyz doesn't think of transphobia as a negative" but

I can also write about it and feel like someone can read it and go, "Well she gave it a low rating but it sounds good to me!"

ANN is a different animal - shared knowledge base, but not necessarily shared values, and in fact possibly opposing values. Usually the solution is simple - I don't volunteer to write reviews for things that I know are antithetical to my tastes and opinions. However...

currently, writing is my only source of income, so I'm going to pick up whatever work I can. That might mean reviewing shows that I know I'm not going to like! That's how I ended up reviewing Nekopara.

How do I approach writing a show about Nekopara? I can't remove myself from it entirely, because "neutrality" in reviewing is a fool's errand. However, the ability to distinguish between "this is not to my taste" and "just plain bad" becomes essential.

Recognizing Nekopara as fundamentally a fetish show becomes essential. Instead of, "This is a show that celebrates owning docile little girls," it becomes, "This is a show about pet fetishes," and I can move on.

Does that mean I'm giving it a positive review? Fuck no! There's a ton more stuff about it I dislike, like how the characters have one personality trait apiece, or its sense of humor. But once I take that step back...

I'll be able to write a review that might be helpful to people who aren't immediately repelled by its central premise.

It's like I'm saying to the show, "I hate you for who you are" instead of "I hate you for what you are"