Netflix Unveils Most Watched Anime of 2023's First Half
Netflix has decided to start releasing an engagement report twice a year, and that's revealed the most popular anime for the first half of 2023.
Summary
- Netflix has released its engagement report for the first half of 2023, revealing the hours viewed for all available programs, including anime.
- Demon Slayer, One Piece, and Vinland Saga season 2 were among the most-watched anime on Netflix during this period.
- The popularity of these anime, despite limited worldwide availability, shows the growing mainstream appeal of anime worldwide.
2023 is coming to a close, and with that, Netflix has unveiled its engagement report for the year's first half. While Netflix has normally been secretive about how their content performs, this year, they have decided to, for the first time, disclose the hours viewed for all of their available programs, and a similar report for the second half of 2023 can be expected sometime in June 2024.
Netflix’s engagement report covers everything available on the platform, and that, of course, includes their anime. While not at the top of the list, many anime still managed to rank highly among Netflix’s programming for the first half of the year with some of the biggest numbers out of any programming, and the most-viewed anime title on Netflix was even the 104th-most-viewed title with 95.8 million hours viewed.
Anime has steadily been becoming more and more mainstream with every passing year, and Netflix having so many anime gather as many views as they did is a perfect encapsulation of that idea.
Netflix's Most-Watched Anime For The First Half Of 2023
Demon Slayer, One Piece, and so many more topped Netflix's charts
The 10 anime with the highest number of views in the first half of 2023 are as follows:
Anime | Hours Viewed In Millions |
| Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba season 1 | 95.8 |
Hajime no Ippo season 1 | 80.3 |
Record of Ragnarok season 2 | 78.2 |
One Piece: East Blue | 57.8 |
Vinland Saga season 2 | 55.1 |
Boys Over Flowers: Volume 1 | 45.3 |
Pokémon The Series: Indigo League: Season 1 | 42.7 |
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba season 3 | 40.5 |
Pokémon Journeys: The Series: Season 1 | 40.3 |
Record of Ragnarok: season 1 | 35.5 |
Unsurprisingly, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and One Piece, two of the most popular shonen anime of all time, rank among the most-watched anime on Netflix for the first half of 2023, as does Vinland Saga season 2, which has commonly been cited as one of the best anime of 2023. Both seasons of Record of Ragnarok also ranked very highly, and despite its limited availability, Hajime no Ippo had the second-most views after Demon Slayer with 80.3 million hours. All in all, the anime with the most views on Netflix are well established for mainstream anime fans, so their placements are hardly surprising.
Something that makes this statistic even more interesting is that the aforementioned anime series are all titles that aren't fully available worldwide. When looking at anime that are fully available worldwide, Vinland Saga season 1 would have been the sixth-most-viewed anime in the first half of 2023 with 49.3 million hours, but the next anime, The Seven Deadly Sins: Dragon's Judgment, wouldn't even be in the top 20 with only 22 million hours. Factoring worldwide availability doesn’t appear to change the rankings in any significant way, and that says a lot about the popularity of certain anime around the world.
10 Best Anime On Netflix Right Now
For those overwhelmed by Netflix's vast catalog, one can check out this quick rundown of the best shows for a good story or fantasic visuals.Which Anime Will Be The Most Watched On Netflix For 2023's Second Half?
Having expanded their catalogue, Netflix has opened more doors for anime fans than ever before.
Taking into account which anime had the most views on Netflix in the first half of 2023, it's also possible to predict which anime will have the most views in the second half. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and One Piece are likely to remain in the top ten, the latter being especially likely with how successful the live-action series was, and with how popular they were during their releases, Pluto and Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead are also likely to be among Netflix's most-watched anime. Naturally, there's no way of knowing until Netflix releases its next engagement report, but it’s still something worth thinking about, regardless.
Source: Netflix
