MyAnimeList Powerscaling is Ultimately Pointless

[@Stevem]

I treat how many anime i've watched like Dio, do you remember how many breads you've eaten in your life. (also all these sites are trash at actually adding entries that would take like days to sort out)

[@Anonlyso]

In the referenced words of one ordinary magician: "13. I prefer Japanese [dramas]"

[@goukeban6197]

Mate, I just like looking at my completed list.

[@Anonlyso]

@@goukeban6197 If I wasn't such a slacker I'd put more on it just to keep tabs on what I actually finished or just know when I watched something years ago. This is what we all get for letting 3rd party websites do the journaling and blogging for us

[@RogerSmith2004]

9:37 Mecha Naruto filler was epic! Anime script writer Hideyuki Kurata wrote a book called "Beyond Bibliophilia" that discussed his massive spending and consumption habits on media, and in it he essentially states that nothing will ever be enough. There will never reach a point where he will be done. I think of these list sites in a similar vein. The completed list will keep growing and growing, but it won't reach a point of satisfaction, as more content keeps being made. So because of that, I believe there's no need to rush through every single thing to reach a number. Go at one's own pace and whatever one is comfortable with.

[@goukeban6197]

Hi, Roger!

[@RPWPA]

I think the main issue with things like MAL (not really MAL but people using database-like sites) can push you to just want to finish more stuff for the sake of increasing numbers. Kinda like you validating to youself that I did use my time and look how much I have seen which I think might have happened to me during a period of time. Glad to not have that issue anymore.

[@TheCynicClinic]

That's exactly it man, it's exp grinding to them, not enjoying art and a hobby

[@TheOtakuSupreme]

I just recently hit 1000 completed anime on MAL. Something I'm proud of. Then my friend sent your video to me. And I realized that I don't care and I am the type of person who just does it to keep track of what I watched. Anyway, good video. Thanks for making it.

[@thewindthatblows]

There's an app called TV Time where you can specify which episodes you've watched. If you've seen the last episode the series gets automatically tagged as completed but not fully watched. I wish MAL let you do that

[@TheCynicClinic]

Oh that's handy af

[@CodeBlazeFate]

It does get rather finicky to add smth on MAL to your completed when you skip episodes or Gundam SEED HD Remaster excludes and re-edit episodes, even though you can do that. Plus, sometimes airing episode count mishaps occur and now I Completed Slime S1 at 25/24 eps and Kaguya-sama S3 at 12-13 episodes. Thankfully nobody has given enough of a shit to interrogate me on any of that, nor should anyone do so to anyone, generally speaking

[@royalrampage4643]

You have to watch a show to mark it down as completed. Who's out here watching only the last episode of a series?

[@thewindthatblows]

@@royalrampage4643 As the video said, Naruto for example has a back half that's almost all filler and then the last episode is canon. If I was watching, I would watch until roughly 130 episodes plus that one at the end. I'm sure there are other examples of series with tons of filler you can skip, like Detective Conan

[@RPWPA]

@@thewindthatblows I would say finishing the story canonically should be enough. Skipped filler is ok but that is kinda like more story added in the anime.

[@lorenzobarducci8353]

I agree with your point. Besides the points you mention there's also the complete lack of interest and information about the productive aspect. Like people that have seen hundreds of anime, watch all the trashiest seasonals there are and then have 0 idea about direction or animation, not even knowing who the people working on their favorite shows are and what artistic vision they have, or even worse shit like congratulating the company (the various "thanks MAPPA/Ufotable/MadHouse/Bones" yada yada) or "the budget" not realizing how not only false and superficial but actually offensive and deamining toward the people actually breaking their back to do the work that is. If you have seen 2000 anime and you say stuff like "*whatever studio it doesn't matter* is the best" i'll always trust your opinion less than someone with 100 completed anime that take the time to look up who the director, art director, key-animators ecc of a show are

[@applemarker4731]

You hit the nail on the head with this one. I also got a similar thing when I saw people who had dropped far more anime than they'd completed and thought that was somehow a sign of having high standards so I went out of my way to watch the first episode of a bunch of shows I already knew I wouldn't like just to mark them as "dropped" and make myself seem like I had good taste. I dunno why I thought people would think I was cultured just because they saw I dropped Super Sonico the Animation after episode 1 but that's what I did.

