When you first join the AnimeChicago Meetup page, one of the questions you answer is, quite simply, “What is your favorite anime?” That’s a topic everyone loves to talk about at our mixers and various other social events. However, we never took a look at your responses in earnest, until now. What did you all put down on that questionnaire? Let’s find out together.
To do this, we broke down your responses into singular words and counted each instance of a word. Obviously, we omitted words like “and,” “the,” and “of” to get to the heart of the question. So what was the number one word used in your responses?
Anime
With 56 instances, you guys really like, well, anime. Wait. Maybe we should skip this one.
Okay, what was the real number one?
#1 – Bebop (55 Instances)
To the excitement of Jamie, AnimeChicago’s president, you agree with her that Cowboy Bebop is your favorite anime. It’s no surprise. The series is highly regarded in the West and had multiple runs on Adult Swim. What’s funny is that there were only 53 instances of “cowboy,” so at least two of you just call it Bebop.
#2 – Alchemist (54 Instances)
I wonder what this could refer to? Obviously, it’s Fullmetal Alchemist. What is surprising is that there were 23 instances of the word “brotherhood,” which means the AnimeChicago fandom is split down the middle between the original version and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. You all can fight among yourselves.
#3 – Naruto (47 Instances)
I get it, you were in high school or college when this was mega popular. I don’t blame you.
Hunter (44 Instances)
Notice that this doesn’t have a number next to it, because the most likely response for “hunter” is Hunter x Hunter, which doubles down on the word. There’s no cheating on this list.
#4 – Titan (43 Instances)
“Attack” had 41 instances, as if there were any doubt that it was Attack on Titan. This series is one of the newest on this list, which goes to show its dramatic rise in popularity.
#5 – Samurai (40 Instances)
Now, “samurai” could reference a lot of shows, until you find out that “champloo” had 35 instances. There aren’t many series that have “champloo” in the title. Can you guess how many? It’s one, the answer is one.
#6 – Piece (39 Instances)
Speaking of “one”, which had 81 instances, it’s clear that “piece” refers to One Piece.
#7 – Death (38 Instances)
Another vague word, like “samurai”, unless you look a bit deeper and find that “note” has 36 instances. Note Death? Is that the name of a series? I’ve not heard of it. Maybe I have the order wrong? Nah.
#8 – Sailor Moon (32 Instances)
Yep, both words of the popular shojo series came in at the same rate. What? Moon Phase isn’t someone’s favorite anime? I’m shocked.
Kill (32 Instances)
I see you, Kill la Kill. You’re not fooling me.
# 9 – Ghost (27 Instances)
What’s weird is “shell” had 25 instances. Are there two people out there that like the English dub of Ghost Stories that much to put that as their answer? Who are you?
#10 – Geass (27 Instances)
Another instantly recognizable word for a forgettable anime. (I kid, I kid.)
Honorable Mentions
“Yu” had 26 instances and was trying to cheat like “hunter” and “kill”.
Also with 26 instances was Evangelion, showing that 26 people are 100% correct.
“Gundam” had 23 instances, and those 23 people will probably argue for days which one of the billion series was the best.
“Madoka” also had 23 instances, which makes me believe that AnimeChicago board member Gabe has at least 22 other Meetup accounts.
And finally, “gate” came in at 24 instances, which made me think that somehow 24 people actually enjoyed Gate, until I saw that “steins” had 20. Whew.
In Conclusion
What does this say about AnimeChicago members as a whole? Well, you all sure love stuff that aired at least once on Toonami or Adult Swim. Additionally, many of you have a fondness for some older shows that aired in the US. And some of you still like Code Geass for whatever reason.