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What's the cutting point for what's "popular" anime?

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May 10, 2:39 PM
#1

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Feb 2014
4124
I've talked in the past how I'm pedantic about the term "anime fan" and tend to hold it to a higher bar than other people.
This has created the side-effect, however, that now the term "popular anime" is somehow even worse defined than the term "woke".

If you asked me two months ago if Haibane Renmei and Otaku no Video were popular, I would respond something in the likes as "Yeah, they're very popular, they were referenced from time to time on discussions and by the anitubers I used to follow. I really have to watch them some day.".
Nowadays I know that a very large of people would disagree in this classification.

What about the other extreme? I hear some people on Reddit saying that you're not a casual if you watch something other than Ore dake Level Up na Ken, Spy x Family and Kimetsu no Yaiba, but at that point the bar is so low it stops being useful.

So what's a good cutaway point? I have trouble figuring it out! If you told me Zero no Tsukaima wasn't mainstream, I would laugh at you, but I myself met people on MAL who never heard of it.

The only conclusion I can reach is that when we talk about "popular anime", we're definitely not all talking about the same groups of people.
What's the most USEFUL definition?
May 10, 2:44 PM
#2

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May 2019
9611
For me a "popular anime" is an anime that manages to break into the casual mainstream viewers, people who do watch some anime but aren't as passionate or hardcore about it.
May 10, 3:15 PM
#3
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Feb 2025
348
I don't find it particularly beneficial to be too anal about this kind of terminology, but if I had to define "popular" anime, it'd be anything that has a large, persistent fanbase. I'd also consider anyone who enjoys anime to be a "fan" of it. And all of this is not a binary classification. More like a sliding scale or spectrum.

Going beyond that, people who delve deeper into anime, keeping up with seasons, researching studios/staff, etc. level up from "fan" to what I'd call an "enthusiast" of anime. They're more likely to watch shows that might not be as popular, and probably have a bit more knowledge about the shows, or perhaps have just watched a lot.

But again, I don't think the terminology is all that important, and I think it probably varies from person to person.

As for defining popular anime, it probably has different sectors. There's widely popular anime that breaks into the mainstream, like Attack on Titan or My Hero Academia or Dragon Ball Z. There are anime that are popular within the anime community, like Frieren and Madoka Magica, but didn't break into mainstream popularity. And there are anime which are popular within subcultures of anime, which I'm probably not familiar enough with the subgenres enough to call these out confidently, but youve mentioned Gundam Zeta, which is popular within the mecha community, but not necessarily popular amongst general anime enthusiasts.

I just don't think anything has hard and fast classifications in the way you're trying to define them.
May 10, 3:21 PM
#4

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Feb 2020
894
Casual is different from popular. Casual anime is popular, but not all popular anime is casual. One piece is popular, and "mostly watching it" never will be casual.
The fact you have two words and use them but avoid noticing their sense diff is complex.
May 10, 3:24 PM
#5

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Sep 2016
17546
Once non-anime platforms also begin to talk about it.
May 10, 3:27 PM
#6
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Aug 2024
332
You know how everyone somehow recognises or knows who Goku is despite never having watched an anime? Yeah, thats what I consider truly mainstream. Everyone knows what a Kamehameha is, everyone knows what a super saiyan is. If its not engraved into pop culture, then no.
May 10, 3:34 PM
#7

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Feb 2014
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Reply to _ohara
You know how everyone somehow recognises or knows who Goku is despite never having watched an anime? Yeah, thats what I consider truly mainstream. Everyone knows what a Kamehameha is, everyone knows what a super saiyan is. If its not engraved into pop culture, then no.
@_ohara
Yeah, but I don't think it makes sense for something outside of the anime community being used to define a thing INSIDE the anime community.
There should be a better definition.
May 10, 3:35 PM
#8

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Jul 2024
679
I'd say reddit's definition/recommendations are perfect for figuring out both casual & popular ones.Those that aren't mentioned there fall outside of that category.

Your references are a bit over the place tho,while Haibane Renmei is well known at least by name I very much doubt most have heard of,let alone watched Otaku No Video,it might be popular in your circles but it def isn't mainstream.

For something to be considered popular is has to be recognized by first glance even by the most casual of viewers e.x. Cowboy Bebop,Eva,Solo Leveling,Overlord,Jojo etc. at least that's my definition of popular.

