The results of the anime survey I conducted a little less than a month ago are now posted…
In total, I got 244 responses to the survey since I first posted it. You can see the results for each of the 22 questions below, with the highest percentage for each being in bold. I also commented on some of the results, especially if they differed much from the last survey I did in 2008.
Question: | 1. What’s the main way you watch anime? | Download via torrents | 42.6% |
Streaming on official sites | 4.1% |
Streaming on unofficial sites | 12.8% |
Streaming on both official and unofficial sites | 22.7% |
DVDs | 10.7% |
I read manga more than watch anime | 7% |
Question: | 2. What was the first anime you ever watched? (if none of these are your very first one, pick one that’s among your firsts) | Sailor Moon | 19.7% |
Pokemon | 24.6% |
One of the Dragon Ball series | 9.8% |
Robotech | 2.9% |
Voltron | 6.1% |
One of the Macross series | 1.2% |
Cowboy Bebop | 1.6% |
Inuyasha | 2% |
Tenchi Muyo! | 1.2% |
One of the Gundam series | 0.8% |
A Studio Ghibli movie | 4.5% |
Naruto | 0.8% |
Bleach | 0.4% |
Evangelion | 0.8% |
Digimon | 2.9% |
Ranma 1/2 | 0.8% |
Yu-Gi-Oh! | 3.7% |
Cardcaptor Sakura | 4.1% |
Fullmetal Alchemist | 0.4% |
Rurouni Kenshin | 2.5% |
None of these were among my firsts | 9% |
Question: | 3. Do you like to watch anime dubbed or subbed? | Either way, I don’t really care | 11.9% |
Definitely subs (I hate dubs!) | 29.6% |
I prefer subs but I have nothing against good dubs | 50.2% |
I prefer dubs unless the dubs are bad | 3.7% |
Definitely dubs (I don’t like reading subtitles!) | 2.9% |
Neither, I watch anime in raw Japanese | 1.6% |
Question: | 4. How often do you buy official DVDs of anime you’ve watched via streaming or fansubs? | Just about all the time | 2.9% |
As often as I can | 9.5% |
Only if its an anime I really like | 38.7% |
Rarely | 19.8% |
Never | 29.2% |
Question: | 5. How do you feel about manga? | I like manga just as much as I like anime | 39.8% |
I like manga more than anime | 12.3% |
I only read manga from a few series | 13.5% |
I like reading manga sometimes but I prefer watching anime | 24.2% |
I rarely or never read manga | 10.2% |
Question: | 6. On average, how many anime series do you watch at one time? (meaning you watch at least one episode of the series every week) | Less than 5 | 49.4% |
Between 5 and 10 | 39.8% |
Between 10 and 15 | 6.2% |
Between 15 and 20 | 3.3% |
Between 20 and 25 | 0.4% |
Between 25 and 30 | 0% |
More than 30 | 0.8% |
Question: | 7. Which of the following shonen series do you like the best? | Bleach | 3.4% |
Naruto | 7.2% |
Dragon Ball | 4.6% |
One Piece | 8% |
Inuyasha | 4.2% |
Yu-Gi-Oh! | 0.8% |
Rurouni Kenshin | 3.8% |
Yu Yu Hakusho | 3% |
Hikaru no Go | 1.3% |
D-Gray Man | 1.3% |
Konjiki no Gash Bell!! | 0.4% |
Fullmetal Alchemist | 32.5% |
Death Note | 11% |
Soul Eater | 6.3% |
Claymore | 4.6% |
Shaman King | 0% |
Detective Conan | 1.7% |
Gintama | 3% |
Tsubasa Chronicle | 2.5% |
Fairy Tail | 0.4% |
Question: | 8. Which of the following shojo series do you like the best? (a few josei and mahou shojo included) | Fruits Basket | 8% |
Sailor Moon | 7.1% |
Cardcaptor Sakura | 16.4% |
Fushigi Yuugi | 2.1% |
Kimi ni Todoke | 6.7% |
Lovely Complex | 3.4% |
Itazurana Kiss | 0.4% |
Nana | 2.9% |
Ouran High School Host Club | 17.2% |
Paradise Kiss | 0.8% |
Gakuen Alice | 0.4% |
Nodame Cantabile | 8% |
Vampire Knight | 4.6% |
Full Moon wo Sagashite | 1.3% |
Shugo Chara! | 3.8% |
Revolutionary Girl Utena | 8% |
