If you ask me which anime series are the best of all time my response will be, “I dunno, but these handful of series I keep rewatching are pretty neat.”
However, I can tell you which series is being typed into a Google search bar the most according to this CenturyLinkQuote study reported on by PCMag. The results might surprise you, or, well, maybe they won’t if you realize what was going on with certain anime series in 2021.
I await your “of course (insert state) likes (insert anime)” in the comments.
What is the most searched for anime?
While I will say that Alaska has good taste in anime (their most-searched-for title is My Hero Academia), the misadventures of Izuku Midoriya is not the most-searched-for series. You might think it’s another popular series like Demon Slayer (which, valid, its movie broke all kinds of records) or even classics like Sailor Moon (which dominated California, so, you know, let’s be besties, California).
But as you can see from that nifty map there, the most searched-for anime series is One Piece. In fact, it was searched for so much that it takes up half the country with 25 states setting sail to Google to find information or pictures or manga chapters on Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates.
My cousin would be pleased.
What was going on with this particular series in 2021?
These results might sound surprising to data analysts since One Piece is an older series, but honestly, if you look at the map there aren’t a lot of newer titles on there to begin with save for My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen (thanks Hawaii!).
Conversely, My Hero Academia’s anime started airing in 2016 with Jujutsu Kaisen’s anime starting in 2020. While Naruto is older than both of them, its follow-up series, Boruto, could be why it’s still being searched for. Meanwhile, Death Note could be because of Platinum End (the series currently airing by the creator of Death Note).
With Attack on Titan entering into the second half of its final season and, from what I can gather from Twitter, causing its fandom to have a meltdown every Sunday, it’s no surprise to see it popping up somewhere (hey there, Utah).
As for PokĂ©mon, well… it’s PokĂ©mon. Yes, a new series did hit Netflix (PokĂ©mon Master Journeys: The Series) but PokĂ©mon is the kind of anime that just… exists in someone’s data report, whether it’s because of the anime, video games, card games, or new Build-A-Bear.
That being said, none of those series could top One Piece. Why? Well, because One Piece had a hell of a 2021.
As someone who hasn’t taken the plunge into One Piece yet (that is a LOT of episodes, y’all), I can say that I’m absolutely not surprised that it’s what was being searched for the most. That’s because, last year, One Piece celebrated some significant milestones. Not only did the manga celebrate its 1000th chapter back in January 2021, but the anime also celebrated its 1000th episode in November 2021.
That’s two 1000 milestones in the same year!
Like, I don’t even go here, but I can admit that stuff like this is pretty amazing:
Are you surprised by the results? More importantly, what anime series were you searching for when you took to Google?
(Image: Warner Bros./Shueisha/Pokémon)
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