| I am extremely excited (and slightly terrified) to announce that we are in the process of rolling out a new Genres + Themes system on MAL! When all development is complete, we aim to have a robust system which consists of three parts:
By limiting the genres to only a handful of top-level categories, and opening themes to the community to apply to entries, we hope to greatly improve the number of keywords our databases can be searched with. Since the genres system was extremely outdated (an overhaul has been a long time coming), we've split development into two parts. Part 1 - Genres Released today ✅ Split existing demographics and themes away from genres. ✅ Modify old genres: rename, remove, and add missing ones. ✅ Add genres and demographics as columns to the Anime List and Manga List (edit yours here). 🔜 Create new and strong definitions for each genre so that its usage is better defined. ↑ The DB mods and I are currently working hard on this, so expect some genre shuffling over the next weeks. Part 2 - Themes Coming Soon 🔜 Allow all users to vote on pre-defined themes by using the "Tags" section of their Anime/Manga Lists. 🔜 Modify current themes: rename, remove, and add missing ones (e.g. Isekai!). ↑ Currently systematically reviewing 600~700 themes to decide the final ones while tech is in development. New Genre List
New Themes List Coming Soon I hope this post was clear and that you'll look forward to continuous developments as this system rolls out! [September 15 Update] |
KinetaSep 15, 2021 8:37 PM
| Fantastic! I noticed the new genres before you split it up in genres/themes/demographic and I really love it. It was a very necessary update. |
dylelouchSep 15, 2021 4:10 AM
| pretty good updates as of late including this and the character/voice actor change, really interested in this “themes” thing |
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| Omg. Finally. This update is really great. No one will be stupid enough to call demographics a genre anymore. |
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| good idea, I'm waiting for part 2 for it seems that "magic" has disappeared from this site, we also need an isekai theme |
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| I am really loving this! I am especially happy with the "Yaoi" and "Yuri" tags being changed to Boys Love/Erotica and Girls Love/Erotica. It fits them and sounds so much better~ I'm looking forward to what the themes list will look like *thumbs up* |
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Kineta said: I suggest to add a new column to the database instead of reusing tags. some folks might be already using tags in one way or another that might contradict the new purposeI am extremely excited (and slightly terrified) to announce that we are in the process of rolling out a new Genres + Themes system on MAL! When all development is complete, we aim to have a robust system which consists of three parts:
By limiting the genres to only a handful of top-level categories, and opening themes to the community to apply to entries, we hope to greatly improve the number of keywords our databases can be searched with. Since the genres system was extremely outdated (an overhaul has been a long time coming), we've split development into two parts. Part 1 - Genres Released today ✅ Split existing demographics and themes away from genres. ✅ Modify old genres: rename, remove, and add missing ones. ✅ Add genres and demographics as columns to the Anime List and Manga List (edit yours here). 🔜 Create new and strong definitions for each genre so that its usage is better defined. ↑ The DB mods and I are currently working hard on this, so expect some genre shuffling over the next weeks. Part 2 - Themes Coming Soon 🔜 Allow all users to vote on pre-defined themes by using the "Tags" section of their Anime/Manga Lists. 🔜 Modify current themes: rename, remove, and add missing ones (e.g. Isekai!). ↑ Currently systematically reviewing 600~700 themes to decide the final ones while tech is in development. New Genre List
New Themes List Coming Soon I hope this post was clear and that you'll look forward to continuous developments as this system rolls out! |
| Am I a good person? No. But do I try to be better every single day? Also no |
| i had to think about a couple of these new genres for a tiny bit but...they make sense, don't they? like the erotica one -- why not just call it smut? -- it makes sense. after watching something like kuzu no honkai, it's not ecchi, and it's definitely not hentai...but it most definitely has sMuT "award winning" sounds useless but ig you'd jam all the things like Your Name into there for the normies or whatever (?) |
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| No Psychological, huh? That's sad. I guess a combination of Suspense an Mystery is sort of the same, but not really. Parody absence is somewhat understandable. But Military? That's strange. It seems this will be part of the Themes. But then why is Gourmet a genre? Oh, and Avant Garde genre is definitely great. |
trampler8324 said: No Psychological, huh? That's sad. I guess a combination of Suspense an Mystery is sort of the same, but not really. Parody absence is somewhat understandable. Psychological & Parody seem to have been folded into the Themes for now. Magic is the only one that has been outright deleted altogether. |
Kineta said: By limiting the genres to only a handful of top-level categories, and opening themes to the community to apply to entries, we hope to greatly improve the number of keywords our databases can be searched with. Based on this, I would feel like some of your Genres should instead go into themes. Award Winning, Gourmet, Supernatural and Work Life all feel like Themes, that could easily be a part of broader genres and don't need their own spot. WAIT... Why add stuff like Work Life as a genre, but take away Music? Music or Musical should definitely stay a genre. |
kokusuSep 15, 2021 3:37 AM
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this is the screenshot of the search function now and its cool  |