Can I Still Go To Heaven If I Kill Myself?
May 10, 4:32 PM
#9

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Feb 2014
4124
Reply to Morningstar991
I'd say reddit's definition/recommendations are perfect for figuring out both casual & popular ones.Those that aren't mentioned there fall outside of that category.

Your references are a bit over the place tho,while Haibane Renmei is well known at least by name I very much doubt most have heard of,let alone watched Otaku No Video,it might be popular in your circles but it def isn't mainstream.

For something to be considered popular is has to be recognized by first glance even by the most casual of viewers e.x. Cowboy Bebop,Eva,Solo Leveling,Overlord,Jojo etc. at least that's my definition of popular.

@Morningstar991
I guess you're right that Reddit might be the best metric.
Though, were could I find it's definition/recommendations?
May 10, 4:37 PM

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Jul 2024
679
Reply to thewiru
@Morningstar991
I guess you're right that Reddit might be the best metric.
Though, were could I find it's definition/recommendations?
@thewiru This is their so called "Ultimate" guide and while obv there are some good recs most are just ???

https://www.reddit.com/r/fetchcharts/comments/onpg1p/chart_20_rebuild_of_the_ultimate_anime/

This is their deep-dive,most are popular on MAL and in general as well

https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/wiki/recommendations/
Can I Still Go To Heaven If I Kill Myself?
May 10, 5:51 PM

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Jul 2024
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Popular and mainstream aren't necessarily the same thing.
Popular has metrics to measure how many people are actually watching it. Animes that have the most viewers = popular.

As for mainstream, @Zarutaku 's answer is pretty much mine. Once it's out of the anime bubble, it's mainstream.
May 10, 5:54 PM
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Nov 2018
698
Popular anime imo is when you see random people at walmart wearing tshirts of it, you got your Narutos, Bleach, DBZ, JJK, hxh, OP, Demon Slayer, seen Frieren stuff even lately.
May 10, 6:22 PM

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Feb 2021
160
I'd say a popular anime is something that was talked about a lot and watched by a lot of people for quite a while, even if it isn't hasn't recently received a lot of attention. Stuff like Lupin III and Outlaw Star for example, I'd say count because I've heard they were extremely popular in the 90s-2000s, even if they aren't as much now. Maybe something like "previously popular" would be a better way for wording it for those, but it's hard to deny how big they were at one point. Something like Princess Principal or 16Bit Sensation however, I'd say aren't popular because while they do have small fanbases, they only really get attention through the occasional popular Tweet and that's about it.
May 10, 6:59 PM

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Feb 2016
13870
thewiru said:
What about the other extreme? I hear some people on Reddit saying that you're not a casual if you watch something other than Ore dake Level Up na Ken, Spy x Family and Kimetsu no Yaiba, but at that point the bar is so low it stops being useful.

Most people will never clear that bar.
その目だれの目?
May 10, 7:14 PM
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Apr 2022
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the once popular shows dwindle over time, they were popular but aren't as popular as the new popular ones.

https://myanimelist.net/topanime.php?type=bypopularity
May 10, 7:17 PM

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Feb 2014
4124
Reply to Lucifrost
thewiru said:
What about the other extreme? I hear some people on Reddit saying that you're not a casual if you watch something other than Ore dake Level Up na Ken, Spy x Family and Kimetsu no Yaiba, but at that point the bar is so low it stops being useful.

Most people will never clear that bar.
@Lucifrost
Which is why it doesn't make sense to take people who don't watch anime into consideration while talking about that.
May 11, 11:26 AM

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Jul 2017
2343
I would say the rough cut-off point / midpoint between what's popular and unpopular anime (at least as of May 2025) would be titles like these for example:

7 Seeds
Boogiepop Phantom
Slayers
Dennou Coil
Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku
The iDOLM@STER
Juuni Kokuki
Outlaw Star
The Vision of Escaflowne
Ikkitousen
Aria the Animation
Kaiba
Casshern Sins
Strike Witches
Princess Tutu
Azur Lane
Last Exile
Onegai☆Teacher
.hack//SIGN
D.N. Angel
Eyeshield 21
Eve no Jikan
The Prince of Tennis
Trinity Blood
Kokkoku
Saint Seiya
Bokura no
Gunslinger Girl

Many of these titles are ones where the majority of anime fans out there likely haven't watched, but they still might ring a few bells for them. Everyday casual anime fans might be able to recognize a few of these anime if they were shown images of them, but they might not be able to name most of them.