Pretty Cure | 2.1% |
Magic Knight Rayearth | 0.8% |
Kare Kano | 5.9% |
Question: | 9. Which of the following mecha series do you like the best? | Evangelion | 20.5% |
RahXephon | 4.4% |
Gundam Wing | 3.9% |
Gundam Seed | 4.8% |
Eureka 7 | 8.7% |
Code Geass | 27.1% |
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann | 13.1% |
Full Metal Panic! | 11.4% |
Macross | 6.1% |
Question: | 10. Which of the following slice-of-life/comedy series do you like the best? | Azumanga Daioh | 24.8% |
Ichigo Mashimaro | 2.7% |
K-ON! | 18.6% |
Lucky Star | 22.6% |
Hayate no Gotoku! | 7.5% |
Hidamari Sketch | 4% |
Minami-ke | 5.3% |
School Rumble | 14.6% |
Question: | 11. Which original anime motion picture do you like the best? | My Neighbor Totoro | 5.6% |
Princess Mononoke | 10.4% |
Akira | 2.2% |
5 Centimeters Per Second | 10.8% |
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time | 17.7% |
Spirited Away | 16% |
Nausicaa | 3.9% |
Summer Wars | 5.6% |
Blood: the Last Vampire | 1.7% |
Perfect Blue | 1.7% |
Tokyo Godfather | 3.9% |
Grave of the Fireflies | 3% |
The Sky Crawlers | 0.4% |
Steamboy | 0.9% |
The Place Promised in Our Early Days | 1.3% |
Howl’s Moving Castle | 13.4% |
Ponyo on the Cliff | 1.3% |
Question: | 12. Besides watching anime or reading manga, what other aspects of the fandom do you take part in? | Working on an anime blog or web site | 4.8% |
Fan art | 4.5% |
Fan fiction | 4.3% |
Doujinshi | 2.7% |
Video games | 8.8% |
Trading cards | 1.9% |
Figures or other collectibles | 5% |
Cosplay | 2.6% |
Japanese language and culture | 9.4% |
Web comics | 3% |
Anime conventions | 6.1% |
AMVs | 4.8% |
Japanese music | 13.1% |
Japanse live-action TV shows or movies | 4.9% |
Fantasy books, TV shows, or movies | 6.6% |
Online gaming | 4.1% |
Online discussions (forums, IRC, podcasts) | 8.3% |
Other non-Japanese animation | 5% |
Question: | 13. Which of the following Japanese video game series do you like the best? | Pokemon | 22.8% |
Final Fantasy | 20.5% |
Sonic the Hedgehog | 2.2% |
Mario | 10.3% |
Zelda | 10.3% |
Disgaea | 4.9% |
Kingdom Hearts | 11.2% |
Harvest Moon | 4% |
Games based on anime that I like | 3.1% |
Otaku games (dating sims, visual novels, gal games, etc) | 10.7% |
Question: | 14. When you’re talking with people who don’t like or are ignorant about anime, how do you act? | Keep quiet so as not to make the fact that you like anime obvious | 5.4% |
If you’re asked, pretend you don’t like anime | 2.5% |
If you’re asked, say you like anime but don’t go into detail | 40.1% |
Passionately proclaim your interest in anime no matter what | 12.8% |
Try to avoid the topic, but if it comes up, you won’t lie about your interest and will just be honest | 39.3% |
Question: | 15. On average, about how much time do you spend watching anime? | 2 or more hours a day | 18.9% |
2 or more hours every few days | 18.1% |
2 or more hours every week | 8.6% |
An hour or less every day | 11.9% |
An hour or less every few days | 5.8% |
It varies all the time | 36.6% |
Question: | 16. The anime you’re currently watching is MOSTLY… | Seasonal shows, as they’re airing in Japan | 38% |
Recently aired shows that are available online | 7.4% |
Anime that’s recently available on official English streams or DVD | 3.7% |
Old series I’m trying to catch up on | 6.6% |
A mix of series from various time periods | 44.2% |
Question: | 17. Out of the following, what would be your preferred genre of anime? | Shonen | 11.9% |
Shojo | 8.5% |
Mecha | 3.8% |
Drama/Romance | 6.4% |
Drama/Comedy | 5.5% |
