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The word 'anime' (アニメ) is a Japanese shortening of the English word 'animation', a gairaigo, or foreign loanword.
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AnimeSphere Guides
MyAnimeList alternative: a tracker that actually ships features
The short answer: You can watch 6,000+ anime episodes across 590+ series completely free and legally right now. Every episode is an official rights-holder upload playable on AnimeSphere without an account — and 330+ series are complete, so you can finish them, not just sample them. See the live numbers →
MyAnimeList has been the default anime list since 2004, and if you have years of history there, moving feels risky. This guide is for the moment you decide the risk runs the other way: an honest look at where MAL stands in 2026, and how to bring your list somewhere that is still being built, without losing a single entry.
Import your MAL listTakes about a minute. Previewed before anything is saved, undoable in one click.
Where MyAnimeList stands in 2026
MAL has changed hands repeatedly: DeNA bought it in 2015, Media Do took over in 2019, and in May 2025 the Web3 startup Gaudiy announced it was acquiring the service. Since that announcement the site has kept running, but visible product development has been quiet, and the features fans have requested for years remain unshipped.
To be fair about what still works: MAL remains the biggest anime database on the internet, its forums are still the busiest anime community anywhere, and your list is not in danger of disappearing tomorrow. If all you want is the biggest database and the busiest forums, MAL still has both, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
The case for moving is about momentum. A tracker is a decade-long relationship, and the practical question is whether the service will still be improving five years from now. The healthy way to hedge is the same rule we give everyone: keep your list in a format you can take with you, on a service that lets you export back out.
What switching actually gets you
- Free, legal watching built into the tracker. AnimeSphere plays 6,045 free, official, US-playable episodes inline, verified uploads from rights holders. Your list and your player live in the same place.
- An import that treats your list as precious. You see a full preview before anything is written: counts, status breakdown, and a named list of any entry that cannot be matched. After the import you get a one-click undo. Nothing is ever silently dropped.
- Export back out, anytime. MAL-compatible XML or full JSON from Settings. That is the AnimeSphere Pledge: leaving is always as easy as joining.
- A product that is actively shipping. Season planners, a donghua hub, watch parties, quizzes, profile walls, and the free catalog itself all shipped in the last year, and the pace has not slowed.
Moving your list, step by step
- Export your anime list from myanimelist.net/panel.php?go=export and unzip the .gz file.
- Drop the XML at animesphere.app/import. The file is parsed in your browser and never uploaded.
- Review the preview: totals, status counts, and the named list of anything without a local mapping yet.
- Confirm. Statuses, scores, progress, rewatch counts, and start and finish dates all come along. If anything looks wrong, press undo and your list is restored exactly as it was.
The honest gap: a small number of very old or very obscure entries may not have a mapping in our database yet. You will see exactly which ones, by name, before and after the import. They stay safely in your MAL export and can be added manually.
What you get after the move
Tracking is the start, not the whole product. Your list powers recommendations, season planning, and stats, and AnimeSphere also plays 6,045 free, official, US-playable episodes inline. A few of the biggest free series:
Frequently asked questions
Does importing my list change anything on MyAnimeList?
No. The import reads the XML file you exported from MAL. Your MyAnimeList account, list, and history stay exactly as they are. You can keep using both sites side by side for as long as you like.
What carries over from my MAL export?
Statuses (watching, completed, on hold, dropped, plan to watch), scores, episode progress, rewatch counts, and start and finish dates. Scores map cleanly because MAL and AnimeSphere both use a 10-point scale.
What happens to entries that cannot be matched?
You see them by name, not as a silent number. The preview lists every entry without a local mapping before you confirm, the post-import report lists them again, and nothing is ever dropped without telling you. Unmatched entries stay safely in your MAL export.
What if I regret the import?
Every import comes with one-click undo. Pressing it restores your AnimeSphere list to exactly how it was before the import, including any entries the import updated.
Can I get my list back out of AnimeSphere later?
Yes, anytime, from Settings: MAL-compatible XML or full JSON. That file re-imports into MyAnimeList itself, AniList, and other trackers. We call this the AnimeSphere Pledge, and it means leaving is always as easy as joining.
Is AnimeSphere free?
Tracking, importing, exporting, and the free episode catalog are all free and always will be. No account is needed to watch the free catalog; an account adds tracking and community features.