How to Use MyAnimeList (MAL) and Build Your Anime List

MyAnimeList is the English-language site people still mean when they say they “have a MAL.” You build a list of anime you are watching, already finished, or pretending you will start next week — and you can score it and leave a note. Regulars just call it MAL.

The same database also holds manga, voice actors, staff, and those endless Top Anime charts. A list is the obvious hook. The quieter reason people stay is that the username you pick becomes the URL you send friends when they ask what you have actually seen.

How to create a MyAnimeList

On the homepage, use Sign Up. You can register with email or through Google, Apple, Facebook, or X. Pick the username carefully: it is short — between 2 and 16 characters — and it becomes the public address of your list.

See my list as an example:

• https://myanimelist.net/animelist/kevinbk

I need to update it... xD

After you confirm the account, search titles you have already watched and add them. If your memory is a mess — and after more than a hundred anime it usually is — start from Top Anime and walk through the popular titles instead of staring at a blank list.

Open the Anime menu, then Top Anime. You can filter TV series if you only want weekly shows, not movies. Do this once and you will mark titles you would never have remembered on your own.

Adding anime to your list

When you click Add to List, MAL asks a few things before the title lands on your page:

• Status — where you actually are with it;
  • Watching — currently watching;
  • Completed — finished;
  • On-Hold — paused;
  • Dropped — you stopped;
  • Plan to Watch — on the pile;
• Your Score — rating from 1 to 10;
• Show Advanced — extra fields if you want them.

Advanced options let you log how many times you rewatched something, leave a comment, and even note where you keep the files. If you know CSS, you can restyle the whole list. After a title is on the list, you can still change it — click the same completed or edit control.

What an anime page actually shows

Click the title from any list or ranking and you land on the entry. That page is why people treat MAL as a database, not just a tracker. You will usually find:

• Number of episodes;
• Start and end of the TV run;
• Producers, licensors, and studios;
• Source (manga, game, or light novel);
• Genres;
• Length of an episode or movie;
• Score, popularity, members, and favorites;
• Synopsis and extra background;
• Related titles (other seasons or films);
• Cast, voice actors, and staff;
• Opening and ending songs, plus the Japanese name;
• Member comments next to their scores;
• Recent news;
• Recommendations;
• Forum threads;
• Featured articles;
• Promotional videos and trailers.

Using more of MAL than the list

There is no secret handshake. I use it for more than ticking boxes:

• cover images for articles on this site;
• the Japanese writing of a title when the English one is a mess;
• genre browsing when I want something specific;
• forum threads and user reviews when a score alone is useless.

There is also an official MyAnimeList app for Android and iPhone. It is the practical way to bump episode counts when you are not at a desk. The website still wins if you want the full page — staff, related seasons, openings, and the long reviews.

A few things I wish someone had said earlier:

• English titles on MAL often differ from the name you first heard;
• a high rank is not a promise you will like it;
• you can mark the exact episode you stopped at;
• unreleased titles still show dates and episode counts when those are known;
• you can ignore or block people in the forums;
• reviews exist for both anime and manga — write them, or at least read a couple before trusting a 9.0.

If you care about how otaku culture actually works outside a username, MAL is only one room of that house. The list is still the part people compare when they argue about scores. Do you already have an account? Drop the link in the comments. If you have a trick I missed, I want that too.