[@sevennights6377]

Great video as usual! Glad to see you back making stuff and this was a treat to watch. I've definitely felt a bit bad sometimes about only having around 200 completed and 300 total entries on MAL, but you make great points here as to why those indicators don't necessarily mean much. I've spent so much time on rewatches and analyzing things I've seen that it's not less experience than say watching something new.

[@Jackisboy]

Scam out here catching strays. Cool video tho, good stuff

[@hellogoodbye7647]

I like the way you talk funny man. Thanks for another banger, kinda crazy how you can put some of my 3:00 AM thoughts into great videos 😎

[@AdaraFukuchi]

EXCELLENT video! surprised i haven't heard anyone talk about this yet

[@TheCynicClinic]

Glad you liked it!

[@inspirashamul]

Fantastic video as always! Recently a mutual of mine of twitter caught flack for completing 400 anime on MAL, and this has been on the top of my mind ever since. This video could not have come at a better time as I was already in the mindset of what I value when it comes to someone else’s opinion and their relationship of series seen. And you hit the nail on the head perfectly. That is doesn’t correlate as well as people think it does. I already dissociated this with other peoples’ scores and in extension their watching habits as well because like you pointed out, it is a personal list at the end of the day. For myself in particular, I have a separate list where I track franchises of series where I’ve seen the first season of the tv series as an entry and have about 130ish at this point which excludes MVs, OVAs, films, etc. and I tried to get 100 of these series as well as 100 manga under my belt just to feel more confident in myself although I won’t hold anyone else to that arbitrary standard that I gave myself at the beginning of 2020. Although I haven’t commented on your videos before I want to be more vocal because of how creative and refreshing it is when you put something out from this channel! I appreciate the hard work you put into the creation of these types of videos that are infused with your personality!

[@TheCynicClinic]

Thanks for the kind words! Yeah people having been pointing out the drama with your mutual to me now, that's rough

[@gogrrr]

Good video, it might help some people who are still on the "grind" mindset so they can actually enjoy anime once more. I think MAL is good for tracking and checking some info about anime, maybe looking for recommendations too.

[@TheCynicClinic]

Yeah that's exactly it man, the grind makes no sense to me, like watch what you enjoy when you enjoy it lol. Thanks for watching !

[@tox_anituber]

Ever since I made my MAL account I feel like I've been forcing myself to finish short anime to add to my count. I'm currently at 300+ finished and I'm honestly burned out. I've taken a short break from anime and manga and haven't watched any episode this season lol.

[@EliahNebb]

Good choice of topic. It's often important to get past this to find why you really enjoy a medium.

[@JakeTvisterOfficial]

The tracking of anime is someone I fell into for my own purpose wayyy way back, as to grind the number higher. Now, I only remember some of those great shows from that time, and have spent the last year looking at a select few again but with a critical eye than simply slogging through like a chore. I'm sure this isn't fully the case for others, as it could be seen as working for your nerd credentials. That in of itself is if you only look at what you consume as if anime is "your identity", and feeding it by thinking the tracking number is some sort of earned status, than expanding on the understanding for increase viewing pleasure. Currently, I'm watching Kyousugiga, and there's this interesting 5.5 episode chucked in the middle where it goes to the real life location like the temple of Priest Myōe, and displaying the Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga (a huge referencial work within manga itself and the inspiration to the series namesake). In one of the temples there were two windows that had connotation to Buddhism that enhanced the visual narrative through intertextuality. I think 'watching' comes down to what lies in the viewer's 'intention'. Putting stock in a sole, faulty metric than to ask who the person really are like and do, despite the "rookie numbers", or years under the belt like Archaeon, says more about what mindset one is in. Making competition out of what you've experienced isn't rewarding if you can't remember what you experienced in the first place.

[@Wise_Llama]

I used to force myself to watch animes just for the sake of flexing in middle school (spoilers no one cared). Now I just watch stuff I wanna watch, crazy concept I know.

[@TheCynicClinic]

Absolutely mental

[@bluebaron6858]

Greatly done video!

[@toxicrepeter8607]

This video couldn't have said it better! That being said, I do keep track of what anime I've watched but not in any online site to flex. I only write their names on my phone's notebook so I can look back and smile, I do it for myself.

[@MoonAnime]

Ending it with the Dragon Ball Z power level comparison is perfect. I didn't know watching MVs count too but I suppose it's everything being logged into those sites. We somehow got a Quelaag shoutout I mean look at her why wouldn't you?

