Chainsaw Man only got fourth place
Japanese website AnimeAnime.jp has surveyed more than 8,000 users at the end of the year to determine the top ten most popular anime for 2022. Conducted between December 1 and December 12, the poll yielded some surprising results from Japanese viewers. The resulting top ten television titles are as follows:
10. Summer Time Rendering
9. My Dress-Up Darling
8. Mob Psycho 100 III
7. My Hero Academia Season 6
6. BLUE LOCK
5. SPY x FAMILY
4. Chainsaw Man
3. Dropkick on My Devil! X
2. BOCCHI THE ROCK!
1. Lycoris Recoil
Perhaps the most surprising result is not simply that the much-hyped Chainsaw Man anime adaptation is not in first place on the list, but that it wound up all the way in fourth. While the Chainsaw Man anime has performed well on streaming services and has shown to be overall popular, it has also proven somewhat contentious, reporting lower-than-expected Blu-ray sales and spawning a petition wherein over 2,000 disgruntled fans of the manga requested a redo of the anime adaptation.
The report of those lower disc sales also noted that Chainsaw Man’s seasonal contemporary Bocchi the Rock had outsold it, that series also taking second place on this Japanese poll. Bocchi the Rock has proven to be a surprise darling of the Fall 2022 anime season, being a lavishly animated treatment of Aki Hamaji’s original manga about a socially-anxious girl forming a band with other high-schoolers. Right above it in first place, with a reported 12.3% of the overall vote, is the previous Summer season’s anime-original series Lycoris Recoil. This was another series that rose to surprisingly high acclaim during its airing, including Hideo Kojima singing its praises at the time.
The series right ahead of Chainsaw Man is probably the most surprising: Dropkick on My Devil! X is the third season of the Dropkick on My Devil comedy series, first aired in 2018 and based on a manga from 2012. However, that third season was actually produced thanks to a crowdfunding campaign, which raised over $200,000 USD in 33 hours, so it could be seen that its popularity with the Japanese audience was predetermined.
The other series on the list can be seen as expectedly popular picks of the year, including sequels to standbys like My Hero Academia and Mob Psycho 100, and new hits like BLUE LOCK and SPY x FAMILY. Notably, AnimeAnime.jp’s poll separated the two halves of SPY x FAMILY’s first season from this year into two parts, representing the gap between them as they aired. The first run of twelve episodes is the part that was voted into fifth place on that list, with the latter half — which started airing in October — placing 13th overall.
The number-ten title on the list, Summer Time Rendering, is notable as the only one not currently available for streaming in North America. The anime is streaming in multiple other territories via Disney+, but has not yet been officially released here, with no confirmation of when it will be available.
