I used to only criticize media based off of tangible principles such as story, character, animation, themes, music, so on. Today I believe principles such as aftermath, experience and atmosphere are just as, if not more, important.

For example, yesterday a song from Dr. Stone popped up on my shuffle and I was instantly filled with emotion, motivation and optimism. That has everything to do with the fact that Dr. Stone was a great EXPERIENCE and left a lingering taste during the AFTERMATH. That shit matters.

A lot of contemporary critics dislike this idea. "Experience" is much less tangible than, say, character-arcs. It's more "subjective". How many times haven't you heard someone say "I enjoyed it, but I still gave it a 6/10 because I know it wasn't good". That's nonsensical to me.

How we feel after engaging with art matters. How we remember it matters. How the experience changes us, or make us realize something about ourselves matters. It's just as important as questions like "does it have plot-holes" and wat not.

Final note. I'd much rather engage with art that's full of flaws, but lingers in my mind, rather than something "perfect" that I couldn't bother to remember.