[@OtakuBox]

Funnily enough, while there isn't an actual like, statistical reason to grind numbers on these list sites (other than to flex on friends and randoms on the net) Anilist has an in-bred community way to gamify it. There are many profiles that tout like, badges, showing for example, total completed, and it goes so far as to specify certain studios or genres. So someone can have a "500" completed badge and a "100 Action" completed with "25 Studio Mappa" badge as well. It's kinda funny, and I think ironically they can be fun to have, but at the same time, unironically, people might just really care to have made up rep to flex on others regardless of, like you said, whether they really experienced all those shows, and the value of just upping numbers might not be the same as just watching it because they enjoyed the stories or what they saw.

[@TheCynicClinic]

Well that's why I say they're like power levels, they can be really fun, but ultimately don't mean a thing

[@Fuwa_san]

As someone who has 500+ days, I look at days and drop list rather completed size to get what genres appealing to a user.

[@bluebaron6858]

No need to feel insecure. You do you

[@oscardasilva468]

that Shaybs clip killed me XD

[@TheCynicClinic]

The king

[@barnabonker]

500 gatekeepers' list be like: *every idol and harem anime in existance*

[@Eterrath]

Bruh not even past the intro and the edit referencing Eva has left my jaw on the floor

[@TheCynicClinic]

Haha thanks, that was a last minute addition when I couldn't think of what footage to use

[@28empoleon]

Sometimes i do feel adding something as “completed” would be hard if i watched something on tv as a kid but probs missed an ep lol

[@TheCynicClinic]

Yeah I'm the same, I watched all of Pokemon kanto-johto dubbed as a kid, but I still feel a little guilty having added it to Mal, I've been going through it in JP as language practice but still

[@anomymous1286]

I have two accounts, one where I log conventionally, and one where I keep track of my strange listbrained quest to watch every anime OP ever in order. One account makes it seem like I’ve only seen 50 anime. The other account appears as if I’ve completed or dropped every anime from 1917-2002. Neither paint a proper picture of my experience.

[@deowardiman]

I don't understand why someone would gatekeep anime discussion anyway. I'm just happy if anyone just wanna talk about anime with me

[@weirdy8]

My take on it is at a certain point, there's so much filler that no one could remember what they watched without literally looking it up. Case in point: Detective Conan.

[@younesbani]

Another banger video, Mr. Cynic, really loved it ☺️

[@aliceyuri]

schwa can be and is stressed in english as well tbf

[@aka-ghost]

There is a runaway trolley barreling down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people, who have seen 200 anime each, that are tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track who has seen 1000 anime. Do you pull the lever?

[@Stevem]

is there a way to kill both groups??

[@TheCynicClinic]

So true tho

[@Kuudere-Kun]

I just MAL mostly keep track for myself, cause I can easily forget exactly how many episodes I've seen of something I put on hold months ago, or that I watched entirely if it's obscure and forgettable enough.

[@SamYu7834]

As I see it, this tendency, or a trait of the anime community, stems from the inherent competitiveness of the human nature. Except in this case this is a completely ephemeral, virtual achievement which arguably brings nothing of value to anyone involved, except for fleeting emotions - and not of the best sort. At the end of the day, a mal count just marks how much time a particular person spent on watching anime. Of course it has very little influence on how much a person knows about anime, specifically about the production of anime. As you've pointed out. Evidently, a person who made a single animation sequence kinda knows much more about making anime than the majority of anime community. I.e. their knowledge is supported by skills that produce actual results. To expand a bit on the ambiguity and ludicrousness of what should be considered as "completed": surely, there are some people who care not only about what a person has seen, but how they've seen it. It starts with watching a dubbed show in the background, and ends with watching it in Japanese without a dictionary, etc.