| Hey, that's pretty cool. MAL is on fire. Could I ask about themes abuse on the user's side and if MAL plans to do anything about that should it arise. I am guessing just a simple removal but idk if there is more to it. Also how would "Moderator- and user-defined." work, do mods choose the themes and the users vote or do mods block themes they think are wrong? I am asking a lot lol |
Dauphine said: Erotica is all fine and dandy but what's the point of having it to make a distinction if most anime in there are tagged as both erotica and hentai? Wasn't the point of the new genre to distinguish it from hentai? Then having anime tagged as both completely defeats the purpose of it! Currently the only Erotica anime are from the brute-force migration of Yaoi/Yuri entries (many of which were already tagged as Hentai). It looks like the full reconfiguration of genres/themes across the board has yet to be done (hence why the three new genres are still empty). |
| Seems cool, but Gourmet as a genre? Like, Food Wars and Isekai Shokudou and that's it? And also, what are we going to tag shows like Domestic Girlfriend and Scum's Wish? Like, they have sex in them, but they're not Hentai. But they also don't feel Ecchi like, say, Food Wars. Need something in between |
dadnayaSep 15, 2021 3:29 AM
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Modify current themes: rename, remove, and add missing ones (e.g. Isekai!). Oh my god guys it's happening. Finally. |
 Life is a despicable endurance race |
| Can't wait for every CGDCT show to have "YURI" theme, and every sport anime with hot boys to have "YAOI" theme, because that's what will be a popular vote by users. @Kineta You have a site with a regular boting problems when comes to ratings, and now you will have even more. |
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| Tags are good. Gonna wait for part 2. |
| "When they're alive, you can enjoy watching them struggle. When they're dead, you can enjoy tearing out their guts. Tales are things you get to enjoy twice." |
| I like how there's new genres, but if we're adding some we may as well go all of the way with every theme to exist lol. Gourmet is quite a niche. I don't know why Avant Garde is a genre rather than a theme unless that's the plot of the show itself rather than the style of it. Award-Winning definitely isn't a genre involved with the plot lmao. Are we missing any other genres? I'm crying that GL and BL are now in English, thought they got removed the second I looked lol. The themes part basically looks like the Anilist tags I've liked, I assume? I've been wanting to add excluding tags in the advanced search for ages, as of right now we can only tick boxes; double-clicking should cross it out. We can only exclude tags or include tags, but not do both at once. A lot of people use the Tags for their comments, though. Is that going to cause disruption? dadnaya said: That's what the Erotica tag is for.Seems cool, but Gourmet as a genre? Like, Food Wars and Isekai Shokudou and that's it? And also, what are we going to tag shows like Domestic Girlfriend and Scum's Wish? Like, they have sex in them, but they're not Hentai. But they also don't feel Ecchi like, say, Food Wars. Need something in between @Swagernator I'm assuming it will be voted like requesting an edit for an anime or character will be like - only on the database once a moderator confirms it. Or, at least I hope so. |
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| Looks good, happy with the demographics being given their own category. Themes sounds interesting, hopefully it won't leak to trolling like people voting explicit themes for kids shows lol I don't think award winning should be a genre though. |
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| These are some fantastic changes ^.^ I’m curious to how the ‘award winning’ category will work. Is it going to be community based or will it be categorised by anime that have won awards at film festivals and the like? |
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Dauphine said: But that would be completely false, it would need to be moderated, we don't' want to scare away users by having innocent anime tagged erroneously with such misleading tags!!! Bunille said: @Swagernator I'm assuming it will be voted like requesting an edit for an anime or character will be like - only on the database once a moderator confirms it. Or, at least I hope so. The theme i used was just an extreme example i used. I just don't like the idea of anything by user voted, userbase can't even agree on a simple name, so they request edit to the point the moderators need to add specific note in the profile to NOT request any more changes. And that's just a name, now we have the entire thing to deal with. |
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dadnaya said: Seems cool, but Gourmet as a genre? Like, Food Wars and Isekai Shokudou and that's it? There are also Toriko, Chuuka Ichiban, Yakitate, Ristorante Paradiso and a few more that would warrant such a tag. And don't forget about manga, I saw that there're way more food themed series than expected. |
One Piece episode 914 & 915 & 1027 were a mistake and 957 brought the salvation - FMmatron |
Moderator- and user-defined. Users can vote on themes using the "Tags" field on their lists. Oh no... This is asking for trouble. Don't feel like updating my entire 1300+ entry list (PTW counted) just for this. My entire list was filterable based on the previous tags from MAL and I really don't feel like revamping all of this as well. I don't understand why you guys can put time, effort and energy in this, but still are too lazy for even putting out an official dark mode (which is like 5 minutes of work?) is beyond me. What do you guys even mean with Award Winning? Should not be a tag imo. I do agree with seperating the demograpics though. But that's pretty much the only thing I would agree on from this change. |
Timz0rSep 15, 2021 6:10 AM
| Sorry, due to licensing limitations, this message is unavailable in your region. Please come drink tea, eat cake and procrastinate at the Cute Girls Doing Cute Things Club. We have simulwatches! \o/  |
