This challenge is a little hard to nail down, and I’m trying to figure out a way to answer it without coming across like a cop-out. I’ve already “cheated” a little bit on a lot of these, but the truth is, the older I get and the more I watch, the harder it is for me to pick one genre in particular that I could call my favorite. Because, the truth is a lot more complicated than that.
So instead, I’m going to rely on some statistics on Anilist to help me out. As with any set of information, it can be interpreted in multiple ways. So let’s first start with Count, or the number of series I’ve seen in a particular genre.
Top 5 Genres by Count
| Genre | Number of Series Watched | Mean Score |
|---|---|---|
| Comedy | 147 | 79.41% |
| Drama | 135 | 82.74% |
| Slice of Life | 129 | 83.56% |
| Romance | 118 | 80.28% |
| Fantasy | 109 | 79.99% |
Going strictly by count, it would seem that Comedy is my favorite. And while I do enjoy funny anime, my gut instinct wouldn’t have been comedy for this challenge (this should be obvious based on those scores). So I can’t say Comedy is my definitive favorite. Let’s try another interpretation.
Top 5 Genres by Mean Score
| Genre | Number of Series Watched | Mean Score |
|---|---|---|
| Music | 15 | 90.38% |
| Slice of Life | 129 | 83.56% |
| Sports | 17 | 83.18% |
| Drama | 135 | 82.74% |
| Psychological | 27 | 80.58% |
Suddenly the picture is very different. I was surprised by Comedy in the last section. I’m dumbfounded by Music. Sure, a lot of the Music anime I have watched has been great, but top of the list great? I guess so. The fact that the score is that high with so few watched means I’ve only watched some of the best that the genre has to offer (or I have bad taste). With such a low series count, I can’t claim that it should be my favorite. (I’m also more than a little surprised to see Sports at number 3).
Top 5 Genres by Time Watched
This one feels like it should be the most telling. After all, this is a summary of how I’ve actually spent my time. So how does it play out?
| Genre | Time Watched | Mean Score |
|---|---|---|
| Drama | 28 days 22 hours | 82.74% |
| Slice of Life | 23 days 17 hours | 83.56% |
| Romance | 22 days 23 hours | 80.28% |
| Comedy | 21 days 20 hours | 79.41% |
| Fantasy | 18 days 20 hours | 79.99% |
Of the three, I would put the most stock in this one, probably. If I spent the most time with it and still gave it a decent score, chances are it’s going to at least be one of my favorites, and I would say this is a pretty good list. Choosing from this list, I would have a hard time definitively separating Drama, Slice of Life, and Romance (with Drama and Slice of Life being the only genres present in all three tables).
So maybe I don’t have a favorite, but I do have a favorite three, and usually those are intertwined with one another.
If you’ve spent any time reading this blog, you are aware that I put a lot of stock in good storytelling and great character development. I prefer it when the stories are carried on the backs of strong and interesting characters rather than those characters acting as pawns for the narrator. And these three genres are filled with great examples of this kind of writing.
Hopefully a dry statistical breakdown of my viewing habits isn’t too boring for you, but I had a lot of fun going through and seeing how it all shaped up.
What’s your favorite genre?
I Watched an Anime 