Slice-of-Life/Comedy | 24.6% |
Sci-fi | 10.6% |
Fantasy | 6.4% |
Horror | 3.4% |
Action/Adventure | 8.9% |
Drama/Mystery | 10.2% |
Question: | 18. Out of the following popular seiyuu, who is your favorite? | Megumi Hayashibara | 7.4% |
Maaya Sakamoto | 8.3% |
Aya Hirano | 9.7% |
Mamiko Noto | 3.2% |
Mamoru Miyano | 4.6% |
Kappei Yamaguchi | 0.5% |
Akira Ishida | 1.4% |
Takahiro Sakurai | 1.8% |
Jun Fukuyama | 9.7% |
Rie Kugimiya | 6.5% |
Nana Mizuki | 7.8% |
Tomokazu Sugita | 2.8% |
Yui Horie | 4.1% |
Romi Paku | 6% |
Tomokazu Seki | 1.8% |
Miyuki Sawashiro | 3.7% |
Kana Hanazawa | 2.8% |
Rie Tanaka | 5.5% |
Norio Wakamoto | 6.9% |
Daisuke Ono | 3.7% |
Shinichiro Miki | 1.8% |
Question: | 19. Out of the following Japanese singers/bands who have performed in anime, who do you like the best? | Megumi Hayashibara | 2.3% |
L’ Arc-en ‘Ciel | 7.7% |
FLOW | 8.2% |
Shoko Nakagawa | 2.3% |
Aya Hirano | 9.5% |
May’n | 2.3% |
Megumi Nakajima | 0.5% |
UVERworld | 4.5% |
Asian Kung-Fu Generation | 10.5% |
Nana Mizuki | 6.4% |
YUI | 7.7% |
Angela | 1.8% |
ALI Project | 2.3% |
Lia | 5% |
Mayaa Sakamoto | 5.5% |
abingdon boys school | 5.9% |
Hikaru Utada | 7.7% |
Do As Infinity | 1.8% |
Steropony | 3.2% |
KOTOKO | 4.1% |
MELL | 0.9% |
Question: | 20. When it comes time to spend money on anime, what do you usually buy… | DVDs | 16.1% |
Figures | 7.8% |
Posters | 7.3% |
Manga | 18.3% |
Art or other anime books | 8.3% |
Pencil boards | 0.9% |
Cosplay and accessories | 2.5% |
Plushies | 4.9% |
T-shirts or other apparel | 4.6% |
Trading cards | 1.3% |
Video or computer games | 7.2% |
CDs | 5.2% |
Miscellaneous character goods (keychains, pins, pens, etc) | 8.6% |
I rarely or never buy anime products | 7% |
Question: | 21. How would you rate yourself as an anime fan? | Total anime fan; I eat, sleep, and breathe anime 24/7 | 14% |
I’m a pretty big fan but not totally obssessed | 56.4% |
I like anime but it’s not my main interest | 20.6% |
Some anime is okay but I’m not a fan at all | 0.4% |
There’s only a few anime that I like | 2.5% |
I’m new to anime so I’m not sure yet | 0.8% |
I used to like anime more but my interest has been diminishing | 5.3% |
Question: | 22. And just for fun, out of the following popular series, which do you like the best? | Death Note | 4.2% |
Bleach | 1.7% |
Code Geass | 7.1% |
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya | 13.3% |
Naruto | 5% |
Bakemonogatari | 4.2% |
K-ON! | 2.5% |
One Piece | 4.6% |
Evangelion | 2.9% |
Fullmetal Alchemist | 11.7% |
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann | 0.8% |
Lucky Star | 1.7% |
Azumanga Daioh | 1.7% |
Toradora! | 2.9% |
Eden of the East | 1.3% |
Clannad | 6.3% |
Elfen Lied | 1.3% |
Ouran High School Host Club | 7.9% |
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni | 4.2% |
Inuyasha | 1.3% |
Cowboy Bebop | 5% |
Eureka 7 | 4.2% |
Hetalia | 2.1% |
Monster | 2.5% |
Question: | *BONUS* How often do you read Mainichi Anime Yume? | Whenever there’s a new post | 33.3% |
Only posts that interest me | 24.8% |
Once in a while | 20.1% |
Rarely | 21.8% |
———-
Once again, I want to thank everyone who participated~! Hope you’ll also take part in the next one…whenever that will be =P
I participated this year, as I did last year. I think you should consider adding Paprika and Sword of the Stranger to the best anime film question, and yaoi/shonen-ai to the preferred genre of anime question… it would’ve changed those two answers for me. ;)
@ Jan
“I participated this year, as I did last year.”