| Really liked the new stuff, but I'm worried the "award winning" will be related to Crunchyroll Awards. I personally want people to disassociate awards in general with that thing. |
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| The logistics of demoting Music as a genre to a theme seems like a mess to overcome. A lot of idol and idol-adjacent anime are consistently among the least watched shows of the seasons they air, and so most never get a genre tag other than Music. Is having dozens of anime in the database with zero genres listed the goal here? |
| Pretty good updates here in last few days, first with People section and now this. But what will the Gourmet and Award winning sections will include |
| Good. Some weird options but its fine now. |
| BANZAI NIPPON. Nippon is the Land of freedom. Nippon is the Land of Peace. Nippon is the Land of Justice and Prosperity. In Nippon, we trust. We love Nippon, we love Anime. Anime love us, Nippon love us. 日本 |
Bunille said: The themes part basically looks like the Anilist tags I've liked, I assume? Yep, really reminds me of the Tags in anilist and those are a bit messy at times too, guess moderators really will have to be on top of these things to prevent abuse. It's an interesting change overall but yall may want to rethink some of those genres or it will be harder instead of easier to find series in certain categories. Also as some have mentioned before, not sure about that Award winning genre thing... people are already swayed by the hype behind some shows and it genuinely adds nothing to the categorizing so I don't really see the point. Magic can definitely be a Genre though, same ass Music since tehre's so much that can be included in both. Work-life isn't that basically a "theme" under Slice of Life though? |
-miraiiSep 15, 2021 8:46 AM
 "In the past few months since we met, I've shared many memories with Nagato. Though I've also shared memories with Haruhi, Asahina-san and Koizumi, I found that I've experienced more events with Nagato in particular. In fact, every situation seems to involve her. I might as well mention this, she's probably the only person to cause the bell within me to shake the most vigorously..." ~ Kyon, TMOSH |
| MAL forgot Tragedy and Coming-of-age tag here :( |
 “Once you've been loved once and have loved once, you cannot forget it.” ― Natsume Takashi |
| Award Winning should not exist. Not as genre. Not as theme. |
There is such thing as shit taste. Only idiots think that every "work of art" should have the same value. Oil and nuclear are civilisation saviours. Deal with it. |
| There's so much I want to ask about and comment on... but I need to be on a computer first to be able to quote and such properly. (MAL forums on mobile are so not friendly) Also I would like to think that a dark mode is equally important as this. (oh this gives me flashbacks to when the profiles pages designs were updated lol) More on that, please 😭 Goal: Limit the number of genres to as few as possible Will we get an explanation as to why? Why was it needed for this to be released without a prior announcement and such Themes [New!] Story categories which easily contain 50-100+ well-known works in the community. I think it's very important to include a clear definition of what will be considered a genre vs a theme on this site. You can already see the wreck it has created. It can be on a guideline thread or the genre info page. By limiting the genres to only a handful of top-level categories, and opening themes to the community to apply to entries, we hope to greatly improve the number of keywords our databases can be searched with. If themes will allow users to vote for them and there's a plan to make them a searchable thing, does that mean that as soon as one is added it will appear or it will still require a moderator approval before it goes live? As in to avoid trolls and such. Part 1 - Genres ✅ Split existing demographics and themes away from genres. ✅ Modify old genres: rename, remove, and add missing ones. ✅ Add genres and demographics as columns to the Anime List and Manga List (edit yours here). Will we get to know why some were decided to be removed and/or renamed? Will those be final decisions once they are live? Cause it's baffling that Magic was yeeted just like that. Also, does that includes the filter on our anime list allowing to search/filter by genres and/or demographics? Part 2 - Themes Coming Soon 🔜 Allow all users to vote on pre-defined themes by using the "Tags" section of their Anime/Manga Lists. 🔜 Modify current themes: rename, remove, and add missing ones (e.g. Isekai!). This is the part that kinda worries me the most. Does that means that by default all our tags will be, like, put out there for others to vote? What about tags we don't want to be included on the db for others and are just our own thing to make some stuff easier to identify? For example, I am currently using easily over 50 personal tags related to anime challenges. They won't make sense to others and I don't want them to be voted on. What is going to happen to that? Or will the tags section current form/usage be completely different and/or yeeted too? |
SheyCroixSep 15, 2021 3:52 PM
| Like the direction this is headed. I'd like to see Magic brought back, and Award-Winning doesn't need to be a thing in genres or themes, as it's neither. Awards should be its own tab like More Info. |
  "An earnest failure has meaning." "Nothing is definite in this world. But it's okay. Some things within me are definite." |
| why the "erotica"? is it just to refer to yuris and bls with erotic content? |
| Would like to see Magic return and Award Winning perhaps as a badge like someone else suggested prior to me. Maybe Mahou Shoujo and Magic could be separate categories? Other than that it'll probably make searching a lot less pain on the brain having to search for certain things in a big mass of words One thing I'd like to mention is that I would've liked a site announcement about this in advance so I could've mentally prepared for this (and maybe also in different ways) Sorry for the weird phrasing I'm still letting this stuff sink in atm Edit: I second dark mode |
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