Anime Survey 2021 Preliminary Results

Preliminary Results of the 2021 Anime Survey

In this document we report preliminary results from the 2021 Anime Survey. A goal of this series of preliminary working papers is to provide the fandom with a brief overview of some of the basic findings. In the interest of keeping this short and interesting, we have gone through the results and found some of the most interesting and relevant findings for anime fans. Many of the findings not reported here will eventually be included in future papers.

We would like to give special thanks to the participants and moderators on reddit this year. Thank you to everyone who spread the word and shared with friends. This has been our largest sample of anime fans to date. Thank you!

Method and Participants

We emailed our volunteer list and solicited participants from various anime-related websites from August 21 to September 30, 2021. After removing participants that did not complete a majority of questions, the present data includes 4,415 anime fans (69.3% men, M_age = 24.42, SD = 5.74). Similar to prior years, the majority of respondents were from the United States (63%). However, we received responses from 88 different countries including Canada (7.4%), the UK (3.7%), Germany (2.3%), Australia (2.3%), India (1.6%), Brazil (1.4%), Italy (1.2%), and France (1.2%).

1. What are fans’ gender and sexual orientation?

Anime fans were asked to self-identify with any of the below categories. They were allowed to select any or all terms that they felt applied to them.

We also asked about sexual orientation. Participants were asked to pick the option that best describes them. We added pansexual to this year’s survey.

2. What is the age distribution of the fandom?

The mean age of fans was 24.42 (SD = 5.74). Due to ethics we cannot collect data from individuals under 18 years of age. Despite this, we examined fans age distribution. As shown below, the fandom tends to be young.

3. How long have fans been fans?

We asked participants to indicate how long they have been fans. The mean number of years was 8.09 (SD = 6.05). As shown in the figure below, the majority of participants have been fans for less than 10 years.

4. What other activities and interests do fans have?

Fans were asked to select any of the below interests that applied to them. As shown in the below figure, a good chunk of fans are gamers.

5. How frequently do fans participate in different activities?

We asked fans to indicate how frequently they participated in different activities (1 = never, 7 = often).

6. How much leisure time do fans spend engaging in anime-related activities?

We assessed time in three ways: how much leisure time do fans have, what percentage of leisure time they spend engaging in anime-related activities, and a Likert-type rating of the item “I often participate in anime-related activities in my leisure time” (from 1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree). Fans indicated having about 30 hours of leisure time in a week. Furthermore, fans indicate that about half of that time is spent on anime-related activities. Thus, we can suggest that on average fans spend about 15 hours a week participating in anime-related activities. As shown below, a majority of fans indicate participating in anime-related activities during their leisure time.

I often participate in anime-related activities in my leisure time.

7. Is anime a leisure activity?

We scoured the academic literature to find measures of various dimensions of leisure. We identified 13 dimensions of leisure that are mentioned in definitions. These included (1) a sense of accomplishment, (2) personal growth, (3) relaxation, (4) social interaction, (5) use of discretionary time, (6) freedom of choice, (7) intrinsic motivation, (8) flow, (9) sense of control, (10) self-actualization, (11) enjoyment/satisfaction, (12) eudaimonic motivation (cognitive/social), and (13) centrality. We administered measures of all of these on a 7-point scale regarding anime-related activities. As shown below, fans scored above the midpoint of the measure (i.e., 4) on most of the dimensions suggesting that anime-related activities are leisure.

8. Are there generational issues in the fandom?

We asked fans to rate others that are older and younger than oneself on a variety of issues (7-point scale). Although the differences tended to be small, they are all statistically significant. Overall, younger fans are rated more negatively (the exceptions being technology and intimidation).

Anime fans who are OLDER/YOUNGER than me…

9. Do fans feel they can be themselves in fandom spaces?

To assess degree of authenticity we asked fans to rate the degree they feel they can be themselves in anime fandom spaces and in their day-to-day life (e.g., “I usually feel like I can be myself in anime fandom spaces”) on a 7-point response scale. Although the difference is small, fans reported feeling significantly more authentic in anime fandom spaces.

10. What are fans’ attitudes toward fandom spaces?

Fans were asked to rate four items regarding their attitudes toward fandom and fandom spaces (7-point scale). The results show that fans would like would like the fandom to be a place where fans can feel safe, express themselves freely, and be judgment-free. However, fans did not wish to see politics enter the fandom.

11. How important are anime relationships compared to other groups?

To examine how important are anime relationships we asked fans to think about the different groups of people in their lives (e.g., “If everything in your life were suddenly thrown into chaos, how important would it be that you hold onto these groups?”). Fans rated each group on a 10-point scale (1 = least important to me, 10 = most important to me). Fans rated in-person anime fans higher than online fans, but at the midpoint of the measure (i.e., 5.5).

12. Has well-being changed from last year?

We administered measures of satisfaction with life, self-esteem, and dimensions of psychological well-being (7-point scale). As shown below there was little change in well-being over the past year.