You mean “two years ago” right ;) I would have done one in 2009 if I wasn’t busy with school and job hunting.
I’ll add your suggestions to the next survey! =)
What news about Hirano Aya? o_o
I still think Evangelion >>> Code Geass but that’s just me. I love both series anyway.
nooooooooo Yamagucchi Kappei didn’t receive enough love D:
I wish Nana Mizuki got some more love too.
@ Myna
For the recent news about Aya, check here and here for starters.
I feel the same way – I love both Eva and Geass, but Eva a little better.
Kappei hasn’t had many new, big roles for a while, so that’s probably why he didn’t rank high. Nana got second place, but I thought she may get first. She has done quite a few major roles in recent years.
I’m glad Maaya Sakamoto still has a following! No prizes for guessing whom I voted for in those categories =] . She’s doing fewer high-profile character roles now, but I think she’ll always be someone anime studios turn to when they need a memorable voice for an OP or ED theme song. Especially if Yoko Kanno is composing it!
@ f0calizer
Yeah, Maaya’s great. I always love all the anime songs she sings, especially with Yoko Kanno. I’m sure she’ll always have a fan following.
No big surprise in the results this year. The only thing is that fansubbing is starting to get more and more unreliable, so we might see a bigger switch to streaming sites soon… We’ll have to see!
@ Mystlord
I agree, it’ll be interesting to see when streaming becomes more common than torrents. I prefer the latter though so I hope fansubbed torrents don’t become too unreliable.
I often find myself in minority group when it comes to choosing specific anime series and movies. Thus, several of my choices were not in the list. Maybe next year you can add the space I can freely fill in?
I speculate that the reason Slice-of-life got most vote was due to the nature of this blog’s readers :)
You watch 15 series simultaneously!? *stunned*
@ Canne
The main problem with adding a blank space for participants to fill in is that it makes the statistics very broad when there are so many possible answers. But depending on the nature of the question, maybe I’ll consider it.
When I did the past few surveys, they were more through my main site rather than my blog. My main site seems to attract more fans of action/fantasy mainstream anime like FMA, Bleach, Naruto, Inuyasha, etc,. while the blog attracts fans of more niche series, like slice-of-life. I think it’s also due to the fact that slice-of-life has become more proliferate both with its growing popularity among Western fans and the kinds of shows that have come out in recent years.
Yeah, a blank field would be swell. *pause* I guess that would be hard to factor in though, what with the different spellings and what not. You’d have to probably search through every single entry… *stares off into space* Oh yuck don’t do it. That’s too much!
I’m glad there’s still some Haruhi love out there. Surprised but glad. Now if they’d only come out with the novels in English faster. Or if I could learn Japanese faster.
@ Wingless
LOL, you explained my reason for not wanting to add a fill-in option better than I did to Canne above. Thanks XD
Yes, I’m always glad to see everlasting Haruhi love too~
I always stream anime, I used to download from torrents. But now there are a lot of websites that have high quality streaming. And it was DBZ that got me into anime, ever since, I been hooked!
@ Zygor
My main issue with streaming is that it overworks my (relatively old) computer and there are always instances of freezing up, audio and video getting out of sync, etc., due to lag in the streaming process. It’s probably mostly due to the age of my computer and my Internet connection. Hopefully if I get a better computer and/or Internet I won’t have that problem.
To the second question, most of those anime on that list were on Toonami. I miss Toonami soo much (sad face), especially Tenchi Muyo
@ Siphon
I never got to enjoy Toonami much because I didn’t get cable TV until mid-2005, when anime on Toonami was starting to phase out. But a friend of mine in high school lent me VHS tapes of Tenchi Muyo! episodes she recorded from Toonami, so that’s how I got to see it =)
I was happy that Aya Hirano was voted the most as the most favorite Seiyuu and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya as the most favorite. Looks like this months Friday the 13th was a good friday.
@ KyonzumiNagato13
I agree, it was a good day for me too =) (but mostly for other reasons). Also glad to see the Aya and Haruhi love~
Its not suprising that Dl from torrent is leading by a big margin.
its simply the best way, quicker and efficent depending on subs, DVD of course would seem the ideal choice if you have the money to spend, plus youll have to wait for the release date.
@ Fabrice
I agree, streaming can be quick too but quality is usually not as good and then there’s the issue of not being able to watch without a good Internet connection. And yes, buying DVDs would be ideal if you have the funds and the patience.