[@dojee8993]

8:36 that a bge clip? great video as always👍

[@Stevem]

It's from troll 2 if you mean the audio sample

[@Anonlyso]

1:26 This is some how very topical Loved to see you back at it again doing communal analysis in trends and mythos. I'm also reminded of Super Bunny Hop's vid on Metacritic's "Best Games of All time" when perhaps more insidious than just the audience wanting BIG NUMBER GO UP, there was an actual industrial incentive to quantify an entire gaming experience into a numerical 9/10 rating, for marketing AND IGN clout. Again it's an issue with not just trying to Quantify Art on an increasingly shaky "objective" metric, but also that the system itself is flawed in displaying consumption as equivalent to "digestion" so-to speak. "ok, so you DID watch 1 bajillion different anime/ovas/short films/marketing trailers; did you learn or gain anything out of it beyond a time spent afternoon?" of sorts. Back and forth on that last point of power levels. In the words of a wise man "Everything is made up and the points don't matter". And yet for many, it's the easiest marker of status in this community; what with many of us digesting a foreign cultural product that's already been filtered via market and localization production that we're already so far removed from the initial original cultural contexts, the high proliferation OF said proliferation, and also combining with the major culture battle of trying to claim "better taste" as a member of the community while also having no one within the industry to "police" the e-celeb soap-boxes for NOT having any technical knowledge of the industry by-large. It's more a larger problem of "media criticism" on the internet (or maybe just US/Western centric nerd circles) that a consumer product reviewer will gain major clout and audience respect to be treated as THE authoritative voice on media quality....despite again never having ANY clue about how the sausage is made. But enough about Matthewmatosis. I will still concede the optimism that even without "completing" or fully watching all of a work that it doesn't negate the experiences you can have from start to dropping. I think ultimately what needs to be said tho is an honesty in good faith about admitting what and why and where one's knowledge ends and thus being willing to act somewhat academically about "knowing to say that you DON'T know beyond x point". Problem is...that bites back against pride and we can't have that in the communal ecosystem

[@TheCynicClinic]

Haha well that timestamp I literally added last minute last night. Thanks for watching brother

[@HaydenTheHistorian]

walter white is an anime elitist

[@TheCynicClinic]

so true though

[@TK-_-GZ]

algorithmic punch!

[@gufishanemometer6450]

Amazing chill atmosphere

[@flyingningahero5961]

this shit is the reason people like gigguk whose word is seen as gospel despite not really knowing much about anime or manga history, he just watches whatevers popular it'd be like saying you're a movie fan because you've seen every shlocky action or comedy movie that came out this year, I mean yeah you watch alotta stuff but none of it really matters also mecha is an aesthetic and not a genre, and people are doing a disservice to themselves by not watching Giant Robo (1992)

[@frankjaeger2565]

Wait, what do you mean "mecha is an aesthetic"? Mecha is the term used by Western fans to refer to giant piloted (or remote controlled) robots, it is a genre that comes from Tetsujin 28 and Mazinger Z

[@MoppetMage]

feels like a dedicated video to Ryuseishun lmfao

[@GilLiesHere]

You care about how many anime I've seen, right? Right?

[@TheCynicClinic]

so true though

[@Lelfro]

Howard Hamlin's profile only has 1 completed anime, even though it's still airing. Be as passionate as him when watching anime.

[@Stevem]

THE ONE PIECE IS REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

[@manoknowfish]

Waltuh!

[@Renn_z4]

Oh no! Not that quote again! Not when I just recorded a script containing the line 'Unlike most VIDEOS ON mecha anime, this one is actually about the mechs!' Regarding the actual topic of the video: Me passing 500 earlier this year was the first time I noticed the approaching milestone. So I felt inspired by others to deliberatly choose the 500th entry. My choice fell on the appropriately named 2016 magic high school battle harem hit 'Hundred'. See? Hundred? fivehundred? Not worth it.

[@Mykasan]

the number just doesn't mean anything now since it's so mainstream now.

[@codelink7442]

yet another banger

[@StudyofSwords]

Hooray for media theory!!!

[@petrolandcoffee]

This was very good thank you weeabu Ben shapiro

[@Adnan_Murtadha]

In my 7 years of wayching anime i have only watched 73 shows

[@TheCynicClinic]

Based

[@8xottox8]

Luckily this video and the critique isn't about me since I only bully and gatekeep others online for their amount of episodes seen stat in order to sidestep the issue of people who just add short specials and OVAs.

[@TheCynicClinic]

thanks for watching the video!

[@risingbob5230]

So MAL is like racist crime statistics.

[@b01771]

Wow rude tbh :( , great vid as always

[@WW2_Dragon]

いい物

[@joeyang5226]

video engagement booster comment placeholder cool vid

[@TheCynicClinic]

Twhnk yu

[@aspfan9067]

Igoy, essa é pra você 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@kaijuwatchesYT]

Ikkitousen lmao I'm old

[@TheCynicClinic]

Only the finest

[@petrolandcoffee]

Also don't watch the bount arc it's not good

[@deathdoor]

Wrong! I care.