Very popular among the MAL community as well as the casual anime fans in everyday life:
- Solo Leveling
- Spy × Family
- Kimetsu no Yaiba

Popular among the MAL community, and generally popular among casual anime fans in everyday life:
- Zero no Tsukaima

Generally popular among the MAL community, but unpopular/obscure among casual anime fans in everyday life:
- Haibane Renmei

Unpopular/obscure among the MAL community, and very unpopular/obscure among the casual anime fans in everyday life:
- Otaku no Video
May 11, 12:32 PM

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Feb 2014
4124
Reply to GinInYourJuice
I would say the rough cut-off point / midpoint between what's popular and unpopular anime (at least as of May 2025) would be titles like these for example:

7 Seeds
Boogiepop Phantom
Slayers
Dennou Coil
Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku
The iDOLM@STER
Juuni Kokuki
Outlaw Star
The Vision of Escaflowne
Ikkitousen
Aria the Animation
Kaiba
Casshern Sins
Strike Witches
Princess Tutu
Azur Lane
Last Exile
Onegai☆Teacher
.hack//SIGN
D.N. Angel
Eyeshield 21
Eve no Jikan
The Prince of Tennis
Trinity Blood
Kokkoku
Saint Seiya
Bokura no
Gunslinger Girl

Many of these titles are ones where the majority of anime fans out there likely haven't watched, but they still might ring a few bells for them. Everyday casual anime fans might be able to recognize a few of these anime if they were shown images of them, but they might not be able to name most of them.

Very popular among the MAL community as well as the casual anime fans in everyday life:
- Solo Leveling
- Spy × Family
- Kimetsu no Yaiba

Popular among the MAL community, and generally popular among casual anime fans in everyday life:
- Zero no Tsukaima

Generally popular among the MAL community, but unpopular/obscure among casual anime fans in everyday life:
- Haibane Renmei

Unpopular/obscure among the MAL community, and very unpopular/obscure among the casual anime fans in everyday life:
- Otaku no Video
GinInYourJuice said:
I would say the rough cut-off point / midpoint between what's popular and unpopular anime (at least as of May 2025) would be titles like these for example:

It's funny, because even though my position in this thread was "It's hard for me to consider things unpopular", I would consider pretty much all that list in the "unpopular" side.
May 11, 9:06 PM

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Oct 2024
481
I agree with some of the people in this thread that popular and mainstream are very different. Mainstream is something you might see merch for in a normal clothing store (most blatantly DBZ, but I'd consider series at the level of JJK or One Punch Man mainstream too) that everyone and their mom's heard of, while popular is something most people who are into anime in general would've heard of. I'd consider the examples you listed for popularity mainstream, while I'd consider series like Monogatari or K-On or GTO popular. There's also popularity within certain niches that someone into another niche may have never heard of.
May 12, 12:18 AM

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May 2018
11990
"What's the cutting point for what's "popular" anime?"

It really depends on your anime circle and how often said show is/was mentioned in it.

For example in my [bulgarian] anime circle The Super Cube is mentioned pretty often and it's pointless to explain to them that:
1. It's donghua not anime.
2. The action in it comes as especially good only if you specifically like the battle shounen type of animation (and I am not the biggest fan of that).
3. The story is garbage.
4. There are actually way better donghua out there.
May 12, 9:47 AM

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Jun 2017
6148
I think there's 2 kinds of popular

Popular among anime fans

Popular among regular mainstream audiences. If you ask 10 random people if they've seen Spirited Away or Pokemon, most of them will say yes. But if you ask the same people if they've seen Otaku No Video, you'll get maybe 1 who'll say yes.

Tier 1 is things like battle shonen and ghibli movies, everyone has likely at least heard of DBZ, Naruto, Yugioh or One Piece. Or POkemon especially.

Tier 2 is things popular among fans but are likely to be unknown by non-fans
My waifu is the most wonderful waifu. Mai Valentine.

We're freaking out that we're running out of time, but to do what? Should i stop and think of that? Is there something i could do to slow it down? Live in a day for once, instead of watch it sprinting by
May 13, 2:33 AM
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Sep 2023
138
Popular is battle shonen you see it everywhere and the most casual fans have watched the SL,DS,OP and DBZ just some examples. Non popular stuff would be like Gundam and Macross. Even though they are popular in Japan and Asia, but over here they are far from popular.

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