@ Zygor I agree, I always used to torrent, and then I got into streaming… except now… where I live, my only source of internet is one of those wireless hotspots you have to buy. We aren’t authorized to get an actual internet hookup. Security issues. :( Due to my 5GB limit every month (terrible right?), I am being forced now to buy more series than ever before. No more torrenting or even direct downloading, after a certain point. Even streaming!
@ Wingless
That’s too bad about your bandwidth limit, but at least you seem to have the money to buy anime instead. If I were in your position, I would just have to do without, which would kill me >_<
Just for fun, I’ll throw out my answers:
1) Download via torrents (or direct download, in my case)
2) Sailor Moon
3) I prefer subs, but I have nothing against good dubs
4) Only if it’s an anime I really like
5) I like reading manga sometimes, but I prefer watching anime
6) Between 10 and 15
7) Fullmetal Alchemist
8) Revolutionary Girl Utena
9) Eureka Seven
10) Azumanga Daioh
11) Grave of the Fireflies
12) Anime blog + video games + cosplay + webcomics + cons + music + movies + fantasy books/shows/movies + online discussions + non-Japanese animation (whew!)
13) Zelda
14) Try to avoid the topic, but if it comes up, don’t like and just be honest
15) 2 or more hours per day (not always, but it averages out around there)
16) Seasonal shows as they’re airing in Japan (I usually watch a bunch of shows from the current season, and one or two shows from the past)
17) Mecha
18) Miyuki Sawashiro (but if Houko Kuwashima were on the list, I would have chosen her)
19) FLOW
20) DVDs
21) I’m a pretty big fan, but not totally obsessed (chose this only because I have other hobbies that occupy my time, too — most notably movies :p)
22) Monster
23) Whenever there is a new post. :)
@ Shinmaru
Thanks for sharing your answers ^^ One of them that stuck out to me is your remark about Houko Kuwashima. I was almost going to put her on the list since I like her too, but I already had so many, and besides Sango from the final Inuyasha series, I don’t think she’s had any major roles for a long time. But maybe I’ll put her on the next one =)
How the hell did Rie Kugimiya only get 6.5 percent? Ridiculous.
@ Glo
Yeah, I was expecting her to do a little better myself. I don’t think she’s had many new major roles in a while, so perhaps that’s why.
Mostly what I expected, but I’m a little surprised by some of the results. The shonen one, I thought Naruto/ Bleach would take it. The motion picture question, I didn’t expect Girl who Leapt Through Time would win. And for the J-band one, that’s a group I’ve never heard of. Really interesting to see the aggregate of opinions on a bunch of questions.
@ Yi
Yeah, for the shonen one, Naruto would have gotten 2nd place if FMA Brotherhood didn’t just finish airing. And I wasn’t too surprised with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time since I know how well received it was outside Japan.
I know that Asian-Kung-Fu Generation has done songs in Naruto, Bleach, and FMA. But I was surprised at their popularity too.
But anyway, glad you found the results interesting =)
I missed out on doing this year’s (checked too late). But as usual, my choices are always in the lower brackets. But I have come to expect this. I must say though, I’m glad that more people watch animes from various time periods (I switch back and forth from the 60s-80s with animes like Voltron, Astro Boy, and Gatchaman, to the newer stuff like Kuroshitsuji, D.Gray-Man and Shugo Chara!).
And just to say I had answers… here are mine:
1) DVDs
2) None of these were among my firsts – My first was Gatchaman (aka Battle of the Planets)
3) Either way, I don’t really care
4) As often as I can
5) I like manga more than anime (this is somewhat recent for me)
6) Between 15 and 20
7) D.Gray-Man
8) Shugo Chara!
9) Evangelion (as always)
10) Ichigo Mashimaro
11) Howl’s Moving Castle
12) Fanart, fanfiction, cosplay, anime conventions, video games, figures and other collectibles, Japanese music, live action TV shows & movies (I couldn’t pick just one)
13) Kingdom Hearts
14) If asked, say I like it but don’t go into detail
15) 2 or more hours every few days
16) A mix of series from various time periods
17) Shounen
18) Kappei Yamaguchi (my fave is Takeshi Koyasu)
19) Nana Mizuki (more of an IOSYS fan)
20) Manga, figures, DVDs, cosplay
21) Total anime fan
22) Cowboy Bebop, Eureka Seven, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and Elfen Lied
BONUS) Once in a while