Do you keep track of anime series you watched or manga you’ve read? Or do you go searching for recommendations of similar series you’ve liked? If you do, chances are you’ve at least considered — if not used — MyAnimeList.
Never heard of it? The main draw of MyAnimeList (commonly abbreviated as MAL) is the titular lists: users note which anime or manga they’ve viewed or read and can give the series a score out of 10. These ratings are then calculated to give a weighted average. MAL also has several social networking features like the forums. MAL reportedly has 10 million visitors and 130 million page views a month as of December 2018.
The History of MyAnimeList
The site was originally started in 2004 as a hobby, and the young site was purchased by CraveOnline (a men’s lifestyle website) in 2008. In January 2015, MAL was sold to Japanese media company and platform DeNA, although this wasn’t officially disclosed until July of that year. DeNA is probably best known for mobile games like Super Mario Run, Final Fantasy Record Keeper, and Rage of Bahamut. They also have a manga app with (as of this writing) four series available to read for free. DeNA had established an American subsidiary, but it closed in 2016 due to decreased sales.
After DeNA acquired it, MAL had been removing fansub links and added official anime thanks to a partnership with now-defunct streaming service Daisuki. They recently teamed up with manga publishers to sell digital manga.
But things went south for MAL in mid-2018. The site suddenly went offline near the end of May, later said to be for “maintenance” to patch a security flaw, and it finally was available again in early June. Many of the features were inaccessible though upon its return, and it wasn’t until September that most were reinstated. Even after that though, reinstating the API – the ability to use third-party services in conjunction with MAL — was still being worked on, the last update being in November.
Now, in January 2019, Media Do Holdings, is buying MyAnimeList from DeNA. They’re a Japanese company that recently started licensing and publishing digital manga in English through Media Do International.
The Future of MyAnimeList
The big question is, of course, what will change. DeNA is still going to operate MAL until the buyout is closed, so there won’t be any dramatic changes in the immediate future. Media Do is planning on pushing the digital manga aspect of the site, which perhaps isn’t a surprise considering that’s how Media Do initially got its foot in the English-speaking fanbase. MAL’s founder, though, says, “In the less-short term, it means a new dedicated team, a new schedule of priorities, and a new vision for MAL’s future!”
While MAL’s stats are impressive, growth appears to be relatively static since 2015, with about the same number of visitors and page hits. That signals a loyal base, but very few organizations (particularly web sites) are satisfied with views remaining constant.
As most of us can attest to, sometimes a new owner can bring unwelcome changes to a popular business or just prove to be a bad fit. (See: Yahoo! and Tumblr, AOL and Time Warner, and more.)
But not all mergers or takeovers have a messy ending. Crunchyroll is still marching along, and trend items like the ones ThinkGeek sells have been a bright spot for GameStop the last few quarters.
Media Do could probably do a lot right off the bat by keeping MAL visitors informed of upcoming changes. When MAL went down this past summer, they were criticized for the lack of updates and not being forthcoming. It’s always nice to know in advance when a website is going to be redesigned or is changing features, so hopefully Media Do will do so. Finishing the API, which has been slow to be reimplemented, should also be a priority, since it didn’t seem to be one for DeNA.
Speaking of DeNA, since they’re mostly retreating to Japan and mobile games, I wonder how much longer their Manga Box app will be supported. Yes, it’s only four series (with a minimal number of pages every update), but it’s free. As DeNA concentrates on their deal with Nintendo, I’m still a bit surprised Manga Box is hanging in there at all. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time though.
I also can’t help but wonder what the purchase price for MyAnimeList was — did DeNA take a huge hit, make a nice sum, or break even? Did DeNA have many bids, or was interest limited? Although it’s possible DeNA could have gotten a really sweet offer if Media Do International sees this as a way to help kickstart their sales. While they do have Facebook and Twitter accounts, they are easy to miss since the accounts aren’t actually named Media Do (or some similar variation). Instead, Media Do’s social media accounts use the far more generic (and easily missed) name of Japan Manga News.
A lot of this is just going to be wait-and-see. In a year, MyAnimeList could be the same site with just an expanded online store, or it could be a brightly-colored, bloated, unkempt database, or anything in between. I personally don’t use it, so what Media Do’s “new vision” probably won’t affect my Web surfing habits. Who knows – maybe they’ll create something or team up with other companies to make me want to visit more often than a couple times a year.