[@Crembaw]

do u think hilary clinton adequately displayed girl power when she told me to pokemon go to the polls at gunpoint

[@TheCynicClinic]

All I can say is

[@Slychosis.]

Ive seen 750 anime; “Neon Genesis? Never heard of it” todays weeb community

[@kurome285]

that's rly hard, evangelion is famous af

[@Slychosis.]

@@kurome285 you’d be surprised how much of the new wave of anime fans don’t know it or havent seen it. Too busy watching 1000+ episodes of Naruto or One Piece

[@DragonBall-Manga-1984]

I Care everyone should only watch Anime that are Quality and what they enjoy watching and not waste their limited time and energy on crap.

[@Crembaw]

One purpose of the Council was to resolve disagreements arising from within the Church of Alexandria over the nature of Jesus in his relationship to the Father: in particular, whether the Son had been 'begotten' by the Father from his own being, and therefore having no beginning, or else created out of nothing, and therefore having a beginning. St. Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius took the first position; the popular presbyter Arius, from whom the term Arianism comes, took the second. The Council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly (of the estimated 250-318 attendees, all but two agreed to sign the creed, and these two, along with Arius, were banished to Illyria).

[@TheCynicClinic]

So true though

[@DragonBall-Manga-1984]

@Chateau Mama What? what does this have to do with what I said?

[@_M_4]

I mean, there's like roughly 100 shows that are actually great/worth watching + maybe 100 more depending on your taste. Maybe add up some historically important shows and some unique/obscure ones. An average viewer should never reach more than 300 seen shows if they want to keep their sanity. At that point, the viewing experience is more about "number go up on profile" and extrinsic value than about enjoying art.

[@Stevem]

there are far more than 200 great anime lol

[@_M_4]

@@Stevem how many great anime are there, chief?

[@Stevem]

@@_M_4 it's a nonsense thing to add up to begin with, but let's put it this way if we are only talking about anime post astroboy then there's still 60 years worth of animation, in the last decade roughly 200 anime (sometimes more) come out a year. Some places say there's over 6000 anime in existence how many are great will be up to personal preference but i'd say 200 is a pretty lowball for a whole medium

[@_M_4]

@@Stevem I think it's reasonable for an average viewer (who's not a content creator, artist, art critic, etc.) and who only wants to watch the best of the best. Of course there are way more "decent to good" shows and shows varying in quality, but not everybody has the time, patience or commitment for that. I don't think anyone would complain about 200 shows to enjoy being a low number, especially if they don't exclusively consume that type of media.

[@Stevem]

@@_M_4 well my concerns come from how youve framed this in the original comment >only 100 anime worth watching , maybe 200 depending on taste if you want to watch 50, 10 or 1000 anime there is no cap of whats worth watching thats up to the viewer >300 anime will blow your sanity if you watched them all at once maybe but most people have watched 100s of movies and shows in their life without batting an eyelid you just kinda do it recreationally, hell at an old job my co workers got free movie tickets and they werent cinephiles, but watched a couple movies a week with them. Which over the year meant they were powering through a ton of stuff. >best of best see this is a kinda of trap of the critic landscape who treat media like their searching for unicorns. To know what the "best of the best" is you have to have an idea in your mind about what mediocrity is and that will vary between peoples experiences, it's fine to have a look at the "classics" but there's no guarantee you'll love them. In fact i have a story of about the opposite experience where some friends were talking about rent a girlfriend which seems to be a contentious pick in the anime community, i think the whole convo started from a vtuber clip, we chatted about it and after asking some questions i came to the conclusion id try and watch it and i really enjoyed my time with the show and if i had listened to whoever defines the best of the best on mal or wherever i would never have had that experience. > but not everybody has the time, patience or commitment You can put as little or as much time into watching anime as you want, the idea of pursuing the ultimate anime list in itself sounds like more work then just picking out stuff your friends are enjoying or something that looks up your alley like there's no rush, if you arent feeling it just drop it.

[@natsuno420]

Can we add you on MAL?

[@TheCynicClinic]

🤯

[@mr.felipiux6392]

You just mad I double your animes 🥸