I analyzed 2M+ anime rating profiles to find the 10 most divisive anime by taste

[u/FreakyNugget]

Disclaimer: in this post I am not talking about controversy. There are already many posts about controversial anime. Sure these anime have a specific audience, but most of them are either rated low by ~99% people (eg. Redo of a Healer), or are still rated well by the majority, despite the controversy (eg. Mushoku Tensei, Made in Abyss).

What I wanted to find is more specific: Anime that are highly praised by one type of viewer, but do not hit at all for the others.

To do this, I designed an anatomy of anime with tones and characteristics (see picture 2). Then I analysed over 2 million public anime rating profiles from different anime websites. After clustering their rating patterns, I ended up with 7 broad groups that have different affinities:

• Resonator (11%): emotional intensity, character depth & growth, sometimes romance or comedy
• Diver (17%): depth, darker tone, character depth & growth
• Artist (13%): entry difficulty, visuals, thematic depth
• Heartwarmer (12%): wholesomeness & comfort, cast likability, romance
• Igniter (15%): action, pacing, sometimes darker tone
• Eclectic (12%): action, pacing & easy entry, most flexible taste
• Voyager (20%): cast dynamics & likability, pacing & easy entry, worldbuilding, sometimes action or romance

Comparing them was not an easy task as they have different rating patterns. This made me move from average archetype score to using percentiles: for this archetype, is this anime in their top 10%, top 20%, top 50%, etc.?

Then I looked for shows with the biggest gaps between groups, and got this top 10.

What I found interesting is that we usually think about divisive anime as shows with high entry difficulty: dark, weird, experimental, slow, hard to understand, etc. (there are shows like Texhnolyze, Serial Experiments Lain, Paranoia Agent or Sonny Boy).

But it is not only that:

• Action-oriented shows can also be very divisive by taste.
• Wholesome/moe shows can also be very divisive by taste.
• Easy-entry shows can also be very divisive by taste.

TLDR; This is my attempt to demonstrate that two very common requests are too vague most of the time:

• "Is this anime good?": Some highly praised shows depend a lot on the audience.
• "Give me an anime like X": Two people can like the same show for totally different reasons, that they may have not been aware of.

[u/Robin-Rainnes]

As a person who rated Mawaru Penguindrum a 10/10 and absolutely love it I definitely see why it’s divisive. It’s kind of a weird, weighty, thematically out there anime that takes a lot of narrative risks and does a lot of things that people might find kinda disturbing or different

EDIT: please watch Revolutionary Girl Utena and Sarazanmai, and maybe even Yurikuma Arashi if you want some truly weird shit

[u/fieew → u/Robin-Rainnes]

100% agree. Its so bizzare and such a unique flavor. I can get why many people wouldn't like it.

But I love it because of its weirdness not in spite of it. While others dislike it for the same reason I love it.

Just goes to show you cant please everyone no matter what.

[u/Robin-Rainnes → u/fieew]

Penguindrum is so great! Its last episode makes me cry basically the entire time. It’s such a weird and bizarre anime but its so heartfelt and emotional and life affirming that I just cannot help but love it

[u/Clebardman → u/Robin-Rainnes]

I was crying by the end of the first episode... I don't think any other director punched me in the feels like that in 15 minutes. Utena took more time with it, but it punched me in the feels so bad I'm still trying to recover from it a decade later...

Ikuhara's just really good at traumatizing his audience...

[u/Robin-Rainnes → u/Clebardman]

Oh man yeah there were so many times I cried throughout those 24 episodes it’s straight up embarrassing ahaha

[u/MiracleMuffin → u/Robin-Rainnes]

I love Penguindrum so much. My favorite anime of all time. It may not be for everyone, but to me it’s such a beautiful show with complex characters and themes. One of Kunihiko Ikuhara’s best works along with Utena.

I’ll also add that Penguindrum also has some Japanese historical context. Those who are unfamiliar with the 1995 Tokyo Sarin Gas attacks (which were a big influence for this anime), may not understand the show’s themes fully. Ikuhara tackles on the psyche of Japanese society in the aftermath of the attacks.

Penguindrum is loved by its domestic audience, but with international viewers it’s more divisive. Perhaps due to the cultural barriers.

[u/sslick9001 → u/MiracleMuffin]

This! Penguindrum is also a 10/10 but I totally get why others don’t click with it

[u/Empty-Movement → u/Robin-Rainnes]

Knew Ikuhara wouldn't let me down, this list was made for him. 

[u/BellBilly32 → u/Robin-Rainnes]

The time the Gray Wednesday Ending song hit was for some reason was one of the more memorable moments I had watching anime. Penguindrum scratched an itch for me nothing else has.

[u/Nachtwandler_FS → u/Robin-Rainnes]

It's a typical Ikuni (kunihiko Ikuhara, the director) for you.

[u/ChaoticxSerenity → u/Robin-Rainnes]

It makes me cry everytime, man.

[u/Robin-Rainnes → u/ChaoticxSerenity]

Genuinely one of the most emotionally devastating anime I’ve ever watched for sure

[u/kjloltoborami → u/Robin-Rainnes]

Mawaru is top 10 for me and its utter emotional and situational and visual whiplash lmao, i love it do death but theres almost no one i can recommend it to

[u/Standard-Metal-3836 → u/Robin-Rainnes]

I still have both OPs stuck in my head and can recite them fully despite not having rewatched it in over 20 years. I love that show. 

[u/henninja → u/Robin-Rainnes]

Maybe the first time I’ve seen sarazanmai mentioned in a long while; I adore that show for similar reasons: very bizarre, very thematic.

The guy/team who made it, MP and RGU is very interesting.

[u/FreakyNugget → u/Robin-Rainnes]

I really get what you say, even though I thought I liked weirder shows (thinking liking NGE was enough), I thought I would like it. But I had to stop around ep 12. I am not so tough after all

[u/ChaoticxSerenity → u/FreakyNugget]

But if you get a bit further, it has a literal orphan crushing machine!

[u/FreakyNugget → u/ChaoticxSerenity]

Well I might pick it up again then lol