The hype surrounding SPY x FAMILY has been insane, with the anime quickly becoming one of the biggest new anime to have come out in recent years. The series has been insanely popular not just in Japan but also globally.
The anime’s success right from its debut has been unprecedented and is unlike anything we have ever seen, especially from a Slice of Life series.
SPY x FAMILY has taken over the anime community around the world, and its dominance remains unchallenged even by some of the stupendously popular sequels airing this season like Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 3 and The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2.
Most Popular Anime of May 2022: SPY x FAMILY continues to dominate Japanese Streaming.
SPY x FAMILY was the Most-Watched TV Show on Japanese Streaming and VOD Services during May and is leading amongst both the male and female demographics by a huge margin.
The demographic breakdown also confirms that SPY x FAMILY is currently not only the Most Popular Anime in Japan but also the Most-Watched TV Show on Streaming amongst teenagers and adults of every single age demographic, ranging from people in their 20s to the elderly audience of 60 years and older.
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The series has also been the Most-Watched Anime broadcast every week since its premiere, drawing an average of more than 7 million viewers for its first seven episodes with Live+7 DVR figures. According to Video Research Ltd., more than 4.5 million households have been tuning into SPY x FAMILY every week. The anime has also consistently managed to be among the Top 5 Most-Viewed TV Show on DVR in Japan every week.
Most Popular Anime of May 2022: One Piece and Demon Slayer both continue to be in the Top 5.
After spending close to a month at the top with the release of the latest film in the franchise, Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween, and with all the previous 23 movies becoming exclusively available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, Detective Conan is currently still going strong and is at the second spot.
Kingdom, which was previously in the sixth spot in April, has also entered the Top 3 as Season 4 of the anime shifts into high gear. While not really being a generous adaptation to what is considered one of the greatest seinen manga of all time, the Kingdom anime continues to be immensely popular with every new season in Japan.
Meanwhile, One Piece has delivered some remarkable and really consistent episodes since its return from the hiatus and has instantly climbed up even further to the fourth spot for May.
The anime was in the sixth spot in March following its indefinite break after the unfortunate hacking incident at Toei Animation. One Piece then moved up to the Top 5 when the anime returned in April and has only seen an increase in its viewership since.
Demon Slayer, which concluded Season 2 of the anime with the climax of its Entertainment District Arc in February, has remained amongst the Top 5 Most Popular Anime and TV Shows on Streaming in Japan.
Demon Slayer is currently at the fifth spot. The anime has previously been at the top of the Monthly Charts for six consecutive months prior to April, since the premiere of the TV Version of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Train. The series was also on top of the Weekly Charts for 21 consecutive weeks before the second week of March and has not left the Top 5 for almost over a year and a half now.
Ya Boy Kongming, which initially debuted in the 35th place, jumped up all the way to the 6th place in May, even leaving Kaguya-sama: Love is War behind, which is enjoying another consistently great and successful season this year.
The anime has garnered a massive amount of positive reaction and buzz on social media around Japan and among the global anime community within the last two months.
Attack on Titan has now fallen to the 8th spot following the conclusion of the broadcast of the second part of the anime’s fourth and final season.
Part 2 of Attack on Titan Season 4 came to an end on April 3 with the 87th episode of the series. The anime is set to wrap up its run with a third and final part next year that will cover the remaining nine chapters of the manga series.
Meanwhile, Rising of the Shield Hero is finally in the Top 10 as it takes the last spot on the first half of the list.
Doraemon kicks off the bottom half of the list, with the anime series performing consistently on both live television and streaming. The series has gotten a big boost ever since the inclusion of all 40 Doraemon movies in Amazon Prime Video’s library with the theatrical release of the new Doraemon Movie, Doraemon: Nobita’s Little Star Wars 2021, in March. The movie has already made more than 2.85 Billion Yen at the Japanese Box Office and is currently the 7th Highest-Grossing Film of 2022 in Japan.
The Shin-chan anime series has also been among the bottom half of the list. The beloved anime was the 12th Most Popular Anime and TV Series of May 2022 in Japan following the theatrical debut of Shin-chan: Mononoke Ninja Chinpuden on April 22.
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With nothing new on the horizon, Jujutsu Kaisen has fallen to the 16th spot on the list. After more than four months at the Japanese Box Office, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 has grossed over $106.5 million at the domestic box office and is the 9th highest-grossing Japanese film ever domestically. Season 2 of Jujutsu Kaisen will air in 2023.
New football anime, Ao Ashi, and beloved sports anime, Haikyuu!!, took the final two spots on the list respectively. You can see the full list below.
Top 20 Most Popular Anime/TV Shows & Films on Japanese SVOD services (May 2022):
- SPY x FAMILY
- Detective Conan
- Kingdom
- One Piece
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
- Ya Boy Kongming!
- Kaguya-sama: Love is War
- Attack on Titan
- 007: No Time to Die
- The Rising of Shield Hero
- Doraemon
- Shinchan
- Fast and Furious
- Dragon Ball
- Solitary Gourmet
- Jujutsu Kaisen
- Golden Kamuy
- Aiseki Shokudo
- Ao Ashi
Haikyuu!!.
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GEM Partners is a Japanese marketing firm that is centred around the entertainment industry and gathers data by surveying thousands of people every week aged between 16 and 69 regarding what they watched that past week on Netflix, Hulu Japan, Disney+, docomo anime store, Amazon Prime Video, ABEMA Premium, Paravi U-NEXT, and dTV.
What are some of your favourite anime from this list of the Top 20 Most Popular Anime in Japan right now? What are your favourite anime from the Spring 2022 Anime Season? Comment below and let us know.