A lot of anime fans I know likes noitaminA. It’s probably because I know too many internet people; the sort of people who like non-mainstream stuff (not that they don’t like mainstream stuff, as we will see). That Fuji TV programming segment tends to favor the kind of anime that you don’t see often outside of it. It also helps that some of the shows on noitaminA are based on franchises that were fan favorites even before those respective things turned into anime, in some cases, new versions of older anime.
Here’s just a poll from some Japanese site on who likes what. You can read more about it over there if you wish. This is the results of “3,125 votes from 1,097 people.” All disclaimers about internet polls, etc, apply. I didn’t read the original post to get if there’s any specific or special about this polling group or poll or whatever. Anyway:
1: Anohana (306 votes)
2: Kids on the Slope (213 votes)
3: Mononoke (211 votes)
4: Moyashimon Anime (191 votes)
5: Library Wars (173 votes)
6: Tsuritama (163 votes)
7: Guilty Crown (158 votes)
8: NO.6 (135 votes)
9: Eden of the East (135 votes)
10: Nodame series (128 votes)
11: Rabbit Drop (118 votes)
12: Natsuyuki Rendezvous (104 votes)
13: UN-GO (95 votes)
14: Honey & Clover series (85 votes)
15: Shiki (83 votes)
16: Ayakashi (82 votes)
17: Trapeze (78 votes)
18: Kuragehime (73 votes)
19: Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (72 votes)
20: Tatami Galaxy (65 votes)
21: Thermae Romae (60 votes)
22: Black Rock Shooter (57 votes)
23: Hakaba Kitarou (56 votes)
24: C (51 votes)
25: Antique Bakery (43 votes)
26: House of Five Leaves (35 votes)
26: Jyuousei (35 votes)
28: Live Action Moyashimon (30 votes)
29: Hourou Musuko (24 votes)
30: Genji Monogatari Sennenki (21 votes)
31: Fractale (16 votes)
32: Paradise Kiss (14 votes)
33: Hataraki Man (10 votes)
Yep, Fractale is not the worse, but it’s likely a minor aberration. Hataraki Man and Parakiss are probably too old for this demographic.
The highest-ranked show I didn’t watch is Mononoke, but not for lack of trying. Next is #16, Ayakashi. Then it is #23, Hakaba Kitarou. Do you see a trend here? Maybe not, because I also skipped #25 (fujoshi crap), #26 (fujoshi crap), #28 (not anime), and #30 (see previous trend). Please note that by calling any given noitaminA anime “fujoshi crap” is like saying anime is from Japan; that is kind of the given.
I get the feeling there are way too many people voting up Mononoke, more so than a reasonable group of random internet anime-viewers should. I mean yes I get it, but really? Actually the fact that Kids on the Slope came in #2 (look at the ratings) probably speaks volume about the people who voted, given how it averaged out to be the same as BRS/Guilty Crown. It definitely seems to confirm this previous theory/observation, in a way that is self-contradictory. I mean Kids on the Slope sold poorly, overall, while Guilty Crown still charts (in a way that respects its #7 rank). Actually those two titles typifies a lot of Noitamina shows; they either get a lot of love from the mouth and no love on home video, or a lot of hate and some love from people buying them. Of course, what is for sure is that Anohana both sold well (also see Guilty Crown on that list) and did well on TV. The elusive, the anecdote quoter’s favorite: a hit. And then there’s Fractale.
If you dig back a few years, you can tell a lot of the lower ranked shows did no worse than the higher ranked ones on TV. It just seems kind of arbitrary. Which is why I’m wondering why Mononoke did so well; it wasn’t particularly better rated than, say, Hataraki Man. Why the big gap between the two? (If you are curious, the MAL link has the answer, or see here.)
PS. There’s a follow-up to this observation. Maybe it will become a post!
August 8th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
the ranking seems fair. Mononoke is really popular so its not surprising how high it is.
surprising how Honey Clover is high but Parakiss is so low…:/
August 8th, 2012 at 4:41 pm
I suppose Mononoke is popular, but I didn’t expect it to be more popular than Nodame or Hachikuro for sure. Those two were marketed a lot and Nodame got of the highest viewership numbers for noitaminA. Or Moyashimon for that matter.
Not surprised about Paradise Kiss. The anime didn’t go over well with a lot of people.
August 8th, 2012 at 7:20 pm
This list looks pretty good honestly. the only one that weirds me out with the placement is Library Wars… i had no idea people loved it that much. it’s good but not THAT good
August 8th, 2012 at 10:36 pm
A lot of people loved Library Wars actually. It’s also one of those titles that got a lot of marketing in Japan.
August 8th, 2012 at 10:29 pm
Yeah Nodame should switch places with Library Wars and then murder the 3 contestants above it. The popularity of the live action show though probably outdoes the anime’s popularity. Also the 2nd and 3rd seasons were a little iffy.
August 9th, 2012 at 2:04 am
I’m not too surprised that mononoke is popular. We watched it a lot in my Japanese culture class, and I think for kids who grew up in Japan, they really enjoyed the creative animated portrayal of famous ghost stories.
August 9th, 2012 at 1:53 pm
@omo
“I suppose Mononoke is popular, but I didn’t expect it to be more popular than Nodame or Hachikuro for sure.”
It’s highly doubtful that it actually is. With the live action adaptations, million-per-volume-selling manga, three anime seasons, and long0term mainstream sales (noitmainA producer said that total sales were fully 3x what Oricon reported) it’s exceptionally unlikely that a more representative polling sample would have put it lower than #1-2.
Recency bias is also very strong in this poll. Do it again in two years and Sakamichi won’t be in the top 10. Same for Tsuritama.
@chii
” the only one that weirds me out with the placement is Library Wars… i had no idea people loved it that much.”
Toshokan Sensou is one of the best selling light novels series around. Vol. 1 of the re-released “small size” edition has moved over 400k copies on top of whatever the initial release sold.
August 9th, 2012 at 2:51 pm
You used the term recency bias, which is a term i tried to avoid in the post LOL. Of course, that probably taint any poll like this. I think Eden of the East is a good example; when it was on air it was quite the darling, much like Kids on the Slope.
August 9th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
Note: talking about Nodame in my first paragraph. Every time I try to edit my post, my browser crashes, so I have to post again to make this clarification.