Tokyo Otaku Mode Interviews MyAnimeList Founder Xinil

by arsonal
Jul 6, 2015 1:14 AM | 55 Comments

Tokyo Otaku Mode has posted an interview with Xinil, the founder of MyAnimeList. In it, Xinil discusses the website's origins and how it has previously faced challenges in growth. MyAnimeList formally opened in 2006 with 228 members and receives up to 120 million monthly page views today, according to the interview. Although no specifics were given, Xinil also confirmed new development projects to address user requests for additional features on the website.

Tokyo Otaku Mode is a website which covers otaku content and distributes Japanese-themed goods. It is operated by Tokyo Otaku Mode Inc, registered in the U.S. state of Delaware. In 2014, the company received financing of 1.5 billion yen (US$ 14 million) from the Cool Japan Fund, whose mission is described as being "to commercialize and capture overseas demand for businesses derived from Japanese culture and lifestyle."

Source: Tokyo Otaku Mode

Interest

20 of 55 Comments Recent Comments

Since in 2015 it had 120 million monthly users which is a really large number now that the industry has grown and expanded more the userbase number should be higher as well, according to the Wikipedia as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MyAnimeList.

Oct 19, 2019 4:57 AM by Elfezen

maleedawl said:

kuuderes_shadow said:
I wonder how many of those 228 original users are still actively using this site.

Yo.
: )

Your user ID is 236026.

Dec 14, 2015 3:04 AM by kuuderes_shadow

kuuderes_shadow said:
I wonder how many of those 228 original users are still actively using this site.

Yo.
: )

Dec 14, 2015 2:12 AM by maleedawl

Cats are everywhere.

Jul 11, 2015 2:21 PM by Nashetania

Thanks for the site Xinil! I really have enjoyed MAL over all these years :)

Jul 11, 2015 2:15 PM by iwubanime

Waaaaah! Very nice interview. I enjoyed reading it :)
Even though Xinil didn't reply to mah profile comment to him, I'd always say thank you for creating MAL! It's really nice to find people here with the same interests.

Jul 8, 2015 7:34 PM by violity

This was an interesting read! I only came to love anime in 2014, so I had almost no idea how MyAnimeList came to be. This interview just proves that hard work really does pay off in the end.

Jul 8, 2015 6:14 PM by crimson-oath

vodall said:
Nice interview. I was always wondering what Xinil's job was like behind the scenes.

Obviously, his job is to hold cats.

Jul 6, 2015 4:12 PM by Naruleach

Missed opportunity for an amazing theme song, Xinil.

OTAKU JA NAI! OTAKU JA NAI.

Jul 6, 2015 9:53 AM by QuattroVaginas

Just change the number in this url:
http://myanimelist.net/profile.php?id=3
This guy was the first one after Xinil (number 2 doesn't exist).

Jul 6, 2015 9:28 AM by Paulo27

AL19 said:

kuuderes_shadow said:
I wonder how many of those 228 original users are still actively using this site.

Now I'm wondering the same thing. o.o

231 User: http://web.archive.org/web/20060503160521/http://myanimelist.net/?letter=all

Just check it each one of them if you want to... :p
good luck.. :3

Jul 6, 2015 9:20 AM by Plutia

ichii_1 said:
This actually highlights the problem of piracy, you know that 120 million page views and the US anime market size being complete garbage (except for a few series).
But whatever :)

Right? Imagine if all these 120 million people per month bought every anime they watched, the industry would be in the trillions! What a shame people can't bother to be legit about their entertainment. Japan is right in not giving the West anything.

Jul 6, 2015 9:15 AM by Paulo27

kuuderes_shadow said:
I wonder how many of those 228 original users are still actively using this site.

Now I'm wondering the same thing. o.o

Jul 6, 2015 9:13 AM by AL19

ichii_1 said:
This actually highlights the problem of piracy, you know that 120 million page views and the US anime market size being complete garbage (except for a few series).
But whatever :)

Remember:
- Most of those views aren't from the US
- Some individuals will have thousands or even tens of thousands of those page views.

Jul 6, 2015 8:49 AM by kuuderes_shadow

This actually highlights the problem of piracy, you know that 120 million page views and the US anime market size being complete garbage (except for a few series).
But whatever :)

Jul 6, 2015 8:46 AM by ichii_1

Nice interview. I was always wondering what Xinil's job was like behind the scenes.

trebmeg said:
That cat is Kineta.

Good call. I can't unsee it!

Jul 6, 2015 8:37 AM by vegetablespirit

MAL <3
Thanks, Xinil :D

Jul 6, 2015 7:50 AM by Tengai

j0x said:
so anyone can predict/compute how much money does 120 million page views per month is?

If we were to go at 1 cent per page view, that would make for an yearly $14.4m. That is $1.2m per month.

Jul 6, 2015 7:49 AM by yhunata

That's a lot of ad money :P

Jul 6, 2015 7:28 AM by Yvese