Watch a Lot of Anime? Here Are a Few Ways to Keep Track of Them All

So I used to live in a time where I just watched whatever anime was on, at any one time, and really not give a care as to when it aired. Those times were in my childhood. Nowadays, I’m keeping track of way too much anime for a normal person. But even a normal person might have issues keeping track of what they’re watching, even if it’s 6 or 7 of them. So here’s a couple of ways you can keep track of what anime you’re watching, with each providing their own conveniences for a person.

MAL

MAL, or MyAnimeList, has been one of the longer running communities to keep track of what titles you’re watching. You can create an account, have a list of titles you want to watch, and do it with relative ease. You’ll have to remember the Japanese names in case you want to add a title, but otherwise, you can add anime you’re watching by searching. In addition to watching anime here, you can also designate what you have on hold, plan to watch, or dropped, and there’s even a manga list as well. That should make things fairly convenient for you.

Just a word of warning though: unfortunately, their settings in logging in have been bonkers since January. Unless you set your computer to remember the password, prepare to log in all the time.

Anime Planet

Another site that’s been around the block, Anime Planet is the same as MAL, with some aesthetic choices in its design and watching format. It’s ok, you don’t have to worry about problems logging into this site. You also have a bit of freedom of what to add in your profile (you can even add your Twitter), your blog, and a few more things that might be relevant for you. Anyways, if you want to make sure you know what you’re watching, this is a site to consider.

Hummingbird

This is the newest keeping track of anime site out there. Unlike the other two, Hummingbird has been around a grand total of this year (as in, it was conceived this year), and it had been in beta for a while, undergoing a number of changes. For now, all it does is allow you to list what anime you’re watching, plan to watch, etc, with a more refined design than the other two sites on the list but lacks a rating system and a manga list system that may or may not be a deal breaker for some. Otherwise this seems to be growing up and managed by those who want a reliable system, so if you want to check this site out, that wouldn’t be a problem.

Microsoft Excel

Finally, you can just be a somewhat cheap person by using Excel. I say somewhat cheap because unlike the other three sites above, you don’t have to sign up and register and go through lists to find what you’re watching. Instead, if you’re watching some shows this year, you can manually create a list of what you’re watching, where you’re watching it, what day it airs, and anything else you want to include that fits for you.

So these are a few ways to make sure you can keep track of your anime. I bet there are a few more ways though, so if you have any others, feel free to share what that is. Otherwise, happy anime watching.

 

Justin is the founder of Organization Anti-Social Geniuses, a Japanese Pop Culture blog that covers anime, manga, JRPGs, Visual Novels, and has features like interviews, editorials, and even life in Japan. You can follow him on Twitter at @Kami_nomi.